STRE

ET SC

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MoN 3 July LLun 3 Gorff 7pm

Tues 4 JuLy Maw 4 GoRff 7pM

wEd 5 July mer 5 Gorff 7pm

THEATR SHERmAN

THEATRE

Opera training and performance at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama is supported by Dame Shirley Bassey, the Owen Lloyd George Scholarship, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation, Leverhulme Trust, Mosawi Foundation, Olwyn Phillips Memorial Scholarship, Eileen Price, Janet Price, Clive and Sylvia Richards Charity, David Seligman and the Philippa Seligman legacy, The Tillett Trust and Colin Keer Trust, Waterloo Foundation, Neil and Mary Webber and the Connect Fund.

Used by arrangement with European American Music Corporation

AmericAn OpERA iN TwO AcTS

@RWCMD

INTRODUCTION CYFLWYNIAD

Shortly after Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933 Kurt Weill wrote ‘I consider what is going on here so appalling it can surely only last a few months… but I could be very wrong.’ By 1935 he had fled, and with his wife Lotte Lenya followed the path to America already trod by other German and Austrian artists. But unlike Schoenberg for example who was living in the Californian sunshine and stubbornly resisting American influence, Weill settled in New York, fully embraced American culture and studied it with great affection. He may not have enjoyed the prominence he had reached in Germany in the Weimar years following The Threepenny Opera but he did become commercially very successful.The pinnacle of his American achievements is his Broadway opera ‘Street Scene’, a setting of Elmer Rice’s play with lyrics by the poet Langston Hughes and for which Weill won the Tony Award for Best Original Score.

The eponymous Street is a grim place and its inhabitants live a grim life - one they all want to escape from even if they can only dream of doing so. Weill probably saw Rice’s play in its first Berlin production at least 15 years before he sought permission to set it and it was that same grim reality that attracted him to it, along with the chance to ramp up the most intense scenes with soaring ‘operatic’ music.

‘The challenge’ said Weill ‘was to find a form that translated the realism of the plot into music. The result… applies the technique of opera without ever falling into the artificiality of opera.’

When he arrived in America Weill was already a well-known figure and quickly found himself meeting other famous composers. Gershwin invited him to a rehearsal of his own Porgy and Bess and that must have made a huge impression since Street Scene and Porgy have crucial elements in common - a community trapped by circumstance and an instantly identifiable American musical language. The opening of both pieces for example has a driving motor rhythm, and a solo jazzy piano interruption. But their treatment of text is different; Gershwin sets almost all the dialogue to music, in recitative, perhaps in his desire to write ‘opera’. But Weill prefers the realism of spoken dialogue, often with orchestral underscoring emerging into song… ‘so that the dialogue melts into the music and creates a unity I never achieved before.’ Some may feel he doesn’t achieve it here either but they can’t deny it’s a thrilling attempt.

Weill’s response to the huge variety of New York characters in the play is to imitate an equally huge variety of popular musical styles; Henry’s bluesy daydream near the start, a soft shoe shuffle for Harry Easter’s attempted seduction of Rose, Rose’s gentle foxtrot response ‘What good would the moon be without the right one to share its beams’, and Mae and Dick’s jitterbug showstopper ‘Moon faced, starry eyed.’ The latter is a symphonic jazz event that’s easily worthy of a place in West Side Story; surely Bernstein drew on it for his spectacular Jets v Sharks fight music? Even ‘Street Scene’s’ one standout operatic aria, Sam’s ‘Lonely House’, makes delicious use of a slowed down swing rhythm.

Characterful though these dance music scenes are in Street Scene they remain imitations of American styles; it is in the lyrical and tragic scenes that Weill’s originality is so striking. The central character of Frank Maurrant is a full blooded bass-baritone and the harmonic cadences of his music are strongly reminiscent of Weill’s darkest German music. Anna, the wife he drives to committing adultery is a soaring soprano who is given the longest and most probing number ever to have appeared in a Broadway show. ‘Somehow I never could believe’ contains an even wider emotional range than Rogers and Hammerstein’s great soliloquy in ‘Carousel’. In ‘My Boy Bill’ Billy Bigelow the carousel barker imagines a son’s manly exploits and a daughter’s peaches and cream complexion, whereas Anna Maurrant’s darker preoccupations are Hell’s Kitchen’s oppressive working conditions and her fear of a day when her son won’t need her any more.

But the most original and crowning achievement of ‘Street Scene’ is the confrontation of father, daughter and mother in the Act Two trio. Its combination of Puccinian tension with everyday speech is exactly what Weill had dreamt of achieving when he spoke of creating ‘a special brand of musical theatre’ that would make ‘an American opera on Broadway.’

STReeT SCeNe. AN AmeRICAN OpeRA.

Wyn Davies Conductor

www.rwcmd.ac.uk

3

CAST CAST

Frank Maurrant Andrii Ganchuk Anna Maurrant Rachel Goode Rose MaurrantLucy Mellors Mrs. JonesLesley DolmanChristine Byrne Mr. JonesEdmund Caird Mae JonesXu Jiang Vincent Jones/Cover Abraham KaplanJack Bowtell Mrs. OlsenWendy Silvester Mr. OlsenBlaise Malaba Dick McGannPablo Gonzalez Harry Easter/Cover Frank MaurrantDragos Ionel Steve Sankey/Cover Sam KaplanAndrew Mcgowan Nursemaid 1 Martina Kűng Nursemaid 2/Graduate Grace Farrell Abraham KaplanAaron Holmes Sam KaplanRhodri Jones Shirley KaplanOlivia Barr Greta FiorentinoAlex Bork Lippo FiorentinoTom Smith

Mrs. Hildebrand/ Cover Anna Maurrant Angharad Davies Jennie HildebrandCristina Negoescu Daniel BuchananMatthew Clark Henry DavisOscar CastellinoGrace DavisSioned Llewellyn Willie Maurrant / Charlie Hildebrand Archie Lloyd Evans Alfie Jones

On Stage ViolinistKinga Kowalczyk

Hospital InternErin AlexanderDoctor WilsonClare EcclesGirl in the DressStephanie HershawPolice WomanEmily BennettHot WomanRebecca MarineMarshall /Cover Lippo FiorentinoLuca HlaingOfficer MurphyMartin PizarroPolice OfficerRoss WilsonFred/Marshall’s Assistant Josh Jones

All other roles and chorus played by members of the cast

ORCheSTRA CERDDORFA

Violin 1Sam HauHeidi FordeJessica Lawless

Violin 2Holly ShumRobyn BellAlice Apreda Howell

ViolasMegan JowettNia Thomas

CellosWilliam PercyIsobelle Austin

Double BassLucy Edmunds

Flute/PiccoloJack Orton

OboeBruce Foster

ClarinetsJennifer MossCarwyn ThomasNaomi Bayley

BassoonPolly Horton

French HornsMatt JacksonCara WatsonVikki Scanlon

TrumpetsCorey MorrisBen Day

TrombonesNick MacdonaldBen Williams-Stacey

HarpEluned Hollyman

Piano/CelesteConal Bembridge-Sayers

PercussionJames HarrisonIolo Edwards

CAST | ChORUS | ORCheSTRA CAST | CHORWS | CERDDORFA

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ACT I

Outside a multi-ethnic Manhattan tenement on a sweltering summer evening, some women are passing the time (‘Ain’t It Awful, the Heat?’) while the janitor takes out the garbage (‘I Got a Marble and a Star’). The women switch to gossiping about Anna Maurrant’s extramarital affair with Sankey the milkman (‘Get a Load of That’); they stop when she enters. Mrs. Maurrant and young Sam Kaplan, who is in love with her daughter Rose, converse as Mr. Buchanan frets about his wife’s impending childbirth (‘When a Woman Has a Baby’). Then Anna’s brutish (and suspicious) husband Frank arrives and demands to know why Rose hasn’t come home from work. After Frank goes inside, Anna pours out her frustrations and broken dreams, even as she continues to hope for a better life (‘Somehow I Never Could Believe’). When Sankey walks by, Anna follows him, fueling the neighbors’ gossip (‘Get a Load of That’ reprise). Lippo Fiorentino arrives with ice-cream cones for everyone, providing relief (comic and otherwise) from the heat (‘Ice-Cream Sextet’). Frank, not amused, rails against kids today and modern society (‘Let Things Be Like They Always Was’). The Hildebrand family enters, about to be evicted from their apartment because they can’t pay the rent, even though oldest daughter Jenny has just won a scholarship (‘Wrapped in a Ribbon and Tied in a Bow’).

The building’s denizens retire for the night. Sam stays outside to lament his isolation in the midst of so many neighbors (‘Lonely House’). After Sam goes in, Rose Maurrant finally enters, escorted by her boss Harry Easter. Easter tries to seduce her with promises of a show business career (‘Wouldn’t You Like to Be on Broadway?’), but Rose rebuffs him (‘What Good Would the Moon Be?’). Easter leaves as Frank enters. Mrs. Buchanan goes into labor, and Rose exits to summon the doctor. Mae Jones and her friend Dick, who have been out partying, do a jitterbug on the sidewalk (‘Moon-Faced, Starry-Eyed’). When Rose returns, Mae’s brother Vincent makes a pass at her. Sam comes out to defend her, and Vincent knocks him down. Rose comforts Sam, and the two share their dream of escaping the tenement’s squalor (‘Remember That I Care’).

ACT II SCENE 1

Early the next morning; the tenement building awakes. Buchanan’s wife has given birth. Rose tells Sam she is on her way to a funeral. Frank says he is going out of town, but he gets truculent when Anna asks when he’ll be back. Rose tries to convince Frank to be kinder to Anna, but he rejects her advice (‘There’ll Be Trouble’). After Frank leaves, Anna sends Willie off to school, telling him that he will make her proud some day (‘A Boy Like You’). Rose tells Sam about Harry Easter’s offer. Appalled, Sam pleads with Rose to elope with him now; she considers the idea (‘We’ll Go Away Together’) but decides she needs to think it over. Rose leaves for the funeral, and city marshals arrive to evict the Hildebrands, as Sam remains seated on the stoop. Mr. Sankey enters and Mrs. Maurrant invites him up to her apartment. Suddenly Frank reappears. Sam tries to warn Anna, but to no avail. Frank rushes upstairs and shoots Anna and Sankey, who drops dead. Frank escapes in the confusion as an ambulance, policemen, and crowds mob around. Rose returns from the funeral just in time to see her mortally wounded mother carried off on a stretcher (‘The Woman Who Lived Up There’).

SCENE 2

Later that day, two nannies push their baby carriages in front of the tenement and gossip about the murder (‘Lullaby’). Rose returns from the hospital where her mother has died. As Sam and his sister Shirley try to comfort Rose, more shots ring out: Frank Maurrant has been captured by the police. Now remorseful, Frank awkwardly tries to explain to Rose why he committed the murders (‘I Loved Her Too’) as the police lead him away. Sam once more declares his love and implores Rose to go away with him, but she has decided that she must go off on her own (‘Don’t Forget the Lilac Bush’). Two strangers enter, hoping to rent the Hildebrands’ apartment. As evening approaches, the denizens of the building once again sit on the stoop as if nothing happened, gossiping and complaining about the heat (‘Ain’t It Awful, the Heat?’ reprise).

BY | gan mARk N. GRANT

SYNOpSIS CRYNODEB

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5BIOGRAphIeS BYWGRAFFIADAu

mARTIN CONSTANTINe DIRECTOR

Martin is the Jane Hodge International Chair in Directing at RWCMD. He has directed for such companies as the Royal Opera House, Royal Shakespeare Company, English National Opera, Welsh National Opera, Almeida, Bristol Old Vic, National Theatre Studio, Chichester Festival Theatre, and Grange Park Opera. His production of Paul Bunyan (WNO) won the RPS Award and was nominated for a South Bank Sky Arts Award. He is co-artistic director of liveartshow, a company making new work with music. The company won the MTN Award for The Future for Beginners at the Edinburgh Festival and their productions were the centre-piece of the Peter Brook Empty Space Award winning season at The Yard Theatre, London.

He established and is Director of ENO Opera Works, an innovative training course for young opera singers at English National Opera, and is currently writing a book on training for Bloomsbury Publishing.

For RWCMD, Martin has previously directed Semele, Falstaff, Albert Herring, Le Nozze Di Figaro, Cosi Fan Tutte, The Magic Flute, Flight, Die Fledermaus and Britten’s Women for the RWCMD at venues including the Wales Millennium Centre, Sherman Theatre and Bath International Festival.

WYN DAvIeS CONDuCTOR

Wyn Davies was born in South Wales and graduated from Christ Church Oxford. He works extensively within opera, orchestras, theatre, in the West End and in cabaret. He has been Director of Music to New Zealand Opera since 2005 where his most recent productions have been The Magic Flute and La Traviata, in 2017 he will be conducting Katya Kabanova.

Wyn Davies first worked with Welsh National Opera, where he conducted a wide variety of repertoire, including his own edition of Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea, Janáček cycles and Krása’s children’s opera Brundibar (televised).

He spent two years as assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera, New York and undertook two seasons for the Banff Centre in Canada, which included the award-winning production of Weill’s Threepenny Opera in Toronto.

Wyn Davies has also conducted the English National Operas, Scottish Opera and Opera North, where his collaborations have been frequent and successful from the co-production with the Royal Shakespeare Company of Show Boat (also in the West End and on tour) to Madam Butterfly, The Merry Widow and two Gershwin musicals: Of Thee I Sing (also Bregenz) and Let ‘Em Eat Cake.

Wyn Davies has worked with the Hallé Orchestra (and returned for concerts each year since 2007), the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (Millennium Concert) and other British ensembles, and with orchestras from Serbia to New Zealand.

Recent projects include The Magic Flute, La Traviata, Don Giovanni and La Cenerentola for New Zealand Opera; The Merry Widow at the Royal Northern College of Music; A Child of our Time for the National Youth Orchestra and Choir in New Zealand, Don Pasquale in Japan; La Cenerentola, a double bill of Dido and Aeneas and La Voix Humaine for Opera North, and La Cenerentola for Queensland Opera and Under Milk Wood on tour in Wales.

Jem TReAYS CHOREOGRAPHER

Jem trained at The Laban Centre and Dartington College of Arts. He has worked as a performer for NDCWales, NTW, WNO, MotionHouse, TaikaBox, and Charlotte Vincent. From 1997 to 2011 he worked as a senior lecturer at RWCMD. Jem now works extensively as freelance choreographer and movement director in dance, theatre and opera. As artistic director of Run Ragged Productions his last show Jem and Ella was shortlisted for Wales Theatre Awards - Best Dance Show, Best Male Dancer and Best Female Dancer.

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BIOGRAphIeS BYWGRAFFIADAu

OlIvIA BARROlivia is in her final year of postgraduate vocal studies at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. Her operatic roles have included Dorabella (Così fan tutte) and Second Woman (Dido and Aeneas), as well as chorus in college productions of Le nozze di Figaro and Semele (a collaboration with Mid Wales Opera). Upcoming engagements include chorus for West Green House Opera’s production of Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera. Alex BORkA graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, American soprano Alexandra Bork is currently on the MA Opera Performance programme at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. Recent roles include Madama Butterfly, Serse, and Cherubino. Future appearances include Ottavia in L’incoronazione di Poppea with Woodhouse Opera and as soloist in Fauré’s Requiem.

JACk BOWTellJack is a third-year undergraduate at Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama where he studies under Adrian Thompson. He recently sang his first major operatic role as Willi in the Welsh National Youth Opera’s award-winning production of Kommilitonen! by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, directed by Polly Graham and conducted by Alice Farnham. Jack sings with the BBC National Chorus of Wales and is looking forward to performing as part of the 2017 BBC Proms season at the Royal Albert Hall.

ChRISTINe BYRNeFollowing graduation from Seton Hall University with a BA in Music and Theatre, Christine now studies on the MA Opera Performance programme at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama where she is supported by The Jenkin Phillips Scholarship. Roles to date have included Ino in Semele (RWCMD and Mid Wales Opera), Li Jingji (Mother) in Kommilitonen! (Welsh National Youth Opera), Belinda in Dido and Aeneas and Paggio in Rigoletto.

eDmUND CAIRDEdmund is about to complete MMus studies at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and will progress to the MA Opera Performance programme in September. Operatic roles include: Count Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), Calchas (La Belle Hélène), Daneüs (Les Danaïdes), Noye (Noye’s Fludde), Bartley (Riders to the Sea), Pirate King (The Pirates of Penzance), Pooh-Bah (The Mikado), Sam (Trouble in Tahiti), WNYO’s Kommilitonen! and the premiere of State of Being at Tête à Tête. In concert, he has appeared as a soloist in major works including Bach’s St John Passion and Christmas Oratorio, Monteverdi’s Vespers, Handel’s Messiah and the premiere of Warwick Blair’s Lieder at King’s Place, London.

OSCAR CASTellINOOscar Castellino is the composer of the Mars Anthem “Rise to Mars!” which will be released at the International Mars Conference in California in September. His operatic training at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama is supported by the Clive and Sylvia Richards Scholarship, The Welsh National Opera Christopher Ball Award and the Rajeshwari Scholarship. In 2012, he sang for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Pageant on the Thames. Following his appearance in Welsh National Youth Opera’s Kommilitonen!, The Times wrote “Oscar Castellino’s fervent James Meredith… was a highlight”. Oscar is a graduate of the Royal College of Music.

mATTheW ClARkMatthew is currently studying on the MA Opera Performance programme at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. Recent roles include Jupiter (Orpheus in the Underworld), Peachum (The Beggar’s Opera), The Defendant (Trial by Jury), Pásek (The Cunning Little Vixen), Don Curzio/Don Basilio (Le nozze di Figaro), Bardolpho (Falstaff) and Apollo (Semele).

ANGhARAD DAvIeSAngharad is in her final year of postgraduate vocal studies at Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama where she studies with Suzanne Murphy and Michael Pollock. Recent operatic roles include Helena (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Calli (Pandora’s Locker, RWCMD/WNO/ Sinfonia Cymru), chorus in Semele (Mid Wales Opera/ RWCMD), Le nozze di Figaro (RWCMD) and Orpheus in the Underworld. Angharad gratefully acknowledges the support of the Mosawi Foundation, Winship Foundation, Worshipful Livery Company of Wales, Mario Lanza Educational Trust, Cardiff Community Endowment Fund and Hartsheath Charitable Trust.

leSleY DOlmAN Lesley Dolman is a final-year student on the MA Opera Performance programme at Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. Recent appearances include June (Semele), Meg Page (Falstaff) and Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro). Lesley has also appeared in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Hippolyta) and Verdi’s La Traviata (Annina) with Opera on the Avalon, and Britten’s Albert Herring (Florence Pike) with Opera NUOVA in Edmonton, Alberta. Lesley’s studies are supported by the Leverhulme Trust.

GRACe FARRellGrace is a final year postgraduate singer at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. Operatic appearances have included Semele, Falstaff and Le nozze di Figaro, as Angel Gabriel in Hry o Marii (Martinů), the Fairy Queen in Iolanthe, Buttercup in H.M.S Pinafore, 3rd Medium in The Poisoned Kiss (Vaughan Williams) and Rosette in Manon (Massenet).

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ANDRII GANChUkAndrii Ganchuk hails from the Ukraine and is in the final year of the MA Opera Performance programme at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. Recent roles include Ford (Falstaff), under the baton of Maestro Carlo Rizzi, and Escamillo (Carmen) with Berlin Opera Academy. Andrii is generously supported by the Leverhulme Trust and the RWCMD Friends Connect Fund. He is a recipient of the Philippa and David Seligman Award for Excellence and the Eileen Price McWilliam Award in memory of her sons, Alastair and David. Andrii also holds a PhD in Economics.

RAChel GOODeIrish Soprano, Rachel Goode, is a graduate of the DIT Conservatory of Music & Drama in Dublin where she was the winner of the Michael MacNamara gold medal. She now studies on the MA Opera Performance programme at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. Recent roles include Iris in RWCMD and Mid Wales Opera’s co-production of Semele and in the college’s recent opera scenes production directed by Polly Graham. She recently participated in a Cardiff Singer of the World masterclass directed by David Pountney. Rachel is supported by a Jenkin Phillips Award, Galway County Council, Ballinasloe Credit Union and The Trench Award (Ireland).

pABlO GONzálezPablo González is from Barcelona, where he studied piano and voice at Conservatori del Liceu. Currently completing his postgraduate training at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, he is supported by Fundación Barrié. Pablo also holds a degree in Medicine from the Universitat de Barcelona.

AARON hOlmeS Aaron Holmes is about to complete his undergraduate studies. As a member of the BBC National Chorus of Wales he has performed at the BBC Proms (Royal Albert Hall) and on tour with the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular. In 2016 he was in the ensemble for the college’s production of Falstaff and has also appeared as Willi Graf in Welsh National Youth Opera’s production of Kommilitonen! Following graduation, Aaron plans to commence postgraduate training at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama.

DRAGOș IONelA graduate of Aberdeen University, Dragoș Ionel is currently studying on the MA Opera Performance programme at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. Recent operatic roles include Leporello (Don Giovanni), Zaretsky and the Captain (Eugene Onegin), Der Laudsprecher (Der Kaiser von Atlantis), Hans Scholl in Peter Maxwell Davies’s Kommilitonen, Lapak (The Cunning Little Vixen) and Antonio (Le nozze di Figaro). Future roles include the Second Bad Robber in Judith Weir’s The Vanishing Bridegroom.

RhODRI JONeSFrom Llanfyllin, Mid Wales, Rhodri graduated with first-class honours from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, where he studied with Adrian Thompson. He is currently in his first year of postgraduate study on the MA Opera Performance programme at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, where he is grateful to receive support from the Dame Shirley Bassey Award, the Glynne Jones Scholarship and the Musicians’ Company Busenhart Morgan Evans Award. Rhodri has also been a recipient of the Help Musicians Maidment Award (2014), the Help Musicians Fleming Award (2015) and the Help Musicians Tutton Award (2016). In Spring 2017, he was privileged to become both the first winner of the inaugural Janet Price Prize and winner of the College’s Ian Stoutzker Prize.

xU JIANGXu Jiang graduated from College of Music and Dance in Zhou Kou Normal University, Bejing and now continues her training at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama studying with Suzanne Murphy and Nicola Rose. Operatic experience includes ensemble and roles in Cinderella, Semele, Le nozze di Figaro and in opera scenes directed by Polly Graham. Xu is also a keen song recitalist.

mARTINA küNGMartina Küng, born in Näfels Switzerland, is in her first year of postgraduate study at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. She is a member of the professional vocal ensemble The Zürich Chamber Singers and the Bach Ensemble Zürich. She is also a regular oratorio and concert soloist. Recent work includes a Shakespeare project at the Zürich Festival, Handel’s Messiah with the Capriccio Baroque Orchestra, Carmina Burana at Stadttheater Winterthur and Beat Furrer’s modern acoustic theater Fama at the Tonhalle Zürich.

BlAISe mAlABA

Born in Kisangani in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Blaise is simultaneously finishing his MA in International Relations at Ivan Franko National University of Lviv (Ukraine) and studying on the MA in Opera Performance at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. He is grateful for support from the Leverhulme Foundation, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation and the Waterloo Trust. Blaise won first prize in the Impreza International Vocal Competition in Ukraine in 2015 and took part in the Stanislaw Moniuszko Intentional Competition the following year. He debuted as Monterone (Rigoletto) with the L’viv National Opera (2015) and has since appeared as Gremin (Eugene Onegin) for Welsh National Opera and in Handel’s Semele (Mid-Wales Opera/RWCMD). Blaise currently studies with Donald Maxwell, Adrian Thompson and Michael Pollock. Further roles have included Der Tod in Ullman’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis and Luka (The Bear).

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ANDReW mCGOWANAmerican tenor, Andrew McGowan is in his final year of Masters’ study at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. Forthcoming performances include an Opera Gala with Hillingdon Choral Society, as Scaramuccio (Ariadne auf Naxos) with Berlin Opera Academy and Rodolfo (La bohème) with Barefoot Opera.

CRISTINA NeGOeSCURomanian mezzo-soprano Cristina Negoescu is currently in her final year of undergraduate study at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama under the guidance of Lorna Anderson. Her oratorio repertoire includes appearances as alto soloist in Handel’s Messiah and as soloist in settings of the Stabat Mater by Pergolesi, Vivaldi and Symanowski. She has been an alto scholar in the BBC National Chorus of Wales since 2013. In 2016, Cristina appeared in Welsh National Youth Opera’s production of Kommilitonen!. She plans to continue her studies at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama to postgraduate level under the guidance of Anne Mason.

lUCY mellORSLucy is in the first year of the MA Opera Performance programme at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama studying with Anne Mason and Michael Pollock. Recent roles include Semele in a RWCMD and Mid Wales Opera’s co-production and Bubikopf in Der Kaiser von Atlantis. Future performances include Gianni Schicchi with the orchestra of Welsh National Opera, conducted by Carlo Rizzi. Lucy is generously supported by the Richmond Douglas Charitable Trust, Sir Richard Stapley Trust, Sidney Perry Foundation, Women’s Career’s Foundation, Yorkshire Ladies’ Council of Education, Mario Lanza Educational Foundation, The Winship Foundation, the Worshipful Company of Builders’ Merchants and a Leverhulme Arts Scholarship.

mARIeNellA phIllIpS Assistant Director Marienella Phillips graduated from the University of Bristol with MA and BA (Hons) degrees in music and is now a first-year postgraduate singer at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. At university, Marienella directed The Marriage of Figaro for Bristol Operatic Society and Sarah Grochala’s S27 for Dramasoc. She has worked with Theatre Royal Bath and performed with Bristol-based opera company, Little Room Productions. In Cardiff, she is a member of the BBC National Chorus of Wales and has performed with the Welsh National Youth Opera and Opera’r Ddraig.

mARTíN pIzARROColombian tenor, Martín Pizarro is a first-year postgraduate singer at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama where he studies under Adrian Thompson. In his native Columbia, roles have included Lèon in Signor Deluso, Monsieur Vogelsang in Der Schauspieldirektor, and Bertoldo in the world premiere of Muerte accidental de un anarquista. He has appeared as soloist in oratorio and on the concert platform including Théodore Dubois’s Les sept paroles du Christ and Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy. Martin’s studies are supported by a Neil and Mary Webber Scholarship.

WeNDY SIlveSTeR Wendy Silvester is currently studying on the MA Opera Performance programme at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. Recent engagements have included Ulrica (A Masked Ball), Zita (Gianni Schicchi), La Zia Principessa (Suor Angelica), Maurya (Riders to the Sea), Florence Pike (Albert Herring) and the title role in Gluck’s Orfeo. On the concert platform, she has appeared as a guest soloist for The Stroke Association, Newcastle University, and Mind. In October 2017, Wendy returns to direct her second production with Stanley Opera, Puccini’s Suor Angelica, where she will once again take on the role of La Zia Principessa.

TOm SmIThOriginally from Hartlepool, Tom is a about to complete the MA Opera Performance programme at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama where he studies under Adrian Thompson and Ingrid Surgenor. In 2016, he made his debut at Glyndebourne Festival Opera as one of the Lehrbuben in Sir David McVicar’s award winning production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. Operatic roles at RWCMD include The Mayor and Albert* (Albert Herring) as well as 1st Priest and Armed Man (The Magic Flute), Schoolmaster (The Cunning Little Vixen), Jupiter (Semele), Fenton (Falstaff) conducted by Carlo Rizzi. Other operatic engagements include Ruiz (Il Trovatore), Flavio (Norma) and Spärlich (Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor). A keen recitalist, Tom is proud to be an Artist on the Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now scheme. His studies are generously supported by the Leverhulme Trust, Tillett Trust, Waterloo Foundation and the RWCMD Friends Connect fund. Tom is also a Samling Scholar.

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9pRODUCTION & DeSIGN CYNHYRCHu A CHYNLLuNIO

DirectorMartin ConstantineConductorWyn DaviesChoreographerJem TreaysSet DesignerEmily BatesCostume DesignerBrighde PennLighting DesignerAngharad EvansSound DesignerNick LawsAssistant DirectorMarienella PhillipsStage ManagerFfion LoynesDeputy Stage ManagerKirsten BuckmasterAssistant Stage Managers Lily Davies, Emma GaynorCara HoodAmelia McelhinneySet AssistantsRosalind MatherShiwa TokuokaCecilia CalfFlora HarveyJoseph Munro Edith Morris Aleksandra Carlyon Costume AssistantsAmelia RobertsElin SteeleLighting AssistantMolly JefferiesSound Assistant Annie ClarkeFlyman Tyler JamesProduction Assistant Honor KleinOrchestra LiaisonEmily Behague

Production SupervisorEmma Hele Design SupervisorLucy HallTechnical SupervisorJoseff FletcherLighting SupervisorAce McCarronStage Management Supervisor Kevin SmithCostume SupervisorLaura ThomasScenic Art SupervisorLaura Martin

RWCmD STAFF STAFF CBCDC

Director of MusicJohn CranmerHead of Music PerformanceKevin PriceHead of Opera, Vocal Performance and Choral ConductingAngela LivingstoneInterim Head of Brass & Percussion Andy EvertonHead of WoodwindMeyrick AlexanderHead of KeyboardSimon PhillippoHead of String Performance Simon JonesHead of Percussion Performance Patrick KingMusical Preparation Nicki RoseRepetiteur Conal Bembridge-SayersRehearsal RepetiteursNicki Rose Conal Bembridge-SayersHead of Voice Simon ReevesVoice Coach Annemarie WhiteAccent Coach Emma Stevens-JohnsonHead of Design Sean Crowley Head of Stage Management Ian Evans

Senior Lecturer in Stage & Production Daz JamesLecturer in Stage Management & ProductionEmma HeleSenior Lecturer in Design for PerformanceBettina ReevesLecturer in Design for PerformanceLucy Hall Jen RowlandsLecturer in CostumeJill SalenLecturer in Production & Design (Technical Arts)Rorie BrophyLecturer in Production & Design (Costume)Allie Saunders

ThANk YOU DIOLCH

Torch TheatreJill PensomGlyn James – Whitchurch Antiques and CollectiblesDuncan Turner – Carbon Lighting

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Head of StagingWill GoadScenic Construction Supervisor Patrick BeeganScenic Construction Technician Matthew Foote

eveNTS DIGWYDDIADAu

Head of Creative Programming Penny KingVenues ManagerJanet SmithFront of House Manager Tracey BishopAudiences Marketing Manager Ceri PuckettBox Office ManagerLaura AveryVenues OfficerBeth Graham-White

Creative Programming & Marketing AssistantCorey BullockSenior Venues AssistantStuart LaslettBox Office AssistantsOsian IfansJoanna KyietTechnical Operations Manager Grant BardenSenior TechniciansMatt RogersonMatt Jones,Leigh Kirk-HarrisAdam SansomAndy PikeVenues Technicians Chris FlavinRebecca Rigby

mUSIC OFFICe SWYDDFA CERDD

Music Manager Aimee BadgerOrchestral ManagerLucy CampionMusic Administrative AssistantsLorna HooperAndrew Kowalik

DRAmA OFFICe SWYDDFA DRAMA

Drama ManagerSian JonesProducer Heather DaviesDrama Administrative Assistants Charlotte Palser-LawleyTom Schofield

www.rwcmd.ac.uk

For more information on joining CONNeCT, please call 02920 391420 or visit www.rwcmd.ac.uk/connect

For more information about UBS, visit ubs.com/wales-uk

All new Patron Connect and Patron Connect Gold donations are currently being matched by UBS, our Philanthropy Partner, doubling the value and impact of your gift

become a member and support student training experiences and

performance opportunities

CONNeCTCYSWllT

Our annual giving scheme, Connect, also directly supports the students’ training and particularly their opportunities to perform in Cardiff and London. We are grateful to all members and are pleased to acknowledge the Patrons below. pATRON ConneCt GOlDChris Ball Geraint Talfan Davies OBEJohn Derrick and Preben Oeye Martin and Jo FurberAnita George Hywel and Mary George Brian GilbertDavid Goldstone CBE Christine Lewis OBECaptain Sir Norman Lloyd-Edwards FRWCMDMichael and Cora McGraneChristopher and Mere MoorsomChris Nott OBESir Idris PearceAlan and Maggie Peterson Sir Antony and Lady Reardon SmithCarlo Rizzi FRWCMD and Lucy StoutBetsan RobertsMartyn and Anne RyanDavid Seligman OBE FRWCMD Babs Thomas OBETed and Val Yates pATRON ConneCtDame Hilary Boulding DBEPeter Curran FRWCMDKeith James OBE and Linda JamesRobert and Philippa John Graham and Dorothy JonesHywel Ceri and Morwenna Jones

Rhiannon JonesVince McNabbEileen PriceAlison Shan Price MBEMenna Richards OBE FRWCMDPat and Robin SharpeSir Paul and Lady Silk Simon Smail CBERoger and Rhian ThomasHoward Weeks

COlleGe ConneCt GOlDDoug and Pandora AllinDr Mary BrowningDouglas DalwoodMrs E J Eyres MBENina GobatKen GriffinAnita JohanssonClare KimberCatherine Leaker and Colin NalderCharles MarshallJanet McDonald-CurrySuzanne PariNicholas PollockCynthia PulsfordJohn RichardsonCynthia RobertsMathew Talfan FRWCMDMuriel Weeks

COlleGe ConneCtScott AllinJohn and Elizabeth AndrewsDavid BaconRoger and Ann BonehillR&A BotterillLeigh BracegirdleJenny Broughton MBEAnn E. BryanProfessor Paul Cantrill

Julie Emlyn-JonesHelen and Glyn EvansJennifer Anne GentAndrew HealyPeter and Jane HordleyGloria JenkinsAllan and Kath JonesBarbara and Merfyn JonesMr and Mrs W M LongdenHélène Mansfield OBEGeraldine MartinClive MaslenLinda NashNick NaysmithPamela Naysmith Glyn ParryShirley Parry Margaret PerringLynne PlummerDame Janet Ritterman DBECeridwen RobertsPaul RothwellAnn Saalbach and Peter BryantDr Martin SageCeinwen StatterSharron ScottJemma TerryJane and Mike Tooby Louisa TurnerLinda VickersHaydn and Alison WarmanSara and Harry WestMark WhiteTimothy WhiteMarie Wood

For further detail on joining Connect and supporting young artists training at the College, please contact Sara West on 02920 391420 sara.west@rwcmd.ac.uk

NEW OPERA SCHOOL

YSGOL OPERA NEWYDD

in association with | ar y cyd ag

www.rwcmd.ac.uk/operaschool