Rodelinda | Portland Opera

Overview
Plot
About
Composer
Cast
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She’s powerful. She’s dependable. And she’s smart.
She’s the kind of woman you want at your side.

Machiavellian intrigue at its most riveting! With her husband deposed and presumed dead, Rodelinda wins at the high-stakes game of political intrigue by remaining faithful above all else. Fending off those who want the throne and those who want her, she deftly manages to save both her husband and the crown.

Handel’s musical masterpiece brims with the richness, depth, and warmth we’ve come to know and love from Baroque music. A vocal showcase from the creator of the well-known “Messiah.”

Sung in Italian with projected English translations.

Performance time is 3:15, which includes two intermissions.

Rodelinda	Jennifer Aylmer (pictured above)
Bertarido	Jennifer Hines
Grimoaldo	Robert Breault
Garibaldo	Valerian Ruminski
Unulfo	Gerald Thompson
Eduige	Emma Curtis

Conductor	George Manahan
Stage Director	Helena Binder

Bertarido, King of Lombardy and Milan, has been attacked and deposed by Grimoaldo, an ally of his estranged brother, Gundeberto. Gundeberto was killed in the battle and Bertarido vanished, leaving his queen, Rodelinda, and a young son, Flavio, in the power of the victorious ally, Grimoaldo. As a reward for defeating Bertarido, Grimoaldo was promised the hand of Bertarido's sister, Eduige—therefore gaining a legitimate claim to the throne at Milan. Eduige and Grimoaldo have fallen in love, but she will not marry him while mourning two brothers—one dead, one presumed so.

From abroad Bertarido has sent word of his own death, intending to return to Milan in disguise and rescue his wife and son. The news of his death has devastated both Rodelinda and Eduige. Grimoaldo, intent on gaining the throne, weighs his options, counseled by two advisers—Garibaldo, his closest aide, and Unulfo, a member of Bertarido's cabinet who is the only person who knows that Bertarido still lives.

ACT I. Rodelinda and her son are being held in the palace in Milan. Grimoaldo enters with Eduige and his advisers and announces his wish to marry Rodelinda. The outraged Rodelinda refuses him and storms away. Eduige is appalled at Grimoaldo's overture to Rodelinda and, despite the rules of mourning, offers him her hand, heart and throne. Grimoaldo, though still in love with her, fiercely declines Eduige's offer. Now Garibaldo makes overtures to Eduige, hoping to gain the throne for himself. Eduige, furious with Grimoaldo, does not discourage him.

Bertarido arrives at the stables, where Unulfo has left a soldier's uniform for his disguise. He finds in the cemetery a memorial built in his memory by Grimoaldo. Bertarido yearns to see Rodelinda but knows he cannot yet reveal himself. His reunion with Unulfo is interrupted when Rodelinda brings her son to plant flowers at the memorial. Unulfo succeeds in restraining Bertarido. Garibaldo appears with an ultimatum from Grimoaldo, to which Bertarido must also be silent witness: either Rodelinda agrees to wed Grimoaldo, or Garibaldo kills the boy. Rodelinda is forced to agree. Bertarido cannot see past Rodelinda's surrender to Grimoaldo's demand. Alone, Bertarido grieves over Rodelinda's seeming loss of faith.

ACT II. Garibaldo again offers his services to Eduige in exchange for her hand. He will kill Grimoaldo if necessary. But he sees from her response that Eduige still loves Grimoaldo. Rodelinda appears with her child and reassures Eduige that her son's future is her greatest concern. Eduige shares with Rodelinda her confused anger over Grimoaldo's rejection of her. Grimoaldo enters with Garibaldo and Unulfo, and Rodelinda presents him with an ultimatum of her own: she will marry him on one condition, that he personally kill her son before her eyes. Her gambit works. Grimoaldo backs down, but he is very taken with Rodelinda's courage and constancy. He feels he might actually come to love her, though he cannot forget his feelings for Eduige. Garibaldo and Unulfo are left alone to debate Grimoaldo's options. Garibaldo believes power should be seized and ensured at any cost. Unulfo, musing alone, decides to take Rodelinda to Bertarido.

Walking near the stables, Eduige happens upon and recognizes Bertarido. She assuages his fears about Rodelinda's constancy. Unulfo goes off to look for Bertarido, who soon returns with Eduige to be reunited at last with his wife. When they are discovered together by Grimoaldo, he orders Bertarido taken into custody and, enraged, bids them take their final farewells. Bertarido will soon die.

ACT III. Eduige sends a servant to the dungeon with a concealed weapon to be given to Bertarido. She and Unulfo plan for Bertarido's escape: Unulfo, will lead Bertarido through a hidden tunnel where Eduige will wait with Rodelinda and the child. From there they will escape. Grimoaldo enters with Garibaldo, who advises him to kill the prisoner or lose the kingdom, but Grimoaldo's conscience prevents him from taking this action.

Bertarido is reassured when a weapon is dropped through the bars of his prison cell. In the darkness he strikes out at what he believes to be an assassin, but it is Unulfo, come to help him. Even though he is wounded, Unulfo manages to get Bertarido to change out of the clothes in which he has been seen. As the two men escape, Rodelinda and Eduige arrive. Rodelinda has insisted on rescuing Bertarido herself, but finds only his clothes covered with Unulfo's blood and imagines the worst.

At the foot of Bertarido's memorial Grimoaldo's internal struggle continues. Exhausted, he falls asleep. Garibaldo attempts to assassinate Grimoaldo, but is stopped and killed by Bertarido, who gives himself up to Grimoaldo. Grimoaldo is himself ready to surrender and restores wife, child and throne to the rightful king. His apology to Eduige goes unheeded at first, but eventually she forgives him.

Rodelinda—From the Shadows onto Center Stage

“Handel understands effect better than any of us -- when he chooses, he strikes like a thunderbolt.”

-- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

For 150 years after his death, George Frideric Handel’s operas found themselves in the dustbin of musical consciousness. Only now are Handel and his operas being ranked alongside Italian opera’s greatest geniuses: Monteverdi, Mozart and Verdi. Handel wrote 42 operas during his life and was respected and adored by the likes of Mozart and Beethoven. Part of this unjustifiable neglect has to do with changing fashion in operatic style and misconceptions about Baroque performance practice. In recent years, this neglect is being remedied with varying degrees of theatrical success. The musical performances are most often exquisite, however the dramatic aspects sometimes suffer an apologist attitude. As Winton Dean says in his essay, Production Style in Handel’s Operas:

“The argument runs more or less as follows: We cannot replicate the performances of Handel’s day. Apart from such impediments as the absence of castratos, we have different theaters and different audiences. A modern audience with its knowledge of all that has happened since the early eighteenth century in the realms of art, politics, society and psychology cannot be expected to leave its preferences and prejudices at home. It will receive the operas with them always at the back of its mind.”

What Handelian defenders of Baroque opera might just as easily counter is that despite the unfamiliar conventions, the operas, performed excellently, will translate perfectly well across the ages.

First, it may be useful to look at Baroque performance practice. While it is true that Baroque opera was structured to serve the singer with a preponderance of recitative and flashy arias, and that singers did not move about the stage while singing their arias, the structure of the operas was dynamic and fluid. For one thing, the curtain, once raised, didn’t come down again for the duration of the opera, meaning that all of the scene changes were done in full view of the audience. Scene changes were a highly anticipated part of the opera experience. In addition, Baroque operas were full of elaborate stage machinery and equipped with surprisingly sophisticated lighting systems as well. Baroque opera also utilized dancing and supernumeraries who performed anything from the clash of armies to the tragic consequences of a collapsed bridge. All in all, a night at the opera in the 18th century, quite aside from the magnificence of the singing, seems like a magical way to spend an evening.

Handel was a master of the form. His arias are of course beautiful. But he also had a strong sense of the theater, never allowing his operas to become a tiresome parade of vignettes, but a continuous evening of drama. To do this, Handel carefully plotted the scene changes, integrating them completely into his music and stage direction. Winton Dean compares a Baroque opera to a movie, moving from scene to scene without interrupting the action of the story. When Handel operas were first revived in late 19th and early 20th century Germany, they were cut mercilessly, and the curtain would fall between each section of the opera to facilitate the scene changes, turning the performance—dramatically—into a tedious, incomprehensible mess. It is a testament to Handel’s genius that such clumsy interpretations did not drive his operas from the theater altogether.

Fortunately for modern audiences, attention is being paid to Handel’s operas and among the greatest is his masterwork, Rodelinda. A beautiful story of marital love, the plot is clear and consistent, and the characters are among Handel’s finest. The story is based upon an incident in Paul the Deacon’s Gesta langobardorum. Paul the Deacon was an 8th century Benedictine monk whose writings came to the attention of Charlemagne. His greatest achievement was the Gesta langobardorum, a history of 7th century Lombardy. Handel was not the first to set the story. That honor fell to a composer named Perti in 1710. The librettist, Antonio Salvi, more famous by far than this composer, wrote many librettos, seven of which were adapted by Handel and his librettists. Rodelinda is one of these.

The opera was wonderfully popular at the time, receiving 14 performances and a revival at the King’s Theater on December 18, 1725. The grace and beauty of its music, its dramatic tension and magnificent pacing delighted audiences then and would continue to move audiences rediscovering Handel’s marvelous talents for another 280 years.

--Alexis Hamilton

About the Composer: George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)

“He is the greatest composer that ever lived. I would uncover my head and kneel before his tomb.”

--Ludwig van Beethoven

Born in Halle-in-Saxon, Germany, George Frideric Handel became the most celebrated English composer of all time. In London, when England had lost its coherent operatic voice, Handel was able to provide that cosmopolitan city with music equal to its status as a world power. During his lifetime, his music was considered not merely great but the greatest. Handel’s appeal is timeless, populist and immediate, even at the distance of 300 years. As Samuel Barber put it, “Handel is so great and so simple that no one but a professional musician is unable to understand him.”

What little is known about Handel’s boyhood was published in John Mainwaring’s 1760 Handel biography Memoirs, much of which modern scholars have verified. When his father denied young Handel access to instruments, the boy practiced in secret on a forgotten clavichord in his father’s attic. Then, the nine-year-old Handel, contrary to his father’s expressed wishes, set out to follow the old man on a visit to the Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels. The boy followed his father’s carriage, which, delayed by cavernous ruts in the road, was soon overtaken by the determined youngster. With no other option, his father brought him to the Duke’s manor, and there, the Duke overheard the boy playing the organ. The Duke was so impressed that he encouraged his father to see about the boy’s musical education, forcing him to allow his son to study music. Under the expert tutelage of Wilhelm Zachau, young Handel began to compose at age ten with a talent rivaling that of later prodigy, Mozart.

At university, Handel met Georg Philipp Telemann, another gifted composer. Telemann influenced some of Handel’s early church cantatas, and Handel often “borrowed” Telemann’s themes and melodies to give him inspiration when inspiration was wanting. Handel then began playing second violin for the newly opened opera house in Hamburg. His keyboard talents quickly earned him the more prestigious role of accompanist, and he premiered his first opera, Almira, in 1704. When his second opera, Nero, failed in 1705, Handel decided Italy was the place to continue his musical studies, and by 1706 he was wowing the Italians as both an organist and a composer.

By the time he left Italy, Handel was a recognized master, in demand in courts all over Europe. His first job was in Hanover, but he often stretched his leaves of absence beyond what was reasonable. By 1710, Handel was once again on sabbatical, this time in England which was ripe for his talent. He embarked on a remarkably fruitful career which included 42 operas, three music dramas, myriad adaptations of others’ works, the oratorios we are most familiar with today, The Messiah and Esther, in addition to a dazzling amount of orchestral music. Like Mozart, Handel was one of a handful of composers who wrote equally well in all of the genres available to him.

At the end of his life, Handel was celebrated as a composer, a humanitarian, and as the “great and good Mr. Handel.” He was laid to rest in a huge public funeral in Westminster Abbey in the Poet’s Corner in 1759. Some 25 years later, poet William Cowper wrote of him: “Remember Handel? Who, that was not born deaf as the dead to harmony forgets or can, the more than Homer of his age?”

Jennifer Aylmer - Rodelinda

Soprano

American soprano Jennifer Aylmer’s effervescent personality, pliant vocalism and excellent musicianship have combined to make her one of the most engaging performers of her generation.

Jennifer Aylmer - Rodelinda

Soprano

American soprano Jennifer Aylmer’s effervescent personality, pliant vocalism and excellent musicianship have combined to make her one of the most engaging performers of her generation. The Chicago Sun-Times has observed that audiences “bask in the aural delight of Aylmer’s dazzling shifts from regal command to cool insouciance and fatally attractive seduction.”

Acclaimed for her “awesome accuracy” by The New York Times, Miss Aylmer is in demand for contemporary opera projects. This season she makes her Metropolitan Opera debut creating the role of Bella in Tobias Picker’s opera An America Tragedy. Librettist Gene Scheer adapted Theodore Dreiser's monumental work of American naturalism for the operatic stage. The world premiere production will be directed by Olivier Award-winning director Francesca Zambello and conducted by James Conlon. She makes her debut at the Opera Theatre of St. Louis performing Rose Maurrant in Kurt Weill’s Street Scene this season as well. The performances of the James Robinson production will be conducted by Music Director Stephen Lord. Jennifer Aylmer previously created the role of Amy in the world premeire of Mark Adamo’s popular opera Little Women which Christopher Larkin led for Houston Grand Opera. For Austin Lyric Opera, Jennifer Aylmer performed Stella in Brad Dalton’s production of André Previn’s A Street Car Named Desire. She has performed Benjamin Britten’s Governess in The Turn of the Screw in performances conducted by Artistic Director Joel Revzen at Berkshire Opera, and Tytania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream in performances conducted by Artistic Director Ward Holmquist at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City and at Aspen Opera Theatre in the Ed Berkeley production conducted by Robert Spano. She also appeared with the Aspen Opera Theatre as Layla in the Ed Berkeley production of Bright Sheng’s The Song of Majnun (conducted by Bruno Ferrandis) and gave the North American premiere of Augusta Read Thomas’s Ligeia (role of Rowena). With the Aspen Festival Orchestra, she performed the role of the Virgin Mary in Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au Bûcher, and the role of Cynthia Reid in Bernard Rand’s Bella Donna, which was written for Miss Aylmer. David Zinman conducted both works.

Jennifer Aylmer added the role of Sophie in Richard Strauss’s twentieth century masterpiece Der Rosenkavalier to her repertoire in Minnesota Opera performances conducted by Richard Buckley. The soprano has performed Gretel in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel in James Robinson’s production at the New York City Opera which was conducted by Music Director George Manahan. She performed the Dew Fairy and prepared Gretel in Frank Corsaro’s production conducted by Sebastian Lang-Lessing while in the Houston Grand Opera Studio. Hilda Mack in Henze’s Elegy for Young Lovers (directed by Christopher Mattaliano and conducted by Randall Behr), Princess Ninette in Prokofiev’s L’Amour des Tres Oranges (directed by Frank Corsaro and conducted by Randall Behr) and Beatrice in Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict were first performed by Miss Aylmer at The Juilliard Opera Center. She also performed Frasquita in Houston Grand Opera’s multi-media production of Carmen in the spring of 1998. In a lighter vein, the soprano enjoyed performances as Ernestine in Offenbach’s Monsieur Choufleuri at The Juilliard School and Gabrielle in his view of Paris in 1857, La Vie Parisienne, marking her Opera Boston debut.

Heralded as a “powerhouse singing actress” by The Boston Globe, Jennifer Aylmer is also in demand for standard repertory roles nationwide. The soprano performed Gilda in Rigoletto at Austin Lyric Opera in performances conducted by Andreas Mitisek. Her first performances of Nanetta in Verdi’s Falstaff were at Aspen Opera Theatre in performances led by Julius Rudel, followed by her first professional performances at Kentucky Opera in Christopher Mattaliano’s production conducted by Cal Stewart Kellogg. Subsequently, she was invited to perform Act III of Falstaff with Robert Spano and the Brooklyn Philharmonic. Michigan Opera Theater audiences enjoyed her Norina in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale. The soprano has performed Rossini’s L’Occasione fa il Ladro (role of Berenice) and Il Viaggio a Reims (role of Modestina). This season she also covers Clorinda in the Metropolitan Opera’s production of La Cenerentola.

Mozart’s heroines have also served the soprano well. Jennifer Aylmer gave her first performances of Pamina at the New York City Opera in the 2003-2004 season and will make her Utah Symphony & Opera debut this season in performances of Die Zauberflöte to be conducted by Robert Tweter. Her first Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro was at Houston Grand Opera, followed by Orlando Opera performances conducted by Roger Cantrell. Barbarina was her New York City Opera debut role in the 1996-1997 season. She first performed Madame Silberklang in the Frank Corsaro production of Der Schauspieldirektor conducted by Kenneth Merrill at The Julliard Opera Center and repeated the role with Christopher Hogwood at the National Symphony Orchestra. Miss Aylmer appeared as Aminta in the lesser- known Mozart opera Il Re Pastore at Lake George Opera in a production directed by Drew Minter and conducted by Daniel Beckwith. She also performed the role of Elisetta in Il Matrimonio Segreto by Mozart’s contemporary Domenico Cimarosa in Joseph LoSchiavo’s production conducted by Daniel Beckwith at both Wolf Trap Opera and Lake George Opera.

Baroque opera highlights include performances as Emilio in Handel’s Flavio and Dorinda in Handel’s Orlando at the New York City Opera. Miss Aylmer will reprise the role of Dorinda in her Atlanta Opera debut next season in Chas Rader-Shieber’s production which will be conducted by Kenneth Montgomery. The soprano has performed the title role of Gluck’s Orphee et Eurydice opposite Ewa Podles at Carnegie Hall under the auspices of the Oratorio Society of New York and Acis and Galatea opposite John McVeigh under the auspices of the Detroit Oratorio Society.

Jennifer Aylmer is equally in demand as an orchestral soloist. She has performed Handel’s Messiah in Mexico City, at SUNY Purchase and at Carnegie Hall, all under the auspices of the Oratorio Society of New York. Her concert repertoire includes Mozart ‘s Exsultate, jubilate K158a (Grand Teton Festival, Jahja Ling Conductor); Mahler Symphony No. 4 (Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Paavo Järvi Conductor and Grand Teton Festival, Jahja Ling Conductor); Handel’s Judas Maccabeus (with Orchestra of St. Luke’s); Haydn’s Creation (Hololulu Symphony, Sam Wong Conductor); Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass (Queens College Choral Society) and The Creation (Minnesota Orchestra with Arnold Östman Conductor) and Mendelssohn’s Elijah (Rochester Philharmonic, Christopher Seaman Conductor). She has also appeared in opera highlights and Pops programs with the New Haven Symphony (CT) and the Wheeling Symphony (WV). Contemporary concert works performed include: Arvo Pärt’s Stabat Mater (Detroit Oratorio Society), Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (Rochester Philharmonic, Christopher Seaman Conductor); Orff’s Carmina Burana (Apollo Chorus of Chicago); Lukas Foss’s Time Cycle (Brooklyn Philharmonic, Ilan Volkov Conductor), and Esa-Pekka Salonon’s Floof (Chicago Symphony Music NOW Series). Most recently she made her Bay Area debut performing Bernstein’s Arias and Barcarolles with Michael Tilson Thomas conducting the San Francisco Symphony.

Dedicated to the art of the song recital, Jennifer Aylmer was selected to give a prestigious Alice Tully Hall Vocal Arts Debut Recital by The Juilliard School. She is an alumna of the Marilyn Horne Foundation and has been presented on the Foundation’s “On Wings of Song” series in New York City, and nationally in Brownville (NB), Bedford (PA), and Buffalo (NY). She is a regular artist with the New York Festival of Song appearing in thematic programs as diverse as “Rodgers and Duke” to “Latin Lovers” in New York, Maryland and Washington DC. Miss Aylmer has also been presented in recital by Berkshire Opera, Wolf Trap, Shelter Island (NY) Friends of Music, National Gallery of Art (Washington DC), The Cerritos Center (CA), Celebrity Concert Series (UT), Agnes Scott College (GA), Treasure Coast Concert Association (FL), and at Miller Theater, Columbia University in New York.

Jennifer Aylmer holds a Bachelor of Music degree and a Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, and attended The Juilliard Opera Center where she was a recipient of a Richard F. Gold Career Grant. She was a member of the celebrated Houston Grand Opera Studio and attended Wolf Trap Opera as a Catherine Filene Shouse Career Grant Winner. She has also placed second in the Oratorio Society of New York Competition and the Palm Beach Opera Competition. She is a grant recipient from the Sullivan Foundation and the National Society of Arts and Letters. Miss Aylmer was born in Oceanside, New York and currently resides in New York City. Miss Aylmer studies with Rita Shane.

Jennifer Hines - Bertarido

Mezzo-soprano

Jennifer Hines - Bertarido

Mezzo-soprano

Lauded by Opera News for her "rich, dark mezzo" and "... a voice so rich and colored that she easily steals any scene in which she appears" (Time Off), mezzo-soprano Jennifer Hines made her Metropolitan Opera debut in December 2003 as Fourth Naked Virgin and Pit Alto soloist in Moses und Aron with Maestro James Levine conducting. Since her debut she has maintained an active relationship with the celebrated company, participating in its Ring Cycle in the 2004-05 season.

Ms. Hines' 2006-07 season engagements include performances of Suzuki in Madama Butterfly with Opera Grand Rapids and Nashville Opera, and performances of Page in Salome conducted by Leonard Slatkin with the National Symphony Orchestra. She appears as soloist in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Richmond Symphony, and Bach's St. Luke Passion with the Washington Bach Consort. In July she will perform Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Rossen Milanov, at the Bravo! Festival in Vail.

Jennifer Hines' 2005-06 season included her debut with Washington National Opera as Flosshilde in Das Rheingold, performances as the title role in Carmen with the East Texas Opera, performances of Messiah with New Mexico Symphony Orchestra and Mozart's Requiem with the Richmond Symphony. Ms. Hines' 2004-05 season also included the title role in Bizet's Carmen with the New Jersey Philharmonic; Suzuki in Madama Butterfly with New York City Opera and Opera Tampa; her debut with Gotham Chamber Opera singing the role of Carilda in Arianna in Creta directed by Christopher Alden and Ms. Hines' first performances of Handel's Messiah with the New Chorale Society and the Pacific Symphony. She also appeared in concert with the Southeastern Festival of Song in Atlanta. In the summer of 2005, Ms. Hines made her Seattle Opera debut as Flosshilde and Rossweisse in Wagner's Ring Cycle.

In the 2003-04 season Ms. Hines sang Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra; Mercedes in Carmen and Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte at New York City Opera; and Suzuki in Madama Butterfly with Dicapo Opera, Opera Longview and the Eastern Music Festival conducted by George Manahan. Ms. Hines was also a featured artist at the Marlboro Music Festival collaborating with esteemed pianists Ken Noda and Mitsuko Uchida. The mezzo-soprano's engagements during the 2002-03 season included Olga in Eugene Onegin with Opera Festival of New Jersey; Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in Tokyo, Japan; Mercedes in Carmen with Florentine Opera; and Suzuki in Madama Butterfly with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.

Ms. Hines has had a long association with the New York City Opera dating from the fall of 1999. She has become an integral part of the company singing roles that include Mercedes in Carmen, the Second and Third Ladies in Die Zauberflöte, Princess Nicolette in The Love for Three Oranges, and the Siren in Rinaldo with Harry Bicket conducting. Other career highlights for Ms. Hines include the American premiere of Phillip Glass' White Raven with the Lincoln Center Festival and appearances with the Aspen Opera Theatre Center as Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream and in the role of Gertie in the American stage premiere of John Caskens's Golem. She has also sung Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream with Florentine Opera and the title role in Carmen with Longview Opera, Annapolis Opera and West Bay Opera.

The Long Island native holds a both a Bachelor of Music and Master of Music from The Juilliard School and is a former Apprentice Artist with Santa Fe Opera, Tanglewood Music Center participant, and member of Seattle Opera's Young Artist Program.

Robert Breault - Grimoaldo

Tenor

Tenor Robert Breault enjoys an international career that encompasses a strikingly diverse mix of opera, oratorio, recital, and concert works. The San Francisco Chronicle called his voice “a tenor of unwavering resonance.”

Robert Breault - Grimoaldo

Tenor

Tenor Robert Breault enjoys an international career that encompasses a strikingly diverse mix of opera, oratorio, recital, and concert works. His warm and flexible tenor voice and dramatic acting skills account for his enthusiastic reception and re-engagements wherever he performs. The San Francisco Chronicle called his voice “a tenor of unwavering resonance.” The Washington Post noted, “Breault’s voice has a powerful character with a sturdy range.” Brian Kellow wrote of his performance in New York City Opera’s Semele, “this was, I believe, the first time I had heard Breault, and I left the State Theater with one of the great feelings you can have as an audience member — a sense of discovery.”

Robert’s 2006-2007 season includes the roles of Jupiter and Apollo in New York City Opera’s new production of Handel’s Semele, Edgardo in Utah Opera’s highly acclaimed Lucia di Lammermoor, and a return to Arizona Opera as Sam in Floyd’s Susannah. He also makes debut appearances with the Omaha Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Baltimore Choral Arts Society, Orquesta Sinfonica Sinaloa de las Artes in Mazatlan, Mexico, and a return to Chautauqua opera for the title role in Massenet’s Werther. In May, he will join the Mormon Tabernacle Choir with Bryn Tyrfel in Mendelssohn’s Elijah.

In the 2005-2006 season Mr. Breault debuted as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra and with the University Musical Society in Ann Arbor, Michigan in performances of Messiah. Orchestral debuts also include performances with San Diego Symphony in Elijah, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Delaware Symphony, Puccini’s Messa di Gloria with the Santa Fe Symphony. He also performed a critically acclaimed Don Jose in Carmen in a return engagement with New York City Opera and also debuted with Arizona Opera as Don Jose, with Fort Worth Opera as Alfredo in La Traviata, Cavaradossi in Festival Opera’s Tosca, and in the title role in Idomeneo with Opera Lafayette.

In the 2004-2005 season Mr. Breault made his New York City Opera debut as Alfredo in La Traviata, a role he also sang with New Orleans Opera. In addition Mr. Breault performed the role of Steva in Jenufa with Utah Opera, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor with Chautauqua Opera, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Tucson Symphony, Plump Jack with the Puerto Rico Symphony, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Roland in Esclarmonde with Washington Concert Opera, Creation with the Virginia Symphony and Messiah with the Jacksonville Symphony.

Engagements in the 2003-2004 season included the leading tenor role of Célestin de Pontalba in the world premiere Thea Musgrave’s Pontalba: A Louisiana Legacy with New Orleans Opera, a return to Chautauqua Opera for a sixth consecutive season for the title role in Verdi’s Steffelio, performances with Opera Grand Rapids, the St. Louis Symphony, the Elora Festival, Tucson Symphony, Virginia Symphony, the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, Florida Bach Festival, and his debut in Beethoven’s 9th with the Cleveland Orchestra.

Mr. Breault made his European Debut in Paris singing DeMars’ American Requiem and since then has performed in most of Europe's grand concert venues including London's Royal Albert Hall and St. Peter's in Rome. Mr. Breault has appeared numerous concerts with many of North America's finest orchestras including the San Francisco Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Montreal Symphony, Washington's National Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Utah Symphony, Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Florida Philharmonic, Milwaukee Symphony, Utah Symphony, L' Orchestre Métropolitan du Grand Montréal, the Hamilton Philharmonic and the Toronto Symphony and Mendelssohn Choir. He has appeared in numerous concerts with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra under Nicholas McGegan performed demanding roles such as Argirio in Rossini’s Tancredi with the Opera Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall under Eve Queller. Other concert appearances at Carnegie Hall include Rossini's Armida, and Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, Messiah, Mendelssohn’s Second Symphony, and Mozart’s Requiem. His performance with the Utah Symphony and Mormon Tabernacle Choir (Keith Lockhart conducting) in Vaughan Williams’ Hodie has been broadcast nationally on most PBS stations.

Mr. Breault's opera engagements include numerous performances with the Atlanta Opera including Verdi's Macbeth, Nabucco, and La Traviata, Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier, Gershwin's Of Thee I Sing, and Puccini's Turandot. His many roles with Utah Opera include Britten's Turn of the Screw, Prodigal Son, and Verdi's Falstaff. Mr. Breault has appeared with Madison Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Canada's Opera Atelier, Hamilton Opera, Chautauqua Opera, and has toured with the San Francisco Opera Western Opera Theater.

Mr. Breault's recording credits include Laurent Petitgirard's World Premier recording of The Elephant Man with The Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo and a Marco Polo DVD recording of the same piece with Opera de Nice, Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass with the Choeur St. Lawrence and Montreal Symphony, DeMars' American Requiem with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Berlioz Requiem with the Jerusalem Symphony and Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and three volumes of Pachelbel's Organ Works as the cantor with organist Marilyn Mason.

Born and raised in Wisconsin, Robert serves as Professor of Music and Director of Opera at the University of Utah and received his Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Michigan in 1991.

Valerian Ruminski - Garibaldo

Bass

Valerian Ruminski is a graduate of the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia and of SUNY-Buffalo. He has performed with some of the great opera companies in the US and abroad.

Valerian Ruminski - Garibaldo

Bass

Valerian Ruminski is a graduate of the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia and of SUNY-Buffalo. He has performed with some of the great opera companies in the US and abroad including The Metropolitan Opera, NYC Opera, Dallas Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Minnesota Opera, Opera de Montreal, Michigan Opera Theatre, Opera de Monte Carlo, Birmingham Opera (AL), Festival de Belle-ile en Mer (France), Opera Ireland as well as debuting at Carnegie Hall in a concert version of La Juive and on PBS for the 25th Annual Richard Tucker Gala. Mr. Ruminski is the recipient of many grants and awards including the Lincoln Center Martin Segal Award, the William Mattheus Sullivan Foundation Grant, a 2004 Gerda Lissner Foundation Grant, 1st Prize in the 2000 MacAllister Vocal Competition in Indianapolis, 1st Prize in the NJ Verismo Competition and 1st Prize in the NYSTA Coloratura Competition in 2001. Valerian is also an official winner of the Marcella Sembrich Vocal Competition in NYC sponsored by the Koscziuszko Foundation. He can be heard on the Naxos label release of 'Night at the Opera' with other young singers who have debuted at the Metropolitan Opera.

Mr. Ruminski has performed the roles of Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro), Ferrando (Il Trovatore), Sparafucile (Rigoletto), Colline (La Boheme), Masetto (Don Giovanni), Feniscio (Ermione), Sarastro (Magic Flute), Sam (Ballo in Maschera), Ramphis & King (Aida), Zuniga (Carmen), King (Ariodante), Dr.Grenvil (Traviata), Prince Gremin (Onegin), Inspector Budd (Albert Herring), Lt. Ratcliffe (Billy Budd), Frank (Die Fledermaus), First Soldier (Salome) and Basilio (Barber of Seville).

Recent roles include The King/Aida for Florida Grand Opera, Masetto/Don Giovanni for Opera Pacific, Sarastro/Magic Flute for Portland Opera and Lodovico/Otello for Seattle Opera, Lord Walton/I Puritani for the Metropolitan Opera, Sam/Ballo in Maschera for Opera de Montreal, Il Commendatore/Don Giovanni for Opera Lyra Ottawa and Lodovico/Otello for Seattle Opera.

www.valerianruminski.com

Gerald Thompson - Unulfo

Countertenor

Gerald Thompson - Unulfo

Countertenor

Gerald Thompson is rapidly gaining attention for his "sterling musicianship and terrific feeling for style and phrasing" as well as his exceptional acting ability and stage presence (San Francisco Classical Voice). The young American countertenor begins his 2006-07 season with a return to the San Francisco Opera stage as Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus. He also makes several important debuts this season including New York City Opera as Guido in Flavio, The Metropolitan Opera as Tolomeo in Giulio Cesare and The International Handel Festival Göttingen as the title role in Giulio Cesare. He also looks forward to his debut with Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Thompson made his San Francisco Opera debut as Prince Go-Go in the American premiere of Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre. Andante magazine praised him as one "of the evenings most delightful performances" and stated that his "supple sound comfortably filled the house." This success led to his return to the company as Unulfo in Rodelinda a role he reprised with Opera Barroca at the Theatro Arriaga Antzokia in Bilboa, Spain. He also made his Canadian Opera Company debut as Bertarido in Rodelinda under the baton of Harry Bicket. "Gerald Thompson's tone and virtuoso passagework well suited the tormented Bertarido and made for a hair-raising account of Vivi, tiranno!" raved Opera News.

Other career highlights include his New York debut creating the role of Gavin in the new opera Phoenix Park, a Poet's Journey at Theatre for the New City. Prior to this, he was seen as Sesto in Giulio Cesare with Arkansas Concert Opera and Don Ramiro in La Finta Giardiniera and Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus with Opera Theatre at Wildwood Park.

Thompson has also been featured in concert with several organizations including San Francisco Opera's annual Opera in the Park, The Yerba Buena Gardens Concert Series, Arizona Musicfest, Music at Meyer (San Francisco), Eureka Chamber Music Series, the Basically British Concert Series and New York Public Library's Donnell Concert Series.

Gerald Thompson has been named the recipient a 2006 Richard Tucker Foundation Career Grant and the 2nd Prize Opera Division and International Media-Jury Prize winner at the 25th International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition. He is also a proud alumnus of the prestigious Merola Opera Program and current Adler Fellow at San Francisco Opera.

Emma Curtis - Eduige

Contralto

Emma Curtis - Eduige

Contralto

Emma Curtis studied at the Guildhall School of Music and at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California where she worked with Marilyn Horne. She was a full-time member of the Solo Ensemble at the Staatstheater Stuttgart from 2003 to 2006.

Ms. Curtis debuted at the Staatstheater Stuttgart as Nutrice (L’incoronazione di Poppea) and then in 2001/02 sang Ericlea (Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria). In 2003/04 she sang Pastore II in Monteverdi’s Orfeo with Jean-Claude Malgoire, Invalid Woman and Young Girl in Schönberg’s Moses und Aron conducted by Lothar Zagrosek, and Poklízecka in Janáçek’s The Makropolous Case, conducted by Sylvain Cambreling.

As a Baroque specialist Ms. Curtis has performed the title role in Cavalli's Giasone for Aspen Music Festival 2005 conducted by Harry Bicket, Irene in Handel’s Atalanta at the 2005 International Handel-Festival in Göttingen, Germany, conducted by Nicholas McGegan, Bertarido (Handel’s Rodelinda) in Santa Barbara, and Cleofe in Handel’s La Resurrezione at the 2003 Lufthansa Baroque Festival in London, with Trevor Pinnock and The English Concert. In 2004 she performed Les Leçons de Ténèbres by Marc Antoine Charpentier, plus the world premiere of Les Leçons de Ténèbres by Philippe Fénelon, with La Grand Ecurie et la Chambre du Roy.

Other operatic appearances include Geneviève (Pelléas et Mélisande), La principessa (Suor Angelica), Third Lady (Die Zauberflöte) and Modestina (Il viaggio a Reims) in Santa Barbara, Quickly (Falstaff) for Festival Opus a Gattières, and Mother Goose (The Rake’s Progress) and Maddelena (Rigoletto).

Ms. Curtis’s concert appearances include Sibelius’s Jokamies with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Thomas Adès and Janáçek’s Diary of One who Disappeared at the Aldeburgh Festival, and Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music with Leonard Slatkin and the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the First Night of the BBC Proms 2001.

In 2006 Ms. Curtis created the role of Galatée in the world premiere of L’Astrée (Pastorale) by Gérard Pesson for Staatstheater Stuttgart, and in 2007 Ms. Curtis creates the leading role of L'Ainée in the world premiere of Jacques Lenot's J'étais dans ma maison et j'attendais que la pluie vienne at Opera de Genève. June 2006 saw the release of Ms. Curtis’s debut album Calliope, with The Frolick on Avie Records. Future engagements include Au temps de Port Royal concerts with Les Arts Florissants and William Christie, and Eduige (Handel’s Rodelinda) for Portland Opera, USA.

George Manahan - Conductor

Music Director of the New York City Opera, George Manahan is currently in his tenth season with the company. During his tenure, the New York City Opera has earned a reputation for maintaining the highest musical standards. Mr. Manahan is especially well known for his leadership of diverse productions such as La fanciulla del West (Puccini), Daphne (Strauss), Ermione (Rossini), Dialogues of the Carmelites (Poulenc), Die tote Stadt (Korngold), and also for three "Live from Lincoln Center" telecasts: La bohème, Lizzie Borden, and Tosca... more. NYCO has also toured Little Women (Adamo) to Japan under the direction of Maestro Manahan. This season at New York City Opera, he will conduct performances of the new opera Margaret Garner, Cavalleria rusticana/Pagliacci, Cendrillon, Falstaff, and Tosca.

George Manahan has been a frequent guest conductor with the Seattle Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, and Santa Fe Opera companies, and was principal conductor with the Minnesota Opera from 1988 to 1996. His other appearances include Lyric Opera of Chicago, Opera Theater of Saint Louis, Opéra National de Paris, Opera Australia, Teatro de Comunale de Bologna, Verona Filarmonico, Bergen Festival (Norway), and the Casals Festival (Puerto Rico). In the 2007 – 2008 season, Maestro Manahan conducted performances of Handel’s Rodelinda at Portland Opera in Oregon.

He served as Music Director of the Richmond Symphony Orchestra (Virginia) from 1987 to 1998 and will return to Richmond this season for orchestral performances of music by Debussy, Stravinksy, and Bartók. Under his leadership, the orchestra recorded the music of Ginastera and Castelnuovo-Tedesco, and was honored four times by the American Society of Composers and Publishers (ASCAP) for their commitment to 20th century music.

Mr. Manahan served as acting Music Director of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra from 1982 to 1985 and has been a regular guest conductor ever since. He has made frequent appearances with the Manhattan School of Music, the Juilliard Orchestra, as well as the Aspen Music Festival. Other appearances include the Atlanta Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Charlotte Symphony, the National Symphony, and the Jerusalem Symphony.

Recordings of George Manahan include Edward Thomas’ "Desire Under the Elms" with the London Symphony, which was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2003, Steve Reich's Tehillim, on the EMI-Warner Brothers label, and two albums of 20th century concertos for clarinet featuring Richard Stolzmann.

He received his formal musical training at the Manhattan School of Music, studying conducting with Anton Coppola and George Schick and was appointed to the faculty of the school upon his graduation in 1976. After the Juilliard School awarded him a fellowship as Assistant Conductor with the American Opera Center, he began his professional activities as a pianist and coach at the Santa Fe Opera in 1978.

In 1980, Mr. Manahan was chosen as the Exxon Arts Endowment Conductor of the New Jersey Symphony. That same year he made his Santa Fe Opera conducting debut in the American premiere of Arnold Schoenberg's opera Von Heute auf Morgen. Within short order, debuts followed with other leading North American opera companies and orchestras.

"George Manahan conducted and got from his players the kind of heartfelt involvement unthinkable in the City Opera orchestra pit 20 years ago."
- Bernard Holland, New York Times, March 12, 2007

Helena Binder - Stage Director

An actor and director of plays and musicals for over 20 years before focusing her career on opera, Helena Binder has earned praise for her direction of Minnesota Opera’s recent production of L’italiana in Algeri, and for her productions of Ermione, Il ritorno d’Ulisse,and Madame Butterfly for New York City Opera, where she was also Associate Director and Choreographer of last season’s Die tote Stadt. Her production of The Barber of Seville for The Dallas Opera was named one of the Top Ten Classical Performances of 2006 by the Dallas Morning News. She has directed Tales of Hoffmann for Minnesota Opera, Fidelio for Pittsburgh Opera, Madame Butterfly for Opera Toledo, L’italiana in Algeri and La Boheme for Lake George Opera, Madame Butterfly and The Magic Flute for Chattanooga Symphony and Opera, La traviata and Hansel and Gretel for Opera Roanoke, and has staged productions for The New York State Theatre Institute, Leatherstocking Theatre, Union College and Home Made Theater, including Noises Off, Foxfire, Wait Until Dark, A Life in the Theatre, Equus, Ten Little Indians and Charlotte’s Web. She has been director of the Legislative Correspondents Association Show, the oldest political satire revue in the country, for the past 24 years.

A choreographer as well, Ms. Binder choreographed Queen of Spades, Luisa Miller and Le nozze di Figaro for The Dallas Opera, and Bluebeard and La Calisto for Glimmerglass Opera where she also went on for an ailing countertenor.

As an actor, she has performed in regional theatre in the United States and abroad in roles ranging from Peter Pan to Shakespeare’s Juliet, and was singer in the rock n’ roll group,Blotto, that recorded the hit I Wanna Be A Lifeguard.

A committed arts educator, Ms. Binder taught acting at Union College and founded The Acting School, a studio for children and adults, in Schenectady, New York where she was the Performing Arts Specialist for the city’s first Magnet School Program. Along with coaching singers and actors she has worked with the University of Maryland Opera Theatre Program, the young artist programs of Minnesota Opera and Glimmerglass Opera and has taught classes and workshops all over New York State.
http://www.pinnaclearts.com/artist.php?id=216