Performances Magazine: March 2023 @ The Wallis

A NEW

PLUS: The Last Sorcerer (Le Dernier Sorcier) FEAT. 2022/23 Wallis Artists-in-Residence

Monica Yunus and Camille Zamora | An Evening with Isaac Mizrahi | Seth Parker Woods, cello

MARCH 2023

THE WALLIS BOARD OF DIRECTORS

2022/2023

Michael Nemeroff

CHAIRMAN, BOARD OF DIRECTORS

David C. Bohnett

CHAIRMAN, EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Arnold S. Rosenstein

EXECUTIVE VICE CHAIR & ASSISTANT TREASURER

Honorable Vicki Reynolds

VICE CHAIR, DEVELOPMENT

Ronald D. Rosen

VICE CHAIR, OPERATIONS & SECRETARY

Susan Strauss

VICE CHAIR, PLANNING & ASSISTANT SECRETARY

Jonathan A. Victor TREASURER

Arnon Adar

Ahsan Aijaz

Debbie Allen

Wallis Annenberg

Pamela Beck

John Bendheim

Thomas J. Blumenthal

MeraLee Goldman

Bruce Goldsmith

Carol Goldsmith

Halle Hammond

Chad Hummel

Cinny Kennard

Donald P. Kivowitz

Agnes Lew

Mark Louchheim

Sandra Barros Lowy

Nigel Lythgoe OBE

Linda May

Daphna Nazarian

Gretchen Pace

Arline Pepp

Ron Simms

Stephanie Vahn

Gregory Annenberg

Weingarten

Grant Withers

Richard S. Ziman

FOUNDING CHAIRMAN

Bram Goldsmith*

FOUNDING PRESIDENT

Paul Selwyn*

CHAIRMAN EMERITUS

Jerry Magnin

PRESIDENT EMERITUS

Richard Rosenzweig*

LIFETIME TRUSTEES

Les Bider | Eunice David

Max Salter* | Luanne Wells*

*IN MEMORIAM

A six-week performing arts intensive for students ages8-16!

Students will engage in daily dance, music, and theater classes while rehearsing for a culminating ticketed performance. Every week, performers, designers, technicians, and musical theater professionals will provide master classes in addition to their performing arts curriculum. The experience culminates with a performance for friends and family in the Bram Goldsmith Theater @ The Wallis.

&

PRODUCTION OF

LE DERNIER SORCIER (THE LAST SORCERER) 1867

MUSIC BY PAULINE GARCÍA VIARDOT (1821-1910)

LIBRETTO BY IVAN TURGENEV (1818-1883)

A WORLD PREMIERE 155 YEARS IN THE MAKING

FEATURING 2022/2023 WALLIS ARTISTS-IN-RESIDENCE

MONICA YUNUS

Soprano

CAMILLE ZAMORA

Soprano

WITH Babatunde Akinboboye BARITONE

Adriana Zabala MEZZO-SOPRANO

Karim Sulayman TENOR

Anastasia Malliaras SOPRANO

Monique Coleman NARRATOR

Los Angeles Children’s Chorus’ Chamber Singers

Fernando Malvar-Ruiz ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

STAGE MANAGER

John Freeland, Jr.

PRODUCTION ARTWORK & DESIGN BY Students from Savanna High School (Anaheim, CA) and The Sing for Hope Lab (Bronx, NY)

NARRATION TEXT WRITTEN BY Camille Zamora based on the libretto by Ivan Turgenev

MUSICAL DIRECTION BY

Lucy Tucker Yates

DIRECTED BY

Sharyn Pirtle and Camille Zamora

FRIDAY, MARCH 3, 2023 AT 7:30 PM

Bram Goldsmith Theater

Running Time: 70 minutes, no intermission.

PROGRAM

NOTES BY

CAMILLE ZAMORA

Pauline García Viardot’s The Last Sorcerer: A Feminist Eco-Fable in Operatic Form

A recently rediscovered treasure by one of the most compelling artists of the nineteenth century resonates with themes that speak to us in the twenty-first.

One hundred fifty-five years ago, the great mezzosoprano, composer, and pedagogue Pauline García Viardot created the salon opera Le dernier sorcier (The last sorcerer) in collaboration with her lover, the acclaimed Russian novelist Ivan Turgenev. The piece centered on themes of power and progress, gender and equality, and the restoration of natural order in an everchanging world – a feminist eco-fable in operatic form.

Pauline García Viardot is the most famous Romantic heroine you’ve never heard of. She was born in Paris in 1821 to Spanish parents, the tenor-cum-impresario Manuel García and the soprano Joaquina Sitchez. She and her siblings, famed soprano María Malibran and baritone/teacher Manuel Patricio Rodríguez García, were groomed for a life in music. Pauline’s circle was a who’s who of nineteenth-century European artistic society: she studied piano with Liszt, co-authored mazurkas with Chopin, sang Tristan and Isolde excerpts with Wagner in her living room, hosted Charles Dickens and Henry James as house guests, and shared insights with her best friend George Sand. At the age of seventeen, Pauline debuted the role of Desdemona in Rossini’s Otello in London to great acclaim, and went on to create roles for many leading composers of the day, including Meyerbeer, Gounod, Berlioz, and SaintSaëns, who dedicated his Samson et Dalila to her.

In 1843, Pauline began traveling regularly to perform in Saint Petersburg, where she met the great Russian man of letters Ivan Turgenev. Turgenev fell passionately in love with her mesmerizing voice, quick wit, and depth of spirit, and returned with her to Paris, where they shared their lives and families for the four decades that followed. They collaborated on several works for the stage, including Le dernier sorcier.

A chamber opera in two acts, Le dernier sorcier revolves around Krakamiche, a once-powerful sorcerer whose presence in the great woods has upset the fairies, the forest’s rightful inhabitants, and disturbed the harmony of the land. Through the combined efforts of the fairy folk and their queen, the sorcerer’s daughter and her prince, and a hapless valet, Krakamiche ultimately learns key truths about humility, love, and living in harmony with the natural world.

In soaring melodies and set pieces ranging from simple couplets to dramatic, quasi-Verdian ensembles,

Le dernier sorcier holds its own among the remarkable operas of the period. At the work’s premiere in 1867 at Turgenev’s villa in Baden-Baden, Pauline played the piano (the sole instrument in the original score) and the roles were sung by her children and students. The audience consisted of leading figures of the day, including Liszt, Brahms, Clara Schumann, Hermann Levi, and Kaiser Wilhelm I, who hailed the piece as a treasure.

While there were several clumsily translated, poorly received German-language performances of the work in Weimar and Karlsruhe in 1869-1870, Le dernier sorcier has received next to no attention until now. Viardot’s original manuscript (scored for solo voices, treble chorus, and piano) was held in a private collection for over a century, and as such, the work essentially vanished. Recently, the original piano-vocal score was acquired by Harvard University’s Houghton Library, which gave us permission to produce this world premiere performance, as well as the recording of the work on Bridge Records. Our hope is that this evening will inspire future productions, and that more companies will consider Pauline’s work when programming future seasons. When The Metropolitan Opera performed Kaija Saariaho’s L’Amour de loin in 2016, it was only the second opera composed by a woman to be presented in the company’s 136-year history (the first, Ethel Smyth’s Der Wald, was presented in 1903). So, yes, unearthing and encouraging great work by women feels timely.

But just as important as its resonance with the current zeitgeist is this: Le dernier sorcier deserves our attention because it’s funny, fresh, poignant, and profound, and it conveys its big ideas in compelling, endlessly hummable ways. In its satire of tyranny, its focus on restoring a broken natural order, and its message of hope, it speak to us in timeless ways. Delving into this piece is not a concession, not programming for politics’ sake. Pauline’s work is just plain good, and it speaks for itself.

In the thorny a capella Act 2 quartet, Stella and Lelio share their worldview: “After night comes daylight, after exile comes freedom, and from this point on, my entire life shall be called happiness.” These lovers aren’t blind to life’s difficulties. They know that “la nuit, l’exil” – the dark, alienating forces of the world – cannot be ignored or explained away. But with their eyes wide open, they determine to actively choose the path of happiness. This sense of self-determination and sheer joy courses through Pauline García Viardot’s music, elevating us. It reminds us, as the Fairy Queen sings, that there is always hope.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

TO READ A SYNOPSIS OF THIS EVENING’S PERFORMANCE, SCAN THE QR CODE

CAST OF CHARACTERS

BABATUNDE AKINBOBOYE KRAKAMICHE

MONICA YUNUS STELLA

CAMILLE ZAMORA LA REINE

ADRIANA ZABALA .................................................................................................................. PRINCE LELIO

KARIM SULAYMAN PERLIMPINPIN

ANASTASIA MALLIARAS ................................................................................................................VERVEINE

LOS ANGELES CHILDREN’S CHORUS’ CHORUS OF FAIRIES

MONIQUE COLEMAN .NARRATOR

ADDITIONAL STAFF

Julia Johnson (Stella, Verveine, La Reine)

Amélie Kaufman COVER

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

Sophia Roth

MONICA YUNUS (Stella), Soprano, Sing for Hope Co-Founder, and 2022/2023 Wallis

Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts

Artist-in-Residence, has been called “especially winning” by The New York Times, with a “voice that sparkles like the best of diamonds” (Omaha World Herald). A principal artist at The Metropolitan Opera for over a decade, Ms. Yunus has been featured in multiple Metropolitan Opera HD broadcasts, including The Magic Flute, Le Comte Ory, and La Rondine. Favorite roles include Pamina in The Magic Flute, Gilda in Rigoletto, Countess and Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro, Norina in Don Pasquale, and Adina in L’Elisir D’Amore. The 20222023 season finds Ms. Yunus as Artist-in-Residence alongside her organization, Sing for Hope, as the Company-in-Residence at The Wallis Center for Performing Arts. Ms. Yunus’ concert and recital performances have taken her all over the world, from her native Bangladesh to Spain, Guatemala, and Lebanon - and have featured her alongside legendary singers such as Plácido Domingo, and José Carreras. A multi-year ambassador for The Zouk Mikael International Festival in Lebanon, she thrilled audiences in varied concerts over the years. Highlights include collaborations with bass-baritone Bryn Terfel and tenor Joseph Calleja as well as Jon Batiste, former bandleader of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” Ms. Yunus’ discography includes The Tender Land Suite on KOCH International Classics, and An Aids Quilt Songbook: Sing for Hope, a star-studded collaboration with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, mezzo sopranos Joyce DiDonato and Isabel Leonard, and actor-narrator Sharon Stone. Ms. Yunus is credited as

PRODUCTION INTERN

a producer on the album Legion of Peace: Songs Inspired by Peace Laureates. A graduate of The Juilliard School, Ms. Yunus is the Co-Founder of Sing for Hope, a leading “arts peace corps” that creates programs such as the Sing for Hope Pianos in public spaces from the Bronx to Beirut that promote the mission of art for all. She has presented and performed at The United Nations, the US Capitol, Aspen Ideas Festival, Oxford University, and the Skoll World Forum for Social Entrepreneurship. She has been honored as a Kennedy Center Citizen Artist Award and a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum. An Artist Lecturer at Carnegie Mellon University, Ms. Yunus is a frequent speaker on arts advocacy and the burgeoning field of arts in health, and is a founding member of the National Organization for Arts in Health. She has been the Housewright Eminent Artist-Scholar in Residence at Florida State University and the inaugural Reflexions Artist in Residence at University of Arkansas, and serves on the faculty of Mostly Modern Festival. Born in Chittagong, Bangladesh and raised in New Jersey, Ms. Yunus is the daughter of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Muhammad Yunus.

CAMILLE ZAMORA (La Reine), Sing for Hope Co-Founder, and 2022/2023 Wallis

Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts

Artist-in-Residence is known for her “dignity and glowing sound” (The New York Times) in “luminous, transcendently lyrical” performances (Opera News) that “combine gentility and emotional fire” (The Houston Chronicle). In collaboration with artists ranging from Yo-Yo Ma to

“When I want to do something, I do it in spite of water, fire, society, the whole world.”

- PAULINE GARCÍA VIARDOT (1821-1910)

Sting to The Mambo Kings, Zamora’s performances have been heard on five continents in venues from Carnegie Hall to Zimbabwe’s Harare International Festival, and in live broadcasts on NPR, BBC, Deutsche Radio, and Sirius XM. Zamora has performed with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including Orchestra of St. Luke’s, London Symphony Orchestra, Guadalajara Symphony, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, and American Symphony Orchestra. Hailed by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and NBC Latino as a leading interpreter of classical Spanish song, she has performed her signature concert of zarzuela arias, boleros, and tangos (arranged for her by Grammy® Award winner Jeff Tyzik) with orchestras including Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, Florida Orchestra, Virginia Symphony Orchestra, North Carolina Symphony, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, and more. Camille’s recent seasons have featured performances with Yo-Yo Ma at the US Capitol, her Kennedy Center debut, and signature operatic roles including her tour de force double-bill of La voix humaine and I Pagliacci, awarded “Favorite Performance of the Year” by The Columbus Dispatch. Other highlights include music of Enrique Granados with Yo-Yo Ma and Cristina Pato in the award-winning documentary film The Music of Strangers, and Twin Spirits: Robert and Clara Schumann at Lincoln Center and LA’s Music Center with Joshua Bell, Natasha Paremski, Sting, and Trudie Styler. A champion of contemporary music, Zamora made her Lincoln Center Festival debut in Bright Sheng’s Poems from the Sung Dynasty, and performed Aaron Jay Kernis’ Simple Songs for Soprano and Orchestra under the baton of the composer, and songs of Ricky Ian Gordon with the composer at the piano at Lincoln Center. Her two recent albums – If the night grows dark / Si la noche se hace oscura: Four Centuries of Spanish Song and Viardot’s Le dernier sorcier – debuted on Billboard‘s Top Ten Classical Chart, and her recording of Hindemith’s The Long Christmas Dinner with American Symphony Orchestra was a New York Times Classical Playlist Choice and Opera News Recording of the Year. Zamora is the Co-Founder of the non-profit Sing for Hope, and has presented performances and keynotes at The United Nations, the US Capitol, Aspen Institute, Harvard University, Oxford University, and the Skoll World Forum for Social Entrepreneurship. A frequent speaker in the fields of creative placemaking and arts in public health, she is a founding member of the National Organization for Arts in Health. She has been honored with a Kennedy Center Citizen Artist Award, a World Harmony Torch-Bearer Award, a 100 Hispanic Women Community Pride Award, and named one of Town & Country‘s Top 50 Americans in Philanthropy, NY1’s New Yorker of the Week, and one of CNN’s Most Intriguing People. She is a graduate of The Juilliard School, and serves on the Board of Directors of The Juilliard School, Eaglebrook, and Grameen Creative Lab.

MONIQUE COLEMAN (Narrator) is an actress, producer, and Daytime Emmynominated host. She started her career in theater and television at a very young age in Columbia, South Carolina. Her training began at Workshop Theater School of Dramatic Arts, and she graduated from DePaul University with a BFA in Acting in 2002. Coleman performed her first lead at 12 years old in the independent feature entitled Mother of the River, which was shot in the historic Charleston, South Carolina and won several awards at film festivals across the country. Two years later, Coleman appeared as Young Donna in The Family Channel Movie The Ditch Digger’s Daughters for which she was nominated for a Young Artists Award of Hollywood. During her sophomore year of high school, Coleman wrote, directed, produced, and starred in her own oneperson play entitled Voices from Within for sold out audiences. On stage in Chicago, Coleman starred in productions of Noises Off, Polaroid Stories, The Real Thing, and The Colored Museum. In 2005, Coleman got the chance to work opposite one of her heroes, the legendary James Earl Jones, when she played Leesha in the Hallmark TV Movie The Reading Room. She received a 2006 Camie Award for the role and represented the film at the NAACP Image Awards. In the same year, Coleman rose to super stardom in the High School Musical franchise, where she portrayed Taylor McKessie, the best friend of Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Hudgens) and went on to place 4th on Season 3 of ABC’s “Dancing With The Stars.” In more recent years, Monique has starred in numerous projects including the T.D. Jakes-produced Lifetime film, Greed: A Seven Deadly Sins Story, and the Lifetime original holiday movie, A Christmas Dance Reunion, acting alongside her High School Musical co-star Corbin Bleu. In an iconic re-envisioning of her role of ‘Taylor,’ Monique just wrapped production on Season 4 of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series for Disney+ as well as Give Me An A, an anthology film produced in the wake of the 2022 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision. Monique works tirelessly to balance her passion for acting with her advocacy and holds an unshakable belief in the potential and power of today’s youth. As the first-ever United Nations Youth Champion, Monique traveled to over 24 countries raising awareness about the issues impacting young people and has spent more than a decade advocating for women and youth across the globe through movements such as the UN Foundation’s Girl Up Campaign, Thirst Project, She’s The First, Better Youth and many others. Notably, Monique executive-produced and hosted an original docu-series entitled “Gimme Mo,” for which she garnered a 2019 Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Host for Lifestyle, Children’s or Special Class Programs. She is a proud member of the Board of Directors of Sing for Hope.

BABATUNDE AKINBOBOYE

(Krakamiche, A.K.A. The Sorcerer) is a Nigerian American Baritone singer of diverse talents, and known for his enthralling stage presence. He has performed with the Los Angeles Opera, Opera San Jose, Opera Santa Barbara, Long Beach Opera, and Utah Opera. Babatunde has also debuted the roles of Drew in the Opera Works’ Arts for Social Awareness Project’s world premiere production of The Discord Opera, and Zanni in the world premiere of Gloria Coates’ Stolen Identity. His most recent performances include Daggoo in LA Opera’s Moby Dick, Escamillo in Pacific Opera Project’s production of Carmen, Lucha’s Father in The Industry’s production of Hopscotch, and Valentin in Detroit Opera’s production of Faust. As an advocate for the performance of art song and operatic works written by African, and African American composers, Mr. Akinboboye has headlined the Lagos Chamber of Commerce & Industry awards in Lagos, Nigeria performing a fusion of opera and traditional African music and has been a featured performer at both the National Association of Negro Musicians Annual Conference, as well as the African American Art Song Alliance Conference. Babatunde’s honors include Regional Finalist of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Audition, and finalist in the International Eisteddfod Vocal Solo Competition in Llangollen, Wales. In December of 2018, Babatunde combined his love of classical opera and hip hop and created the new genre Hip Hopera in a viral video that gained over 10 million views and was featured on Time.com, Classic FM, MSN.com and more. His debut EP “Della Citta” is now available.

ADRIANA ZABALA (Lelio), a MezzoSoprano, is acclaimed for operatic, concert and recital performances throughout the U.S. and abroad. The New York Times has hailed her as “a vivid, fearless presence,” and the L.A. Times as “an extraordinary, vibrant mezzo-soprano.” In addition to traditional operatic roles such as Cherubino and Rosina, Ms. Zabala has created characters in distinctive new works such as Sister James in Cuomo and Shanley’s Doubt (recently broadcast on PBS’ Great Performances), Rosie Cheney in Puts and Campbell’s The Manchurian Candidate, Erminella in Musto and Campbell’s Volpone, the title character in Aldridge and Garfein’s Sister Carrie, Manja in Cohen and Brevoort’s Steal a Pencil for Me, and Lucy Talbott in Bolcom and Campbell’s Dinner at Eight. In U.S. premieres, the mezzo was heard as Amore in L’Albore di Diana, the title role in Dove’s The Adventures of Pinocchio, and received international acclaim for her role in Glass’ Waiting for the Barbarians with Austin Opera. She recently joined Arizona Opera as Paula in Florencia en el Amazonas, reprised the role with Opera San Diego, Madison Opera, and Opera Tenerife (in the Spanish premiere of the work), sang Nicklausse in Les Contes D’Hoffmann, also with Madison Opera, and sang the role of Joanna in the revival of Carly Simon’s Romulus Hunt with Nashville Opera. She made her role debut as Mary Johnson in Spears’ Fellow Travelers

with Minnesota Opera, and reprised the role with Madison Opera. Ms. Zabala made her European operatic debut in Valencia, Spain under the baton of Maestro Lorin Maazel at the Opera Palau des Arts, and returned the following season for two productions conducted by Maestro Zubin Mehta. She has been a soloist with the New York Festival of Song, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the New Jersey Symphony, the Jerusalem Symphony, the Jacksonville Symphony, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Virginia Symphony, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in Elijah with Bryn Terfel, among others. Recent engagements include Mahler’s Symphony no.2 with The Minnesota Orchestra and the Quad City Symphony Orchestra, The Mozart Requiem with both the Florida Bach Festival and the Jacksonville Symphony, the world premiere of Jeffrey Van’s Reaping the Whirlwind with the Susquehanna Valley Chorale, the title role in Annelies, an Anne Frank Oratorio, with both the Minnesota Oratorio Society and at Montclair State University, Beethoven’s Symphony no. 9 with Handel & Haydn Society of Boston, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with both the Colorado Symphony and with the Quad City Symphony Orchestra, and Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. In recital, Ms. Zabala has performed at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, the Barns at Wolf Trap, with the Source Song Festival, and on the Salzburg International Chamber Music Series, among many others. Her collaboration with composer and pianist Gregg Kallor is highly praised for their recording and performances of his compositions on the CD Exhilaration: Dickinson and Yeats Songs. Zabala and Kallor have performed this program in New York City, Minneapolis, and Salzburg, and on the Tuesday Musical of Akron guest artist series. Additional recent recordings include unpublished songs of Louis Durey, and world premiere recordings of Pauline Viardot’s Le Dernier Sorcier, and song cycles of Dominick Argento. Zabala also plays the title role in the chamber music play, Nadia, about the legendary pedagogue, conductor, and composer Nadia Boulanger, and portrays Susan B. Anthony in the dramatic song cycle The Trial of Susan B. Anthony, written for her by Stephen Mark Kohn. Ms. Zabala was the Walfogel Scholar of the College at the University of Minnesota, and is now an Associate Professor of Voice at the Yale School of Music.

KARIM SULAYMAN (Perlimpinpin), a Lebanese-American tenor, has garnered international attention as a sophisticated and versatile artist, consistently praised for his sensitive and intelligent musicianship, riveting stage presence, and beautiful voice. The 2019 Best Classical Solo Vocal GRAMMY® Award winner, he continues to earn acclaim for his programming and recording projects, while regularly performing on the world’s stages in opera, orchestral concerts, recital and chamber music. In the 2022-23 season Mr. Sulayman takes part in three world premieres: he creates the title characters in Sarah Angliss and Ross Sutherland’s Giant (Aldeburgh Festival), and Wolfgang Mitterer and Sir David Poutney’s Peter Pan: the dark side (Teatro Comunale di Bolzano e Trento/Fondazione Haydn),

and performs the protagonist in Matthew Ricketts and Mark Campbell’s theatrical song cycle Unruly Sun (Orchestre Classique de Montréal/21C Festival Toronto). He also debuts at Wigmore Hall in two programs of French chamber music, plays Artaserse in Riccardo Broschi’s Idaspe in a new production in Pittsburgh and returns to Stanford Live Arts at Bing Concert Hall. Recently Mr. Sulayman made his solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall to a sold out audience, followed by the world premiere of his critically acclaimed original production, Unholy Wars, an Italian Baroque pasticcio centered around the Middle East and the Crusades, at Spoleto Festival USA. He then returned to the Aldeburgh Festival for several different programs, including his new program, Broken Branches, with guitarist Sean Shibe. Other recent season highlights include engagements at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, and Ravinia Festival, as well as with Chicago, Pittsburgh and National Symphony Orchestras, and the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, and leading roles with Drottningholms Slottsteater, Houston Grand Opera, Florentine Opera, New York City Opera, and Boston Lyric Opera. In future seasons he returns to Wigmore Hall, CAP UCLA, Ravinia Festival and Spoleto Festival USA, debuts at Opera Philadelphia, New World Symphony, Schleswig-Holstein Festival and Boston Celebrity Series, and will premiere David T. Little’s What Belongs to You, a monodrama written for Sulayman and Alarm Will Sound based on Garth Greenwell’s acclaimed novel, directed by Mark Morris. Mr. Sulayman won the 2019 GRAMMY® Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album for his debut solo album, Songs of Orpheus (Avie Records). His second solo album, Where Only Stars Can Hear Us (Avie), a program of Schubert Lieder with fortepianist Yi-heng Yang, debuted at #1 on the Billboard Traditional Classical Chart and has received international critical acclaim, including being named “Critic’s Choice” by Opera News and included in the New York Times’ Best Classical Music of 2020. His third solo album, Broken Branches with Sean Shibe, will be released by Pentatone in May, 2023. Karim has been featured on PBS “Great Performances,” and appeared on the second season of “Dickinson” on Apple TV+. In November 2016, he created a social experiment/ performance art piece called I Trust You, designed to build bridges in a divided political climate. A video version of this experiment went “viral” on the internet and was honored as a prize-winner at the My Hero Film Festival.

ANASTASIA MALLIARAS (Verveine), a Greek-American soprano, is gracefully exploring new depths of her artistry and voice. With a beautiful blend of warm and bright colors, her timbre is distinguishable and vocal tone is elegant and natural. Her voice has led her to play the classic operatic roles of Nannetta, Olympia, Zerbinetta, Marie and Frasquita to name a few. In the spring of 2023, she will be joining the roster of Young Artists at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis where she will be covering the roles of Despina in Mozart’s iconic Cosi

fan tutte and Mrs. Hayes in Carlisle Floyd’s seminal American opera Susannah. In 2017 she was seen in the world premiere of the opera Tesla where she portrayed the role of Marie Astor Hampton. Anastasia has been a Studio Artist at Central City opera where she played Ruth Baldwin in Musto’s Later That Same Evening and has previously participated in the Young Artist Vocal Academy at Houston Grand Opera and the iSing! International Young Artist Festival. She has placed in prestigious competitions including the Loren L. Zachary Competition and the Metropolitan Opera National Council Los Angeles District and Western Regionals. No stranger to the concert stage, Anastasia was recently featured as the soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Dream Orchestra of Los Angeles. She is also the resident singer for the American Contemporary Ballet and will be featured in their upcoming performances of Astaire Dances III. Committed to the performance of chamber music, she co-founded and is a singer of the chamber music ensemble, Duo Apollon. The pair is a classical voice and guitar duo that performs original repertoire for voice and guitar, as well as transcriptions from piano. They will be releasing their debut album Folksongs this spring.

LUCY TUCKER YATES (Music Director)

Acclaimed pianist. soprano, coach, music director, and educator made her Lincoln Center debut in November 2022 as maestro al cembalo for Rossini’s towering Maometto II with Teatro Nuovo. She joined The Industry in 2020 on keyboards for Sweet Land, with music by Du Yun and Raven Chacon (documentary and full video on PBS), and was immediately made a member of the company. She made her conducting debut in 2018 as maestro al cembalo at Seattle Opera with the “extremely inventive” O+E (Gluck and Calzabigi’s 1762 Orfeo ed Euridice), in an “elegantly poetic” English version she created for that production. She made her Rossini Opera Festival debut in 2014 as onstage continuo fortepianist in Mario Martone’s staging of Aureliano in Palmira (DVD on ArtHaus Musik) and was called “the true… actress of the production.” Miss Yates first drew international attention as Violetta in a new Franco Zeffirelli/Plácido Domingo production of La traviata (Teatro Verdi di Busseto), and was immediately engaged by Gian Carlo Menotti for Spoleto (Monica in The Medium, under his direction) and Francesco Maria Colombo for the Orchestra Verdi di Milano. Critics called her Gilda “perfect” (Piedmont), her Beatrice di Tenda “dazzling” (Fletcher), and her Fiordiligi “deliciously feminine” (Aldeburgh). She appeared as Nedda in Pagliacci at Sarasota Opera and as Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia with the Opera Company of North Carolina. Through twenty years of playing and coaching for Bel Canto at Caramoor and Teatro Nuovo, where she is now Director of Language Studies, Miss Yates has emerged as a cogent and lyrical translator and teacher of Italian grammar and poetry. She teaches Italian libretto intensives for dell’Arte Opera Ensemble and gives master classes for opera companies and conservatories. She has written surtitles,

mostly in verse, for operas from Le nozze di Figaro to L’amore dei tre re. She has served as production dramaturg, titlist, and coach for the New York City Opera, panelist on the beloved Toll Brothers Metropolitan Opera Radio Quiz, and writer and interviewer for the Santa Fe Opera. She is a Lecturer in Opera in the Herb Alpert School of Music at UCLA.

SHARYN PIRTLE (Stage Director and Sing for Hope Director of Education) is an acclaimed arts education pioneer and director whose first arts “aha moment” began in a fantastic public performing arts school in her native Houston, Texas, where children from different socioeconomic backgrounds came to share their passion for the arts. In 2005 Sharyn founded Young at Arts, a stalwart and transformative performing arts educational organization dedicated to helping young people expand their horizons and build character, compassion and commitment through music, drama and movement throughout the tristate area. Having served over 800 children, ages 6-18, the program provided a welcoming open door for talent from over 40 Westchester schools, including after school programs with the Eastchester and Tuckahoe School districts as well as the Amani Charter School, a school serving students in The Bronx and Mount Vernon, NY. Offering a curriculum in musical theater, vocal performance, instrumental studies, rock band and dance, nearly 40% of the student body was provided with need-based scholarship, funded and in part through private donations, grants and subsidized with student tuition. With a commitment to turn no child away, Young at Arts provided a nurturing home of self discovery and realization, a place to build strong bonds with children of different backgrounds, and to champion discipline, commitment, and teamwork. In 2020, Sharyn led the launch of The Sing for Hope Lab to serve communities of The Bronx and southern Westchester which have been among the hardest-hit by COVID in the nation. The Sing for Hope Lab has now grown out of its initial pilot phase into a daily, year-round educational center serving over 500 children with impactful in-school, after-school, and summer camp arts programming. As the Sing for Hope Director of Education and Open Arts, Sharyn has spoken on the importance of arts education at institutions including The Eastman School of Music, and has been honored by the Mount Vernon Public Library Foundation and the Junior League of Bronxville. Sharyn received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Vocal Performance from The Eastman School of Music and trained as an opera director at Houston Grand Opera. She has directed numerous operas and musicals, both professionally and for youth, across the United States, in Europe, and in the Middle East. Sharyn and her husband, Emmy Nominated Lighting Designer, Shawn Kaufman live in Mount Vernon, NY, are proud to be the parents of daughter Amélie; dogs Artemis, Rosey and Tuesday; a cat named Moon; and 5 chickens.

FERNANDO MALVAR-RUIZ (Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus) commenced his LACC tenure in 2018. He is a GRAMMY Award-winner and internationally regarded choral conductor, clinician, and educator who has worked with children’s and youth choirs his entire career. From 2004 to 2017, he was the Artistic Director of the American Boychoir, leading the ensemble in over 150 performances and up to five national and international tours annually. He has prepared choirs for appearances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, LA Opera, San Francisco Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchestra, among others. He has worked with such conductors as Gustavo Dudamel, Marin Alsop, Pierre Boulez, Yannick Nézet-Seguin, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Valery Gergiev, as well as artists ranging from cellist Yo-Yo Ma, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, pop legends Billie Eilish, Beyoncé Knowles, Sir Paul McCartney, Josh Groban, and opera singers Kathleen Battle and Jessye Norman. He conducted the American Boychoir on six recordings, led its performances on the Academy Awards and a 9/11 memorial service broadcast globally on CNN. Mr. Malvar-Ruiz was the music director on the film Hear My Song (Boychoir), starring Dustin Hoffman, Kathy Bates, Debra Winger, and Josh Lucas. His discography includes the 2022 Grammy Award-winning recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Mr. Malvar-Ruiz previously served as the American Boychoir’s Associate Music Director from 2000 to 2004 under James Litton. An expert in the adolescent voice, he has guest conducted children’s and youth choirs around the globe. He has a master’s degree in choral conducting from Ohio State University and completed the coursework toward a doctoral degree in choral music from the University of Illinois.

SPECIAL THANKS

The International Foundation for Arts and Culture (Dr. Haruhisa Handa, Chairman and Sing for Hope Global Patron) for its ongoing support, and to Harvard University’s Houghton Library for giving Camille Zamora permission to produce this evening’s performance score of Le dernier sorcier from Pauline García Viardot’s handwritten manuscript.

LOS ANGELES CHILDREN’S CHORUS (The Chorus of Fairies), a GRAMMY Award-winning group and one of the world’s preeminent youth choruses, has been lauded as “hauntingly beautiful” (Los Angeles Times), “the best children’s chorus I have ever heard” (Esa-Pekka Salonen), and “one of the true artistic gems of Los Angeles” (Gustavo Dudamel). Founded in 1986 and led now by Artistic Director Fernando Malvar-Ruiz, LACC annually appears in more than 50 public performances, including in its own self-produced concerts and in collaborations with leading organizations such as LA Opera, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and Pasadena Symphony and POPS. The Chorus annually serves over 425 children ages 6–18 from 40+ communities across Southern California through its seven choirs, First Experiences in Singing class, and First Experiences in Choral Singing ensemble. The Chorus is featured in alumna Billie Eilish’s 2021 cinematic concert experience Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter To Los Angeles on Disney+, and has appeared on John Williams’ 2017 recording, John Williams & Steven Spielberg: The Ultimate Collection, and the Los Angeles Master Chorale’s critically-acclaimed Decca recording, A Good Understanding. The subject of four documentaries by Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Freida Mock, LACC is featured in the Academy Award®-nominated Sing!, about a year in the life of the choir. LACC has performed with John Mayer on NBC’s “The Tonight Show” and been featured on PBS’s “Great Performances,” BBC Radio, and PRI’s nationallysyndicated show “From the Top.” Winner of the 2022 GRAMMY Award for Best Choral Performance for its performance on the LA Philharmonic’s 2021 album, Mahler Symphony No. 8, and recipient of Chorus America’s Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence, LACC frequently serves as a cultural ambassador for Los Angeles on tours that have taken the Chorus to 20+ countries on 6 continents.

For more information, please visit lachildrenschorus.org

SING FOR HOPE: Harnesses the power of the arts to create a better world. Its creative programs bring hope, healing, and connection to millions of people in hospitals, care facilities, schools, refugee camps, transit hubs, and community spaces worldwide. Sing for Hope partners with hundreds of communitybased organizations, mobilizes thousands of artists in creative service, and produces artist-created Sing for Hope Pianos across the US and around the world. Sing for Hope traces its roots to

9/11, when Juilliard sopranos Camille Zamora and Monica Yunus organized fellow musicians to perform for the firehouse at Lincoln Center, which had lost twelve of firefighters that day. In the months that followed, realizing the power of the arts in times of crisis, they continued to reach out across the city to share soothing music and art with communities in need, growing their ranks from dozens of artists to thousands. In 2010, as a symbol and celebration of art for all, they launched New York City’s Sing for Hope Pianos, now one the country’s largest public arts projects. Sing for Hope’s programs include:

SING FOR HOPE PIANOS — From the Bronx to Beirut, The Sing for Hope Pianos is a global arts initiative that produces artistdesigned pianos; places them in public spaces for anyone and everyone to enjoy; then transports and activates them year-round in permanent homes in schools, hospitals, transit hubs, refugee camps, and community-based organizations. With more media impressions than any other public art project in the past decade, and over 575 individual piano artworks created to date, Sing for Hope has provided more pianos for under-resourced public schools than any other organization in the world.

SING FOR HOPE HEALING ARTS — Research-based creative performances, workshops, and curated cultural experiences that promote wellness, connection, and respite in hospitals, vaccination centers, long-term care facilities, hospices, and treatment centers. Programs encompass both in-person arts experiences as well as daily live virtual performances, classes, and workshops via our Open Arts platform.

SING FOR HOPE EDUCATION — Dynamic arts workshops and standards-based curricula that inspire civic action and uplift youth, educators, and local communities. Programs, which include the Sing for Hope Young at Arts Lab and HandaHarmony, serve youth in grades K-12 in partnership with agencies including NYC Department of Education, Los Angeles Unified School District, and The United Nations.

SING FOR HOPE GLOBAL — Creative advocacy, leadership, and program design that drive the integration of the arts in policy and at global convenings on social change. Sing for Hope is the official Cultural Partner of the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates.

Sing for Hope champions art for all because we believe the arts have an unmatched capacity to uplift, unite, and heal.

PRESENTS

AN EVENING WITH ISAAC MIZRAHI

MUSIC DIRECTOR/PIANO

Ben Waltzer

HORNS

Benny Benack

DRUMS

Joe Strasser

PERCUSSION

Daniel Freedman

BASS

Neal Miner

HORNS

Bruce Harris

Songs will be announced from the stage.

SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 2023 AT 7:30PM

Bram Goldsmith Theater

Running Time: 85 minutes, no intermission.

Booking Manager: Matthew Oberstein/ Opus 3 Artists

IM Entertainment Director: Neal Phelps

ISAAC MIZRAHI has worked extensively in the entertainment industry as an actor, host, writer, designer and producer for over 30 years. He is the subject and co-creator of Unzipped, a documentary following the making of his Fall 1994 collection which received an award at the Sundance Film Festival. He hosted his own television talk show “The Isaac Mizrahi Show” for seven years, has written two books, and has made countless appearances in movies and on television. He currently serves as a judge on “Project Runway: All-Stars.”

He is Chief Designer for the Isaac Mizrahi brands, a division of Xcel Brands, Inc. In 2009, Mizrahi launched his lifestyle collection,

“ISAAC MIZRAHI LIVE!” on QVC. His IMNYC collection is currently sold at Lord & Taylor and Hudson’s Bay Company.

Mizrahi has directed productions of A Little Night Music and The Magic Flute for the Opera Theatre of St. Louis. Annually, he directs and narrates his production of the children’s classic Peter and The Wolf at The Guggenheim Museum in New York. He has performed cabaret at Café Carlyle, Joe’s Pub, West Bank Café and City Winery locations across the country.

Mizrahi has his own production company, Isaac Mizrahi Entertainment, under which he has several projects in development in television, theater and literature. His memoir, I.M., was published in February 2019. helloisaac.com

PRESENTS

SETH PARKER WOODS CELLO WITH ANDREW ROSENBLUM PIANO

PROGRAM

COLERIDGE TAYLOR PERKINSON

“Calvary Ostinato”

from Lamentations: Black Folk Song Suite (1973)

SERGEI RACHMANINOV

Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op. 19 (1901)

Intermission

JEFFREY MUMFORD

four dances for Boris (2004)

ROBERT SCHUMANN

Fantasiestücke, Op. 73 (1849)

GEORGE WALKER

Sonata for Cello and Piano (1957)

THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 2023 AT 7:30 PM

Bram Goldsmith Theater

Running Time: One hour and 40 minutes, including a 15-minute intermission.

SETH PARKER WOODS (Cello) Hailed by The Guardian as “a cellist of power and grace” who possesses “mature artistry and willingness to go to the brink,” Grammy Award-nominated cellist Seth Parker Woods has established his reputation as a versatile artist and innovator across multiple genres. His projects delve deep into our cultural fabric, reimagining traditional works and commissioning new ones to propel classical music into the future, inspiring The New York Times to write, “Woods is an artist rooted in classical music, but whose cello is a vehicle that takes him, and his concertgoers, on wide-ranging journeys.” He is a recipient of the 2022 Chamber Music America Michael Jaffee Visionary Award. In the 2022-2023 season, Woods premieres a new version of his evening-length, multimedia tour de force Difficult Grace at 92Y, UCLA, and Chicago’s Harris Theater; curates and performs a program honoring the centennial of composer George Walker at The Phillips Collection in Washington D.C.; premieres Freida Abtan’s My Heart is a River, commissioned by the Seattle Symphony; and performs a world premiere by Anna Thorvaldsdottir at Carnegie Hall as part of Claire Chase’s Density Series. The Great Northern Festival in Minneapolis will present Woods in his critically acclaimed performance installation, Iced Bodies, in which Woods, in a wetsuit, plays an obsidian ice cello. Woods is also a member of celebrated new music ensemble Wild Up, with whom he is nominated for a 2023 Grammy Award. Recital appearances this season include concerts with pianist Andrew Rosenblum at Dumbarton Oaks in D.C., Boston’s Isabella Gardner Museum, and the Wallis Annenburg Center for Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, and a return to his former home Brussels for a solo recital at Das Haus. He also tours to Washington Performing Arts, Krannert Center, Stanford Live, California Center for the Arts, Count Basie Center for the Arts, Auburn University, and Emory University with the Chad Lawson Trio. In addition, Woods will hold residencies at Montclair State University and Oberlin Conservatory. The season will also see the release of a new solo album on Cedille Records and the soundtrack of the PBS documentary The U.S. and the Holocaust – a film by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick, and Sarah Botstein –to which Woods contributed. In addition to solo performances, he has appeared with the ICTUS Ensemble (Brussels, BE), Ensemble L’Arsenale (IT), zone Experimental (CH), Basel Sinfonietta (CH), Ensemble LPR, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the Atlanta and Seattle Symphonies, and in chamber music with violinist Hilary Hahn and pianist Andreas Haefliger. A fierce advocate for contemporary arts, Woods has collaborated and worked with a wide range of artists ranging from the likes of Louis Andriessen, Elliott Carter, Heinz Holliger, G. F. Haas, Helmut Lachenmann, Klaus Lang, and Peter Eötvos to Peter Gabriel, Sting, Lou Reed, Dame Shirley Bassey, and Rachael Yamagata to such visual artists as Ron Athey, Vanessa Beecroft, Jack Early, Adam Pendleton, and Aldo Tambellini. In the 2021-2022 season, he premiered concertos by Rebecca Saunders and Tyshawn Sorey. In recent years, Woods has appeared in

concert at the Royal Albert Hall – BBC Proms, Aspen Music Festival, Ojai Festival, Snape Maltings Festival, the Ghent Festival, Washington Performing Arts, Strathmore, Musée d’art Moderne et Contemporain, Le Poisson Rougel, Cafe OTO, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Klang Festival-Durham, INTER/ actions Symposium, ICMC-SMS Conference (Athens, GR), NIMELondon, Sound and Body Festival, Instalakcje Festival, Virginia Tech, La Salle College (Singapore), and FINDARS (Malaysia), amongst others. Recent awards include a DCASE artist grant, Earle Brown/ Morton Feldman Foundation Grant, McGill UniversityCIRMMT/IDMIL Visiting Researcher Residency, Centre Intermondes Artist Residency, Francis Chagrin Award, Concours [Re] connaissance-Premiere Prix, and the Paul Sacher Stiftung Research Scholarship. His debut solo album, asinglewordisnotenough (Confront Recordings-London), has garnered great acclaim since its release in November 2016 and has been profiled in The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, LA Times, The Guardian, 5against4, I Care If You Listen, Musical America, Seattle Times, and Strings Magazine, amongst others. Woods recently joined the faculty of the Thornton School of Music at The University of Southern California as Assistant Professor of Practice - Cello and Chamber Music. He previously served on the faculties of the University at Buffalo, University of Chicago, Dartmouth College, and the Chicago Academy of the Arts and as Artist in Residence at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and Northwestern University - Center for New Music. Woods holds degrees from Brooklyn College, Musik Akademie der Stadt Basel, and a PhD from the University of Huddersfield. In the 2020-21 season, he was an Artist in Residence with the Kaufman Music Center, and from 2018-2020 he served as Artist in Residence with Seattle Symphony and Creative Consultant for the interactive concert hall, Octave 9: Raisbeck Music Center. Seth Parker Woods is a Pirastro Artist and endorses Pirastro Perpetual Strings worldwide.

ANDREW ROSENBLUM (Piano) A Chicago-based pianist and harpsichordist, Andrew Rosenblum is passionate about exploring great pieces of music from across every period of composition. As a harpsichordist, he won second prize in both the 2018 Leipzig International Bach Competition and the 2017 Prague Spring International Music Competition. An experienced collaborator, Rosenblum has been on the staff of the Chicago Symphony Chorus, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, Cleveland Institute of Music, and Northwestern University, and has performed with the Leipzig Baroque Orchestra, Collegium 1704, Music of the Baroque Orchestra, Haymarket Opera, Third Coast Baroque, and Three Notch’d Road. He is a member of the Harpsichord and Piano Faculty of the Heifetz International Music Institute.

SHANGHAI SONATAS

A NEW MUSICAL IN CONCERT

IN COLLABORATION WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE MASTER PLAYERS CONCERT SERIES

CAST

Cáitlín Burke, Sara LaFlamme, Stephanie Lynne Mason, Neal Mayer, Drew McVety, Juliet Petrus, Ethan Le Phong, Julian Remulla, Adam B. Shapiro, Xiaoqing Zhang

CONDUCTED BY Noreen Green

CULTURAL CONSULTANT

Zhuoyi Wang

MEDIA SPONSOR

NARRATED BY Anzi

DeBenedetto

BOOK BY Alan Goodson

LYRICS BY Joyce Hill Stoner

COSTUME DESIGNER

Joanne Fulmer

PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER

John Freeland, Jr.

MUSIC SUPERVISOR AND ORCHESTRATOR

Asher Denburg

CONCEPT, MUSIC & PRODUCED BY Sean (Xiang) Gao DIRECTOR

Chongren Fan

PRESENTS THE WORLD PREMIERE OF MARCH 16 - 18, 2023

Bram Goldsmith Theater

SOUND DESIGNER

Dave Sanderson

DRAMATURG

Jeremy Stoller

Running Time: Approximately 2 hours, including a 15-minute intermission.

CAST OF CHARACTERS

JULIAN REMULLA ................................................................................................................. OLD MING-KAI

XIAOQING ZHANG TAN HUA, FORMER STAR OF THE PEKING OPERA

STEPHANIE LYNNE MASON MIRI, A TAXI DANCER

SARA LAFLAMME ....................................................................................................... LI LI, A TAXI DANCER

ETHAN LE PHONG MING-KAI (KAI KAI), TAN HUA’S SON

DREW MCVETY LEO, A CLASSICAL VIOLINIST

JULIET PETRUS .................................................................... RACHEL, A CLASSICAL VIOLIST, LEO’S WIFE

NEAL MAYER SAMMY, A JAZZ/CLASSICAL MUSICIAN

STEPHANIE LYNNE MASON LOTTE, A PEDDLER, HERMANN’S WIFE

ADAM B. SHAPIRO .................................................................................... ERNST, A CLASSICAL VIOLINIST

NEAL MAYER HERMANN, A PEDDLER

JULIAN REMULLA KANO GHOYA, JAPANESE OVERSEER OF THE GHETTO

JULIAN REMULLA ..................................................................................................... LAO SUN, A PEDDLER

CAÍTLÍN BURKE MEI MEI, A TAXI DANCER

CAÍTLÍN BURKE WONG MA, A PEDDLER, LAO SUN’S WIFE

ANZI DEBENEDETTO NARRATOR

ORCHESTRA

NOREEN GREEN GUEST CONDUCTOR

BINRUI MO VIOLIN II

CHAD SMITH WOODWIND II

LINDA HENDERSON KEYBOARD II

ZIQIAN (ZQ) YE VIOLIN III/VIOLA

HEIDI LUCAS HORN

CATHY (YUE) YANG* ERHU

ASSISTANT MUSIC DIRECTOR

Linda Henderson

ELECTRONIC MUSIC PROGRAMMER

Brian Li

LOGO DESIGNER

David M. Brinley

CASTING CONSULTANT FOR ORIGINAL 2018 WORKSHOP

Austin Ku

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS

Hamilton Chang

Irene Chu

Diane Fisher

ASHER DENBURG ASSOCIATE CONDUCTOR

LAWRENCE STOMBERG CELLO

JEFF BUNNELL TRUMPET & FLUGELHORN

HARVEY PRICE PERCUSSION

* OF 6-WIRE

RUOTAO MAO CONCERTMASTER

LAWRENCE TRICE DOUBLE BASS GLEN BERGER WOODWIND I

BRUCE TYCHINSKI TROMBONE MATTHEW BROWER* KEYBOARD I

SEAN (XIANG) GAO* VIOLINS OF HOPE FEATURED VIOLINIST

ADDITIONAL STAFF

TOURING COMPANY

DAN SAVANT & JOHN-PAUL NELSON SAVANT PRODUCTIONS INC. MUSIC CONRACTOR

Tamara Smith TOURING COMPANY MANAGER

Susanne Reyto CO-DIRECTOR OF SHANGHAI SONATAS EDUCATIONAL RESIDENCY (SSER) (CHAIR, VIOLINS OF HOPE LOS ANGELES)

Sean (Xiang) Gao CO-DIRECTOR OF SHANGHAI SONATAS EDUCATIONAL RESIDENCY (SSER)

Brian (Binrui) Mo TOURING PRODUCTION MANAGER

Lawrence Trice TOURING ASSISTANT MANAGER

Ben Zong ARTIST COORDINATOR

Anzi DeBenedetto TOURING ASSISTANT MANAGER

PRODUCERS

The University of Delaware Master Players Concert Series

Sean (Xiang) Gao PRODUCING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Memor NYC, INC

Willa Ao

Fanghua Jiang

SYNOPSIS

Jewish refugee musicians fleeing the Nazis are thrust together with Chinese living under a brutal Japanese occupation in the Jewish Ghetto of Shanghai in the 1940s. Leo, a Jewish violinist, takes on Ming-Kai, a troubled Chinese teenager, as his student, a connection that helps both of them overcome their trauma and survive the war. The unifying power of music brings these two cultures together, setting ripples in motion that carry through to this day.

ACT I

ORCHESTRA SHAPED AND POLISHED WOOD OLD MING-KAI

OVERTURE

THE EAST IS SWINGING WEST TAN HUA, MING-KAI & TAN HUA’S GIRLS THE YEAR OF THE UNDERDOG COMPANY (EXCEPT LEO)

LEO’S LETTER LEO

TURN THE CLOCK BACK RACHEL, ERNST, MIRI, SAMMY

YOUR STORY ............................................................................................................................ RACHEL, LEO

PETALS OF LOVE TAN HUA, MING-KAI

OUR “SHTETL” ................................................................................................... JEWS, GHOYA & COMPANY

THAT BOY, THAT MAN TAN HUA, RACHEL, MING-KAI, LEO ACROSS THE GARDEN BRIDGE RACHEL, LEO, JEWS

PEDDLERS’ WALTZ LAO SUN, WONG MA, LOTTE, HERMANN FINALE ACT I LEO

ACT II

ENTR’ACTE ORCHESTRA MOON FESTIVAL/BRIGHT MOON COMPANY (EXCEPT LEO)

THAT BOY, THAT MAN (REPRISE) LEO, MING-KAI JUST LISTEN LEO YOUR STORY (REPRISE) RACHEL, LEO

LIBERATION COMPANY

SIX MILLION JEWS AND COMPANY

PETALS OF LOVE (REPRISE) MING-KAI, TAN HUA, AND COMPANY

FINALE ........................................................................................................................................... COMPANY

The action takes place in Shanghai— in the present day and in the 1930s and 40s.

Selections of music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Antonín Dvořák, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

#Three musicians in this production in this production are represented by the American Federation of Musicians.

CREATORS’ NOTES

During this time of division, war, and racial violence, Shanghai Sonatas, a new American musical, a work in progress since 2018, tells a lesser-known Holocaust story.

Violence against Jewish families in Germany and Austria increased in the late 1930s. For two days after November 9, 1938 (“Kristallnacht” or “Night of the Broken Glass”), Nazi rioters burned or damaged more than 1,000 synagogues and ransacked and broke the windows of more than 7,500 Jewish businesses. Jews were being rounded up and sent to concentration camps. More than 18,000 German and Austrian Jews, as well as hundreds of members of the Mir Yeshiva Jews in Poland escaped by boat to Shanghai, China, the one location that did not require a visa for entry. The refugees (including more than 400 musicians) were grateful for a safe haven but were now stateless and penniless in a strange new place rife with overcrowding and disease.The Japanese invaded China in 1937, and their massacre of more than 300,000 Chinese civilians in Nanjing was known as the “Rape of Nanjing.” In 1943, new Jewish refugees were confined by occupying Japanese authorities to a ghetto in Hong Kou (AKA Hongkew.)

This musical theater work, based on first-person accounts, tells the true story of daily life for musicians from Europe who used their optimism, humor, and musical talents to survive, forging friendships with their Chinese neighbors who had helped to save their lives until Allied forces, including the American and Chinese armies, brought freedom to the region in 1945.

During WWII, six million Jews were murdered by the Nazis, and 20 million Chinese died, many while fighting alongside Allied forces against the Japanese invaders. The impact of some Shanghai Jewish refugee musicians and musicians who arrived in China prior to them who taught Western classical music to Chinese children continues today, over 85 years later.

Today, some of the millions of Chinese classical musicians worldwide are connected to this part of history. The creators hope music will continue to unify many other peoples.

While pursuing their goal of developing a full Broadway production, the creators have created a concert production, Songs of Shanghai Sonatas, to travel to concert halls and theaters in order for new audiences to learn about the inspiring Shanghai Jewish Ghetto musical stories.

www.ShanghaiSonatas.com

SEAN GAO Producing Artistic Director, original concept & music) Named one of Musical America’s Top 30 Professionals of the Year in 2021, Sean Gao is one of the world’s most successful presenters, producers, composers, and pedagogues. He has solo performed violin with 100 plus orchestras worldwide and for many world leaders. As the University of Delaware Trustees Distinguished Professor of Music, Sean is also the founder and director of the world traveling 6-WIRE ensembles. (6-WIRE.com) Mr. Gao was born and raised in Beijing, China and is a proud alumnus of the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance. Mr. Gao dedicates this musical to his American parents Rich and Susan Rogel, inspiring philanthropists and generous supporters of his career and Shanghai Sonatas.

ALAN GOODSON (Book) is a playwright, translator, lyricist, actor, and director based in Los Angeles. His plays have been presented at new play festivals throughout the country. In addition to his original work, he translates plays and lyrics from German, Hungarian, and Swedish into English. He is a longtime member of the Dramatists Guild, Actors’ Equity Association, and SAG-AFTRA.

JOYCE HILL STONER (Lyrics) has written the lyrics (and often the music) for 23 musicals produced Off-Broadway, Off-Off Broadway, in the NYC Fringe Festival, and in venues in Toronto, San Francisco, Delaware, Maine, and Italy. The NY Times called her Off-Broadway musical I’ll Die if I Can’t Live Forever “the best mini-musical in town.” Joyce is the Edward F. and Elizabeth Goodman Rosenberg Professor of Material Culture at the University of Delaware.

CHONGREN FAN (Director) is a New York-based director, originally from Shanghai, China. He is the Artistic Director of Yangtze Rep and Producing Associate at Pan Asian Rep. Recent Directing Credits: Citizen Wong (A.R.T./New York Mezzanine Theatre); Tiger Style! (TheatreSquared, AR); The Emperor’s Nightingale (Theatre Row, 2019 OBA Award nomination); Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s Romulus the Great (TBG Theatre); Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig’s 410 [GONE] (TFTNC); China Premiere of Marie Jones’s Stones in His Pockets (Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center). He has been a guest lecturer at Barnard College and Yale School of Drama. He is a member of Off-Broadway League’s Equity Inclusion Diversity committee. SDC member.

ASHER DENBURG (Music supervisor and orchestrator)

National tours of Spamilton, Cirque Musica Holiday Spectacular; Breath and Imagination (Lyric Stage Company of Boston /Front Porch Arts Collective, IRNE nomination for Best Music Director); ongoing residencies in NYC at Green Room 42 & Chelsea Music Hall. As orchestrator: Bachelors of Broadway; Never Sleep Alone (Virgin Voyages); Fable (NYMF, world premiere); ghostwriter for the Boston Pops, Chicago Symphony.

DR. NOREEN GREEN (Guest Conductor) is the Founding Artistic Director and Conductor of the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony (LAJS), which she created in 1994. A trailblazing, inspirational conductor, educator and lecturer known worldwide for her knowledge and skill in presenting music with Jewish themes, she has served as guest conductor in the United States, Israel, South Africa, Australia, Canada and the Caribbean. Wherever she appears, Green exudes a spirit of joy and harmony –bringing people together through the universal language of music through a Jewish lens. In 2022, due to her noteworthy accomplishments and prominence in her field, Green was inducted into the prestigious Marquis Who’s Who Biographical Registry. In November 2022, she spoke at the United Nations on Music and the Holocaust: History, Memory and Justice. In January 2023, she gave a presentation on Jewish Music Repertoire in Multi-Cultural Programming at the International Conductors Guild Conference in Valencia, Spain.

CÁITLÍN BURKE (Mei Mei, a taxi dancer & Wong Ma, a peddler, Lao Sun’s wife) NATIONAL TOUR: The Sound of Music; NEW YORK: The Mikado, Ruddigore (City Center) REGIONAL: The Sound of Music (Kennedy Center & Paper Mill), A Christmas Carol (NSMT), The Mikado (Wolf Trap), Master Class (MBT) South Pacific, M. Butterfly LONDON: The House of Murgatroyd (International G&S Festival), The Pirates of Penzance, Iolanthe (National G&S Opera Company) @RealCaitlinBurke

ANZI DEBENEDETTO (Narrator) Born in NYC, Anzi DeBenedetto is an actor and video artist. He is eager to join Shanghai Sonatas as the stage directions reader. Graduating from NYU Tisch in 2021 (Atlantic, Stonestreet), Anzi’s credits include CBS’s FBI and a voiceover campaign for “The Edge” observation deck. Representation: The Talent House, Buchwald.

SARA LAFLAMME (Li Li, a taxi dancer) is an actor, singer, animal advocate, and artist originally hailing from southern Massachusetts and currently residing in NYC. Favorite regional roles include Clara in The Light in the Piazza, Kim in Miss Saigon, Polly Peachum in The Threepenny Opera, and Rapunzel in Into the Woods.

STEPHANIE LYNNE MASON (Lotte, Herann’s wife & Miri, a taxi dancer) is honored and thrilled to be a part of Shanghai Sonatas. She was most recently seen reprising her role as “Hodl” in Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish at New World Stages directed by Joel Grey and as “Eleanor Applebaum” in A Walk on the Moon at George Street Playhouse. She was also in the 2016 Broadway Revival of Fiddler on the Roof covering the principal daughters and toured the country as “Dyanne” on the National Tour of Million Dollar Quartet. Other favorite credits include “Louise” in Gypsy, and “Gussie” in Amerike the Golden Land.

NEAL MAYER (Hermann, a peddler & Sammy, a jazz/classical musician) Broadway: Les Misérables. National Tour: Priscilla Queen of the Desert. Off-Broadway: Forbidden Broadway, Mark Felt Superstar. Regional: La Jolla Playhouse, Paper Mill, Bay Street, Arena Stage. Film: Call Jane, A Wounded Fawn. TV: “Poker Face,” “Russian Doll,” “The Blacklist,” “The Tonight Show.” Recordings: The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Website: nealmayer.net

DREW MCVETY (Leo, a classical violinist and Rachel’s husband) Broadway: Bandstand, The Front Page, The Last Ship, Cyrano De Bergerac, Billy Elliot, SITPAWG, Spamalot, Big River, Titanic, The Heidi Chronicles, Cabaret, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. TV: “The Good Wife,” “Blue Bloods,” “Law & Order,” “Molly Dodd,” and many others. Drew is a lead producer and the star of the perennial A Sherlock Carol in NYC.

JULIET PETRUS (Rachel, a classical violist and Leo’s wife) is a professional soprano, violist, author and educator. Recent operatic roles: L’enfant et les sortilèges, Florentine Opera; Queen of the Night, The Magic Flute, Hamburger Kammeroper (Germany); Blonde,The Abudction from the Seraglio, Baden Staadtheater (Austria); Eurydice, Orpheus in the Underworld, Glimmerglass Opera; Mrs. Nordstrom, A Little Night Music, Detroit Opera. Solo Concert Appearances: St. Louis Symphony, Colorado Symphony, & Alabama Symphony as soprano soloist in Carmina Burana; Philadelphia Orchestra; Shanghai Symphony; solo recital tour of China singing Chinese art song. Recording: 千里之外 A Great Distance: A Collection of Chinese and American Art Song (MSR Classics 2015). Author: Singing in Mandarin: A Guide to Chinese Lyric Diction and Vocal Repertoire (Rowman and Littlefield, 2020). Per i miei, A&A. julietpetrus.com

ETHAN LE PHONG (Ming-Kai, or Kai Kai, Tan Hua’s son) has performed at various concerts around the world and on film and television. His favorite shows, to name a few; Broadway and the West End production of Disney’s Aladdin, Miss Saigon, Mamma Mia, The King & I, Les Miserables, Rent, The Life, Pippin, South Pacific, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Jerry Springer - The Opera, Ballad of Little Joe.

JULIAN REMULLA (Kano Ghoya, Japanese overseer of the Ghetto; Old Ming-Kai; & Lao Sun, a peddler) Selected Theatre: Revenge Song; Romeo and Juliet; The Way the Mountain Moved; Julius Caesar; Beauty and the Beast; Hamlet; The Winter’s Tale; Timon of Athens. (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); The Tempest, Julius Caesar (Idaho Shakespeare Festival); Julius Caesar (Theatre for a New Audience); Appoggiatura (Denver Center Theatre Company); Television: “Law & Order: Organized Crime,” “Bull.”

ADAM B. SHAPIRO (Ernst, a classical violinist) OFF BROADWAY: Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish, Bastard Jones, The Mikado-Reimagined, The Golden Bride, and Gimpl Tam. FILM/TV: “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “FBI Most Wanted,” “Friends From College,“ “30 Rock,” “Master of None.” Adam’s debut EP, LET LOVE IN, released in 2021 and is available on all digital platforms. www.adambshapiro.com

XIAOQING (MAO) ZHANG (Tan Hua, former star of the Peking Opera in Shanghai) is thrilled to join the Shanghai Sonatas family again! Her NY credits include: Noble Family (Broadway Virtual and The Cutting Room), The Emperor’s Nightingale (OffBroadway), Songs About Trains (Off-Broadway). Into The Woods concert (NY Times Center) etc. Her Chinese credits include: Mandarin premier of Avenue Q and some original mega-musicals.

6-WIRE (Ensemble-in-residence, the University of Delaware & Shanghai Sonatas Orchestra) Inspired by the historical connection between the Erhu, the Chinese 2-stringed violin, and the 4-stringed Western violin - both essential leading instruments, 6-WIRE was founded in 2010 by violinist/director Sean (Xiang) Gao, erhu master Cathy Y. Yang, and pianist and arranger, Matthew Brower. 6-WIRE celebrates diversity in its performances, weaving stories into its concerts, transforming how live instrumental music is experienced. 6-WIRE has commissioned works from prominent composers including Bright Sheng, Mark Hagerty, and Jennifer Margaret Barker, which premiered at their sold-out debut at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall in 2019. 6-WIRE has been the recipient of grants from Chamber Music America. (6-WIRE.com)

JOHN FREELAND JR. (Production stage manager) MUSIC: South Side Symphony (WACO Theater Center), Southwest Chamber Music (Colburn School) REGIONAL: Daddy Long Legs, Marry Me A Little (International City Theater) Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare LA) FESTIVALS: Edinburgh Festival Fringe, International Theatre Festival of the Blind and Visually Impaired (Croatia) John is on the board of The Unusual Suspects Theatre Co.

SUSANNE M. REYTO (Co-Director of Education) is an awardwinning author (Destination Freedom: Escape from Tyranny & Pursuit of Freedom), speaker, world traveler and an ardent supporter of Israel and the free world. She is an active member of several organizations, immediate past Chairman of the Board of Governors of City of Hope and board member of Beverly Hills Women’s Club. She served as president of Hadassah Los Angeles and ZOA Western Region. Being a child survivor, she is a frequent speaker at Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust. She works tirelessly for the education of our future generations, about history including the Holocaust and Communism. Now as Chairman of VIOLINS OF HOPE Los Angeles County, Susanne will continue to engage in educating the public, particularly students about history, culture and music. For further information and speaking engagements please contact Susanne at 310.200.6694 or email at rsrlaser@aol.com

LINDA HENDERSON (Assistant Music Director) is an active pianist, music director, and theater musician. She was Associate Professor of Theater at The University of the Arts for 25 years. Current projects include music directing at Drexel University, performing with Opera Philadelphia, and serving as collaborative pianist for the Flute Society of Greater Philadelphia.

THE SHANGHAI JEWISH REFUGEES MUSEUM (SJRM) (Providing historical references and a touring exhibition) is the only historical site in China that reflects the life of Shanghai Jewish refugees during World War II. It collects and exhibits historical materials and conducts academic research worldwide. Visitors to the SJRM will experience the history of Shanghai Jewish refugees and how their Chinese neighbors helped them to survive the Holocaust.

VIOLINS OF HOPE (Providing historical violins and a touring exhibition) is a private collection of string instruments that once belonged to the Jewish musician victims of the Holocaust with a common denominator: They are symbols of hope, giving voices to the voiceless who perished. It travels globally as a teaching and cultural opportunity, including the very successful program brought to Los Angeles by Mrs. Susanne M Reyto. As a community that has already experienced attacks of hatred and division, our city is especially sensitive to the need for unity.

310.273.5578 | thefarmofbeverlyhills.com

The Wallis @ a Glance

ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES

Monday–Friday 10am–6pm @ 310.246.3800

9390 N. Santa Monica Boulevard

Beverly Hills, CA 90210

TheWallis.org

TICKET SERVICES

Monday–Friday 11:30am–6:30pm @ 310.746.4000

During performance dates, Ticket Services will be open two hours before performance time and a half hour after the performance begins. Please note that Ticket Services is unable to process exchanges and future sales one hour prior to curtain time on performance dates.

323.931.4223 | pinkshollywood.com

310.205.5444

310.274.6534

310.652.2827

310.820.2448

SAFETY

For the wallis’ current Health & Safety protocols visit TheWallis.org/Safety

ACCESS

The Wallis is committed to accommodating and ensuring a pleasant experience for all of our patrons with special needs or disabilities. Please contact Ticket Services, our House Manager or an usher to discuss your needs.

LATE SEATING

Should you arrive late for any performance or need to leave your seat during the performance, please expect to be held in the lobby until an appropriate moment or pause. To minimize any disturbance to other patrons, you may be seated in the first available locations by our staff even if different than your assigned seat locations. Please also be advised that some performances or circumstances may not allow for late seating or return seating.

LARGE PRINT PROGRAMS

The Front of House Staff is happy to provide programs with larger print to patrons upon request.

In The Bram Goldsmith Theater

TELECOIL INDUCTION SYSTEM FOR HEARING ASSISTANCE

A state of the art “hearing loop”—a thin copper wire—has been installed beneath the floor of the orchestra seating in the Bram Goldsmith Theater. For guests wearing a hearing aid with a copper telecoil wire or who have a cochlear implant, the system captures electromagnetic waves and broadcasts signals directly to your hearing aid device. For assistance, please inquire with Patron Services.

Gifted by Virginia and Frank Maas.

QUIET ROOM

The Lynn and Les Bider Family Foundation

Quiet Room is available during the performance for patrons who wish or need to step away for a moment. You can still see and hear the performance in progress, but we can’t hear you.

310.475.3540

THE WALLIS IS PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY: ENJOY LOCAL DINING

 PLATINUM CIRCLE

Annenberg Foundation/ Wallis Annenberg & Kris Levine

Dan Clivner

The Seattle Foundation/Katharyn A. Gerlich

The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation 

Bruce Goldsmith

Peggy Parker Grauman

Los Angeles County Dept. of Arts & Culture

Anahita and Jim Lovelace

Meeghan and Michael Nemeroff

Arline and Buddy Pepp

Dwight Stuart Youth Fund

Vanity Fair

GRoW @ Annenberg Foundation/ Gregory Annenberg Weingarten & Family

Luanne Wells

The Ahmanson Foundation

 GOLD CIRCLE

Camille and Arnon Adar

Ahsan Aijaz

Jacqueline* and Clarence Avant

Leon Lowenstein Foundation/

John M. Bendheim 

Thomas J. Blumenthal

David C. Bohnett

Colburn Foundation

Carol Goldsmith

Halle and Oliver Hammond

Chad Hummel and Tara Church

Stacey and Donald Kivowitz

Agnes Lew

Cathy and Mark Louchheim

Peter Lowy

Nigel Lythgoe OBE

Matt Construction

Daphna Nazarian

Neiman Marcus

Linda May and Jack Suzar

The Estate of Ted and Hedy Orden

Vicki Reynolds and Murray Pepper

Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Rosenstein

Ruby Family Foundation/

Wendy and Ken Ruby

Stephanie and Howard Sherwood 

The Simms/Mann Family Foundation

Susan and Peter Strauss

Leon and Stephanie Vahn

Jonathan A. Victor

May and Richard Ziman

 SILVER CIRCLE

Anonymous City of Beverly Hills

Lynn and Les Bider Family Foundation

Anoosheh Bostani

Capital Group Companies Charitable Foundation

Louise and Brad Edgerton

Lisa FIeld

Hon. MeraLee Goldman

Betty Hayman

Morris and Shîla Hazan Charitable Fund

Ronnie and Barbara Kahn

Sandra Krause and William Fitzgerald

Elisabeth and Jeffrey Lipsman

National Endowment for the Arts

Gloria and Richard Pink

Koni and Geoffrey Rich

Karen Sulzberger and Eric Lax

Bob Tuttle and Maria Hummer-Tuttle

Catherine and Grant Withers

 DIRECTORS CIRCLE

Beverly Hills Rotary Community Foundation

Dale Cochran

Bonnie and Ronald Fein

The Feintech Family Foundation

Sonia and Robert Freedman

Helene and Louis Galen Family Foundation

Kiki and David Gindler

Debra Holstein

Ronnie and Barbara Kahn

David Lee Foundation

Anu Leemann

Karen and Walter Loewenstern

Virginia and Francis S. Maas

Michal Amir Salkin and Kenneth H. Salkin

Ronald and Carole Sasiela

Moshe and Helen Sassover

The Selwyn/Wyatt Families

The Younes & Soraya

Nazarian Family Foundation

 ARTISTS CIRCLE

Laura and Harvey Alpert

Judith and Thomas Beckmen

Martha and Barry Berkett

Robert and Elissa Bregman

Consulate General of Israel

Eunice David

Mrs. Diane Deshong

Honorable Donna Ellman Garber

Mimi Alpert Feldman

Judy O. and Robert T. Flesh

Friars Charitable Foundation

Anita Dann Friedman

Benita and Bert Ginsberg

Lou and Kelly Gonda

Vera and Paul Guerin

Bucky Hazan & Eva Aaronson

Dr. Ariella D. Herman

Susan Howard

Mark and Freya Ivener

Jewish Community Foundation

Laurie and Lyn Konheim

Ronald and Stephanie Kramer

Pamela and Bob Krupka

Tamara and David Lachoff

Deborah Laub and Eddie Israel

Lawry’s The Prime Rib

Barbara and Joel Marcus

Cookie Miller

Joanne Mogy

The Estate of Leah and William Molle

Ann Mulally

Lawrence Murphy

Ilene and Jeff Nathan

Suzanne Papaian

Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts

Jane Rascoff

Ron Rosen and Judi Lawenda

Barbara Ruben

Thomas Safran

Marc Selwyn Fine Arts

Joan and Paul Selwyn

In memory of Gail Silver

Lisa Sockolov

Melissa Rosenberg and Lev L. Spiro

Elaine and Ronald Stein

I.H. Sutnick

Elizabeth Topkis

Andrea Van de Kamp

Rayni Williams

 ENTHUSIAST

Robert and Jeanie Anderson

Caherine Glynn Benkaim

David Brecher

Robert and Elissa Bregman

Judy Briskin

Barbara Bruser

Linda Burrow

Rosette Varda Delug

Laura Donnelly

Patricia Feldman

Diane Futterman

Howard Gleicher

Richard and Harriet Gold

Dr. Phillip Green and Dr. Neerad Varshney

Marty and Eden Halfon

Carolyn and Bernard Hamilton

Lynn and Bruce Heymont

Steven Jones

Deborah Bach Kallick

Sally Karbelnig

Patricia Keating and Bruce Hayes

Elodie Keene and Bruce Fortune

Joanne C. Kozberg

Stewart and Grace Krakover

Susan and George Krouse

Renee Kumetz

Pearle Rae & Mark Levey

Cornelius and Andrea Littlejohn

Marlene Louchheim

Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP

Jeannette Mandelbaum

The Marks Family Foundation

Jeanne and Leonard Marks

Frank and Virginia Maas

Charles and Dori Mostov

Mahnaz and David Newman

Phylis Nicolayevsky

Lee Ramer

Herbert and Felice Reston

Dan Ricketts

Brandi Roth and Bruce Clemens

Ann Sunshine

Joel Wachs

Janice and Daniel Wallace

Les Weinstein

Richard and Patricia Wilson

Keenan Wolens

Hailey Yoo

Marc Zachary

Victoria Zalben

Walter Zifkin

* = IN MEMORIAM

 = MULTI-YEAR COMMITMENT

Les Bider CO-CHAIR

Marc Zachary CO-CHAIR

Betty Hayman HONORARY CO-CHAIR

Ronald D. Rosen BOARD LIAISON TO THE AMBASSADORS

Camille Adar

Laura Alpert

Judy Beckmen

Barbara Belzberg

Dan Clivner

Eunice David

DeeDee Dorskind

Jill Erman

Mimi Alpert Feldman

Judy Flesh

Sonia and Robert Freedman

Anita Dann Friedman

Donna Ellman Garber

Bruce Goldsmith

Carol Goldsmith

Laurie Gordon

Peggy Grauman

Evelyn Heyward

Laurie Konheim

Sandra Krause

Susan and Rick Kurtzman

Deborah Laub

Judi Lawenda

Marlene Leitner

Kathy Liberman

Karen and Walter Loewenstern

Marlene Louchheim

Barbara Marcus

Joanne Mogy

Diane Morton

Ilene Nathan

Harriet Nichols

Suzanne Papaian

Arline and Buddy Pepp

Sandra Karole Peters

Gail D. Peterson

Jane Rascoff

Laurie Rodsky

Barbara Ruben

Wendy and Ken Ruby

Joan Selwyn

Marc Selwyn

Lee Silver

Lisa Sockolov

I. H. Sutnick

Karen Sulzberger and Eric Lax

Andrea Van de Kamp

Stephanie Vahn

Rayni Williams

May Ziman

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE WALLIS AMBASSADORS

TheWallis.org/Ambassadors

SENIOR LEADERSHIP TEAM

Kurt J. Swanson

ACTING CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

Christine Bernardi Weil

DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT

Joel Hile

DIRECTOR OF MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS

Erin Mahan

DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RESOURCES

Coy Middlebrook

ACTING CHIEF ARTISTIC OFFICER

Manuel Prieto

DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION

Edward L. Rada

INTERIM CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

Christopher Reardon DIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION

David Truly

DIRECTOR OF SPECIAL PROJECTS

Michelle Wiesel

GENERAL MANAGER

ARTISTIC

Camille Jenkins

PROGRAMMING MANAGER

Meghan Ripchik

ARTISTIC COORDINATOR

DEVELOPMENT

Peter Indall

DIRECTOR OF INDIVIDUAL GIVING

Summer Grubaugh

DONOR EVENTS MANAGER

Loren Hayes

INSTITUTIONAL GIVING COORDINATOR

Debra Steckler

DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR

Lisa Cowell Shams

SPECIAL ADVISOR TO THE COMPREHENSIVE CAMPAIGN

EDUCATION / GROW @ THE WALLIS

Debra Pasquerette DIRECTOR OF CREATIVE AGING PROGRAMS

Rachel Kilroy

EDUCATION PROGRAM MANAGER

Pat Taylor

EDUCATION PROGRAMS COORDINATOR

Victoria Kemsley

TEACHING ARTIST, CREATIVE AGING PROGRAM

Michelle Rearick GRAUMAN FELLOWSHIP ADVISOR

Annalise Englert

EDUCATION INTERN

MARKETING

Chandra Jackson

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS

Hannah Burnett DIGITAL MARKETING MANAGER

Libby Huebner

Laura Stegman PUBLIC RELATIONS CONSULTANTS

PRODUCTION

Samantha Else PRODUCTION MANAGER

Lauren Wemischner* LIGHTING SUPERVISOR

Sean Kozma* AUDIO VIDEO SUPERVISOR

Joshua Shelden* ASSISTANT TECHNICAL DIRECTOR

Joseph Skowronski* LIGHTING COORDINATOR

Jose Miguel Cortes* AUDIO VIDEO COORDINATOR

Joyce Maddox

PRODUCTION ADMINISTRATOR

Bryant Heatherly

PRODUCTION COORDINATOR

FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION

Vanessa Mejia

PAYROLL & ACCOUNTS

PAYABLE MANAGER

Emily Bisno

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & CEO

FACILITIES

Roland Henriquez

FACILITIES MANAGER

TICKET SERVICES

Jacob Houser

ASSISTANT TICKET SERVICES MANAGER

Tori Long

TICKET OPERATIONS SPECIALIST

Eric Latham

Bradley Roa

SENIOR TICKET SERVICES ASSOCIATES

FRONT OF HOUSE

Bryan Puckett

AUDIENCE SERVICES MANAGER

Nick Johnson

Piatrice Shekerjian

HOUSE MANAGERS

Laura Long

Ann McDowell

Timm Carney

GRAND HALL GREETERS

USHERS

Ruby Arreguin

Diana Borja

Annabel Chick

Jacqui Creekmore

Judith Halle

Ruby Layne

Adam Linde

Itzhak Matos

Rachael Neinast

Charlie Pinel

James Poulin

Liv Robertson

WARNING: The photographic or sound recording of any performance or the possession of any device for such photographic or sound recording inside the theater, without the written permission of the management, is prohibited by law. Violators may be punishable by ejection and violations may render the offender liable for money damages.

The City of Beverly Hills collects both waste refuse and recyclables in the same container.

* The noted staff employed by The Wallis are members of the IATSE union.