Opera/Vocal
Rockland the Opera New World Premiere

Rockland the Opera
New World Premiere

WATCH LIVE ON OPERA MUSIC BROADCAST.COM


Jukka Linkola, Composer
Jussi Tapola, Librettist/Stage Director

July 15 & 17, 2011
Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts
Houghton, Michigan

Commissioned and produced by the Pine Mountain Music Festival
The opera is in two acts with one 20-minute intermission.


Conductor                 Craig Randal Johnson
Stage Director                 Jussi Tapola
Set Designer                 Tom Burch
Costume Designer             Suzanne Young
Lighting Designer             Helena Kuukka
Chorus Master                 Ann Campbell
Rehearsal Pianist/Vocal Coach         Eric McEnaney
Stage Manager                 Nancy Uffner

Cast (in order of vocal appearance)
Alfred Laakso                 Esa Ruuttunen
Puna Pekka Ahopelto             Mark Walters
Johanna Ahopelto             Barbara Shirvis
Pastor Rantanen             Peter Halverson
Sven Polkki                 Christopher Temporelli
Heikki Järvenpää             Brian Shircliffe
Matti Kivi                 James Plante
Rauha                     Jennifer Trombley
Otto                     Benjamin Sieverding
Hilja                     Heather Youngquist
John                     Kyle Tomlin
William Jackson             William Joyner
Pete Casavino                 Paul Truckey
Thomas Colton                 Christopher Temporelli
Raili Ahopelto                 Maddy Lehman
Tuomas Ahopelto             Trevor Puuri
Band, strike breaker             Nathan Held
Band, strike breaker             Kevin Heras
Band, strike breaker             Brandon Pilcher
Band, strike breaker             George Thorvald Wagner
Rauha’s children             Marya Julio
Chloe Neves
Young Alfred Laakso             Ethan Parker

In about 1960, the elderly Alfred Laakso leads a bus tour of tourists to
the town of Rockland, where he lived in 1906. It is almost a ghost town,
but he tells them about when it was a booming place. The action reverts
to 1906.

Scene 1 A Fourth of July party at the temperance hall. Johanna and her
husband, Puna-Pekka (Red Pete) are there. Pastor Rantanen introduces a
union organizer whose speech mixes patriotism with a call for a strike.
Scene 2 Accident in the mine. Otto is killed and Alfred is injured. Otto’s
new widow, Rauha, grieves.

Scene 3 Miner Puna-Pekka agonizes about whether he should have
spoken up about safety lapses. He flirts with getting drunk, but his wife,
Johanna, has hidden the bottles. He resolves to give up drinking.

Scene 4 Otto’s funeral. Pastor Rantanen suggests a ruse whereby the
widow Rauha and her children can stay in their home.

Scene 5 In the tavern, miners talk about the strike. Breaking the
tension, barber Pete Casavino sings “I’m my own barber.”

Scene 6 Johanna visited by William Jackson, underground foreman,
who tells her she deserves better than Puna-Pekka.

Scene 7 In church, as strike date nears.

Scene 8 In mine office the night before the strike. Mine superintendent
Thomas Colton maneuvers William Jackson to name strike leaders.

Scene 9 At home, Puna-Pekka tells Johanna he must participate in the
strike for the sake of the children.

Scene 10 The strike. Miners confront sheriff’s deputies. Chaos, shouting
and gunfire; Puna-Pekka killed on the spot, Kova Kivi dies later.
Scene 11 Crowd of miners in jail. Most are released on bail, but 12 are
charged.

Scene 12 The trial. The elderly Alfred Laakso continues his tale,
describing how two of the miners were tried and acquitted, and the rest
were freed.

Scene 13 William meets Johanna for last time; Johanna returning to
Finland, while William hopes for relationship.

Scene 14 Finale. Back in 1960, and Alfred Laakso concludes the story.
 
Placido Domingo WNO post filled by Francesca Zambello

Placido Domingo WNO post filled by Francesca Zambello

Francesca Zambello and Placido Domingo
Zambello (l) called the post "the right job at the right time"

Placido Domingo's recently vacated post as artistic advisor to the Washington National Opera (WNO) will be filled by the opera director Francesca Zambello.

The respected Zambello is currently directing a new production of Wagner's Ring cycle for the San Francisco Opera.

The WNO has struggled financially in recent years and Domingo had been credited with raising its profile.

The 70-year-old Spanish tenor announced last September he was stepping down after 15 years with the company.

Earlier this year, the WNO announced plans to merge with the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in a move to give it "long-term financial security".

Zambello's work on Broadway includes directing a stage version of Disney's The Little Mermaid in 2008.

As artistic advisor, she will offer advice and expertise related to opera repertoire, casting and creative teams.

"This is the right job at the right time," she said in a statement.

The US director went on to pledge she would "work to present a rich range of international and national programming."
 
Rakes Progress LIVE from the Toledo Opera

Join us for a night of adventure. Live from the Toledo Opera, Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress in LIVE video and audio.

8PM EST Nov. 12th

Toledo-Opera If you are enjoying the webcast, please show your support!

The Rake's Progress by Igor Stravinsky Libretto by WH Auden & Chester Kallmann

By Arrangement with Boosey & Hawkes Inc., publisher & copyright owner

CAST: Joanna Mongiardo as Anne Trulove

Eugenie Grunewald as Baba the Bearded Lady and Mother Goose

Ryan MacPherson as Tom Rakewell

Gustav Andreassen as Nick Shadow

Jeffrey Tucker as Anne’s Father

Doug Jones as Sellem

Robert Kerr as Keeper of the Madhouse

James Marvel - Stage Director

Maestro Thomas Conlin conducts the Toledo Symphony Orchestra

 

PRODUCTION STAFF: Scenic Designer: J. Keith Brumley

Costume Designer: John Lehmeyer

Lighting Designer: Ken Yunker

Wigs & Makeup: Ruth Mitchell & Alexis Smith

Harpsichordist: Yasuko Oura

The Toledo Opera would like to thank Craig's Pianos & Keyboards for their generous support.

Our ‘hero’ Tom Rakewell signs a pact with the devil, swapping the simple country life and his devoted sweetheart for the vain pursuit of big city bonuses and increasingly exotic pleasures. He finds himself married to the bearded lady from a local fair and ends up bankrupt and insane. Inspired by the Baroque and Classical styles of Handel and Mozart, Igor Stravinsky finds his own unique and appealing voice. The Rake’s Progress is one of the few modern operas that have a permanent place in the repertoires of most opera companies. Premiering in 1951 in Venice, it proved to be one of Igor Stravinsky’s greatest works, and his only full-length opera. He collaborated with W.H. Auden; one of the outstanding writers of the 21st century. The plot is really one of those timeless stories that can be mapped onto virtually any style of music – a morality tale that cautions of the outcome of licentious, profligate living, while portraying such a life in imaginatively graphic terms. Igor Stravinsky was inspired by the English painter William Hogarth’s 1735 series of satirical etchings, also called The Rakes Progress. Stravinsky created this opera of the same title using neoclassical forms, drawing on the model of another genius: Mozart. The works from this period in Stravinsky’s compositional output frequently concealed a vein of intense emotion beneath a surface appearance of detachment or austerity. The Rake’s Progress is a sophisticated and witty opera – a delight for the eye and ear!

Online Libretto HERE

Synopsis HERE
 
“How To Write Your Own Wagner Opera

WASHINGTON NATIONAL WAGNER SOCIETY presents

“How To Write Your Own Wagner Opera”
 
A musical lecture with Colleen Fay
 
Sunday, May 2, 2010
 
3:00 PM
 
The Universalist
National Memorial Church
1810 16th Street N.W.
Washington, DC 20009
202 470 5559
 
FREE Admission

Come join Ms. Fay for an in-depth look at how Wagner constructed the scenes for his operas and how they differ from the scenes created by other opera composers, such as Mozart or Verdi.

 
          Ms.Fay is a singer, composer, arts critic and lecturer active in the Washington, DC area. She has performed with numerous organizations including the Washington National Opera and the Wolf Trap Opera Company.

 A Washington Post critic had called her singing, “stylistically impressive and particularly distinguished.” A recent recording of her compositions was supported by a grant from the D. C. Commission on Arts
and Humanities with funds from the National Endowment for the Arts.She has been the music critic on Public Television’s “Around Town” for more than 20 years and regularly appears on National Public Radio’s “Metro Connection” heard on Washington’s WAMU-FM.

She was the Head Librarian of the Performing Arts Library at the John F, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts from 1978 to 1993 and previously
was a Music Librarianat the Library of Congress.

 
 Ms. Fay is a regular lecturer for the Smithsonian Associates and writes program notes for several musical ensembles in the Washington area.

 


 For more information, call the Society at 202 470 5559 or email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Web site:   http://www.washingtonnationalwagnersociety.org
 
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