Utah Opera Artistic Director Christopher McBeth today announced Utah Opera’s complete 2008-2009 season offerings. The season opens in October with Puccini’s beloved Madame Butterfly, followed by the Utah Opera’s premiere of Blitzstein’s Reginain January.
In March, Utah Opera presentsMozart’s The Marriage of Figaro and the season concludes with Donizetti’s Don Pasquale in May, 2009. Madame Butterfly will open the 31st season on October, 18, 2008 at Capitol Theatre.
“What a great season we have coming up,” says McBeth. “From Madame Butterfly, the most-beloved opera in history, to Regina, a rarely produced American masterwork that is experiencing a revival in North America. Add to this, The Marriage of Figaro, what some (including myself) consider the perfect opera, and the all-out hilarious comedy of Don Pasquale and you have a season full of wonderful operas.”
The Utah Symphony will accompany each Utah Opera performance and Keith Lockhart will join them as he conducts the premiere of Regina. This will be Mr. Lockhart’s final performance with Utah Opera as the Utah Symphony’s Music Director; he will step down from his post at the end of the 2008-2009 season.
FULL SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Madame Butterfly - October 18, 20, 22, 24, 7:30 pm & 26, 2 pm Capitol Theatre
By Giacomo Puccini
Joseph Mechavich, conductor
Garnett Bruce, director
Barbara Shirvis--Cio Cio San
Scott Piper--Pinkerton
Andrew Oakden--Sharpless
Madame Butterflyis ranked number 1 onOpera America’s list of the top 20 most-performed works in North America. Some scholars suggest its tragic tale reflects actual events that occurred in Nagasaki, Japan during the early 1890s. Madame Butterfly passionately explores the consequences of obsessive devotion. Pinkerton, a U.S. Navy officer in Japan, contracts what he considers a temporary marriage to Cio-Cio-San, called Butterfly, who renounces religion and family in her adoration for him. When Pinkerton leaves for America, he promises to return “when the robins nest again.” Butterfly blissfully ignores warnings of his unfaithfulness and adamantly insists that her husband would never forget his son, “Sorrow.” Pinkerton does come back, but Butterfly’s devotion and heart are shattered when she realizes he has not returned for her.
Regina - January 17, 19, 21, 23, 7:30 pm & 25, 2 pm Capitol Theatre
By Marc Blitzstein
Keith Lockhart, conductor
Michael Scarola, director
Deanne Meek--Regina
Kristopher Irmiter--Horace
Lisa Vroman--Birdie
Based on the play The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman, Reginaholds special note for Utahns as it premiered on Broadway in 1949 with conductor Maurice Abravanel. Set in the Deep South in the year 1900, this distinctively American opera chronicles the demise of a wealthy southern family torn apart by greed. Regina Giddens schemes and double-crosses until she is left with only her wealth and loneliness. Though Blitzstein’s work is little-known today, it has been said that in his era, no one surpassed his genius for setting American words to American music. In Regina, Blitzstein adeptly blends operatic lyricism, spirituals, ragtime, blues and Dixieland.
Marriage of Figaro - March 14, 16, 18, 20, 7:30 pm& 22, 2 pmCapitol Theatre
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Christopher Larkin, conductor
David Gately, director
Ryan McKinny—Figaro
Heidi Stober—Susanna
Philip Cutlip—Count Almaviva
Nicolle Foland—Countess Almaviva
They say that sequels are never as good as the original…but in this sequel to The Barber of Seville, Mozart created one of his most successful works. Set in Count Almaviva’s castle in Seville, Spain in the late 18th century, Marriage of Figaro is an opera of triangles of amore. Figaro is set to marry the beautiful Susanna. Susanna is constantly repelling the repeated advances of the Count. A creditor of Figaro, Marcellina, plans to advert Figaro’s nuptials and allow him to settle his dept by marrying her. Cherubino, the page, is lovesick over the Countess. And the Countess seeks to re-attract the attentions of her husband.
Don Pasquale - May 16, 18, 20, 22, 7:30 pm & 24, 2 pm Capitol Theatre
By Gaetano Donizetti
Susanne Sheston, conductor
Robert Herriot, director
Steven Condy--Don Pasquale
Celena Shafer--Norina
Robert McPherson--Ernesto
Carlos Archuleta--Dr. Malatesta
While Don Pasquale is traditionally set in Rome, Utah Opera’s performance of Don Pasquale uses the Wild West as its backdrop. Don Pasquale is the story of an elderly, wealthy, (and miserly) bachelor who has no heir. To remedy the situation, he tries to persuade his young nephew Ernesto to accept an arranged marriage. Ernesto refuses to obey his uncle since his heart is already pledged to the glamorous yet penniless widow, Norina. In a fit of anger, Pasquale turns the tables on his nephew by disinheriting him and deciding to get married and produce an heir himself. -- www.utahopera.org
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