The Little Sweep

The Little Sweep N OVE M B ER 4 , 5 M

By Benjamin Britten Libretto by Eric Crozier

Let’s Put on an Opera Prologue

By Jesse Martins and Martha Collins Sung in English Production created by Sarasota Opera

CAST CONDUCTOR

BIG BOB, a brutal sweep master

Paul Leland Hill*

CLEM, his son and assistant

Jake Stamatis*

SAMMY, their new sweep boy

Yaëlle Katz (11/4), Anjou Burkmier (11/5)

MISS BAGGOTT, the housekeeper

SarahAnn Duffy*

ROWAN, the nursery maid to the Crome children

Sofia Scheck (11/4), Virginia Mims* (11/5)

JULIET BROOK

Nikolina Šupe (11/4), Isabella Maltese (11/5)

Kellen Eason

GEORGE BROOK

Nadya Smirnova (11/4), Chidinma Smarty (11/5)

ASSISTANT CONDUCTORS

SOPHIE BROOK

Giuliana Bordes (11/4), Ara Martinez (11/5)

JOHNNY CROME

Eitan Katz (11/4), Gabriel Magowan (11/5)

HUGHIE CROME

Jeromi Olavarria (11/4), Dylan Alan (11/5)

TINA CROME

Alexis Herman (11/4), Mia Trainor (11/5)

TOM, the coachman to the Crome children

Zane Hancock

ALFRED, the gardener

Ovid Rawlins

Jesse Martins STAGE DIRECTOR Martha Collins COSTUME DESIGNER B. G. FitzGerald LIGHTING DESIGNER Ken Yunker HAIR AND MAKE-UP DESIGNER

Arthur Bosarge Alex Soloway

* Sarasota Opera Resident Artist

Youth Opera Production sponsored by the Les and Carol Brualdi Endowment Fund.

Sarasota Opera Little Sweep Orchestra Chorus: Sarasota Youth Opera SARASOTA OPERA FALL SEASON 2023

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T HE LI TT LE SW EE P SYN OPS IS Sarasota Youth Opera's 2013 production of The Little Sweep. Photo: Rod Millington

Shenandoah

American Folksong

B Y J ESSE MARTI NS AN D MART HA COL LINS

Lo spazzacamino

Giuseppe Verdi

Present day Sarasota during a Youth Opera rehearsal

Csárdás

Victor Herbert

Goin’ to Boston

American Folksong

Interlude

Franz Von Suppé

LET’S PUT ON AN OPERA

The cast explores what goes into putting on their own opera.

THE LITTLE SWEEP STORY OF THE OPERA

B Y B ENJA MIN BRIT TEN AND ER IC CR OZI ER Boston in the early 19th century While their parents are away, Juliet, George, and Sophie are being visited by their cousins Johnny, Tina, and Hughie Crome and their nursery maid, Rowan.

Big Bob and Clem, cruel chimney sweeps, and their young apprentice Sammy arrive to clean the chimneys. Though the governess, Rowan, begs that Sammy should not have to do such dangerous work, he is forced up the chimney where he later gets stuck.

The children hear Sammy’s cries for help, and they free him.

They decide to fool his cruel employers by making it seem

as if he has escaped through the window. The sweeps and the housekeeper Miss Baggott angrily run out to follow the trail of footprints while Rowan worries for Sammy’s safety. Hearing that Rowan is on their side, the children reveal Sammy and ask for her help. Sammy explains he was apprenticed to the sweeps because his family needed money but that he misses them greatly. They decide to hide Sammy in a traveling trunk so that he can escape when the Cromes depart the next day.

At dawn he is given breakfast and money for his family and hidden in the trunk. Tom, the coachman, and Alfred, the gardener, arrive to carry the trunk out to the coach. The children celebrate as the carriage departs and Sammy begins his journey to freedom.

World Premiere – Jubilee Hall, Aldeburgh, England, June 14, 1949 Benjamin Britten's The Little Sweep presented by arrangement with Boosey & Hawkes, Inc., publisher and copyright owner.

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TH E L IT TLE SWE EP BACKGR OUN D

"In a final nod to the local community, the names and personas of the child characters were borrowed from the children and nephews of Britten’s personal friend and chairman of the festival, Lord Cranbrook."

C

Benjamin Britten

Composer Benjamin Britten and librettist Eric Crozier had discussed the idea of a children’s opera for several years before putting pen to paper in the autumn of 1948 in preparation for the second Aldeburgh Festival, founded by Britten, Crozier, and singer Peter Pears to showcase the work of Britten and young composers. Throughout his lifetime Britten would show a commitment to writing not only for the leading soloists and ensembles of the day, but also for children and amateur performers with works including The Young Persons Guide to the Orchestra (1945) and Noye’s Fludde (1958).

After some debate, Britten and Crozier selected as inspiration two works entitled “The Chimney Sweeper” from William Blake’s 1789 illustrated collection of poems, Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. They also sought to harness the positive response to the congregational hymns in their Saint Nicholas cantata within the new piece. According to Crozier “by that evening we had planned the structure, action and characters of a short opera in three scenes.”

Similar to Britten and Crozier’s opera Albert Herring which opened the first Aldeburgh Festival in 1948, the action was set in Suffolk. Unlike the congregational hymns in Saint Nicholas which relied on an ensemble of singers to help lead concertgoers, Britten chose to have the audience perform the chorus selections on their own.

A play to be performed before the opera brought it all together, providing the opportunity to rehearse the four “audience songs” with patrons and explain what opera is to those who may be experiencing the art form for the first time. In a final nod to the local community, the names and personas of the child characters were borrowed from the children and nephews of Britten’s personal friend and chairman of the festival, Lord Cranbrook.

First performed by Sarasota Youth Opera in 2005, our production includes an original prologue by conductor Jesse Martins and director Martha Collins and sets the opera in Boston during the 19th century. Our young singers also perform the music originally intended to be sung by the audience.

Ben Jewell-Plocher was a member of the Sarasota Opera Youth Opera and Education Department from 2011-2019.

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YO UTH O PER A CH OR US Sarasota Opera's 2018 production of The Little Sweep. Photo: Matthew Holler

Sarasota Youth Opera Ensemble Dylan Alan Finlay Bellanca Giuliana Bordes Anjou Burkmier Annabelle Dalov Serafim Fitzgerald Benjamin Guerra Zane Hancock Alexis Herman Eitan Katz Yaëlle Katz Elizabeth Lambert Viola Loiczly Sophie Lunsford Finley MacBeth Monreaux Magdik Gabriel Magowan Isabella Maltese Makenna Mamazza Ara Martinez Elizabeth Martinez

Vittoria Morales-Franco John Moreno-Guevara Dylan Murphy Maxim Nekorystnov Olivia Novak Jeromi Olavarria Natalia Peno Ovid Rawlins Bliss Rippy Lark Rippy Emily Ruiz Sofia Scheck Chidinma Smarty Nadya Smirnova Johnny Snyder Ryllie Stephens Nikolina Šupe Sawyer Tillman Mia Trainor Myla Trainor Briana Wadsworth

Sarasota Opera Little Sweep Orchestra VIOLIN Milene Moreira, Concertmaster Mia Laitan VIOLA Nathan Frantz CELLO Nadine Trudel PERCUSSION Aaron Nix PIANO Arthur Bosarge Alex Soloway

Sarasota Youth Opera Preparatory Ensemble Kali Baran Stefania Biedakurova Stefanie Casanova Natalie Duncan Alyssa Entin Camilla Hambleton Live Klein Kiril Kuzmin Yeva Kuzmina

Harper Lin Maya Musmar Harper Olney Camryn Palazzolo Sofia Rose Peric Mark Retslav Volodymyr Shumskyi Sophia Silva-O’Connell Wendum Smarty SARASOTA OPERA FALL SEASON 2023

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