Yale Opera. Center: A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Top and Bottom: Fall Opera Scenes
Peter Oundjian, who this year was appointed the orchestra’s principal conductor, leads the last two concerts of the season. Pianist Sun-A Park ’16 AD, the third Woolsey Competition winner, plays Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 on April 1. The season’s final program on April 28 includes Mozart’s “Jupiter” Symphony and Holst’s The Planets. Yale Opera Under the artistic direction of Doris Yarick Cross, Yale Opera continues a wide variety of activities. The annual Fall Opera Scenes opened the season on November 7 and 8, 2015. Featuring the work of stage director Marc Verzatt and musical directors Douglas Dickson and Timothy Shaindlin, the production presented a different selection of scenes each day, with repertoire by Mozart, Verdi, Britten, and Janácek, among others. Bass-baritone Alan Held visited Yale on December 14 to give a public master class. The class included performances by Paweł Konik, bass-baritone; Dean Murphy, baritone; Anne Maguire, mezzo-soprano; Zachary Johnson, baritone; and Andrés Moreno, tenor. The November 6 concert, featuring guest conductor Sarah Ioannides, was part of New Haven’s Northern Lights Festival, in which the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and YSM celebrated the 150th anniversary of the births of Scandinavian composers Jean Sibelius and Carl Nielsen. Ioannides conducted two Sibelius symphonies, No. 1 in E minor and No. 2 in D major. The annual New Music for Orchestra concert took place on December 10, with conducting fellow Heejung Park ’16 AD leading the Yale Philharmonia in works by student composers.
Carolyn Kuan, the music director of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, led the orchestra for the first time on January 29. The concert featured Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 and also presented violinist Mélanie Clapiès ’15 AD, another Woolsey Competition winner, in Berg’s Violin Concerto. The Philharmonia’s annual concert in Sprague Hall presented the School’s two students in the newly reconfigured Artist Diploma program. With Heejung Park conducting, pianist Wai Yin Wong ’17 AD played Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, and mezzosoprano Evanna Chiew ’16 AD sang Lieberson’s Neruda Songs.
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Stage director Claudia Solti and conductor Rune Bergmann made their Yale Opera debuts in Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, presented February 19, 20, and 21 at the Shubert Theater. They were joined by the Yale Philharmonia; the children’s chorus from St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Fairfield, Conn.; and actor Christopher Bannow in the role of Puck. For its spring production of the season, Yale Opera will present a new production of Massenet’s Don Quichotte. The production, to take place May 6 and 7 in Morse Recital Hall, will have musical direction and accompaniment by Douglas Dickson and Timothy Shaindlin.