By Peter Lindskoog

The final approach is announced and the United Airlines jet makes its familiar turn for landing at the Tulsa International Airport.  As I look out the window, I see the familiar landscape and layout of Tulsa, Oklahoma.  I know the streets well and the various places to eat and play.  In fact this is my 23^rd such trip to “Tulsi-town” and my 21^st main stage production with the Company.  Yes, this is the start of a 4 ½  week process that I know will result in some incredible music making with Tulsa Opera.

I am writing this after the first performance, and in my opinion opening night was glorious.  The performers were all superb.  The Principals, the Choruses, the Ballet, the Orchestra, Banda, the Supers, the Stage Managers, the Stage Crew, the Costumers, The Wig and Make Up, Properties, The Dressers, all.

Rehearsals have always been my favorite part of the process of making Opera.  Don’t get me wrong – performances are right up there.  But, there is something about bringing several human beings together, all with different ideas, backgrounds, experiences and opinions, and seeing the results of that interaction.  The art that the public will see is made and shaped in these rehearsals.  The singers’ singing and acting, the director’s vision and guidance, the conductor’s leadership and musical nuance – all work and come together in these rehearsals to create a show never ever to be duplicated.  No one will ever get to see this AIDA at Tulsa Opera on Saturday, April 20^th 2013 again, or the 26^th, or the 28^th.  They are all different, every time.

What do I do when I’m not in rehearsal?  Yesterday I did a publicity photo shoot with an amazing local photographer, and today I will go have lunch with dear friends at an amazing local restaurant.  This weekend (Friday and Sunday) I will go back to the Tulsa PAC and perform in AIDA in Chapman Theater.  Then, on Monday I will get on a plane and fly back home to North Carolina and further reflect on another wonderful time in Tulsa.  I truly love this town and the time I spend here.

Oh, and if you’re wondering which 21 shows I have been part of at the Tulsa Opera, here they are  beginning with 1997:  PEARL FISHERS, MADAME BUTTERFLY, MAGIC FLUTE,CARMEN, MANON, TURANDOT, TOSCA, TANNHAUSER, MARRIAGE OF FIGARO, RIGOLETTO, CUNNING LITTLE VIXEN, LA BOHEME, I CAPULETTI E I MONTECCHI, DON GIOVANNI, MADAMEBUTTERFLY, ARIADNE AF NAXOS, TOSCA, DON QUICHOTTE, LA TRAVIATA, DEAD MAN WALKING and AIDA.

By Kostis Protopapas

In 2013 the opera world celebrates 200 years from the birth of my favorite composer. Giuseppe Verdi injected dramatic thrust in bel canto, forging his own classically restrained yet enormously expressive operatic style.  Later he assimilated influences from French Grand Opera and Wagner, bringing Italian opera to the apex of its glory.  He was also a renowned patriot, who gave poetic expression to Italy’s struggle for independence and served in the first Italian parliament.  More than just a composer, Verdi was a profound dramatist who is often compared with Shakespeare both for the eloquence and power of his works and for his penetrating and compassionate view of the human condition.

For the Verdi bicentennial, opera companies around the world are organizing Verdi festivals and cycles of Verdi performances, or at least mark the anniversary with productions of his greatest – or in some cases his rarest! – works.  Tulsa Opera in its 65-year history has had a great relationship with Verdi’s works, with landmark productions not only of popular standards like La Traviata and Rigoletto, but even some of most splendid and formidable ones, like A Masked Ball (1956,) Otello (1971) and Don Carlo (1984.)

As we started planning our contribution to the bicentennial, the question I was asked over and over was: which opera will you pick?  It had to be something special, and something we don’t produce as part of the regular “rotation.”  It also had to be a late-Verdi opera, as those mature works are more dramatic and more musically opulent.  A Masked Ball was a great option, as it is probably Verdi’s most tuneful and fast-paced score and the title itself is so intriguing!  Otello was a strong contender: the Verdi-Shakespeare ticket is hard to beat!  Don Carlo is a “Holy Grail” for Verdi fans, and any artistic director is anxious to try their hand on that iconic historical drama.

Ultimately, I decided on the title that would draw as many people as possible to the theater, so they can be exposed to the splendor and power of Verdi.  Aïda, Verdi’s third-to-last opera, is the grand opera par-excellence:  it requires a cast of thousands, ballet, sumptuous scenery and costumes and voices of super-human capabilities.  True to its Egyptian theme, this opera looms as large as the temple of Luxor itself.  It is a feast for the ear and eye that I hope music and theater lovers won’t miss, especially since this is a work that we only put on every twelve or fifteen years.

Opera experts and enthusiasts often bemoan the purported “shortage of great Verdi voices,” i.e. singing actors whose voices not only possess power and beauty, but are capable of conveying the deep humanity of Verdi’s characters.  I regularly travel and hear operas all over the country, at companies large and small, and I am thrilled that in soprano Adrienne Danrich, former Studio Artist, tenor Brian Landry, mezzo soprano Dana Beth Miller, baritone Peter Lindskoog and basses Harold Wilson and Michael Ventura, Tulsa Opera has as extraordinary a cast of Verdians as you will hear anywhere.  I hope that this production, and the Verdi bicentenary, will whet our public’s appetite for more Verdi, and we will soon have this great cast back to sing another of those great operas which (sigh…) we had to pass on this time!

Written by Tim Petty

I woke up the morning of the Milnes Master Class about as nervous as I have ever been.  I stayed paralytically, nauseatingly nervous from the moment I arrived at the Lorton Performance Center until the moment I introduced myself to Sherrill, and something about his manner put me immediately in a state of focus and excitement.  He’s the kind of man whose tremendous handshake speaks volumes about his character and ability.  His manner of speech and interaction were typical of the way my father’s father’s generation sees only what’s important and disregards everything else. As an opera singer looking to advance in my field, that is just what I was looking for.

His critiques were no different from his manner.  He had an incisive way of cutting right to the heart of things and expressing esoteric concepts in simple terms.  It was extremely exciting to experience the powerful energy he projects on stage directed at me in his comments and conducting.  Seeing the way he negotiates the verismo and bel-canto styles has made me think a lot about what made the American Verdi singers of the ’60′s, ’70′s, and ’80′s so special and so different from their European counterparts.  The whole experience has left me feeling energized and hungry to perform. We are so fortunate to have had this opportunity to learn from Mr. Milnes. I look forward to Tulsa Opera providing this kind of outstanding training opportunity in the future!

This Master Class was made possible by a generous gift from Scott and Margee Filstrup, and was presented by the Rotary Club of Tulsa International Crescendo Music Awards; Joseph A. Bias, Founder; and Tulsa Opera. A Five-time Grammy® nominated, three-time Grammy® winner and 2008 Opera News Award winner, Sherrill Milnes is internationally recognized as the leading Verdi Baritone of his time.

To support more events like the Sherrill Milnes Master Class, make a donation to the Tulsa Opera Education department today by clicking here.

Tulsa Opera will present a special performance in conjunction with the Philbrook exhibition “Aphrodite and the Gods of Love” on Saturday March 23, 2013, from 2 pm to 3:30 pm. At the Statue of Venus and All Wounds Bleed are two short, contemporary operas which will be performed by Tulsa Opera Studio Artists and guest performers. Both operas will be directed by Stanley M. Garner.

In its staged premiere, All Wounds Bleed retells the passionate – and tragic – myth of Echo and Narcissus. Echo and Hera are both tortured in their mutual love of Zeus. Throw in a stolen Cupid’s arrowhead and a mortal who has sworn off love forever, and things get a little crazy on Olympus. All Wounds Bleed was written by composer Christopher Cerrone and librettist Tony Asaro under the auspices of the Composer Librettist Development Program at American Lyric Theater in New York City. Cerrone and Asaro are making a special trip to Tulsa for the performance. Both will participate in a Question & Answer session with the audience and performers following the production. Watch a clip from the American Lyric Theater and learn more about this modern chamber opera.

At the Statue of Venus, by Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally, the creators of Dead Man Walking, reveals a woman awaiting a blind date in a museum. Her thoughts and emotions are a jumble of hope and uncertainty, all while she lingers near a statue of the goddess of love. The opera was originally commissioned by Opera Colorado to celebrate the opening of the Ellie Caulkins Opera House. Read a program note from Heggie and McNally about At the Statue of Venus and the team’s commitment to contemporary opera.

Admission is $10 for members of Philbrook and $12 for non-members. Admission is taken at the door, or available online through Philbrook.

by Terrence McNally, librettist, and Jake Heggie, composer

At the Statue of Venus, a musical scene for soprano and piano, is our first collaboration since the opera Dead Man Walking in 2000.

When we were commissioned by the Opera Colorado to write a new piece to celebrate the opening of the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, we were both deeply honored and hugely challenged. In these perilous times for the arts, the opening of a major new arts venue is an occasion for rejoicing, of course, but reflection, too. What is the vitality of a new opera house if it is only a museum for works of the previous century? The arts must continue to explore who we are, not just who we were. Yes, a work of art is eternal and timeless, but the artists who forge them are not and these men and women must be nurtured as avidly as the great works of art of the past are preserved and/or re-examined.

We are both humbled by the boldness of Opera Colorado to commission us to create something new on this profound occasion. A performance of “Casta Diva” would have been so much simpler for everyone concerned – the opera house, the artists, the audience itself. New music, new anything, is challenging. “Casta Diva” is not – only the note are.

At the Statue of Venus was inspired by the great concert scenas of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Britten. An attractive woman waits in a museum by a statue of the Goddess of Love to meet a man she has never seen. Her thoughts and emotions are a jumble of hope, uncertainty and self-doubt. Will he like her? Will she like him? Why did she – a proudly successful modern woman, probably divorced – allow her friends to convince her that they had found Mister Right for her? We all know that Mr. Right doesn’t exist – or does he? Nothing ventured, nothing gained. To be willing to be judged by another person – does anything make us more vulnerable but human, too?

We identified with Rose. We hope you will, too.

Join Tulsa Opera on Saturday, March 16, 2013, at the Boulder Grill at 7 pm as we present The Face on the Barroom Floor, a thirty minute, one act cabaret opera inspired by the poem (below) written by Hugh Antoine d’Arcy in 1887 and a painting (right) by Herndon Davis in 1936. The Face on the Barroom Floor is a tale combining modern-day Central City and a 19th Century gold camp. Just thirty minutes long, the opera is regarded as a showcase for rising talent and has enjoyed a cult-like success, being produced every year by the Central City Opera since its premiere as well as numerous American and international opera companies.

Commissioned in 1978 by the Central City Opera and written by Henry Mollicone, the opera tells two tales, separated in time, but parallel in character and theme. Present-day Isabel is a singer in the Central City Opera chorus who dreams of singing Violetta in La Traviata. The beautiful Madeline is a saloon girl in a 19th-century gold camp. Both are loved by two men, and as the opera moves between centuries, the parallel plots come to the same tragic end of – a timeless tale of love and jealousy.

photo courtesy of centralcitycolorado.com

Reportedly, the poem was inspired by an actual happening in the 1800s at Joe Smith’s saloon at Fourth Avenue and 14th Street in Manhattan. Subsequently, Herndon Davis was inspired by the poem to paint an actual face on the floor of the Teller House bar in 1936. While staying at the Teller House after being commissioned by the Central City Opera Association to do a series of paintings, Davis remembered D’Arcy’s poem and felt the scuffed Teller House barroom floor to be just the sort of place that the artist in the poem would have used for his sketch. Though the Teller House manager and the bartender did not agree, Herndon could not resist and painted the face secretly by candlelight with the help of the bar’s busboy.

In addition to Davis’s painting and Mollicone’s opera, the poem has inspired many works including a 1914 film of the same name starring Charlie Chaplin, a Mad comics illustration in April 1954 and two songs (in 1959 by Tex Ritter and in 1968 by Hank Snow).

We hope you will join us for Tulsa’s premiere of this gripping and entertaining tale performed by our very own Studio Artists Elizabeth Fischborn as Isabel/Madeline, Stefan Barner as Larry/Matt and Alexander Elliott as Tom/John.

The Face Upon The Floor
by Hugh Antoine D’Arcy

Twas a balmy summer evening, and a goodly crowd was there,
Which well-nigh filled Joe’s barroom, on the corner of the square;
And as songs and witty stories came through the open door,
A vagabond crept slowly in and posed upon the floor.

“Where did it come from?” someone said. “The wind has blown it in.”
“What does it want?” another cried. “Some whiskey, rum or gin?”
“Here, Toby, sic ‘em, if your stomach’s equal to the work –
I wouldn’t touch him with a fork, he’s filthy as a Turk.”

This badinage the poor wretch took with stoical good grace;
In face, he smiled as tho’ he thought he’d struck the proper place.
“Come, boys, I know there’s kindly hearts among so good a crowd –
To be in such good company would make a deacon proud.

“Give me a drink — that’s what I want — I’m out of funds, you know,
When I had cash to treat the gang this hand was never slow.
What? You laugh as if you thought this pocket never held a sou;
I once was fixed as well, my boys, as any one of you.

“There, thanks, that’s braced me nicely; God bless you one and all;
Next time I pass this good saloon I’ll make another call.
Give you a song? No, I can’t do that; my singing days are past;
My voice is cracked, my throat’s worn out, and my lungs are going fast.

“I’ll tell you a funny story, and a fact, I promise, too.
Say! Give me another whiskey, and I’ll tell what I’ll do –
That I was ever a decent man not one of you would think;
But I was, some four or five years back. Say, give me another drink.

“Fill her up, Joe, I want to put some life into my frame –
Such little drinks to a bum like me are miserably tame;
Five fingers — there, that’s the scheme — and corking whiskey, too.
Well, here’s luck, boys, and landlord, my best regards to you.

“You’ve treated me pretty kindly and I’d like to tell you how
I came to be the dirty sot you see before you now.
As I told you, once I was a man, with muscle, frame, and health,
And but for a blunder ought to have made considerable wealth.

“I was a painter — not one that daubed on bricks and wood,
But an artist, and for my age, was rated pretty good.
I worked hard at my canvas, and was bidding fair to rise,
For gradually I saw the star of fame before my eyes.

“I made a picture perhaps you’ve seen, ’tis called the ‘Chase of Fame.’
It brought me fifteen hundred pounds and added to my name,
And then I met a woman — now comes the funny part –
With eyes that petrified my brain, and sunk into my heart.

Ticket prices start at just $25

Still searching for the perfect Valentine’s Day gift? Look no further! Purchase tickets to Tulsa Opera’s The Most Happy Fella and you’ll give your Valentine an unforgettable evening of beautiful music and a romantic comedy by one of Broadway’s most iconic composers. What could be more romantic than sharing your love of music with the one your love? 

If budget’s an issue, take advantage of Tulsa Opera’s $25 tickets which are available for this production until February 15th. Purchase the best seats available in the orchestra (front or side) or mezzanine (back or side) sections for only $25. Tickets must be purchased online using discount code “Wild About Opera” upon checkout.

Don’t miss out on this great deal to see the Tulsa Opera premiere of The Most Happy Fella!

Metropolitan Opera star Kim Josephson brings Tony to life

Tulsa Opera’s production of Frank Loesser’s The Most Happy Fella is made all the more enjoyable by baritone Kim Josephson, who stars in the lead role as Tony. In the original production, Frank Loesser insisted on an opera star to play the lead role of Tony because of the vocal demands. Loesser himself would surely agree that Josephson’s genuinely warm character and powerful voice are the perfect fit for Fella’s Tony.

Hailed as one of opera’s most versatile baritones, Kim Josephson is a regular guest of leading opera companies. He has performed more than 240 performances of 28 roles including the title role in Rigoletto, Germont in La Traviata, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor, and Belcore in L’Elisir d’Amore for the Metropolitan Opera. He has also appeared at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, most notably as Eddie Carbone in the world premiere of William Bolcom’s A View from the Bridge. He is the recipient of many honors, including the William Sullivan/George London Foundation Award, Baltimore Opera Vocal Competition, Enrico Caruso International Vocal Competition, Loren Zachary Foundation Award, and the Puccini Foundation Award.

What may surprise many is that this highly regarded opera star has made Oklahoma his home base for his international opera career for the last several years. While visiting family in the area years ago, Josephson fell in love with the wide open spaces and beautiful landscape of Northeastern Oklahoma. He bought a ranch, moved from New York to Oklahoma with his wife and embraced our state as his new home. After being offered a position as Associate Professor of Voice at the University of Oklahoma, Kim and his wife moved to Norman where he continues to teach. Having studied with some of the greatest singers and teachers of our time, he is a bridge to a wealth of information for singers of all ages.

Don’t miss Kim’s Tulsa Opera debut as Tony in The Most Happy Fella, the most operatic work ever written for Broadway.

A limited number of $25 tickets are available for Tulsa Opera’s production of  The Most Happy Fella. Purchase the best seats available in the orchestra (front or side) or mezzanine (back or side) sections for only $25. Tickets must be purchased online by February 15, 2013, using discount code “Wild About Opera” upon checkout.

Don’t miss out on this great deal to see the Tulsa Opera premiere of The Most Happy Fella!