Season 2006–2007
Peabody Opera Workshop
Opera Potpourri: The Romance of Opera
Friedberg Hall, October 30
The Peabody Opera Workshop presents scenes from operas of the romantic era, both familiar and less well-known, showcasing Peabody’s new talents. The scenes will be directed by Garnett Bruce, and sung in their original languages with piano accompaniment. Eileen Cornett is the musical director.
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s
Le nozze di Figaro
Friedberg Hall, November 16–19Mozart’s social comedy The Marriage of Figaro was written in 1786, almost on the eve of the French Revolution, but it remains a timeless and almost unparalleled study of the human heart. The opera will be given a traditional production by Roger Brunyate, who has also designed the set. Guest conductor and Peabody alumna Kate Tamarkin will lead the Peabody Symphony Orchestra.
Peabody Chamber Opera
Benjamin Britten’s
The Rape of Lucretia
Theatre Project, February 1–4The Peabody Chamber Opera presents one of the seminal chamber operas of the twentieth century, Benjamin Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia. Set to a poetic text by Ronald Duncan, the opera tells the story of the rape of the virtuous Roman lady Lucretia by the Etruscan Prince Tarquinius — an event which triggered a Roman rebellion against their tyrant masters. The ancient story is framed by two Christian narrators who must handle their own issues about the nature of evil and the recurrent guilt of one sex against the other. JoAnn Kulesza conducts the chamber orchestra, and Roger Brunyate directs.
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Jacques Offenbach’s
Les contes d’Hoffmann
Friedberg Hall, March 7–10
ETA Hoffmann (1776–1822) was the epitome of the Romantic Artist. An opera composer himself, he was equally well known for his stories dealing with magical or demonic subjects, often with musical overtones. Turning away from operetta, Jacques Offenbach put together several of these stories in his masterpiece, The Tales of Hoffmann, left uncompleted on his death in 1881. The tormented Hoffmann is seen falling hopelessly in love with a mechanical singing doll in Paris, with a doomed singer in Munich, and with a bewitched courtesan in Venice. Hajime Teri Murai conducts the Peabody Concert Orchestra, Garnett Bruce directs, and the set designer is Matthew Saunders, in a co-production with Temple University in Philadelphia.
Peabody Opera Workshop
Opera Potpourri: American Women
Friedberg Hall, April 3
The Peabody Opera Workshop presents works written in America, from the nineteen-fifties to the present day, all of which feature women as their major characters. The scenes, which will be performed with piano accompaniment, are staged by graduate student directors under the supervision of Roger Brunyate. The musical director is JoAnn Kulesza.