2015 UBC OPERA ENSEMBLE

CHOIRPRACTICESTEPHEN CHATMAN (b. 1950) Sung in English

WORLD PREMIEREMAY 8, 9 // 7:30 PM Old Auditorium

Jonathan Girard | Conductor Nancy Hermiston | Director

THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO

(Le Nozze di Figaro)

WOLFANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756–1791) Sung in Italian

FEBRUARY 2015 5, 6, 7 // 7:30 PMFEBRUARY 8 // 2:00 PMChan Centre for the Performing Arts

Neil Varon | Conductor Nancy Hermiston | Director

LA TRAVIATAGIUSEEPPE VERDI (1813–1901) Sung in Italian

JUNE 2015 20, 25, 26, 27 // 7:30 PM JUNE 21, 28 // 2:00 PM Old Auditorium

David Agler | Conductor Nancy Hermiston | Director

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THE BARTERED BRIDE(PRODANÁ NEVĚSTA)

Sung in Czech with English Surtitles

Comic Opera in Three ActsBy BEDŘICH SMETANA (1824–1884)

Libretto by by Karel Sabina

NOVEMBER 13, 14, 15 AT 7:30PM | NOVEMBER 16 AT 2:00PM

Conductor – Norbert BaxaDirector – Nancy Hermiston

Lighting Design – Jeremy BaxterSet Design – Alessia Carpoca

UBC Opera Ensemble with members of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra

There will be a 15-minute intermission after Act 2

This production is made possible by the David Spencer Endowment Encouragement Fund.

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A MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR Nancy Hermiston, O.C.

It is a great pleasure to welcome you to our 2014/2015 Season. We offer you three wonderful operas from the classic opera repertoire and one new work by UBC composer Dr. Stephen Chatman. Our talented students are so excited to present these works to you.

Tonight we begin with a work which serves as a model for Czech nationalist opera, Bedřich Smetana’s, Prodaná nevěsta, The Bartered Bride. It remains not only in the repertoire of Czech opera houses, but also

in the repertoire of opera houses around the world. For this production we have had the great fortune of working with Czech coach, Mrs. Milena Janda. Her hard work and diligence in teaching this very difficult language to our singers has been invaluable. As well, we are delighted to welcome back Czech conductor, Mr. Norbert Baxa, founder and director of the European Music Academy, to lead our production. In addition, members of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra are joining us again this season. We are so grateful for their valuable collaboration.

This year the UBC Opera Ensemble has entered into a close collaboration with the talented faculty, staff and students of the UBC Department of Theatre and Film. We are excited about this partnership and look forward to working together in future productions.

We hope that you will enjoy this stellar season of opera classics, a new work and of course, our ever-popular Opera Teas, Opera Ball, and Royal Opera House presentations.

Thank you for your continued support and loyalty to the UBC Opera Ensemble.

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THE CAST* NOVEMBER 13 & 15 NOVEMBER 14 & 16Mařenka Laura Miller Allyson Hop Jeník Tony Caruso Matt Chittick Kecal Peter Monaghan Scott BrooksVašek Brent Mackenzie Tony Bittar-Sayegh Krušina Jason Klippenstein Rayne Beveridge Ludmila Gwen Yearwood Isabella HalladayMícha Duncan Watts-Grant Elliot HarderHáta Leanne Kaufman Suzette Janse van RensburgPrincipal Ian McCloy William GrossmanEsmerelda Camille Holland Allison HarkerIndián Elliot Harder Duncan Watts-Grant Innkeeper Iain Taylor Iain TaylorLittle Boy Noah Skarsgard Noah SkarsgardLittle Girl Zoë Mix Zoë MixClown #1 Spencer Britten Spencer BrittenClown #2 Geoffrey Schellenberg Geoffrey SchellenbergClown #3 Sheldon Baxter Sheldon BaxterClown #4 William Grossman Ian McCloyJester Suzette Janse van Rensburg Suzette Janse van RensburgContortionist #1 Arianna Ervin Arianna ErvinContortionist #2 Michelle Kim Michelle KimContortionist #3 Sawyer Craig Sawyer CraigBearded Lady Rachel Stewart Rachel StewartTrumpet Girl Chelsi Walsh Chelsi WalshStrongman Jeremiah Carag Jeremiah Carag

UBC OPERA ENSEMBLE CHORUS**

Soprano: Arianna Ervin, Shante van Horlick, Kiera Chapman, Camille Holland, Sawyer Craig, Hannah Fettis, Paula Berry, Chelsi Walsh, Jessica Taylor, Michelle Kim, Michelle Baynton, Zoë Mix, Caitlin Hill, Roan Shankaru, Colleen Donnelly, Melodie Corbett, Mariah Muehler.Mezzo: Charlotte Beglinger, Rachel Stewart, Suzette Janse van Rensburg, Courtney Bridge, Elena Razlog, Rory Shade, Katie Miller, Leanne Kaufman, Chandra Curry. Tenor: Brent MacKenzie, Ian McCloy, Spencer Britten, Cliff Wong, Jeremiah Carag, Alireza Mojibian, Tony Bittar-Sayegh, William Grossman.Bass: Duncan Watts-Grant, Elliot Harder, Geoff Schellenberg, Micah Schroeder, Sheldon Baxter, Jason Klippenstein, Rayne Beveridge, Justin Chen, Matthew McLellan.Dancers: Sheldon Baxter, Chelsi Walsh, Spencer Britten, Kiera Chapman, Micah Schroeder, Camille Holland, Cliff Wong, Courtney Bridge.Dance Alternates: Elena Razlog, Brent Mackenzie, Tony Bittar-Sayegh.

*All cast and chorus are subject to change. **Appearing courtesy of Actors Equity

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SYNOPSISACT IThe citizens of a Bohemian village are gaily celebrating their Patron Saint’s Day. Among them, only Mařenka is sad. She tells her sweetheart, Jeník, that her parents are planning her marriage with a man she cannot love - Vašek, the simple-minded son of the wealthy landowner Mícha. Jeník reassures her, saying that this marriage will never take place. They sing about the strength of their love and their confidence in the future.

Kecal, the village marriage broker, arrives with Mařenka’s parents and harangues them about keeping to the bargain they have made. He assures them to their satisfaction that although Vašek is a bit slow and odd he has every other virtue in abundance and would make a fitting husband for their daughter.

Mařenka makes it plain however that she has a lover to whom she has sworn fidelity. Kecal, confident of overcoming what he regards as a trifling difficulty, determines to go off to the inn to have a word with Jeník. The villagers return and dance and sing a lively polka.

ACT IIAt the inn the men sing in praise of beer, while Jeník praises love; Kecal watching them, praises only money. In the village square Vašek enters, a pathetic stuttering figure. Mařenka, pretending to be another girl from the village, tells Vašek (who does not know her) that everyone pities him for having to marry such a disagreeable girl as Mařenka, especially as someone else (she indicates herself) is pining for him.

Kecal approaches Jeník, promising to find him a rich wife. He offers Jeník a hundred crowns to give up Mařenka. When the offer has tripled, Jeník agrees – on condition that Mařenka marries no one other than Mícha’s eldest son. Kecal returns with the contract and with Krušina and many villagers as witnesses, Jeník signs.

All are astonished and disgusted to learn that Jeník should have bartered his bride-to-be so readily.

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— Intermission —

ACT IIIVašek, alone on the village green, anxiously bewails his prospective fate as husband of the terrible Mařenka. A troupe of strolling players arrive and their manager advertises a programme of varied attractions. The Dance of the Comedians follows. Vašek becomes especially interested in the French dancer, Esmeralda. When the manager learns that the man who plays the dancing bear is drunk, Esmeralda entices Vašek to take his place and she and the manager show him what he has to do.

When Vašek’s parents, Háta and Mícha, arrive with Kecal who has the marriage contract, Vašek refuses to sign because of what he has heard about Mařenka. Mařenka distressed by Jeník’s apparent treachery, cannot be prevailed upon to sign the contract either. Left alone, she sings with bitter nostalgia, of her dreams of happiness with Jeník. Jeník arrives, but when he tries to explain to her, she reproaches him for his infidelity.

When the villagers and the four parents return Mařenka announces that she will, after all, marry Vašek. Háta and Mícha are disconcerted to see Jeník - especially when he greets Mícha as his father. Kecal too is taken aback. Mařenka at last realizes what has happened and of course chooses Jeník. The villagers join in the laughter at Kecal’s expense.

Suddenly there are cries of confusion, as a ‘bear’ appears. It is Vašek. Háta, his mother, scolds him for his unruly behaviour. All agree to set aside their differences and join in congratulating the united lovers.

*adapted from Glyndebourne Opera and also Kobbe’s complete opera book.

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NANCY HERMISTON, O.C. — Director & SopranoCanadian-born lyric coloratura soprano Nancy Hermiston has performed throughout Europe and North America. Parallel to her extensive singing career, Miss Hermiston worked as voice teacher, stage director, and Co-coordinator with the University of Toronto’s Opera and Performance Divisions.

In 1995, she joined the University of British Columbia’s School of Music as the Head of the Voice and Opera Divisions, where she established the UBC Opera Ensemble. In 2004, Miss Hermiston was named the UBC University Marshal, and in 2008, UBC awarded her the Dorothy Somerset Award for Performance and Development in the Visual and Performing Arts. She was

also honoured with a Killam Teaching prize in 2010. In October 2011, she received an Opera Canada Rubie Award for her contributions to opera in Canada.

Miss Hermiston is also a favourite guest for master classes throughout Canada, the United States, China and Germany. Her UBC Opera Ensemble tours regularly to the Czech Republic, Germany, Ontario, and throughout British Columbia. The Opera Ensemble gave their first performances in Beijing and Chengdu in May of 2009, and returned to Shanghai in 2010 for concerts at the Shanghai Conservatory and the Shanghai Normal University. In May 2011, the Ensemble returned to the Shanghai Conservatory for a production of Giulio Cesare. Most recently, Miss Hermiston appeared with the VOA as Stage Director for their 2012/13 Season’s Opening production of La Bohème. She will return to the Vancouver Opera in 2015 to direct their production of Die Fledermaus. On December 30, 2013, Miss Hermiston was honoured with the Order of Canada.

NORBERT BAXA — ConductorIn 1998 Norbert Baxa graduated from the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague with honours after studying conducting under Professor František Vajnar. During his studies, Mr. Baxa took part in the international Bartok Courses in Szombathely (Hungary), won a scholarship in Murzzüschlag (Austria) in 1994, and in 1996, co-established a chamber ensemble called “Club 20”, which focussed primarily on twentieth-century music. Mr. Baxa received the position of principle conductor of the North Bohemian Opera and

Ballet in Usti nad Labem in 1998, and was promoted to the General Music Director of the Opera for the next season. At the age of 24, he was the youngest conductor ever to be appointed as the General Music Director of an opera company in Czech history. In 2003, he conducted Eugene Onegin in Prague’s National Theatre during the prestigious festival “Opera 2003” and won the ‘Public’s Choice Award’ for the best opera performance. Mr. Baxa has worked closely with the Prague Chamber Opera Ensemble and Czech Opera Prague. He has travelled internationally with them since 2002.

Aside from his work in the Czech Republic, Norbert Baxa has been a guest conductor in Germany, Finland, Spain, Holland, Switzerland, and Japan. He is currently an international guest professor at the University of Fine Arts in Zürich, as well as the Music Academy of Art in Prague. In 2007, in cooperation with these prestigious universities, Norbert Baxa established the European Music Academy in Teplice, which provides international workshops for young conductors and opera singers. Mr. Baxa has worked with UBC Opera as a guest conductor, leading productions of Manon, The Bartered Bride, The Crucible, Rusalka and Così fan tutte.

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UBC OPERA ENSEMBLEThe University of British Columbia Opera Ensemble was founded by Canadian lyric coloratura, Nancy Hermiston, in 1995. Beginning with a core of seven performers, Ms. Hermiston has built the program to a 90-member company, performing three main productions at UBC every season, seven Opera Tea Concerts, and several engagements with local community partners. The Ensemble’s mission is to educate young, gifted opera singers, preparing them for international careers. The UBC Opera Program was also recognized with the 2011–2012 Alfred Scow Award. This annual award is given to an undergraduate program or department that has had a significant positive impact on student life and student development at UBC. Past main-stage productions have included Le Nozze di Figaro, Die Zauberflöte, Die Gärtnerin aus Liebe, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Suor Angelica, La Bohème, Dido and Aeneas, The Merry Widow, The Bartered Bride, Manon, Eugene Onegin, Florence Lady with the Lamp, Dreamhealer, Falstaff, Don Giovanni, Cendrillon, Albert Herring, and the Western Canadian Premiere of Harry Somer’s Louis Riel, The Crucible, Die Lustige Witwe (The Merry Widow), Rusalka, Così fan tutte, Dialogues des Carmélites, Carmen, The Tales of Hoffmann, The Florentine Straw Hat. The 2014/2015 Season includes The Bartered Bride, Le Nozze di Figaro and La Traviata. This upcoming summer they will be travelling to the Westben Festival to perform La Traviata and also to the Czech Republic performing productions of both La Traviata and Le Nozze di Figaro.

Photo: Tim Matheson

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VANCOUVER OPERA ORCHESTRAThe Vancouver Opera Orchestra was established in 1977, replacing an orchestra made up of members of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. Comprised of the region’s leading freelance players, the VO Orchestra has developed into a fine ensemble that has taken the specialized and demanding art of pit performance to a very high level. Several of the current roster of musicians were in the pit for the orchestra’s inaugural performances, in 1977, of Massenet’s Le Roi de Lahore, starring Joan Sutherland and conducted by founding Music Director Richard Bonynge. There have since been two music directors: David Agler (1992–1999) and Jonathan Darlington (2002 to the present).

Violin IMark Ferris (Concert Master)Angela Cavadas Evelyn CreaserHeilwig von Koenigsloew

Violin IIDom Ivanovic*Ken LinEllen Farrugia

ViolaIsabelle Roland*Mila Tymoshenko

CelloHeather Hay*Susan Round

BassBrian Arkell*

Flute/PiccoloBrenda Fedoruk*Anne-Elise Keefer

Oboes David Owen*Erin Marks

ClarinetsMary Backun*Michelle Anderson

BassoonIngrid Chiang*Isaac Bull

HornsLaurel Spencer*Stephen Denroche

TrumpetTom Shorthouse*

TromboneSharman King*

TimpaniPhilip Crewe*

Orchestra ContractorJim Littleford

* denotes principal

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SPECIAL THANKS TO:David Spencer Endowment Fund Vancouver Opera GuildDr. Irving Guttman and Robert Dales Martha Lou Henley Charitable FoundationJudith and Graham Forst Milena JandaDean of Arts, Gage AverillSOM Diretor, Richard KurthDirector of UBC Department of Theatre & Film,

Robert GardinerAssistant Dean, Gerald Vanderwoude

SOM, Administrative Assistant, Isabel da SilvaStephen Quigley and Colborne Architects Vancouver OperaParvin MirhadyCatherine Alkenbrack and Suzanne PoohkayJay HenricksonJim FergusonBradley PowersLynn BurtonKeith Smith

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PRODUCTION TEAMDirectorNancy Hermiston

ConductorNorbert Baxa

Lighting Design Jeremy Baxter

Set Design Alessia Carpoca

Choreographer Sheldon Baxter

Opera CoachesDavid Boothroyd Richard EppMichael Onwood

Stage ManagerSheila Munn

Assistant Stage ManagerRebecca Fitzpatrick

Hairdressing & WigsElke Englicht

Make-upCarmen Garcia

PropertiesLynn Burton

Wardrobe Work-studiesFrancesca CorradoRachel StewartIsabella HalladayCharlotte Beglinger

Wardrobe AssistantsTamar SimonSpencer BrittenJessica TaylorSawyer CraigJeremiah CaragGwen YearwoodMichelle KimShante van HorlickMariah MuehlerElizabeth HarrisKeira ChapmanChandra CurryElena RazlogArianna ErvinMatthew McLellan

ProgramSheldon Baxter

Program PrintingEast Van Graphics

Office AssistantsSheldon BaxterLaura Widgett

SurtitlesMilena Janda

Surtitles OperatorLaura Widgett

Marketing Coordination & Graphic DesignMiles Linklater

Opera LibrarianKatie Miller

Manager, TechnicalTheatre ProductionJay Henrickson

Production Co-ordinator Patrick Smith

Technical Director Jim Fergusson

Scenic Painters Justus HayesWilliam Grossman

Scenic Carpenters Jim FergussonElliot HarderWilliam GrossmanGeoffrey SchellenbergDuncan Watts-Grant

Student Technical DirectorWilliam Grossman

Stage CrewElliot HarderDuncan Watts-GrantGeoffrey SchellenbergCameron Killick

UBC THEATRESEASON 2014/15

film NAKED CINEMA JANUARY 26 & 27, 2015original collective creations NORM THEATRE

theatre THE BACCHAE 2.1 JAN 22 – FEB 7, 2015

by Euripides, adapted by Charles Mee FREDERIC WOOD THEATRE

musical THE TRIUMPH OF LOVE

MAR 19 – APR 4, 2015

theatre

book: James Magruder, music: Jeffrey Stock, lyrics: Susan Birkenhead FREDERIC WOOD THEATRE

Subscription packages from $33 / Flexible options available online!BOX OFFICE: 604.822.2678

www.theatre.ubc.ca|www.ubcopera.com

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TICKETS & INFO: vancouverbachchoir.com I 604 696 4290

MEDIA SPONSOR:

DEC 07 2014 at 2pm I ORPHEUM THEATRE

MUSIC DIRECTORS LESLIE DALA AND MARISA GAETANNEFeaturing: All levels of the Vancouver Bach Choir Family, Touch of Brass Quintet and Organist, Ellen Ay-Laung Wang.

Heartwarming classics to herald the festive season

CHILDREN’S CHORUS

30th �iv��

� the VANCOUVER BACH

MANON LESCAUTGIACOMO PUCCINISEPT 18, 6PM / SEPT 20, 10AM

I DUE FOSCARIGIUSEPPE VERDINOV 27, 6PM / NOV 29, 10AM

L’ELISIR D’AMOREDOMENICO DONIZETTIJAN 8, 6PM / JAN 10, 10AM

ANDREA CHÉNIERUMBERTO GIORDANOMARCH 12, 6PM / MARCH 14, 10AM

DER FLIEGENDE HOLLÄNDERRICHARD WAGNERMARCH 26, 6PM / MARCH 28, 10AM

RISE AND FALL OF THE CITY OF MAHAGONNYKURT WEILLMAY 14, 6PM / MAY 16, 10AM

All performances take place in the Old Auditorium on the UBC Campus

Sunday, November 23, 2014 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm (doors open at 1 pm)

UBC Old Auditorium 6344 Memorial Road, Vancouver

Light refreshments

Each guest will have the opportunity to give a tax receiptable gift towards CARE Canada’s work in Bolivia to lift women, girls and their families out of poverty. While gift amounts may vary, a minimum of

$250 is recommended and appreciated.

Seating is limited, reserve yours today by contacting Debbie Frederickson (debbie.frederickson@care.ca) at (778) 996-1062.

“Let us lift our voices in song to celebrate and pay tribute to these extraordinary women in Bolivia.” – Judith

Defending Dignity. Fighting Poverty.

CARE Canada and the members of I Am Powerful Vancouver invite you to An Exclusive Conversation with Judith Forst, joined by UBC Opera Ensemble