Season 2005–2006
Peabody Opera Workshop
Opera Potpourri: The Miracle of Mozart
Friedberg Hall, October 29
The Peabody Opera Workshop presents scenes from Mozart operas, both familiar and less well-known, showcasing Peabody’s new talents. The scenes will be sung in their original languages, with piano accompaniment. The guest stage director is Garnett Bruce.
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Giuseppe Verdi’s
Falstaff
Friedberg Hall, November 17–20
Verdi’s operatic swansong, completed in his eightieth year, brings his dramatic career to a close with a heart-warming comedy which, for many, excels even its Shakespearian original. The swift-footed music has the lightness of touch of a youthful heart, mellowed by the accumulated wisdom of age. Hajime Teri Murai conducts the Peabody Symphony Orchestra, Roger Brunyate directs, and the set has been designed by James M. Fouchard in a co-production with Temple University in Philadelphia.
Peabody Chamber Opera
Pastorale & Masque
Friedberg Hall, February 13 & 14
The Peabody Chamber Opera presents a revival of its 1997 triple bill of miniature masterpieces from the dawn of opera, celebrating the 17th-century traditions of pastorale and masque. The works to be presented are Tirsi e Clori by Claudio Monteverdi, Actéon by Marc-Antoine Charpentier, and the masque from Dioclesian by Henry Purcell. Guest artist Joseph Gascho will direct the Peabody Baroque Ensemble, and the production will be staged by baroque dance specialist Paige Whitney-Bauguess.
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Stephen Sondheim’s
A Little Night Music
Friedberg Hall, March 15–18
Sondheim’s 1973 musical treatment of the Ingmar Bergman film Smiles of a Summer Night is an airy confection set entirely in waltz time. A variety of people — husbands, wives, younger children, older parents, their friends, and servants — come together for a house-party “weekend in the country.” The tales which ensue of love lost, love found, and love mourned make this a wonderful bittersweet pendant to the other major work in our season, Falstaff. Erin Freeman conducts the Peabody Concert Orchestra, and the production is designed and directed by Roger Brunyate.
with additional support from the Maryland State Arts Council
Peabody Opera Workshop
Facets of Freedom
Friedberg Hall, April 11
The Peabody Opera Workshop presents an evening of new operas in its ground-breaking program of Opera Etudes. These six operas by student composers are centered around the theme of freedom. The unique aspect of this process is that the operas are written from the beginning in collaboration with the singers who will perform in them, and their texts are based on dramatic improvisations by the performers before a note of music has been composed.