Glimmerglass Opera, Cooperstown, NY -- 1999 Festival Season

News from Glimmerglass

GLIMMERGLASS OPERA ANNOUNCES 1999 FESTIVAL SEASON

Four New Productions to Run in Repertory July 1 through August 23, 1999

Esther Nelson, General Director of Glimmerglass Opera, has announced the repertory for the company's 1999 Festival Season. Four new productions, including operas by Monteverdi, Mozart, and Verdi and the world premiere of a newly-commissioned American work, will be given a total of 42 performances from July 1 through August 23 at The Alice Busch Opera Theater in Cooperstown.

The season will open on July 1 with a new staging of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's delightful comic opera The Abduction from the Seraglio, to be sung in English. The production will be directed by Irene Lewis in her company debut, with sets by John Conklin, costumes by Constance Hoffman, and lighting by Pat Collins. Soprano Joyce Guyer will sing Constanze, tenor William Burden is Belmonte, and bass Kevin Bell is Osmin. Stewart Robertson, Glimmerglass Opera's Music Director, will conduct. Ten performances follow on July 3, 11m, 23, 26m and August 1m, 5, 7, 13, 17m, 21m.

A new production of Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto, one of the operatic repertory's most dramatic and popular works, bows on July 2. Sung in Italian with English projected titles, it will be directed by Robert Falls, making his company debut. Sets are by Paul Steinberg, costumes by Gabriel Berry, and lighting by Robert Wierzel. George Manahan will conduct. Baritone Mark Delavan, acclaimed for his performances of Falstaff at Glimmerglass last summer, will sing the title role and tenor Raul Hernandez is the Duke of Mantua. Twelve performances follow on July 5m, 10, 18m, 22, 31 and August 3m, 7m, 9m, 12, 15m, 20, 23m.

Claudio Monteverdi's II Ritorno d'UIisse in Patria (The Return of Ulysses to His Homeland) opens on July 17, sung in Italian with English projected titles. This rarely staged work, first performed in Venice in 1640, will be directed by John Cox in his Glimmerglass debut and conducted by Jane Glover, who has prepared a new performing edition of the score. Sets and costumes are by Johan Engels and lighting is by Mark McCullough. The cast will include baritone James Maddalena as Ulisse, mezzo-soprano Phyllis Pancella as Penelope, mezzo-soprano Christine Abraham as Minerva, countertenor David Walker in the dual roles of L'Humana Fragilità and Pisandro, tenor Jeffrey Lentz as Telemaco, and tenor George Shirley as Eumete. Eight additional performances are on July 19m, 25m, 29, 31m and August 6, 10m, 14, 22m.

The season's fourth offering, opening July 24, will be the world premiere performances of Central Park, three one-act operas unified by their setting and performed as a single work, with scores by American composers Robert Beaser, Deborah Drattell, and Michael Torke set to librettos by playwrights Terrence McNally, Wendy Wasserstein, and A.R. Gurney respectively. jointly commissioned by Glimmerglass Opera, New York City Opera, and Thirteen/WNET's "Great Performances," Central Park will be taped at The Alice Busch Opera Theater for telecast nationally by "Great Performances" and will have subsequent performances at New York City Opera in the 1999/2000 season. Mark Lamos will direct, sets are by Michael Yeargan, costumes by Candice Donnelly, and lighting by Robert Wierzel. Stewart Robertson will conduct. The cast will include soprano Lauren Flanigan and tenor Anthony Dean Griffey. There will be eight subsequent performances on July 27m, 30 and August 2m, 8m, 14m, 16m, 19, 21.

Matinees (m) are on Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays at 2 pm and on Saturdays at 1:30 pm. Evening performances are on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8 pm. Single-ticket prices run from $20 to $80; subscriptions are available.

Esther Nelson said: "The 1999 Festival Season promises to be one of the most exciting and challenging in the company's history, with the premiere of an important new American work, the further exploration of the Baroque repertory for which we have become known, and fresh stagings of two perennial favorites. It will also bring the Glimmerglass debuts of three distinguished directors: John Cox, esteemed for his work in both Europe and America, and the artistic directors of two of America's most respected regional theaters--Robert Falls of Chicago's Goodman Theater and Irene Lewis of Baltimore's CenterStage."

Ms. Nelson noted that the company will be building on the extraordinary artistic and financial success of this past summer, which surpassed all previous seasons. Attendance reached a new high of 37,500; subscriptions increased by 12%; and most performances, playing at 95% of capacity early in the season, were completely sold out by the end. Given last summer's demand for tickets--many last-minute buyers were turned away at the door--Glimmerglass is urging patrons to make their plans for the 1999 Festival Season as early as possible.

For tickets and information, contact the Glimmerglass Opera Ticket Office, P.O. Box 191, Cooperstown, NY

GLIMMERGLASS OPERA, NEW YORK CITY OPERA, AND THIRTEEN/WNET'S GREAT PERFORMANCES CO-COMMISSION THREE ONE-ACT OPERAS

Triptych "Central Park" Will Have First Performances at Glimmerglass Opera in 1999

Esther Nelson, General Director of Glimmerglass Opera; Paul Kellogg, General Director of New York City Opera; and Jack Venza, Executive Producer of Thirteen/WNET's "Great Performances" series have announced that their companies have jointly commissioned three one-act operas, each with its own composer and librettist, to be presented as a triple bill titled Central Park. The work will first be seen in the summer of 1999 at Glimmerglass Opera, followed by six performances at New York City Opera during the 1999-2000 season, and it will be televised nationally on PBS that same season by "Great Performances."

The triptych will have as its unifying element New York City's Central Park, the setting for original librettos by A.R. Gurney, Terrence McNally, and Wendy Wasserstein. Paired with these distinguished dramatists are three young composers who have achieved wide recognition for their vocal and instrumental works: Michael Torke, Robert Beaser, and Deborah Drattell. "The composers were selected for their great musical gifts, and they have been coupled with three of our most acclaimed playwrights to ensure that the dramatic elements were in accomplished hands," said Mr. Kellogg.

Speaking for the commissioning partners, Mr. Kellogg, who is also Artistic Director of both Glimmerglass Opera and New York City Opera, said: "New York City Opera has a proud history of commitment to American work and has given the first performances of several American operas which are now part of the standard repertory. For a number of years Glimmerglass has also been reviving American operas in innovative productions, giving these works a new following and critical acclaim. The operas commissioned for Central Park reflect the artistic histories and commitment of both companies. When 'Great Performances' broadcasts the work nationally on PBS it will reach an additional audience of more than six million. The opportunities offered the artists fully to cultivate their ideas, the strengths of the production forces to be engaged, and the ultimate exposure made possible by this unique partnership should ensure that these three one-act operas will be welcomed as a popular and highly regarded addition to the American operatic repertory as we enter the new millennium."

The three celebrated playwrights--A.R. Gurney, Terrence McNally, Wendy Wasserstein--are all residents of New York City. But their voices and perspectives are distinctly different, reflecting many aspects of New York's urban culture, and these differences will assure the richness and diversity of Central Park's feature-length evening of new operatic works.

Central Park will have its first performances during Glimmerglass Opera's 1999 Festival Season, beginning in July. Mark Lamos, one of this country's most respected theater and opera directors, will be dramaturg and director; Stewart Robertson, Music Director of Glimmerglass Opera, will conduct; and the production will be designed by Michael Yeargan. It is planned that the entire creative team and much of the original cast, which has yet to be announced, will be re-engaged for the New York City Opera performances in the fall of 1999. Esther Nelson, General Director of Glimmerglass Opera, said that Central Park "will benefit from the generous rehearsal period provided by Glimmerglass. This nurturing environment will make possible a smooth transition to other stages in the future."

"Great Performances," which holds worldwide media rights to the work, will film the production during its premiere run at Glimmerglass Opera for telecast at a later date. "The time is long overdue for a new opera set in New York," said Jack Venza, Executive Producer of "Great Performances" at Thirteen/WNET in New York. "Over 25 years, 'Great Performances' has always sought out exciting productions in the performing arts that have meaning for contemporary television audiences, just as La Traviata and La Bohème dramatized contemporary issues at the time of their creation. We also have a long-standing tradition of presenting opera world premieres, like Nixon in China, The Dangerous Liaisons, and Emmeline. Therefore, we're delighted to be partnering with Glimmerglass Opera and New York City Opera in bringing stories of our times to modern audiences through the voices of today's leading playwrights and composers."

Deborah Drattell, currently Composer-in-Residence at Glimmerglass Opera and New York City Opera, has written orchestral and chamber works as well as song cycles. Her first opera, Lilith, commissioned by Meet the Composer, will have its premiere in a concert performance at Glimmerglass Opera this summer with soprano Lauren Flanigan. Her librettist, Wendy Wasserstein, is the author of such well-known plays as Uncommon Women and Others, Isn't It Romantic, The Sisters Rosensweig, Miami, and The Heidi Chronicles, which received both the Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award for Best Play in 1989.

Michael Torke rose to national prominence while still in his mid-twenties with a series of compositions exploring a unique fusion of classical and popular influences. His works include the orchestral piece Javelin, a bestseller on CD; an opera, King of Hearts; and many pieces for dance. A.R. Gurney, whose plays include The Cocktail Hour, Love Letters, The Golden Fleece, Scenes from American Life, The Dining Room, and Labor Day, is one of this country's most acclaimed dramatists as well as a novelist and writer of screenplays.

Robert Beaser, who has been called one of the leaders of the "New Tonalists," is a composer of vocal, orchestral, chamber, instrumental solo, and choral music. His works include Notes on a Southern Sky, The Seven Deadly Sins, Mountain Songs, and The Old Men Admiring Themselves in the Water, all of which have been recorded. Terrence McNally's many successful plays include Master Class, winner of the 1996 Tony Award for Best Play, The Lisbon Traviata, and Love! Valour! Compassion!. This year he won a third Tony Award for his contribution to the musical Ragtime.