The Seasons
Music by Antonio Vivaldi
(Based on The Four Seasons with additional arias and ensembles by Vivaldi)
Libretto by Sarah Ruhl
Co-conceived with Anthony Roth Costanzo
Stage Directed by Zack Winokur
Music Directed by Stephen Stubbs
Choreography by Pam Tanowitz
In collaboration with Pam Tanowitz and Zack Winokur
Co-production with Boston Lyric Opera,
AMOC*, and SCENE
Co-presented by ArtsEmerson
Emerson Paramount Center, Robert J. Orchard Stage
Wednesday, March 12, 2025 | 7:30PM
Thursday, March 13, 2025 | 7:30PM
Friday, March 14, 2025 | 7:30PM
Saturday, March 15, 2025 | 3:00PM
Sunday, March 16, 2025| 3:00PM
A group of contemporary artists comes to a retreat in nature to make their art. They feel the emotional weather inside of them more than they feel the weather outside of them. But extreme weather impacts them without warning and changes their lives forever. The Seasons is a meditation on the relationship between our contemporary moment and Vivaldi’s iconic music, which appreciated the harmonious seasons. Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, paired with additional arias and ensembles by the composer, becomes an occasion for seeing our own disordered seasons more clearly.
SCENE gratefully acknowledges Carol Stein for her generous support as their Lead Sponsor of The Seasons.
Anthony Roth Costanzo | The Poet
Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo began performing professionally at age 11 and has since appeared in opera, concert, recital, film, and on Broadway. He was recently awarded a Grammy, an honorary doctorate from Manhattan School of Music, a visiting fellowship from Oxford University, the History Makers Award from the New York Historical Society, and was a distinguished visiting scholar at Harvard. This season, he returns to the Metropolitan Opera as Orfeo, Orfeo ed Euridice; to the Santa Fe Opera for a world premiere; and to the Teatro Real. He debuts with Paris Opera, gives recitals at the Kennedy Center and Boston’s Jordan Hall, debuts at London’s Wigmore Hall, and appears at Carnegie Hall. As a producer, he has created projects for Opera Philadelphia, New York Philharmonic, BBC Proms, WQXR, St. Ann’s Warehouse, and more. His debut album ARC was nominated for a Grammy, and his live show and second album Only an Octave Apart with Justin Vivian Bond received numerous “Best of 2021” accolades. Costanzo was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for his performance in a Merchant Ivory film. He graduated with honors from Princeton University, where he has returned to teach, and Manhattan School of Music, where he is on the board of trustees. He also serves on the board of National Black Theatre.Kangmin Justin Kim | The Painter
Kangmin Justin Kim was born in South Korea and grew up in Evanston. He studied at Northwestern University and the Royal Academy of Music London. His professional operatic debut in 2013 was quickly followed by appearances in Paris as Orlofsky, Die Fledermaus at the Opéra Comique and Oreste, La belle Hélène at the Théâtre du Châtelet. Recent highlights include Sesto, Giulio Cesare in a new production in Monte Carlo and at the Wiener Staatsoper as well as on tour in Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Cologne, and Luxembourg. He also starred in the title role of M. Butterfly (world premiere), Santa Fe Opera and recently reprised the work at London’s Barbican Hall. In the last two years, he also debuted at the Staatsoper Hamburg as Annio, La Clemenza di Tito and Despina, Così fan tutte; and at the Dallas Opera in Hänsel und Gretel. He has appeared in a number of operas at Teatro La Fenice and sang Nerone, L’incoronazione di Poppea at the Berlin Staatsoper, Salzburg Festival, New York Lincoln Center, Philharmonie de Paris, Edinburgh Festival, and Teatro La Fenice. Kim is the first countertenor to sing Cherubino, Le nozze di Figaro at the Royal Opera House London.Whitney Morrison | The Performance Artist
A Chicago native and recent alum of the Ryan Opera Center, Whitney Morrison champions the African American aesthetic in classical music, embracing a style of performance that blends classical singing with elements of gospel singing. Recent highlights include singing Louise/Betty on BMOP/Odyssey Opera’s GRAMMY-nominated 2023 recording of The Life and Times of Malcolm X; Emelda Griffith, Champion, Yasmine Miller, Proximity (world premiere), and Sister Rose, Dead Man Walking, Lyric Opera of Chicago; Ottavia, Comet Poppea, AMOC*; Lady Billows, Albert Herring and Leonie Baker, Freedom Ride, Chicago Opera Theater; and Donna Anna, Don Giovanni, Floating Opera Company. Morrison holds an M.M. from Eastman School of Music and a B.A. in vocal performance and pedagogy from Oakwood University. She trained at the Georg Solti Accademia di Bel Canto in Italy and the Neil Semer Vocal Institute, and was a 2020 National Semifinalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Other accolades include first place in the National Classical Singer University Competition, finalist in the Luminarts Classical Music Competition, and a She Shines Award from Girls Inc. of Chicago. Morrison attributes her love of classical music to her upbringing in the church. In her youth, she reveled in the diverse music and charismatic culture of the black church where her grandfather pastored, and eagerly anticipated the annual Handel’s Messiah at Progressive Baptist, the church attended by her aunts and grandparents.Alexis Peart | The Choreographer
Alexis Peart, mezzo-soprano, is a third-year Jane & Steven Akin Emerging Artist with Boston Lyric Opera, where this spring she appears in The Seasons, Noah’s Flood, and Opera Stories: Hansel and Gretel. Recent BLO credits include Arbate, Mitridate; Tisbe, La Cenerentola, Big Stone, Eurydice; Angelina, Opera Stories: Cinderella; and Dorothée (cover), The Anonymous Lover. She is a 2023 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition New England Region Encouragement Award Winner and Boston District Winner. Recent roles have included Dorabella, Cosí fan tutte; Carmen, La Tragédie de Carmen; Jo, Little Women; Ruggiero, Alcina; Brittomara, If I Were You; Taller Daughter, Proving Up; Giulio Cesare, Giulio Cesare; Der Trommler, Der Kaiser von Atlantis; and Ada Lovelace in the world premiere workshop of Ruehr’s The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage. She can be heard on Boston Modern Orchestra Project and Odyssey Opera’s GRAMMY-nominated recording of Anthony Davis’ X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X, and on several art song recordings released by PARMA Recordings, LLC. Ms. Peart is a two-time alumna of the Wolf Trap Opera Studio and has worked with companies including the Princeton Festival, Chautauqua Opera Company (Studio Artist), Rochester Oratorio Society, and Castle of Our Skins.Brandon Cedel | The Cosmic Weatherman
American bass-baritone Brandon Cedel is a graduate of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and was an ensemble member of Oper Frankfurt from 2016-2019. His 2024/25 season includes Dulcamara, L’elisir d’amore, English National Opera; Il Re, Ariodante, Boston Baroque; and Garibaldo, Rodelinda, Garsington Opera. In concert, he sings Haydn’s The Creation with Music of the Baroque, Mozart’s Requiem with the Handel & Haydn Society, and Méphistophélès in Berlioz’ La damnation de Faust with the Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra. Recent appearances include Bottom, A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Leporello, Don Giovanni; and Argante, Rinaldo for the Glyndebourne Festival; Hercules, Hercules, Karlsruhe Handel Festival; Don Giovanni, Don Giovanni, Atlanta Opera; Dan Brown, The Hours, Philadelphia Orchestra (world premiere) and the Metropolitan Opera; Masetto, Don Giovanni, Metropolitan Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago; Collatinus, The Rape of Lucretia and Magnifico, La Cenerentola, Boston Lyric Opera; Figaro, Le nozze di Figaro, Opera Philadelphia and the Stuttgart Staatsoper; Goulaud, Pelléas et Mélisande, Des Moines Metro Opera; and Colline, La bohème and Basilio, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Canadian Opera Company. His many roles for Oper Frankfurt include Masetto, Don Giovanni; Ratcliffe, Billy Budd; Argante, Rinaldo; Ariodate, Serse; Cesare Angelotti, Tosca; Brander, La damnation de Faust; and Achior, La Betulia liberata.Sarah Ruhl | Librettist
Sarah Ruhl is an award-winning American playwright, author, essayist, and professor. Her plays include The Oldest Boy; Dear Elizabeth; Stage Kiss; In the Next Room, or the vibrator play (Pulitzer Prize finalist, 2010); The Clean House (Pulitzer Prize finalist, 2005; Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, 2004); Passion Play (Pen American Award, Fourth Freedom Forum Playwriting Award from the Kennedy Center); Dead Man’s Cell Phone (Helen Hayes Award for Best New Play); Melancholy Play; Demeter in the City (nine NAACP Image Award nominations); Scenes From Court Life; How to Transcend a Happy Marriage; For Peter Pan on Her 70th Birthday; Eurydice; Orlando; and Late: a cowboy song. Her plays have been produced on Broadway, across the country, and internationally, and translated into fourteen languages. Originally from Chicago, Ms. Ruhl received her MFA from Brown University, where she studied with Paula Vogel. She is the recipient of a Helen Merrill Emerging Playwrights Award, a Whiting Writers’ Award, a PEN Center Award, a Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award, and a Lilly Award. She is a member of 13P and New Dramatists and won the MacArthur Fellowship in 2006. She teaches at Yale School of Drama and lives in Brooklyn with her family.
Zack Winokur | Director
Director and producer Zack Winokur is co-founder and Artistic Director of AMOC* as well as Producing Artistic Director of Little Island. Recent directing highlights include Mammoth, featuring Yo-Yo Ma 400 feet underground inside Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky; Tristan and Isolde, Santa Fe Opera; Messiaen’s Harawi at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, De Singel, and Elbphilharmonie; Only an Octave Apart starring Justin Vivian Bond and Anthony Roth Costanzo at St. Ann’s Warehouse, the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Opera, Wilton’s Music Hall in London, and the Spoleto Festival USA; The Black Clown at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival and the American Repertory Theater; Perle Noire: Meditations for Joséphine by Tyshawn Sorey and Claudia Rankine, starring Julia Bullock on the grand staircase of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; and other productions at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, Dutch National Opera, and Stanford Live. Winokur served as Artistic Director of NY PopsUp, an initiative to reopen the performing arts across New York State with over 300 free and public performances featuring hundreds of artists from February to July 2021. He co-teaches a transdisciplinary storytelling class at Harvard with Davóne Tines.
Pam Tanowitz | Choreographer
Pam Tanowitz is a celebrated New York-based choreographer and collaborator who has steadily delineated her own dance language through decades of research and creation. The 2024 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Awardee redefines tradition through careful examination, subtly questioning those who came before her yet never yielding to perceptions stuck in the past. And now, the world’s most respected companies — Martha Graham Dance Company, Royal Ballet, New York City Ballet, and others — are proudly integrating Tanowitz’s poetic universe into their repertories. Tanowitz holds degrees from Ohio State University and Sarah Lawrence College, where she clarified her creative voice under former Cunningham dancer and choreographer Viola Farber. In 2000, she founded Pam Tanowitz Dance to explore dance-making with a consistent community of dancers. She has since been commissioned by Fisher Center at Bard, The Joyce Theater, The Kennedy Center, and many other leading arts institutions, and has received numerous honors and fellowships from organizations including the Bessie Awards, Guggenheim Foundation, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Herb Alpert Award, and Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Tanowitz is an assistant professor of professional practice at Mason Gross School of the Arts/Rutgers University and is the first-ever choreographer in residence at the Fisher Center at Bard.Robert J. Orchard Stage, Emerson Paramount Center
559 Washington St, Boston, MA 02111
