A WORLD PREMIERE CHAMBER OPERA IN SEVEN SCENES MUSIC AND LIBRETTO BY RUDOLF ROJAHN STAGE DIRECTION BY COPELAND WOODRUFF

Transcription

1 GUERILLA OPERA A WORLD PREMIERE CHAMBER OPERA IN SEVEN SCENES MUSIC AND LIBRETTO BY RUDOLF ROJAHN STAGE DIRECTION BY COPELAND WOODRUFF The Boston Conservatory s Zack Box Theater 8 The Fenway, Boston, MA May 24-26, 2012 at 8pm May 27, 2012 at 2pm

2 The world premiere of Bovinus Rex is made possible through the generous support of our Premiere Production Underwriters Timothy & Jane Gillette

3 Bovinus Rex by Rudolf Rojahn THE ENSEMBLE Aliana de la Guardia Kimberly Soby Patrick Massey Brian Church Ethan Wood Kent O Doherty Amy Advocat Mike Williams EUNICE PICKENS/GYGES BENSON FLAVIA TASTE MAURICE PICKENS/HAROLD P. LUSK CLEM DUPREE VIOLIN SAXOPHONE BASS CLARINET PERCUSSION PRODUCTION STAFF Copeland Woodruff Julia Noulin Mérat Tláloc López Watermann Neil Fortin Christopher Webb Michael Sakir Caryn M. Boehm Jonathan Nussman John Jalandoni Anita Shriver Mark DiGiovanni STAGE DIRECTOR SET DESIGNER LIGHTING DESIGNER COSTUME DESIGNER FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHER VOCAL COACH STAGE MANAGER ASSISTANT STAGE DIRECTOR ASSISTANT SET DESIGNER PROPS DESIGNER TECHNICAL DIRECTOR ADMINISTRATION Mike Williams Rudolf Rojahn Aliana de la Guardia Julia Noulin Mérat Sarah Borgatti CO ARTISTIC DIRECTOR CO ARTISTIC DIRECTOR GENERAL MANAGER DIRECTOR OF DESIGN AND PRODUCTION DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANT, FOUNDATIONS

4 Copeland Woodruff would like to dedicate this production to Sally Stunkel whose selfless dedication to education and art is a constant inspiration.

5 Bovinus Rex Artist Bios RUDOLF ROJAHN (COMPOSER/ARTISTIC DIRECTOR) is a Boston based composer of contemporary art music. He was the composer in residence for Boston's Ludovico Ensemble from , a collaboration that resulted in several pieces including Antikythera Mechanism for bass clarinet and ensemble. He has also been commissioned and performed by the Quincy Symphony Orchestra, Juventas! New Music Ensemble, the Lorelei Ensemble, the Arbelos Trio, Gabby Diaz, Kent O'Doherty, Rane Moore, and the Green Light Consortium among others. From he ran the Proletariat Tanning Salon, an event series pairing young composers and visual artists such as Camille Wainer and Nicole Margaretten. Rudolf is a lecturer in harmony and ear training at The Boston Conservatory and the New England Conservatory's School for Continuing and Preparatory Education. He is currently writing a textbook on advanced rhythmic training and theory entitled Complexity in Rhythm. He graduated from the Boston Conservatory in 2004 with a Masters Degree in Composition under the tutelage of Andy Vores. Upon graduation he was awarded the Roger Sessions Award for academic and creative excellence. COPELAND WOODRUFF (STAGE DIRECTOR) is the co director of Opera Studies for the University of Memphis. He has been on the directing staffs of the New York City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Chautauqua Opera, and Michigan Opera Theatre and on the faculties of The Juilliard School, Oberlin Conservatory, Academy of Vocal Arts, and Temple University. His career began as a vocalist and instrumentalist, but upon his return from Germany he concentrated his talents on becoming a stage director. Copeland has worked with such directors as Francesca Zambello, Anne Bogart, Graham Vick, Mark Lamos and Ken Cazan. He is highly sought after as a teacher of the singing actor and has been a director and acting coach for the Harrower Opera Workshop for the past thirteen years. He recently joined the faculty of La musica lirica in Novafeltria, Italy and will travel this summer to teach and direct at Beijing University, China. His productions of Hansel and Gretel (University of Memphis, ), Les contes d'hoffmann (Temple University, ) and Dreimaldrei gleich Unendlich (Juventas Opera Project, ) won First Place for Best Opera Production in the National Opera Association (NOA) competition. His most recent productions include The Tender Land (Juilliard), Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge (Playhouse on the Square), Heart of a Dog (Guerilla Opera) and Idomeneo (University of Memphis). He will direct a revisionist A Little Night Music for the Harrower this summer. Copeland is a proud member of the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA), Actors' Equity Association (AEA) and a member of the Board of Directors and Regional Governor of the National Opera Association.

6 KIMBERLY SOBY (FLAVIA TASTE) Praised for her sincere musicianship and heartfelt performances, soprano Kimberly Soby brings an exquisite balance of beauty and intelligence to her vast repertoire. Ms. Soby recently graduated from New England Conservatory with dual Masters degrees in Vocal Performance and Opera Studies. Roles performed at NEC include: Susanna in Mozart s Le Nozze di Figaro, which she performed in a fully staged production at Boston s Cutler Majestic Theatre, directed by Nic Muni; Madame Silberklang in Mozart s The Impresario; Monica in Menotti s The Medium; Cupid in Cavalli s Egisto and Gretel in Humperdinck s Hansel and Gretel. With Opera Boston: Iza in La Grande Duchesse de Gérolstein opposite Stephanie Blythe; Lucy in The Telephone; the title character in Seymour Barab s Little Red Riding Hood; Tonina in a new English translation of Salieri s First the Music, Then the Words and Bastienne in Mozart s Bastien und Bastienne, both commissioned by First Night Boston and performed for over one thousand spectators at Emmanuel Church; The Daughter (cover) in Hindemith s Cardillac. On the concert platform, Ms. Soby has premiered new music with: Prism Project Boston, Lorelei Ensemble, New England Conservatory Percussion Ensemble, the New England Conservatory Contemporary Ensembles, New Music Brandeis and the University of New Hampshire. ALIANA DE LA GUARDIA (EUNICE PICKENS/GYGES BENSON) received a BM in opera performance and MM in Vocal performance from The Boston Conservatory. As a founding artist and General Manager of Guerilla Opera her credits include: Heart of a Dog (Dog), No Exit (Estelle), We Are Sons (June), Rumpelstiltskin (title), Say It Ain t So, Joe (Sarah Palin(2)/Diane Sawyer), Loose, Wet Perforated (Loose). As a frequent performer of New Music she has performed composers such as: Birtwistle, Gorecki, Harvey, Kurtág, Lang, Sciarrino, Schoenberg, Webern, and frequently collaborates with many local composers. She has additionally performed with: Ludovico Ensemble, Firebird Ensemble, Harvard Group for New Music, I/O Ensemble at Williams College, Xanthos Ensemble, Boston Lyric Opera, Granite State Opera, Cape Cod Opera, MetroWest Opera, and guest staring on ABC s Body of Proof. She currently teaches Viewpoints at Hubbard Hall Opera Theater. PATRICK MASSEY (MAURICE PICKENS/HAROLD P. LUSK) is a North Carolina native and graduate of the Master s program at The Boston Conservatory. A few of Patrick s notable credits include the title role in Candide with the College Light Opera Company, Prunier in Puccini s La Rondine, Ferrando in Mozart s Cosí fan tutte, and Jack in Sondheim s Into the Woods. In the summer of 2009, Patrick spent the summer in Italy performing the role of Don Basilo in Mozart s Le Nozze di Figaro through the Flagstaff in Fidenza Program. In 2010, Patrick performed with Guerilla Opera for the first time in Rudolf Rojahn s Heart of a Dog in its second incarnation directed by Copeland Woodruff. This past year Patrick completed a three month national tour with Chamber Theater s stage production of Encore!!. Patrick has premiered several new works including Jeffrey Brody s Picture of Dorian Gray, Matthew Vest s The Hourglass, and most recently Noah Tobin s straight play, Expecting. Looking to the future, Patrick will be relocating to New York to pursue musical theater, straight plays, in addition to opera.

7 BRIAN CHURCH (CLEM DUPREE) enjoys a busy and varied career in the Boston performing arts scene. With both Callithumpian Consort and Collage New Music, he performed Peter Maxwell Davies' 8 Songs for a Mad King, the latter of which was selected as "Most Exciting Contemporary Concert" in the Boston Phoenix 2009 Classical Year In Review. He premiered Christian Wolff's Exception to the Rule with Callithumpian in Boston, Greeley, CO and Chicago. With Boston Musica Viva, Brian premiered the dual roles of Mayadin and Mohar Singh in Shirish Korde's opera Phoolan Devi: The Bandit Queen. This year, he did the speaking parts in works by Furrer and Lachenmann with Sound Icon. In April, he performed David Lang's Little Match Girl Passion (solo quartet version) with Boston Modern Orchestra Project. Brian is excited to renew his association with Guerrilla Opera in this production. He premiered the roles of Joe Biden and Joe the Plumber in Curtis Hughes' Say It Ain t So, Joe in In he performed the role of the Doctor in Copeland Woodruff's staging of Rudolf Rojahn's Heart of a Dog in Boston and at the University of Memphis. Brian is currently featured on two new recordings of works by Curtis Hughes: the aforementioned Say It Ain t So, Joe as well as the Beck Journals Vol. 1 on the Danger Garden collection. He is a longtime member and frequent soloist with the Cantata Singers and the Choir at King's Chapel. An accomplished bassist, he played, recorded and toured for 11 years with the avant noise punk group Tristan Da Cunha. He's also played in pit orchestras and done voiceover work with the ImprovBoston Theater in Cambridge. Brian was featured (along with his wife Jaime and young son Elias) in the short film For a Few Flowers More which took 1st Prize at the Boston 48 Hour Film Festival in AMY ADVOCAT (BASS CLARINET) Hailed as dazzling by the Boston Globe, Amy Advocat, clarinetist, is an avid performer of new music having performed with Callithumpian Consort, Firebird Ensemble, [sound icon], Boston Modern Orchestra Project, The New Fromm Players at Tanglewood, Boston Microtonal Society s NotaRiotous, Glass Farm Ensemble, and the Second Instrumental Unit. Always looking for the most innovative projects, Ms. Advocat was recently highlighted in the Boston Globe for her work at the Bohlen Pierce Symposium in Boston, during which she premiered six new pieces on the newly invented Bohlen Pierce clarinet. This instrument plays in a nonoctave repeating tuning system which offers an alternative to our own, and was the basis of Ms. Advocat s studies toward her DMA at McGill University in Montréal. Equally at home with more traditional classical music, Amy Advocat has also performed with Opera Boston, Boston Pops, National Lyric Opera, Boston Philharmonic and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Advocat was twice a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, and has participated at the New York String Orchestra Seminar, Spoleto USA Festival, Virginia Arts Festival, and the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria. Ms. Advocat was named the first recipient of the Boston Woodwind Society s Harold Wright award and is a Hadar Foundation Scholar. She received her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music Degrees from the New England Conservatory, where she was a recipient of the Tourjée award; a scholarship awarded to one outstanding NEC graduate who returns for a second degree. Her principal teachers include Simon Aldrich, Thomas Martin, David Weber, William Wrzesien and Craig Nordstrom. She has been recorded on Mode, Navona and New World Records.

8 ETHAN WOOD (VIOLIN) has been praised by The Columbian as sensational and in full command of his instrument, performing with flair and sensitivity by ArtsEditor, and riveting by The Boston Globe. He has appeared around the United States and abroad as guest artist, recitalist, and chamber and orchestral musician. His highschool string quartet appeared on From the Top, and he was part of a New England Conservatory Honors Ensemble for the academic year. Much of his time is spent interpreting contemporary and new works, having collaborated with various groups such as Radius Ensemble, Ludovico Ensemble, Mimesis Ensemble, and is a member of Callithumpian Consort. As a pianist, he has accompanied in recitals and performed chamber music; as a mandolinist, he recently was part of the NEC Elliot Carter festival and a Tanglewood Music Center production of Don Giovani. Also a composer, he has had works performed across the US and recently had a work premiered at the International Holland Music Sessions. Currently living in the Boston area, he serves on faculty at the Arlington High School Private Music School as violin and viola teacher, is a member of Atlantic Symphony Orchestra and Neponset Valley Philharmonic Orchestra, and is a frequent substitute with A Far Cry. Mr. Wood has had undergraduate studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music and the University of Wisconsin Madison, where he studied with David and Linda Cerone and Vartan Manoogian, respectively, and holds BM, MM, and GD degrees from the New England Conservatory, where he studied with Eric Rosenblith and Lucy Chapman. KENT O DOHERTY (SAXOPHONE) Artist Diploma in Saxophone Performance, The Boston Conservatory. Australian born saxophonist who has premiered over 50 new works for his instrument. Founder of RoCoCo, a collaborative multimedia arts group and is currently a member of The Dance, Societe Nouvelle du M and has recently founded F.E.M (Free Energy Machine) a new arts collective encompassing all genres of art. He has studied in his native Australia with Graeme Shilton, in The Netherlands with Tom de Vette, and in the USA with Kenneth Radnofsky. MIKE WILLIAMS (PERCUSSION/ARTISTIC DIRECTOR) has performed and recorded with groups including the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Chameleon Arts Ensemble, Ludovico Ensemble, Callithumpian Consort, New Hampshire Symphony, Springfield Symphony, Harvard Group for New Music, Composers in Red Sneakers, and Star Wars In Concert Symphony Orchestra among others. He has recordings on Cantaloupe, BMOP Sound, Albany, and Northwest Classics. Williams was awarded a fellowship from the Tanglewood Music Center and attended The Institute and Festival for Contemporary Performance in New York. In addition he has performed at the Festival de Mexico, Gaudeamus Music Week, Rockport Chamber Music Festival, and the New Hampshire Music Festival. As a devoted performer of contemporary music he is the percussionist and artistic director of Guerilla Opera and a percussionist with Sound Icon. In 2005 he was a solo recitalist and guest lecturer at the Hochschule für Musik in Detmold, Germany. Williams holds MM and BM degrees from The Boston Conservatory where he won top prizes including the Concerto Competition in He also completed a year of advanced study at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam during which time he regularly performed with the Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra under Peter Eötvös. His main teachers include Peter Prommel, Pat Hollenbeck, Sal Rabbio, and Nancy Zeltsman.

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10 JULIA NOULIN MÉRAT (SET DESIGNER/DIRECTOR OF DESIGN AND PRODUCTION) is a triple American, Canadian and French citizen. She is the principal designer at Noulin Merat Studio, a young intrepid NYC design firm that has designed over a 150 productions. Her opera work includes Madama Butterfly with El Paso Opera and Opera New Jersey; Cosi Fan Tutte, Lucia di Lammermoor with Commonwealth Opera; Say It Ain t So Joe, Heart of a Dog, Loose Wet Perforated with Guerilla Opera; Xerxes with the Academy of Music; The Telephone, LRRH with Opera Boston; L'ENFANT/ L'HEURE with Boston Conservatory and Carmen with Buck Hill Skytop Music Festival. She is the resident set designer for The Attic Theatre and Exit, Pursued by a Bear and the Director of Design and Production for Guerilla Opera. Upcoming: Boston Lyric Opera, Pacific Symphony, Boston Conservatory and Opera Omaha. TLÁLOC LÓPEZ WATERMANN (LIGHTING DESIGNER) is the founder of a lighting and video design company called Light Conversations LLC. He designs lighting for theatre and opera companies around the country. His lighting designs have been seen at Walla Walla Comunity College Foundation s summer musical, North Carolina Opera, Opera Louisiane, North Carolina Opera Toledo Opera, Utah Festival Opera, Todi Music Fest (Portsmouth, VA), Opera Roanoke, and Shreveport Opera. Some of these include: Man of La Mancha, Salome, La bohème, The Marriage Of Figaro, Madama Butterfly, The Crucible, Eugene Onegin, The Daughter of the Regiment, Il Trovatore, La Traviata, Falstaff, and The Magic Flute, Tosca, Don Giovanni, Footloose, and Hairspray, among others. He has also designed for In Strange Company in Albuquerque, NM. He assisted Connie Yun on her Seattle Opera productions of Tosca, Marriage of Figaro, Falstaff, and Don Quichotte. Tláloc has a BFA in Performance Production from Cornish College of the Arts and an MFA in Design from NYU/Tisch. Tláloc was the 2002 Allen Lee Hughes Lighting Fellow at Arena Stage in Washington, DC. Please visit lightconversations.com. NEIL FORTIN (COSTUME DESIGNER) is excited to work with Guerilla Opera on Bovinus Rex. Neil is a MFA candidate at Boston University studying both costume design and production. He holds a Bachelors degree in History from Providence College. He has previously worked with the Metro Stage Company, the Boston University School of Theater, Mansfield Music and Arts Society and Hanson Community Theater, a 40 year old local theater group. His passion for theater started young and continues today. Neil would like to thank Nancy Leary for believing in him, his family and friends, especially Michael for understanding the late nights and sound of the sewing machine. CARYN M. BOEHM (STAGE MANAGER) holds a BFA in Stage Management from Boston University, where is she now a staff member. Caryn s credits include work with Boston Opera Collaborative, where she is the season Production Manager, Juventas New Music Ensemble, The Washington National Opera, Company One, Orfeo Group, and the Finborough Theatre (London).

11 MICHAEL SAKIR (VOCAL COACH) Equally active as a conductor and collaborative pianist, Michael Sakir has conducted the Boston Opera Collaborative s critically acclaimed productions of Bizet s Carmen, Mozart s The Magic Flute, and Marc Adamo s contemporary masterpiece Little Women. Michael served as Music Director for the Des Moines Metro Opera s 2010 Opera Iowa Education Tour as well as associate conductor, rehearsal pianist, and apprentice coach for Des Moines Metro Opera s 38th Festival Season. A passionate advocate for new music, Michael served as Music Director of the Juventas New Music Ensemble, a Boston based ensemble dedicated to performing works by composers under 35, from 2008 to A graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Michael received Bachelor of Music degrees in Piano Performance and Music History in June He received a Master of Music degree in Orchestral Conducting from The Boston Conservatory in May CHRISTOPHER WEBB (FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHER) is thrilled to work with Guerilla Opera on this production. Previous fight choreography includes: The Pillowman, Polaroid Stories, and Iphigenia 2.0 (The Boston Conservatory); Guys and Dolls (Stoneham Theatre Young Co.); Faith & Redemption (Northern Illinois University); Hot n' Throbbing (Western Michigan University). He is a member of the acting faculty in the Boston Conservatory's BFA and MFA Musical Theatre program and is a proud member of Actors Equity Association. JONATHAN NUSSMAN (ASSISTANT STAGE DIRECTOR) is a singer from Charlotte, NC. He received his B.M. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and his M.M. from the Boston Conservatory. His interests include opera, musical theater, and art song, with a special emphasis on music from the 20th and 21st centuries. This is his third production with Guerilla Opera, and his first time ever acting as Assistant Director. He s honored to have the experience of working behind the scenes with Copeland Woodruff and the rest of GO s excellent production team. Past Guerilla performances include Wet in last season s Loose, Wet, Perforated and John Creighton in Rudolf Rojahn s We Are Sons (2008).

12 ANITA SHRIVER (PROPS DESIGNER) is a recent graduate of Northeastern University's Theatre Program. During her time there, she co created 2 original productions (The Vagina Play, Molassacre) and had a staged reading of her first One Act play, Take Me to the Moon. After having worked with Theaters in Pittsburgh, Boston, New York, and London, she is excited to be making her professional debut with Guerilla Opera. ABOUT GUERILLA OPERA Guerilla Opera is a collaborative performing ensemble, and independent 501(c)3 organization, whose mission is to commission new chamber operas written specifically for their ensemble of artists, to perform in intimate theatrical settings, and to perform in a highly collaborative environment resulting from the direct communication between performers without a conductor or formal music director. The ensemble envisions a national community where serious new chamber opera and ensemble performance are valued and enjoyed. They will bring exciting new works to Boston and beyond, connect with communities nation wide, and reinvigorate the concert going public s love for new opera. For more information please visit BOARD OF DIRECTORS Mike Williams, President Rudolf Rojahn Aliana de la Guardia Timothy Gillette Jeffrey Thomson Sanford Sylvan BOARD OF ADVISORS Richard Ortner Andy Vores Copeland Woodruff Peter J. Wender ADMINISTRATION Rudolf Rojahn, Co Artistic Director Mike Williams, Co Artistic Director Aliana de la Guardia, General Manager Julia Noulin Mérat, Director of Design and Production Sarah Borgatti, Development Assistant, Foundations

13 GUERILLA OPERA CIRCLE OF FRIENDS (Gifts acknowledged were received during our Season.) Premier Production Underwriters ($10,000 to $24,999) Timothy & Jane Gillette Associate s Circle ($1,000 to $2,499) Jeffrey Thomson & David Janero Sanford Sylvan Benefactors ($500 to $999) Anonymous Donald E. Vaughan Patrons ($250 to $499) Mark DiGiovanni Richard Ortner Campbell Steward Peter Wender Friends (to $99) Anonymous (2) Richard Bass Elizabeth Boveroux Richard & Ruth Colwell Devon Dunn Judson K. Evans Alan Flint Joyce Foster Bradley Fugate Barrie Gleason Randolph Hawthorne Erin Huelskamp Amanda Keil Michael Manove & Elvira Ponce Paris & Betancourt DMD PC Carol C. Richter Supporters ($100 to $249) Doris Toby Axelrod Martha Bancroft & John Hatch Walter & Mary Chapin Carole Charnow & Clive Granger Lynn Hughes Kate & Tom Kush Amelia LeClair & Garrow Throop Ellis L. Phillips III Preston Reed Herma Rojahn Woodward Julie E. Rohwein Stephen M. Weiner

14 GUERILLA OPERA Sometimes it takes a punk-rock mentality to breathe life into a 350-year-old art form The Boston Phoenix Heart of a Dog rudolf rojahn Touring Production adam roberts Giver of Light World Premiere For more information please visit:

15 SPECIAL THANKS: This world premiere production of Bovinus Rex is made possible through the generosity of The Boston Conservatory and our Premiere Production Underwriters Timothy & Jane Gillette. ADDITIONAL THANKS: Boston Lyric Opera: Esther Nelson, Julie House, Stacy Evans, Megan Cooper, and Marie Costa The Boston Conservatory: President Richard Ortner, Dr. Karl Paulnack, Andy Vores, Peyton Pugmire, Michael J. Swiech, Karen Fogerty, Andrea Di Cocco, Jennifer Ojeda, Olivia Levering, and Richard Malcolm Sheraton Boston: Lisa Blades, and Beth Anne Grassa Northeastern University: Eric Kelley Huntington Theatre Christine M. Casalini, Joyce Linehan, Stedson McIntyre at McIntyre Design, and Jonathan Nussman

16 GUERILLA OPERA PO Box , Cambridge, MA tel: web: