We need your help! Thank you to all our patrons and supporters as we continue our fourth season! Community response has exceeded our expectations, as more people have seen live professional opera here than in a long time. But opera productions are very expensive (think sets, costumes, singers, orchestra, theatre, stage hands….the list goes on and on.) Ticket sales do not begin to cover our annual expenses. In order to continue to provide excellence in opera programming and entertain you with free performances like this one, we depend on contributions from friends like you. Your financial support allows us to carry out our mission in Rochester: to provide a diverse repertoire of professional opera productions of the highest artistic quality, create future audiences for opera with a vigorous education and outreach program, and provide performance opportunities for local musicians – professional, emerging, and avocational. If you enjoy our performance and agree with our goals, please support our future. Consider a donation to continue professional opera performances and to reach out to future opera lovers in Rochester. Tax-deductible donations are gratefully accepted by Mercury Opera Rochester, 1600 North Clinton Avenue, Rochester, NY, 14621, and on our website at www.mercuryoperarochester.org.

Coming Up Next Tosca by Giacomo Puccini

Friday, January 16 at 8 PM & Sunday, January 18 at 2 PM, at the Eastman Theatre with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.

A violent melodrama in three acts, complete with passionate love and jealousy, onstage torture, murder, suicide, and betrayal, all set to fabulous and memorable Puccini melodies full of emotion. Sung in Italian with English projected supertitles, Benton Hess will conduct with dramatic direction by David Bartholomew.

Tickets: $85, $65, $45, $25, Students - $15 (in most sections), available from the RPO Box Office at 108 East Avenue, by phone at (585) 454-2100, online at www.rpo.org, at all Rochester-area Wegmans, and at the door. (Some convenience fees may apply.)

1600 NORTH CLINTON AVENUE ROCHESTER, NY 14621 www.mercuryoperarochester.org 585-473-6567

presents

Amahl and the Night Visitors by Gian-Carlo Menotti

Benton Hess – Artistic Director & Conductor

JJ Hudson – Director

Friday, December 19 at 7 PM at Saint Mary’s Church, Canandaigua

Saturday, December 20 at 7 PM & Sunday, December 21 at 2 PM

at Saint Mary’s Church, Rochester

2008

Cast Amahl, a crippled boy about 12 years old Lyndon England His Mother Katherine Maroney King Kaspar, slightly deaf Robert Strauss King Melchior Colin Porter King Balthazar Chad Rushforth The Page, traveling with the kings Zach Ligas Shepherds and Villagers:

Tyler Coughlin, Max Denler, Jess Galchutt, Bill Hearne, Bob Holmes, Lindsay Holmes, Jason Holmes, Craig Larson, Julia Natoli,

Becki Boyanski Place, Dennis Rosenbaum, Catherine Siniscalco, Shirlyn Washington, Matt Wegman, Lynn Zicari

Children: Amelia Smith, Lily Smith Featured Dancers: Katherine Dellaquila, Wynton Rice, Tiffani Williams

Orchestra Violin Jenna Anderson, Sara Ballance Viola Jared Davis Cello Andy Barnhart Bass Scott Worthington Harp Andrea Mumm Oboe Mike McGowen, Kevin Pearl Piano Richard Masters

Artistic & Production Staff Artistic Director & Conductor Benton Hess Stage Director JJ Hudson Choreographer Thomas Warfield Stage Manager Lindsay Chassé Assistant Conductor & Pianist Richard Masters Costume Designer Nellica Rave Chorusmaster Dean Ekberg Production Manager & Props Mistress Lynn Zicari Production Assistant Zachary Kralles House Manager Jack Hansen Costumes provided by Mercury Opera Costume Collection

Synopsis Our story takes place near Bethlehem in the first century. A widowed shepherd woman and her crippled son are out of food and will have to go begging the next day. Although kind hearted, Amahl has a problem with telling tall tales, and his mother does not believe his story of an amazing star. Later that night, three splendidly dressed kings who are in search of a wondrous child arrive at the door, seeking shelter for the night. The mother agrees and goes to fetch her neighbors, that the kings may be fed and entertained. Later that night, the mother, being poor and thinking of her hungry child, attempts to steal some gold, but is caught. Upon realizing the mother's motives for the attempted theft, King Melchior says she may keep the gold, as the Holy Child will not need earthly power or wealth. The mother says that she also wishes to send a gift, but has nothing to send. Amahl offers to give his crutch, and as he does so, his leg is healed, and he joyfully leaves his mother and goes off with the three kings to see the child and give thanks.

Program Notes Gian-Carlo Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors is the first opera expressly commissioned for television, and as such it marks an important milestone in operatic history. It was premiered at the NBC Studios in New York City and broadcast live on December 24, 1951, and every Christmas season thereafter until 1966. The professional stage premiere of the 55-minute work was performed on April 9, 1952 by New York City Opera.

The story was inspired by the painting “Adoration of the Magi” by Hieronymus Bosch, the sixteenth-century Dutch painter. The then 40-year old Menotti wrote the story and the libretto in English, as well as composing the music. He modeled the character of King Kaspar after one of the “Three Kings” who came to his childhood home in Italy at Christmas, bringing presents – the Italian version of the visit from Santa Claus. This real-life Kaspar was deaf also.

The original production for television was staged entirely by the composer, who also told the story of the opera’s origins for the national audience. In 1978, a new production starring Teresa Stratas as Amahl's mother was filmed by NBC, partly on location in the Holy Land. As a child, Eastman Professor of Voice William McIver (deceased in 2004) played the role of Amahl in the annual television special from 1952 through 1955.

Since its first performance in 1951, Amahl and the Night Visitors has taken its place with A Christmas Carol as a holiday classic. Performed on every continent and in many languages, it has been seen by more people than any other opera in history. It was written specifically for young imaginations which can easily relate to a child with a head full of dreams. It remains an inspiring story of how faith, charity, unselfish love and good deeds can work miracles.

This is Mercury Opera Rochester’s third holiday season performing this much-beloved classic for Rochester audiences.

Biographies Benton Hess, Artistic Director & Conductor Trained at the New England Conservatory as a pianist, Benton Hess served as assistant conductor for several regional opera companies before taking the podium himself in 1970 for a Boston production of Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia, replacing conductor James Levine on a week’s notice. Since then Hess has conducted hundreds of performances for dozens of opera companies worldwide and has presided over many world premieres of works by David Amram, Carlisle Floyd, Lee Hoiby, Karel Husa, Libby Larsen, Daniel Pinkham, Greg Sandow, and Conrad Susa, to name but a few. He has also served on the faculties of Boston University, Boston Conservatory, the New England Conservatory, Mannes College of Music in New York City, the Hartt School of Music, Rutgers University, and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Since 2001 Maestro Hess has been Distinguished Professor of Voice and Musical Director of Eastman Opera Theatre, and is one of New York City’s most respected and sought-after vocal coaches. Benton Hess appears regularly as conductor, pianist/accompanist, and master class clinician throughout the United States and abroad. Besides his responsibilities at Eastman and with Mercury Opera, Hess is Artistic Director of "Si parla, si canta," an Italian language program for young singers and coach/accompanists in Urbania, Italy, and conductor for the International Arts Institute in Tel Aviv, Israel. This is his first time conducting Mercury Opera Rochester’s production of Amahl. JJ Hudson, Director JJ Hudson has directed several full productions and numerous opera scenes programs in professional and academic settings. In 2005, he directed Mercury Opera Rochester’s inaugural production of Mascagni’s L’Amico Fritz. In 2003, he directed the workshop premier of operetta scholar, Richard Traubner’s new edition of Henri Christine’s Phi-Phi with the Eastman Opera Workshop. Hudson has also acted as an assistant director to several renowned directors including Ron Luchsinger at Opera North (NH), and Steven Daigle at the Eastman School of Music. As a bass-baritone, Hudson has performed throughout the Western and Central New York region, as well as with various opera and concert organizations throughout the country. He has performed more than twenty opera/lyric theater roles with Eastman Opera Theater, Rochester Opera Factory, Tacoma Opera (WA), Buffalo Opera Unlimited, Music by the Lake (WI), and the Centro Studi Opera Festival (Urbania, Italy). Hudson is currently on the faculties of Nazareth College, SUNY-Oswego and Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Before relocating to the Central New York area, Hudson taught on the faculties of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and Concord University (WV). Lyndon England, Amahl Lyndon England is a vocal performance major at the University of Tennessee where he studies with Lorraine DiSimone. Most recently England attended “Si parla, si canta” in Urbania, Italy where he received intensive coaching from Maestro Benton Hess. His most recent engagements include performances as “The Shepherd Boy” in Tosca with The Knoxville Opera Company and as “Amahl” in Amahl and the Night Visitors with Procantus Lyric Opera. England has also performed the role of “Miles” in Benjamin Britten’s Turn of the Screw with the UT Opera Theatre and maintains and extensive portfolio of professional chorus work. Zach Ligas, The Page Zach Ligas, baritone, is a music education major at Nazareth College, where he studies with Dr. Robert Strauss. He has been involved in various musical theater and opera performances at Nazareth including Cabaret (Herr Schultz), Where's Charley (Jack Chesney), and the Opera Workshop, and will be appearing this spring in Ravel's L'enfant et les Sortilege, Robert Ward's Roman Fever as the Waiter, and Menotti's The Telephone as Ben. Mr. Ligas has performed in the chorus of Mercury Opera's Don Giovanni conducted by Maestro Hess, and more recently he appeared as the Lord Chancellor in Gilbert and Sullivan's Iolanthe in Mercury Opera's concert performance. Mr. Ligas is a past third place finisher in the Eastern Region NATS competition and a second place winner in the Fingerlakes Region NATS Vocal Competition.

Katherine Maroney, Amahl’s Mother Mezzo-soprano Katherine Maroney is finishing her doctoral study at the Eastman School of Music in the studio of Robert Swensen. She received a BM, summa cum laude, from SUNY Purchase in 2004, and a MM from the Yale School of Music in 2006. At Purchase, she performed the Mother (Amahl and the Night Visitors), Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel) and Carmen in Peter Brook’s adaptation of Bizet’s Carmen. While at Yale she performed Hermia (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Glâsa (Kat’á Kabanová), Maman, Libellule, Tasse Chinoise (L’Enfant et les Sortilèges), La Marchande Journeaux (Les Mamelles de Tiresias) and Doralba in a world premiere-reconstruction of an opera by Domenico Cimarosa, Les misavventure teatrali. Kate made her professional debut in Milan, Italy with Orchestra Sinfonica Milano di Guiseppe Verdi in July 2005, singing Hermia, and returned to sing roles in 9 one-act operas over a four concert series in 2006. She has performed with the Opera Festival of New Jersey, Arts and Ideas Festival, New Haven, Geneseo Festival Orchestra and Chorus, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, and as Desirée in Eastman Opera’s production of A Little Night Music. She also recently sang the role Dido in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneus under the direction of Paul O’Dette, and sings frequently with “Voices,” a professional chamber choir. Colin Porter, King Melchior Baritone Colin Porter is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond, Virginia) and Eastman School of Music. Having been a student of music composition in conjunction with studying voice, Mr. Porter is well versed as a 21st century musician and is a member of the national organization, ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers.) He has appeared as baritone soloist with the Geneseo Festival Chorus at SUNY Geneseo and understudied the role of Joe in the Mercury Opera’s production of Show Boat. At Eastman, he performed the roles of Capellio in Bellini’s I Capuleti e I Montecchi and Mr. Gobineau in Menotti’s The Medium. Mr. Porter was recently awarded the Encouragement Award at the district level for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and 2nd place at the 2008 Rochester Classical Idol vocal competition. In summer 2008, Mr. Porter was a Studio Artist with Lake George Opera at Saratoga where he performed the roles of Pinellino in Gianni Schicchi (Puccini) and Guiseppe in La Traviata (Verdi.) Chad Rushforth, King Balthazar Chad Rushforth originally hails from Rochester where he earned a degree in Vocal Performance from Roberts Wesleyan College. Mr. Rushforth performed in Mercury Opera’s inaugural season as Hanezò in L’Amico Fritz. He has also sung several roles with Inwood Opera and Dicapo Opera Theater’s Young Artist Program. His operatic credits include Sarastro in The Magic Flute, Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music, the title role in Gianni Schicchi, and with Rochester Opera Factory, Pish-Tush in The Mikado. Robert Strauss, King Kaspar Robert Strauss has been praised for his attention to musical and textual nuance in his singing and for his wonderful sense of comic timing. Favorite operatic performances include Pedrillo (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Prologue/Peter Quint (The Turn of the Screw), Mayor Upfold (Albert Herring), and Federico in L’Amico Fritz with the Centro Studi Italiani Opera Festival. On the concert stage he has sung the tenor solos in The Creation, Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, Britten’s St. Nicolas and Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings and performed Rossini’s Messa di Gloria in the composer’s hometown of Pesaro, Italy. No stranger to the musical theatre repertoire, he performed in the revue Finding a Way Back with local performers Chandra Downs and Don Kot, and in the last decade has portrayed Jesus (Godspell!), Anthony Hope (Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street), Archibald Craven (The Secret Garden) and most recently Simeon/Butler in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, for which he learned to play accordion. Strauss was assistant stage director for Mercury’s production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia and has also directed area productions of Seussical, the Musical, Dido and Aeneas, Trial by Jury, The Turn of the Screw, and the NY premiere of Felice by Benton Hess. Strauss currently teaches at Nazareth College and the Eastman Community Music School.

Biographies Benton Hess, Artistic Director & Conductor Trained at the New England Conservatory as a pianist, Benton Hess served as assistant conductor for several regional opera companies before taking the podium himself in 1970 for a Boston production of Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia, replacing conductor James Levine on a week’s notice. Since then Hess has conducted hundreds of performances for dozens of opera companies worldwide and has presided over many world premieres of works by David Amram, Carlisle Floyd, Lee Hoiby, Karel Husa, Libby Larsen, Daniel Pinkham, Greg Sandow, and Conrad Susa, to name but a few. He has also served on the faculties of Boston University, Boston Conservatory, the New England Conservatory, Mannes College of Music in New York City, the Hartt School of Music, Rutgers University, and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Since 2001 Maestro Hess has been Distinguished Professor of Voice and Musical Director of Eastman Opera Theatre, and is one of New York City’s most respected and sought-after vocal coaches. Benton Hess appears regularly as conductor, pianist/accompanist, and master class clinician throughout the United States and abroad. Besides his responsibilities at Eastman and with Mercury Opera, Hess is Artistic Director of "Si parla, si canta," an Italian language program for young singers and coach/accompanists in Urbania, Italy, and conductor for the International Arts Institute in Tel Aviv, Israel. This is his first time conducting Mercury Opera Rochester’s production of Amahl. JJ Hudson, Director JJ Hudson has directed several full productions and numerous opera scenes programs in professional and academic settings. In 2005, he directed Mercury Opera Rochester’s inaugural production of Mascagni’s L’Amico Fritz. In 2003, he directed the workshop premier of operetta scholar, Richard Traubner’s new edition of Henri Christine’s Phi-Phi with the Eastman Opera Workshop. Hudson has also acted as an assistant director to several renowned directors including Ron Luchsinger at Opera North (NH), and Steven Daigle at the Eastman School of Music. As a bass-baritone, Hudson has performed throughout the Western and Central New York region, as well as with various opera and concert organizations throughout the country. He has performed more than twenty opera/lyric theater roles with Eastman Opera Theater, Rochester Opera Factory, Tacoma Opera (WA), Buffalo Opera Unlimited, Music by the Lake (WI), and the Centro Studi Opera Festival (Urbania, Italy). Hudson is currently on the faculties of Nazareth College, SUNY-Oswego and Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Before relocating to the Central New York area, Hudson taught on the faculties of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and Concord University (WV). Lyndon England, Amahl Lyndon England is a vocal performance major at the University of Tennessee where he studies with Lorraine DiSimone. Most recently England attended “Si parla, si canta” in Urbania, Italy where he received intensive coaching from Maestro Benton Hess. His most recent engagements include performances as “The Shepherd Boy” in Tosca with The Knoxville Opera Company and as “Amahl” in Amahl and the Night Visitors with Procantus Lyric Opera. England has also performed the role of “Miles” in Benjamin Britten’s Turn of the Screw with the UT Opera Theatre and maintains and extensive portfolio of professional chorus work. Zach Ligas, The Page Zach Ligas, baritone, is a music education major at Nazareth College, where he studies with Dr. Robert Strauss. He has been involved in various musical theater and opera performances at Nazareth including Cabaret (Herr Schultz), Where's Charley (Jack Chesney), and the Opera Workshop, and will be appearing this spring in Ravel's L'enfant et les Sortilege, Robert Ward's Roman Fever as the Waiter, and Menotti's The Telephone as Ben. Mr. Ligas has performed in the chorus of Mercury Opera's Don Giovanni conducted by Maestro Hess, and more recently he appeared as the Lord Chancellor in Gilbert and Sullivan's Iolanthe in Mercury Opera's concert performance. Mr. Ligas is a past third place finisher in the Eastern Region NATS competition and a second place winner in the Fingerlakes Region NATS Vocal Competition.

Katherine Maroney, Amahl’s Mother Mezzo-soprano Katherine Maroney is finishing her doctoral study at the Eastman School of Music in the studio of Robert Swensen. She received a BM, summa cum laude, from SUNY Purchase in 2004, and a MM from the Yale School of Music in 2006. At Purchase, she performed the Mother (Amahl and the Night Visitors), Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel) and Carmen in Peter Brook’s adaptation of Bizet’s Carmen. While at Yale she performed Hermia (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Glâsa (Kat’á Kabanová), Maman, Libellule, Tasse Chinoise (L’Enfant et les Sortilèges), La Marchande Journeaux (Les Mamelles de Tiresias) and Doralba in a world premiere-reconstruction of an opera by Domenico Cimarosa, Les misavventure teatrali. Kate made her professional debut in Milan, Italy with Orchestra Sinfonica Milano di Guiseppe Verdi in July 2005, singing Hermia, and returned to sing roles in 9 one-act operas over a four concert series in 2006. She has performed with the Opera Festival of New Jersey, Arts and Ideas Festival, New Haven, Geneseo Festival Orchestra and Chorus, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, and as Desirée in Eastman Opera’s production of A Little Night Music. She also recently sang the role Dido in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneus under the direction of Paul O’Dette, and sings frequently with “Voices,” a professional chamber choir. Colin Porter, King Melchior Baritone Colin Porter is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond, Virginia) and Eastman School of Music. Having been a student of music composition in conjunction with studying voice, Mr. Porter is well versed as a 21st century musician and is a member of the national organization, ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers.) He has appeared as baritone soloist with the Geneseo Festival Chorus at SUNY Geneseo and understudied the role of Joe in the Mercury Opera’s production of Show Boat. At Eastman, he performed the roles of Capellio in Bellini’s I Capuleti e I Montecchi and Mr. Gobineau in Menotti’s The Medium. Mr. Porter was recently awarded the Encouragement Award at the district level for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and 2nd place at the 2008 Rochester Classical Idol vocal competition. In summer 2008, Mr. Porter was a Studio Artist with Lake George Opera at Saratoga where he performed the roles of Pinellino in Gianni Schicchi (Puccini) and Guiseppe in La Traviata (Verdi.) Chad Rushforth, King Balthazar Chad Rushforth originally hails from Rochester where he earned a degree in Vocal Performance from Roberts Wesleyan College. Mr. Rushforth performed in Mercury Opera’s inaugural season as Hanezò in L’Amico Fritz. He has also sung several roles with Inwood Opera and Dicapo Opera Theater’s Young Artist Program. His operatic credits include Sarastro in The Magic Flute, Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music, the title role in Gianni Schicchi, and with Rochester Opera Factory, Pish-Tush in The Mikado. Robert Strauss, King Kaspar Robert Strauss has been praised for his attention to musical and textual nuance in his singing and for his wonderful sense of comic timing. Favorite operatic performances include Pedrillo (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Prologue/Peter Quint (The Turn of the Screw), Mayor Upfold (Albert Herring), and Federico in L’Amico Fritz with the Centro Studi Italiani Opera Festival. On the concert stage he has sung the tenor solos in The Creation, Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, Britten’s St. Nicolas and Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings and performed Rossini’s Messa di Gloria in the composer’s hometown of Pesaro, Italy. No stranger to the musical theatre repertoire, he performed in the revue Finding a Way Back with local performers Chandra Downs and Don Kot, and in the last decade has portrayed Jesus (Godspell!), Anthony Hope (Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street), Archibald Craven (The Secret Garden) and most recently Simeon/Butler in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, for which he learned to play accordion. Strauss was assistant stage director for Mercury’s production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia and has also directed area productions of Seussical, the Musical, Dido and Aeneas, Trial by Jury, The Turn of the Screw, and the NY premiere of Felice by Benton Hess. Strauss currently teaches at Nazareth College and the Eastman Community Music School.

ContributorsMajor Underwriter - $10,000 and above Constellation Brands

Corporate Patron – $1,500 to $4,999 Harter Secrest & Emery LLP Leyerle Publications Nixon Peabody LLP RBC Dain Rauscher

Business Patron – $500 to $999 B&L Wholesale Supply Canandaigua National Bank Rochester Lumber Company

Gold - $10,000 to $24,999 Ron & Jane Fondiller The Gouvernet Arts Fund New York State Council on the Arts New York State Legislature –

Senator Jim Alesi New York State Legislature –

Senator Joseph Robach The Rainbow Fund

Silver - $5,000 to $9,999 The Ann & Gordon Getty

Foundation The Guild of Mercury Opera

Rochester Rose-Marie B. Klipstein Craig & Susan Larson Mary K. Menzie New York State Legislature –

Assemblyman Joseph Morelle Rochester Area Community

Foundation The Haskell Rosenberg Memorial

Fund for Opera

Maestro - $2,500 to $4,999 Dr. George Abraham Agneta D. Borgstedt, MD Sarah H. Collins Lawrence Martling Sunny Rosenberg Joel & Friederike Felber Seligman

Prima Voce - $1,000 to $2,499 Anonymous James & Catherine Aquavella Arthur & Jeanette Axelrod Cortland & Ella Brovitz Margaret J. Carnall Nancy & Alan Cameros John & Carol Condemi Steven & Lee Ann Daigle Peter & Suzanne Durant

Harold & Joan Feinbloom David & Linda Friedman Benton Hess Bob & Lindsay Holmes Kristen Kessler & Michael

Williams Jack & Gail Langerak James & Jane Littwitz Joseph J. Mancini Mary E. McNamara Janet Patlow Barbara Reifler & Charles Unison Judith & Ramon Ricker Jon L. & Katherine T. Schumacher Dr. Kyu H. Shin Thomas Smith Helga & Alexander Strasser Peggy Weir

Impressario - $500 to $999 Anonymous Ann Anderson Eric M. Dreyfuss Maria Dunphrey Gerard & Joan Floriano Mary Alice Fournier Joanne & Steve French Rob W. Goodling William & Deven Hearne Keith & Kathy Jackson Paulina & Laurence Kovalsky Barbara Lane William Levine Simi & Leonard Singer Gavin & Mary Lee Strakosh George & Marsha Tillson Steven C. Webber

Comprimario - $250 to $499 Anonymous James & Jacquie Adams Warren & Mary Elaine Aldoretta Helen D. Brooks William & Marcia Casey William & Carol Crocca Dean & Judy Ekberg Joan & Harold Feinbloom Cathy L. Flowers Margaret Freeman Marjorie & Donald Grinols Karen Harkenrider & John Herring Ernest & Roberta Ierardi Bejan & Sharon Iranpour Konar Foundation Leo & Charlotte Landhuis Peter Lovenheim Chuck Lundeen & John Williams Rebecca Martin Tessa Martin Barbara McIver & Robert Wason

Katharine M. McNally Alexandra Northrop & Jules Smith Tom & Esther Paul William & Elizabeth Powell Lisa Rosenbauer Stephen & Elise Rosenfeld Philip & Ettie Rubenstein Eugene Schneider, MD & Gloria

Baciewicz, MD Paul & Jean Seidel Maxine Smith June M. Stornelli William & Barbara Sullivan John White Jesse P. Woodward Roger Zaenglein

Coro - $100 to $249 Etta Atkin Ruth & George Beede Mort & Maxine Bittker Sarah Bliss David O. Boehm Donald & Joyce Bogdanski Gail & Vincent Bosso Beverly T. Bowen William & Anne Buckingham Josephine Buckley Eileen Buholtz John & Anna Bundschuh Rosalie Cavallaro Thomas Christian J. Richard & Natalie Ciccone Norinne Cole Lillian Courtheoux Louise Creatura Timothy & Karen Crowe Helmut & Catherine Daehn Christopher C. Dahl Joseph & Judy Darweesh Linda Wells Davey Peter & Mary Jane Davidson Daniel & Janet Davies Tony & Gill Dechario Rosalie DiPasquale Thomas Donnan Dana & Leaf Drake Alec Drummond Marcia L. Elwitt George M. Ewing Joseph & Maria Finetti Amy Fujimura Harry & Marion Fulbright Ann & Tim Fulreader Rufus Fulreader Pat & Bob Fussell Johanna M. Gambino Andy & Jacquie Germanow Evelyn & Wesley Ghyzel Donald & Harriette Ginsberg

Teresa Giuliani-Imburgia Coral T. Glassman Robyn Goodman & Irene Balyakov Beverly & Bernard Gordon Susan & Stanley Gordon Marie Graham Helen & George H. Greer Marian D. Griswold Harold & Marilyn Grunert Ann Harkenrider Sally A. Harper Carolyn Harvey John & Charlotte Hayford Warren & Barbara Heiligman Joseph R. Heintzman H. Lawrence & Jo Helfer Gloria Horwitz Daniel B. & JoAnn Hovey R. Greggson & Denise Howell David & Joan Hunt Gwyneth Hunting Robert & Maria Isgro Mary & Frank Jung Sharon & John Karl Robert & Connie Klein Louise Klinke Martin & Phyllis Korn John & Janet Kucaba Ronald Kwasman Robert & Denise LaRossa John & Alice Leddy David & Dorothy Leidig Werner & Sandra Lemke Jennifer Lloyd & Connie Gates Swaminathan Madhu Karen Maher Roberta Majka & Patti Follensbee David & Rose Mancini Maxine Manjos Stephen Matkowski Robert & Karen McIver Robert & Chita McKinney Thomas & Dale McMeekin Thomas & Mary Lou Mees Terry Melore Andrea Swanton Mercier Harry & Linda Messina Mona Miller Sanford & Jill Miller Rosemarie Molser Ilene Montana Lee & Brenda Moss John & Annabel Muenter Philip S. Nash Michael Nazar & Catherine Callery Michael & Carol Newcomb

John C. Ninfo & Judith Ranaletta

Frederick Nuernberg John O’Brien & Patricia Providenza Mildred Ortbach Donald & Andrea Pedersen David & Marjorie Perlman Paul & Tamea Petersen Dorothy Pitlick Peter Plummer Andrea Pope Frank & Mary Posato David Rakov Thaddeus Reszel George & Rosa Rich Danforth Rogers Richard & Beatrice Rosenbloom David & Susan Rothenberg Justin & Kelly Runke Bertha Santirocco Eleanor Santo Barbara Sassano James Sawatsky & David Ames George Scharr & Linda Rice Conrad Scheg Joan Schultz Arthur & Kathryn Schuster Paul Schutt Anthony & Gloria Sciolino Mark & Holley Shafer David Sharkey Jack & Marcia Sherman Virginia Skuse Charles Speirs Burton Spiller Norma & Glenna Spindelman Muriel Steinberg Robert & Carol Stiles Robert & Sally Jo Stookey Donald I-Chung Sun Sydney Sutherland Frank & Rose Swiskey Robert Terhorst David & Ellen Thurber Kathleen Toole Bill & Mary Anna Towler Eugene Toy Harry & Pamela Turner Herbert & Monica Ulrich Gary & Marie Van Graafeiland Lorraine Van Meter-Cline &

Douglas Cline Paul & Joan Van Ness Margaret Vanas Stephen & Linda Venuti Rev. Joseph Versage Judit S. Wagner, MD Karen Walrath Margaret Webber Bob Weeks & Pam Good

Robin & Michael Weintraub Anne West Pamela S. Wilkens White Jean Grant Whitney Christine Wickert Ed & Wilma Wierenga Mary Alice & Bob Wolf George & Caroline Wu Signe & Bob Zale Robert & Carol Zimmerman Jay & Hanna Zukoski

Gifts In Kind AIDS Community Health Center B&L Wholesale Supply Richard A. Kroll. Attorney Leyerle Publications Mark IV Enterprises Parachute Graphics Shaheen Management Soundown, Inc. Rochester Lumber Company Temple B’rith Kodesh

Additional Special Thanks:Bethlehem Lutheran Church Blackfriars Theatre Bonnie Choi Eastman School of Music Geva Theatre Center JCC Centerstage Kids Helping Kids Bob Klie Nazareth College Ron Netsky Rochester Art Supply St. Mary’s Church, Canandaigua St. Mary’s Church, Rochester Soundown, Inc. Ted’s Barber Shop Thomas Music Tinkerman’s Barn Tournedos at the Inn on Broadway Although every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this list, occasional errors & omissions occur. Please contact Mercury Opera Rochester at 473-6567 with any changes or corrections. This list reflects donors of record at the Coro level and above (minimum of $100 donation) as of Dec.18, 2008.

Tribute & Honorary Gifts Tribute and Honorary Gifts are a special way to remember loved ones or commemorate special occasions.

In Memory of Patricia Carr Atwater Suzanne & Peter Durant

This production is funded in part by grants from the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York State Legislature.

We need your help! Thank you to all our patrons and supporters as we continue our fourth season! Community response has exceeded our expectations, as more people have seen live professional opera here than in a long time. But opera productions are very expensive (think sets, costumes, singers, orchestra, theatre, stage hands….the list goes on and on.) Ticket sales do not begin to cover our annual expenses. In order to continue to provide excellence in opera programming and entertain you with free performances like this one, we depend on contributions from friends like you. Your financial support allows us to carry out our mission in Rochester: to provide a diverse repertoire of professional opera productions of the highest artistic quality, create future audiences for opera with a vigorous education and outreach program, and provide performance opportunities for local musicians – professional, emerging, and avocational. If you enjoy our performance and agree with our goals, please support our future. Consider a donation to continue professional opera performances and to reach out to future opera lovers in Rochester. Tax-deductible donations are gratefully accepted by Mercury Opera Rochester, 1600 North Clinton Avenue, Rochester, NY, 14621, and on our website at www.mercuryoperarochester.org.

Coming Up Next Tosca by Giacomo Puccini

Friday, January 16 at 8 PM & Sunday, January 18 at 2 PM, at the Eastman Theatre with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.

A violent melodrama in three acts, complete with passionate love and jealousy, onstage torture, murder, suicide, and betrayal, all set to fabulous and memorable Puccini melodies full of emotion. Sung in Italian with English projected supertitles, Benton Hess will conduct with dramatic direction by David Bartholomew.

Tickets: $85, $65, $45, $25, Students - $15 (in most sections), available from the RPO Box Office at 108 East Avenue, by phone at (585) 454-2100, online at www.rpo.org, at all Rochester-area Wegmans, and at the door. (Some convenience fees may apply.)

1600 NORTH CLINTON AVENUE ROCHESTER, NY 14621 www.mercuryoperarochester.org 585-473-6567

presents

Amahl and the Night Visitors by Gian-Carlo Menotti

Benton Hess – Artistic Director & Conductor

JJ Hudson – Director

Friday, December 19 at 7 PM at Saint Mary’s Church, Canandaigua

Saturday, December 20 at 7 PM & Sunday, December 21 at 2 PM

at Saint Mary’s Church, Rochester

2008