Opera Company of Philadelphia Announces Star-Studded 35th Anniversary Season in 2010-2011 02-03-2010 35th Anniversary Season: An In-Depth Preview of Five Spectacular Operas! Read the Philadelphia Inquirer season preview here. In 2010-2011, the Opera Company of Philadelphia celebrates 35 years of being your opera company. With a mission to produce a rich and varied blend of repertoire, nurture many of opera’s brightest singer, directors and conductors, and to partner with other institutions to create award-winning education and community outreach programs, the Opera Company is proud to serve the Philadelphia community. The Opera Company continues to produce two diverse series: Opera at the Academy and Opera at the Perelman. Opening an electric Opera at the Academy Series is the Company Premiere of Verdi’s tour-de-force Otello. Based on Shakespeare’s famed work and widely considered to be Verdi’s greatest opera, the powerhouse cast features Clifton Forbis (left), one of today’s foremost dramatic tenors, in the title role which he has performed at La Scala, Vienna State Opera and Dallas Opera. Additional recent credits include Siegmund in Die Walküre with the Metropolitan Opera, and the title role in Tristan und Isolde with Opéra National de Paris, Lyric Opera of Chicago and Seattle Opera. Forbis shares the title role with tenor Arnold Rawls, a frequent guest artist at Lyric Opera of Chicago, who recently appeared as Foresto in Seattle Opera’s production of Atilla. French soprano Norah Amsellem, who sings Violetta in La traviata this season with Vienna Staatsoper, Royal Opera Covent Garden and Munich Staatsoper, makes her role and Opera Company debut as Desdemona. Star baritone Mark Delavan, known internationally for his command of Wagner and Verdi, sings Otello’s foil, Iago. This season, Delavan sings the role of Wotan in Die Walküre for both San Francisco Opera and Deutsche Oper Berlin. This stunning, classic production is led by Director Robert Driver with a set design by Paul Shortt, who created the visual riches seen in OCP's La traviata, Rigoletto and Falstaff, new costumes designed by Richard St. Clair, and lighting design by Drew Billiau. Jack Mulroney Music Director Corrado Rovaris conducts this pinnacle of Italian operatic experiences. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Gounod’s beloved Romeo and Juliet takes the Academy of Music stage. Replete with ecstatic French melodies, this age-old tale of star-crossed lovers stars real-life spouses, Academy of Vocal Arts alumni and rising international stars Stephen Costello and Ailyn Pérez (left). Costello and Pérez were last seen together as Rinuccio and Lauretta in OCP’s Gianni Schicchi in 2009, during which Costello learned that he was the winner of the 2009 Richard Tucker Award. Since then, Costello has gone on to headline the Richard Tucker Gala and perform in an extended run of The Merry Widow at Lyric Opera of Chicago, while Pérez has sung Leïla in The Pearl Fishers with Teatro Municipal in Chile and made her debut as Violetta in Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin’s La traviata. Baritone Marian Pop returns as Mercutio, with mezzo-soprano Elena Belfiore in her Company debut as Stefano. Director Manfred Schweigkofler conceives a new production that pits the Capulets and Montagues against one another as dueling fashion houses, and Maestro Jacques Lacombe conducts. Puccini’s fiery Tosca completes the Opera at the Academy Series, the tale of a diva with flashing eyes but a faithful heart. Beautiful Romanian soprano Adina Nitescu (left) sings the title role in her OCP debut. Known for her portrayal of another Puccini heroine, Madama Butterfly’s Cio-Cio San, Nitescu has performed that role with Opéra National de Paris, Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater, and Staatsoper Berlin. She is joined by Italian-Brazilian tenor Thiago Arancam (right) in his Company debut as Cavaradossi. Arancam’s recent successes include Don José in Carmen with Washington National Opera and Cavaradossi with Frankfurt Opera. As Scarpia, formidable Russian baritone Boris Statsenko, a frequent leading artist with Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater with additional performance credits at Royal Opera Covent Garden, Frankfurt and Stuttgart, promises a villainous star turn. This acclaimed, original Opera Company of Philadelphia production (left) hails from director Jonathan Eaton and designer Boyd Ostroff, featuring a classic stage design. Maestro Corrado Rovaris conducts the Opera Company Orchestra as this Puccini opera takes the stage for the first time in over a decade. Last season, the Opera at the Perelman Series, a dynamic forum for chamber operas in Philadelphia's ideal, intimate venue, featured two productions that received audience and critical accolades - Berg's Wozzeck (left) and Britten's The Rape of Lucretia (right). The series returns with two contrasting productions in 2010-2011. First, in March 2011, Kimmel Center Presents the talented artists of Curtis Opera Theatre as they star in Janáček’s whimsical opera The Cunning Little Vixen in association with Opera Company of Philadelphia. This fresh and delightful work about the circle of life -- which Janáček based on a captivating series of comic strips -- has not been seen by Opera Company audiences for 20 years. It is brought to life by director Emma Griffin, who led the collaborative Wozzeck in 2009 as well as Curtis Opera Theatre’s recent The Rake’s Progress, joining with designer David Zinn, who recently created a new Vixen for Lyric Opera of Chicago. Maestro Corrado Rovaris leads the Curtis Symphony Orchestra for this continued three-way partnership between Kimmel Center Presents, the Curtis Opera Theatre, and the Opera Company of Philadelphia at the Perelman Theater. In June, the Opera Company of Philadelphia produces the American Premiere of Hans Werner Henze’s Phaedra. Composed in 2007, this arresting two-act opera is based on the classic Greek myth of Phaedra, wife of Theseus, the Athenian King who vanquished the dreaded Minotaur. Phaedra's forbidden and unrequited love for her step-son, Hippolyt, embroils her in a tragic battle. In a review of Phaedra's 2007 world premiere at the Berlin Staatsoper, the New York Times remarked, "Henze's essential outlook remains modernistic, yet the music has a consistent rhythmic vitality and often an otherworldly beauty that is hard to resist." Starring in the title role is mezzo-soprano Tamara Mumford (left), seen recently in the title role of The Rape of Lucretia (2009) with the Opera Company of Philadelphia and as Ottavia in L’incorinazione di Poppea with Glyndebourne Festival and BBC Proms. As Hippolyt, tenor William Burden (right) returns after co-starring with Mumford in Lucretia in 2009. A Philadelphia favorite, Burden’s credits include leading role performances with the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago. Making his Company debut as Artemis is countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, a 2009 Grand Finals Winner of the Metropolitan Opera Auditions who sings the role of Armindo in New York City Opera’s Partenope this season. Soprano Elizabeth Reiter, a rising Curtis Institute of Music artist, sings the role of Aphrodite, and Minotauros is sung by bass-baritone Jeremy Milner, an accomplished Academy of Vocal Arts artist who was featured in multiple roles in the 2009 OCP double-bill of L’enfant and Gianni Schicchi. This new production is conceived by Artistic Director Robert B. Driver with designer Philippe Amand, who also creates the June 2010 new production of Orphée et Eurydice for the Opera at the Perelman Series. Jack Mulroney Music Director Corrado Rovaris conducts. Don’t miss the Opera Company of Philadelphia’s 2010-2011 Season! Click here to listen to music clips. SUBSCRIBE NOW!
35th Anniversary Season: An In-Depth Preview of Five Spectacular Operas!
Read the Philadelphia Inquirer season preview here.
In 2010-2011
The Opera Company continues to produce two diverse series:
Opera at the Academy
and Opera at the Perelman.
Opening an electric Opera at the Academy Series is the Company Premiere of Verdi’s tour-de-force Otello. Based on Shakespeare’s famed work and widely considered to be Verdi’s greatest opera, the powerhouse cast features Clifton Forbis (left), one of today’s foremost dramatic tenors, in the title role which he has performed at La Scala, Vienna State Opera and Dallas Opera. Additional recent credits include Siegmund in Die Walküre with the Metropolitan Opera, and the title role in Tristan und Isolde with Opéra National de Paris, Lyric Opera of Chicago and Seattle Opera. Forbis shares the title role with tenor Arnold Rawls, a frequent guest artist at Lyric Opera of Chicago, who recently appeared as Foresto in Seattle Opera’s production of Atilla.
French soprano Norah Amsellem, who sings Violetta in La traviata this season with Vienna Staatsoper, Royal Opera Covent Garden and Munich Staatsoper, makes her role and Opera Company debut as Desdemona. Star baritone Mark Delavan, known internationally for his command of Wagner and Verdi, sings Otello’s foil, Iago. This season, Delavan sings the role of Wotan in Die Walküre for both San Francisco Opera and Deutsche Oper Berlin. This stunning, classic production is led by Director Robert Driver with a set design by Paul Shortt, who created the visual riches seen in OCP's La traviata, Rigoletto and Falstaff, new costumes designed by Richard St. Clair, and lighting design by Drew Billiau. Jack Mulroney Music Director Corrado Rovaris conducts this pinnacle of Italian operatic experiences.
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Gounod’s beloved Romeo and Juliet takes the Academy of Music stage. Replete with ecstatic French melodies, this age-old tale of star-crossed lovers stars real-life spouses, Academy of Vocal Arts alumni and rising international stars Stephen Costello and Ailyn Pérez (left). Costello and Pérez were last seen together as Rinuccio and Lauretta in OCP’s Gianni Schicchi in 2009, during which Costello learned that he was the winner of the 2009 Richard Tucker Award. Since then, Costello has gone on to headline the Richard Tucker Gala and perform in an extended run of The Merry Widow at Lyric Opera of Chicago, while Pérez has sung Leïla in The Pearl Fishers with Teatro Municipal in Chile and made her debut as Violetta in Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin’s La traviata. Baritone Marian Pop returns as Mercutio, with mezzo-soprano Elena Belfiore in her Company debut as Stefano.
Director Manfred Schweigkofler conceives a new production that pits the Capulets and Montagues against one another as dueling fashion houses, and Maestro Jacques Lacombe conducts.
Puccini’s fiery Tosca completes the Opera at the Academy Series, the tale of a diva with flashing eyes but a faithful heart. Beautiful Romanian soprano Adina Nitescu (left) sings the title role in her OCP debut. Known for her portrayal of another Puccini heroine, Madama Butterfly’s Cio-Cio San, Nitescu has performed that role with Opéra National de Paris, Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater, and Staatsoper Berlin.
She is joined by Italian-Brazilian tenor Thiago Arancam (right) in his Company debut as Cavaradossi. Arancam’s recent successes include Don José in Carmen with Washington National Opera and Cavaradossi with Frankfurt Opera. As Scarpia, formidable Russian baritone Boris Statsenko, a frequent leading artist with Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater with additional performance credits at Royal Opera Covent Garden, Frankfurt and Stuttgart, promises a villainous star turn.
This acclaimed, original Opera Company of Philadelphia production (left) hails from director Jonathan Eaton and designer Boyd Ostroff, featuring a classic stage design. Maestro Corrado Rovaris conducts the Opera Company Orchestra as this Puccini opera takes the stage for the first time in over a decade.
Last season, the Opera at the Perelman Series, a dynamic forum for chamber operas in Philadelphia's ideal, intimate venue, featured two productions that received audience and critical accolades - Berg's Wozzeck (left) and Britten's The Rape of Lucretia (right).
The series returns with two contrasting productions in 2010-2011. First, in March 2011, Kimmel Center Presents the talented artists of Curtis Opera Theatre as they star in Janáček’s whimsical opera The Cunning Little Vixen in association with Opera Company of Philadelphia. This fresh and delightful work about the circle of life -- which Janáček based on a captivating series of comic strips -- has not been seen by Opera Company audiences for 20 years. It is brought to life by director Emma Griffin, who led the collaborative Wozzeck in 2009 as well as Curtis Opera Theatre’s recent The Rake’s Progress, joining with designer David Zinn, who recently created a new Vixen for Lyric Opera of Chicago. Maestro Corrado Rovaris leads the Curtis Symphony Orchestra for this continued three-way partnership between Kimmel Center Presents, the Curtis Opera Theatre, and the Opera Company of Philadelphia at the Perelman Theater.
In June, the Opera Company of Philadelphia produces the American Premiere of Hans Werner Henze’s Phaedra. Composed in 2007, this arresting two-act opera is based on the classic Greek myth of Phaedra, wife of Theseus, the Athenian King who vanquished the dreaded Minotaur. Phaedra's forbidden and unrequited love for her step-son, Hippolyt, embroils her in a tragic battle. In a review of Phaedra's 2007 world premiere at the Berlin Staatsoper, the New York Times remarked, "Henze's essential outlook remains modernistic, yet the music has a consistent rhythmic vitality and often an otherworldly beauty that is hard to resist."
Starring in the title role is mezzo-soprano Tamara Mumford (left), seen recently in the title role of The Rape of Lucretia (2009) with the Opera Company of Philadelphia and as Ottavia in L’incorinazione di Poppea with Glyndebourne Festival and BBC Proms. As Hippolyt, tenor William Burden (right) returns after co-starring with Mumford in Lucretia in 2009. A Philadelphia favorite, Burden’s credits include leading role performances with the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Making his Company debut as Artemis is countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, a 2009 Grand Finals Winner of the Metropolitan Opera Auditions who sings the role of Armindo in New York City Opera’s Partenope this season. Soprano Elizabeth Reiter, a rising Curtis Institute of Music artist, sings the role of Aphrodite, and Minotauros is sung by bass-baritone Jeremy Milner, an accomplished Academy of Vocal Arts artist who was featured in multiple roles in the 2009 OCP double-bill of L’enfant and Gianni Schicchi.
This new production is conceived by Artistic Director Robert B. Driver with designer Philippe Amand, who also creates the June 2010 new production of Orphée et Eurydice for the Opera at the Perelman Series. Jack Mulroney Music Director Corrado Rovaris conducts.
Don’t miss the Opera Company of Philadelphia’s 2010-2011 Season!
Click here to listen to music clips.
SUBSCRIBE NOW!
