PRODUCTION TEAM BIOGRAPHY - SF Opera · PDF fileNICOLA LUISOTTI, Conductor ... La Clemenza di Tito in Toronto; Tosca with Opera New Jersey; ... PRODUCTION TEAM BIOGRAPHY DAVE MAIER,

SAN FRANCISCO OPERA Education Materials LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR

LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR

PRODUCTION TEAM BIOGRAPHY

NICOLA LUISOTTI, Conductor Nicola Luisotti has been music director of San Francisco Opera since September 2009 and he holds the Caroline H. Hume Endowed Chair. In the current season he has led Norma andUn Ballo in Maschera; he conducts the world premiere of Marco Tutinoʼs Two Women (La Ciociara) in summer 2015. Luisotti's other engagements during the current season includeMadama Butterfly with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden; Nabucco in Valencia; Il Trovatorewith the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples; and a concert with Romeʼs Accademia di Santa Cecilia. Called “both an original thinker and a great respecter of tradition” by Opera News, which featured him on the cover of the July 2011 special issue on conductors, Luisotti made his Company debut in 2005 conducting La Forza del Destino and returned in November 2008 to conduct La Bohème. As the Companyʼs music director, he has led acclaimed performances of Il Trovatore, Salome, Otello, La Fanciulla del West, Aida, Le Nozze di Figaro, Madama Butterfly, Rigoletto, Lohengrin, Tosca, and Così fan tutte. Maestro Luisotti has garnered enthusiastic praise from both audiences and critics for his work at La Scala (Attila), the Royal Opera, Covent Garden (Aida, Turandot, Madama Butterfly, Il Trovatore, Nabucco); the Metropolitan Opera (La

Bohème, Tosca, La Fanciulla del West); Paris Opera (La Traviata, Tosca); the Vienna State Opera (Simon Boccanegra); Genoaʼs Teatro Carlo Felice (Un Ballo in Maschera, La Fanciulla del West, La Traviata, Simon Boccanegra, Il Viaggio a Reims); Veniceʼs La Fenice (Madama Butterfly); Munichʼs Bavarian State Opera (Macbeth, Tosca); Frankfurt Opera (Il Trittico); Madridʼs Teatro Real (Il Trovatore, La Damnation de Faust, Mefistofele); Los Angeles Opera (Carmen, Pagliacci); Dresdenʼs Semperoper (Tosca, Die Zauberflöte); Torontoʼs Canadian Opera Company (Un Ballo in Maschera); Seattle Opera (Macbeth); Bolognaʼs Teatro Comunale (Salome); Valenciaʼs Palau de les Arts (Mefistofele); and in Tokyoʼs Suntory Hall (Turandot, Tosca, La Bohème, Don Giovanni, and Così fan tutte). Maestro Luisotti was awarded the 39th Premio Puccini Award in conjunction with the historic 100th anniversary of Puccini's La Fanciulla del West at the Metropolitan Opera. Equally at home on the concert stage, Luisotti served as principal guest conductor of the Tokyo Symphony from 2009 to 2012 and has also established growing relationships with the orchestras of London (Philharmonia Orchestra), Genoa, Budapest, Turin, Munich (Bavarian Radio Orchestra), Palermo, and Rome (Santa Cecilia Orchestra), as well as the Berlin Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, and the Atlanta Symphony. The conductorʼs discography includes a complete recording of Stiffelio (Dynamic) with the orchestra of Triesteʼs Teatro Verdi and the critically acclaimed Duets (Deutsche Grammophon), featuring Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón. He is also on the podium of a DVD recording of the Metʼs La Bohème, with Angela Gheorghiu and Ramón Vargas (EMI).


LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR


MICHAEL CAVANAGH, Director

Michael Cavanagh made his San Francisco Opera debut with Nixon in China in 2012, a production he also directed at Vancouver Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City and, most recently, in Dublin, Ireland. He returned to direct a new production of Susannah in 2014. Recent career highlights include a return to Minnesota Opera to direct Manon Lescaut,Tosca at Austin Lyric Opera, and LʼItaliana in Algeri with Calgary Opera. Former artistic director of Edmonton Opera, he has directed productions throughout his native Canada, including production at Vancouver Opera, Opera Lyra Ottawa, Montreal Opera, Manitoba Opera, Calgary Opera, and Opera Hamilton. He has also directed many productions in the United States, including new productions and return engagements at Opera Philadelphia, Boston Lyric Opera, Hawaii Opera Theatre,

Arizona Opera, Tulsa Opera, and many others. Cavanagh made his Covent Garden debut in 2006, directing a new chamber opera, The Midnight Court. He has developed and staged many new pieces, and is in high demand as a dramaturg. As a librettist, Cavanagh has enjoyed critical and popular success with seven of his own operas. Recent and upcoming highlights include a return to Lyric Opera of Kansas City for LʼItaliana in Algeri, a new production of Carmen at Minnesota Opera, and a debut at the Royal Swedish Opera with Nixon in China.


LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR


ERHARD ROM, Scenic and Projection Designer

Erhard Rom was named as a finalist in the Designer of the Year category of the 2015 International Opera Awards in London. He has designed settings for over 200 productions across the globe and his design work has been displayed in the Prague Quadrennial exhibition and at the National Opera Center in Manhattan. He teaches design at Montclair State University in the department of theatre and dance. His credits include: San Francisco Opera (Susannah and Nixon in China) Wexford Festival Opera, Seattle Opera, Vancouver Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Minnesota Opera, the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre in Dublin, Fort Worth Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Opera Colorado, Opéra de Montréal, The Atlanta Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Opera Boston and

Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Syracuse Stage, Geva Theatre Center, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Folger Shakespeare Theatre, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Merrimack Repertory Theatre and the Woolly Mammoth Theatre in Washington, D.C. In 2014 he designed the European premiere of Kevin Puts recent opera, Silent Night. The production was awarded two accolades at the 2015 Irish Times Theatre Awards Ceremony, including the audience choice award and best opera production of 2015. Future engagements include the world premiere of The Shining for Minnesota Opera and Nixon in China for the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm.


LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR


MATTIE ULLRICH, Costume Designer

Mattie Ullrich makes her San Francisco Opera debut with her costume designs for Lucia di Lammermoor. Recent career highlights include Satyagraha at Ekaterinburg Opera and Ballet; Don Giovanni for Norwegian Opera and Ballet; I Due Foscari the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, Viennaʼs Theater an der Wien, Valenciaʼs Palau des Artes, and Los Angeles Opera; The Oresteia for the Bard SummerScape Festival; Le Roi Malgre Lui for the Wexford Festival; Nabucco with Washington National Opera, Florida Grand Opera, and Montreal Opera; Zaide for Wolftrap Opera; and Eliogabalo for New Yorkʼs The Box. Other career highlights include creating costumes for the theater in New York City, lie The Starry Messenger, The Pride, Wicked, Fault Lines, Things We Want, and Bad Dates. In 2010 she

designed the costumes for a reworking of Stephen Shwartzʼs musical Working, performed in Chicago and New York City. Her film credits include Year of the Fish, Sovereignty, andShoplifting Chanel. She was awarded the European Opera Prize for her collaboration with director Thaddeus Strassberger for the La Cenerentola, performed in Ireland and Germany. A native of Southern California, she received her education from University of North Carolina School of the Arts where she studied costume design, draping, tailoring, hat-making, and dyeing. She now calls Peekskill, New York home where she, her husband, and her dog Drake own two restaurants.


LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR

LIBRETTIST BIOGRAPHY

SALVADORE CAMMARANO, Librettist

Salvadore Cammarano (librettist), (March 19, 1801 — July 17, 1852)

Salvadore Cammarano was a prolific Italian librettist and playwright perhaps best known for writing the text of Lucia di Lammermoor (1835) for Gaetano Donizetti.

For Donizetti he also contributed the libretti for L'assedio di Calais (1836), Belisario (1836), Pia de' Tolomei (1837), Roberto Devereux (1837), Maria de Rudenz (1838), Poliuto (1838), and Maria di Rohan (1843).

For the composer Giuseppe Verdi, he wrote Alzira (1845), La battaglia di Legnano (1849) and Luisa Miller (1849. After Cammaranoʼs death in July of 1852, Verdi worked with Leone Emanuele Bardare to complete the libretto for Il trovatore (1853). Cammarano also started work on libretto for a proposed adaptation of William Shakespeare's play King Lear, named Re Lear, but he died before completing it; a detailed scenario survives.

— Adapted from Wikipedia.org


LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR


GARY MARDER, Lighting Designer

Gary Marder, resident lighting designer for San Francisco Opera, made his Company debut in 2013 and in the 2014–15 season his lighting designs were seen in Susannah, Un Ballo in Maschera, Tosca, La Cenerentola, and Le Nozze di Figaro. His work has been seen at venues across the globe, including The Magic Flute in Sydney; La Traviata at Turinʼs Teatro Regio as well as in Tokyo; The Makropulos Case and Samson et Dalila at Houston Grand Opera; Samson et Dalila, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Carmen, Peter Grimes, Un Ballo in Maschera, and Norma at San Diego Opera; Dialogues des Carmélites with Palm Beach Opera; La Clemenza di Tito in Toronto; Tosca with Opera New Jersey; Aida and Il Bariere di Siviglia at the Dallas Opera; and in Boston, Connecticut, Barcelona, and Baden Baden.

Marder served as assistant resident lighting designer for the Metropolitan Opera for twelve seasons and associate resident lighting designer at New York City Opera for five years.


LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR


IAN ROBERTSON, Chorus Director

Ian Robertson has been chorus director and conductor with San Francisco Opera since 1987, having prepared more than 300 productions for the Company. He was awarded the Olivier Messiaen Foundation Prize in 2003 for his artistic contribution to the preparation of the Companyʼs North American premiere of Saint François dʼAssise. Robertson made his San Francisco Opera conducting debut with Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and has since led performances of Falstaff, Lohengrin, Rigoletto, La Traviata, Don Carlo, Turandot, Il Trovatore, and La Bohème. He has led the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus in many concerts, including the Companyʼs recent Stern Grove appearance, and he has conducted Così fan tutte and La Périchole for San Francisco Opera Center and frequently

led Merola Opera Programʼs Grand Finale concerts. Other North American opera credits include productions with Sarasota Opera, Edmonton Opera, and Philadelphiaʼs Curtis Opera Theatre. Before joining San Francisco Opera, Robertson was head of music and chorus director of Scottish Opera, where he led numerous productions, including Il Barbiere di Siviglia, The Pearl Fishers, The Secret of Susanna, and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. The Scotland native trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and the University of Glasgow; he studied conducting under Sir Alexander Gibson. Robertson is currently the artistic director of the San Francisco Festival Chorale, which performed this summer at the Grand Teton Music Festival, and the San Francisco Boys Chorus. A 2009 trip with the San Francisco Boys Chorus took him to the inauguration of the President of the United States, and this summer he led performances with the Boys Chorus in St. Petersburg, Russia and Copenhagen.


LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR


DAVE MAIER, Fight Director

Dave Maier, Resident fight director for San Francisco Opera, made his Company debut choreographing the fight scenes for The Tales of Hoffmann in 2013; he appeared also appeared as a swordsman in the 2010 production of Cyrano de Bergerac. Maier has directed for American Conservatory Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theater, San Jose Repertory, Aurora Theatre, Marin Theatre Company and Magic Theatre, among others. He is a five time recipient of the San Francisco Bay Area Drama Critics Circle Award for Fight Direction and an eleven time nominee, and he serves as resident fight director at California Shakespeare Theatre and a company member with the Shotgun Players. Maier is recognized as an instructor of theatrical combat by Dueling Arts International and a founding member of

Dueling Arts San Francisco. He is an adjunct faculty member at the University of California Santa Cruz and St. Maryʼs College of California; he currently teaches combat related courses at Berkeley Repertory School of Theater.


LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR

COMPOSER BIOGRAPHY

GAETANO DONIZETTI, Composer

Gaetano Donizetti (composer), (November 29, 1719 – April 8, 1848)

With nearly 70 operas to his credit, Gaetano Donizetti was a leading Italian composer of the 19th century. He was born in the northern Italian city of Bergamo in 1797 to a poor family. After showing some musical talent, he was enrolled in the townʼs music school where he received free lessons.

Donizetti continued his education at the Philharmonic Academy in Bologna. He received his first commission in 1818 from the Teatro San Luce in Venice. Soon he moved to Rome, where in 1822 he would have his first major success, Zoraide di Grenata. His career was just getting started.

Later that year Donizetti settled in Naples and used it as a base from the next 16 years. He was able to work at the increasingly rapid pace demanded by the Italian theater industry and produced three to four operas a year for most of his life. In fact, he wrote The Elixir of Love in just eight days! During this period Donizetti successfully wrote both comic and tragic operas such as The Daughter of the Regiment (1840) and Lucia de Lammermoor (1835).

Donizettiʼs success in dealing with both comic and tragic settings was due in part to his own manic-depressive personality. Well-acquainted with personal misfortune, he lost in the span of eight years his mother, his father, two infant sons, an infant daughter and Virginia Vasselli, his wife of seven years. The composer never truly recuperated after her death, refusing to utter her name ever again.

After a brief stay in Paris, Donizetti turned toward the Austrian state, where he became music director of the imperial theaters. After the success of his opera Linda of Chamounix (1842), he was appointed Composer to the Austrian Court, a position Mozart had held a half century before.

By 1845, symptoms of a lifelong illness had become incapacitating, and Donizetti was no longer able to compose. He returned to his hometown of Bergamo where he died on April 1848.

Adapted from www.operaamerica.org

Documents

PRODUCTION TEAM BIOGRAPHY - SF Opera · PDF fileNICOLA LUISOTTI, Conductor ... La Clemenza di Tito in Toronto; Tosca with Opera New Jersey; ... PRODUCTION TEAM BIOGRAPHY DAVE MAIER,