CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS: HENRY VIII
Odyssey Opera Orchestra and Chorus
Gil Rose, conductor
Michael Chioldi…Henry VIII
Ellie Dehn…Catherine d’Aragon
Hilary Ginther…Anne Boleyn
Yeghishe Manucharyan…Don Gomez de Feria
David Kravitz…Le Duc de Norfolk
Kevin Deas…Cardinal Campeggion
Matthew DiBattista…Le Comte de Surrey
David Cushing…Archbishop of Canterbury
Erin Merceruio Nelson…Lady Clarence
Jeremy Ayres Fisher…The Garter King of Arms
A dangerous monarch is determined to divorce Catherine of Aragon in favor of the beautiful, ambitious Anne Boleyn. This is one of history’s most infamous love triangles and the beginning of the “King’s Troubles.” Saint-Saëns’s score brilliantly invokes an early Renaissance sensibility while remaining firmly rooted in the French grand opera tradition. Sweeping vocal melodies and rich orchestral writing bring this compelling tragedy to life.
CHARLES GOUNOD:
LA REINE DE SABA
Odyssey Opera Orchestra and Chorus
Gil Rose, conductor
Kara Shay Thomson…Balkis, Queen of Sheba
Dominick Chenes…Adoniram
Kevin Thompson…Soliman
Michelle Trainor…Bénoni
Matthew DiBattista…Amrou
David Kravitz…Phanor
David Salsbery Fry…Méthousaël/Sadoc
Katherine Maysek…Sarahil
Balkis, the famed Queen of Sheba, arrives in Jerusalem to meet her betrothed, King Solomon. But the beautiful and powerful Queen instead finds herself drawn to Solomon’s master architect Adoniram. What follows is a dramatic struggle between love and obligation, filled with intrigue, jealousy, and betrayal. A classic French Grand Opera from the composer who wrote Faust. This forgotten masterpiece, inspired by Gérard de Nerval’s book Le voyage en Orient, was resurrected by Odyssey Opera for one night only at Jordan Hall in September of 2018, and now that performance can be heard in your home!
MARIO CASTELNUOVO-TEDESCO: THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST
Odyssey Opera Orchestra
Gil Rose, conductor
Neal Ferreira…John Worthing (Jack)
Stefan Barner…Algernon Moncrieff
Jeni Houser…Cecily Cardew
Rachele Schmiege…Gwendolen Fairfax
Claudia Waite…Lady Bracknell
James Demler… Rev. Chasuble
Christina English…Miss Prism
J.T. Turner…Lane
Colin Levin…Merriman
Odyssey Opera’s third release, The Importance of Being Earnest, adapted from the play by Oscar Wilde, satirizes the mores of Victorian life. Two bachelors, Jack Worthing and Algeronon Moncreiff, create alter egos–both names Ernest–to impress two women who say they can only love a name minted Ernest. Clever dialogue, witty musical commentary and a madcap plot ensues as the two men try to keep up their deception between the toen and the country in the face of a mysterious past and an overbearing aunt.
DOMINICK ARGENTO: THREE WORKS
Odyssey Opera Orchestra
Gil Rose, conductor
Heather Buck…The Widow/Miss Havisham
Aaron Engebreth…The Lecturer
Frank Kelley…The Servant
James Maddalena…The Boor
Odyssey Opera’s second CD release contains three one-act operas by composer Dominick Argento. The Boor retells Anton Chekhov’s play of the same name (sometimes translated as The Bear). Miss Havisham’s Wedding Night explores the titular Charles Dickens character’s madness over being jilted. Argento returns to Chekhov in A Water Bird Talk, following a harried husband’s lecture on birds.
PIETRO MASCAGNI: ZANETTO
Odyssey Opera Orchestra
Gil Rose, Conductor
Eleni Calenos…Silvia
Eve Gigliotti…Zanetto
The lonely courtesan Silvia suddenly finds herself falling in love with the young poet and wandering minstrel, Zanetto, who believes her to be a noblewoman. Afraid he will discover her identity, Silvia orders Zanetto away and, alone, blesses lost love for unleashing feelings she believed were gone.
ODYSSEY OPERA AND BMOP RECORDINGS
TOBIAS PICKER: AWAKENINGS
Odyssey Opera and Boston Modern Orchestra Project
Gil Rose, conductor
Jarrett Porter, Dr. Oliver Sacks
Joyce El-Khoury, Rose
Adrienne Danrich, Miriam H.
César Delgado, Mr. Rodriguez
Andrew Morstein, Leonard Lev
Katharine Goeldner, Iris Lev
Keith Klein, Dr. Podsnap
Erin Merceruio Nelson, Ruth
Victoria Davis, Lily
David Small, Dr. Samuel Sacks
Stephanie Kacoyanis, Dr. Muriel Elsie Landau
Krista River, Miss Kohl
Steven Goldstein, Frank
Michelle Trainor, Lucy
Sean Malkus, Fiancé
Based on the eponymous 1973 bestselling book by Dr. Oliver Sacks, Awakenings is a touching musical journey that draws both on source material and personal experience. Set primarily in a Bronx hospital from 1966 to the end of 1969, it tells the true story of the eminent neurologist Dr. Oliver Sacks, who received worldwide acclaim for bringing new hope to survivors of the “sleeping-sickness” epidemic of the 1920s.
ANTHONY DAVIS: X: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF MALCOLM X
Odyssey Opera and Boston Modern Orchestra Project
Gil Rose, conductor
Davóne Tines, Malcolm X
Ronnita Miller, Ella
Whitney Morrison, Louise/Betty
Joshua Conyers, Reginald
Victor Robertson, Elijah/Street
Jonathan Harris, Young Malcolm
Miguel Ángel Vásquez, Garvey Preacher
Amber Garrett, Social Worker/Queen Mother
Nathan Rodriguez, Cop
Maggie Finnegan, Reporter 1
Matthew Arnold, Policeman 2, Reporter 2
Andrew Miller, Policeman 3
The first opera from Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Anthony Davis, X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X depicts, in a series of fast-moving vignettes, the galvanic life and career of the controversial African-American activist Malcolm X (1925–1965).
Through a combination of operatic writing and swing, scat, modal jazz, and rap, the opera echoes the “sound” of Malcolm’s era and opens a powerful conversation about the history and living legacy of Malcolm X — in Boston and around the world.
NORMAN DELLO JOIO: THE TRIAL AT ROUEN
Odyssey Opera Orchestra with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project
Gil Rose, conductor
Heather Buck, soprano
Stephen Powell, baritone
Luke Scott, baritone
Ryan Stoll, bass-baritone
Jeremy Ayres Fisher, tenor
2020 GRAMMY® Nominee for Best Opera Recording is Odyssey Opera’s collaboration with Boston Modern Orchestra Project of Norman Dello Joio’s The Trial at Rouen.
In 1950 Boston based Pulitzer Prize winning composer Norman Dello Joio premiered his first opera The Triumph of Saint Joan. Unhappy with the results he withdrew the work. Still fascinated with the subject he was commissioned by the NBC Television Opera Theatre to produce an original 75-minute opera for television. The resulting work in two acts, The Trial at Rouen, premiered on April 8, 1956, on NBC. In collaboration with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Odyssey Opera’s performance marks the first time The Trial at Rouen will be performed off screen and on stage in front of a live audience. The most condensed of all the operas of our season, it focuses on the period of the imprisonment and trial of Joan. The concert will open with Dello Joio’s most popular work The Triumph of Saint Joan Symphony a purely orchestral work based on the material from his first Joan of Arc opera.
GUNTHER SCHULLER: THE FISHERMAN AND HIS WIFE
Odyssey Opera Orchestra with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project
Gil Rose, conductor
Sondra Kelly, mezzo-soprano
Steven Goldstein, tenor
David Kravitz, baritone
Katrina Galka, soprano
Adapted from fable by the Brothers Grimm, Gunther Schuller’s The Fisherman and His Wife tells the tale of a poor fisherman who discovers a magical fish who grants a series of ever more extravagant rewards to him and his wife. Originally commissioned by the Junior League of Boston for their 60th anniversary and dedicated to the children of Boston, this short opera premiered in May 1970 and was adapted for WBZ-TV that fall. Full of wit and humor, The Fisherman and His Wife was not performed again until BMOP and Odyssey Opera resurrected it in November 2015. This premiere studio recording of the opera adds to the legacy of a pillar of the Boston musical community.
TOBIAS PICKER: FANTASTIC MR. FOX
Odyssey Opera Orchestra with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project
Gil Rose, conductor
John Brancy, tenor
Krista River, mezzo-soprano
Andrew Craig Brown, bass-baritone
Edwin Vega, tenor
Gabriel Preisser, baritone
Elizabeth Futral, soprano
Tynan Davis, mezzo-soprano
Theo Lebow, tenor
Andrey Nemzer, countertenor
Gail Novak Mosites, soprano
John Dooley, baritone
Jonathan Blalock, tenor
2020 The Recording Academy / GRAMMY® WINNER for Best Opera Recording is Odyssey Opera’s collaboration with Boston Modern Orchestra Project of Tobias Picker’s Fantastic Mr. Fox. Fantastic Mr. Fox, an opera in three acts with a libretto by Donald Sturrock based on Roald Dahl’s children’s novel of the same name. In this enchanting modern fable, Fantastic Mr. Fox pits good vs. evil, animal vs. human, nature vs. technology. Mr. Fox will stop at nothing to keep his family safe.
