The Impresario

BackgroundMozart wrote The Impresario in 1786 (the same year as The Marriage of Figaro) to enter into a musical competition against Antonio Salieri at the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna. A German Singspiel containing music and spoken dialogue, the work is traditionally sung in the vernacular of the audience. Houston Grand Opera has commissioned a new story, script, and translation from playwright Jim Luigs, who also conceived and wrote the musical Das Barbecü, a hilarious take on Wagner’s Ring.

The StoryDue to a pandemic and working from home, Edna Mendenhall, the impresario of Texas Opera Grande, holds a Zoom audition for Yolanda Cantrell, a singer new to her company. Rona Richards, Texas Opera Grande’s long-time star, sits in on the call, unannounced. Yolanda is late for her audition, so Rona obliges Edna with an aria.

Yolanda finally appears on camera and apologizes for her tardiness. She proceeds to sing a superb aria, which shows off her extraordi-nary range. Edna is delighted, but Rona feels threatened and makes her presence known. Suddenly, Rona’s agent Wiley Stonecrop speaks up. He, too, has been lurking on the Zoom meeting; it soon becomes clear that he is the agent for both women. The two sopranos and their agent sing a trio in English, during which he presses for contracts for both of his singers. Edna consents, and everyone is elated.

Fun FactModern audiences may be surprised to learn that Mozart lost the palace battle to Salieri, whose entry in the competition mocked Mozart and his favorite librettist, Lorenzo Da Ponte. Unbothered, Mozart declared himself the superior composer.

CastEdna Mendenhall, Impresario Bowie Krebs, Edna’s Assistant Rona Richards, Returning Diva Yolanda Cantrell, New Diva Wiley Stonecrop, Agent

* Houston Grand Opera debut † Houston Grand Opera Studio artist ‡ Former Houston Grand Opera Studio artist

Creative TeamConductor Director Projection Designer Musical Preparation Stage Manager English Titles

† Houston Grand Opera Studio artist ‡ Former Houston Grand Opera Studio artist

CreditsMolly Dill Producing Director Daniel James Producer Michael James Clark Lighting Designer Dotti Staker Hair & Makeup Esmeralda DeLeón Costume Realizer

The entire staff of HGO contributed to the success of this production.

For a full listing of the company’s staff, please visit

HGO.org/about-us/people.

Performing artists, stage directors, and choreographers are represented

by the American Guild of Musical Artists, the union for opera profes-

sionals in the United States.

Orchestral musicians are represented by the Houston Professional

Musicians Association, Local #65-699, American Federation of Musicians.

Stage crew personnel provided by IATSE, Local #51.

Wardrobe personnel provided by Theatrical Wardrobe Union, Local #896.

Nova Thomas * William Guanbo Su † Raven McMillon *† Nicole Heaston ‡ Frederick Ballentine *

Eun Sun Kim E. Loren Meeker S. Katy Tucker Kirill Kuzmin ‡, Bin Yu Sanford † Annie Wheeler Jeremy Johnson

Video Production

Streaming Partner Produced in association with Austin Opera and OPERA San Antonio

Audio Production Ryan Edwards and Shannon Smith

Guarantor

The Impresario

HGO Orchestra Patrick Summers Artistic and Music Director Margaret Alkek Williams Chair

VIOLIN Denise Tarrant*, Concertmaster Chloe Kim†, Assistant Concertmaster Natalie Gaynor†, Principal, Second Violin Carrie Kauk*, Acting Principal Second Violin Hae-a Lee-Barnes† Miriam Belyatsky† Anabel Detrick† Rasa Kalesnykaite† Chavdar Parashkevov† Mary Reed† Erica Robinson† Linda Sanders*, Acting Assistant Principal Second Violin Oleg Sulyga† Sylvia VerMeulen† Melissa Williams†

VIOLA Eliseo Rene Salazar*, Principal Lorento Golofeev*, Assistant Principal Gayle Garcia-Shepard† Erika Lawson† Suzanne LeFevre† Dawson White†

CELLO Barrett Sills*, Principal Erika Johnson†, Assistant Principal Ariana Nelson† Wendy Smith-Butler† Steven Wiggs†

DOUBLE BASS Dennis Whittaker†, Principal Erik Gronfor*, Acting Principal Carla Clark†

FLUTE Henry Williford*, Acting Principal Izumi Miyahara

OBOE Elizabeth Priestly Siffert*, Principal Mayu Isom*

CLARINET Sean Krissman*, Principal Eric Chi*

BASSOON Amanda Swain*, Principal Michael Allard*

FRENCH HORN Sarah Cranston*, Principal Kimberly Penrod Minson*, Second Horn Spencer Park†

TRUMPET Tetsuya Lawson*, Principal Randal Adams*

TROMBONE Thomas Hulten†, Principal Mark Holley†

BASS TROMBONE Vacant

TUBA Mark Barton†, Principal

HARP Joan Eidman†, Principal

TIMPANI Alison Chang†, Principal Richard Brown*, Acting Principal Timpani

PERCUSSION Richard Brown†, Principal

ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL MANAGER Richard Brown

* = Core Member † = Core Member on leave for this production

The Impresario

Who’s WhoJIM LUIGS(UNITED STATES)STORY, SCRIPT, AND TRANSLATION

Jim Luigs has written and directed plays and musicals for regional theaters throughout the U.S. He is currently adapting the libretto of The

Merry Widow for a new production commissioned by HGO. He was commissioned by Seattle Opera to write the book and lyrics for Das Barbecü, a musical, which has since received more than 150 produc-tions worldwide. His first full-length play, Second Wind, won first place in The Texas Playwrights’ Festival and received staged readings at STAGES in Houston and the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles. He enjoyed a decades-long collaboration with singer Barbara Cook, with whom he developed cabaret as well as concert appearances at the Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, on Broadway, and in the West End. As a script consultant to Music Theater International, he adapted more than a dozen classic stage musicals for performance by students. For Walt Disney Theatrical Productions, he created the first stage adaption of the animated feature film, Aladdin. In addition to his work in the theater, Jim owns and manages an interior-design business, which serves clients throughout the United States and abroad. His work as a designer has been published internationally in Architectural Digest, Interior Design, British House and Garden, and ELLE Decor, among others. He is a graduate of Duke University and a member of the faculty at NYU/Tisch, where he teaches MFA candidates in the Department of Design for Stage and Film.

EUN SUN KIM(SOUTH KOREA)CONDUCTOR

Eun Sun Kim made her North American operatic debut with La traviata at Houston Grand Opera, earning an appointment as the

company’s first Principal Guest Conductor in 25 years. Following her critically acclaimed San Francisco Opera debut in Rusalka, she was named that company’s Music Director Designate. Kim opened the 2020–21 season leading the famed Concert de Paris, featuring the Orchestre National de France and Chœur de Radio France at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. This season, she conducts symphony orchestras around the globe, including concerts in Atlanta, Baltimore, Madrid, Montreal, and Vancouver. She continues a series of important oper-atic debuts with L’elisir d’amore at Lyric Opera of Chicago and La bohème at Wiener Staatsoper, and returns to Bayerische Staatsoper for La bohème before conducting La traviata at Staatsoper Berlin. Kim is a regular guest conductor at opera houses across Europe, including Staatsoper Berlin, Bayerische Staatsoper, Semperoper Dresden, Staatsoper Stuttgart, Royal Swedish Opera, Royal Danish

Opera, Den Norske Opera, Volksoper Wien, Opernhaus Zurich, and Oper Frankfurt. Major upcoming debuts include subscription concerts with the New York Philharmonic and productions with the Metropolitan Opera.

E. LOREN MEEKER (UNITED STATES)DIRECTOR

Last month E. Loren Meeker co-directed Vinkensport for the HGO Digital series. She made her HGO mainstage directorial debut

with The Pearl Fishers in 2019. Also for HGO, she served as asso-ciate director of Florencia en el Amazonas (2019), The Marriage of Figaro (2011), and Show Boat (2013); assistant director of The Queen of Spades (2010); and choreographer and assistant director for The Marriage of Figaro (2005) and Don Giovanni (2006). Other HGO projects as director include a special production of Trial by Jury at the 1910 Harris County Courthouse (2013), HGO Studio Showcase 2013–14, and HGOco world premieres of A Way Home (2010), From My Mother’s Mother (2012), Past the Checkpoints (2013), and River of Light (2014). She recently directed four produc-tions with New Orleans Opera Association—Lucia di Lammermoor, Die Fledermaus, Faust, and Turandot—and won the Gambit Best of Opera Award for Die Fledermaus and Faust. She has received critical acclaim for productions of The Cunning Little Vixen (The Glimmerglass Festival), Daughter of the Regiment (Atlanta Opera), Rigoletto and Die Fledermaus (Lyric Opera of Chicago), Carmen (Washington National Opera and Madison Opera), Die Fledermaus (San Francisco Opera), La pietra del paragone (Wolf Trap Opera), La bohème (The Glimmerglass Festival and OPERA San Antonio), The Barber of Seville (OPERA San Antonio), Manon Lescaut (Singapore Lyric Opera), and Manon (Teatro Colon). Most recent directorial engagements include Susannah (Rice University), Lohengrin (Opera Southwest), Show Boat (Glimmerglass Festival), Madame Butterfly (Portland Opera), and Tosca for OPERA San Antonio, where she was appointed General & Artistic Director in 2019.

S. KATY TUCKER (UNITED STATES)PROJECTION DESIGNER

S. Katy Tucker last worked at HGO designing the projections for Florencia en el Amazonas (2019) and The Flying Dutchman (2018).

Tucker began her career as a painter and video installation artist, exhibiting her work at a variety of galleries including the Corcoran Museum, Dupont Underground, The Dillon Gallery, and Artist’s Space in New York City. She has collaborated with renowned musicians such as Paul McCartney, Paola Prestini, Helga Davis, Amanda

The Impresario

RAVEN MCMILLON(UNITED STATES)Brenda Harvey-Traylor FellowSOPRANO—RONA RICHARDS,

RETURNING DIVA

For HGO Digital, first-year HGO Studio artist Raven McMillon also will perform the roles of Peter in The Snowy Day Project and Gretel in Hansel and Gretel. She also had been cast as Sister Margaretta in HGO’s canceled mainstage production of The Sound of Music. McMillon received her bachelor of fine arts in vocal performance at Carnegie Mellon University and completed her graduate degree at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). Her opera credits include Adele in Die Fledermaus; the title role in Goldie B. Locks and the Three Singing Bears; Linfea in La Calisto; and Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro. McMillon also has workshopped new roles such as Mary in Chiao’s The Secret Codes of Mary Bowser and Lucy in Tobias Picker’s Awakenings. Her recent roles included La Princesse in L’enfant et les sortilèges with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Papagena in Die Zauberflöte at CCM in the summer of 2020, which were canceled due to COVID-19.

NICOLE HEASTON (UNITED STATES)SOPRANO—YOLANDA CANTRELL, NEW DIVA

HGO Studio alumna Nicole Heaston also performed in the HGO Digital production Vinkensport, and will appear in the upcoming

HGO Digital concert Giving Voice. Heaston has performed with opera companies throughout the world, including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Dallas Opera, Washington National Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Semperoper Dresden, Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Dusseldorf, and the Glyndebourne Festival in England. Praised for her “warm supple soprano” (Houston Chronicle) and for her “radiant” and “handsomely resonant voice” (The New York Times), Heaston regularly appears in her hometown, Houston. She was most recently seen at HGO singing in the first Giving Voice (2020) recital, making her role debut as Mimì in La bohème (2018); and performing Adina in The Elixir of Love (2016). Other HGO roles include Pamina in The Magic Flute (2015, 1997); Gilda in performances of Rigoletto (2001); Zerlina in Don Giovanni (1999); Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro (1998); the title role in the world premiere of Jackie O (1997); Mrs. Hayes in Susannah and St. Settlement in Four Saints in Three Acts (1996); and perfor-mances of Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (1995). Equally active as a concert and recital soloist, Heaston has performed with orches-tras throughout the United States, including the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and National Symphony Orchestra for the Kennedy Center’s 11th annual gala.

Gookin, and Jeffrey Ziegler. Her work in live performance has been seen around the world, at Broadway and Off-Broadway theaters, the Metropolitan Opera, the Sydney Opera House, Dutch National Opera, Carnegie Hall, the New York City Ballet, the Kennedy Center, BAM, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, among others. Recent produc-tions include Samson and Delilah and Don Giovanni at the Kennedy Center, Hansel and Gretel at the Canadian Opera Company, and Parsifal at the IU Jacobs School of Music. Upcoming engagements include the world premiere of Castor and Patience at Cincinnati Opera, a new production of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs with Tomer Zvulun, and Eurydice at the Metropolitan Opera with Mary Zimmerman.

NOVA THOMAS (UNITED STATES)ACTRESS—EDNA MENDENHALL,

IMPRESARIO

Nova Thomas makes her HGO debut in the title role of The Impresario for HGO Digital.

International appearances as an acclaimed soprano have taken her to the houses of Köln, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Paris, London, Dublin, Belfast, Mexico City, and Hong Kong. She has performed with U.S. opera companies in New York City, Philadelphia, Santa Fe, Seattle, Baltimore, Detroit, San Diego, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Louisville, Knoxville, Memphis, Grand Rapids, Nashville, Costa Mesa, and New Jersey, among many others. Early in her career she performed the title role in Madame Butterfly with Texas Opera Theater, HGO’s former touring wing. She also enjoyed a close collaboration with Dame Joan Sutherland and Maestro Richard Bonynge; with Bonynge, she recorded the title role in the Bohemian Girl for Decca Records. Thomas recently has been appointed as Professor of Voice at the renowned Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. She previ-ously served as an Associate Professor of Voice and Opera Studies at Westminster Choir College of Rider University and a Professor of Professional Practice at the New School for Drama (formerly the Actors Studio Drama School). Thomas is a highly sought-after masterclass artist, with recent engagements and residencies in Salt Lake City, Palm Beach, San Francisco, Cleveland, Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, Indiana, Italy, and Scotland. She is a teaching artist for several respected summer training programs including Santa Fe Opera, the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, the Institute of Bel Canto Studies (a program with the International Texas Music Festival), and the CoOPERAtive.

The Impresario

FREDERICK BALLENTINE (UNITED STATES)TENOR—WILEY STONECROP, AGENT

Frederick Ballentine will also appear in the HGO Digital concert Giving Voice. His originally scheduled engagements for the

2020–21 season include his first performances of Rodolfo in La bohème with Opera Memphis and Florentine Opera, Dr. Richardson in Breaking the Waves with Los Angeles Opera, Miles Zegner in Proving Up with Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Lyric Unlimited program, and Don José in HGO’s Carmen. Recent engagements include the tenor’s debut with the English National Opera, De Nederlandse Opera, and Metropolitan Opera as Sportin’ Life in Porgy and Bess, a return to Los Angeles Opera as Monostatos in The Magic Flute, and his debut with the New Jersey Symphony for Handel’s Messiah. He made his role debut as Don José in Carmen with Annapolis Opera and reprised the same with Seattle Opera, where he also performed the title role in Charlie Parker’s Yardbird.

WILLIAM GUANBO SU (CHINA)Anne and Albert Chao FellowBASS—BOWIE KREBS, EDNA’S ASSISTANT

Second-year HGO Studio artist William Guanbo Su was cast as Sadistic Sailor in

the HGO mainstage production Breaking the Waves (canceled). His previous HGO roles include Usher in Rigoletto; Fifth Jew in Salome (canceled); and Second Armored Man in The Magic Flute (canceled). He was the second-place winner in HGO’s 2019 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias and a Grand Finals Winner of the 2019 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. He has been a Gerdine Young Artist at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and a voice fellow at the Aspen Music Festival. He has studied German lieder at the Franz Schubert Institute in Vienna, and in 2017 won first prize in the Gerda Lissner Lieder Competition. During summer 2019 he sang Count Ceprano in Verdi’s Rigoletto with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as a Gerdine Young Artist. He was scheduled to return to Aspen in summer 2020 to perform the role of Sarastro in The Magic Flute until it was canceled due to COVID-19.