2014/15 Season

 

La Traviata

October 10-19, 2014
Music by Giuseppe Verdi, Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave
Sung in Italian with projected English translation

Conducted by Arthur Fagen*
Directed by Chas Rader-Shieber*
Julia Noulin-Mérat, Set Designer
Jacob A. Climer*, Costume Designer
Mike Inwood*, Lighting Designer
Jason Allen, Wigs and Makeup Designer

 

Photos: Eric Antoniou for Boston Lyric Opera © 2013

“Heartfelt, touching…” – Boston Classical Review

“Matanovic particularly shined with her vulnerability and honesty … BLO truly delivered.” – The South Shore Critic

“Weston Hurt is a revelation” – South End News

Cast
ANYA MATANOVIC* as Violetta
MICHAEL WADE LEE* as Alfredo Germont
WESTON HURT as Giorgio Germont

with Jon Jurgens, Chelsea Basler,
David Kravitz, David Cushing,
David Wadden, Rachel Hauge and Omar Najmi

Boston Lyric Opera Orchestra and Chorus

*Boston Lyric Opera debut

OPERA ANNEX:
The Love Potion

NOV 19-23 | 2014

Performed at Temple Ohabei Shalom, 1187 Beacon Street, Brookline, MA
Music by Frank Martin
based on Joseph Bédier’s 1900 novel Roman de Tristan et Iseut
Sung in a new English translation
by Hugh Macdonald commissioned by BLO

Creative Team

 

Conductor David Angus (Ryan Turner Nov. 22)
Stage Director David Schweizer
Set Designer James Noone
Costume Designer Nancy Leary
Lighting Designer Robert Wierzel
Wigs and Makeup Designer Jason Allen
Rehearsal Coach/Accompanist Brett Hodgdon^
Associate Conductor Ryan Turner*
Assistant Director R.B. Schlather#
Production Stage Manager Chelsea Antrim

Photos: Eric Antoniou for Boston Lyric Opera © 2014

 

BLO serves up a poignant, captivating performance of Frank Martin rarity – Boston Classical Review

Aesthetic Reclamation of Tristan Tales from BLO – The Boston Musical Intelligencer

Martin’s operatic potion of love and solitude – The Boston Globe

Boston Lyric Opera’s Powerful “Love Potion” – The Arts Fuse

BLO’s “Love Potion” or “Vin Herbe”: Herbal Tease  – The South Shore Critic

Tristan Jon Jurgens#
Isolt, the Fair Chelsea Basler#
Brangain Michelle Trainor^
King Mark David McFerrin^
Isolt’s Mother Heather Gallagher*#
Isolt of the White Hands Rachel Hauge#
Kahedin Omar Najmi#
Duke Hoël David Cushing^
Yvon Mara Bonde
Treasa Tania Mandzy Inala*
Denolenn Brad Raymond*#
Andret David Wadden#

Chamber Ensemble from the Boston Lyric Opera Orchestra
Concertmaster: Sandra Kott

* BLO debut
# BLO Emerging Artist
^ BLO Emerging Artist alumna/us

Kátya Kabanová

March 13-22, 2015
at the Citi Performing Arts CenterSM Shubert Theatre

Music by Leoš Janáček  |  Libretto by Francesco Vincenc Cervinka
Sung in an English translation by Norman Tucker

 

Creative Team

Conductor David Angus
Stage Director Tim Albery
Set & Costume Designer Hildegard Bechtler*
Lighting Designer Peter Mumford*
Wigs and Makeup Designer Jason Allen

Photos: Eric Antoniou for Boston Lyric Opera © 2016

“As Conducted by David Angus, and performed by an overall marvelous cast, backed up by the incomparable BLO Orchestra, this was an unforgettable musical triumph … a musical experience that will be long remembered.” – Jack Craib, The South Shore Music Critic

“Gorgeous and intelligent production” – Angelo Mao, The Boston Classical Review

“Beautiful voices, stirring emotions, and fabulous Boston Lyric Opera orchestration, under the baton of conductor David Angus, dominate Boston Lyric Opera’s one-act, 100-minute op­era, “Katya Kabanova”. – Sheila Barth, Independent Newspapers

“Simply bringing this opera into its repertoire is a step in the right direction for BLO, New England’s largest opera company, whose ambitions are clearly striving after the right things. … the singing of the cast was … uniformly strong.” – Jonathan Blumhofer, ArtsFuse

“Janáček’s work has been slow to come to Boston, so one can only praise Boston Lyric Opera for bringing, arguably, his masterpiece to town.” – David Bonetti, Berkshire Fine Arts

Cast

ELAINE ALVAREZ* as Kátya Kabanová
RAYMOND VERY* as Boris Grigoryevich
ELIZABETH BYRNE* as Kabanicha
SANDRA PIQUES EDDY as Varvara
JAMES DEMLER as Dikoy
ALAN SCHNEIDER^ as Tichon Kabanov
OMAR NAJMI# as Vanya Kudrjasch
DAVID MCFERRIN^ as Kuligin
CHELSEA BASLER# as Glascha
HEATHER GALLAGHER# as Fekluscha

Boston Lyric Opera Orchestra and Chorus

*Signifies BLO debut
# Signifies BLO Emerging Artist
^ Signifies BLO Emerging Artist alumna/us

 

BOSTON LYRIC OPERA ORCHESTRA

DON GIOVANNI

May 1-10, 2015
at the Citi Performing Arts CenterSM Shubert Theatre

Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte
Sung in Italian with projected English translation

Creative Team

Conductor David Angus
Stage Director Emma Griffin*
Set Designer Laura Jellinek*
Costume Designer Tilly Grimes*
Lighting Designer Mark Barton*
Fight Director Andrew Kenneth Moss
Wigs and Makeup Designer Jason Allen

 

Photos: Eric Antoniou for Boston Lyric Opera © 2015

“One of the company’s best offerings in memory. With a score full of hit tunes and a cast that knows how to deliver them, this production is a triumph.” – South Shore Critic

“Rock’s Don Giovanni is a life force, comic, witty, intelligent …” – The Boston Globe

“Jennifer Johnson Cano is a singer who lives up to her billing. [Her] Elvira took on new dimensions in Cano’s auspicious debut with this company.” – Boston Classical Review

Cast, in order of vocal appearance:
KEVIN BURDETTE as Leporello
MEREDITH HANSEN^ as Donna Anna
DUNCAN ROCK* as Don Giovanni
STEVEN HUMES as Commendatore
JOHN BELLEMER as Don Ottavio
JENNIFER JOHNSON CANO* as Donna Elvira
CHELSEA BASLER# as Zerlina
DAVID CUSHING^ as Masetto

Boston Lyric Opera Orchestra and Chorus

*Signifies BLO debut
# Signifies BLO Emerging Artist^ Signifies BLO Emerging Artist alumna/us