The Abduction from the Seraglio
Monday, October 13, 2008, 7:00-9:00 pm
The Minnesota Opera Center
King Joseph II reportedly commented on Mozart's The Abduction from the Seraglio with the infamous remark 'Too many notes!' Come discover why Joseph was a fool and how every note of Mozart's coming-of-age opera is a delight. Explore Mozart's extraordinary development in form, style, vocal writing and orchestration plus Europe's obsessive fascination with the exotic Orient.
Noted for his "vividly colorful" and "first rate" performances, Andrew Altenbach has gained acclaim as a conductor of operatic and symphonic literature as well as for his work as a collaborative pianist. In fall 2008, Mr. Altenbach assumed the appointment of resident conductor of the esteemed Minnesota Opera. He has worked with such conductors as Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Harry Bicket, Robert Wood and Ari Pelto. A native of Atlanta, Georgia, he attended Northwestern University, where he studied conducting with Victor Yampolsky and piano with Alan Chow. Presently, Mr. Altenbach is finishing doctoral work at Indiana University, where he studied conducting with David Effron and piano with Karen Shaw. He has also spent the last season as the faculty head opera coach for the Indiana University Opera Theatre.
As a conductor, Mr. Altenbach has music directed for the Milwaukee Opera Theatre, Indiana University Opera Theatre, Bloomington Symphony, North Shore Chamber Orchestra and College Light Opera Company. He has served as an associate conductor and coach for the Merola coaching program with the San Francisco Opera, the Music Academy of the West, Marilyn Horne's vocal training company in Santa Barbara, California, Indiana University Opera Theatre, Evanston Symphony, Brevard Music Center and the International Institute of Vocal Arts. In the fall of 2005, Mr. Altenbach took over a production of Così fan tutte upon the sudden and tragic passing of Randall Behr. The production was an enormous success and earned Mr. Altenbach a spot in OperaNow magazine under "Who's Hot." He recently guest conducted for the National Opera Association Convention in New York City, and was also the Conducting Fellow at the prestigious Chautauqua Institution.
Mr. Altenbach conducted Opera on the James' fall production of Così fan tutte and returned in the spring to conduct La tragédie de Carmen. Recent engagements included assistant conductor of the Cincinnati Opera as well as guest conducting for the Brevard Music Festival. For The Minnesota Opera, Mr. Altenbach has led performances of Lakmé, Roméo et Juliette, and this season conducts The Abduction from the Seraglio and The Barber of Seville.
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Faust
Monday, January 12, 2009, 7:00-9:00 pm
(please note date change)
The Minnesota Opera Center
Of the many operas and symphonic masterpieces based upon Goethe's Faust, the operatic adaptation by Charles Gounod was one of the most controversial. Germans find it so far from Goethe's original that it is called Margarete when performed in Germany, yet this opera has become a beloved mainstay of opera houses the world over. Coach Mary Dibbern, whose work with the Gounod family resulted in a book about both Faust and Roméo et Juliette, will discuss the controversy about Gounod's Faust, as well as give some historical facts and a behind-the-scenes look at the upcoming Minnesota Opera production.
The American pianist Mary Dibbern is internationally known as a specialist in the field of vocal accompaniment. Her activities include opera coaching, recitals, recordings, master classes at the university level, Young Artists Program teaching, television and radio appearances in Europe, the United States and Asia. She is the author of The Tales of Hoffmann: Performance Guide and Carmen: Performance Guide for Pendragon Press, as well as Interpreting the Songs of Jacques Leguerney: A Guide for Study and Performance in collaboration with Carol Kimball and Patrick Choukroun. Her fourth book, Faust/Romé et Juliette: Performance Guide was published in 2006 and she is currently completing her fifth book, Manon: A Performance Guide.
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The Adventures of Pinocchio
Monday, February 16, 2009, 7:00-9:00 pm
The Minnesota Opera Center
Walk through the score of The Adventures of Pinocchio with its composer, Jonathan Dove. Spend an evening learning about the exhilarating music as well as the story about how a famous Italian children's tale has been given new life in this exciting new opera, making its North American premiere.
Jonathan Dove is best known as a composer of operas and choral music. His airport-comedy Flight ("one of the few successful comic operas of recent musical history" The Sunday Times) was premiered at Glyndebourne in 1998 and broadcast on Britain's Channel 4; a recording is available on Chandos. His choral music includes a song cycle, The Passing of the Year, and several anthems and carols, among them The Three Kings, commissioned by King's College Cambridge, and The Far Theatricals of Day, settings of Emily Dickinson for soloists, choir, brass quintet and organ. His most recent works are The Darkling Thrush, commissioned by Trinity College Cambridge, and It sounded as if the streets were running with poems by Emily Dickinson for the Farnham Youth Choir. London Symphony Chorus will premiere a full orchestrated version of The Passing of the Year in the 2008 season.
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The Barber of Seville
Monday, March 30, 2009, 7:00-9:00 pm
The Minnesota Opera Center
Gioachino Rossini's The Barber of Seville, first performed in 1816, remains the most frequently performed comic opera ever written. The principal reason for its attraction to audiences, naturally, is its music, which represents the first stages of a rejuvenation of Italian opera that lasted for a century. In comic style, the music of Rossini never offers challenges to the listener-only delights. The story of the opera, based on a popular French play by Beaumarchais, features a variant of common eighteenth-century dramatic scenarios in which a wily, beautiful young woman has to outsmart a wealthy, ridiculous older man in order to make her dreams of marriage come true. Audiences find the characterizations and love intrigues as enjoyable as the music written to help bring them to life.
Daniel E. Freeman has taught music history at the University of Illinois, the University of Southern California and the University of Minnesota, where he now holds a position as lecturer. He also offers annual lecture series in music history at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. A specialist in eighteenth-century European music, he is the author of two books and numerous scholarly essays. His third book, Mozart in Prague, is in preparation.
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