Composed by Giuseppe Verdi Libretto by Arrigo Boito
Keller Auditorium
The Oregon Cultural Trust acknowledges the many tribes and bands who call Oregon their ancestral territory and honors the ongoing relationship between the land, plants, animals, and people indigenous to this place we now call Oregon. We recognize the continued sovereignty of the nine federally recognized tribes who have ties to this place and thank them for continuing to teach us how we might all be here together.
Graphic Design by Rene Choy
Cover and 60th Anniversary art by Lisa Congdon
Costume design and renderings by Sydney Gallas
Portland Opera 2013 Falstaff production photography by Cory Weaver
Dear Friends,
As our season nears its end, we are thrilled to welcome you to tonight’s performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s Falstaff. This masterful opera marks Verdi’s final contribution to the art form, his second venture into comedy, and his third opera inspired by the timeless works of Shakespeare.
Falstaff offers a delightful blend of humor, wit, and charm—a refreshing and jubilant conclusion to our season. With its full chorus and orchestra, this production showcases grand opera at its finest, brought to life by the extraordinary talents of our performers.
We are especially grateful for your support during this extraordinary year for the opera. Thanks to you, we close out our 60th anniversary season on a high note. As we turn the page and forge ahead to our 61st anniversary, we look forward to celebrating another incredible season with you, from the Keller and Hatfiled Hall theaters, to the Reser, and our new artistic home at the World Trade Center.
Thank you for joining us for this special evening and enjoy a night of splendid music and lighthearted fun as we celebrate another remarkable season.
SUE DIXON
Portland Opera General Director
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PORTLAND OPERA PRESENTS
Composed by GIUSEPPE VERDI
Libretto by ARRIGO BOITO
Premiere
TEATRO ALLA SCALA MILAN, ITALY
FEBRUARY 9, 1893
Portland Opera Premiere MAY 1978
Performed in Italian with projected English captions written by Brett Finley.
There will be one intermission. Total running time is approximately two and one half hours.
THE CAST
(in order of vocal appearance)
Dr. Caius, an aging doctor
JOHN BOELLING
Falstaff, a corpulent womanizer
DARREN DRONE
Bardolfo, Falstaff’s sidekick
NATHANIEL CATASCA +
Pistola, Falstaff’s sidekick
MATTHEW MAISANO +
Meg Page
ERIN ROTH THOMAS +
Alice Ford, wife of Ford
KEARSTIN PIPER BROWN *
Dame Quickly
REHANNA THELWELL*
Nanetta, daughter of Alice Ford
EMMA PETERSEN *
Fenton, a young gentleman
YI LI *
Ford, a wealthy burgher, husband of Alice
STEPHEN GAERTNER
Nanetta (cover)
GINAIA BLACK+
CREATIVE TEAM
Conductor/Chorus Master
NICHOLAS FOX
Stage Director
DAVID RADAMÉS TORO *
Scenery Co-coordinators
SHAWN LEE *
MEGAN WILKERSON *
Costume Designer
SIDNEY GALLAS *
Lighting Designer
NIC VINCENT *
Projection Designer
DAVID MURAKAMI
Hair & Makeup Designer
SARA BEUKERS
Principal Accompanist
CLAIRE FORSTMAN
Assistant Chorus Master
PAUL FLOYD
Production Stage Manager
JON WANGSGARD
Assistant Director
CLAIRE CHOQUETTE *
Intimacy Director
KRISTEN MUN-VAN NOY *
Scenery, Props and Costumes for this production built by Portland Opera.
Portland Opera appreciates the continuing support of the Regional Arts and Culture Council, the Oregon Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts. Portland Opera is a member of OPERA America.
+ Portland Opera Resident Artist
* Portland opera debut
Orchestra Musicians are represented by the American Federation of Musicians Local 99.
Chorus, principal singers, dancers, and staging staff are represented by the American Guild of Musical Artists.
Production designers are represented by United Scenic Artists 829 (a subsidiary of International Alliance of Theatre and Stage Employees).
Stage crew, wardrobe, and wig and make up crew provided by IATSE Local #28.
Admission staff provided by IATSE Local #B20.
THE FALSTAFF ORCHESTRA
Violin
MARGARET BICHTELER, Concertmaster
JAMES M. MCLENNAN, Assistant Concertmaster
LINDA VASEY, Principal Second Violin
JENNIFER ESTRIN, Acting Assistant Principal Second Violin
JAMIE CHIMCHIRIAN
JANET GROH DUBAY
STACY EDGAR ^
JULIA FRANTZ
IRENE GADEHOLT^
JANET GEORGE^
KAREN HILLEY^
LINA KANG ^
HAE-JIN KIM
HEATHER MASTEL-LIPSON
ANN MEDELLIN ^ NIC PRICE^
EVA RICHEY
DEBORAH SINGER ^
AINUR ZABENOVA ^
LUCIE ZALESAKOVA ^ Viola
HILLARY OSEAS, Principal
SHAUNA KEYES, Assistant Principal ^
PAMELA BUROVAC
DAPHNE GOOCH
ADAM HOORNSTRA ^ MICHELLE MATHEWSON
DANA ROKOSNY^ Cello
DYLAN RIECK, Principal
KATHERINE SCHULTZ, Acting Assistant Principal
HEATHER BLACKBURN ^
JAE CHOI
DAVID EBY^ Bass
CLINTON O’BRIEN, Principal
DAVID PARMETER, Acting Assistant Principal
CHANG MIN LEE
ˆSubstitute orchestra musician.
Flute
GEORGEANNE RIES, Principal
SARAH TIEDEMANN ^
Flute/Piccolo
RACHEL RENCHER
Oboe
KELLY M. GRONLI, Principal
ALAN JUZA
English Horn
KAREN STRAND
Clarinet
LOUIS DEMARTINO, Principal
THERESA MARKS
Bass Clarinet
CAROL ROBE
Bassoon
SAMUEL RHOTON, Principal
JANICE RICHARDSON
French Horn
MICHAEL HETTWER, Principal
JEN HARRISON
JONATHAN KUHNS-OBANA
LEANDER STAR
Trumpet
JOSEPH KLAUSE, Principal ^
LOGAN BROWN
ROBERT RUTHERFORD
Trombone
LARS CAMPBELL, Principal ^
DAVID BRYAN
DOUG PEEBLES ^
Tuba
JOSEPH READY, Principal
Timpani
BRIAN GARDINER, Principal ^
Percussion
GORDON RENCHER, Principal
KEVIN SCHLOSSMAN
Harp
JARED PARSONS, Principal ^
Guitar
BRIAN PELKY, Principal ^
THE FALSTAFF CHORUS
Soprano
GINA ADORNO **
KARI BURGESS **
MEGAN CONROY-PETERS
LINDSEY RAE JOHNSON **
ABIGAIL KRAWSON
CRISTINA MARINO **
MADELINE ROSS
DRU RUTLEDGE **
MAEVE STIER
JOCELYN THOMAS **
Mezzo-Soprano
ALISHIA GARCIA
PHOEBE GILDEA
SADIE GREGG **
ANNA JABLONSKI **
ALLISON KIM-YOK KNOTTS **
SARAH MAINES **
LISA NEHER
JENA SLATER
KATE STROHECKER ** Tenor
JOHN BOELLING **
SCOT CRANDAL**
JIM JEPPESEN **
AARON DOUGLAS LANGE **
SHANE MAGARGAL
ANTHONY NYUGEN
ONRY
PAUL WRIGHT **
Bass-Baritone
GREGORY BRUMFIELD **
QUINTON GARDNER
DAN GIBBS
DEAC GUIDI **
ERIK HUNDTOFT **
TIMOTHY LAFOLETTE **
BRIAN LANGFORD **
ADRIAN ROSALES
PAUL SADILEK **
PATRICK SCOFIELD **
FALSTAFF SUPERNUMERARIES
JIM SHERMAN
JOYELAINE SHERMAN-LEWIS
** Vested choristers who have been a regular member of the Portland Opera Chorus for more than two years and have sung in five or more productions.
SYNOPSIS
by Alexis Hamilton
ACT I
SCENE 1, COUNTRY CLUB BAR
At the bar amidst the remnants of a meal, Sir John Falstaff, currently devoid of funds, seals the second of two envelopes and leans back satisfied. His reverie is interrupted by Dr. Caius, who is loudly complaining about the damage done to his household and reputation during a drunken party with Falstaff and his cronies, Bardolfo and Pistola. Pistola claims that Caius, who had been drinking with them, must have dreamed it all after passing out, and Falstaff sends Dr. Caius packing. Bemoaning his current poverty, Falstaff tells Bardolfo and Pistola his plan for fattening his coffers by seducing the two very pretty, very married ladies, Alice Ford and Meg Page, and asks them to deliver each woman a love letter that he has written. Bardolfo and Pistola protest that their honor could not possibly allow them to comply with his request. Outraged at their hypocrisy, Falstaff sends a pageboy on his errand and berates his hapless henchmen, reminding them that Honor will not feed them.
SCENE 2, COUNTRY CLUB POOL
Poolside, Alice, her daughter Nanetta and her friends Meg Page and Dame Quickly meet to share the latest gossip. Alice reveals that the
old rascal John Falstaff has sent her a letter. Meg replies that she too has received a letter from him. Comparing notes, they find that have received identical love letters praising their beauty and suggesting a tryst. By turns scandalized and amused, the women vow to exact their revenge by playing a trick on the knight.
Meanwhile, Dr. Caius and Mr. Ford are chatting. Bardolfo and Pistola come rushing in to tell Mr. Ford of Falstaff’s plan to seduce Alice and Meg. Outraged, Ford plots his revenge with the others. Fenton, taking advantage of Mr. Ford’s distraction, seeks out Nanetta, with whom he is deeply in love, despite her father’s disapproval.
The four women finish formulating their plan. Dame Quickly will go to Falstaff and arrange assignations with both Alice and Meg for the next day where their plan will unfold. Laughing, they take their leave of each other.
ACT II
SCENE 1, COUNTRY CLUB BAR
Bardolfo and Pistola have returned to Falstaff to beg forgiveness. Dame Quickly arrives as planned, telling Falstaff that Alice Ford will be anxiously awaiting Falstaff’s arrival between two and three that afternoon—her husband will be away, and she will be free to entertain him. Dame Quickly then reveals that Meg, unfortunately, cannot fulfill her desires for an assignation—her husband never lets her alone. Dame Quickly takes her leave. As Falstaff is congratulating himself on still being quite the lothario, Ford arrives disguised as Fontana, requesting Falstaff’s aid in seducing the delicious Mrs. Ford. Ford/Fontana explains that he hopes if Falstaff can seduce Alice, the knight will pave the way for his own suit. Ford/Fontana slips Falstaff a large wad of cash. Chortling, Falstaff
tells him that his hopes are halfway to fruition— Falstaff has an assignation with Alice that very day! Falstaff leaves Ford to prepare for his date with Alice, and Ford fumes at his wife’s apparent infidelity. Ford contains himself and leaves with Falstaff to enact the plan.
SCENE 2, POOLSIDE AT THE COUNTRY CLUB
In a more secluded area of the pool, the ladies prepare for Falstaff’s arrival. Alice assures her daughter Nanetta that she won’t have to marry Dr. Caius, her father’s choice. Alice will make sure that her daughter is happily wed to Fenton. Meg, Dame Quickly, and Nanetta depart, each to play her part in the practical joke on Falstaff. Falstaff arrives on cue, and immediately begins his seduction of Alice, only to be interrupted (as planned) by Dame Quickly, who warns that Meg is on her way. Alarmed, Falstaff hides. Meg enters (as planned) to tell Alice that an enraged Ford is on his way, closely followed by Dame Quickly (not as planned) in a panic to announce that Ford really is incensed, and on his way with half the club membership following close behind. Before the women can respond, Ford bursts in, and he and his companions begin to search for Falstaff. In the confusion, the women bundle Falstaff into a basket filled with dirty pool towels. When Ford leaves to search elsewhere, Alice has the staff push the laundry, Falstaff and all, into the pool. When Ford returns, confounded, Alice points out Falstaff floundering in the pool amongst the towels.
ACT III
SCENE 1, COUNTRY CLUB SAUNA
Humiliated, Falstaff sits in the sauna seeking consolation. Dame Quickly enters and manages to convince him that Alice meant no harm and tells him that Alice has planned a tryst with him this very night at midnight. Falstaff should come costumed as Herne the Hunter. As the two continue to discuss their plans, the rest of the conspirators—including Ford—solidify the details of the prank. Everyone will be in costume as various fairies and sprites, while Nanetta will play the Faerie Queen. Surreptitiously, Ford takes Dr. Caius aside to ensure that he will be able to recognize Caius in costume so that he may give Caius and Nanetta his blessing and announce their engagement. Dame Quickly sees the two conspirators, however, and understands what they are plotting. She returns to the other women to finish planning.
SCENE 2, COUNTRY CLUB GARDEN
Dressed for a masquerade ball, all the conspirators await the arrival of Falstaff. While they wait, Fenton sings a love song to Nanetta. Falstaff arrives as requested in full costume and resumes his interrupted seduction of Alice, only to be startled by the arrival of the club members dressed as forest spirits determined to thrash Falstaff. Eventually, as he is pinched, poked, and laughed at, Falstaff recognizes Bardolfo as one of his tormentors and the jig is up. All is revealed in laughter, and Falstaff joins in ruefully. Ford then calls forth a masked couple (whom he assumes are Dr. Caius and Nanetta) so that he can bless their betrothal. As the couple steps forward, Alice presents a second masked couple who wish to wed. Grandly, Ford blesses all four. When the two couples unmask, they discover that Ford has married Nanetta to Fenton and Dr. Caius to Bardolfo. Falstaff guffaws and everyone joins in singing that he who laughs last, laughs best.
CAST & CREW BIOS
NICHOLAS FOX
PRONOUNS: he/him
HOMETOWN: Los Angeles, CA
ROLE: Conductor/Chorus Master
PORTLAND OPERA DEBUT: Conductor, The Elixir of Love, 2015
RECENTLY: Conductor, Puccini: In Concert , Portland Opera; Conductor, The Nutcracker, Oregon Ballet Theatre; Conductor, Giselle , Oregon Ballet Theatre
UPCOMING: Conductor, Carmen , Opera in the Park, Portland
DAVID RADAMÉS TORO
PRONOUNS: he/him
HOMETOWN: Colorado Springs, CO
ROLE: Stage Director
PORTLAND OPERA DEBUT
RECENTLY: Stage Director, Cruzar la Cara de la Luna , Austin Opera; L’Orfeo , Arizona State University; Zorro , Opera San Jose
UPCOMING: Stage Director, Zorro , Arizona Opera; Assistant Stage Director, Le nozze di Figaro , Washington National Opera; Stage Director, Tosca , Florentine Opera
JOHN BOELLING Tenor
PRONOUNS: he/him
HOMETOWN: Astoria, OR
ROLE: Dr. Caius
PORTLAND OPERA DEBUT: Chorus member for over 20 years
RECENTLY: Schoolmaster/Mosquito, The Cunning Little Vixen , Opera Theater Oregon; Quartet Member, Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris , Key City Public Theater; Tenor Soloist, Christ on the Mount of Olives , Bravo! Vancouver
UPCOMING: El Remendado, Carmen , Opera in the Park, Portland
DARREN DRONE
Baritone
PRONOUNS: he/him
HOMETOWN: Sherwood, AR
ROLE: Falstaff
PORTLAND OPERA DEBUT
RECENTLY: Amonastro, Aida , Dayton Opera; Tonio, Pagliacchi , Utah Opera; Pandolfe, Cendrillon , Opera Orlando; Edmnd Watkins, Jubilee , Seattle Opera; Melchior, Amahl and the Night Visitors , The Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle
UPCOMING: Germont, La Traviata , Berkshire Opera Festival
NATHANIEL CATASCA
Tenor
PRONOUNS: he/him
HOMETOWN: Albuquerque, NM
ROLE: Bardolfo
PORTLAND OPERA DEBUT: Soloist, The Juliet Letters , 2024
RECENTLY: Radio Announcer, Two Corners , Finger Lakes Opera; Le Remendado, Carmen , Sarasota Opera; Ferrando, Così fan tutte , Opera Arlington
MATTHEW MAISANO
Baritone
PRONOUNS: they/them
HOMETOWN: Philadelphia, PA
ROLE: Pistola
PORTLAND OPERA DEBUT: Soloist, The Juliet Letters , 2024
RECENTLY: Soloist, The Juliet Letters , Portland Opera; Director/Gendarme, Les mamelles de Tirésias , Hogfish; Sergeant, La Bohème , Opera Philadelphia; Leporello, Don Giovanni , Lancaster Symphony
ERIN ROTH THOMAS
Mezzo-Soprano
PRONOUNS: she/her
HOMETOWN: Lufkin, TX
ROLE: Meg Page
PORTLAND OPERA DEBUT: Soloist, The Juliet Letters , 2024
RECENTLY: Juditha, Juditha Triumphans ; American Baroque Opera); Acis, Acis y Galatea , American Baroque Opera; Soloist, Mahler Symphony No. 2 , Plano Symphony Orchestra
UPCOMING: Alto Soloist, Messiah , Canterbury Singers; Resident Artist, Santa Fe Desert Chorale Winter Festival
KEARSTIN PIPER BROWN
Soprano
PRONOUNS: she/her
HOMETOWN: Rochester, NY
ROLE: Alice Ford
PORTLAND OPERA DEBUT
RECENTLY: Mimi, La Bohème , Opera San José; Evelyn, Fire Shut Up In My Bones , The Metropolitan Opera; Nedda, Pagliacci , Florida Grand Opera
UPCOMING: Wendy, The Shining , Utah Opera
REHANNA THELWELL
Mezzo-Soprano
PRONOUNS: she/her
HOMETOWN: Avenel, NJ
ROLE: Dame Quickly
PORTLAND OPERA DEBUT
RECENTLY: Kendra Smith, The Cook Off, Nashville Opera; Rose, The Listeners , Opera Philadelphia; Mother Goose, The Rakes Progress , Opera Omaha
UPCOMING: Death, Complications in Sue , Opera Philadelphia; Aunt Sue, Highway 1 , Detroit Opera; Marcellina, Le nozze di Figaro , Atlanta Opera
EMMA PETERSEN Soprano
PRONOUNS: she/her
HOMETOWN: Tucson, AZ
ROLE: Nanetta
PORTLAND OPERA DEBUT
RECENTLY: Second Wood Sprite, Rusalka , Pacific Northwest Opera; Violetta, La Traviata , Bellevue Opera; Zerlina, Don Giovanni , Opera Tampa
UPCOMING: Musetta, La Bohème , Bellevue Opera; Gretel, Hansel und Gretel , Vashon Opera
YI LI Tenor
PRONOUNS: he/him
HOMETOWN: Jinan, China
ROLE: Fenton
PORTLAND OPERA DEBUT
RECENTLY: Rodolfo, La Bohème , Opera Tampa; Rodolfo, La Bohème , Hawaii Opera Theatre; Canio, Pagliacci , Hawaii Opera Theatre; Fenton, Falstaff, Maryland Lyric Opera
STEPHEN GAERTNER Baritone
PRONOUNS: he/him
HOMETOWN: New York, NY
ROLE: Ford
PORTLAND OPERA DEBUT: Enrico, Lucia di Lammermoor, 2004
RECENTLY: Macbeth, Verdi’s Macbeth , Opéra de Dijon; Scarpia, Tosca , Sarasota Opera; Tamar, Zingari , Opera Rara [UK]
UPCOMING: Giorgio Germont, La Traviata , Teatro Municipal de Santiago
GINAIA BLACK Soprano
PRONOUNS: she/her
HOMETOWN: Birmingham, AL
ROLE: Nannetta (Cover)
PORTLAND OPERA DEBUT: Soloist, The Juliet Letters , 2024
RECENTLY: Soloist, The Juliet Letters , Portland Opera; Nuria/Ainadamar/Juliette, Roméo et Juliette , Indiana University Opera and Ballet and Theater; Shannon (Cover), The Righteous , Santa Fe Opera
RECENTLY: Projection Designer, The Skin of Our Teeth , Seattle Rep; Senery and Video Designer, Dark Sisters , Orpheus PDX; Resident Artist (Scenery & Video), Artists Repertory Theatre
SYDNEY GALLAS
HOMETOWN: New York
ROLE: Costume Designer
PORTLAND OPERA DEBUT
RECENTLY: Eugene Onegin , Louisiana State University School of Music; Ariadne auf Naxos , Indiana Universty Jacobs School of Music; Man of La Mancha , Dirty Rotten Scoundrels , Matilda , Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center; Oklahoma! , Weston Playhouse; Jane Eyre , Cleveland Musical Theatre
NIC VINCENT
PRONOUNS: he/him
HOMETOWN: New York City/Toronto
ROLE: Lighting Designer
PORTLAND OPERA DEBUT
RECENTLY: Nina Simone: Four Women , Indiana Repertory Theater; Christmas Carol, Geva Theater; Skeleton Crew, Guthrie Theater
DAVID MURAKAMI
PRONOUNS: he/him
HOMETOWN: Los Angeles, CA
ROLE: Projection Designer
PORTLAND OPERA DEBUT: Projection Designer, The Shining , 2025
RECENTLY: Ainadamar at Opéra de Montréal, American Idiot at the Mark Taper Forum, and American Apollo at Des Moines Metro Opera
UPCOMING: Aida , Arizona Opera; Harvey Milk , Opera Parallèle
SARA BEUKERS
PRONOUNS: she/her
HOMETOWN: San Jose, CA
ROLE: Hair & Makeup Designer
PORTLAND OPERA DEBUT: Wig and Makeup Designer, Belle Helene , 2001
RECENTLY: Wig and Makeup Department Head, The Hard Nut , Mark Morris Dance Group; Wig and Makeup Designer, Acis, Galatea and Polyphemus & The Rose Elf, OrpheusPDX; La Bohème, LOON Opera; La Bohème, Orpheus PDX; Marilyn , Oregon Ballet Theater; The Shining , Portland Opera
UPCOMING: Wig Designer, Chris Grace as Scarlet Johansson , Portland Center Stage
CLAIRE CHOQUETTE
PRONOUNS: she/her
HOMETOWN: Dallas, TX
ROLE: Assistant Director
PORTLAND OPERA DEBUT
RECENTLY: Director, Little Women , Fort Worth Opera; Scalia/Ginsburg , Charlottesville Opera; Lucia di Lammermoor, Painted Sky Opera
UPCOMING: Assistant Director, Le nozze di Figaro, Wolf Trap Opera; Director, Studio Spotlight , Wolf Trap Opera; Director, The Handmaid’s Tale , Temple University
KRISTIN MUN-VAN HOY
PRONOUNS: she/her
HOMETOWN: Mililani, HI
ROLE: Intimacy Coordinator
PORTLAND OPERA DEBUT
RECENTLY: Intimacy Coordinator, Samsara , Profile Theatre; Intimacy Coordinator & Fight Choreographer, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Portland Center Stage; Fight Choreographer, Passover, Corrib Theatre
UPCOMING: Conductor, The Marriage of Figaro , Hawaii Performing Arts Festival
CLAIRE FORSTMAN
PRONOUNS: she/her
HOMETOWN: Birmingham, AL
ROLE: Principal Accompanist
PORTLAND OPERA DEBUT: Music Staff, Chorus Rehearsal Pianist, The Marriage of Figaro, 2023
RECENTLY: Pianist, Amahl and the Night Visitors , Ping and Woof Opera; Music Director, The Gift of the Magi , Portland State University; Pianist, The Blacknificent 7, Resonance Ensemble; Principal pianist, The Juliet Letters , Portland Opera
JORDAN LEE BRAUN
PRONOUNS: S he/they
HOMETOWN: Chicago, IL
ROLE: Assistant Stage Manager
PORTLAND OPERA DEBUT
RECENTLY: Director, Madama Butterfly , Canadian Opera Company; Assistant Director, Der Rosenkavalier, Santa Fe Opera; Director, The Scorpion’s Sting , Lyric Unlimited (Lyric Opera of Chicago)
UPCOMING: Assistant Director, Turn of the Screw, Santa Fe Opera; Assistant Director, Medea , Lyric Opera of Chicago; Assistant Director, Salome , Lyric Opera of Chicago
KAREN HILL
PRONOUNS: she/they
HOMETOWN: Portland, OR
ROLE: Assistant Stage Manager
PORTLAND OPERA DEBUT: Eugene Onegin , 2016
RECENTLY: Assistant Stage Manager, La Cenerentola, La Finta Giardiniera, American Quartet, Portland Opera
DIRECTOR’S NOTES
by David Radamés Toro
By the 19th century, translations of Shakespeare’s works into other European languages had improved immensely. Verdi kept a copy of Carlo Rusconi and Giulio Carcano translations by his bedside. His love for the bard led him to adapt three of Shakespeare’s plays— Macbeth, Otello, and Falstaff. MacBeth was written in 1847 in Verdi’s late early period, and it would be another 40 years before he would collaborate with Arrigo Boito to adapt Othello for the operatic stage. In addition to being a librettist, Boito was a skilled opera composer. It was his understanding of musical and dramatic languages that made him the prefect match for Verdi and Shakespeare. Unlike Francesco Maria Piave and Andrea Maffei, the librettists for Macbetto, Boito seemed to have understood the flow of Shakespeare’s language in a way that better preserved the sonic symbolism of the source material. After the success of Otello, this dream team collaborated on what would be Verdi’s last opera- Falstaff.
Falstaff is an adaptation of The Merry Wives of Windsor, with excerpts of Henry IV parts 1 and 2 to fill in a little more of Sir John Falstaff’s backstory. The play itself could be considered a parody of seventeenth century comedy in which members of the noble class prey on married couples to line their own pockets. This style of comedy relied on the trope of the cuckold and the merry wife—the merry wife being associated with feasting and entertainment and in opposition to “proper wives” who showed temperance and modesty. Sir John falsely assumes that Mistresses Page and Ford are this sort of merry. He, being broke and delusional of his looks and charms, writes the following two married women:
“You are merry; so am I. Ha, ha, then, there’s more sympathy.”
Surprising to our two heroes, they have no idea what would have made him assume they were “merry” for him. Using the merry wife trope as a tool, they plan to ensnare the corpulent knight and expose his scheming nature to everyone. Their husbands, however, are no better than Falstaff in assuming that, as women, they would be susceptible to the wooing of a nobleman, and in turn must teach them a lesson as well. The women of Windsor are the smartest people on the stage, able to out-scheme the schemers through mirth and merriment.
Verdi and Boito understood Shakespeare’s characters and took very few liberties in adapting the play for Italian audiences. There is a loyalty to the comedy with an understanding that they did not need to perfect perfection. However, they seemed to have done just that. Falstaff is a perfect operatic comedy with humor and music so tightly woven together, that nothing is superfluous.
There are two perfect comedies in opera, Le nozze di Figaro, whose humor and wordplay is Shakespearean in nature, and this piece, Falstaff It is no surprise that both shows demonstrate the wit and strength of women against reactionary men who underestimate them based solely on their gender. As in all comedies, there is a return to the status quo, but I would like to think that after Sir John is exposed and humiliated, he takes time to evaluate his direction in life—we see a hint of this in his Act 3 scena, “Va, vechhio John, va per al tua via.” Perhaps after the night at Herne’s Oak, Master Ford learned to never underestimate women. Even Pistole and Bardolfo could learn to better assess potential heroes— the nobility are not as virtuous as they would want us to believe.
DIGITAL ART MEETS TRADITION IN THE 21ST CENTURY
by David Murakami
As a projection designer, I consider myself a trespasser, questioning the barriers we erect between media and passionately pursuing new technologies as they intersect in film, theatre, and opera. However, my eagerness to destroy is built upon a purpose of preservation. The integration of digital media and traditional live performance is at once inevitable and impossible. Vast new possibilities are opened by imposing the digital upon the stage, replacing sets, costumes, props, and even bodies. Though seen by many as the salvation for live performance, the cinematic is, at its core, incompatible with much of the operatic form. In the living space of the stage, we know nothing is real. The singer embodies the character. The scenery represents the place. Nothing is itself…until projections are introduced. The photorealism bypasses the dramatic and is elevated to the dogmatic, much like the director’s statement in the playbill. Projections are both gilded and gelded by the real.
My work serves to conquer this disunion, using new technologies not as fetishized spectacles, but as integrated and borderless scenic elements, supporting and honoring the essential traditions of theatre by extending reality, not replacing it. As Herbert Blau says in Blooded Thought , “the
one inalienable and arcane truth of theatre is that the living person performing there may die in front of your eyes, and is in fact doing so.” My work is defined in its own destruction, through fragmentation, negative space, mutability by live gesture, and an abandonment of screens in favor of ghosted and fully immersive projections which can be obscured, bled out, and interrupted. I give my projections a body so that they may die. I walk the line between conqueror and custodian, heathen and acolyte, and am governed above all by an uncompromising passion for the ephemerality of live performance.
In Falstaff, Director David Toro’s concept set within an old money country club leverages projections which are not immersive or allencompassing, but restrained as slices of hyperreality, limited in scope and confined to tall scenic panels, interrupted and fractured. At the time of writing, our design team’s imagination continues to wander freely, using the latest tools of generative AI cautiously as we explore how the digital image can build upon the music, honoring rather than upstaging it. In this project, and into the future as opera continues to thrive and evolve, we will continue to explore the seemingly limitless opportunities projected media allows, from the masterful brushwork of the great impressionists to the kitschy sincerity of the humble disposable camera.
ODD COUPLES: SHAKESPEAREAN OPERA MEETS VERDIAN COMEDY
by Dr. Harry Baechtel, PSU
Perhaps it should be unsurprising that the lifespan and stunning output of the great playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616) overlapped with the birth of opera in Italy. After all, the plays of Shakespeare have been operatically treated hundreds of times in a multitude of styles and languages over the years. Indeed, there have been well over 200 settings for the operatic stage since 1945 alone. It may, however, surprise some readers to learn that the greatest flowering of the use of Shakespeare as fodder for operatic libretti took place in the romantic era, more than two centuries after the great bard’s death.
The early aims of opera were inextricably intertwined with a broader effort around the turn of the 17th century by the Florentine Camerata to “reproduce” an entertainment that drew on Greek narratives and priorities. This project, undertaken by a small group of Florence’s educated and wealthy elite, was spurred by the spreading fashion for translating ancient Greek texts, and pursuing the theatrical and musical ideals that were derived from this work. While it took centuries and many wholesale changes to the genre, the ultimate marriage of Shakespeare and opera has been a fascinatingly rich one. They share numerous characteristic traits including secular plot lines, comedic qualities that have inspired compositional inventiveness, and in many cases, tragic outcomes that find ample nourishment in the fertile ground of romantic musical drama and the growing taste for unhappy endings in the 19th century.
Many consider the greatest champion of operatic Shakespeare to be the figure of Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) with his remarkable late settings of
Otello (1887) and Falstaff (1893), and his earlier Macbeth (1847). Interestingly, Verdi considered operatic versions of Hamlet, The Tempest, Cymbeline, Romeo and Juliet , and Antony and Cleopatra before ultimately abandoning these projects. He was also well aware of the successful efforts that were in the existing repertoire of Gioachino Rossini’s t (1816) as well as Otto Nicolai’s The Merry Wives of Windsor (1849). Perhaps the relative popularity of these operas, as well as Verdi’s ambition to improve upon the models, led him to make these stories his final operatic statements.
It can be argued convincingly that there is a certain disfiguring of the brilliance of Shakespeare’s narratives in these musical treatments. Both sublime and wonderfully ridiculous texts have been bent to serve the needs of melody, rhythm, a librettist’s translation, vocal virtuosity, and the many other demands of the operatic theater. Nonetheless, audiences have been remarkably forgiving of such shortcomings over the years, and have embraced hearing these works in the heightened sonic environs of opera.
In the opinion of this writer, and with Benjamin Britten’s brilliant setting of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1960) as perhaps co-equal, no greater exhibition exists of the ability to provide musical, theatrical atmosphere in setting Shakespeare than is found in these late scores of Verdi. While the plots have been truncated, and the words translated, sometimes to their disadvantage, the narratives and overall style remain largely intact. The full flowering of Verdi’s complex, chromatic, late-romantic, and at times almost Wagnerian
approach to composition in these years, in tandem with the well-oiled, Italianate admixture of advantageous vocal lines that serve the singer, the dramatic moment, and the bel canto tradition, provide a rich foil for these stories, allowing us to hear two geniuses at the heights of their powers joining forces across a nearly 300-year span.
After Verdi’s triumphant collaboration with Arrigo Boito as librettist for Otello, Verdi began to nurture anew his long-held ambition to write a successful comic opera. Gioachino Rossini had once proclaimed that he felt Verdi was incapable of writing comedy. Perhaps Verdi took that as a late-life challenge, particularly after the failure of his early attempt at comedy in the opera Un giorno di regno (1840). Whatever the case, on the heels of their success with Otello, and in full awareness of Verdi’s inclination, Boito secretly set about preparing a libretto based on Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor. He condensed the number of characters by roughly half, and purposely adopted an archaic approach to the Italian in his translation in an effort to capture the style of Shakespeare’s English. He also included passages from other Shakespeare works, notably Henry IV, adding a healthy dose of gravitas to the character of Falstaff that he felt was needed for an operatic reading of the story.
Verdi was thrilled with Boito’s effort after receiving it in 1889, but was also concerned
about completing such a large undertaking at the relatively advanced age of 76. There was the risk of health concerns, which would in fact prove to delay the project at points, but also a chance that he might damage his reputation in attempting to write a comedy that would likely be his last opera. Fortunately for posterity and for the operatic repertoire, he took on the challenge anyway, and truly recreated himself compositionally in these later years. The process had many false starts, second guesses and revisions, even after the premiere, but it finally found its way to the stage at La Scala in 1893, with Verdi’s favored baritone Victor Maurel in the title role.
Falstaff was not an immediate success, and it seems to have taken a while for audiences to adjust their expectations to Verdi’s new, comedic techniques. The pace is faster than many of his operas, and the harmonic language is inventive and preposterously grandiose to suit both Falstaff’s character, as well as the wit and whim of the vibrant cast in Shakespeare’s comedy. And, there are far fewer of the broad singable tunes and choruses that had made Verdi so internationally beloved. Thankfully advocacy for the work by a host of great conductors, including first Arturo Toscanini, and later Herbert von Karajan and Leonard Bernstein, did their part in firmly establishing Falstaff in the standard repertory, and effectively securing for Verdi a hearty and long-tailed last laugh.
GRAND DELINQUENCIES AND GRANDILOQUENCE
by Portland Journalist Marty Hughley
Part of the legend of Sir John Falstaff is that Queen Elizabeth I so enjoyed the character in Shakespeare’s Henry IV that she wanted the playwright to feature him in a third play, one that would show Falstaff in love. Did she get it? What Shakespeare gives us—as does Arrigo Boito, in turn, in his libretto for the Verdi opera Falstaff —is the errant, amoral knight with the limitless lust for life shown in the realm of love; that is, in the domestic sphere, rather than amid the political matters that dominate the Henry plays.
Yes, seduction is his game, as he sets out to woo two wealthy married women at once. But money is his aim, not love or even lechery. This knight is no romantic warrior, just a pocketbook mercenary.
Then again, he is very much in love – with what money can buy, with pleasure, idleness, food and wine, attention and regard. And, of course, with himself.
That may be why we—from Elizabeth on down, through centuries of theater, opera and film fans—love him, too. He’s hugely witty, of course. But more than with any other single character in Shakespeare’s canon, we all, instinctively, recognize him. He is the enlarged embodiment of something we all possess, in one form or another: appetite. Emma Smith, in her book “This Is Shakespeare,” points out the uncommon amount of attention paid to his fatness, “or, to put it another way, Falstaff is the most insistently physical character Shakespeare ever wrote.” We may not all have, say, Hamlet’s melancholy or Iago’s malevolence, but we all have bodies that make us want things.
It’s too simplistic, though, to view Falstaff as merely a rampaging id, an uber-consumer, or just a charming reprobate. His speeches rejecting
conventional notions of courage, honor and such are self-serving, but they aren’t mere sophistry. As Charles Boyce, author of several reference books on Shakespeare, puts it, “he deflates pretension with the needle of his satire, and he counters excessive rigour with his entertainingly flexible morals.” Orson Welles, whose film Chimes at Midnight leaned into the tragic aspect of Falstaff’s ill-fated friendship with Prince Hal (who banishes him, presumably before the further indignities in Windsor), defended the knight’s virtues, calling him “a spokesman, you might say, for merry England, the old merry England…when even villainy was innocent.” And the author Anthony Burgess championed Falstaff’s appeal “to those who see no virtue in war, government propaganda, sour puritanism, hard work, pedantry…” Falstaff’s de facto self-defense in Henry IV, Part 1—“Banish plump Jack, and banish all the world”— is an argument for not just the sensual but the sensuous, the natural, the life-giving. He’s Shakespeare’s greatest tool for balancing what Boyce calls “pleasurable delinquencies” with the need for social order; he’s a literary spirit level.
Yet, for all the moral complexity Shakespeare builds into even a lighthearted caper such as the “Merry Wives” story (simplified but not essentially altered in Boito’s rendering), he nonetheless chooses a side. Living in a time of political, social and religious uncertainty, and working under the watchful eye of royal authority, Shakespeare can imbue plump Jack with as many delightful qualities as despicable ones, but he can’t let him win. In his characteristic extremity, Falstaff represents vitality, but also dissipation, freedom and also chaos. Whether in the field of war and governance with Hal/Henry or that of domestic relations in Windsor, he is a destabilizing force that must be reined in.
But that doesn’t mean, of course, that we can’t still love him.
PORTLAND OPERA STAFF
GENERAL DIRECTOR
Sue Dixon
INTERIM MUSIC DIRECTOR & ARTISTIC ADVISOR
Damien Geter
ARTISTIC ADVISOR
Karen Slack
FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION
Melissa Buxton, Chief Financial Officer
Paul Lovincey, Human Resources Generalist
PRODUCTION
Anna B. Labykina, Director of Production
Kyle Spens, Technical and Production Director
Jon Wangsgard, Stage & Production Manager
Christine A. Richardson, Costume Director
Sara Beukers, Wig and Makeup Supervisor
Cindy Felice, Properties Director
Sumi Wu, Interim Properties Director
Carl Faber, Lighting Supervisor and Assistant Lighting Designer
Pascaline LeFèbvre, Production Coordinator
Jaison Stagg, Production Carpenter
Iain Chester, Warehouse Head
Jordan Braun, Assistant Stage Manager
Karen Hill, Assistant Stage Manager
Jeffery Wilson, Tailor/Draper
Lillian Hannahs, Draper
Kelli McDonough, Draper
Morgan Reaves, Wardrobe Supervisor
Claudie Fisher, Ray Nokes-Borge, Daniel Wilson, Properties Assistants
Mark M. James, Production Electrician
Jenessa Raabe, Pre-Production Electrician
ARTISTIC & MUSIC
Alfrelynn Roberts, Director of Artistic Planning and Operations
Alexis Hamilton, Manager of Education & Community Engagement
Nicholas Fox, Chorus Master & Assistant Conductor
Cressa Burris, Artistic Administrator
Ethan Cope Richter, Music Administrator and Librarian
Quinn Kun Liu, Music Assistant
Jasmine Johnson, Corporate Relationship Manager
Jessica Crawford, Supertext Coordinator
Michael Hettwer, Orchestra Manager
Lindsey Rae Johnson, AGMA Delegate
Lisa Neher, Chorus Secretary
Paul Floyd, Pianist
EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
Christina Post, Director of Marketing & Communications
Lizzie Adelsheim, Marketing Project Manager
Ervanny Astari , Social Media Manager
Christy McGrew, Senior Manager, Sales and Audience Development
Chris Kim, Patron Services Supervisor
Magdalena Travis, Patron Services Representative
Carleena Manzi, Development Database Specialist
Alexis Walker, Development Assistant
BROADWAY IN PORTLAND
Tracy Wenckus, General Manager, Broadway
Ella Black, Broadway Ticketing & Database Manager
Bradford Johnson, Technical Liaison
Sophie Stebbins, Broadway Customer Service Representative
FOR THE KELLER AUDITORIUM
Marty Rugger, Head Carpenter
Jay Spottswood, Head Flyman
Scott Bartel, Head Propertyman
Alex Hammond, Head Electrician
Brandon Houget, Head Soundman
PORTLAND OPERA BOARD OF DIRECTORS
OFFICERS
Carole Morse, PRESIDENT , Past President, PGE Foundation
Curtis T. Thompson, MD, PAST PRESIDENT, President, Curtis T. Thompson & Associates
Kregg Arntson, VICE PRESIDENT , Director, Community Impact | Executive Director, PGE Foundation
Katherine de la Forest, Sr. Relationship Manager & Sr. Vice President, Key Private Bank
Carol Turner, Civic Volunteer
PORTLAND’5 CENTERS FOR THE ARTS
Portland’5 Centers for the Arts includes the Keller Auditorium, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, and Antoinette Hatfield Hall, comprising the Newmark Theatre, Dolores Winningstad Theatre, and Brunish Theatre. All are public facilities owned by the City of Portland and managed by Metro through the Metropolitan Exposition-Recreation Commission. Each year approximately one million people attend more than 1,000 performances in these facilities.
METRO
Lynn Peterson, Metro Council President
CITY OF PORTLAND
Keith Wilson, Mayor
METROPOLITAN EXPOSITIONRECREATION COMMISSION
Karis Stoudamire-Phillips, Chair
Damien Hall, Vice-Chair
Deidra Krys-Rusoff, SecretaryTreasurer
Dañel Malán-González
Chris Oxley
Deanna Palm
David Penilton
Craig Stroud, Visitor Venues General Manager
PORTLAND’5 CENTERS FOR THE ARTS
Rachael Lembo, Executive Director
Stephanie Torres De Los Santos, Director of Events
Stephanie Viegas Dias, Director of Ticket Services
Ruby Joy White, Director of Culture and Community
Nancy Strening, Director of Operations
Heather Wilton, Director of Programming, Booking, and Marketing
Dave Woodman, Levy Director of Operations
PORTLAND’5 CENTERS FOR THE ARTS ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Greg Brown
Jim Brunberg
Gus Castaneda, Chair
Elisa Dozono
Heather Kmetz
Jessica Lagunas
Antonio Lara
Chariti Montez
Ombrea Moore
Brian Sanders
Daniel A. Sullivan
Richard Wattenberg
Steve Wenig
PORTLAND OPERA MISSION & AUDIENCE STATEMENT
We gather and inspire audiences, artists, and collaborators to create shared opera experiences that enliven and connect us all, enhancing the cultural landscape of the beautiful Pacific Northwest.
We are proud to be Portland’s opera, and to share inclusive opera experiences. Our commitment to cultural equity continues to inform our audience policies and experiences. When we gather, it must be with respect and with care for the entire community.
Let us be clear: there is no place for bigotry, discrimination, hate, harassment, or intolerance at Portland Opera.
Behaviors that are disrespectful, discriminatory, or not aligned with our policies for attendance (including health and safety and firearm policies) will not be tolerated, and audience members may be asked to leave the premises and/or be prohibited from returning in the future.
COMMUNITY SUPPORT
We gratefully acknowledge the ongoing philanthropic support from our generous donors and funders, including James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Oregon Arts Commission, Oregon Community Foundation, Regional Arts and Culture Council, including support from the City of Portland, Multnomah County, and the Arts Education & Access Fund.
Portland Opera Association Inc. receives support from the Oregon Arts Commission, a state agency funded by the State of Oregon and the National Endowment for the Arts.
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Experience an intimate, one-night-only concert starring Renée Elise Goldsberry, the Tony and Grammy-winning artist best known for originating the role of Angelica Schuyler in the Broadway musical Hamilton
Poison Waters, Mistress of Ceremonies Ian Lindsay, Auctioneer
Saturday, June 21, 2025
6:00 – 10:00 PM World Trade Center Plaza Portland, OR Reserve your table or purchase a ticket today to the event of the summer. portlandopera.org/gala blenzi@portlandopera.org 503.241.1802
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SPARKLING THROUGH THE YEARS
Join us as we celebrate six dazzling decades and look ahead to the exciting years to come. For tickets go to portlandopera.org
THIRD ANGLE’S 25/26 SEASON CELEBRATES 40 YEARS OF SONIC ADVENTURES GROUNDED IN TIME & PLACE.
25/26 SEASON
LOVE THROUGH ADVERSITY
SEP 13–14, 2025
KAREN SLACK: AFRICAN QUEENS
Patricia Reser Center for the Arts
SEP 19–20, 2025
THE ELIXIR OF LOVE
Dolores Winningstad Theatre
NOV 15–23, 2025
LA BOHÈME
Keller Auditorium
DEC 12–21, 2025
EVEREST
World Trade Center Theatre
FEB 14–15, 2026
THE MAJESTY OF THE SPIRITUAL
World Trade Center Theatre
MAR 7–15, 2026
FELLOW TRAVELERS
Newmark Theatre
APR 17–26, 2026
STONE SOUP & FRIDA KAHLO AND THE BRAVEST GIRL IN THE WORLD
