Goat Hall Productions
San Francisco Cabaret Opera
Harriet March Page, Artistic Director
Mark Alburger, Music Director
Fresh Voices XVI
Memories and Desires
8:15pm, Fridays-Saturdays, August 12-13, 26-27, 2016
Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek, CA
JOSTEIN STAHLHEIM / JOHN G. BILOTTA
ROSETTA'S STONE (2015, Oded Ben-Horin / John F. McGrew)
A Neuroscience Opera in Two Acts (Duration - 40 minutes)
ACT I: Scene 1 - A Well-Functioning Cafe
Scene 2 - The Music Lesson
ACT II: Scene 1 - A Poorly-Functioning Cafe
Scene 2 - Deterioration - A Memory - Rosetta's Stone
CHARACTERS
AL HAMBRA, a music teacher Wayne Wong
ROSETTA, his student Cass Panuska
CHORUS, The Brain Regions
CORTEX Jill Wagoner
THALAMUS Sarita Cannon
HIPPOCAMPUS Alexis Lane Jensen
AMYGDALA Kassidy Grace Mayernik
CEREBELLUM Jamie Samantha Lee
BRAIN STEM Harriet March Page
ENSEMBLE
CLARINET Rachel Condry
CELLO Robin Reynolds
PIANO Feona Lee Jones
BILL, THE CONDUCTOR Mark Alburger
ROSETTA'S STONE (2015), a collaborative work about a professor’s descent into Alzheimer's disease and its effect on his student, was created by a team of artists in the United States and Norway: composers John G. Bilotta and Jostein Stalheim and librettists Oded Ben-Horin and John F. McGrew. In Rosetta's Stone, the professor’s mind is deconstructed into a cerebral café of brainy baristas -- Amygdala, Brain Stem, Cerebellum, Cortex, Hippocampus, and Thalamus -- in scenes that alternate with his pupil's poignant musical responses. "Every man's condition is a solution in hieroglyphic to those inquiries he would put. He acts it as life, before he apprehends it as truth." (R. W. Emerson)
15-minute intermission
MARK ALBURGER (b. 1957)
ALMA MARIA SCHINDLER MAHLER GROPIUS WERFEL, Op. 232
An Opera in Three Husbands and Multiple Lovers (All Famous)
(2016, after Wikipedia Alma Mahler, and links) (Duration - 70 minutes)
PROLOGUE - ALMA MARIA SCHINDLER
I. 1879 - ANNA SOFIE BERGEN (Alma's Mother)
II. 1880 - JULIUS VIKTOR BERGER (Alma's Mother's 1st Lover)
III. 1881 - MARGARETHE (GRETE) JULIE SCHINDLER (Alma's 1st Half Sister)
IV. 1882 - OMA BERGEN (Photograph I / Alma's Grandmother)
V. 1883 - MANON AUGUSTE PAULINE SCHARMWEBER GROPIUS (Alma's 2nd Husband)
VI. 1884 - EMIL JAKOB SCHINDLER (Alma's Father)
VII. 1885 - GUSTAV MAHLER (Alma's 1st Husband)
VIII. 1886 - OSKAR KOKOSCHKA (Alma's Constant Lover)
IX. 1887 - PRINCE RUDOLF (Alma's Father's Employer)
X. 1888 - ALMA MARIA SCHINDLER (Photograph II / Alma's Portrait)
XI. 1889 - CARL MOLL (Alma's Mother's 2nd Lover)
XII. 1890 - FRANZ VIKTOR WERFEL (Alma's 3rd Husband)
XIII. 1891 - GEZA ZICHY (Mahler's Rival)
XIV. 1892 - SYLT (Alma's First Compositional Efforts / Father's Death)
XV. 1893 - ALMA / SOPHIE / GRETE (Photograph III / Alma's Family Portrait)
XVI. 1894 - SCHULE (Alma's Education)
XVII. 1895 - MAX BURCKHARD / OTTO MAHLER
(Alma's 1st Lover / Otto Mahler's Suicide)
XVIII. 1895 - JOSEF LABOR (Alma's 1st Teacher)
XIX. 1897 - GUSTAV KLIMT (Alma's 2nd Lover)
XX. 1898 - ARNOLD SCHOENBERG (Alma's Artistic Associations)
XXI. 1899 - MARIA MOLL (Photograph IV / Alma's 2nd Half Sister)
XXII. 1900 - ALEXANDER VON ZEMLINSKY (Alma's 2nd Teacher / 3rd Lover)
XXIII. 1901 - GUSTAV MAHLER (Alma's 1st Marriage)
ACT I - ALMA MARIA SCHINDLER MAHLER
XXIV. 1902 - RICHARD STRAUSS / MARIA ANNA "PUTZI"
(Mahler's Friend / Alma's 1st Daughter)
XXV. 1903 - HAUPTMAN / PFITZNER / P. STRAUSS / GOLDMARK / CHARPENTIER
(Viennese Life)
XXVI. 1904 - ANNA JUSTINE "GUCKI" / GABRILOWITSCH
(In the Country / Alma's 2nd Daughter)
XXVII. 1905 - FELIX MUHR / GUSTAV MAHLER (In the Theatre)
XXVIII. 1906 - ALMA / MARIA / ANNA / GUSTAV (In the Home)
XXIX. 1907 - NEW YORK / MARIA ANNA /STRAVINSKY / SIBELIUS / CARUSO
(In the City)
XXX. 1908 - TOBLACH (Mahler's Premonitions of Death)
XXXI. 1909 - RODIN / TOSCANINI (Mahler's Fame)
XXXII. 1910 - WALTER GROPIUS / SIGMUND FREUD (Alma's 1st Affair)
XXXIII. 1911 - MAHLER / FRAENKEL / SCHREKER
(Mahler's Death / Bruckner's 3rd Symphony)
XXXIV. 1912 - PAUL KAMMERER / OSKAR KOKOSCHKA (Alma's Lovers)
XXXV. 1913 - ANNA MAHLER / OSKAR KOKOSCHKA
(Kokoschka's Paintings / Bride of the Wind)
XXXVI. 1914 - OSKAR KOKOSCHKA / HANS PFITZNER (World War I)
XXXVII. 1915 - SIEGFRIED OCHS / WALTER GROPIUS / OSKAR KOKOSCHKA
(Alma's 2nd Marriage)
ACT II - ALMA MARIA SCHINDLER MAHLER GROPIUS
XXXVIII. 1916 - MANON GROPIUS (Alma's 3rd Daughter)
XXXIX. 1917 - FRANZ WERFEL (Alma's 2nd Affair)
XL. 1918 - HULDA RESERL / HERMINE MOOS / MARTIN WERFEL
(Kokoschka's Design / Alma's Son)
XLI. 1919 - THE PUPPET (Alma's Image)
XLII. 1920 - GROPIUS / PROSTITUTE / FESTIVAL (Alma's Divorce)
XLIII. 1921 - SCHOENBERG / RAVEL / BERG / MILHAUD / POULENC (Alma's Soirees)
XLIV. 1922 - RUPERT KOLLER / ERNST KRENEK (Alma's Sons-in-Law)
XLV. 1923 - ERNST KRENEK / OSKAR KOKOSCHKA (Alma's Lover's Opera)
XLVI. 1924 - SCHOENBERG / WEBERN / BERG / KRENEK / SHOSTAKOVICH
(Mahler's 10th Symphony)
XLVII. 1925 - ALBAN BERG / HANNA WERFEL FUCHS-ROBETTIN (Alma's Letters)
XLVIII. 1926 - RUPERT JOSEPH / OSKAR KOKOSCHKA / PAUL KAMMERER
(Alma's Inspiration)
XLIX. 1927 - FRANZ WERFEL / OSKAR KOKOSCHKA (Alma's Indecision)
L. 1928 - ALBAN BERG / OSKAR KOKOSCHKA (Kokoschka's Letters)
ACT III - ALMA MARIA SCHINDLER MAHLER GROPIUS WERFEL
LI. 1929 - FRANZ WERFEL / MANON GROPIUS (Alma's 3rd Marriage)
LII. 1930 - ANNA MAHLER / PAUL VON ZSOLNAY (Anna's 3rd Marriage)
LIII. 1931 - GEORGE BERNARD SHAW / PAUL VON ZSOLNAY (Anna's 3rd Separation)
LIV. 1932 - THEO JOHANNES HOLLNSTEINER (Alma's 3rd Affair)
LV. 1933 - HEINRICH BRUENING / ADOLF HITLER (Alma's World)
LVI. 1934 - ELIAS CANETTI / MAID (Manon's Polio)
LVII. - 1935 MANON GROPIUS / ALBAN BERG (Manon's / Berg's Deaths)
LVIII. 1936 - JOHANNES HOLLNSTEINER / KURT SCHUSCHNIGG (Manon's Eulogy)
LIX. 1937 - WERFEL / ZUCKMAYER / VON PAPEN / KOKOSCHKA
(Alma's Farewell Party)
LX. 1938 - ANSCHLUSS (Alma's Departure)
CHARACTERS
ALMA MARIA SCHINDLER (Austrian Composer / Socialite) Kassidy Grace Mayernik
Anna Justine "Gucki" Mahler (Austrian Sculptor / Alma's 2nd Daughter)
Hans Pfitzner (German Composer / Alma's 4th Lover)
The Alma Doll (Kokoschka's Design / Moos's Manufacture)
Darius Milhaud (French Composer / Alma's 4th Soiree Attendee)
Hanna Fuchs-Robettin (Werfel's Sister / Berg's Mistress)
Brunner Arbeitzeitung (Anti-Alma Newspaper Reporter) II
ALMA MARIA SCHINDLER MAHLER Larissa Lorenz
Julius Viktor Berger (Austrian Artist / Alma's Mother's 1st Lover)
Manon Gropius (Alma's 3rd Daughter)
Hulda Reserl (Chambermaid / Kokoschka's Mistress)
Anton Webern (Composer / Schoenberg's 1st Student / Alma's 4th Editor)
Rupert Koller (Anna Mahler's 1st Husband)
Gladwyn Kingsley Noble (American Herptologist / Kammerer's Critic)
Franz von Papen (German Officlal / Alma's 2nd Party Attendee)
Egon Friedell (Austrian Philosopher / Cabaret Performer)
ALMA MARIA SCHINDLER MAHLER GROPIUS Christa Durand
Carl Moll (Austrian Artist / Alma's Mother's 2nd Lover / Alma's Stepfather)
Manon Auguste Pauline Scharnweber Gropius (Gropius's Mother)
Marie Theienemann Hauptmann (Hauptman's Wife)
Madame M (Mahler's Lover)
Igor Stravinsky (Russian Composer / Mahler's Critic)
Franz Schreker (German Composer / Alma's 2nd Suitor)
Kokoschka Doll-Party Police Officer I
Maid (To Manon, in Alma's Employ)
Brunner Arbeitzeitung (Anti-Alma Newspaper Reporter) III
Carl Zuckmayer (German Writer / Alma's 1st Party Attendee)
ALMA MARIA SCHINDLER MAHLER GROPIUS WERFEL Jill Wagoner
Anna Sophie Bergen Schindler (German Soprano / Alma's Mother)
Otto Mahler (Austrian Composer / Mahler's Younger Brother)
Pauline Strauss (German Soprano / Richard Strauss's Wife)
Doctor (Delivering Martin Carl Johannes Werfel)
Kokoschka Doll-Party Attendee I
Gropius's Prostitute Police Officer I
Maurice Ravel (French Composer / Alma's 2nd Soiree Attendee)
Dmitri Shostakovich (Russian Composer / Alma's 5th Editor)
GUSTAV MAHLER (Austrian Composer / Alma's 1st Husband) Mark Alburger
Hermine Moos (German Avant-Garde Puppet Maker / Artist)
Alban Berg (Composer / Schoenberg's 2nd Student / Alma's 3rd Soiree Attendee / Editor)
Adolf Hitler (German Nazi-Party Leader)
Nazi II (Storm-Trooper / Border Guard / Negotiator)
WALTER GROPIUS (German Architect / Alma's 2nd Husband) Jamie Samantha Lee
Crown Prince Rudolf (Alma's Father's Employer)
Oma Bergen (Alma's Grandmother)
Geza Zichy (Hungarian One-Armed Pianist-Composer/ Mahler's Rival)
Max Burckhard (Austrian Theatre Director / Alma's 1st Lover)
Arnold Schoenberg (Austrian Composer / Alma's 1st Soiree Attendee / 2nd Editor)
Bruno Walter (German Conductor / Mahler's 1st Colleague)
Richard Strauss (German Composer / Mahler's 2nd Colleague)
Felix Muhr (Artist / Alma's 2nd Admirer)
Jean Sibelius (Finnish Composer / Mahler's 4th Colleague)
Auguste Rodin (French Sculptor)
Arturo Toscanini (Italian Conductor / Mahler's 2nd Associate)
Paul Kammerer (Austrian Biologist / Alma's 7th Lover)
Kokoschka Doll-Party Attendee II
Paul Zsolnay (Austro-Hungarian Publisher / Anna's 3rd Husband)
Johannes Hollnsteiner (Austrian Theologian / Alma's 9th Lover)
Heinrich Bruening (Chancellor of Weimar Germany)
Brunner Arbeitzeitung (Anti-Alma Newspaper Reporter) IV / Nazi I
OSKAR KOKOSCHKA (Austrian Artist / Alma's 8th Lover) Jacqueline Goldgorin
Gustav Klimt (Austrian Artist / Alma's 2nd Lover)
Margarethe Julie Schindler (Alma's 1st Half-Sister)
Maria Moll Eberstaller (Alma's 2nd Half-Sister)
Maria Anna "Putzi" Mahler (Alma's 1st Daughter)
Sigmund Freud (Austrian Neurologist / Mahler's Psychoanalyst)
Gropius's Prostitute
Francis Poulenc (French Composer / Alma's 3rd Soiree Attendee)
Adolf von Zsolnay (Austrian Honorary Consul General / Paul Zsolnay's Father)
Elias Canetti (Bulgarian-German Writer / Alma's 2nd Critic)
Brunner Arbeitzeitung (Anti-Alma Newspaper Reporter) I
FRANZ WERFEL (Austrian Writer / Alma's 3rd Husband) Harriet March Page
Emil Jakob Schindler (Austrian Artist / Alma's Father)
Alexander von Zemlinsky (Composer / Alma's 2nd Teacher / 3rd Lover)
Gerhart Hauptmann (German Writer / Alma's 1st Admirer)
Carl Goldmark (Austro-Hungarian Composer / Mahler's 3rd Colleague)
Gustave Charpentier (French Composer / Alma's 5th Lover)
Enrico Caruso (Italian Tenor / Mahler's 1st Associate)
Joseph Fraenkel (Austro-American Neurologist / Alma's 1st Suitor)
Siegfried Ochs (German Composer / Alma's 3rd Suitor)
Kokoschka Doll-Party Police Officer II
Gropius's Prostitute Police Officer II
Ernst Krenek (Composer / Anna's 2nd Husband / Alma's 1st Critic / 1st Editor)
Albrecht Joseph (German-American Theatre / Film Director)
Anna Sophie Bergen Schindler Moll
ALMA DOPPELGANGER PIANIST Feona Lee Jones
Josef Labor (Austrian Composer / Alma's 1st Teacher)
Ossip Gabrilowitsch (Russian-American Pianist / Alma's 6th Lover)
ORCHESTRA
FLUTE / PICCOLO Alan Kingsley
Bb / A CLARINET Peter Brown
BASSOON Michael Garvey
C / Bb TRUMPET Michael Cox
HORN Bob Satterford
PIANO Feona Lee Jones
VIOLIN Jonathan Ho
CELLO Robin Reynolds
CONDUCTOR Mark Alburger
ALMA MARIA SCHINDLER MAHLER GROPIUS WERFEL, Op. 232, tropes multiple musics from Bedrich Smetana and Gustav Mahler to Arnold Schoenberg, Leonard Bernstein, and George Crumb -- including orchestrations of Alma Mahler's Five Songs (1910)
***
MARK ALBURGER (b. April 2, 1957, Upper Darby, PA) studied with Gerald Levinson and Joan Panetti at Swarthmore College (B.A.), Karl Kohn at Pomona College, Jules Langert at Dominican University (M.A.), Tom Flaherty and Christopher Yavelow at Claremont Graduate University (Ph.D.), and Terry Riley. He is Founder and Music Director of the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra and The Opus Project, Conductor of San Francisco Cabaret Opera / Goat Hall Productions, and Professor of Music Literature and Theory at Diablo Valley College. Alburger has been the recipient of many honors, awards, and commissions -- including yearly ASCAP Standard Awards; grants from Meet the Composer, the American Composers Forum, MetLife, and Theatre Bay Area; funding from the Marra, Zellerbach, Hewlett, and Getty Foundations; and performances by ensembles and orchestras throughout the world. Alburger's concert and dramatic compositions combine atonal, collage, neoclassic, pop, and postminimal sensibilities -- often in frameworks troped on pre-existent material. His complete works (254 opus numbers to date) are being issued on recordings from New Music. 500+ videos of his compositions may be found on the DrMarkAlburger YouTube channel, as well as many other websites. Helena Suite, Op. 44, will be performed at Center for New Music (SF) on August 28.
Associate Professor ODED BEN-HORIN is the coordinator of the Global Science Opera initiative, and a co-developer of that concept. He was Project Coordinator of the EU Comenius Multilateral project “Implementing Creative Strategies into Science Teaching” (CREAT-IT), 2013-15. He is, along with Professor Magne Espeland, the idea developer of the Write a Science Opera (WASO) educational methodology which is active in 12 countries, and which was the foundation for the Danish Opera in the Middle’s WAS’OP, which was awarded the Danish Education and Culture Ministries’ “Springfrø” prize for Creativity in Schools, in 2016. Oded has coordinated and instructed several European projects in the field of creative education in Norway, Belgium and Ireland within the EU’s Grundtvig and Lifelong Learning programs. He was the Dissemination & Exploitation Manager of the “Write a Science Opera (WASO) Portugal” project, funded through the European Economic Area (EEA Grants)/Norwegian Arts Council. Oded is in charge of Norwegian implementation of the European Commission’s Horizons 2020 project “Developing an Engaging Science Classroom” (www.creations-project.eu), and is the WP leader for “Global Science Opera” in the Norwegian Research Council project “Integrating Science of Physics, Oceans and Education”. He has provided lectures on the topic of creative art and science educational approaches at the Royal Institution (London), the Greek Physical Society (Athens), and Scientix (Brussels), among others. Oded is a PhD candidate of Music Pedagogy at the University of Bergen. As an artist (librettist, jazz vocalist, composer), Oded has collaborated with leading international science institutions to produce music and contribute to creative public outreach (e.g. The Census Of Marine Life; the Norwegian Sea Travel Museum; Lunar Mission One; The GMO Guidelines Conference; the New York Art & Science Salon/Opera America; European Planetary Science Congress). “Rosetta’s Stone” is his first science opera for the professional stage (concept developer and co-librettist).
JOHN G. BILOTTA was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, but has spent most his life in the San Francisco Bay Area where he studied composition with Frederick Saunders. He is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, and the San Francisco Music & Arts Institute. His works have been performed by soloists and ensembles around the world including Rarescale, Earplay, the Talea Ensemble, the Washington Square Contemporary Music Society, Chamber Mix, North/South Consonance, Musica Nova, the Avenue Winds, the Presidio Ensemble, the Boston String Quartet, the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra, the Kiev Philharmonic, the Oakland Civic Orchestra, San Francisco Cabaret Opera, Bluegrass Opera, Boston Metro Opera, the Thompson Street Opera, New Fangled Opera, and VocalWorks. His music is available on Capstone Records, New Music North, Beauport Classical Recordings, ERMMedia, Bouddi Music/Australia and Navonna Records, and are distributed by Naxos. He serves on the Board of Directors for Goat Hall Productions and on the Executive Committee of the Society of Composers, Inc.
Born and raised in San Francisco, SARITA CANNON sang with the San Francisco Girls Chorus for eight years. Sarita continued performing while earning her A.B. in Literature at Harvard, where favorite roles included Susanna (Marriage of Figaro), Antonia (Tales of Hoffmann) and Belinda (Dido and Aeneas). Since returning to the Bay Area, she has sung with several groups, including Lamplighters Music Theater, Ray of Light Theatre, Oakland Opera Theater, Lyric Theatre of San Jose, and Opera Cultura. Recent performances include the world premiere of John Bilotta’s Song of the Hermit Thrush with the Divisa Ensemble, the role of Maria in West Side Story with North Bay Stage Company, and the soprano solo in Mendelssohn’s Psalm 42 with Oakland City Chorus and Civic Orchestra. She is Soprano Section Leader at All Souls Church in Berkeley, CA and sings with the San Francisco Symphony Chorus. By day, Sarita is associate professor of English at San Francisco State University.
RACHEL CONDRY is clarinetist, improviser, composer, and educator based out of Oakland, CA. A flexible and active performer, Rachel takes a special interest in new and creative music and can be heard in a variety of diverse local ensembles such as the Nathan Clevenger Sextet, Gestaltish, Wild Hen, The Berkeley Symphony and the Golden Gate Park Band. In 2005, Rachel made her Carnegie Hall debut as a member of The Matt Small Chamber Ensemble (http://www.mattsmall.org), a group that seamlessly blends jazz, and classical genres with free improvisation. She is a founding member of several ensembles: the San Francisco Composer’s Chamber Orchestra (http://www.SFCCO.org) the Deep Listening based improvising quartet Gestaltish (www.gestaltish.com) and the Luna Ensemble (www.lunaensemble.com). She has an MFA from Mills College in Oakland as well as a BA and BM from Oberlin College and Conservatory.
CHRISTA DURAND is a lyric soprano hailing from the North Bay Area. She is an avid enthusiast of working with contemporary composers to bring their musical works to life. Ms. Durand weaves together performance and education to help keep the art of opera relevant to our current society. She is a member of Opera on Tap San Francisco, frequently performs at the Jarvis Conservatory in Napa, as well as other venues around the Bay Area. She is also Artistic Director for, and performs in, two different Opera outreach programs in Sonoma County: “Opera-tune-ity”, a program which produces family friendly opera concerts for the community and in schools, and “The Artists’ Salon”, a program that brings professional classical musicians into the home. You can find out more about her at www.ChristaDurand.com.
Soprano JACQUELINE GOLDGORIN began her career in Los Angeles. Ms. Goldgorin has performed with Gateway Classical Orchestra, Chelsea Opera, Opera of the Hamptons, Opera on the Hudson, Connecticut Grand Opera, New York Metro Vocal Arts Ensemble, West Bay Opera and Opera San Jose. In concert, she has performed the Mozart Requiem as Soloist in Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil with Pacific Chorale and Soloist in the Verdi Requiem with Gateway Classical Music Society. She made her San Francisco debut singing Paula in a concert of highlights from Rio de Mujeres by Hector Armienta, and has enjoyed singing roles with Golden Gate Opera, Opera San Jose, West Bay Opera and Verismo Opera in the bay area. Recent engagements include Fiora in L’amore dei tre Re with Empire Opera, the premiere of a new work by Brent Miller with Magik*Magik Orchestra and Soloist in Mozart Requiem.
Mezzo-soprano ALEXIS LANE JENSEN is an active performer in the Bay Area. With her diverse musical background, she is at home on a wide variety of stages, and has sung everything from opera to musical theater, jazz to cabaret, pop to rock with a number of local organizations. Some notable companies she has worked with include West Edge Opera, Oakland Opera Theater, the Grammy Nominated Pacific Edge Voices, SF Symphony Chorus, Grand Tetons Festival Chorus, Berkeley Playhouse, Lamplighters Musical Theater, Altarena Playhouse, Cinnabar Theater, Ray of Light Theater and Actors Ensemble of Berkeley. Ms. Jensen is an avid champion of new works, and has premiered many pieces by local composers. She is also an accomplished interpreter of the music of Kurt Weill and his contemporaries and takes advantage of every opportunity she can to present their work. Her next engagement will be The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny with the Redwood Symphony in September 2016. www.alexislanejensen.com
FEONA LEE JONES is a pianist, keyboardist, composer, conductor, and more. Her work is sincere, heartfelt, passionate, and strongly rooted in the belief that music connects best to our most instinctive of human emotions. Never satisfied with working in a single medium, Feona has worked in the concert world, film music, interactive games, and many others.
JAMIE SAMANTHA LEE is thrilled to be performing in her first modern chamber operas. Recently transitioning from a mezzo to a dramatic soprano, last season she sang the role of Cassandra in Les Troyens with Director Kent Nagano. She also reprised her role of Mother in Solo Opera's Production of Hansel and Gretel. As a Mezzo, she performed the role of Tisbe in La Cenerentola, Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte, and Third Lady in Magic Flute. Additional roles include Marcellina in Marriage of Figaro, Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, Delpha in Giasone, and Mme Larina in Eugene Onegin. Her Bay Area debut was as Lady Blanche in Princess Ida with The Lamplighters.
LARISSA LORENZ is an up-and-coming soprano who regularly performs throughout the Bay Area, with organizations including Goat Hall Productions, Opera On Tap, Pocket Opera Company, The North Bay Stage Company, East Bay Musical Chairs, the Jarvis Conservatory, and as a soloist for numerous churches throughout the North Bay. This spring, Ms. Lorenz also recently performed in the world premiere of composer Richard Evan’s “Ireland’s Poet-Patriots” at the Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. Devoted to her passion for opera, Ms. Lorenz has coordinated and performed ongoing outreach programs for schools, senior living communities, and public events--becoming an indispensable resource exposing new audiences to opera. Ms. Lorenz is also the Musical Director for the nonprofit "RPCCC" (www.rpccc-music.org) and is a founding artist of The Artists’ Salon (www.theartistssalon.com). In addition to her community outreach Ms. Lorenz also enjoys teaching private music lessons at Music to My Ears in Cotati.
JOHN F. MCGREW studied piano, harmony, and composition as a teenager with Alexander Sckaventa (a student of Rimsky-Korsakov). After receiving his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology he worked as a human factors engineer for 30 years. He returned to music studying with Aaron Blumenfeld. John has played the contrabass in Bay Area community orchestras, Washington D.C., and Pasadena. and is an amateur guitarist. He wrote the libretto for Quantum Mechanic which won the 2007 Opera-in-a-Month Challenge and for Trifles, A Christmas Tale, Mozart Where Are You, and is one of the two librettist for Rosetta’s Stone. He is currently working on a new libretto for a children’s opera BFF. He composed the music for Three Haiku Songs for soprano and string quartet. He has written short stories, screen plays, children's stories, a novel, and acted in the film Xtraterrestrials Xposed.
KASSIDY GRACE MAYERNIK is a transplant to the Bay Area, originally hailing from Pittsburgh, PA. She earned her B.M. in Vocal Performance from West Liberty University (WV). Previous performance credits include Pamina in The Magic Flute, Hansel in Hansel and Gretel, covering the title role in Carlisle Floyd's Susannah, and Cinderella in Into the Woods. She is a section leader at St. Ignatius Church in San Francisco, and a member of the a cappella ensemble Encore Vocalists out of Dublin. Kassidy resides in Walnut Creek with her husband, composer Luke Mayernik. She would like to thank Mark, John, Harriet, and the entire cast of both operas for being so welcoming and making this experience very special.
HARRIET MARCH PAGE, mezzo-soprano / director, has pursued a life-long obsession with the performing arts as actor, singer, writer, director, and producer. She is currently a student at Solano Community College, pursuing her late-in-life A.A. degree in Theatre Arts. Harriet is artistic director of Goat Hall Productions/SF Cabaret Opera, which produces contemporary opera and musical theatre, and premieres new opera theatre and song by Bay Area composers in an annual Fresh Voices Festival of New Works. She is very excited to be a part of Fresh Voices XVI: Memories and Desires!
CASS PANUSKA is a classically-trained soprano and voice teacher, and she is passionate about sharing beautiful music. Her favorite performed opera roles include Countess Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, and the Bergère and Screech Owl in Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges. Ms. Panuska earned her Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance at Colorado State University. She has since enjoyed performing as a soloist with Opera San Jose’s Outreach Program, Berkeley Opera, Pocket Opera, and Goat Hall Productions. Ms. Panuska has also sung with Bracebridge Dinner Theatre and Operaworks Advanced Artist Program. She is excited to join in the fun again with Fresh Voices this summer.
Cellist ROBIN REYNOLDS is a Bay-Area native with a Bachelors of Music from Oberlin Conservatory. Since her return to the bay area in 2001, Robin has composed and performed with the rock band My Hero, the Shotgun Wedding Hip-Hop Symphony, and the composing collective Nanos Operetta. Within these groups, she has co-created several works for chamber ensemble, dance, and physical performance at festivals such as the San Francisco International Arts Festival, the Crucible Fire Arts Festival, and the 3 Drops of Blood series. She has composed and played on soundtracks to independent films, including Bahman Kiarostamiís film Persian Gardens, and on several hip-hop albums with local artists Lyrics Born, Ledesi and Blackalicious. She has composed, orchestrated and performed the soundtrack to Horse: Una Historia de Amor by Eric Aragon as well as orchestrated and performed in Tanya Shaffer and Vienna Tengs musical the fourth messenger at the Ashby stage. She works as a cellist, composer, orchestrator, copyist, CD designer, sound editor, and teacher.
JOSTEIN STALHEIM is a composer, accordionist, soundpainter, and Associate Professor at Bergen University College, Norway where he is teaching composition and leading international research projects. He received a Grant from Norwegian Art Council 2014-2015 composing music to his next opera ”Zosimos´ Nine Lives”. The ballet ”Watch” with his music will be premiered October 27th in Dansens Hus, Oslo. In October he will also be live-composing using Soundpainting (an universal sign language) in two projects; one with children and one with BIT20ensemble. He was born in Voss, Norway in 1960 and started composing at an early age. When only 17 years old, his first works were broadcast on both radio and television. He has studied composition and accordion at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Copenhagen and at the Norwegian State Academy of Music. He has written music for orchestra, chamber-ensembles, solo, multimedia and also site-specific productions. Stage music comprises a considerable part of his production; a.o. the opera ”Pr.Warrants Progress” and the ballets; "Volatile", "Alrekr" and "Kast". He has worked in theatres both as composer and musician, a.o. The Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Hordaland Teater, Den Nationale Scene, The Norwegian National Ballet and Carte Blanche in Norway. Stalheim is internationally recognized as an accordion soloist and is performing at festivals and with several international orchestras. Stalheim appears regularly in European festivals as soundpainter, performer and composer, and his last recordings got brilliant reviews. He has received commissions from ensembles both in Norway and abroad.
JILL WAGONER is a veteran of numerous Bay Area stages from Sacramento to Fresno to San Francisco, having performed leading and supporting roles with Dreamweavers Theatre, Nicholson Ranch Players, Festival Opera, Verismo Opera, Hoochi-Doo Productions, Sonoma StageWorks, Silver Moon Theatre, Goat Hall Productions, Sonoma Arts Live and Spreckels Performing Arts Center. Her most recent featured roles include Miss Andrew in Mary Poppins, Margaret White in Carrie and an assortment of mildly deranged and even outright angry women in Love, Loss and What I Wore. Upcoming roles this summer include Metit in Helen of Egypt and Felicia Dantine in I Hate Hamlet. She has also been a featured concert hall soloist with The Valley Girls, The North Bay Opera Theatre Ensemble, SamAntics, Solano Choral Society and The Opus Project and was honored to be part of the recent world premiere of “Ireland’s Poet-Patriots” along with Celtic Voices. She resides in Glen Ellen.
WAYNE DEXTER WONG reprises the role of Prof. Hambra from the 2014 Fresh Voices Festival, and is especially happy to be reunited with colleague and friend Cass Panuska. He has sung roles in over 80 productions, with companies such as Opera Parallele, Berkeley (West Edge) Opera, Festival Opera, and San Francisco Lyric Opera. Roles include Frank (DIE FLEDERMAUS), Ashby (LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST), Alidoro (LA CENERENTOLA), and Antonio (MARRIAGE OF FIGARO, where Opera News called him "notably strong"). Other engagements include West Bay Opera, Oakland Opera, and Teatro Bocchino (in the world premiere of David Morris' IL BOBO SFERRATO). He appeared most recently as Urbain in Pocket Opera's production of LA VIE PARISIENNE. A graduate of U.C. Berkeley and Brown University, he is buried in Westminster Abbey.
We would like to thank the following who have contributed to Goat Hall Productions’ Fresh Voices XVI Festival of New Works
Mark Alburger
John Beeman
John Bilotta
Jean Bogiages
Allan Crossman
Meghan Dibble
Jacqueline Erdman
L.C. Hickman
Carol Hommel
John McGrew
David Ostwald
Saralie Pennington
Jill Wagoner
We would also like to acknowledge and thank the following:
Diablo Valley College Music Department
Missouri Street Theatre, Pam Spering, and Maristel Dumol-Hebron
Lesher Center for the Arts
CyberCopy and Copy World
Production Personnel:
Directorial Collaborators for Rosetta’s Stone: John Bilotta, John F. McGrew, Harriet March Page,
and cast
Director of Alma Maria Schindler Mahler Gropius Werfel: Mark Alburger
Conductor: Mark Alburger
Producer: Harriet March Page
Rehearsal/Performance Pianist: Feona Lee Jones
Costumes: Missouri Street Theatre, Jill Wagoner, cast of both operas
Props: John Bilotta, John McGrew, Harriet March Page, cast of both operas
Set: Harriet March Page, Mark Alburger, Jamie Samantha Lee
Goat Hall Productions’ Fresh Voices Festival is funded in part by a generous grant from the Anne and Gordon Getty Foundation.
Goat Hall Productions is a member of Theatre Bay Area
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A wonderful opening!
Heading down there early,
and
returning late to compose The Great Widow (Alma, Part II), Op. 255: LXXII. 1950 - Anna / Marina, on the 153rd day of summer, high zooming up 7 to a flaming 102 (96 / 60 / 18 days at 80 / 90 / 100+) -- 93 in Walnut Creek...
