Will Crutchfield on the Mozart Role Preparation Project:

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"Learning a role - any role in any opera - involves a lot of work. Learning one from the early days of Italian opera is an especially complex task, because composers still provided their singers with a very incomplete sketch, and counted on them to understand the traditional tools with which they would flesh it out. Teatro Nuovo's Role Preparation Project, designed and directed by Rachelle Jonck, takes singers through that process in depth, starting with the libretto and its poetry and continuing through to the fine surface details of vocalism and ornamentation.  

Though we don't always think of Mozart as a "bel canto" composer, he most assuredly was one; he spent most of his time working with and writing for native Italian singers, and if he had lived even to the age of 55 he would have been sharing artists and seasons with a certain Rossini. Tonight's program, selected from the roles our Apprentice Artists have studied and listed in the program insert, draws on Mozart's five mature Italian works: Idomeneo, Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, and La clemenza di Tito."

MOZART PROGRAM

LA CLEMENZA DI TITO

Recitativo Amico, ecco il momento
No. 3 Duettino Deh prendi un dolce amplesso 

Sesto - Clare Demer, soprano
Annio - Perri di Christina, mezzo-soprano

Recitativo Non ci pentiam
No. 7 Duetto Ah perdona al prima affetto

Servilia - Alina Tamborini, soprano
Annio - Emily Hughes, mezzo-soprano

Recitativo Sesto! Che chiedi? 
No. 14 Terzetto Se al volto mai ti senti

Vitellia - Mikayla Sager, soprano
Sesto - Meagan Martin, mezzo-soprano
Publio - Ryan White, baritone

 

COSÌ FAN TUTTE

No. 13 Sestetto Alla bella Despinetta 

Fiordiligi - Savannah Greene, soprano
Despina - Yoojeong Cho, soprano
Dorabella - Maggie Renee, mezzo-soprano
Ferrando - Andrew B. Campbell, tenor
Guglielmo - Wesley Diener, baritone
Don Alfonso - Paxton Gillespie, bass-baritone

Recitativo Ahimè! Che cosa avete?
No. 23 Duetto Il core vi dono

Dorabella - Erin Alford, mezzo-soprano
Guglielmo - Jared Jones, baritone

No. 29 Duetto Fra gli amplessi in pochi istanti

Fiordiligi - Savannah Greene, soprano
Ferrando - Christopher Plaas, tenor

 

DON GIOVANNI

Recitativo Ah del padre in periglio
No. 2 Recitativo accompagnato e Duetto Ma qual mai s’offre, oh Dei.... Fuggi, crudele, fuggi! 

Donna Anna - Carami Hilaire, soprano
Don Ottavio - Matthew Greenblatt, tenor

No. 15 Terzetto Ah taci, ingiusto core 

Donna Elvira - Taryn Holback, mezzo-soprano
Don Giovanni - Wilbert Kellerman, bass-baritone
Leporello - Andrew Simpson, bass-baritone

Recitativo Di molte faci il lume
No. 19 Sestetto Sola sola in buio loco

Donna Anna - Suzannah Waddington, soprano
Donna Elvira - Roksana Zeinapur, soprano
Zerlina - Clare Demer, soprano
Don Ottavio - Jonathan Hill, tenor
Masetto - Wesley Diener, baritone
Leporello - Andrew Simpson, bass-baritone

INTERMISSION

 

IDOMENEO

No. 16 Terzetto Pria di partir, oh Dio! 

Elettra - Lauren Feider, soprano
Idamante - Linsey Coppens, mezzo-soprano
Idomeneo - Michael Kiesling, tenor

Recitativo Principessa, a’ tuoi sguardi
No. 20a Duetto S’io non moro a questi accenti 

Ilia - Brooklyn Snow, soprano
Idamante - Cloe SanAntonio, mezzo-soprano

Recitativo Cieli! Che vedo? 
No. 21 Quartetto Andrò ramingo e solo 

Ilia - Lily Arbisser, soprano
Elettra - Alyssa Holley, soprano
Idamante - Cloe SanAntonio, mezzo-soprano
Idomeneo - Michael Kiesling, tenor

 

LE NOZZE DI FIGARO

Recitativo Tutto ancor non ho perso
No. 5 Duettino Via resti servita, madama brillante

Susanna - Brittany Hebel, soprano
Marcellina - Aida Carducci - soprano

Recitativo Signor… Cosa bramate? 
No. 17 Duettino Crudel! Perché finora farmi languir così 

Susanna - Vanessa Martucci, soprano
Il Conte - Jared Jones, baritone

Recitativo Cosa mi narri
No. 21 Duettino Che soave zeffiretto 

Susanna - Amanda Olea, soprano
La Contessa - Emily Robinson, soprano

Recitativo Perfida, e in quella forma meco mentia? 
No. 29 Finale Pian pianin le andrò più presso 

Susanna - Madeline Ehlinger, soprano
La Contessa - Josephine Miller, soprano
Barbarina - Vanessa Martucci, soprano
Cherubino - Sophie Patterson, mezzo-soprano
Marcellina - Maggie Renee, mezzo-soprano
Basilio - Mario Arias, tenor
Don Curzio - Emmet H. E. Solomon, tenor 
Il Conte - Joseph Kyungjin Han, baritone
Antonio - Brian J. Alvarado, baritone
Figaro - Peter Warren, bass-baritone
Bartolo - Michael Payne, bass-baritone