The Old Maid and the Thief & Le Rossignol, May 3-4, 2019

yale opera Doris Yarick-Cross, artistic director

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The Old Maid and the Thief str av insk y

Le Rossignol

May 3 & 4, 2019 | 7:30 p.m.

Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Memorial Hall

Robert Blocker, Dean

Yale Opera presents

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Le Rossignol may 3 & 4, 2019 Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Memorial Hall Friday & Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

dustin wills stage director douglas dickson & timothy shaindlin music preparation and direction doug harry lighting designer camilla tassi projection designer rebecca l. welles costume designer

Yale Opera

The Old Maid and the Thief A grotesque opera in 14 scenes Music and libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti By arrangement with W.B. Music Corporation Performed in English with projected English text Music direction by Douglas Dickson

cast in order of appearance Announcer

Brady Muth, bass-baritone

Miss Todd

theresa kesser, mezzo-soprano

Miss Pinkerton

lauren mcquistin, soprano

Laetitia

laura nielsen, soprano

Bob

edwin joseph, baritone

Synopsis

Miss Todd, a middle-aged spinster, lives *The Old Maid and the Thief, originally alone with her young servant, Laetitia. conceived as a radio opera, has been fully While she is entertaining her friend Miss staged for this production.

Pinkerton, a handsome beggar comes to the door. Laetitia persuades Miss Todd to ask him to stay for the night. The following day, Miss Todd meets Miss Pinkerton on the street and learns that a criminal has escaped from the local prison. Bob, the beggar, fits the description of the escaped convict. But she is already infatuated with him and is determined to protect him from the police. Laetitia also loves Bob, and together the two women rob their friends and church to get him money and raid a liquor store to get him booze. Furious that Bob doesn’t share the same feelings for her, Miss Todd goes to the police, though she has discovered that he is not the escaped convict. While Miss Todd is gone, Laetitia persuades Bob that his only safety lies in marrying her and running away. Together they ransack Miss Todd’s house and elope in her car.

intermission

Yale Opera

Le Rossignol Conte lyrique in three acts Music by Igor Stravinsky Libretto by Igor Stravinsky and Stepan Mitussov Performed in Russian with projected English translation Music direction by Timothy Shaindlin Featuring Lauren White, oboe

cast in order of appearance Fisherman

fidel Angel Romero, tenor

Nightingale

leah brzyski, soprano

Cook

laura nielsen, soprano

Chamberlain

matthew cossack, baritone

Bonze

Brady Muth, bass-baritone

Emperor

hans tashjian, bass

Envoys

luis aguilar regalado, tenor john chongyoon noh, tenor edwin joseph, baritone

Death

julia orosz, mezzo-soprano

Ensemble

madeline ehlinger, soprano lauren mcquistin, soprano theresa kesser, mezzo-soprano rachel weishoff, mezzo-soprano

Synopsis

“My music is best understood by children and animals.” — Igor Stravinsky, 1961

ACT I After laboring all night, a fisherman pleads for the heavenly spirits to deliver the Nightingale’s song just before daybreak.

While the Nightingale sings her greeting in the forest by the shore, the Chamberlain, Bonze, and Cook interrupt her song and invite her to sing for the Emperor. The Nightingale accepts and they depart for the Emperor’s palace. The Fisherman basks in the pleasure left behind by the Nightingale as the sun rises.

ACT III Death visits the bedchamber of the dying Emperor. In defiance of her banishment, the Nightingale returns and entices Death with her song in exchange for the Emperor’s crown and life. Death departs, enchanted by the Nightingale’s song, and the Emperor regains his strength. He offers the Nightingale a position in his court, but she instead takes comfort in his tears and promises to sing for him each evening. A court procession ensues for what is believed to be the Emperor’s funeral, but instead the court discovers him healthy and welcoming to all. The Fisherman celebrates the beauty of the bird and welcomes a new day.

ACT II The court hurriedly prepares for the presentation of the Nightingale to the terrifying Emperor. Her song deeply moves the Emperor, much to the surprise of the court. *This production features projections of Suddenly, three Envoys arrive from a distant artwork by Giacomo Balla land and present the Emperor with a mechanical Nightingale. During the mechanical bird’s song the real Nightingale flees, and the Emperor banishes her from his realm as a result. The Fisherman returns and moves the hands of time forward, dragging us deep into the nighttime.

Artist Profiles

Dustin Wills stage director Dustin Wills is a New York City-based theater director originally from Texas. Recent projects include Frontieres Sans Frontieres by Phillip Howze at the Bushwick Starr, Orange Julius by Basil Kreimendahl with Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre & PAGE 73, a new musical with Kate Tarker and Dan Schlosberg called AWFUL EVENT!, and ongoing work on a trio of short Lorca plays translated into a three-part evening including The Shoemaker’s Prodigious Wife—a play with music; Once Five Years Pass—a musical; and The Love of Don Perlimplin for Belisa in the Garden—an opera. Dustin has worked with The Foundry Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, Ars Nova, Bushwick Starr, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Berkeley Rep, Echo Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, Berkshire Theatre Group, Lark Play Development Center, Paper Chairs, and Salvage Vanguard Theatre.

He has created large-scale community puppet projects with Creative Action and devised new work for Teatro L’Arciliuto in Rome, Italy, and The English Theatre of Rome. He is a two-time recipient of the Princess Grace Award for Theatre, a Drama League and Boris Sagal directing fellow, the former artistic director of the Yale Summer Cabaret, and for a couple of years gave rogue tours of the Vatican. He received his master of fine arts degree from the Yale School of Drama.

Douglas Dickson music direction and accompaniment Douglas Dickson received his bachelor of arts degree from Princeton University and his master of musical arts degree from the Yale School of Music. On various occasions The Washington Post has called him an “intelligent, sensitive” pianist with “super technique” and

a “skillful pianist” and has praised him for the “finely integrated oneness” he achieves as an accompanist. Mr. Dickson has performed in the United States, Europe, Asia, and South America in venues ranging from Japan’s Expo Hall to the Cincinnati Coliseum.

While still in college, he was the accompanist for the American Boychoir. As part of Duodecaphonia, a prize-winning piano duo, he has performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and elsewhere. Mr. Dickson has been music director for productions at Quinnipiac University, the Yale School of Drama, Opera Theater of Connecticut, and Connecticut Experimental Theater. He was music director and conductor for Yale Opera’s production of Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia, and he conducted a concert featuring Yale Opera with the Orchestra Verdi in Milan. He has taught at Quinnipiac University since 1993 and joined the Yale School of Music faculty in 1998. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in an all-Ives concert at Weill Recital Hall. For Naxos, he has recorded more than 80 Charles Ives songs.

Timothy Shaindlin music direction and accompaniment A native of New York City, Timothy Shaindlin joined the Yale School of Music faculty in 2008.

After studies at The Juilliard School and Indiana University, he worked for the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington National Opera, San Diego Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, and Pittsburgh Opera. He has also coached for Glimmerglass Opera, Sarasota Opera, and Hawaii Opera Theatre. In Europe, he worked for Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu and played master classes for Tito Gobbi. He has played classes and coachings for such artists as Joan Sutherland,

Artist Profiles

Birgit Nilsson, Beverly Sills, Marilyn Horne, Natalie Dessay, Ben Heppner, Luciano Pavarotti, Eleanor Steber, Samuel Ramey, Régine Crespin, Thomas Hampson, Frederica von Stade, and Carlo Bergonzi.

Mr. Shaindlin’s work on the podium includes conducting engagements with the Wolf Trap Opera Festival, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Pittsburgh Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, Chicago Light Opera Works, and Eugene Opera. He has assisted such renowned conductors as Christoph Eschenbach, Sir Andrew Davis, Daniel Barenboim, Valery Gergiev, Richard Bonynge, Bruno Bartoletti, Donato Renzetti, Louis Langrée, Edoardo Müller, Yves Abel, Daniele Gatti, Antonio Pappano, and Paul Gemignani.

Doug Harry lighting designer Doug hails from the United Kingdom and trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama way back in the crazy ’80s! He has traveled the world as a lighting designer for theater, opera, and corporate events. Currently, he splits his time between production management and design and is currently the production manager for the International Festival of Arts & Ideas. He is very happy to be designing for the Yale Opera program.

Camilla Tassi projection designer Projection designer Camilla Tassi is a musician and designer from Florence, Italy. She has created projections for works including Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo (Apollo’s Fire tour), Pollock’s Stinney (PROTOTYPE Festival, New York City), and Mozart’s The Magic Flute (Berlin Opera Academy). Tassi has directed

and produced performances of early and contemporary classical works, including a joint theater and opera project of Tennessee Williams and Larry Delinger’s Talk to Me Like the Rain. As an Italian coach and soprano, she has created program translations for Carnegie Hall (L’Arpeggiata) and sings with the Yale Schola Cantorum. Tassi holds degrees in computer science and music from Dartmouth College and the University of Notre Dame.

She is currently a research fellow in projection design at the Yale School of Drama.

Rebecca L. Welles costume designer Rebecca L. Welles YSD ’12 has been designing for Yale Opera since 2013. Credits include Eugene Onegin, The Magic Flute, Hansel and Gretel, Fall 2017 Opera Scenes, Le pauvre matelot, The Bear, Don Quichotte, La Cenerentola, Le nozze di Figaro, Gianni Schicci, Riders to the Sea, Bon Appétit, and Iolanta. Rebecca is also an adjunct professor of performing arts at Eastern Connecticut State University, the costume shop manager for the Aspen Opera Center at the Aspen Music Festival and School, and the resident costume designer for ACES Educational Center for the Arts. Other recent design credits include Million Dollar Quartet and Tenderly: The Rosemary Clooney Story (Ivoryton Playhouse); The Magic Flute and La Boheme (Salt Marsh Opera); Il barbiere di Siviglia (Aspen Opera Center); and Cavalleria Rusticana, I Pagliacci, and La Boheme (Opera New Jersey).

student Profiles

Education Young Artists Programs

Education Young Artists Programs

Education Young Artists Programs

Education Young Artists Programs

Education Young Artists Program

Education Young Artists Programs

Education Young Artists Programs

Luis Aguilar Regalado, tenor B.M. The Hartt School, University of Hartford M.M. Yale School of Music Oberlin in Italy, Opera de Nuevo Leon

Leah Brzyski, soprano B.M. Michigan State University Charlottesville Opera, Utah Festival Opera

Matthew Cossack, baritone B.M. State University of New York at Purchase M.M. Mannes School of Music, The New School Si Parla Si Canta, Princeton Festival, Music Academy of the West, Chautauqua Opera

Madeline Ehlinger, soprano B.M. DePaul University Teatro Nuovo, Central City Opera

Edwin Joseph, baritone B.A. St. Stephen’s College, Delhi Prague Summer Nights Festival, Chautauqua Opera

Theresa Kesser, mezzo-soprano B.M. University of Denver M.M. Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University Wolf Trap Opera, Miami Music Festival, Opera Steamboat Artist Institute

Lauren McQuistin, soprano B.M. Royal Conservatoire of Scotland M.M. Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University Center for Opera Studies in Italy, Central City Opera

student Profiles

Education Young Artists Programs

Education Young Artists Programs

Education Young Artists Programs

Education Young Artists Programs

Education Young Artists Programs

Brady Muth, bass-baritone B.M. University of Northern Colorado Opera Classica Europa, Opera Fort Collins, Opera North, Central City Opera

Laura Nielsen, soprano B.M., A.D. University of Western Ontario La Musica Lirica, Halifax Summer Opera Festival

John ChongYoon Noh, tenor B.M. Peabody Institute M.M. The Juilliard School Music Academy of the West, Weill Music Institute – The Song Continues, Amalfi Coast Music Festival

Julia Orosz, mezzo-soprano B.M. The Hartt School, University of Hartford BRVS Vocal Intensive Program

Fidel Angel Romero, tenor B.M. Houston Baptist University German Vocal Arts Institute, Central City Opera, Santa Fe Opera

Young Artists Programs

Hans Tashjian, bass B.F.A. Carnegie Mellon University M.M. Manhattan School of Music Central City Opera, Opera Southwest, Sarasota Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Caramoor Music Festival

Education Young Artists Programs

Rachel Weishoff, mezzo-soprano B.M., M.M. State University of New York at Purchase Princeton Music Festival, Central City Opera, Chelsea Opera, Opera North

Education

Yale Opera Production Staff

Special Thanks

Erika Niemi Heltzel Manager

Richard Cross Robert Heltzel

Tess Naval Stage Manager

Dave Kleman

Ashley Sweet Assistant Stage Manager

Alexander McCargar Neil Mulligan

Doug Harry Master Electrician

Kyle Swann

Jill Brunelle Surtitle Operator

Yale School of Drama

Cailey Harwood-Smith Properties Runner

Southern Connecticut State University

Brittany Bland Projection Assistant

Wendall K. Harrington and projection design students

Kohl Weismann Projection Operator Brady Muth Student Assistant

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