New York Premiere of
Richard Danielpour and Toni Morrison’s
Margaret Garner
Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and
Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, directed by Stephen Lawless
New production of Massenet’s Cendrillon
Barber’s Vanessa, featuring Lauren Flanigan in the title role
Purcell’s King Arthur with Mark Morris Dance Group
10th-Anniversary Production of Ragtime, with music by Stephen Flaherty,
lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, and a book by Terrence McNally
Ruth Ann Swenson debuts with City Opera in Handel’s Agrippina
ARTISTS THIS SEASON INCLUDE:
Pamela Armstrong, Gregg Baker, Elizabeth Caballero, Joyce Castle, Beth Clayton, Lisa Daltirus, Graciela Daniele, Julianna Di Giacomo, Rosalind Elias, Lauren Flanigan, Frank Galati, Jane Glover, Katharine Goeldner, Brandon Jovanovich, Michael Kahn, Maria Kanyova, Mark Lamos, Stephen Lawless, Shu-Ying Li, Tracie Luck, George Manahan, Anne Manson, Isaac Mizrahi, Brian Mulligan, Daniel Mobbs, Mark Morris, Jan Opalach, Ari Pelto, Scott Piper, Harold Prince, Joseph Rescigno, Jennifer Rivera, James Robinson, Anna Shafajinskaia, Anna Skibinsky, Richard Stillwell, Susan Stroman, Ruth Ann Swenson, Carl Tanner, John Tessier, Tazewell Thompson, James Valenti, David Walker, Ransom Wilson
New York City Opera’s 2007-2008 season, opening on Wednesday, September 11, features six new productions and seven revivals, it was announced today by the Company’s General and Artistic Director, Paul Kellogg. The repertoire includes new productions of Richard Danielpour’s Margaret Garner, with a libretto by Toni Morrison (opening on Tuesday, September 11), a double bill of Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci (Friday, September 28), Massenet’s Cendrillon (Saturday afternoon, October 27), Barber’s Vanessa (Sunday afternoon, November 4), Purcell’s King Arthur (Wednesday, March 5), and Stephen Flaherty’s Ragtime, with lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and a book by Terrence McNally (Tuesday, April 8). Returning repertoire includes revivals of Handel’s Agrippina, Verdi’s Falstaff, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Puccini’s Tosca, La bohème and Madama Butterfly, and Bizet’s Carmen.
The fall season continues for ten weeks through November 18; the spring season begins on Wednesday, March 5 and runs for seven weeks through April 20. The company will present a total of 110 performances of 13 productions of 14 operas. Tuesday and Wednesday performances begin at 7:30pm unless specifically indicated. Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening performances are at 8:00pm, matinees are at 1:30pm.
The official opening of the season will be preceded by the company’s annual Opera-For-All Festival, sponsored by CIT, details of which will be announced at a later date.
ALTRIA GROUP, INC, IS LEAD CORPORATE SPONSOR
New York City Opera wishes to acknowledge Altria Group, Inc., the parent company of Kraft Foods, Philip Morris International and Philip Morris USA, for its longstanding generous support of the Opera, and sponsorship of the 2007-2008 season. For more than two decades, Altria Group has been a major funder to City Opera and has been a lead corporate sponsor of City Opera’s season since 1996.
NEW PRODUCTIONS
The City Opera season opens on Tuesday, September 11, with the New York premiere of Margaret Garner, in a new production, composed by Grammy Award-winning composer Richard Danielpour with a libretto by Nobel Prize laureate Toni Morrison based on the historical story which inspired her Pulitzer-Prize winning novel Beloved. Tazewell Thompson, who directed Patience with the company in 2005 and Dialogues of the Carmelites in 2004, returns to stage the production, which is being created for City Opera. Sets are by Donald Eastman, costumes are by Merrily Murray-Walsh and lighting is by Robert Wierzel. City Opera’s Music Director George Manahan conducts. Tracie Luck sings the title role, Lisa Daltirus is Cilla; Gregg Baker is Robert Garner, and Thomas Barrett is Edward Gaines; all are making company debuts. Excerpts from Margaret Garner were performed in City Opera’s VOX: Showcasing American Composers project in 2004, after which the work had its official world premiere at Michigan Opera Theatre in May 2005. The City Opera production will reunite Messrs. Danielpour and Thompson, who collaborated on the original workshop production of the opera. It will be sung in English with supertitles by Celeste Montemarano.
A new production of the double bill of Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci opens on Friday, September 28. It will be directed by Stephen Lawless, whose last production for City Opera, Semele, opened the company’s 2006-2007 season. Sets and costumes are by Ashley Martin-Davis and lighting is by Wolfgang Goebbel, in his company debut. George Manahan is the conductor. In Cavalleria, Anna Maria Chiuri and Irina Rindzuner, both debut artists, sing Santuzza; Brandon Jovanovich and Kip Wilborn are Turiddu, and Andrew Oakden, in his debut, and Michael Corvino are Alfio. Pagliacci features Maria Kanyova and Elizabeth Caballero, both singing their first Nedda with the company; Carl Tanner is Canio, Andrew Okden and Michael Corvino are Tonio, Michael Todd Simpson and Alexander Tall, both debut artists, are Silvio, and Robert Mack and Andrew Drost are Beppe. The production, from The Dallas Opera – inspired by masterworks of 20-century Italian cinema such as Visconti’s Ossessione and Rossellini’s Rome, Open City – is set in Italy in the 1940s. The operas, which were last presented by City Opera in 1992, will be sung in Italian with supertitles by Cori Ellison and Celeste Montemarano.
A new production of Massenet’s Cendrillon premieres on Saturday afternoon, October 27, with French soprano Cassandre Berthon making her New York debut in the title role. Katherine Jolly debuts as La Fée, Joyce Castle is Madame de la Haltière; Frédéric Antoun, in his debut, is Prince Charmant, and Eugene Brancoveanu debuts as Pandolfe. Renaud Doucet is the director and choreographer, André Barbe is the set and costume designer and Guy Simard is the lighting designer. All are making their company debuts with the production, a spoof on American Pop Culture in the 1950s. It will be sung in French with supertitles by Cori Ellison. The sets and costumes were created for L’Opéra National du Rhin and co-produced with Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe. The production is owned by Opéra de Montréal. Cendrillon was last presented by City Opera in 1986. Production support is provided by Stuart Weitzman and ELLE. Mr. Weitzman is collaborating with the company on designing and building the famous “slipper” for the City Opera production.
Lauren Flanigan returns to sing the title role in Samuel Barber’s Vanessa for the first time at its City Opera premiere on Sunday afternoon, November 4. The Pulitzer-Prize-winning opera, with libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti, features Katharine Goeldner as Erika, Rosalind Elias, last heard at City Opera as Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd in l984, returns as the Old Baroness, and Richard Stilwell returns to the company as the Doctor. Anne Manson debuts as conductor, and Michael Kahn, who directed Lysistrata for City Opera in 2006, is the director. Sets are by Michael Yeargan, and costumes by Martin Pakledinaz, both Tony Award winning designers. The opera will be sung in English with supertitles by Cori Ellison. This production was created for The Dallas Opera. Leadership support has been provided by The Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trust. The late Mr. Francis Goelet was a champion of American music and supported the commission of Vanessa when it premiered in 1958 at the Metropolitan Opera.
Henry Purcell’s King Arthur, with libretto by John Dryden, premieres on Wednesday, March 5, opening the company’s spring season. King Arthur will be performed with the Mark Morris Dance Group, and conducted by Jane Glover, who last appeared at City Opera in 2002 leading Agrippina. The production is directed and choreographed by Mark Morris, with sets by Adrianne Lobel, costumes by Isaac Mizrahi and lighting by James F. Ingalls. Mark Morris and his production team previously collaborated with City Opera on Rameau’s Platée in 2004. King Arthur is a City Opera/English National Opera/Mark Morris Dance Group production, in association with Cal Performances, Berkeley. The opera will be sung in English with supertitles.
The season’s final new production, opening on Tuesday, April 8, is Ragtime, with music by Stephen Flaherty, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and book by Terrence McNally, based on the novel by E.L. Doctorow. Following the City Opera tradition of presenting classics of the American Musical Theater, City Opera will celebrate the 10th-Anniversary of the premiere of the Tony Award-winning musical by creating a new production, conducted by David Loud, directed by Frank Galati, and choreographed by Graciela Daniele. Casting will be announced at a later date.
Revivals
Harold Prince’s production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, last presented by the company in 2006, returns on Thursday, September 13, with Aaron St. Clair Nicholson making his company debut in the title role and Daniel Mobbs singing Leporello for the first time with the company. Mardi Byers debuts as Donna Anna, Julianna Di Giacomo, who debuted last season as Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, sings her first Donna Elvira with the company, and Ji Young Lee debuts as Zerlina; Bruce Sledge is Don Ottavio, Matthew Burns is Masetto and Daniel Borowski is the Commendatore. David Wroe is the conductor.
Celebrated soprano Ruth Ann Swenson makes her City Opera debut in the title role of Handel’s Agrippina, when it returns to the repertory on Sunday afternoon, October 14. Jennifer Rivera sings Nerone, Heidi Stober debuts as Poppea, David Walker is Ottone, and Portuguese bass João Fernandez debuts as the Emperor Claudio. Ransom Wilson, who made his conducting debut with the company last year with Acis and Galatea, returns to the podium; the production is by Lillian Groag and was last presented by the company in 2002.
Jan Opalach sings the title role in Verdi’s Falstaff for the first time in New York when the Leon Major production returns on Wednesday, March 19. Pamela Armstrong, last seen with the company as the Countess in Capriccio in 2005, returns as Alice Ford, Anna Skibinsky and John Tessier, this season’s Adina and Nemorino is The Elixir of Love, return as Nannetta and Fenton, Ursula Ferri is Mistress Quickly; and Alfredo Daza is Ford. George Manahan conducts. Falstaff was last presented by the company in 1999.
Continuing Repertory
Inna Dukach is Mimì, Elizabeth Caballero is Musetta, and Dinyar Vania, Brian Mulligan, Young Bok Kim and Museop Kim are the Bohemians when Puccini’s La bohème has its first performance of the season on Saturday evening, September 15. Ari Pelto conducts the James Robinson production.
Beth Clayton sings the title role in Bizet’s Carmen for the first time with the company when the opera returns on Friday, October 5, Jennifer Black is Micaëla, Scott Piper is Don José and Carlos Archuleta debuts as Escamillo. Joseph Rescigno is the conductor of the Jonathan Eaton production.
Shu-Ying Li and Yunah Lee share the title role of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, which begins its series of performances on Thursday, March 6. Jennifer Tiller and Rebecca Ringle are Suzuki; James Valenti, who debuted this past fall as Rodolfo, is Pinkerton, Jeffrey Picón and James Schaffner are Goro and Young Bok Kim and Branch Fields are the Bonze. Steven Mosteller and Joseph Mechavich, in his debut, conduct the Mark Lamos production.
Puccini’s Tosca, in the Mark Lamos production, returns to the repertory on Saturday evening, March 22, with Anna Shafajinskaia in the title role and Todd Thomas as Scarpia. George Manahan conducts.
MAJOR SPONSORS OF THE 2007-2008 SEASON
Leadership support for the 2007-2008 season has been provided by The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation, Inc. in memory of Theodore and Caroline Newhouse, The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Inc., The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, The Alice Tully Foundation, and the Lila Acheson and DeWitt Wallace Endowment Fund.
New York City Opera performs in the New York State Theater, which is owned by the City of New York, and its operation is made possible in part by public funds provided through the City of New York Department of Cultural Affairs. Additional public support has been provided by The New York State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Subscriptions for the City Opera’s 2007-2008 season are available online at www.nycopera.com, beginning Monday, February 26; or by calling the subscription office at 212-496-0600.
