Press Releases
Contact:
Colleen Flanigan
Director of Marketing and Public Relations
312-704-8420 ext. 25
cflanigan@chicagooperatheater.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CHICAGO OPERA THEATER PRESENTS THE WORLD PREMIERE OF A NEW VERSION OF THE PADLOCK; DIDO AND AENEAS ROUNDS OUT AN EXTRAORDINARY DOUBLE BILL
CHICAGO, January 16, 2006 – Chicago Opera Theater kicks off its 2006 season on February 15 in grand fashion with its signature style and spirit, presenting a double bill featuring The Padlock & Dido and Aeneas by Charles Dibdin and Henry Purcell, respectively. This creative pairing of comic and tragic love stories will mark the world premiere of conductor and opera legend Raymond Leppard’s realization of The Padlock’s piano score and libretto.
Leppard’s new version of The Padlock has literally has risen from the ashes. When working on the realization, the conductor used a first-edition vocal score he acquired in the early 1940s that was previously thought destroyed in a house fire years ago. Leppard has been familiar with Dibdin’s antic-filled comedy for decades—he and classmates performed several arias from the opera in Cambridge in the early 1950s. COT’s staging of The Padlock marks the first time since before the Revolutionary War that the opera will be performed in the United States.
Renowned director, playwright and COT veteran Lillian Groag will cleverly interpret The Padlock’s ironic libretto, with a cast that includes Leah Partridge in the role of Leonore and Jesper Taube as Don Diego. The cast is rounded out by several new faces to COT—Dean Anthony (Mungo), Matthew Garrett (Leander) and Kate Mangiameli (Ursula).
In Purcell’s tragic masterpiece—Dido and Aeneas—world-famous mezzo soprano and Chicago local Susanne Mentzer will perform the role of Dido. For the double bill, Groag will re-team with La Resurrezione’s John Conklin, considered one of America's foremost designers. Audience members will be treated to a clever shift in cast as the audience for The Padlock takes on leading roles in Dido and Aeneas, whose cast includes COT veterans Erika Buchholz (Second Woman) and Katherine Calcamuggio (Second Witch).
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General Director Brian Dickie says, "I'm very excited to open our 2006 season with this rare double bill for many reasons: the brilliant inventiveness of Ms. Groag, the leadership of one of the great pioneers of early music in the 20th century Raymond Leppard, and of course the debut with COT of a great American singer Susanne Mentzer."
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Chicago Opera Theater performs at The Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park--205 East Randolph Drive.
The double bill is generously supported by the Christel DeHaan Family Foundation.
Chicago Opera Theater Tickets
Single tickets are currently on sale and range from $35-$115. Season subscriptions that also include Nixon in China and The Abduction from the Seraglio are currently on sale and range from $105-$345. Tickets may be purchased by calling 312-704-8414 or online at ChicagoOperaTheater.org. They may also be purchased at the Harris Theater by calling 312.334.7777 or online at HarrisTheaterChicago.org.
About Chicago Opera Theater
Since its first season in 1974, Chicago Opera Theater has carved a significant place for itself in the operatic life of Chicago. Under the leadership of General Director Brian Dickie, COT has become the company to watch with its wide range of operatic repertoire that includes the greatest works of the 17th, 18th and 20th centuries. The 2006 season will be no exception, featuring the operas The Padlock, Dido and Aeneas, The Abduction from the Seraglio and Nixon in China. COT opened the 2004 season in its new home, the Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park. This modern, state-of-the-art theater is conveniently located at 205 E. Randolph. For more information, call 312-704-8420 ext. 25 or visit ChicagoOperaTheater.org
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Brian Dickie (General Director) was born in England in 1941 and joined Glyndebourne Festival as an administrative assistant in the Music and Planning Departments in 1962. From 1967 to 1973 he was Artistic Director of the Wexford Festival and simultaneously the first Administrator of Glyndebourne Touring Opera where a high proportion of the leading British singers begin their careers. From 1973 to 1984 he was Artistic Adviser successively to the theatres in Angers, Nancy and the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. In 1981 he became General Administrator of Glyndebourne Festival Opera where he worked with many distinguished Directors and Conductors including Peter Hall, Trevor Nunn, Nikolaus Lehnhoff, Peter Sellars, Bernard Haitink, Simon Rattle, and Andrew Davis. Brian held the post of General Director of the Canadian Opera Company from 1989 to 1993 and from 1994 to 1997 was Artistic Adviser to the Opéra de Nice and Adviser to the International Youth Foundation during the formation of the European Union Opera. He was General Director of the European Union Opera's Baden-Baden and Paris season in 1998 prior to joining Chicago Opera Theater as General Director in September 1999. In addition to serving as General Director of COT he has been Chairman of the International Jury for Pre-selections for the Bertelsmann Foundation's Neue Stimmen Competition since 1999. In this capacity in the summer of this year he will audition more than 800 singers in Europe, the US, South America, Australia, and South Africa.
Raymond Leppard (Conductor) is one of the most respected international conductors of his time. He has conducted nearly all of the world’s leading orchestras, made over 150 recordings, written two books, created legendary realizations of Cavalli and Monteverdi and composed several film scores. His impressive list of conducting credits include appearances with the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, the Detroit Symphony and other major orchestras including the Boston Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, the BBC Symphony, as well as in all European capital cities and Japan. In the great opera houses of the world, highlights include Britten’s Billy Budd at the Metropolitan and San Francisco operas, Alceste and Alcina at the New York City Opera and the world premiere of Nicholas Maw’s Rising of the Moon at Glyndebourne Opera. He has also appeared at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and in Paris, Hamburg, Santa Fe, Stockholm and Geneva. In the late 1950s, Mr. Leppard accepted a post at Cambridge as University Lecturer in Music, beginning a distinguished joint career as academian and performer. He has been honored by The Queen of England with the title Commander of the British Empire.
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Lillian Groag (Director) works in the theatre as an actress, writer and director. Her acting credits include Broadway, Off Broadway, Mark Taper Forum, and regional theatres throughout the country. She has directed at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Old Globe Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, New York City Opera, The People’s Light and Theatre Company, California Shakespeare Festival, Berkeley Repertory, Seattle Repertory, Glimmerglass Opera, The Juilliard School of Music, Florentine Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, the Sundance Institute Playwrights Lab, the Virginia Opera, Opera San Jose and the Company of Angels. Her plays The Ladies of the Camellias and The White Rose, The Magic Fire, Menocchio and Midons as well as adaptations of Musset, Lorca and Feydeau have been produced variously by the Old Globe Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Kennedy Center, The Guthrie Theater, Yale Repertory, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, the Northlight Theatre, Seattle Repertory, The Wilma Theatre, Junges Theater in Bonn, Landesbuhne Sachsen-Anhalt in Eisleben, Shauspielhaus in Wuppertal, Hessisches Landestheater in Marburg, and Tokyo. The Ladies of the Camellias, Blood Wedding, The White Rose and The Magic Fire have been published by the Dramatists Play Service. Up coming: Orfeo ed Euridice at Glimmerglass Opera, The Pirates of Penzance at Glimmerglass Opera and NYCO and The Rivals at ACT in San Francisco.
Susanne Mentzer, one of today’s foremost mezzo-sopranos, is widely admired as a specialist in trouser roles, most notably for her portrayals of Cherubino and Der Komponist in Ariadne auf Naxos, as well as for the classic femme fatale and ingénue roles of Adalgisa, Zerlina, Dorabella, and Rosina. Ms. Mentzer enjoys a significant concert and recital career and is a celebrated interpreter of the vocal works of Mahler and a proponent of women’s music. Ms. Mentzer has appeared at nearly every great opera house and orchestra under the batons of the world’s greatest conductors. Her extensive discography includes two recitals she often performs in concert: The Eternal Feminine and Wayfaring Stranger with guitarist, Sharon Isbin. Susanne Mentzer has established herself as a pedagogue; she is an Associate Professor of Voice at the DePaul University in Chicago and will join the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in 2006 as Professor of Voice. Ms. Mentzer holds degrees from The Juilliard School and resides in the Chicago area with her teenage son.
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THE PADLOCK/DIDO AND AENEAS
The Padlock by Charles Dibdin, realized by Raymond Leppard
Libretto by Isaac Bickerstaff and Raymond Leppard
Sung in English with English supertitles
Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell
Libretto by Nahum Tate
Sung in English with English supertitles
Performance Dates:
February 15, 17, 23, 25 7:30 p.m.
February 19 3 p.m.
Conductor: Raymond Leppard
Director: Lillian Groag
Choreographer: Lynne Hockney
Scenery: John Conklin
Costumes: Martha Hally
Lighting: Robert Wierzel
The Padlock Cast List
Leonore: Leah Partridge
Ursula: Kate Mangiameli
Leander: Matthew Garrett
Mungo: Dean Anthony
Don Diego: Jesper Taube
Scholar One: Andrzej Stec
Scholar Two: Jesse Blumberg
Dido and Aeneas Cast List
Dido: Susanne Mentzer
Belinda: Leah Partridge
First Witch: Janai Brugger
Second Woman: Erika Buchholz
Sorceress: Kate Mangiameli
Second Witch: Katherine Calcamuggio
Spirit: Lon Ellenberger
Sailor: Matthew Garrett
Aeneas: Jesper Taube
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