Carmen | Portland Opera

Overview
Plot
About
Composer
Cast
See
Hear

She's free. She's wild. And she's fearless.

If she casts her eye in your direction, beware . . . and remember her words:
“Free was I born and free will I die!”

The world swirls around the sensuous gypsy, Carmen. Drawn magnetically to her, Don José is in way over his head. Mistaking her flirtation for true love, he forsakes everything—the young Micaela, his career, everything—for her. When she dances into the arms of the dashing toreador, his fury is unleashed. And Opera’s bad girl isn’t about to back down!

With its riotous opening, its pulsating rhythms and its powerhouse lineup of operatic hit tunes, Carmen gallops to its shocking conclusion.

Sung in French with projected English translations.

Performance time is 3:30, which includes two intermissions.

Carmen	Jossie Pérez (pictured above)
Don José	Richard Troxell
Escamillo	Mark Doss
Micaela	Maureen O'Flynn

Conductor	Joseph Colaneri
Stage Director	Nicolette Molnár

Act I. A town square in Seville, Spain. Moralès and his soldiers pass their time reading and playing dice. Micaela appears, looking for her fiancé, Corporal Don José. She is told that José will arrive with the changing of the guard. Micaela departs. Lieutenant Zuniga and Don José arrive for the changing of the guard. The midday bell rings, and the women who have been working in the factory come outside for their break. Among them is Carmen, who entrances all–except Don José. Carmen throws a flower at him and returns to the factory.

Micaela returns with a letter from Don José's mother. Suddenly, sounds of a fight are heard in the factory. Women burst loudly into the square, and Carmen is accused of wounding her co-worker with a knife. José is ordered to arrest Carmen. Once they are alone, Carmen convinces José to help her escape. Don José unties Carmen and she flees. José is arrested.

Act II. Lillas Pastia's tavern. At the end of a dance, Zuniga tells Carmen that José has been released after a month in prison. The famous bullfighter Escamillo arrives. He is immediately attracted to Carmen, but she refuses his advances. The smugglers Remendado and Dancaïro enter. They ask Carmen, Frasquita, and Mercédès for their help on a smuggling mission. Carmen refuses, saying again that she is waiting for Don José, her true love.

Don José arrives and Carmen dances for him. When Don José tells Carmen he must return to the barracks, she mocks him and accuses him of not loving her; if he did, he would leave the army and join her in the mountains. Don José tells her he loves her but that he must go. Zuniga bursts in. The two men brawl. Zuniga and Don José are restrained, but now that Don José has attacked his superior officer, he has no choice but to leave the army and join the smugglers.

Act III. A mountain hideaway. The smugglers are on their way to the border with their stolen goods. There is tension between Carmen and Don José. They have an argument and Carmen joins the women, who are using cards to tell their fortunes. For Carmen, the cards foresee only death.

Don José is left behind to guard stolen goods at the camp. Micaela enters searching for Don José, but she hides when Don José fires his gun at an intruder. It is Escamillo, searching for Carmen. Don José is furious, and they fight. They are interrupted by Carmen and the other smugglers. Escamillo departs, inviting everyone—especially Carmen—to his next bullfight in Seville. Micaela is discovered and reveals that Don José's mother is dying. She begs him to return home. Carmen urges him to go. Don José decides he must leave, but he warns Carmen that they will meet again.

Act IV. Outside the bullring in Seville. Carmen escorts Escamillo as an excited crowd cheers the bullfighters. Frasquita and Mercédès warn Carmen that Don José has been seen in the crowd. Don José finds Carmen alone and pleads with her to forget the past and start a new life with him. Carmen tells Don José that everything between them is over. When Don José tries to prevent Carmen from joining her new lover, she loses her temper. She angrily throws down a ring that Don José had given her. Enraged, Don José stabs Carmen as the crowd cheers Escamillo's victory.

--Courtesy of Opera America

CARMEN’S ROUGH ROAD TO SUCCESS

“At last, someone with ideas in his head!”

--Richard Wagner on Bizet after hearing Carmen in 1875

The history of art and philosophy is reactionary—one period reacting to the perceived wisdom and reality of the previous, with art, music, literature and philosophy evolving to meet the needs of the society creating it. Georges Bizet found himself in interesting times. French music was at a crossroad, set upon a new road by Charles Gounod, but not fully realized by him, struggling under the antiquated form of the Paris Opéra and the decidedly un-French sensibility of Wagner’s “New Music.” Bizet spent much of his career torn between these old forms and his own modern voice and never fully realized his maturity as an artist until Carmen—two months before his death.

During the 18th century Enlightenment, man was considered a creature of reason. Science was popular, empiricism prized, and forms were balanced, rational and reasonable. From this rationality the political philosophies of the American and French Revolution developed. The era that followed, the Romantic Period, was characterized by human dignity and freedom as the ideal of expression, acceptance of faults, exaltation of love and virtue with an overriding insistence on humanity’s ultimate goodness and nobility. This romanticism characterized the first half of the 19th century, finding ultimate operatic expression in the operas of Wagner and Verdi. From this idealized look at life evolved a gritty, critical look at the emotional decadence of the Romantics. Psychology, the social ills spawned by the Industrial Revolution, and the displacement of religion belied Romantic idealism and it was soon replaced by Realism. The cruelty and joy of everyday life and everyday people became fodder for artists. In opera, the form became verismo—the truth.

When Bizet chose to set Prosper Mérimée’s Spanish potboiler to music, he was a well-known musician with a few moderate successes. His notoriety was among other musicians, where his precocious talents as a pianist, orchestrator and operatic coach were well-respected. Despite his box office failures, the Opéra Comique continued to contract him to write operas for them, and they signed him to compose a three-act opera on a libretto to be written by Ludovic Halévy and Henri Meilhac. Finally, Bizet was offered a libretto with some true dramatic drive. Although Carmen excited Bizet’s remarkable talent for musical evocations and tuneful melodies, the impresarios of the Opéra Comique were concerned that its graphic content and unconventional heroine were unsuitable for the family-friendly Opéra Comique.

Mérimée’s novel was a raw, naturalistic look at humanity’s baser qualities—lust, sex, jealousy, violence and death. He drew inspiration from exotic locales that lent a certain comfortable distance to his murderous tales, and Spain was a tantalizingly close, culturally exciting setting. His world view was that humanity’s barbarism was its ultimate quality. Bizet threw himself into the verismo genre enthusiastically and began writing what became his masterpiece. His librettists, too, brought their best to the project, creating a taut, exciting narrative which sizzled off the page and took flight with Bizet’s music. But the artistic leadership of the Opéra Comique, de Leuven and Du Locle, were in financial trouble and gravely concerned about the content. Never in the history of the Opéra Comique had there been a death onstage, let alone a murder. Never had a woman been portrayed with such blatant sexuality. Audiences, de Leuven insisted with some justification, would be shocked and scandalized. He was so appalled by the plot that he sold his share of the Opéra Comique before Carmen opened rather than compromise his vision for his company.

Meanwhile, Carmen’s artistic team was also having problems casting the show. Because of the Opéra Comique’s financial difficulties, they could not afford to pay the customary A-list salary, and the subject matter of the opera did not recommend itself to leading ladies. Finally, they managed to secure Marie Galli-Marié, a darkly beautiful singer and a dedicated actress. Rehearsals were often cancelled for lack of funds. Then Du Locle began to get cold feet about the project, haplessly demanding that the ending be changed to a happy one. But the leads were in Bizet’s court and little was changed in the end. The chorus, however, was outraged that they were expected to “act,” rather than enter as a block, sing and leave. The orchestra was equally discomfited by what Du Locle called “Cochin-Chinese” music. Complaints were leaked to the press, which started to wonder whether the Opéra Comique could be considered a family theater if they were mounting such scabrous stuff. All of this before the show even opened!

On opening night, the glitterati of the Parisian music scene were gathered to support their friend, Bizet. At the final curtain, what was left of the house remained stubbornly silent and the night was a monumental failure. Critics universally panned the opera for immorality, for a lack of musicality, for Wagnerism, for practically anything at all. The tragic irony is that only a handful of years later these same critics wrote universally of the opera’s brilliance. What made the difference?

Some of it had to do with the nature of Parisians themselves. While they had affairs and were not above taking a bribe here or there, it was evidently in poor taste to tell a story about such things. The fact that Bizet used thematic musical material in his opera smacked of Wagner—universally detested in Parisian theaters. Wagnerians loathed Bizet because he did not succumb to Wagner’s strict use of thematic material. But the most cynical explanation of all was that Du Locle hadn’t bribed the critics sufficiently.

The rest of the world shook their heads at Parisian prudery, embracing Carmen enthusiastically. Today, Carmen is arguably the most beloved opera performed. It certainly is the most filmed and adapted opera in the history of the genre. Its immediacy, fascinating heroine, timeless story and riveting music combine in a completely satisfying and believable evening of theater.

-- Alexis Hamilton

About the Composer: Georges Bizet (1838-1875)

“As a musician I tell you that if you were to suppress adultery, fanaticism, crime, evil, the supernatural, there would no longer be the means for writing one note.”
--Georges Bizet

Georges Bizet was born into a family of musicians. His parents even hid his books in order to re-focus him on music when young Bizet exhibited too ardent an interest in literature. They succeeded and nine-year-old Bizet was admitted to the Paris Conservatoire.

At the Conservatoire, Bizet distinguished himself as a composer. Of particular interest was the Symphony in C, written in 1855. In this work, one can see references and quotes to his future works, Les pêcheurs de perles, L’arlésienne, and Carmen. In 1856, he won second prize in the coveted Prix de Rome for his cantata David. The following year he won first prize for Clovis et Clotilde and headed for Rome. Between these two accomplishments, Bizet made his theatrical debut with his setting of Le Docteur Miracle.

In Rome, he conceived and sketched many projects, but completed a mere handful, of which only Don Procopio, Te Deum, and Vasco de Gama still survive. Upon his return to Paris, Bizet refused a teaching job at the Conservatoire and rejected becoming a concert pianist. He wanted to be viewed as a composer. In 1863, Bizet wrote Les pêcheurs de perles for the Théâtre-Lyrique. Generally considered an uneven work most remarkable for its evocative settings, Les pêcheurs de perles was received indifferently. This was not entirely his fault. The libretto was full of dramaturgical holes and inconsistencies. The librettists later admitted that if “they had been aware of Bizet’s talent they would have done a better, more responsible job.” Bizet hated the piece, recognizing its musical flaws with embarrassment. His next attempt, La jolie fille de Perth (December 1867), enjoyed a better reception, but closed after only 18 performances.

The following year saw Bizet in crisis and there followed another string of frustrated projects, renewed health issues and a profound change in his attitude toward music and composition. He married Geneviéve Halévy in 1869 and for the next two years, Bizet found little time to compose because of the Franco-Prussian war, which closed the opera houses and employed him in the French National Guard. Still, he managed to write a one-act opera, Djamileh, and incidental music for Daudet’s play L’arlésienne. Unfortunately, both failed at the box office for reasons other than the music.

In 1874, Bizet’s greatest work, Carmen, premiered at the Opéra Comique. Although beloved today, it satisfied neither traditionalist expectations of the Opéra Comique’s usual fare nor Wagnerian hopes for fully integrated music drama. Its poor reception and critical disdain sent Bizet spiraling into depression. He withdrew from Paris and died on June 3, 1875 from the second of two heart attacks, never knowing that 100 years after his death, Carmen would become the most popular, most filmed and most adapted opera of all time.

Jossie Pérez - Maddelena

Mezzo-soprano

Mezzo-soprano Jossie Pérez’s voice has been described as “a big smoky, mezzo-soprano with strong chest voice, expansive range and striking power all the way up to clarion top notes.”

Jossie Pérez - Maddelena

Mezzo-soprano

Mezzo-soprano Jossie Pérez’s voice has been described as “a big smoky, mezzo-soprano with strong chest voice, expansive range and striking power all the way up to clarion top notes.” This season, her interpretation of the title role in Carmen has been seen with Seiji Ozawa at the Veroza Company Japan and at Portland Opera, as well as in the future with the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. Earlier successes in the title role of Carmen include performances on the Boston Common for over 150,000 people with Boston Lyric Opera, as well as Les Amis du Lyrique en Bretagne in France.

The 2007 – 2008 season will see Ms. Pérez as Charlotte in Werther in Seville under the baton of Michel Plasson and mezzo-soprano soloist at the Operalia Winners Gala in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Future seasons will see Ms. Pérez at the Liceu in Barcelona as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro and Cloe in L’arbore di Diana, as well as Maddalena in Portland Opera’s production of Rigoletto.

Other recent engagements for the Puerto Rican mezzo-soprano have included successful performances of Sesto in La clemenza di Tito at the Liceu in Barcelona, Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia at Michigan Opera Theatre, Isabella in L’italiana in Algeri with Opera Pacific, Annio in La clemenza di Tito with Washington National Opera, and Sifare in Mitridate in Granada, Spain as well as concerts of the Mozart Requiem in Madison, Wisconsin.

Ms. Pérez has been seen at the Metropolitan Opera in such roles as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, the Second Lady in the premiere of Julie Taymor's production of Die Zauberflöte, Lola in Cavalleria rusticana, Ascanio in Les Troyens, and Siébel in Faust, as well as roles in Ariadne auf Naxos, La traviata, Carmen, Hänsel und Gretel, and Parsifal. She has appeared in recital with Carol Vaness at the Casals Festival, and had successes as Maffio Orsini in Lucrezia Borgia in Oviedo, Spain, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni in San Antonio, and Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte in Santiago, the Spoleto Festival USA, and in Boston, as well as Idamante in Idomeneo in Washington, D.C. with Plácido Domingo. She also performed Ravel’s Chansons madecasses with James Levine and the Metropolitan Opera Chamber Ensemble at Weill Recital Hall.

Ms. Pérez was a winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the 2001 OPERALIA competition in Washington, D.C, and a Sara Tucker Study Grant from The Richard Tucker Music Foundation. She was also a member of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program.

http://www.jossieperez.com/

Richard Troxell - Alfredo

Tenor

Richard Troxell - Alfredo

Tenor

Richard Troxell’s beautiful lyric tenor voice has been heard on operatic and concert stages in the United States and around the world. His powerful stage presence and ability to connect with people have set him apart and made him a favorite with audiences of all ages. On film, he can be seen in the role of Lieutenant Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly, a film that was widely acclaimed by music and film critics alike. The New York Times calls his portrayal “ the most dramatically satisfying vocal characterization” in the film.

The 2007-2008 season was a busy one for Mr. Troxell. Most recently, he sang his now signature role of Lieutenant Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly in a sold out début with Opéra de Montréal. Just prior to that, he was Christian in Cyrano de Bergerac in a début with Opéra de Monte Carlo. In Paris, he sang the title role in Zampa in another début with the Opéra Comique. Other recent engagements included the title role in Les Contes d’Hoffmann for Opera Narodowa in Warsaw, Poland and Don José in Carmen with the Portland Opera, as well as concert engagements with the Colorado Symphony and tenor soloist in the Pennsylvania Ballet’s production of Carmina Burana.

During the 2008-2009 season, he will appear as Alfredo in La Traviata for Portland Opera and return to the Opéra Comique for additional performances in Zampa followed by a début with Opera Lyra in Ottawa as Lensky in Eugene Onegin.

Mr. Troxell has sung leading roles with opera companies in the United States and abroad, including Los Angeles Opera (Pinkerton), Washington Opera (Roméo, Roméo et Juliette, Prunier in La Rondine telecast on PBS) New York City Opera (the Prince, The Love for Three Oranges, Nanki Poo, The Mikado), Houston Grand Opera (title role, The Tales of Hoffmann), Opera Company of Philadelphia (Piquillo, La Périchole. with Denyce Graves), Opera Pacific (title role, Candide), Boston Lyric Opera (title role, Faust,) Spoleto Festival USA (title role, L’île de Merlin). Internationally, he has also appeared with l’Opéra National de Montpellier, Vancouver Opera, New Israeli Opera, New Zealand Opera, Théâtre du Capitôle Toulouse and Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville.

Equally at home on the concert stage, Mr.Troxell has been tenor soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, l’Orchestre de Paris, the Berlin Radio Symphony, and l’Orchestre de Monte Carlo among others as well as in performances at Avery Fisher Hall (Lincoln Center) with the American Symphony Orchestra (title role, Der Zwerg), and in Bach’s Magnificat at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

Mr. Troxell’s recording credits include the role of Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly on the Sony label, Marvin David Levy’s Masada with the Berlin Symphony Radio Orchestra, a solo pops CD What a Wonderful World, and, on DVD, Madame Butterfly and Cyrano de Bergerac.

Richard Troxell hails from Thurmont, Maryland and presently lives in the countryside of Chester County, Pennsylvania with his wife Lisa Lovelace, a dancer/ choreographer and their two sons Wilder and Shane.

www.richardtroxell.tv.

Mark Doss - Escamillo

Bass-baritone

Mark Doss - Escamillo

Bass-baritone

Grammy Award winner, Mark S. Doss, opened the 06/07 season as Méphistophélès in Faust with Portland Opera, Messiah at the Civic Opera House in Chicago, and the role of Jochanaan in Salome with the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Italy (his 5th role with the company within a 2 year period). He is currently preparing for his 4th appearance with the San Francisco Opera as Thoas in Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride.

The 05/06 and 04/05 seasons saw him as Alidoro in La Cenerentola at both La Scala and Lyric Opera of Chicago, Escamillo in Carmen with Teatro Sociale di Mantova and Lyric Opera of Chicago, the bass soloist in Messiah with orchestras in Illinois and Tennessee, and the role of Amonasro in Aida at the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden, Germany. He concluded last season with performances of Scarpia in Tosca with Oper Frankfurt, and last August performed in the Santa Fe Opera's 50th Anniversary Gala Concert.

The 04/05 season saw him as Amonasro in a revival of Théâtre de la Monnaie's Aida, Randolph in Lyric Opera of Chicago's world premiere of A Wedding, Méphistophélès in Oper Frankfurt's Faust and Argante in Teatro alla Scala's Rinaldo (Händel).

During the 03/04 season, Mr. Doss made his Royal Opera debut as Amonasro in Aida and also debuted at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona in Peter Grimes. He followed, to great acclaim, with the title role in Boito's Mefistofele with Oper Frankfurt, afterwards making his debut at Teatro alla Scala as Escamillo in Carmen. In concert, he appeared with the Seattle Symphony as the bass soloist in Bach's Magnificat, and was heard with the Baltimore Symphony as the bass-baritone soloist in Beethoven's 9th Symphony under the direction of Bobby McFerrin.

Highlights of the 02/03 and 01/02 seasons included Zaccaria in Nabucco at Oper Frankfurt, the title role in Händel's Giulio Cesare with Cleveland Opera, Ormonte in Händel's Partenope with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte with L'Opéra Théâtre de Nice, Ferrando in Il Trovatore with the San Francisco Opera, King Philip in Don Carlos with Boston Lyric Opera, Escamillo in Carmen 2, Le Retour at the Teatro Regio in Turin, concluding with Escamillo in the original Carmen with the Deutsche Oper in Berlin. He additionally sang Mendelssohn's Elijah with the Cathedral Choral Society at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC and performed Mustafa in L'Italiana in Algeri with the Santa Fe Opera.

Other concert appearances include Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with Théâtre de la Monnaie, an all-Gershwin concert in Istanbul, Turkey; Mozart arias and Copland songs with the Alabama Symphony, Händel's Messiah with the Baltimore Symphony, and Haydn's The Creation with the Cathedral Choral Society under the direction of Leonard Slatkin at the National Cathedral. His May of 2003 concert/recital with the Singers' Club of Cleveland was a great critical success.

Mr. Doss, a native of Cleveland, Ohio and graduate of Indiana University, is a 1993 Grammy Award winner for his participation in the recording of Händel's Semele conducted by John Nelson on the Deutsche Grammophon label, a winner of the National Institute for Music Theatre's George London Opera Prize, a First Prize winner of the International Verdi Competition in Busseto, Italy and a Finalist Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Auditions.

Additional noteworthy performances:

Riolobo in Daniel Catán's Florencia en al Amazonas (recorded on the Albany Record label) with Houston Grand Opera, Cinque in the world premiere of Anthony Davis' AmistadIl Barbiere di Siviglia, the Four Villains in Les Contes d'Hoffmann at Michigan Opera Theatre, Zaccaria in Nabucco at the Cincinnati Opera, performing both Tonio and Alfio in the same performance of Cavalleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci at Hawaii Opera Theater, the title role in Verdi's Attila with Washington Concert Opera, Escamillo at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Théâtre de la Monnaie, Amonasro in the Houston Grand Opera's Aida, Scarpia and Figaro in Cleveland Opera's productions of Tosca and Le Nozze di Figaro, the High Priest in Samson et Dalila with the Cincinnati Opera and Padre Guardiano in La Forza del Destino opposite Carlo Bergonzi in Busseto, Italy.

Maureen O'Flynn - Micaela

Soprano

Of a recent opening night performance of Romeo et Juiliette at the Metropolitan Opera house, the New York Times says the soprano “won a deserved ovation from the audience” and Variety exclaims “...not only a superb technician, with the full coloratura arsenal at her disposal, but a sensitive interpreter".

Maureen O'Flynn - Micaela

Soprano

Acclaimed performing and recording artist Maureen O'Flynn garners enthusiastic praise from critics, peers and audiences on both sides of the Atlantic. Of a recent opening night performance of Romeo et Juiliette at the Metropolitan Opera house, the New York Times says the soprano “won a deserved ovation from the audience” and Variety exclaims “...not only a superb technician, with the full coloratura arsenal at her disposal, but a sensitive interpreter...” As one of Musical America’s coveted “Artists to Watch,” Ms. O'Flynn is also regarded as one of the finest interpreters of the role of Gilda in Rigoletto. She performed the role with the Metropolitan Opera under the baton of Plácido Domingo, Arena di Verona, Covent Garden, La Fenice, Genoa, Italy, Teatro Massimo in Palermo, San Carlo, Naples, Houston Grand Opera, San Diego Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, New Israeli Opera, the Israel Philharmonic, and debuted with Dallas Opera, winning the company's Callas Award as “Outstanding New Artist of the Year.” Likewise, as a renowned Nanetta in Falstaff, she made her La Scala debut in a performance conducted by Riccardo Muti, which was recorded on SONY. Ms. O’Flynn has appeared with the Metropolitan Opera several times as Violetta in La Traviata, a role she has also performed with the Hamburg Staatsoper, at the Palacio Festivales in Santander, Spain, Portland Opera, and with the Dallas Symphony.

Most recent engagements included Juliette in Romeo and Juliette at the Metropolitan Opera, Amina in La Sonnambula at the Opera de la Coruna and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni at the Santander Festival both in Spain, I Puritani at the Deutche Oper Berlin, La Traviata for the Metropolitan Opera and Opera Company of Philadelphia, Konstanze in Abduction from the Seraglio with Opera Omaha, Hanna Glawari in The Merry Widow with Minnesota Opera, the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor in Trieste, Tokyo, and with Florida Grand Opera, her first 3 heroines in The Tales of Hoffmann at Calgary Opera, Leila in The Pearl Fishers with the Michigan Opera Theatre, Micaela in Carmen with the Metropolitan Opera, the Soprano Soloist in Vaughn Williams A Sea Symphony with the Milwaukee Symphony, and Ravel's Scheherezade with the Bozeman Symphony.

In the 2006-2007 Season and beyond, she will perform Violetta in La Traviata at the MET Opera in the Parks, as well as covering the role at the Metropolitan Opera, Marguerite in Faust and Micaela in Carmen with Portland Opera, Pat Nixon in Nixon in China with Cincinnati Opera, Amina in La Sonnambula with Teatro Cervantes, Elena in Donna del Lago with Minnesota Opera, Leila in The Pearl Fishers with Florida Grand Opera,Juliette in Romeo et Juliette with L'Opera de Montreal, Mimi in La boheme with the Minnesota Orchestra, and Opera Omaha’s Gala concert.

In the U.S. and abroad, Ms. O’Flynn enjoys tremendous acclaim and relationships with houses including La Scala, Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Opéra de Lyon,, Genoa, Italy, Vienna Staatsoper, Hamburgische Staatsoper, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Dallas Opera, New York City Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Portland Opera, Opera Colorado, the Minnesota Opera, and Cincinnati Opera, and with the Washington Concert Opera, Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania, Teatro Comunale in Florence, and Bologna's Teatro Comunale.

She made her New York City recital debut at Carnegie Hall, as well as recitals for the Wexford Festival and the Richard Tucker Gala Concert at Avery Fisher Hall, which is broadcast nationally on PBS and has an all-star cast including Barbara Dever, Denyce Graves, Jerry Hadley and Samuel Ramey for concert performances of Grand Opera's Greatest Hits with the Opera Company of Philadelphia, as well as Broadways Greatest Hits with Jerry Hadley with the Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton of Broadway great Paul Gemignani. She has also appeared in a gala concert with Nicola Ghiaurov, conducted by Riccardo Muti and has appeared as the honored soloist for the televised Christmas Midnight Mass at New York City's famed St. Patrick's Cathedral Additional working in this repertoire include Gorecki's Symphony No. 3 with the Orchestra 2001 in Philadelphia, Rossini Stabat Mater with the Tokyo Shinsei Symphony, Amenaide in Tancredi at Carnegie Hall with the Opera Orchestra of New York, Mahler's Symphony No. 4 and Mozart's Exultate, Jubilate!, Mass in C, Coronation Mass and Requiem Mass; Fauré's Requiem and Handel's Alexander's Feast, Judas Maccabeus and Psalm 112. She has been awarded prizes by two of opera's most prestigious organizations, the Richard Tucker Foundation Grant and the Opera Index First Prize.

Joseph Colaneri - Conductor

Now in his ninth season as a member of the conducting roster of the Metropolitan Opera, Maestro Colaneri concurrently serves as Artistic Director of the Opera Program at Mannes College of Music in New York City.

Joseph Colaneri - Conductor

Conductor of opera, oratorio and symphonic works, educator and lecturer, Joseph Colaneri’s achievements are outstanding in each of the areas in his multi-faceted career. Now in his ninth season as a member of the conducting roster of the Metropolitan Opera, Maestro Colaneri concurrently serves as Artistic Director of the Opera Program at Mannes College of Music in New York City.

Joseph Colaneri made his conducting debut at the Metropolitan Opera with a performance of La bohème in fall 2000. He returned to the Metropolitan Opera to conduct Luisa Miller in season 2001-2002 and conducted all of the popular Met in the Parks performances of Turandot in season 2002-2003. Reviewing of his performance, Shirley Fleming of The New York Post wrote; “Conductor Joseph Colaneri drove an impassioned performance that never let up, from the opening chorus on.” Maestro Colaneri conducted performances of L’Italiana in Algeri with Olga Borodina in season 2003-2004 and conducted Nabucco featuring Maria Guleghina in spring 2005. He conducted Nabucco performances with Andrea Gruber in the popular Metropolitan Opera Parks performances in summer 2004. Thousands of New Yorkers attended these free performances in Central Park as well as in parks in all of the other boroughs of New York City, and in public venues in New Jersey and Connecticut. This season Joseph Colaneri will conduct Falstaff at the Metropolitan Opera leading a cast that will include Bryn Terfel in the title role.

Maestro Colaneri has been associated with Metropolitan Opera productions of Aida, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Andrea Chénier, Arabella, Don Giovanni, Falstaff, Il barbieri di Siviglia, I Vespri Siciliani, La bohème, L’Italiana in Algeri, La Juive, Les Dialogues des Carmélites, Madama Butterfly, Mefistophele, Nabucco, Otello, Das Rheingold, Rigoletto, La traviata, Il Trovatore, Un Ballo in Maschera and Werther in prior seasons. This season, he will serve as cover conductor for the productions of Lucia di Lammermoor, La bohème, and Rigoletto. While on tour with the Metropolitan Opera to Japan, Maestro Colaneri conducted the Tokyo Philharmonic in a program of opera arias and musical theater selections featuring Renée Fleming. He also accompanied the soprano in several Duke Ellington songs as part of the program, which was telecast throughout Asia by the NHK. Building on their collaboration at the Met, he recently conducted Metropolitan Opera artists Jianyi Zhang and Richard Zeller in an opera highlights program with the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan in Taipei. He also conducted the prestigious 2004 Richard Tucker Gala at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall featuring a program of operatic scenes and arias. He conducted the Orchestra of St. Luke’s in the celebrated Gay Men’s Health Crisis benefit at Avery Fisher Hall.

Prior to joining the Metropolitan Opera, Joseph Colaneri was associated with the New York City Opera at Lincoln Center for fifteen years culminating in his appointment, in 1995, as Acting Music Director. He was honored with the company’s Julius Rudel Award during the previous season (1994). Beginning with his New York City Opera debut conducting South Pacific, he led over 60 performances of Il barbiere di Siviglia, La bohème, Carmen, Rigoletto, Tosca, La traviata, The New Moon and The Merry Widow. Special highlights of his New York City Opera conducting career include the highly acclaimed 1993 world premiere of Hugo Weisgall’s Esther, and the 1995 American Premiere of the Toshiro Mayuzumi opera Kinkakuji: The Temple of the Golden Pavilion. He also applied his keen interest in contemporary repertoire to Britten’s parable Curlew River with performances incorporating Noh theatre elements. The performances were produced by the Japan Society in New York City. This past season he made his conducting debut at Portland Opera in Oregon with performances of Frank Corsaro’s production of Madama Butterfly. He will return to Portland Opera for La fanciulla del West. In season 2005-2006, Meastro Colaneri will make his debut conducting Madama Butterfly for the West Australian Opera.

While at the New York City Opera, Maestro Colaneri also served as Music Director of the New York City Opera National Company. In his final season, he cast and led the touring company’s production of La bohème in performances throughout the United States. Writing of his performance, the Plain Dealer critic said: “the excellence began in the pit, where music director Joseph Colaneri led an account of Puccini’s score that had poetry, thrust and a sense of textural wonderment. Colaneri obviously has lived with the piece and explored its every nook and cranny.” With the National Company he has directed national touring productions of La fille du Régiment, Tosca, Carmen, Madama Butterfly, Il barbiere di Siviglia, and La traviata. He has also conducted Don Pasquale, Macbeth, Don Giovanni and both an all-Verdi and an all-Puccini concert for Chautauqua Opera. He returned to Chautauqua Opera in summer 2004 to celebrate the company’s 75th anniversary with Jay Lesenger’s production of Carlisle Floyd’s opera Susannah. In summer 2005 he returned to lead the Chautauqua Symphony in a program of opera highlights featuring the Chautauqa Opera Apprentice Artists. In the 1998-1999 season, Mr. Colaneri continued his work with young artists and audience outreach through Western Opera Theater, conducting thirty-five performances of La traviata throughout the United States, and with emphasis in the western region. He returned to Western Opera Theater in summer 2000 to conduct Rigoletto and Die Fledermaus, and in summer 2001 to conduct the double bill of Gianni Schicchi and Suor Angelica. Mr. Colaneri, a frequent speaker on opera, gave a number of educationally oriented talks to new audiences while on tour. In New York, he resumed his annual series of Saturday Opera Seminars at New York University where he is a guest lecturer, and spoke with audiences on opera at Mannes College of Music.

With uncommon dedication for an active conductor, Joseph Colaneri continues to thrive in preparing and guiding young vocalists in the early years of their professional careers. This commitment has led naturally to Joseph Colaneri’s appointment as Artistic Director of the Opera Program at Mannes College of Music in New York. Mr. Colaneri enjoys his work with his faculty colleagues as they mould a program best suited to help these emerging artists prepare for the demands of professional careers. He also frequently gives master classes with apprentices at companies such as Opera North and Chautauqua Opera. Building on the success of the annual opera scenes program at the Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse in New York, two years ago he initiated fully-staged productions which he conducts. The first production was La bohème directed by Jay Lesenger, followed by a fully-staged Don Giovanni directed by Robin Guarino. This past year’s Die Zauberflöte with the students of Mannes College of Music received outstanding praise from Anne Midgette in The New York Times. She wrote: “People in the opera world often ask: Where are all the good, healthy young voices? Here's an answer: at the Mannes College of Music... Credit goes to Joseph Colaneri, the evening's conductor, who has been the director of the Mannes Opera since 1998. If this is the kind of work he does here, the program should be getting even more attention.” He has also conducted the Mannes Orchestra in a concert at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall.

The recipient of the 1994 Distinguished Alumni Award from Westminster Choir College in Princeton (NJ), Joseph Colaneri entered the professional field as an organist and choral conductor. Having held a number of sacred music posts, he made his opera debut as Chorus Master of the New Jersey State Opera, and continued his choral-conducting career as Chorus Master of the New York City Opera from 1983 to 1996. At the New York City Opera he prepared choruses for over 100 New York City Opera productions, including Schoenberg’s demanding Moses und Aron and the Grammy-Award-winning recording of Bernstein’s Candide. Maestro Colaneri is a popular guest conductor at the Berkshire Choral Festival with many re-engagements since his debut in 1995. He returned to the Berkshires in summer 2001 to lead a performance of the Verdi Requiem, which marked the Festival’s 20th anniversary. This past summer he returned to the Berkshire Choral Festival for an all-Italian program. It included Giuseppe Verdi’s Four Sacred Pieces, Giovanni Gabrieli’s Jubilate Deo and In Ecclesiis and Arrigo Boito’s choral “Prologue” to Mefistofele. His Canadian conducting debut was with the National Arts Centre Orchestra in performances of Handel’s Messiah. He has also appeared as a guest conductor at the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria.

Joseph Colaneri is a graduate of New York University and holds the Master of Music degree from Westminster Choir College. Mr. Colaneri resides in his home state of New Jersey with his wife and daughter.

Nicolette Molnár - Stage Director

Nicolette Molnar's productions are been seen with increasing frequency in the U.S. and in Europe.

Nicolette Molnár - Stage Director

Nicolette Molnar's productions are been seen with increasing frequency in the U.S. and in Europe. In recent seasons, she has directed Cosi fan tutte for the Santa Fe Opera, Atlanta Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and English National Opera, Fidelio for the Bregenz Festival, Der Fliegende Holländer and Don Giovanni for The Atlanta Opera, Street Scene for the Portland Opera, Romeo et Juliette for Utah Opera, Eugene Onegin for Opera Ontario, Don Giovanni for Wolf Trap Opera, A Midsummer Night's Dream for the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Der Fliegende Holländer, Tosca and Turandot for the Orlando Opera, Ariadne auf Naxos and I Capuletti ed i Montecchi for the Castleward Opera, Northern Ireland, Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream for the Royal Academy of Music, Madama Butterfly for Co-Opera in Ireland, Lakme for the Dublin Grand Opera, Maria Stuarda for the Caledonian Opera, Finissy's Vaudeville at the Warsaw Autumn Festival, L'Elisir d'Amore in Lucerne, Balfe's The Rose of Castile for the Wexford Festival, The Turn of the Screw at the Mendelssohn Theater, University of Michigan, and The Abduction from the Seraglio for Lake George Opera.

Ms. Molnar was educated at Columbia University and studied directing under Götz Friedrich in Hamburg, Germany. She also worked as an assistant director for Opera Theater of St. Louis, Santa Fe, and Houston before returning to England to become a staff director for the English National Opera.