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Sunday, May 04, 2008
'La Traviata' Among '09 S.F. Opera Offerings
By David Steinberg
Journal Staff Writer
SANTA FE — The Santa Fe Opera has announced its 2009 festival season repertory and presented its general director-designate Charles MacKay.
MacKay, who is only the third general director in the SFO's history, replaces Richard Gaddes in the opera company's top administrative post on Oct. 1.
It is the second time MacKay is succeeding Gaddes in a top job; he replaced Gaddes as general director of the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis when Gaddes took over the SFO.
Even though MacKay had a small role in shaping the SFO's 2009 season, he was given the job of unveiling the five operas at a press conference on the opera grounds.
The 2009 season will feature new productions of Giuseppe Verdi's “La traviata” and Gaetano Donizetti's “The Elixir of Love,” a revival of W.A. Mozart's “Don Giovanni,” the SFO's first performance of Christoph Willibald Gluck's “Alceste,” which had its first performance more than 240 years ago, and the world premiere of “The Letter.”
Paul Moravec, the composer of “The Letter,” and Terry Teachout, the librettist, explained Wednesday that the work is based on W. Somerset Maugham's 1927 stage adaptation of his short story of the same name. The same short story was the basis for the 1940 movie starring Bette Davis, who was in the role that Patricia Racette will sing in Santa Fe.
Moravec said while he is in Santa Fe he will try to complete the finale of the eight planned scenes of the 90-minute opera.
“It is a work in progress,” Moravec said. “It will be a contemporary version of a traditional opera and we will make it accessible to mainstream audiences.”
Moravec, who won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize in music, is artist-in-residence at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, the same institute where Albert Einstein was in residence. Teachout is the drama critic of The Wall Street Journal and the author of a biography of Louis Armstrong due out next year.
Moravec described “The Letter” as an opera noir. It tells the story of ordinary people whose lives are riven by violence and revenge in the tropics of Southeast Asia.
The conductor the opera will be Patrick Summers, the music director of the Houston Grand Opera, and the costume designer will be famous fashion designer Tom Ford, who grew up in Santa Fe and maintains a home here.
Dramatic soprano Christine Brewer will have the title role in “Alceste,” which is loosely based on Euripides' play.
“Don Giovanni” will have three former SFO apprentices — Susanna Phillips as Donna Elvira, Kate Lindsey as Zerlina and Corey McKern as Masetto. Conducting is Edo de Waart, who will be in his second season as the company's chief conductor.
“The Elixir of Love” also will have three former apprentices. Jennifer Black will sing Adina, Dimitri Pittas is Nemorino and Patrick Carfizzi sings Belcore.
Director Jerry Zaks and costume designer William Ivey-Long are multiple Tony Award winners for their work on Broadway.
“La traviata” will star famed French soprano Natalie Dessay as Violetta, her debut in the role; and her husband, Laurent Naouri, who is splitting the role of Germont with Anthony Michaels-Moore.
Naouri and Michaels-Moore also will share the title role in “Falstaff” this summer at the SFO.
Starting on July 3 tickets for the 2009 season go on sale at the opera's box office or by telephone. Call (505) 986-5900 or toll-free (800) 280-4654.
The opera also announced the receipt of a $1 million challenge grant from the Kresge Foundation. It will support the SFO's $30 million Campaign for the Fiftieth.
The campaign was established in 2006, its 50th anniversary, to raise $20 million for the endowment and $10 million for improvements.
The opera company's 2008 summer festival season opens the last weekend of June, on June 27 with “Falstaff” and on June 28 with “The Marriage of Figaro.”
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