The Rake's Progress, February 17 & 18, 2024 by Yale School of Music

JOSé GARCíA-LEóN, DEAN

YALE OPERA PRESENTS Gerald Martin Moore, Artistic Director

an opera by IGOR STRAVINSKY

FEBRUARY 17 & 18 | SHUBERT THEATRE

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Yale School of Music · José García-León, Dean Yale Opera · Gerald Martin Moore, Artistic Director

Music by Igor Stravinsky Libretto by Chester Kallman and W. H. Auden Performed in English with projected English text Performed by arrangement with Boosey & Hawkes, Inc., publisher and copyright owner

conductor stage director scenic designer costume designer lighting designer prop designer wig designer production stage manager assistant conductor/chorus preparation musical preparation/harpsichord

Daniela Candillari Danilo Gambini Suzu Sakai Soule Golden Robert Wierzel Karen Root David Mitsch Kyle Conn Alejandro Roca Anna Smigelskaya

There will be one 15-minute intermission following Act II. The approximate running time of the performance is 2 hours and 45 minutes.

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welcome from the Dean Dear friends, I am honored to welcome you all to the Shubert Theatre for Yale Opera’s return to this historic stage, where so many legendary performers have transported audiences to places beyond their imagination. We are excited to continue our collaboration with this important venue and our relationship with the New Haven community. Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress celebrates and challenges operatic tradition. Past and future are very much on the minds of those who have staged what I know will be memorable performances. This production will allow us to hear a cast of remarkable young singers on the cusp of rewarding careers. Our students are incredibly fortunate to be working with Yale Opera Director Gerald Martin Moore, whose leadership and expertise are celebrated in opera houses around the world. I am thrilled for you to experience his vision for this production and for the Yale Opera program. For these performances, the Yale Opera cast will be joined by Metropolitan Opera conductor Daniela Candillari and the musicians of the Yale Philharmonia, who’ll bring Igor Stravinsky’s compelling neoclassical score to life. Complementing the music is a libretto by revered poets W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman that puts each of us in contact with our desires and the decisions we make in a search for something more than what we already have. The Yale Opera cast has worked tirelessly with stage director Danilo Gambini and will perform on an imaginatively designed set and in costumes created by Suzu Sakai and Soule Gordon, respectively. Those pieces are expertly illuminated by Tony award-winning lighting designer Robert Wierzel. From the cast to the entire creative team, the talented artists who have assembled this production for you believe in their work and are eager to share it with you. I hope you’ll join me in applauding everyone who’s been part of the process, onstage and behind the scenes. Enjoy! Sincerely, José García-León The Henry and Lucy Moses Dean of Music

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welcome from the Artistic Director It gives me immense pleasure to finally be able to welcome you back to the Shubert Theater for Yale Opera’s production of Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress. Stravinsky’s only full-length opera premiered in Vienna in 1951 with an English libretto by poet W. H. Auden and his collaborator Chester Kallman. Although it has remained consistently in the repertoire of most opera houses since the premiere, this will be the first time Yale Opera will present this work. We are fortunate to have such a high level of student that we can double cast the performances. Although this work may be considered less of a “box office” piece, I chose it specifically for the challenging but extremely rewarding roles it affords the young singers. Stravinsky’s orchestral writing is also a great showpiece for our wonderful orchestra. Conducting the Yale Philarmonia, we are so excited to welcome Daniela Candillari. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut in the 2021–2022 season conducting Matt Aucoin’s opera, Eurydice, and I have greatly admired her since we first worked together in 2019. Director Danilo Gambini, a graduate of the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale, brings a fresh and unique perspective to the staging, having worked extensively on a wide variety of plays, film, and television, in addition to his opera credits. I would also like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to my predecessor, the wonderful Doris Cross, without whom there would be no Yale Opera. I am hoping this opera will have special significance for her, as she sang the lead role of Anne Trulove under the baton of Stravinsky himself. Despite the Covid-enforced hiatus from the Shubert, it is my fervent hope that the great supporters of Yale Opera will return for this, and many subsequent productions. Now, more than ever, these dedicated young singers rely on the support of audiences and patrons such as yourself to help dispute the claim that opera is a dying art form. I have no doubt that the talent on display in our performances will dispel any such thoughts. Gerald Martin Moore Artistic Director, Yale Opera

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cast in order of vocal appearance anne trulove

Eva Martinez sat Jaeeun Shin sun

tom rakewell

Daniel Espinal sat Ethan Burck sun

father trulove

Justice Yates sat Alex Smith sun

nick shadow

Finn Sagal sat Paul Jang sun

mother goose

Kara Morgan sat Christina Grohowski sun

baba

Ana Mora sat Allison Fahey sun

sellem

Max Zander *

keeper

Olivier Zerouali

ensemble

Laura Miah, Jillian Tate, Christina Grohowski, Kara Morgan, Giorgi Guliashvili, Olivier Zerouali, Alex Smith, Justice Yates

chorus Samantha Feliciano Mallory Arnold Alliese Bonner Erin Aldrich

sat = Saturday sun = Sunday * Guest Artist

Darius Farhoumand Bobby Hill Bob Scrofani

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yale philharmonia violin i Charlie Lovell-Jones Steven Song Laurel Gagnon Jimin Kim Megan Lin Emma Carleton violin ii Jeein Kim Matthew Cone Miray Ito Caroline Durham Benjamin Kremer Evan Johanson viola Cassia Drake Matthew McDowell Jack Kessler Abigail Smith

cello Charles Zandieh Robin Park Amanda Chi Jakyoung Huh bass Patrick Curtis Yuki Nagase flute Daniel Fletcher Jillian Coscio piccolo Jillian Coscio oboe Mickenna Keller Amy Kim

principal conductor general manager assistant manager/librarian

english horn Amy Kim clarinet Jonathan López Nicole Martin bassoon Lucas Zeiter Tucker Van Gundy horn Braydon Ross Oved Rico trumpet Grace O’Connell Eric Evans timpani Han Xia

Peter Oundjian Jeffrey M. Mistri Samuel Bobinski

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the rake’s progress Synopsis act i In the countryside, betrothed couple Tom Rakewell and Anne Trulove sing of their love. Anne’s father, concerned about Tom’s character, has arranged an accounting job for him. Tom expresses how he has no desire to work and would rather trust to his charm and good luck. When he cries, “I wish I had money!” a mysterious character named Nick Shadow appears. Nick informs Tom he’s inherited a fortune from an unknown uncle in London. Tom and Nick must leave for London immediately to settle the estate. Tom promises to send for Anne as soon as possible. Nick assumes the role of Tom’s manservant, explaining he will collect his payment in a year and a day. “The progress of a rake begins!” Nick takes Tom to Mother Goose’s brothel in London for an “education.” Nick teaches Tom to ignore rules and follow nature by seeking pleasure. Mother Goose claims Tom as her own for the night. Having received no word from Tom, Anne feels he needs her help and resolves to go to him in London.

act ii In his city house, Tom has quickly become bored with his life of pleasure and feels he is no longer worthy of Anne. When he wishes for happiness, Nick instantly appears bearing a poster of Baba the Turk, the star attraction of St. Giles’s Fair. Nick encourages Tom to marry Baba to be truly happy. Initially skeptical, Tom is convinced by Nick, and laughingly goes to woo Baba. Anne arrives in London looking for Tom as a procession of unusual objects are carried into Tom’s house. Tom is startled to see Anne and tries to send her away, saying he’s unworthy. Baba appears, and Tom introduces her as his wife to the shocked and heartbroken Anne. Baba cuts the moment short, and Anne runs off as the public acclaims Baba. Tom finds marriage to the chatterbox Baba unbearable. As she complains about her poor treatment, Tom silences Baba mid-word. Baba sits frozen for the rest of the act, and Tom falls asleep. He dreams of a miracle machine that turns stones to bread and says, “I wish it were true.” Nick appears with a fake machine that appears to turn stones to bread (it doesn’t). Thinking it is real, Tom is elated. Tom wants to mass-produce his miracle machine, save mankind, and finally deserve Anne. Nick agrees to help Tom find investors for the endeavor and the two set off. 15-minute intermission

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act iii Tom’s business endeavor has ended in ruin, and all that is found in Tom’s house—including Baba—will be auctioned off to cover his debts. Anne once again arrives looking for Tom as curious townsfolk gossip about what has become of Tom. Sellem, the auctioneer, begins the sale. Baba reanimates during the auction and berates the crowd. Hearing Tom and Nick singing outside, Baba tells Anne to find Tom as he still loves her. Baba will return to the stage. Nick takes Tom to a graveyard to claim his payment as a year and a day have passed. The destitute Tom has no money, but Nick, revealed as the devil, replies he wants his soul. Nick demands Tom commit suicide that night and shows the terrified Tom a freshly dug grave. Briefly relenting, Nick agrees to gamble for Tom’s soul with a card game. Tom, inspired by Anne, names the Queen of Hearts, and wins the game. Defeated and enraged, Nick has one last trick and makes Tom insane as he departs. In London’s famous madhouse, Bedlam, Tom believes he’s Adonis awaiting his Venus. Anne finds him and lovingly sings him a lullaby. Unable to help him, she leaves him in the madhouse as he sleeps. Finding her gone when he awakes, Tom cries out for his Venus as he dies.

epilogue The lights come up and the cast tell the moral: “for idle hands the Devil finds work to do.”

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artistic & production team Conductor Conductor Daniela Candillari brings her “confidence and apparently inexhaustible verve” (New York Times) to opera houses and concert stages throughout North America and internationally. Renowned for guiding groundbreaking world premieres to the stage “with a sure hand” (New York Times) as well as her “incisive leadership” (Wall Street Journal) of classical music’s most frequently performed masterpieces, she is completing her third season as both Principal Conductor at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and Principal Opera Conductor at Music Academy of the West. Her 2023–2024 season opened with rave reviews for her leadership of two world premieres: 10 Days in a Madhouse by Rene Orth and Hannah Moscovitch at Opera Philadelphia, where she made her company debut; and Jeanine Tesori and George Brant’s Grounded with Washington National Opera, also a company debut. In the previous season, Candillari made her New York Philharmonic debut in their inaugural season inside the new David Geffen Hall conducting cellist Yo-Yo Ma in Elgar’s Cello Concerto, for which she was praised for her “enthusiastic, energetic yet sensitive direction” and “perfect control over the orchestra” (Broadway World). She made her Carnegie Hall Presents debut leading the American Composers Orchestra in a program of premieres. Other symphonic performances included engagements with the Orchestre Métropolitain Montreal, Symphonic Orchestra of Slovenian National Theater in Maribor, and Toledo Symphony Orchestra. On the operatic stage, she debuted with Deutsche Oper Berlin for performances of Lakmé, and conducted Hansel and Gretel at New Orleans Opera, Tosca at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and Arizona Opera, Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi at Juilliard Opera, plus the world premiere of Arkhipov by Peter Knell and Stephanie Fleischmann at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, four separate programs with Classical Tahoe, and La bohème with Music Academy of the West. Candillari holds a doctorate from the Universität für Musik in Vienna, an M.M. from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and master’s and bachelor’s degrees from the Universität für Musik in Graz, Austria. Stage Director Danilo Gambini is a director, writer, and producer, originally from São Paulo, Brazil. He is currently the Associate Artistic Director at Studio Theatre. Recent directing credits include the world premieres of Ni Mi Madre (Rattlestick/Obie Award Winner, Drama Desk Nom., NYT Critic’s Pick) and the musical Sabina (Portland Stage Maine, co-directed with Daniella Topol). His production of Agreste at Spooky Action Theater in Washington, D.C. recently received six Helen Hayes Awards nominations, including Outstanding Director and Outstanding Production. Other credits include Fun Home, The

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Tempest, Rock Egg Spoon (David Geffen School of Drama at Yale), Agreste (Drylands), Bakkhai, The Swallow and the Tomcat, Truck (Yale Cabaret), and the operas Don Giovanni, Ariadne Auf Naxos, and Eugene Onegin (Theatro São Pedro). Before Studio Theatre, he was the Associate Artistic Director at Rattlestick Theater, Co-Artistic Director at Yale Summer Cabaret, and a member of Roundabout Director’s Group. He has developed work at The Public Theater, Joe’s Pub, The Old Globe, Ars Nova, Milwaukee Rep, Chautauqua Opera, Yale Opera, Gulfshore Playhouse, among others. Gambini holds an M.F.A. in Directing from the Yale School of Drama, now the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale, a B.F.A. in Film and Television (Curso Superior do Audiovisual), and an artist diploma as an actor from the School of Dramatic Art (Escola de Arte Dramática – EAD), both from the University of São Paulo. » danilogambini.com Artistic Gerald Martin Moore is an internationally renowned singing teacher and a Director of vocal consultant. He has worked in such houses as Covent Garden, La Scala, Yale Opera the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco, and Opera de Bastille in Paris as well as the Aix-en-Provence, Edinburgh, and Glyndebourne Festivals. Since moving to NYC in 2008 he has been on the teaching faculty of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann program and Curtis Institute of Music. He regularly gives master classes at Glyndebourne, Merola, and Washington National Opera, and is on the regular teaching faculty at Music Academy of the West, Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Ryan Opera Center, and Ravinia Steans. A frequent recitalist, most notably with Renée Fleming, he has performed before such dignitaries as President Obama, President Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, HRH King Charles, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Moore was recently featured accompanying Renée Fleming in the soundtrack for the movie Bel Canto and also coached Julianne Moore, who plays the role of Roxanne. Moore may currently be heard as a regular host of the Metropolitan Opera Quiz, and is a frequent judge for prestigious vocal competitions, including the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions. Scenic Suzu Sakai is a freelance stage and production designer based in New York Designer and Tokyo. She has a passion for all aspects of artistic development and collaboration, as well as storytelling through new mediums in digital art and media. Recent productions include The Light (Chester Theater, MA), Musical: Lizard Boy (NYC Off Broadway premiere), Color Boy (Yale Carlotta

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artistic & production team (continued) Festival), and Straight White Men (London Premier, UK), as well as working in production management at PARCO Inc. and space design in the digital art and media industry in Tokyo. She has assisted Broadway and Off-Broadway designers in both set and lighting. Sakai is an M.F.A. candidate in Theater Design at the Geffen School of Drama at Yale. Costume Soule Golden is a collaborative costume designer and theater artist. She Designer holds an M.F.A. in design from David Geffen School of Drama at Yale and a bachelor’s degree in Textiles and Apparel Design from Cornell University. She is interested in sustainability, new voices, re-imagined classics, and family drama. She has worked with Heartbeat Ensemble, Epic Theater Ensemble, Hartford Stage, the Joffrey Ballet, Santa Fe Opera, Yale Repertory Theatre, and at several universities and schools regionally. Credits include Possessing Harriet with Heartbeat Ensemble, King John with Shakespeare on the Sound, A Sign of the Times at Ars Nova, Betrayal and Drowned World in Chicago Storefront Theaters, On the Floor with The Dance Cartel, Hedda Gabler at David Geffen School of Drama at Yale, and Caucasian Chalk Circle at Yale Rep, among others. Awards include the Jay and Rhonda Keene Scholarship and the Richard Harrison Scenie Scholarship, and BroadwayWorld CT Best Costume Design for Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill. Lighting Robert Wierzel has worked with artists and directors from diverse disciplines Designer and backgrounds, in opera, theater, dance, and museums, on stages throughout the country and abroad. His NYC Broadway productions include Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, the musical FELA! (Tony Award nomination), and David Copperfield’s Dreams and Nightmares. Other notable work includes over 38 years with Bill T. Jones and the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company. Additionally, Wierzel has designed at most major regional opera and theaters across the country. Future projects include Songbird, a new opera opening in March 2024 at the Washington National Opera, and Pagliacci and The Pirates of Penzance at the Glimmerglass Festival in summer 2024. Wierzel is a creative partner at Spark Design Collaborative and is on the faculty of NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Design for Stage & Film. Prop Designer Karen Root is delighted to return to Yale Opera, where she previously designed Le Comte Ory, L’elisir d’amore, and props for The Rape of Lucretia. Theater set design credits include The Merry Wives of Windsor (upcoming, Elm Shakespeare), Gallathea (Southern Connecticut State University), The Tempest and Taste of Fear (Elm Shakespeare), All About Image/We Are the Elite (NY International Fringe Festival), Great Catherine (Helen Gardiner Phalen Playhouse), and Like Mamma Made You (Factory Theatre). Other theater credits include The Comedy

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of Errors and Elm Shakespeare Youth Festival (Elm Shakespeare), La Ronde (Soulpepper Theatre Company), The Seagull (Stratford Festival), and Pericles, Prince of Tyre (Helen Gardiner Phalen Playhouse). Root is Guest Designer and Adjunct Professor at Southern Connecticut State University and an Emmynominated and Parent’s Choice Award–winning production designer. She holds an Honors B.A. from the University of Toronto. » karenrootdesign.com Wig Designer David Mitsch (he/him) is a NYC/CT-based costume designer. Recent design credits: Sometimes the Rain, Sometimes the Sea (The New School), 26 Miles (Gulfshore Playhouse), Love’s Labour’s Lost (Island Shakespeare Festival), Today is My Birthday (Yale Rep), Reykjavik, The Salt Women (David Geffen School of Drama at Yale); Associate Design: A Bright New Boise (Signature Theatre, NYC), 42nd Street (Winner, CT Critics Circle Award for Best Costume Design), and Gypsy (Goodspeed Opera House). Training: MFA: Acting, American Repertory Theater/Moscow Art Theater Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University; MFA: Costume Design, David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. » davidmitschdesign.com Production Kyle Conn is thrilled to be back at Yale after a stint as the production stage Stage Manager manager for Six and Jersey Boys. Previous opera credits include The Marriage of Figaro (Annapolis Opera), Orfeo (Yale Baroque Opera Project), and Doriclea (YBOP). Conn will be back at Yale this spring as the stage manager for Dido and Aeneas (YBOP). Off-Broadway credits include Mornings at Seven (Theatre at St. Clements), Ms. Trial (New World Stages), Bridges: A New Musical (The Times Center), Women on Fire (Royal Family), and Monuments (The Times Center). Regional credits include Mexodus and The Till Trilogy (Mosaic Theater), Pass Over (American Shakespeare Center), and Comedy of Errors (Elm Shakespeare Company). Conn was stage manager for the SOVA Awards, televised from the Guggenheim Museum, production stage manager for Joy Behar’s A Crisis in Queens (Sunlight Studios), and production assistant for the first national tour of Wicked (Oriental Theater). Assistant Conductor/ Chorus Preparation

Opera coach and conductor Alejandro Roca’s recent engagements include performances of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro at Liceu Conservatory in Barcelona, new productions with the Bogota Philharmonic Orchestra of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville and Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, performances with the Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra of Falla’s Master Peter’s Puppet Show, and debuts with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Cláudio Santoro National Theater in Brasilia, Brazil. Roca

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artistic & production team (continued) has collaborated with such renowned conductors as Rinaldo Alessandrini, Gustavo Dudamel, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Josep Caballé Domenech, Patrick Fournillier, Hilary Griffiths, Gérard Korsten, and Miguel Roa. He has appeared in recital with numerous vocalists around the world and has recorded music by several Latin American composers. Since 2006, Roca has served as a conductor and pianist at the Opera of Colombia, in Bogotá, and his repertoire includes more than 70 fully prepared operas and zarzuelas. Roca serves as Lecturer in Music/Opera Coach at the Yale School of Music. He previously served as Opera Coach and Director of the Opera Workshop at Central University in Bogotá and at Scuola Italia’s summer program for young opera singers in Sant’Angelo in Vado, Italy. He has also been a member of the faculty at the University of Antioquia, in Medellín, and at Pontifical Xavierian University in Bogotá, and has served as Director of the Cartagena International Music Festival’s academic program. Roca’s pedagogical experience includes the presentation of master classes at Indiana University and the University of Michigan in the United States, Nayang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore, Capela di Santa Maria in Curitiba, Brazil, and the University of Valle and the University of the North in Colombia, among other institutions. Music Following her second season as a member of the music staff with the Santa Fe Preparation/ Opera, Anna Smigelskaya joins the faculty as Lecturer at the Yale School of Harpsichord Music. During her recent season in Santa Fe, Smigelskaya was selected as the organist for Tosca, while also preparing performances of scenes from La bohème and Boris Godunov as part of the Apprentice Scenes program. Additionally, Smigelskaya served as the company’s primary Russian diction coach. Prior to her two-year fellowship with Yale Opera, other engagements included the Merola Opera Program, Music Academy of the West, and Renée Fleming’s Song Studio. Smigelskaya has formerly held music staff positions at both the Manhattan School of Music and the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston. She began her collegiate education in her native city of St. Petersburg at the Rimsky–Korsakov Music College, subsequently earning solo piano degrees from Sam Houston State University (B.M.) and University of Houston (M.M). As a student at the Manhattan School of Music, Smigelskaya completed her second M.M. under the tutelage of Warren Jones.

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principal artists