The program will feature opera and songs inspired by what happens once the sun goes down. Created by and will feature the Opera Company's Studio Artists and Music Staff.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: “Soave sia il vento” from Così fan tutte
Fiordiligi – Nicole Heinen, soprano
Dorabella – Olivia Johnson, mezzo–soprano
Don Alfonso – Luke Harnish, bass-baritone
Pianist/Music Director – Emily Jarrell Urbanek
Director – Diane Machin
Jerry Bock: “Tonight at Eight” from She Loves Me
George – Eric Botto, tenor
Pianist/Music Director – Kristin Roach
Director – Cassandra Lovering
Gaetano Donizetti: Nocturne from Don Pasquale
Ernesto – Marcus Jefferson, tenor
Norina – Megan Fleischmann, soprano
Pianist/Music Director – Dottie Randall
Director – Diane Machin
Matthew Aucoin & Sarah Ruhl: “This is what it is to love an artist” from Eurydice
Eurydice – Nicole Heinen, soprano
Pianist/Music Director – Allison Voth
Director – Cassandra Lovering
Engelbert Humperdinck: Evening Prayer from Hansel and Gretel
Hansel – Max Potter, mezzo–soprano
Gretel – Megan Fleischmann, soprano
Pianist/Music Director – Miriam Charney
Director – Cassandra Lovering
Xavier Montsalvatge: “Canción de cuna para dormir un negrito” from Cinco canciones negras
Olivia Johnson, mezzo–soprano
Pianist/Music Director – Miriam Charney
Director – Cassandra Lovering
Kerwin Young: “After the Sun Goes Down” - World Premiere
Max Potter, mezzo–soprano
Bernardo Medeiros, baritone
Pianist/Music Director – Kristin Roach
Director – Diane Machin
William Bolcom: “Song of Black Max (as told by the de Kooning boys)”
Luke Harnish, bass-baritone
Pianist/Music Director – Emily Jarrell Urbanek
Director – Cassandra Lovering
Jason Robert Brown: “Stars and the Moon” from Songs for a New World
Max Potter, mezzo–soprano
Pianist/Music Director – Rick Hoffenberg
Director – Diane Machin
Leonard Bernstein: “Tonight” Quintet from West Side Story
Maria – Nicole Heinen, soprano
Tony – Eric Botto, tenor
Anita – Olivia Johnson, mezzo–soprano
Bernardo – Bernardo Medeiros, baritone
Riff – Luke Harnish, bass–baritone
Pianist/Music Director – Rick Hoffenberg
Directors – Diane Machin & Cassandra Lovering
Benjamin Britten: “At the mid hour of night”
Marcus Jefferson, tenor
Pianist/Music Director – Miriam Charney
Director – Diane Machin
David T. Little & Royce Vavrek: “Midnight is the loneliest hour” from JFK
Jackie Kennedy – Max Potter, mezzo–soprano
Fate Quartet – Nicole Heinen, Olivia Johnson, Eric Botto, Bernardo Medeiros
Pianist/Music Director – Emily Jarrell Urbanek
Director – Cassandra Lovering
Benjamin Britten: “Be kind and courteous” from A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Tytania – Megan Fleischmann, soprano
Pianist/Music Director – Allison Voth
Director – Diane Machin
Margaret Bonds: “Dream Variations” from Three Dream Portraits
Olivia Johnson, mezzo–soprano
Pianist/Music Director – Carol Rausch
Director – Diane Machin
Robert Schumann: “Die Lotosblume,” Op. 33, No. 3
Eric Botto, tenor
Marcus Jefferson, tenor
Bernardo Medeiros, baritone
Luke Harnish, bass–baritone
Music Director – Rick Hoffenberg
Director – Cassandra Lovering
Giuseppe Verdi: “Sul fil d’un soffio etesio” from Falstaff
Nannetta – Megan Fleischmann, soprano
Pianist/Music Director – Dottie Randall
Director – Cassandra Lovering
Antônio Carlos Jobim: “Foi a Noite” (It was Night)
Bernardo Medeiros, baritone
Pianist/Music Director – Allison Voth
Director – Diane Machin
Richard Rodgers: “We kiss in a shadow” from The King and I
Tuptim – Nicole Heinen, soprano
Lun Tha – Marcus Jefferson, tenor
Pianist/Music Director – Kristin Roach
Director – Cassandra Lovering
Richard Rodgers: “So long, farewell” from The Sound of Music
The Children -
Eric Botto, tenor
Megan Fleischmann, soprano
Nicole Heinen, soprano
Marcus Jefferson, tenor
Olivia Johnson,mezzo-soprano
Bernardo Medeiros, baritone
Max Potter, mezzo-soprano
Captain von Trapp - Luke Harnish
Pianist/Music Director – Carol Rausch
Directors – Diane Machin & Cassandra Lovering
Soave sia il vento
Soave sia il vento,
Tranquilla sia l’onda,
Ed ogni element
Benigno risponda
Ai nostri/vostri desir.
Soave sia il vento
Translation by E. Jarrell Urbanek
May the winds be pleasing
May the waves be calming
And may every element
Respond favorably to
our/their desires.
Torna mia dir che m’ami
Tornami a dir che m’ami
Dimmi che mio tu sei.
Quando tuo ben mi chiami
la vita addoppi in me.
La voce tua si cara
Rinfranca il core oppresso,
Ah! sicura a te dappresso,
Tremo lontan da te.
Turn to me and say you love me
Translation by A. Voth and D. Randall
Turn to me and say you love me
Tell me that you are mine.
When you call me your beloved
I come alive two-fold.
Your voice so dear
Cheers my sad heart
Ah! When you are near, I am content,
When you are far from me, I tremble.
This is what it is to love an artist
Orpheus never liked words
He had his music.
He would get a funny look on his face
And I would say,
“What are you thinking about?”
And he would always be thinking about music.
This is what it is to love an artist:
The moon is always rising above your house.
The houses of your neighbors are dark and dull
But he is always going away from you
Inside his head, there is always
There is always something more beautiful…
This is what it is to love an artist.
He said: words, words, can mean anything.
Show me your body.
It only means one thing…
This is what it is to love an artist.
This is what it is…
Ah, what it is to love.
Evening Prayer
Abends, will Ich schlafen gehen,
vierzehn Engel um mich stehn:
zwei zu meinen Häupten,
zwei zu meinen Füssen,
zwei zu meinen Rechten,
zwei zu meiner Linken,
zweie die mich decken,
zweie die mich wecken,
zweie die mich weisen zu Himmels Paradeisen.
Evening Prayer
Translation by M. Charney
In the evening, when I go to sleep,
fourteen angels stand around me:
two at my head,
two at my feet,
two on my right,
two on my left,
two who cover me,
two who wake me,
two who lead me to Heaven’s paradise.
Canción de cuna para dormir un negrito
Ninghe, ninghe, ninghe,
tan chiquitito,
el negrito
que no quiere dormir.
Cabeza de coco,
grano de café,
con lindas motitas,
con ojos grandotes
como dos ventanas
que miran al mar.
Cierra los ojitos,
negrito asustado;
el mandinga blanco
te puede comer.
¡Ya no eres esclavo!
Y si duermes mucho,
el señor de casa
promete comprar
traje con botones
para ser un ‘groom’.
Ninghe, ninghe, ninghe,
duérmete, negrito,
cabeza de coco,
grano de café.
Lullaby to put a little black boy to sleep
Translation by Jacqueline Cockburn and Richard Stokes
Lullay, lullay, lullay,
[my] tiny little child,
ittle black boy,
who won’t go to sleep.
Head like a coconut,
head like a coffee bean,
with pretty freckles
and wide eyes
like two windows
looking out to sea.
Close your tiny eyes,
frightened little boy,
or the white devil
will eat you up.
You’re no longer a slave!
And if you sleep soundly,
the master of the house
promises to buy
a suit with buttons
to make you a ‘groom’.
Lullay, lullay, lullay,
sleep, little black boy,
head like a coconut,
head like a coffee bean.
After the Sun Goes Down
Kerwin Young
After dinner time is done,
as the moon replaces the sun,
all our daytime pleasures fade
before lying down in the bed that’s made.
As the birds sleep in their nests,
All the dry leaves on the ground are still.
The wind blows, oh, so subtly.
You can hear the frogs and the crickets speak.
Plans for crime and killing sprees.
Plans for war and more disease.
Chills of fright haunt the child that sleeps
For things in the night that creep.
Op’ra camps and lakeside fires,
Fireflies and ghost tales,
One child may wet the bed,
Another wakes up screaming!
Whether in a big city
Or in a small country town,
These are just some things we all do
After the sun goes down.
Whether in a big city
Or in a small county town,
These are just some things we all do
After…
After the sun goes down!
At the mid hour of night (Thomas Moore)
At the mid hour of night when stars are weeping, I fly
To the lonely vale we lov’d when life shone warm in thine eye;
And I think that if spirits can steal from the region of air,
To revisit past scenes of delight; thou wilt come to me there,
And tell me our love is remember’d even in the sky.
Then I’ll sing the wild song, which once ’twas rapture to hear,
When our voices, both mingling, breathed like one on the ear,
And, as Echo far off thro’ the vale my sad orison rolls,
I think, oh my love! ’tis thy voice from the kingdom of souls
Faintly answering still the notes which once were so dear!
Die Lotosblume
Die Lotosblume ängstigt
Sich vor der Sonne Pracht,
Und mit gesenktem Haupte
Erwartet sie träumend die Nacht.
Der Mond, der ist ihr Buhle
Er weckt sie mit seinem Licht,
Und ihm entschleiert sie freundlich
Ihr frommes Blumengesicht.
Sie blüht und glüht und leuchtet
Und starret stumm in die Höh’;
Sie duftet und weinet und zittert
Vor Liebe und Liebesweh.
Die Lotosblume
Translation by Richard Stokes
The lotus-flower fears
The sun’s splendour,
And with bowed head,
Dreaming, awaits the night.
The moon is her lover,
And wakes her with his light,
And to him she tenderly unveils
Her innocent flower-like face.
She blooms and glows and gleams,
And gazes silently aloft—
Fragrant and weeping and trembling
With love and the pain of love.
Sul fil d’un soffio etesio
Sul fil d’un soffio etesio
scorrete, agili larve;
fra i rami un baglior cesio
d’alba lunare apparve.
Danzate! E il passo blando
misuri un blando suon,
la magiche accoppiando carole
alla canzon.
Erriam sotto la luna
scegliendo fior da fiore;
ogni corolla in core
porta la sua fortuna.
Coi gigli e le viole
scriviam de’ nomi arcani;
dalle fatate mani
germoglino parole…
parole alluminate di puro argento e d’or…
carmi e malìe.
Le fate hanno, per cifre, i fior.
On the breath of an etesian breeze
Translated by Jennifer Silberberg
On the breath of an Etesian breeze
scurry, agile shadows
among the branches, a bluish-grey glow
of the rising moon has appeared.
Dance! And may the gentle steps
measure a gentle sound,
combining the magical dances
with the song.
Let us wander beneath the moon,
choosing flower by flower;
each crown of petals, in its heart,
brings its good fortune.
With the lilies and the violets,
let us write secret names;
from our enchanted hands
may words blossom….
Words illuminated by pure silver and gold
magic incantations and charms.
The faeries have, for alphabet letters, flowers.
Young Artists:
Eric Botto, tenor
Megan Fleischmann, soprano
Luke Harnish, bass-baritone
Nicole Heinen, soprano
Marcus Jefferson, tenor
Olivia Johnson, mezzo-soprano
Bernardo Medeiros, baritone
Max Potter, mezzo-soprano
Stage Directors:
Cassandra Lovering
Diane Machin
Music Directors/Pianists:
Miriam Charney
Rick Hoffenberg
Dottie Randall
Carol Rausch
Kristin Roach
Emily Jarrell Urbanek
Allison Voth
Stage Manager:
Julie Welch
General and Artistic Director: Steven Osgood
Music Administrator: Carol Rausch
Managing Director: Daniel Grambow
Director of Production: Michael Baumgarten
Arts Marketing Specialist: Makayla Santiago-Froebel
Company Scheduler: Rick Hoffenberg
Company Managers:
Claudia Torres
Austin Terris
Music Staff:
Miriam Charney
Rick Hoffenberg
Dottie Randall
Carol Rausch
Kristin Roach
Emily Jarrell Urbanek
Allison Voth
Arts Marketing Associate: Jessica Mack