100 Years Later: All The American (Operatic) Ties To Susan B. Anthony

The original "Iron Lady": Susan B. Anthony

On this day 100 years ago in America, the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified which began to pave the way for all women's right to vote. One of the most profound leaders in the suffrage movement was Susan B. Anthony. Her name and legacy would have influence that delved even into the opera world. Let's being at the beginning."[Susan Anthony was] born into a Quaker family committed to social equality, she collected anti-slavery petitions at the age of 17. In 1856, she became the New York state agent for the American Anti-Slavery Society. In 1851, she met Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who became her lifelong friend and co-worker in social reform activities, primarily in the field of women's rights. In 1852, they founded the New York Women's State Temperance Society after Anthony was prevented from speaking at a temperance conference because she was female. In 1863, they founded the Women's Loyal National League, which conducted the largest petition drive in United States history up to that time, collecting nearly 400,000 signatures in support of the abolition of slavery. In 1866, they initiated the American Equal Rights Association, which campaigned for equal rights for both women and African Americans. In 1868, they began publishing a women's rights newspaper called The Revolution. In 1869, they founded the National Woman Suffrage Association as part

A Century Ago: Parade for Voting Rights

of a split in the women's movement. In 1890, the split was formally healed when their organization merged with the rival American Woman Suffrage Association to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association, with Anthony as its key force. In 1876, Anthony and Stanton began working with Matilda Joslyn Gage on what eventually grew into the six-volume History of Woman Suffrage. The interests of Anthony and Stanton diverged somewhat in later years, but the two remained close friends. In 1872, Anthony was arrested for voting in her hometown of Rochester, New York, and convicted in a widely publicized trial. Although she refused to pay the fine, the authorities declined to take further action. In 1878, Anthony and Stanton arranged for Congress to be presented with an amendment giving women the right to vote. Introduced by Sen. Aaron A. Sargent (R-CA), it later became known colloquially as the Susan B. Anthony Amendment. It was eventually ratified as the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920. Anthony traveled extensively in support of women's suffrage, giving as many as 75 to 100 speeches per year and working on many state campaigns. She worked internationally for women's rights, playing a key role in creating the International Council of Women, which is still active. She also helped to bring

Baritone Jarrett Ott Profiled For Opera Philadelphia "La Traviata"

Baritone Jarrett Ott (bottom) in Philadelphia, with current boyfriend Adam Franklin (top) who is the Artistic Administrator at The Santa Fe Opera, for performances of Verdi's La Traviata. (Photo: Facebook)

"No sooner than Opera Philadelphia scored a huge success last month with its queer-centric Andy: A Popera, in collaboration with FringeArts and the Bearded Ladies, comes the beginning of its season, its sparkling annual gala and the Oct. 2 start of La Traviata, the Verdi opera in three acts about fallen women and the men who love them. The antiquated notion of salvaging reputations (remember when celebrities, politicians and royalty could be shamed — ah, the past) is where we find the heart of La Traviata. Set at the mouth of 18th-century Paris and based on La Dame aux Camélias (1852), a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, grand opera doesn’t come any grander or more traditional than this. 'The opera world is a gay man’s world,' Ott said, talking about the welcoming environment of the classical vocal stage. 'It’s never been frustrating, but rather comforting, to meet some of the warmest people.'.....'Getting to share the stage with this cast is pretty incredible,' Ott said. 'During this rehearsal process, I have had the wind knocked out of me several times listening to my colleagues. Philadelphia is in for an operatic treat with this gorgeous production all around.' When asked what is most testing about his role of Marchese, Ott was quick to joke, 'Going to the gym every day in order to be stripped down to shirtless in act two.'" [Source] Watch a video of rehearsal footage for La Traviata at Opera Philadelphia featuring Jarrett Ott, and a teaser clip for the production, after the jump.

Seán Curran On Dance For Edwardian "Salome" At Santa Fe Opera

Alex Penda (aka Alexandrina Pendatchanska) in
 a costume designed by Christian Lacroix in
2013 for a Salome production directed
 by Vincent Boussard.

"'You don’t want to end up hating her,' said Seán Curran, choreographer for Santa Fe Opera’s new production of Salome, describing the character with all the veils. Curran has worked on several SFO productions, including 2011’s The Last Savage and Oscar in 2013. 'Why does she ask for what she asks for?,' he said, referring to Salome’s request for the head of Jochanaan (John the Baptist). 'She’s a teenage girl.' Oscar Wilde’s play, the basis for the opera’s text, suggests that she had a sexual yearning for the prophet. In April, the opera flew Curran to Paris to work on the dance. He spent 48 hours in a studio with Salome’s director, Daniel Slater, and their Salome, Alex Penda, who lives in the city. Slater has chosen to set the production in 1905 Europe, the year Richard Strauss’ opera premiered in Dresden. 'It’s very Downton Abbey — Edwardian,' Curran said. 'There are no biblical references. All the slaves become servants. As for the 'Dance of the Seven Veils,' he said that 'it feels like Art Nouveau — like a Toulouse-Lautrec painting.' Curran said Strauss made his job easier. 'Salome is one of the great operas. The music evokes so much emotion — it does the storytelling for you. Strauss does tonal painting. You can see the color of the grass. You can hear the wind. It’s visceral, violent, sexual music to me.' At the rehearsal studio, Curran led a warm-up with Penda — as a way of easing her into the movement but also as a way for him to begin to understand the singer as a dancer. 'Alex has played this part before,' Curran said. 'I directed and choreographed it for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Danny has never seen or directed the show.' Slater is a director who likes to be involved in every aspect of a production. He knew that Strauss was influenced by the theories of Sigmund

Edwardian Steampunk: Choreographer Seán Curran
 looks like he could be in the current production
 of the SFO Salome.

Freud, which were coming into vogue in Vienna’s intellectual circles at the time of the opera’s origin. 'Slater wanted a psychological take on the dance,' the choreographer said. 'There was an image of an iceberg and the psyche. Here is a woman only exhibiting the tip of the iceberg until she starts to dance. Alex has a fearless physicality,' Curran continued. 'She understands the difference between energy and effort. She’s not afraid to look awkward or ugly.' Together with Slater, they developed movement motifs — 'the silent scream,' 'the mourning section,' and 'the daddy dance.' 'We wound up with a hybrid. My ingredients, Danny with the big picture, and Alex’s contributions.' Curran’s previous experience with the opera gave him an understanding of the physical requirements for the soprano, not just the emotional aspects. 'Salome has to dance. She has to knock it out of the park and then sing nonstop for the last 10 minutes of the opera. You have to have the body of a sixteen-year-old and the lungs of a forty-year-old to do this part.'" [Source] Read about The Santa Fe Opera founder John Crosby and his affinity for Strauss and Salome by clicking here. Watch Alex Penda in the trailer for Nayo Titzin film Unveiling Salome and a video interview with David Robertson who is conducting the SFO Salome, after the jump.

Georgia Jarman Returns Triumphant In Santa Fe Opera "Rigoletto"

Gilda In The Desert: Jarman sings the Verdi role
at The Santa Fe Opera (Photo: Ken Howard)

Former Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Georgia Jarman currently sings the lead role of Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto at the Santa Fe Opera: "The plot, derived from a Victor Hugo play, revolves around the curse to which Rigoletto is referring just then. It focuses specifically on how he loses his daughter, Gilda, to the decadent Duke of Mantua, whom Rigoletto serves as court jester. Soprano Georgia Jarman proves to be a splendid Gilda, acting the part with forthright simplicity and displaying the vocal heft, timbre and agility needed to meet its demands. One of the evening’s high points was her aria 'Caro nome,' which started in loveliness and ended five minutes later in otherworldly beauty — her coloratura encompassing some clearly articulated, sustained trills, to boot. Conductor Jader Bignamini had led a sturdy interpretation up to that point, but in the aria he and the orchestra supported Gilda’s musings by allowing breathing room of their own. Jarman’s aria 'Tutte le feste al tempio' was similarly affecting, and the duet with her father into which it escalates was one of the evening’s most touching highpoints." [Source] Watch a video interview with the soprano discussing her role, after the jump.

Bryan Hymel On Family, Santa Fe Opera, High Notes, "Les Troyens"

Shaken, Not Stirred: Bryan Hymel brings cool to opera with his heroic high notes. (Photo: Dario Acosta)

"French grand opera makes great demands on singers, with performances clocking in at times that rival Wagner and orchestras crowding the pit. New Orleans native, Bryan Hymel (pronounced ee-mel) will continue to embrace that repertoire in performances of epic works like Les Troyens in San Francisco next month and Les[sic] Damnation de Faust in Paris this coming December. In between, he’ll sing the roles of the Duke in Rigoletto and Don Jose in Carmen at Santa Fe and Washington National Opera respectively. His bow as Rodolfo at the Met last year earned him continued praise from the New York press, which had welcomed his triumph on short notice in 2012, stepping in for a save-the-day kind of performance in Les Troyens appropriate for someone whose voice type is most often described as heroic. His list of awards is long, and illustrious, and includes the Metropolitan Opera’s Beverly Sills Artist Award and first

The Santa Fe Opera Announces 2016 Anniversary Season

The Santa Fe Opera has announced the 60th Anniversary Season for the summer of 2016! Operas will include La Fanciulla del West, Don Giovanni, Roméo et Juliette, Capriccio, and Vanessa. See the press release after the jump. (Photo: Paul Horpedahl)

The Dallas Opera Appoints Ian Derrer As Artistic Administrator

"In the wake of Jonathan Pell’s decision to step down after thirty years of distinguished service to The Dallas Opera, General Director & CEO Keith Cerny is delighted to announce the appointment of a new Artistic Administrator, Ian Derrer....Mr. Derrer grew up in North Carolina and, in 1996, completed a Bachelor of Music degree in Voice Performance from the Meadows School of the Arts at SMU. He then worked as a freelance Assistant Director and Stage Manager for Santa Fe Opera, The Atlanta Opera, Opera Carolina, Opera Pacific, and Washington Opera. From 1999-2005 he completed Masters Degrees in Opera Production, Voice, and Performing Arts Management from Northwestern University and Brooklyn College. During the summers of 2001-2003 he was also the Scheduling Coordinator for the International Institute of Vocal Arts in Chiari, Italy. Afterwards, he served as Rehearsal & Music Coordinator for the New York City Opera (2004-2006). Mr. Derrer also has invaluable experience in the field of orchestra and artist management. Immediately prior to joining the Dallas Opera, Ian held multiple positions at the Lyric Opera of Chicago (2006-2014), including Head of the Rehearsal Department, Rehearsal Administrator, and Director of Production, while, also, making time to serve as Rehearsal Director for Santa Fe Opera during the summer of 2012." [Source]

Rick Pitcairn Recalls Lifetime Wealth Of Opera Experiences

Opera Under the Stars: The Santa Fe Opera's first theater

"On a starry desert night in August, I sat between my mother and daughter at the open-air Santa Fe Opera House in New Mexico. My mom has attended operas there since the early 1960s; that night, before the first note was struck, she regaled us with stories of operas past, about the time when the seats did not have a roof overhead, and how she and my dad had watched Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier in rain suits. A special glow came over me, for my 21-year-old daughter, her granddaughter, was to my right, probably the youngest aficionado there and rapidly developing her own particular brand of expertise. The orchestra began to swell with Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, as the lights of Los Alamos twinkled on a mountainside many miles away and we learned of lecherous old men and optimistic young lovers and the tensions between rich and poor, recounted in an opera written and originally staged in 1786. The story needed no updating; those issues are as relevant today as they were when the piece was written. My daughter leaned over and whispered that her good friend, the rising baritone Zach Nelson, 'really sounds great tonight, doesn't he?' The story of how my parents passed their love of opera to me and I, a young widower, in turn passed this gift to my daughter is really about legacy. In our household, that transmission of family essence happened

Conductor, and Founder of The Santa Fe Opera,
John Crosby (left) sits in rehearsal with
composer Igor Stravinsky

to a large part while we were at the opera. I still remember, so clearly, the first opera I attended as a seven-year-old boy. My family lived in Corpus Christi, Texas, at the time. The Metropolitan Opera toured in those days, and my mother and grandmother drove me three hours to see Georges Bizet's Carmen in San Antonio. South Texas then was about football and oil wells. That opera introduced me to sensations that were so totally different, I wasn't sure I liked it. But I sure knew my mother and grandmother did. Each summer in the early 1960s, my mother would move our whole family to Santa Fe, where in 1956 the late John Crosby had established a summer opera festival he hoped would rival the first-class European festivals of Salzburg and Glyndebourne." Read the entire fascinating article on Barron's by clicking here.

Countertenor David Daniels Engaged To Conductor Scott Walters

The happy couple seen here enjoying Glüwein last December in front of Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum. Congratulations to them both. David Daniels is currently performing in Theodore Morrison's opera Oscar at
the Santa Fe Opera. Read more about the performances here. (Photo: Facebook)

Harry Bicket To Spend More Time in the Summer Desert

(Photo: Richard Haughton)

"Harry Bicket, the British early music specialist, is to be the next chief conductor of Santa Fe Opera, starting in October. He succeeds conductor Frederic Chaslin, who resigned last August after just two seasons on the job, saying he wanted to focus on composing and his duties as music director of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. Bicket's appointment, announced on Wednesday morning, is to some extent an indication of the inroads Baroque music has made in the traditional operatic establishment. He is currently manning the pit in Handel’s Giulio Cesare at the Metropolitan Opera. His opera resume also includes Handel performances at the Royal Opera House, the Glyndebourne Festival and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment." [Source]

Santa Fe Opera Makes Vogue Magazine's "30 Days of Summer"

"On the desert’s most enchanting stage, the Santa Fe Opera’s 2012 season kicks off with Puccini’s Tosca, which hasn’t been performed in the open-air theater–against the backdrop of the Jemez and Sangre de Cristo Mountains—in eighteen years." [Source]

Scientist and Santa Fe Opera Board Member Passes Away

"George Cowan, a chemist who influenced everything from the Manhattan Project and the hunt for evidence of the Soviet Union's first nuclear tests to the iconic Santa Fe Opera, died Friday at his home in Los Alamos. He was 92....Enloe ticked off a list of Cowan's accomplishments that ranged from his scientific accolades and the start of the scientific think tank to the early childhood development programs in New Mexico that he influenced....Then there was Cowan's love of travel, food, wine and music. He served on the board of the Santa Fe Opera and was the first treasurer of the opera's foundation. The venue today draws thousands of visitors from around the world to its unique outdoor stage." [Source]

Review: Vivaldi's "Griselda" Opens at the Santa Fe Opera

Leonard and Abrams
(Photo: Ken Howard)

"...countertenor Yuri Minenko, who portrayed this 'man in the middle' counselor, was the only person in the cast who combined elegant, agile vocalism with a sense of period musical style. His voice is small but handsome, his technique immaculate. He projects just enough to be heard clearly, but he demands that listeners give him their complete attention. In a production in which most of the characters flounced about with awkwardness that could border on the irrational, Minenko maintained a dignified bearing even while wearing what came close to a pastel green leisure suit. The opening night's other countertenor was Jason Abrams (in his house début), the understudy for David Daniels, who called in sick. He held up his own in the role of Roberto (part of a love-interest subplot), and his attractive voice may earn him continuing plaudits as he addresses some inconsistencies that have not yet been worked out of his vocal production at this emergent moment of his career. As Ottone (who lusts after Griselda), soprano Amanda Majeski was made to run around dressed like an MTV award presenter. Her shrill timbre was not unsuited to her aria 'Scocca dardi,' which describes how Griselda's eyes throw darts into her soul, but in other contexts her tone seemed less apposite and her precisely notated arpeggios were the stuff of approximation. Some fine singing arrived via Isabel Leonard, a mezzo-soprano rising fast in the world of lyric theater. Nonetheless, she did not seem well suited to her role of Costanza, whom Gualtiero pretends he will marry, though he knows

Is Natalie Dessay Working for the Santa Fe Tourism Board?