Open Chambers: Hindemith & Shostakovich Programme

WELCOME Good Evening Opera Goers!

Welcome to Open Chambers! Tonight marks a new adventure for Opera 5 as we embark on our first expanded season - adding staged chamber music to our mainstage productions. This has been a long time in the making and has been a huge leap for us both financially and artistically. It is an exciting time because exploring chamber music and its staging possibilities have always been on our radar. This particular program was devised by Opera 5’s General Director Rachel Krehm, and I am thrilled that it is the inauguration for this series.

Since its inception, reimagining music as drama is something that Opera 5 has always embraced wholeheartedly. As such, we are pleased to have Patrick Hansen returning to work with us as director after he conducted our vibrant “Die Fledermaus.” He was the perfect choice to weave a beautiful narrative out of these unique pieces. We are also very lucky to have a group of world class instrumentalists and vocalists embracing this deconstruction of chamber music with open arms.

Thank you so much for your continued support of Opera 5. Every year we are growing, and it is because of our supportive community of donors, audience members, and colleagues.

Lastly, I would like to wish you and your loved ones all the very best for the upcoming holidays. I hope this season brings joy and peace to all of you!

Jessica Derventzis Artistic Director

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Opera 5 would like to acknowledge the ancestral lands and waterways that we are performing on this evening that have been cared for, for over 15,000 years. This land is the territory of the the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, the Wendat, and most recently the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation who have a Treaty relationship with Canada. We are honoured to gather here today.

DIRECTOR’S NOTES AND SYNOPSIS Those of us who love classical music take many aspects of its creation and performance for granted. Audiences understand they’ll arrive to a venue and see chairs set out awaiting the musicians, organized along very standard and – let’s just say it – totally uninspired, predictable placements so that the musicians can see and hear each other. They sit and play the music. Occasionally, a soloist or singer might get a prominent spot standing out in front, but certainly wouldn’t get an actual spotlight.

Chamber concerts with singers typically don’t feature translation of the texts projected above the performers (usually these are found in the program that you can’t read anyway because the lights are too dark or the font is too small!) Concerts are hardly ever staged, and most definitely still follow a highly traditional series of events – walk on, acknowledging applause, take out your black oratorio folder, put on your oratorio face, wait for the upbeat, and... music! Massively predictable.

When Opera 5 asked me if I might be interested in directing this inaugural “Open Chambers” evening, I was a bit reticent. Being a director who loves narrative, the challenge was immediate. But I’m also a director who loves – LOVES – chamber music and ultimately couldn’t turn down the gig because it would allow me to collaborate with these remarkable musicians, as well as try to turn the notion of what the chamber music experience is, on its head.

Yes, there will be long gloves, bouquets of flowers, and beautiful dresses; there will be musicians in black, and there will be instruments, texts, and tens of thousands of hours of preparation, practice, talent, and craft present on the stage. But at that point, this chamber music experience will end. We’ve erased our collective chalkboard to write something new. We’ve tossed out the wine in our cups to replace it with something else to drink. We’ve explored bowing a soprano, unearthed subtext in an oboe’s high notes, created emotional motivation for a violinist moving through space, wondered if a pianist can still play while their eyes are covered by another’s hands, and disassembled silences between sopranos to discover why we pause between songs.

The goal? To reframe the chamber music experience: for the creators and the audience.

This past week has been filled with laughter and diligent investigation; a totally joyous collaboration between the six individuals onstage and their director. I can’t thank them enough for opening the chambers of their minds so we could imagine new possibilities.

Patrick Hansen

PRESENTS

Open Chambers: HINDEMITH & SHOSTAKOVICH

Music by Paul Hindemith and Dmitri Shostakovich Poetry by Adolf Licht, J.L.W. Gleim, Ludwig Tieck, J. von Eichendorff, J.W. Meinhold, S. Aug. Mahlmann, Alexander Blok The Opera 5 Team

Cast (In Order of Musical Appearance)

Rachel Krehm General Director

Piano..........................................Vadim Serebryany

Jessica Derventzis Artistic Director

Oboe..................................................Melissa Scott Cello............................................Wolfram Koessel

Evan Mitchell Music Director

Soprano 1...............................Jacqueline Woodley*

Past Team Members

Soprano 2............................................... Rachel Krehm

Aria Umezawa Maika’i Nash

Production Team

Board of Directors Victoria Novak President George Hoff Secretary Carl Dholandas Anu Koshal Amelia Lyon David Matthews

Viola/Violin.................................Yosuke Kawasaki

Director and Designer.................... Patrick Hansen Lighting Designer and Production Manager................ David DeGrow Stage Manager............................Tamara Vuckovic* Head Technician.......................... Quinn Hoodless Surtitles............................................. Rebecca Gray * The participation these Artists are arranged by permission of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association under the provisions of the Dance Opera Theatre Policy (DOT).

PROGRAM ORDER Oboe Sonata - Hindemith Munter Sehr Langsam..........................................................................................Oboe, Piano Die Serenaden - Hindemith I Barkarole (Adolf Licht)...........................................................Soprano 1, Oboe, Cello An Phyllis (J.L.W. Gleim)................................................................ Soprano 1, Cello Nur Mut (Ludwig Tieck)........................................................Soprano 2, Oboe, Viola II Duett.......................................................................................................Viola, Cello Der Abend (J. von Eichendorff ).......................................................Soprano 1, Oboe Der Wurm am Meer.................................................... Soprano 2, Oboe, Viola, Cello III Trio............................................................................................... Oboe, Viola, Cello Gute Nacht (A. Aug. Mahlmann)....................................Soprano 1, Soprano 2, Viola Seven Romances on Poems of Alexander Blok op. 127 - Shostakovich Song of Ophelia............................................................................... Soprano 1, Cello Gamayun, the Bird of Prophecy.......................................................Soprano 2, Piano We Were Together...........................................................................Soprano 1, Violin The City Sleeps..................................................................... Soprano 2, Cello, Piano The Storm............................................................................ Soprano 2, Violin, Piano Secret Signs...........................................................................Soprano 1, Violin, Cello Music.......................................................Soprano 1, Soprano 2, Violin, Cello, Piano

CAST Yosuke Kawasaki Violin/Viola Yosuke Kawasaki currently serves as the Concertmaster of the NAC Orchestra in Ottawa. His versatile musicianship allows him to pursue a career in orchestra, solo and chamber music.

He has been Concert master of the Montgomery Symphony Orchestra and soon led to Mito Chamber Orchestra, Saito Kinen Orchestra and Japan Century Orchestra. His solo and chamber music career spans five continents, collaborating with artists such as Seiji Ozawa, Pinchas Zukerman and Yo-Yo Ma and appearing in the world’s most prestigious halls such as Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall and the Royal Concertgebouw.

Kawasaki’s most current ensembles are Trio Ink and the Arkas String Quartet. His passion for chamber music led to his appointment as Music Director to the Affinis Summer Music Festival in Japan. Well versed in the string quartet literature, he was entrusted by Seiji Ozawa as the youngest faculty member of the Ozawa International Chamber Music Academy at the age of 26. He is currently an adjunct professor of violin at the University of Ottawa School of Music.

Wolfram Koessel Cello Since his critically acclaimed Carnegie Hall debut in 1994, cellist Wolfram Koessel has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in concert halls throughout the world.

In 2006, Mr. Koessel joined the renowned American String Quartet which is the resident string quartet of the Manhattan School of Music in NYC and the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado.

Mr. Koessel has a close affiliation with the Mark Morris Dance Group a company he has performed hundreds of concerts with worldwide, to resounding acclaim. Based in New York City, Mr. Koessel has appeared frequently with the Orpheus Chamber orchestra and the NY Philharmonic. He is a founding member of Trio Ink. Upcoming performances will lead Mr. Koessel to Europe, Israel and many cities in the US.

CAST Rachel Krehm Soprano Winner of the 2013 Capital City Critics Choice Award at the Ottawa Fringe for her solo performance in Poulenc’s La voix humaine (Opera 5), soprano Rachel Krehm is establishing herself as a sophisticated performer in both the opera and theatre communities. A multi-faceted artist, Rachel is the cofounder and General Director of Opera 5 and the creator, co-writer and one of the performers of the children’s educational show - Tenors, Trumpets and La Traviata, which debuted as part of the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony’s Family Series and has been repeated by the Kingston Symphony Orchestra.

Rachel’s interests also extend to comedy. She is a regularly featured actor in the popular web-series, Opera Cheats. Rachel is also a creating member of Canada’s only opera improv team - Whose Opera is it Anyway, which performs monthly improvised sketch comedy featuring operatic singing at comedy clubs in Toronto and festivals around Ontario. As an avid contributor to the Toronto indie opera scene, she sits on the executive committee of Indie Opera T.O.

Melissa Scott Oboe Melissa Scott is an active and influential Canadian musician having served as principal oboe of the Kingston Symphony Orchestra since 2015, acting second oboe with the Toronto Symphony 2017/2018 and 2011/2012 seasons as well as having held the position of second oboe & English horn with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra from 2010-2012.

She continues to perform on a regular and ongoing basis with a variety of distinguished orchestras including the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Toronto Symphony, Hamilton Philharmonic as well as the National Ballet and has recently made guest appearances as principal oboe with the Calgary Philharmonic, Symphony Nova Scotia and the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestras.

When not on stage of a symphonic venue, Melissa can be found performing a variety of music from back-up to mainstream pop artists to performing this past summer in the National tour of Wicked, the Broadway musical at the Ed Mirvish Theatre in Toronto.

CAST Vadim Serebryany Piano Vadim Serebryany has been highly sought after as a recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber musician. He has performed in Europe, South America, Australia and throughout the US, Canada and Japan. In recent seasons, Mr. Serebryany has been a guest soloist with the National Arts Center Orchestra, The Kingston Symphony, the Osaka Century Orchestra, and Montgomery Symphony Orchestra.

In 2005, Vadim founded Trio Ink, with violinst Yosuke Kawasaki and cellist Wolfram Koessel. The ensemble is known for its creative programs. The trio has performed to critical acclaim throughout North America and Japan.

From 2005 to 2008 Mr. Serebryany served as Artist in Residence at La Sierra University in Riverside, California, and has also served as a visiting professor at Lawrence University. From 2008 to 2016 Mr. Serebryany was a professor of music at Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Alabama, and in 2015 was named Huntingdon’s first ever Belcher-Cheek Artist in Residence. Mr. Serebryany joined the piano faculty at the Ithaca College School of Music in 2016.

Jacqueline Woodley Soprano Canadian soprano Jacqueline Woodley has been praised for her fearless versatility, changing styles fluidly from early music to contemporary, from opera to art song. Sought after for her “exceptional talent” in performing modern works, Jacqueline created the role of Milice-Bride in the première of Ana Sokolovic’s opera Svaba-Wedding with Queen of Puddings Music Theatre. With the Tapestry Opera, she was hailed for her searing performance as Natalia in the world-premiere of Oksana G and appeared in the premiere of Dora Award-winning M’Dea Undone. In the 2018-19 season, the Canadian Opera Company alumna performs works of Bach, Handel and Charpentier for concerts with Clavecins en concert, Chorus Niagara and the Ottawa Choral Society. Further credits include Edmonton Opera, San Francisco Opera, Philadelphia Opera, Thunder Bay Symphony, Montreal Symphony and the St. Lawrence Choir in Montreal.

PRODUCTION TEAM David DeGrow Lighting Designer and Production Manager David is a lighting designer, manager, teacher and academic working in Toronto and across Canada. In these capacities, he has been part of over 300 productions. He is a PhD Candidate at the Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies, where his research focuses on theatre architecture and its impact of artistic mandate, audience and the city.

For more information visit: https://daviddegrow.wordpress.com

Patrick Hansen Director and Designer Patrick Hansen continues his unique career throughout North America as an operatic stage director, vocal coach, artistic administrator, and conductor. He is the Director of Opera Studies at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec.

Mr. Hansen has been on the musical staffs of many opera companies in the United States including the Lyric Opera of Chicago, The Juilliard Opera Center, and Glimmerglass Opera as well as being the Director of Artistic Administration for Florida Grand Opera.

His productions have been seen all over North America and in Europe. Recently he directed the Bulgarian premiere of Weill’s Street Scene. He has directed at the Kennedy Center, Eugene Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Charlottesville Opera, Fargo Opera, and next spring debuts at Opera on the James in Virginia. He has directed or conducted over 100 operas in the last decade alone. His libretto adaptation of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing has a planned world premiere in 2020 in Montreal with music by James Garner.

PRODUCTION TEAM Tamara Vuckovic Stage Manager Tamara is a Toronto based Stage Manager for both Opera and Theatre. Her work has also taken her across Canada to Halifax, Montreal, Edmonton, and Vancouver. She has been the Resident Stage Manager of the indie performance company ARC since 2014 and of the opera performance company Off Centre Music Salon since 2010. In addition, Tamara is working on building her directing background, her most recent credit: ARC’s production of Dissidents. Selected Stage Management credits include: Portia’s Julius Caesar and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare in the Ruff ); The Glass Menagerie (Grand Theatre); Dissidents, Pomona and Moment (ARC); Birds of a Feather and Outside (Roseneath Theatre); Title and Deed (Tarragon Theatre); La Bohème and A Little Too Cozy (Against the Grain); Dead Man Walking (Vancouver Opera); Extremophiles and Little Death (The Theatre Centre); Far Away and The Trial of Judith K (Theatre Passe Muraille); Hairspray (LOT); Queer Bathroom Stories (Buddies in Bad Times).

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Thank You! •

Thank you for the generous support from the Ontario Arts Council!

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Thank you to the wonderful staff and crew of Factory Theatre for all your hard work!

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Thank you to Rebecca Gray for creating and running the surtitles!

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Thank you to Steinway for the use of their beautiful Model M Piano!