Welcome back to the Mahalia Jackson, and to our final joyous, boot-stomping, fringe-swinging performance of this 2024/25 season. It’s a joy to preside over Ned Canty’s free-spirited, compelling version of Donizetti’s classic tale. We are delighted to welcome home Lindsey Reynolds as our leading lady today, a young soprano and NOCCA alumna who embodies the best of the city: incredible talent, tremendous dedication and a growing and impressive body of work. And she’s funny! Welcome home Lindsey, may it be the first of many working visits!
It is my ambition to make official what Lindsey has achieved by her own efforts and the support of numerous local organizations: an official young artist program for the opera that develops homegrown talent for the industry. Please reach out to us if you share this commitment to our young singers, there’s so much we can do for them together.
I can’t believe it’s been almost a year since I came to New Orleans! It’s been a inspiring whirlwind, and we’ve already announced our very special 2025/26 season, doubling the number of performances for our subscribers from 3 to 6 (provided you subscribe before Elixir closes, but even after that, you’ll still get 5!). I’m so proud of that expansion in offering, allow us to offer a greater range of work to reach the widest possible audience. This is possible thanks to creating new partnerships; and deepening existing ones, most especially with our good friends at the LPO. We hope you will join us in celebrating that new direction by subscribing early and spreading the word.
In addition to our autumn offerings, next season we will coalesce our largest operatic performances into early spring over a ten day period, in a unique new festival, New Orleans Opera Fest. The festival celebrates the 230th anniversary of opera’s arrival in North America via New Orleans, in 1796. We will be activating the historic heart of opera in NOLA, the French Quarter: all our performances will be within walking distance of the location of the Old French Opera House. Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier (last performed in New Orleans in 1975) will be here in the Mahalia Jackson, and we’ll walk over to the Ursuline Convent Museum for our unique celebration of the canonization this year of the sisters of Compiègne, with the professional premier in New Orleans of Dialogues des Carmelites in a site-specific production.
I’m delighted that Terence Blanchard returns to our stage next season. Fire Shut Up in my Bones has won plaudits across the national press, and we are honored to present the Fire suite here in Louisiana where the story originated.
You may have noticed we have a ‘new do,’ thanks to our friends at Buisson Creative. There’s a lot going on, so do check out our new website, subscribe to our newsletter and follow our social channels for our most up-to-date information. Thank you for being with us. You are our future.
Lila Palmer, General and Artistic Director
WELCOME
Welcome to the New Orleans Opera’s production of Elixir of Love, a comic masterpiece full of fun, romance and beautiful music. What’s more, its truly happy, joyful ending, makes this a fitting conclusion to our season.
We are so pleased to present Lindsey Reynolds as Adina today, as she returns home to New Orleans after great success around the world. And it’s great to welcome back stars of some of our previous productions – who can forget Matthew Swensen and Ashraf Sewailam’s elegant singing and comic antics in our Barber of Seville in 2022 — and to introduce great new talents as well. We are fortunate to have such artists of this caliber on our stage.
As I reflect on all we’ve been able to accomplish this season, I feel indebted to you, our audience, and to our generous donors for enabling us to stage these wonderful works of art. From our mainstage productions here at the Mahalia Jackson Theater to smaller scale concerts and our site-specific production of an opera at the Southern Food and Beverage Museum, we’re both excited and humbled to present great music and exciting drama to the city. But we couldn’t do any of it without your support and attendance.
Indeed, it’s you who ultimately make the operatic magic happen!
I am so pleased that you are here today, and I hope you enjoy the performance. I look forward to seeing you next season, when we’ll perform some exciting repertoire including Der Rosenkavalier and Dialogues of the Carmelites, explore some new venues as well as returning to the Mahalia, and reshape our season to include a springtime festival. I’m particularly excited to see an expansion in our programming with up to six productions included in the subscription.
And so, as our lovers ride off into the sunset at the end of today’s opera, we bid you “Addio” too and look forward to seeing you next season!
Emmet Geary, Jr., Board President
FROM THE DIRECTOR
Honestly, I have no idea why. Maybe it was my parents taking me to see The Sting at too impressionable an age. Or maybe a few too many viewings of Robert Preston in The Music Man, I don’t know. But the fact is I have a deep and abiding affection for tricksters and con-men. Of course, I’m not alone in this, or there would be no Sergeant Bilko, no Bugs Bunny, no Oceans 11, or...well, you get my point. That love of snake-oil salesmen is at least a part of why I’m so drawn to Elixir of Love, as Dr. Dulcamara is a perfect specimen of the breed: charming, funny, and utterly corrupt.
While purveyors of miracle cures have been around since before some enterprising young capitalist started selling thigh bones of St. Genesius in packs of a dozen, I do like to think that America has a special talent for creating and supporting hucksters. This opera debuted only a few short decades before a retired Chicago stage magician and his brother started selling Hamlin’s Wizard Oil, claiming it could cure pneumonia, cancer, diphtheria, earache, toothache, headache, and rabies. Their slogan was, ˝There is no Sore it will Not Heal, No Pain it will not Subdue."
More than that particular quirk, though, Elixir also showcases what I love most about Donizetti--his characters are so incredibly human. Who hasn’t had an unrequited crush? Or wished for a magical solution to their problems? Who hasn’t let jealousy drive them to say or do utterly ridiculous things? As with all great romantic comedies, we have a pretty good sense that love will prevail, but oh boy, the slings and arrows we feel until it does! Adina’s second act aria, “Prendi,” is one of the most romantic moments in all of opera, precisely because we have so much invested in the outcome. Watching her learn what love really means — kindness, generosity, openness — it gets me every time. As far as romantic moments go, it’s up there with “As you wish” and “I’m just a girl, standing in front of a boy…”
Basically, Elixir of Love is everything I love about opera: great tunes, strong story, belly laughs, a tear or three, a hero you can root for and a villain to boo. Who could ask for more?
Ned Canty, Stage Director
NOOA BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Mr. Emmet Geary, Jr. President
Mrs. Mary Chapman Albert Vice President
Dr. Nicolas Bazan
Mr. Peter Brigandi
Mr. Joseph Bruno
Mr. Arthur A. Crais Jr.
Miss Babs Deacon
Ms. Laura Donnaway
Dr. Patrick J. Dowling
Dr. Constance Gistand
Mr. Bruce A. Gordon
Mr. James C. Gulotta, Jr.
Ms. Pauline Hardin
Mrs. Adrea Heebe
Ms. Sonya K. Moore Treasurer
Mrs. Rania Khodr
Mrs. Elizabeth Mahorner Landis
Mrs. Christine LeBlanc
Ms. Rose McCabe LeBreton
Ms. Joanne Mantis
Mr. Edward F. Martin
Mr. Jonathan C. McCall
Dr. R. Ranney Mize
Dr. David W. Robinson-Morris
Ms. Ann Owens
Mr. Lawrence G. Pugh III
Dr. Everett Robert
Prof. Ronald J. Scalise, Jr. Secretary
Mr. Dwayne O. Littauer Immediate Past President
Mr. Gregory St. Etienne
Prof. Cynthia Samuel
Mr. Leopold Z. Sher
Mr. Kevin Sloan
Mrs. Harry C. (Claire) Stahel
Mrs. Charlotte Throop
Ms. Phyllis Treigle
Ms. Catherine Burns Tremaine
Ms. Jessica Williams
Dr. Rand Voorhies
Mr. Joseph Young
NOOA ADVISORY BOARD
Mr. Nathan Alvarez
Mrs. Virgene Biggers
Mrs. Margie Breeden
Ms. Elizabeth “Liz” Glaser Broekman
Ms. Michelle Butler
Dr. Mark Caldwell
Mrs. Eileen Capritto
Mrs. Kathy Christian
Ms. Rebeccka Coe
Ms. Joan Coulter
Mr. Georges Daou
Mrs. Thomas S. Davidson
Mrs. Monique R. Gougisha Doucette
Mrs. Betsy Dowling
Mr. Brooke Duncan
Dr. Charles L. Dupin
Mrs. Diane Dupin
Ms. Marlene Duronslet
Mr. Elroy W. Eckhardt
Mrs. Melissa Mason Gordon
Ms. Amanda Green
Mr. Douglas Grundmeyer
Mr. Michael Harold
Ms. Melissa Hess
Hon. Bernette J. Johnson
Ms. Givonna Joseph
Ms. Lisa Leone
Ms. Ann Mahorner
Mr. Frank Maselli
Ms. Norma Jean McClain
Mrs. Gail McKenna
Dr. Jane Cagan Miller
Mrs. Susan Garic Mitchell
Mrs. Pat Murrell
Mr. Ernest L. O’Bannon
Prof. Amy Pfrimmer
Ms. Ashley Pradel
Dr. Alan E. Sheen
Mrs. Brittany Sloan
Mrs. Sonda Stacey
Ms. Diana Stieffel
Dr. Peter M. Tufton
Mr. Christopher Walker
Ms. Debby Hirsch Wood
music by Gaetano Donizetti
libretto by Felice Romani
based on Eugène Scribe’s adaptation of Daniel Auber’s Le Philtre
presents Friday, April 4, 7:30pm Sunday, April 6, 2:30pm Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts
Elixir of Love ........................Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848)
Act I The Potion
INTERMISSION
Act II A Wedding
The performance will last approximately 2 hours 15 minutes.
The Elixir of Love is generously sponsored, in part, by Lexus of New Orleans. This production is supported by a grant from the New Orleans Theatre Association (NOTA). Conductors for New Orleans Opera are generously sponsored by the Jerry W. Zachary and Henry Bernstein Fund for the New Orleans Opera Association. The Student Night Out program is made possible with generous support from The Louise Baehr Martin Memorial Fund.
Italy, 1836 THE WILD WEST, maybe even LOUISIANA, 1880-something
Giannetta and a group of farmhands are finishing their morning harvesting. Nemorino, a poor labourer, watches Adina from a distance, mooning over her while he mopes about his poverty. Adina tells the gathered villagers the story of Tristan and Isolde, which she’s been reading, and how Tristan won Isolde’s affection with a love potion. Clearly, she hasn’t gotten to the end.
Sergeant Belcore, the dictionary definition of a pompous martinet, enters with his regiment of soldiers to a march strongly redolent of the circus. Catching one glimpse of Adina, he immediately introduces himself and asks her to marry him. Why start small? Adina declares that she is in no hurry to be married but promises to think over the offer. Everyone else disperses, and Adina tells Nemorino he should stop pursuing her and go look after his sick uncle. This suggestion is ignored.
Who rolls up next? None other than the Harold Hill of the Bayou, the King of Quacks, Doctor Dulcamara, pushing his latest cureall. When Nemorino asks about love potions, he grabs his lunch wine and improvises, rebranding Bordeaux as the magical elixir. Of course, he says, results will not be obvious until the second day, by which time he will have shoved the money in his sock and high-tailed it out of town. Nemorino buys the ‘potion’ with his last nickel and immediately drinks it.
With the inescapable logic of someone who’s just drunk an entire bottle of wine in one go, Nemorino convinces himself the potion is working and he will be irresistible to Adina the next day. Surprised and hurt by his change in affect, she bats her eyelashes at Belcore, telling him they can marry within a week. Giannetta runs in with news: Belcore and his regiment are recalled and must leave in the morning. Adina invites the entire village to a wedding that day, to Nemorino’s shock. Desperate, he calls for the Doctor’s aid.
A wedding
The village swings into wedding preparations. Dulcamara, who should really be halfway down the road, can’t resist a party and entertains the crowd in a duet with Adina. She, meanwhile, is miffed that Nemorino hasn’t shown up. The crowd moves off to see the contract be signed, and Dulcamara stays behind to stuff himself. A desperate Nemorino appears, broke, and asks for a faster-acting elixir. The doctor, full of his own philanthropy, loftily grants Nemorino time to borrow the money. Belcore returns, as Adina has delayed the signing, and offers Nemorino an enlistment contract to pay the Doctor. What will happen next? Will Nemorino get his Adina? Will Dulcamara go into the wine business? Will Belcore and Nemorino begin an odd-couple comedy routine? Stay tuned and enjoy the conclusion of… ELIXIR OF LOVE
By Joshua Anand Slater
“So, Tristan and Isolde. But funny.” Were I to go on to the Italian Shark Tank 1 and try to get Mark Cuban to support bel canto, this would be my pitch. We probably wouldn’t be sponsored, though, on account of a slander lawsuit from the associated producers of Bordeaux wine.
Nota bene: Bel canto is the style in which Donizetti wrote opera – whether serious, like Lucia di Lammermoor, or buffa, as in Elixir. Not to be confused with the old Broadway style of Can Belto, in which Ethel Merman sings everything as loud as she can, bel canto is devoted to the beauty and flexibility of the voice, with profundity a matter of second consideration. But there’s one thing they always are: FUN. In today’s opera you will hear the ancestors of musical comedy and the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan, including the magnificent patter song “Udite, udite!”
Speaking of patter songs: does anyone else remember the classified ads in the magazines we read as adolescents? They were less obscene than modern spam, but with an earnestness from an older era. I mean of course the back pages of Boys’ Life and other such sophisticated monthly journals. Ads for “MUSCLES? In Days!”, “Sea Monkeys”, Whoopee cushions, hovercraft (“you can float on air! FREE iron on patch with purchase.”). And of course, the inevitable, that relic from at least Roman times if not earlier: the love potion. Who hasn’t been a bit desperate in love? Overwhelmed by the rakish grin, the sparkling eye, the high cheekbone? Now imagine, like our friend Nemorino, that you’re a bit of a dolt. Affable, friendly, and losing at three-card monte… every week. Let’s face it: Nemorino would fall for this stuff. And can we blame him? Have you never watched the numbers on the MegaPowerMaximumGazillions lottery creep up and had a tiny sliver of hope creep in, only to find yourself ten minutes later making a mental Excel sheet with an intricate plan to spend the money? Have you never wished for a little supernatural nudge to catch the eye of that gorgeous brunette whose eyes are only outsparkled by her wit? 2
Enter the antagonist and the opportunist here. Belcore is the opportunist, a two-bit puffed-up non-com, but he knows two things about Adina: she is unmarried, and she owns property. Just the thing to improve his status! And Dulcamara knows an essential of human nature: everyone has a problem, and most people are willing to pay for a shortcut to solve it. Hence, his miracle elixir for all ills, and, in a pinch, the love potion Nemorino needs. That it happens to be a spare bottle of Bordeaux he has hanging around his person has no effect on his proclaimed conviction of its virtues. Adina, on the other hand, seems to have more or less what she needs already; comfortable, with books to read and no immediate crisis, she is perfectly happy to carry on, until she realises that Nemorino’s steady sunshine has turned away. What will she do? Stay tuned and find out…
Want to know more?
My best advice for you: skip the magical elixirs, and bring flowers! Consider a nice dinner, or especially tickets to the opera… Elixir of Love has been often recorded, with my favourite featuring Luciano Pavarotti and Kathleen Battle in their prime. Sadly, I don’t think Caruso and Toscanini recorded their famous rendition in which Caruso had to repeat una furtiva lagrima, Nemorino’s lynchpin aria, three times. The Metropolitan Opera broadcasts a very nice one regularly featuring Pretty Yende and Matthew Polenzani.
Donizetti was in a giant rush for Elixir and whipped it off in six weeks. However it shares all the hallmarks of his great operas: Lucia di Lammermoor, La fille du régiment, Lucrezia Borgia, among others. Have a listen to any of these for clear textures allowing the voice to bloom, dramatic subtleties woven into the text, and the stirring undercurrent of period politics.
Speaking of period politics, we have included in this programme an excerpt from Francesco Izzo’s Laughter between two revolutions: Opera Buffa in Italy 1831-1848 which is a superb in-depth guide to the place of opera within a society undergoing cataclysmic change. If you enjoyed The Leopard on Netflix, this will help fill in some background.
A word on Bordeaux wine. While it may only be the second best wine producing region in France (Bordeaux fans who wish to duel may line up outside the Mahalia after the party), Bordeaux produces highly refined blends of the brothers Cabernet and cousin Merlot. So please, don’t drink a bottle in one gulp by yourself. It won’t get you love, and in New Orleans, it’s in very poor taste. Instead, try a wine tasting at one of our superb local suppliers!
1 (Carro dell Squallo? Tana del Drago?? Sadly, the Italian version is called Shark Tank Italia, which has a certain je ne sais pourquoi you bothered )
2 Ok, this one might just be me. I didn’t use Bordeaux, though.
Laughter between Two Revolutions: Opera Buffa in Italy, 1831-1848
by Francesco Izzo. Boydell & Brewer Ltd, London, 2013.
Chapter One Opera Buffa in 1832
Il nuovo Figaro and L'elisir d'amore
Cielo, si può morir...
[Heaven, one could die ...]
—Felice
Romani, L’elisir d’amore (1832)
Enter Eugène Scribe
Luigi Ricci’s Il nuovo Figaro and Gaetano Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore were both premiered with great success in the spring of 1832, in Parma and Milan, respectively. The former circulated widely to considerable acclaim during the 1830s and 1840s and then declined, fading into oblivion well before the end of the nineteenth century, whereas the latter went on to become a perennial favorite of opera audiences. The two operas occupy a privileged position in the output of their composers. Il nuovo Figaro followed the great success of Luigi Ricci’s opera semiseria, Chiara di Rosenbergh, at La Scala the year before and was pivotal in establishing the composer as the undisputed champion of opera buffa in his time. As for L’elisir d'amore, it sits at the midpoint of Gaetano Donizetti’s career, thirteen and a half years after his official debut with Enrico di Borgogna in 1818, and eleven and a half years before his final opera, Dom Sébastien, roi du Portugal, saw the light of day in 1843 at the Paris Opéra. Il nuovo Figaro and L’elisir d’amore have much in common besides the year of their premiere. A comparative discussion of the two pieces affords a vantage point from which to observe some of the questions surrounding opera buffa in the early 1830s.
Both librettos were based on works by the French dramatist, Eugène Scribe— Il nuovo Figaro drew on an Italian adaptation of the comédie-vaudeville L’Ambassadeur (1826), which Scribe coauthored with Mélesville, whereas L’elisir d’amore famously derived from the libretto for François Daniel Esprit Auber’s recent petit opéra, Le Philtre (1831). The printed librettos of both operas acknowledge not only the name of “Signor Scribe” but also the titles
of the works from which Il nuovo Figaro and L’elisir d’amore were adapted. Although they were not the earliest Italian adaptations of works by Scribe, they sanctioned the standing of the French dramatist in Italy and, more generally, the preferred status of texts and subjects drawn from contemporary French theater as sources for mid-nineteenth-century opera buffa
The world of Italian opera had undergone a phase of significant development during the few years prior to 1832. Against the backdrop of the new trend of tragic melodramma, the creation of new opere buffe in the early 1830s was bound to raise questions and generate discussions concerning the status of the comic genre in relation to both its serious counterpart and earlier traditions of musical comedy. By the mid-1830s, it seemed clear that operas like Il nuovo Figaro and L’elisir d’amore were at the forefront of a counterchange of sorts, in which opera buffa was on the rebound against the imperious rise of tragic subjects. A review published in the Milan-based music journal II barbiere di Siviglia after the greatly successful premiere of Luigi Ricci’s opera Eran due or sono tre (with the title of I figli esposti) at the Teatro d’Angennes in Turin in 1834, offering a capsule history of contemporaneous opera buffa, makes the point eloquently:
Opera buffa, this genre of music that yielded so Many crowns to our Italy, had been languishing for some time, and had left the field open for semiserious melodramma, and even more for lyric tragedies. The public went to the theater, and always had to cry, grieve, fret, and send sighs to heaven. They used to love, at least from time to time, a recreational entertainment, something witty and hilarious, a little bit of respite from anguish and tears; but a perverse destiny continued to mark the torpor and the ruin of comic opera, and meanwhile comic actors were lost, and among composers the sparkle of the Cimarosas, the Paisiellos, and the Fioravantis was extinguished. For a long time, the obsession with the serious lasted in music as in literature, and months went by, I would dare say years, without one’s spirit feeling alleviated by some graceful and lively little motive, by images that were exhilarating and playful, and by simple melodies. When human satiety began to be felt, however, this thick vapor that had descended upon the mind seemed to dissolve, and more than one composer entered the contest with courage, trying the comic genre again. Thus rose L’elisir d’amore, thus appeared Il nuovo Figaro, thus came [Un’aventura di] Scaramuccia, thus were born I figli esposti.
The composers themselves were, of course, delighted with the favorable outcome of their new operas. Their own words, on the heels of their respective premieres, seem to express not only satisfaction but also a certain dose of relief. Three days after the premiere of Il nuovo Figaro, Ricci briefed his librettist, Jacopo Ferretti, on the successful premiere in these terms: “Alleluia, alleluia. The opera went onstage with a favorable outcome without any exaggeration… That blessed title, Il nuovo
Figaro, could have compromised us, because everybody wanted to see Figaro enter while dancing.” Similarly, but with his characteristic genuine modesty and an added hint of sentimentalism, Gaetano Donizetti wrote to his teacher, Johann Simon Mayr: “The newspaper reviews L’elisir d’amore and says too many good things, too many, believe me… too many!”
If Ricci and Donizetti were not only pleased but also somewhat surprised and relieved that their most recent comic efforts had been successful, it is because they probably realized that at that point in time, winning the favor he audience with a new opera buffa was no simple affair. Furthermore, Ricci’s words show his awareness that the new opera—its title overtly, alluringly, and dangerously evoking the protagonist of Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia —was bound to force comparisons to earlier instances and conventions of opera buffa and that the road to success for a new work in this genre had to tread along a fine and sometimes blurred line that separated and yet joined tradition and innovation. The presence of Il barbiere on the Italian stage, in terms of number of productions throughout the peninsula and of sustained public favor, was overwhelming. Ricci, so concerned with the entrance of his own Figaresque character, may well have been aware that the newly built Teatro Ducale in Parma had staged the Rossini opera in June 1829 (five performances) and again in August 1830 (eleven performances). As we have seen in the Introduction, the towering status of Il barbiere di Siviglia and the unwavering popularity of its title character were forces with which anyone aspiring to produce a new opera buffa had to reckon. And it is reasonable to consider how Ricci, Donizetti, and their respective librettists dealt with the problem of creating comic characters in the shadow of Rossini’s Figaro.
L’elisir d’amore, by contrast, is far less connected to typical eighteenthcentury plots. To begin with, it is an opera without servants, for at least one good reason: the tenor of the day, Nemorino, has no financial means to employ help for wages. In absence of a Figaro-esque character, the one who dominates the action, wins the favor of unsuspecting crowds, and submerges the other characters and the audience with an abundance of words, is Dulcamara. In a number of ways, Dulcamara as a character is miles apart from Leporello. While the astute servant is one of countless incarnations of stock characters descending from the commedia dell’arte, albeit somewhat more pensive than many of his predecessors, the verbose charlatan is a figure that defies straightforward categorization as master or servant. He is no nobleman, to be sure, but he is a man of some means, and the libretto describes him as entering the stage with a servant trumpeter in
tow (“Dietro ad esso un servitor che suona la tromba” [Behind him a servant who plays the trumpet]). But there is one important point of resemblance between the two: like Leporello, Dulcamara achieves his goals (and his financial remuneration), not so much with tricks or disguises but with his superior gifts in handling words. Dulcamara’s skills become manifest when he presents himself to the villagers with one of the most famous and exhilarating comic arias of all time, “Udite, udite, o rustici.” In Romani’s libretto, ten opening versi sciolti pave the way for a breathtaking (in the literal sense of the word) passage of seventy settenari and ottonari (sevenand eight-syllable lines), interrupted only by two brief choral interventions. In terms of sheer word count, this is among the longest aria buffa texts ever written. By comparison, in Il barbiere di Siviglia, the poetry for Figaro’s “Largo al factotum” consists of some sixty quinari (five-syllable lines), whereas Don Basilio’s “La calunnia è un venticello” and Dottor Bartolo’s “A un dottor dell amia sorte” average just over thirty lines. An exceptionally verbose comic character, the impoverished baron Don Magnifico in Rossini’s La Cenerentola has three arias, the longest of which (“Sia qualunque delle figlie”) reaches a mere fifty-four lines in length. Further back in time, the celebrated catalog aria sung by Leporello in Mozart’s Don Giovanni stops at thirty lines.
The text of “Udite, udite, o rustici” draws considerably on Fontanarose’s entrance aria in Le Philtre, which is quite long in its own right. (Scribe provided four lines of recitative followed by forty-four lines for the aria proper.) Romani, however, cleverly exploited the potential of specific aspects of Scribe’s text by extending the word count for comic effect. The finest example of how Dulcamara’s verbosity surpasses that of his French counterpart is the passage that desctibes the curative power of the elixir. Fontanarose provides a relatively quick list of medical conditions and psychological issues that can be helped by the elixir:
Fontanarose
Il peut tout guérir.
La paralisie
Et l’apoplexie
Et la pleurésie
Et tous les tourments,
Jusqu’a la folie,
La mélancolie
Et la jalousie
Et le mal de dents.
[Fontanarose: It can heal everything. Paralysis, apoplexy, pleurisy, and every torment, even madness, melancholy, jealousy, and toothache.]
Dulcamara, instead, charms his listeners by effortlessly articulating no fewer than ten illnesses with complicated names neatly arranged as a series of assonances and alliterations, which flow from his mouth as a well-rehearsed tongue twister: Dulcamara
Ei move i paralitici, Spedisce gli apopletici, Gli asmatici, gli asfitici, Gl’isterici, i diabetici, Guarisce timpanitidi,
E scrofole e rachitidi,
E fino il mal di fegato, Che in moda diventò.
[Dulcamara: It moves paralytics, it works with apoplectics, asthmatics, asphitics, hysterics, diabetics. It cures earache, scrofula and rickets, and even liver ache, which has become fashionable.]
Among numerous charlatans who have populated the Italian operatic stage, Dulcamara is certainly the most persuasive one. Of course there are external circumstances (the death of Nemorino’s rich uncle and the effect that the rumor of a large inheritance produces on the local female population), which are mistaken for miraculous effects of his elixir, thus granting him not only impunity but unanimous praise from the villagers at the end of the opera. But this does not alter the persuasiveness of his self-introduction, after which no one onstage is ever inclined to question his credentials or his good faith; only Adina turns down his help, and that she does not out of skepticism but of sheer self-confidence.
Disheartened Tenors
Few tenor roles can lay claim to so much public favor as Nemorino, the poor and simple-minded peasant with little faith in himself, mocked and despised for most of the opera, who manages to win Adina’s heart not through ambition and plotting but rather through his unparalleled good-heartedness and unconditional devotion. A portrait of tenor Catone Lonati in the role seems
to epitomize not only his naiveté, as he cherishes the bottle he has just purchased from Dulcamara, but also his youthful, goodhearted, and starryeyed personality (see figure 1.1), Nemorino’s unyielding popularity, of course, owes a great deal to the music Donizetti wrote for him, some of which has risen to iconic status and has been exploited in a variety of contexts besides the opera itself—from Luchino Visconti’s treatment of “Quanto é bella, quanto é cara” in his 1951 film Bellissima, to the use of Enrico Caruso’s celebrated recording of “Una furtiva lagrima” in Woody Allen’s Match Point (2005). The Italian counterpart of Scribe’s garçon de ferme, Guillaume (himself an honest and genuinely loving man), is not only capable of extraordinary outward affection but also, in the words of William Ashbrook, characterized by “a deep vein of sincere sentiment.” Numerous commentators have remarked, with good reason, on Nemorino’s profound sentimentalism as a fundamental trait of Lélisir d’amore—one that, as Ashbrook himself noted, places this opera at odds with earlier comic works (including Rossini’s Barbiere) and effectively brings opera buffa into the world of romanticism. Emanuele Senici has intriguingly followed suit and raised the stake by suggesting that “to depict a male character as an incarnation of the pathetic and sentimental vein in an opera means [. . .] to assign feminine characteristics to him.” Senici refers specifically to the signature aria of the opera, the romanza, “Una furtiva lagrima,” introduced and accompanied by a double-reed instrument in line with a well-established tradition of romanzas for female characters operas by Rossini (Tancredi), Bellini (I Capuleti e i Montecchi), and Donizetti himself (La Fille du régiment).
All these points are perfectly reasonable ones. Indeed, a sense of purpose is added if one considers that of all the characters in L’elisir d’amore, Nemorino is undoubtedly the most “Donizettian”: not only does he have the good fortune to sing some of the finest music the composer ever penned; he is also the character that changed most substantially in the transformation of Scribe and Auber’s Le Philtre into L’elisir d'amore.
for the Performing Arts; reprinted with permission)
Figure 1.1. Catone Lonati as Nemorino in L'elisir d'amore (Music Division, The New york Public Library
Defining moments associated with Nemorino, including the passionate solo “Adina, credimi,” which launches the pezzo concertato in the act 1 finale, and “Una furtiva lagrima,” have no correspondent in Scribe’s libretto or in Auber’s score and go a long way toward depicting his individual character, while also crucially inflecting the tone of the whole opera. Their lachrymose minor-mode melodies, climactically positioned near the conclusion of each act, are the ones opera goers have been taking home and humming to themselves for the past 180 years. Both of them are moments of revelation: “Una furtiva lagrima” describes the revelation of Adina’s love to Nemorino, who at last reads the meaning of her changed behavior and begins to display a hint of confidence. “Adina, credimi” is a more subtle kind of revelation, as it provides information that is neither apparent in the libretto nor necessarily manifest to any of the characters: this pezzo concertato is in all likelihood the moment in which Adina falls in love with Nemorino, just at the point where the outward action shows her heading for the altar at Belcore’s side. The opening period of the concertato has Nemorino express his distress at the imminent wedding in heartrending tones and withstand public humiliation as he begs Adina to postpone the ceremony (example 1.2, mm. 1-17). This is followed by Belcore’s angered response, a poetic stanza equal in length to the one for Nemorino but set by Donizetti as a mere eight, purely declamatory measures (example 1.2, mm. 17-24). But it is when Adina picks up her portion of the text that we are faced with a veritable coup de théâtre, enacted not through the words or onstage action but through music alone. Instead of using a new melodic line or engaging in dialogue with Belcore (to whom her words are addressed), Adina takes up Nemorino’s tune verbatim (example 1.2, mm. 25ff.). Thus the outward show put on by the words and by the visible action—the woman’s effort to restrain Belcore’s fury, her mortifying depiction of Nemorino (“Un malaccorto, un mezzo pazzo”), and her vengeful motives—give way to another, far more subtle and more profound truth: Nemorino’s love seems to be softening her heart more than Romani’s words suggest and perhaps more than she herself is able to realize. Adina’s musical empathy with Nemorino expresses her loss of control over her feelings at a point where she is fully in control of her spiteful actions. Her union with Nemorino, which the plot will fittingly ratify at the end of the opera, is celebrated in Donizetti’s music at this very point. Nemorino’s genuine sentimentality has won.
Example 1.2. Gaetano Donizetti, L'eslisir d'amore, act 1, pezzo concertato (Donizeti's autograph manuscript, Naples, Conservatorio di Musica San Pietro a Majella)
Example 1.2. (concluded)
But there is more to Nemorino than his sentimental side. To be sure, he is not only deeply in love with Adina; he is also ready to die for her, and the idea of death emerges repeatedly in the libretto, to an unusual extent for an opera buffa. Of course metaphors and idiomatic expressions involving death appear with some frequency in buffa librettos well before L’elisir d’amore. But in L’elisir d’amore, death is evoked with particular insistence. The numerous iterations of the verb morir at the end of “Una furtiva lagrima” may well be the most conspicuous appearance of the idea of death in the opera but certainly not the only one. There is Nemorino’s millionaire uncle, who never appears in the opera but is referred to first by Adina, who describes him as “gravely ill,” and then again when he dies—leaving the unaware young nephew his conspicuous inheritance. More important, well before his final romanza, Nemorino mentions death repeatedly in association with his feelings of love, as when, in response to Belcore’s unexpected arrival and proposal to Adina, he exclaims:
Nemorino
(Me infelice, s’ella accetta!
Disperato io morirò.)
[Nemorino: (Unhappy me, if she accepts, I will die in despair.)]
And in the ensuing duet with Adina, the idea that he might die of love comes forward even more forcefully. This passage of poetry, justly praised by contemporary critics (one of whom noted the affinity with the duet for Amina and Elvino in Bellini’s La sonnambula, written by Romani only a year earlier), contains one of Romani’s most elegant metaphors:
Nemorino
Chiedi al rio perché gemente
Dalla balza ov’ebbe vita,
Corre al mar, che a sé l’invita,
E nel mar sen va a morir:
Ti dirà che lo strascina
Un poter che non sa dir.
Adina
Dunque vuoi?...
Nemorino
Morir com’esso,
Ma morir seguendo te.
[Nemorino: Ask the river why he rushes sighing from the rock from which he sprung, toward the sea, which invites him, and he goes to die in that sea. He will tell you that he is being pulled by a force he cannot describe. Adina: Thus you want...Nemorino:...To die like him, but to die following you.]
Setting these lines, Donizetti emphasized the idea of death by repeating the word morir several times. Immediately before the second statement of the cabaletta he also added the words “Morir per me?” (To die for me?), which do not appear in the printed libretto but are sung twice by Adina. While one may be tempted to dismiss this hyperbolic figure of speech as empty rhetoric, there is no question that the unsophisticated Nemorino is weighing his words carefully. His willingness to give up his life for Adina is not only a trait of his personality; it is also an indication of how the exasperation of the romantic idea of love affected the conventionally skeptical and detached view of human feelings typical of earlier Italian comedy. Consistently, near the end of the opera, in the tempo di mezzo of Adina’s aria, Nemorino initially rejects Adina’s offer of the contract with Belcore that she has bought back for him, proudly exclaiming: “Poiché non sono amato / voglio morir soldato” (Since I am not loved, I want to die a soldier).
Nothing exemplifies the contrasts in L’elisir d'amore better than the duet in act 2 in which Nemorino agrees to join the army in order to obtain money from Belcore. In the cabaletta of that piece, the two characters are again at musical odds with each other, as they had been in the Finale Primo. Belcore comically delights in his new recruit in a passage that fittingly begins as a brisk march, underscored by an abundance of dotted figures in the vocal part and in the accompaniment (example 1.3, mm. 1-13) and then gives way to a faster episode filled with sparkling Rossinian triplets (mm. 14ff).
Rather than using the same musical materials (as one might reasonably expect in the cabaletta of a duet), Nemorino’s responds in a strikingly contrasting tone. As he sings some of the most heartrending lines in the entire libretto (these, again, have no equivalent in Scribe’s Le Philtre), he appears to go far beyond his tearful sentimentalism:
Nemorino
Ah! non sai chi m’ha ridotto
A tal passo, a tal partito:
Tu non sai qual cor sta sotto
A quest’umile vestito…
[Nemorino: Ah! You don’t know who has led me to such a step, to such a state: you don’t know what heart hides under these humble garments…]
The music for this passage rises to tragic stature. Nemorino’s heartrending outburst of despair begins with a sudden shift to the parallel minor. Its opening period (example 1.3, mm. 29-44), consisting of sixteen measures, begins with two parallel four-bar phrases formed by alternate ascending and descending scale segments. The next phrase shifts to more disjunct melodic motion as the harmony turns to the relative major, and the varied return of a culminates with a striking ascending tritone at the word “vestito” (example 1.3, m. 43).
Example 1.3. (concluded)
Three years later, when Donizetti turned to the composition of Lucia di Lammermoor (1835), he must have felt that this passage provided musical material suitable for another tenor in distress—Edgardo in the finale secondo, where he curses the moment when he met Lucia (example 1.4). As swords are drawn and Edgardo’s fury reaches its climax, Donizetti aptly pushed the tenor’s voice a major third higher than Nemorino’s. (Gilbert Duprez, who created the role of Edgardo, was certainly more comfortable with his high range than Giambattista Genero, the first Nemorino.) But the affinity between the two passages is remarkable; to be sure, in both situations, a male protagonist is facing the prospect of losing his beloved to another man.
Example 1.4. Gaetano Donizetti, Lucia di Lammermoor, act 2 finale, Edgardo's curse (ricordi, Milan, plate number 41689)
Lindsey Reynolds
American soprano Lindsey Reynolds is quickly gaining recognition for her captivating performances across both traditional and contemporary opera. This season, she made her debut with Opera Philadelphia as Ashley Devon in the U.S. premiere of Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s The Listeners, showcasing her ability to bring complex characters to life. She is set to appear with New Orleans Opera as Adina in L’elisir d’amore and will perform in the world premiere of She Who Dared with Chicago Opera Theater, highlighting her commitment to new works. She will also make her debut with the Cleveland Youth Orchestra (as part of the Cleveland Orchestra) as the soprano soloist in Poulenc’s Gloria. Ms. Reynolds recently completed her tenure as a Ryan Opera Center Ensemble member at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, where her performances included Barena in Jenůfa, as well as covering Sadie in Terence Blanchard’s Champion. During the 2022/2023 season, she appeared in productions of Le Comte Ory, Don Carlos, and the world premiere of Proximity. She holds both Bachelor’s and Master of Music degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music.
Matthew Swensen
American tenor Matthew Swensen’s 2024/25 season began in the summer with Wagner’s Der fliegende Höllander in his debut at the Teatro Regio di Torino and again with Jaap Van Zweden and the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. He sings several performances of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Allentown Symphony, the Rochester Philharmonic and on tour throughout Italy and Germany, as well as Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the Milwaukee Symphony. He makes his debut with the Deutscher Symphoniker in Bruckner's Te Deum in Munich and later returns in Bach's B Minor Mass. He makes his role debut as Nemorino in New Orleans Opera's L’elisir D'Amore and reprises the role of Count Almaviva in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia with Lyric Opera Kansas City. In April 2025 he will make his Canadian debut with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra in a concert performance of Mozart's Cosi fan tutte alongside Thomas Hampson as Don Alfonso. The 2022-23 season began with the tenor’s American opera debut as Count Almaviva in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia with New Orleans Opera, a debut at the Rheingau Music Festival in Mendelssohn's Symphony no. 2 (Lobgesang), Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the NDR Orchestra, and a Mozart gala concert in Perugia.
Johnathan McCullough
Johnathan McCullough was recently nominated for a GRAMMY Award® (Best Opera Recording) for his cinematic adaptation of David T. Little’s Soldier Songs. In the 24/25 season, Johnathan will return to Opera Theatre of Saint Louis for Die Fledermaus (Dr. Falke), to Lyric Opera of Kansas City for Il barbiere di Siviglia (Figaro), and to Opera Philadelphia for L'Amant anonyme (Ophémon). Last season, he made his debut with Pittsburgh Opera for Il barbiere di Siviglia (Figaro) and with Lyric Opera of Kansas City for Roméo et Juliette (Mercutio). On the concert stage, he debuted with Erie Philharmonic in Carmina Burana. In 22/23, Johnathan debuted with the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra for Madama Butterfly (Prince Yamadori) and The Amarillo Symphony for Carmina Burana. Recent engagements include a string of debuts: Intermountain Opera Bozeman for Il barbiere di Siviglia (Figaro), Tulsa Opera for Gianni Schicchi (Marco), Portland Opera for The Central Park Five (The Masque) and his UK debut at English National Opera in a new production of The Marriage of Figaro (Count) directed by Joe HillGibbons. Johnathan also recently returned to Opera Theatre of Saint Louis for The Magic Flute (Papageno), The Funny Bone with Lyric Fest and Wolf Trap Opera for Bologne’s L’amant anonyme (Ophémon).
Ashraf Sewailam
Known for his “strong, mysterious” stage presence and “velvety” voice, this season Ashraf Sewailam makes his house début with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City in one of his signature roles, Bartolo in Il barbiere di Siviglia He also returns to New Orleans Opera as Dulcamara in L’elisir d’amore and to Madison Opera as the Commendatore in Don Giovanni. This summer he returns to Central City Opera as Bartolo in Il barbiere di Siviglia. Last season, Mr. Sewailam joined the roster of the Lyric Opera of Chicago covering Sulpice in La fille du régiment, and he made his house début with Des Moines Metro Opera as Bartolo in Il barbiere di Siviglia. He also returned to New Orleans Opera to sing Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro, Opera San Jose to sing Sparafucile in Rigoletto, Seattle Opera to sing Bartolo in Il barbiere di Siviglia, and Opera Memphis to sing Giove in La Calisto. Mr. Sewailam has been lauded in both traditional bass repertoire and the difficult Rossini and buffo roles. In addition to Bartolo, Mr. Sewailam made role débuts as Mustafà in L'italiana in Algeri, Don Magnifico in La Cenerentola, and the title role of Rossini's Maometto II.
Nicole Heinen
In the 24/25 season, soprano Nicole Heinen makes her debut with Louisiana Philharmonic as the soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah, role debut as Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro) with Pensacola Opera, soprano soloist debut with the Gulf Coast Symphony Orchestra in Carmina Burana and role debut as Giannetta (L’elisir d’amore) with New Orleans Opera. During the 23/24 season, Nicole was a resident artist with Pensacola Opera where she made her debut as Despina (Così fan tutte), role debut as Adele (Die Fledermaus) and covered the titular role of Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor). Ms. Heinen also performed a solo sold out cabaret and musical theater concert for Pensacola Opera’s Opera After Dark series. Ms. Heinen holds a Bachelors in Music from the Eastman School of Music and a Masters in Music from UW-Madison. She has won the Mary Ellen Clancy Memorial Award (MIOpera Competition), the Wisconsin District (MET Laffont Competition) and 4th place in the Mary Jacob Singer of the Year Competition. She was a finalist in the Camille Coloratura Competition, John Alexander Vocal Competition and Handel Aria Competition and a semi-finalist in the Premiere Opera Foundation Competition, Annapolis Vocal Competition, Zenith Opera Competition and the Orpheus Vocal Competition.
Nicholas Fox
Described by Oregon Arts Watch as “...a flipping genius,” conductor Nicholas Fox has served as Assistant Conductor and Chorus Master at Portland Opera since the fall of 2013. During his tenure at Portland Opera, he has conducted five mainstage productions, numerous chamber opera performances, and countless concerts, in repertoire ranging from Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice to Philip Glass’s In The Penal Colony. In 2019, Fox stepped in at the last moment, without rehearsal, to lead a triumphant opening night performance of Portland Opera’s production of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. A native of Los Angeles, California, Mr. Fox began studying piano and composition at the age of 12. He received his degree in orchestral conducting from the Mannes College of Music in New York, and spent the next decade as an in-demand conductor, pianist, and coach in the New York area. From 2009-2013, he served on the music staff at New York City Opera, spending two seasons as Chorus Master. In October, 2025, Mr. Fox was appointed Interim Music Director at Oregon Ballet Theatre, where he made his debut in the company’s Christmastime presentation of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, and returned for the company’s February production of Giselle. Upon returning to Oregon following this production of Elixir of Love, Mr. Fox will conduct Portland Opera’s new production of Verdi’s Falstaff, the opera after which he named his beloved cat.
Ned Canty
Ned Canty has directed at dozens of companies, including Glimmerglass, Wolf Trap, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Santa Fe, New Orleans Opera, and New York City Opera. The New York Times described his direction as having "a startling combination of sensitivity and panache." (Though others have differed. Strongly, at times.) He joined Opera Memphis as general director in 2011, diversifying their season and launching a series of commissions centered on Memphis stories. The signature program under his leadership is 30 Days of Opera, which has brought free performances to almost 500,000 Memphians in more than 240 locations since its launch. From 2005 to 2010, Canty was Festival Director of the New York Television Festival. Over those five years, he helped develop the Festival into a nationally recognized forum for discovering new television talent and exploring digital and new media storytelling. Before discovering opera, Canty worked as an actor, director, and stuntman at Hartford Stage Company, The McCarter Theatre, Six Flags, and the New York Renaissance Festival, among others. He has given his presentation, “Opera Doesn’t Suck”, for multiple IGNITE and TED-X gatherings in the Mid-South. (Google it!) He lives in Memphis with his wife and three very bad dogs.
Steven C. Kemp
Steven C. Kemp is an international set designer for opera, theatre and events. Originally from Houston, Texas, he received his MFA from UC San Diego. He has designed 14 productions for New Orleans Opera starting with Don Giovanni in 2016 and including Hansel & Gretel, La bohème and The Marriage of Figaro. His 150 designs for opera have been presented at 40 companies including The Atlanta Opera, LA Opera, Seattle Opera, Arizona Opera, The Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Sarasota Opera, and many more. He has designed on the West End in London and over 50 productions in NYC including the Off-Broadway revivals of Tick, Tick…Boom!, Ordinary Days, and the upcoming world premiere of All the World’s a Stage. He has designed numerous productions for regional theatres, cruise ships, museum exhibitions and international tours such as the current Sesame Street Live!, Peppa Pig Sing Along, Blippi: The Wonderful World Tour and Baby Shark Live!. Early in his career he worked extensively as an Associate Designer including designs for 10 Broadway productions, national tours, Holland America Line, Norwegian Cruise Line, Disney Theatricals, Dreamworks, and The Metropolitan Opera.
Connie Yun
Connie Yun is pleased to return to New Orleans Opera where she had previously designed The Marriage of Figaro and Madame Butterfly. Recent opera designs include La bohème (Opera Colorado), The Barber of Seville (Madison Opera), Pellèas and Melisande (Des Moines Metro Opera), Salome (DMMO), María de Buenos Aires (Florentine Opera), Madame Butterfly (Philadelphia Opera), L’Allegro, il Penseroso, ed il Moderato (Curtis Opera Theatre), The Marriage of Figaro(Portland Opera), and The Royal Shepherd (Orpheus PDX). Recent theatre credits include Dial M for Murder (Village Theatre), Blithe Spirit (Seattle Rep), P.O.T.U.S., STEW, and The Case for the Existence of God (ACT Contemporary Theatre). Her designs have also been seen at Kentucky Opera, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Palm Beach Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Alliance Theatre, Merrimack Rep, Seattle Children’s Theatre, and The Fifth Avenue Theatre. Upcoming projects include Tosca (Seattle Opera), The Rake’s Progress (DMMO), and La Boheme (Madison Opera). Connie is a member of USA-829 and a mentor with ETC Fred Foster Mentorship Program. connieyun.com
LOUISIANA PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
The GRAMMY® Award-winning Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is pleased to perform with and support the New Orleans Opera in recognition of their shared commitment to the arts and our community. Both organizations are dedicated to providing high-quality performances that enrich the lives of people in New Orleans and beyond. The LPO is the only full-time professional orchestra in Louisiana, as well as the oldest musician-owned and collaboratively operated orchestra in the country. It has a long and distinguished history of serving as the torchbearer of orchestral music in the region and performs a wide variety of music, from the traditional canon to original contemporary collaborations. The LPO also offers a wide variety of educational and community engagement programs.
Matthew Kraemer
Adelaide Wisdom Benjamin Principal Conductor and Music Director
Violins
Vacant, Concertmaster
The Edward D. and Louise Levy Concertmaster Chair
Benjamin Hart, Associate Concertmaster
The LPO Volunteers Associate Concertmaster Chair
Hannah Yim, Assistant Concertmaster
The Ranney & Emel Songu Mize Assistant Concertmaster Chair
Byron Tauchi, Principal Second Violin
The Helen W. Burns Principal Second Violin Chair
Hayoung Cho, Assistant Principal Second Violin
Zorica Dimova
Rebecca Edge
Gabrielle Fischler*
Judith Armistead Fitzpatrick
Cassidy Franzmeier
Janeta Mavrova
Elizabeth Overweg
Gabriel Platica
Yaroslav Rudnytsky
Milena Rusanova
Yuki Tanaka
Benjamin Thacher
Kate Walter
Sarah Yen
Violas
Richard Woehrle, Principal
The Abby Ray Catledge and Byrne Lucas Ray
Principal Viola Chair
Bruce Owen, Assistant Principal
Amelia Clingman
Peter Dutilly
Sixto Franco
Rafael Gargate*
Catherine Matushek
Cellos
Jonathan Gerhardt, Principal
The Edward B. Benjamin Principal Cello Chair
Vacant, Assistant Principal
The Ellen and Stephen Manshel Assistant Principal
Cello Chair
Kyle Anderson
Backkyoung Cho*
Geunseon Han*
Rachel Hsieh+
Jeanne Jaubert
Kent Jensen
The Paula L. Maher Section Cello Chair
David Rosen
Basses
David Anderson, Principal
William Schettler, Assistant Principal
Paul Macres
Russell Thompson
Benjamin Wheeler
Flutes
Ji Weon Ryu, Principal
The Mary Freeman Wisdom Principal Flute Chair
Patti Adams, Assistant Principal
The Richard C. & Nancy Link Adkerson Flute Chair
Sarah Schettler
The Edward F. & Louise B. Martin Second Flute Chair
Piccolo
Patti Adams
The Richard C. and Nancy Link Adkerson Flute Chair
Oboes
Virginia McDowell, Principal
Jane Gabka, Assistant Principal
Casey Kearney
English Horn
Casey Kearney
Clarinets
Shaquille Southwell, Principal
Roy Park, Assistant Principal
John Reeks
E-flat Clarinet
Roy Park
Bass Clarinet
John Reeks
Bassoons
Hunter Gordon, Principal
Michael Matushek, Assistant Principal
Caleb Hutchings*
Contrabassoon
Caleb Hutchings *
French Horns
Mollie Pate, Principal
The Jerry W. Zachary and Henry Bernstein
Principal Horn Chair
Josiah Bullach, Assistant Principal
The J. Robert Pope Assistant Principal Horn Chair
Max Paulus
Jonathan Gannon
Kevin Winter
Trumpets
Alex Mayon, Principal
The Gauthier Family Foundation Principal
Trumpet Chair
Patrick Smithers, Assistant Principal
The Pete Wolbrette Section Trumpet Chair
Filip Czarkowski
Trombones
Austin Richardson, Principal
Matt Wright+
Jonathan McNeer*
Evan Conroy, Bass Trombone
Tuba
Robert Nuñez, Principal
Timpani
Meagan Gillis, Principal
Percussion
Aaron Smith, Principal
Michael Metz
Harp
Rachel Van Voorhees Kirschman, Principal
The string section of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra is listed alphabetically and participates in revolving seating.
+denotes musicians that are on leave for the 2024-2025 season
* Acting Member
NOOA
Lila Palmer, General & Artistic Director
Artistic & Production
Stephen Thurber, Technical Director
Sarah McCall, Director of Production
Carol Rausch, Chorus Master & Music Administrator
Marketing & Development
Christopher Tidmore, Director of External Affairs
Emma Rothfield, Executive Assistant & Development
Associate
Erica Halpern, Grant Writer
Marina Hidalgo, Marketing & Social Media Intern
Patron Experience
Devin Johnson, Patron Services Manager
IATSE STAFF
IATSE Local #39
Keith Christopher - President
Alan Arthur - Business Manager
Ashley Boudreaux - House Steward
Neil Ingles - Master Electrician
Al Davis - Head Fly
Trevor Jackson - Head Audio
Alan Arthur - Head Carpenter
Taneasha McDougald - Head Props
IATSE Local #840
Theatrical Wardrobe Union
Costumer/Wardrobe Lead - Lesly Davi
Sewing Lead - Stephanie Kuhn
H. LLOYD HAWKINS SCENIC STUDIO
Stephen Thurber - Technical Director
Nathan Arthur - Art Director
Jacob Gautier - Scenic Carpenter
Lexi Mancuso - Property Master
Alyx Jeffries - Technical Assistant
Hair and Makeup Artists
Samantha Croon
Sophie Cruze
Rebecca Jones
Claire Rav
NOOA SUPPORT GROUPS
The Women’s Guild has been in existence since 1947, serving the mission of “Keeping Opera Alive” in New Orleans. The membership of the Women’s Guild is comprised of women who are dedicated to fostering and promoting the cultural aspects of opera, creating fun and exciting fundraising events, as well as educational efforts, in cooperation with the New Orleans Opera Association. The Women’s Guild is also the primary steward of the historic Guild Home, NOOA’s year-round home for operations and historical preservation. For information regarding tours or event hosting at the Home, please contact Facilities Manager Monty Ramos at mramos@neworleansopera.org.
FOUNDING SUSTAINERS
Thank you to our Founding Sustainers who have committed to making a monthly donation to support opera in New Orleans. Please visit our website to learn more about the benefits of joining this tier of giving: neworleansopera.org/enjoy-the-excitement-all-year
Mrs. Michele Beelman
Mrs. Xiomara Brewster
Mr. Anthony Currera
Ms. Joyce Dugais
Mr. and Mrs. Edward Edmiston
Mr. and Mrs. Alan Gandolfi
Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Giaimo
Mr. and Mrs. Michael C. Grumich
Ms. Sylvia Johnson
Dr. and Mrs. Christopher B. Merritt
Dr. Jane Cagan Miller and Mr. Bruce Miller
Ms. Rebecca Moseley
Ms. Mary Penn
Ms. Mary Scully
Ms. Hallie Sheck
Mr. and Mrs. Terrence Sims
Mr. Alan Smason
Mr. and Mrs. Alfred E. Stacey IV
Ms. Deniz Ucar
Ms. Yvonne Vonderhaar
New Orleans Opera Association RECENT PROGRAMS & CREATIVE COLLABORATIONS
NOOA welcomed Raehann Bryce-Davis, our guest artist for Samson and Delilah, to teach students at its first-ever vocal master class involving all local universities and HBCUs (Xavier, Dillard, LSU, Southeastern, UNO, Tulane, Nicholls, and Loyola).
From left to right in the photo: Morgan Crosby (Senior, Xavier), Raehann Bryce-Davis, Imani Francis (Doctorial Student, LSU), Taree Nichols (Senior, Nicholls), De'Terrius Johnson (Senior, Southern), Carol Rausch, Lila Palmer
Jared and Rachel Michael welcomed the New Orleans Opera to the nation’s capitol in January for Washington DC Mardi Gras. They hosted the opening event of a highpowered weekend in NOOA’s honor, an Opera-themed extravaganza-brunch at the James Beard award-winning restaurant Equinox. The Michaels not only donated their time and resources to pull off an extraordinary party; they also invited some of the most influential players in the District of Columbia to hear Louisiana native soprano Cadie J. Bryan to sing a series of arias from her recent tour with Andrea Bocelli.
The Michaels are huge supporters of the New Orleans Opera from their home in Washington DC, and they have NOOA’s great thanks.
LA Public Service Commissioner Eric Skrmetta stands as one of the most stalwart supporters of the New Orleans Opera. His advocacy has led to multiple major corporate sponsorships. Skrmetta also has worked tirelessly to emphasize to local, state, and federal elected officials of the critical importance of supporting NOOA in “America’s First City of Opera”. He played an invaluable role in our Washington Mardi Gras event and was our event honoree for 2025 thanks to his work on the Opera’s behalf.
A graduate of Brother Martin High School, LSU, Southern and Tulane University Law Schools, Skrmetta stands as one of the most beloved benefactors for numerous community, civic, and religious organizations.
If you like NOOA’s new logo, or the incredible ad campaign for our next season, “At the Intersection of Piety and Desire”, the new field of our outreach efforts are due to the contributions and tireless donated time of Buisson Creative.
One of the most influential public relations and marketing firms in the metropolitan area, BC has given freely of its time and efforts on NOOA’s behalf. Buisson Creative is led by Greg Buisson, a former broadcast executive and television station general manager. Founded in 1999, Buisson Creative is one of the region’s most awarded and respected firms achieving the highest honors in both advertising and public relations. With a firm commitment to objective marketing, the agency prides itself on offering unique problem-solving ideas and focusing clients on achieving primary and secondary goals.
MASTERSIGNERS
Mastersigners are opera lovers committed to the financial stability of the New Orleans Opera. As major supporters, these contributors also receive benefits including invitations to exclusive private receptions, access behind the scenes to rehearsals, champagne receptions and more. This list reflects cumulative donations received from July 1, 2024, to the time of this program’s publishing.
Première Circle:
$50,000- $99,999
Mr.* & Mrs. Erik F. Johnsen
Mr. Edward F. Martin
Drs. Emel Songu & Ranney Mize
Platinum Circle:
$25,000- $49,999 Anonymous
Mr. Henry Bernstein
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Priddy
Drs. Rand & Terry Voorhies
Maestro Circle:
$10,000- $24,999
Doug and Mary Albert
Ms. Susan Couvillon
Mr. Arthur A. Crais, Jr.
Mr. Emmet Geary, Jr.
Mr. Jay Gulotta & Ms. Susan Talley
Mr. Dwayne O. Littauer
Ms. Sonya Moore
Mr. Joseph Young
Mastersigners:
$5,000 - $9,999
Ms. Jo-Ann C. Adams
Drs. Nicolas & Haydee Bazan
Mrs. Adelaide Wisdom Benjamin
Mr. Peter R. Brigandi Jr.
Prof. & Mrs. Kenneth Boudreaux
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph M. Bruno
Ms. Barbara Deacon
Ms. Laura Donnaway
Dr. and Mrs. Patrick J. Dowling
Mr. and Mrs. Allain Hardin
Dr. Constance Gistand
Mr. and Mrs. Bruce A. Gordon
Ms. Jessica Hack
Ms. Rania Khodr
Mr. and Mrs. James C. Landis
Mr. and Mrs. V. Price LeBlanc, Jr.
Ms. Joanne Mantis
Mr. Frank Maselli
Mr. Jonathan McCall
Ms. Norma Jean McClain
Hy and Elizabeth McEnery
Ms. Ann Owens
Ms. Nina & Mr. Lawrence Pugh III
Dr. Everett Robert
Prof. Cynthia A. Samuel
Mr. Gregory St. Etienne
Profs. Sally B. Richardson and Ronald J. Scalise Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Leopold Z. Sher
Mr. and Mrs. Kevin Sloan
Mr. and Mrs. Harry C. Stahel
Mr. and Mrs. Philip Straub
Ms. Charlotte Throop
Mr. Christopher Tidmore and Ms. Barkley Rafferty
Ms. Phyllis Treigle
Mrs. Catherine Burns Tremaine
Mr. John G. Turner and Mr. Jerry G. Fischer
*in memoriam
Special acknowledgement to Mr. Joseph Young, Jr. for founding the Mastersigners in 1981.
Mary & Doug Albert, Co-chairs of the Mastersigner Program
Drs. Nicolas and Haydee Bazan, Co-Chairs, Maestro Circle
INDIVIDUAL DONORS
The New Orleans Opera gratefully acknowledges the following individuals and family foundations for their generous support. This list reflects cumulative donations received from July 1, 2024 to the time of this program’s publishing.
To add your name to the roster of supporters, contact the Development Department at nooagiving@neworleansopera.org, visit neworleansopera.org, or send your check to New Orleans Opera Association, P.O. Box 52108; New Orleans, LA 70152; Attn: Development Office. Many companies will match employee and retiree gifts – ask your employer for a matching form to submit with your check. Contributions to the New Orleans Opera Association are tax-deductible as allowable by law (tax ID number 72-0272897). We are grateful for each contribution, and we make every effort to ensure the accuracy of these listings as of the printing/publishing deadlines. To make a correction to your listing for future printings, or if you believe you have been omitted from the donor list, please contact the Development Department.
Opera Club Circle: $2,500 - $4,999
Mr. Robert Force
Mrs. Ellen Frohnmayer
Ms. Beth Terry
Mrs. Donna Vitter
Patrons: $1,000-$2,499
Dr. and Mrs. Robert Arensman
Mr. Howard Bautsch
Ms. Valerie Besthoff
Mrs. Dale Biggers
Mrs. Barbara Bollinger
Ms. Ann Fishman
Dr. Bernard Jaffe
Dr. Nina M. Kelly
Dr. Christopher Merritt
- Founding Sustainer
Mrs. Ann C. Scharfenberg
Mr. and Mrs. Terrence Sims
- Founding Sustainers
Mr. Bernard Van der Linden
Patrons: $500- $999
Mr. Eric Simon and Ms. Cathy Lazarus
Mrs. Angela Speyrer
Mrs. Diana Stieffel
Ms. Anne Marie Thurber and Mr. Mark Belcher
Dr. and Mrs. Peter M. Tufton
Mr. Thomas Turnbull and
Mr. Darrell Smith
Mr. Raymond Washington
Mr. Norton L. Wisdom
Patrons: $250-499
Mr & Mrs. Frederick W. Christian
Mrs. Joan Coulter
Ms. Jill B. Fatzer
Mr. & Mrs. Edward F. LeBreton III
Mrs. Helen Malachias
Mr. Michael Mancuso
Dr. Jane Cagan Miller and Mr. Bruce Miller
- Founding Sustainer
Mrs. Dauphine Sloan
Patrons: $100-249
Ms. Cherry Bordelon
Ms. Susan Canavello
Mr. Dan Carroll
Mr. William C. Coe Jr.
Mr. Anthony Currera
- Founding Sustainer
Dr. & Mrs. Charles L. Dupin
Dr. Maria Falco
Mr. and Mrs. Henry Folse
Mr. and Mrs. Alan Gandolfi
- Founding Sustainer
Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Giaimo
- Founding Sustainer
Ms. Sylvia Johnson
- Founding Sustainer
Ms. Elizabeth Lawrence
Ms. Rebecca Moseley
- Founding Sustainer
Dr. Lynne Neitzschman
Mr. A Ravi P. Rau
Ms. Francisca Sabadie
Ms. Mary Scully
– Founding Sustainer
Dr. and Mrs. J. Terry Segura
Mrs. Alma Slatten
Mr. Reginald Smith Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Alfred J. Spansel
Mr. Leonard J. Tully
Ms. Yvonnne Vonderhaar
- Founding Sustainer
Dr. Robert Weilbaecher
ORGANIZATIONAL & INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT
New Orleans Opera Association thanks our business, foundation, and government partners for their recent support! New Orleans Opera works with each business and community partner to generate a sponsorship package that suits your company’s particular needs. Whether you seek opportunities to entertain your clients, enhance corporate visibility at performances, create marketing partnerships, or all of the above, NOOA can assist you. Your sponsorship supports the Opera while providing exclusive benefits and visibility for your company.
GOLD CIRCLE -
$100,000+
Lois and Lloyd Hawkins Jr. Foundation
Louisiana Economic Development
New Orleans Opera Endowment Fund
SILVER CIRCLE - $50,000 +
Erik F. Johnsen Family Foundation
Lois and Lloyd Hawkins Jr. Grand Opera Foundation
The Theresa Bittenbring Marque & John Henry Marque Fund
The Ranney and Emel Songu Mize Chamber Opera Series
Edward F. and Louise B. Martin Family Fund
New Orleans Opera Association Women’s Guild
New Orleans Theatre Association (NOTA)
BRONZE
CIRCLE - $25,000+
City of New Orleans/Arts New Orleans
Freeport-McMoRan Foundation Arts Fund
Goldring Family & Woldenberg Foundations
OPERA America/Next Stage
National Endowment for the Arts
New Orleans Tourism and Cultural Fund (NOTCF)
Priddy Family Foundation
The Selley Foundation Fund
INTERMEZZO CIRCLE $10,000+
Ella West Freeman Foundation
Entergy Charitable Foundation
V. Price LeBlanc Jr. Fund
Lexus of New Orleans
Louisiana State Arts Council/ Louisiana Division of the Arts McCall Fund
New Orleans Tourism and Cultural Fund
Louise H. Moffett Family Foundation
Wisdom-Benjamin Foundation
BENEFACTOR CIRCLE - $5,000+
An Anonymous Foundation in support of Opera on Tap-New Orleans
Carol B. and Kenneth J. Boudreaux Foundation
Gauthier Murphy & Houghtaling, LLC
Alden and Margaret Laborde Foundation
New Orleans Recreation and Culture Fund
Ruth U. Fertel Foundation
The Greater New Orleans Foundation’s Hansen Fund for Arts Technical Assistance
WWOZ
AMBASSADOR CIRCLE - $1,000+
City of New Orleans Mayor’s Office of Cultural Economy
Consul General of France
Fidelity Bank
Louisiana Society of Hearing Aid Specialists
Nathan Family Supporting Foundation
New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and Foundation
Peoples Health
Renaissance Publishing
Van der Linden Family Foundation
WWNO
We gratefully acknowledge matching and in-kind(*) gifts from the following institutions:
Applied Materials Foundation
Booth Bricker Fund
The Chicory House*
City of New Orleans Mayor’s Office of Cultural Economy*
ExxonMobil Foundation
French Market Coffee*
Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold Foundation
The Garden District Book Shop
Hotel Henrietta*
Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra*
Luzianne Iced Tea
Merck Foundation
New Orleans Museum of Art*
New Orleans Jazz Market*
Peoples Health
Shell Oil Company Foundation
Sully Mansion*
Windsor Court Hotel*
UBS Financial Services
PLANNED GIVING WITH NEW ORLEANS OPERA
Help build the future of opera in New Orleans through your planned gift.
When you include the New Orleans Opera Association in your estate plans, you play a significant role in the continued success of top-quality opera and opera education for generations to come. We are happy to assist you in identifying gift options that suit your financial and philanthropic goals – from a simple bequest in your will to a charitable trust or endowed fund.
Planned giving makes great art possible and helps sustain the activities of the Opera Association now and into the future. We thank the current Legacy Society members and invite you to join their ranks by notifying the Development Office that you have provided for the Opera Association in your estate plans. You can also request more information about the many kinds of gift options and underwriting opportunities you may choose to support.
Planned giving instruments can include:
· Outright charitable gifts
· Gifts of appreciated property
· Bequests
· Revocable trusts · Life insurance
Retirement benefits · Charitable remainder trusts
JOIN US! Please consider joining the Legacy Society to help ensure the continued tradition of producing grand opera in America’s first city of opera.
Legacy Society Members as of February 2024
Anonymous (2)
Drs. Stephen J. & Miriam R. Bensman
Mr. Henry Bernstein
Dr. Patricia Cook
Dr. Maria J. Falco
Prof. Robert Force
Mr. Emmet Geary Jr.
Ms. Jacqueline Mae Goldberg
Mr. Dwayne O. Littauer
Mr. Robert Lyall
Ms. Louise* & Mr. Ted Martin
Drs. Emel Songu and Ranney Mize
Dr. Andrew Orestano
Ms. Meredith Hathorn Penick
Ms. Nina & Mr. Lawrence Pugh
Ms. Xenia Krinitzky Roff
Ms. Alma A. Slatten
Mr. Philip & Eleanor Straub
Mrs. Norton L. Wisdom (Susan)
Ms. Debby Hirsch Wood
MAJOR PLANNED GIFTS
2008-2023
Bequests & Endowed Funds
Garic K. Barranger
The Estate of Abby Ray Catledge, in memory of her father Bryne Lucas Ray
Rose Annette Chisesi
Norma Jean Gross
Lois and H. Lloyd Hawkins Jr.
Albert and Rea Hendler
Gerald Kendal
Victor Leglise
The Estate of Guillermo
Náñez-Falcón
Mary Nell Porter Nolan
The Theresa Bittenbring Marque
& John Henry Marque Fund
The Estate of James Robert Pope
Rachel Sainton
William M. Sholes
Lynette Askin Stillwell
James G. Viavant
Jerry Walker Zachary
For more information, or to add your name to this list, contact the Development Department at nooagiving@neworleansopera.org. All inquiries are confidential.
COMMEMORATIVE GIFTS
IN LOVING MEMORY OF
Dale C. Biggers
Mrs. Virgene Biggers
Edgar “Dooky” Chase III
Mr. Edward F. Martin
Jacquelyn Brechtel Clarkson
Mr. Edward F. Martin
Yvonne Coe
Mrs. Charles Kunz
IN HONOR OF
Lindsey Reynolds
Mrs. Mary Wilkins Costa
Mrs. Margaret W. Levert
J.B. Levert Foundation
Maestro Robert Lyall
Dr. William Cotton
Ms. Margaret Shields
Josie Sacco Mathes
Cynthia Molyneux
Caryl Niehaus
Ms. Kathy M. Christian
Sonda Stacey
Ms. Elizabeth Liu
Denise Villeré Schimek
The Coe & Tober Families
Ms. Alma Dunlap
Ms. Barbara S. Pyburn
Mr. Reginald H. Smith, Jr.
Ms. Barbara Bollinger
David & Dee Lawrence
Dr. Peter Kastl & Ms. Valerie Besthoff
Susan C. Wisdom
Mr. Norton L. Wisdom
See you APRIL 13 for Romance in the Garden with Cadie and Jonathan Bryan 1pm, The Opera Guild Home, 2504 Prytania St.
NEW ORLEANS OPERA SEASON 2025-26
SEPTEMBER 2025
Verdi: Requiem – with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra
September 26, 7:30pm, the Orpheum Theater
DECEMBER 2025
Händel: Messiah – with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra
December 5, 7:30pm, the Orpheum Theater
FEBRUARY 2026
Terence Blanchard: Fire Shut Up in my Bones Suite – with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra
February 22, 2:30pm, 6:30pm, the Civic Theatre
MARCH-APRIL 2026
NEW ORLEANS OPERA FEST
Poulenc: Dialogues of the Carmelites
– with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra
March 24, 26, 28, 7:30pm; March 30, 2:30PM, the Ursuline Convent
Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier
– with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra
March 27, 7:30PM, March 29, 2:30PM, the Mahalia Jackson Theater
Carlisle Floyd: Pilgrimage, an Operatic Journey – with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra
