The use of cameras or recording equipment during the 

performance is not allowed. Please be sure that cell phones,

pagers, and other electronic devices are turned off.

Please note that late entry or reentry of

the East Building after 6:30 pm is not permitted.

For the convenience of concertgoers the Garden Cafe

remains open until 6:00 pm for light refreshments.

Music Department

National Gallery ofArt

Sixth Street and Constitution Avenue nw

Washington, DC

www.nga.gov

COVER: Paul Stevenson Oles, Design Sketchfor the East Building,

1971, National Gallery ofArt Archives

The Sixty-ninth Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin

Concerts

National Gallery ofArt

2,800th Concert

New York Opera Society

National Gallery ofArt Chamber Players

Max and Moritz:

A Cartoon Opera in Seven Pranks

World Premiere Performance

October 17, 2010

Sunday Evening, 6:30 pm 

East Building Auditorium

Admissionfree
Presented in honor of Edvard Munch: Master Prints

and in connection with “Norway Conies to Washington”

The opera is made possible by a generous grant from 

the Royal Norwegian Embassy

Max and Moritz:

A Cartoon Opera in Seven Pranks

Music: Gisle Kverndokk

Libretto: Oystein Wiik

Gisle Kverndokk, conductor

Joachim Schamberger, stage director, set and projection designer

Camille Assaf, costume designer

Marcus Doshi, lighting designer

Cast

Trouble 

Max

Moritz 

Mrs. Cackle

Henny the Hen, Heli-Mom

Henriette the Hen, Mr. Guru,

Mr. Cervello, Belinda the

Thai Tarantula

Instrumentalists

Sarah Nichols, flute

Kevin McKee, trumpet

Robert Battey, cello

Danielle Hahn, piano

Production Staff

Iris Dawn O’Brien, production stage

manager

Adam Green, assistant lighting designer

Patricia Taylor, costume painter

Franklin Labowitz, assistant to the

costume designer

John Tiranno

Carlos Feliciano 

Gustavo Ahualli

Juliana Rambaldi

Sarah Pillow

Victor Benedetti

Jennifer Cho, executive director,

New York Opera Society

Elizabeth Young, deputy to the director,

New York Opera Society

Commissioned by the New York Opera Society

The opera is performed without intermission
NEW YORK OPERA SOCIETY

New York Opera Society (nyos) benefits artists and audiences alike through

timely productions that offer fresh and provocative interpretations of contemporary and classical works, nyos annually tours a new production of an extant

work at international festivals and features a contemporary opera or new

commission in the United States. In addition, it hosts a salon series and an

international residency for artists; supports outreach in underserved communities; and runs Les Jeunes Solistes, a training and educational program.

In its most recent seasons, nyos presented new productions of Falstaff

and Madama Butterfly for its annual festival in southern France; the United

States premiere of a contemporary Spanish opera, Las Horas vacias, by

Guggenheim fellow and Juilliard faculty member Ricardo Llorca; and two

performances at the National Gallery ofArt—a showcase for young Norwegian singers in December 2008 and a Gershwin songfest in honor of From

Impressionism to Modernism: The Chester Dale Collection in February 2010.

Other notable nyos evenings have taken place at the Chicago Cultural Center, 

the Embassy of Italy, and the World Financial Center in New York City. In the

coming weeks, nyos and the National Gallery ofArt Chamber Players will

take Max and Moritz: A Cartoon Opera in Seven Pranks to New York City and

Palm Springs, California, for its second and third performances.

New York Opera Society is led by its president, A.T. Nguyen, and by

executive director Jennifer Cho, who has received numerous awards for her

work in music since completing her studies as at Northwestern University.

4

GISLE KVERNDOKK

One of Norway’s leading opera composers, Gisle Kverndokk wrote his first

opera when he was fifteen years old, a radio opera commissioned by The

Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. Shortly thereafter he left his home

town, Skien, Norway, to study composition, conducting, flute, and piano at 

The Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, where he received a master of

music degree in 1995. He also studied at The Juilliard School in New York.

Kverndokk has received commissions from a number of opera houses

in Norway and Germany, and has had notable success with two operas at 

The Norwegian National Opera— The Fourth Watch ofthe Night (2005) 

and Around the World in Eighty Days (2010). The latter opera was commissioned for the opening ofthe new opera house in Oslo.

Kverndokk has collaborated with librettist Oystein Wiik on numerous

musical dramas, including Sophie’s World (1998), Vincent van Gogh (2001),

Dangerous Liaisons (2002), and Martin L—Das Luthermusical (2008), which

was nominated for The Nordic Council’s music prize.

0YSTEIN WIIK

In addition to his considerable output as a librettist, Oystein Wiik is a singer, 

actor, and writer. A graduate ofThe State Academy ofTheater in Oslo, he

was employed at The Norwegian Theater from 1980 to 1988, where he played

lead roles in several major musical productions, including Tony in West Side

Story, the title role in Sweeney Todd, Rum Turn Tugger in Cats, and Theo in

Piaf. His 1988 performances ofJean Valjean in Les Miserables led to international acclaim when he repeated the role in London and Vienna. In 1991 Wiik

released a solo album entitled Too Many Mornings: Songs by Sondheim. More 

recent albums include Det erjul, Pavane, Stage, and West End Favoritter. Wiik

has acted in as well as written the lyrics for two ofhis four collaborations

with composer Gisle Kverndokk. He played Alberto Knox—the male lead in

Sophie's World—and the title role in Vincent van Gogh.

5
JOACHIM SCHAMBERGER

A graduate ofthe Musikhochschule in Wurzburg, Germany, and the Merola 

Opera Program ofthe San Francisco Opera, Joachim Schamberger works

internationally as a stage director and virtual theater designer. He was also 

trained in digital film production and 3-D animation at the New York Film

Academy. He has worked with young artists at the Brooklyn College Conservatory, the International Institute ofVocal Arts in Italy, the Juilliard School 

of Music in New York, and voiCExperience in Florida. This past season

he also served as the artistic director for Indianapolis Opera’s young artist

program. Recent productions include La Boheme for Connecticut Grand

Opera; Ariadne aufNaxos, Das Rheingold, and Tosca for Indianapolis Opera;

Rigoletto and Sweeney Todd for Shreveport Opera; Martha and The Wizard

ofOz for the Landestheater Coburg in Germany; Falstafffor the Theatre

Municipal in Castres, France; Die Zauberflote, Idomeneo, and The Rake’s

Progress for the International Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv, Israel; Angelica/

Schicchi, La Rondine, and Lucia di Lammermoor for Opera Tampa; and Cosi

fan tutte for the Conservatory in Stony Brook, New York. More information

is available at www.joachimschamberger.com.

GUSTAVO AHUA1LI

Baritone Gustavo Ahualli made his operatic debut in 1996 as Papageno in

Die Zauberflote at the Teatro San Martin in Tucuman, Argentina. Since then,

he has sung leading baritone roles in Carmen, Cosifan tutte, Don Carlo, Don

Pasquale, Eugene Onegin, La Boheme, La Favorita, La Traviata, Le Nozze di

Figaro, Lucia di Lammermoor, Pagliacci, and Turandot. Ahualli has recently

performed at Argentina’s Teatro Argentino de la Plata and Teatro San Martin; 

Italy’s Teatro Lauro Rossi; Peru’s Teatro Segura; and Saint Louis’ Union

Avenue Opera Theatre as well as with the New Jersey Association ofVerismo

Opera, Palm Beach Opera, and Wichita Grand Opera.

Much is demand as an oratorio soloist, Ahualli has sung Johann Sebastian Bach’s Magnificat at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires; the final movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at Yankee Stadium (in honor ofthe

recent visit to the United States of Pope Benedict xvi); and Verdi’s Requiem

6

at the Sacred Heart Basilica in Newark, New Jersey. Now a resident ofthe

United States, Ahualli was born in San Miguel de Tucuman, Argentina.

He began his musical training at age seven with Hilda Deniflee, herself a

student of Kodaly and Bartok. In 1998 Ahualli obtained the maestria de canto

from the Instituto Superior de Arte del Teatro Colon. In 2006 he won first

prize in the New Jersey Association ofVerismo Opera Competition. He

holds positions as bilingual cantor for the Sacred Heart Cathedral Basilica

in Newark and Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City.

VICTOR BENEDETTI

Baritone Victor Benedetti’s latest season includes the title role in Wozzeck

with the Astoria Music Festival, a debut with Toledo Opera as Ford in Falstaff,

and a role debut as Alfonso in La Favorita with Stadttheater Giessen. Last

season his roles included Scarpia in Tosca and Peter in Hansel und Gretel with

Indianapolis Opera and the title role in Falstaffwith the Theatre Municipal in

Castres, France. He made his debut with New York City Opera in the title role 

of Don Giovanni, a performance that earned him that company’s Debut Artist

ofthe Year award. With Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center,

he has appeared as Nardo in La Finta Giardiniera, Slim in OfMice and Men,

John Proctor in The Crucible, and John Sorel in The Consul. He received 

his bachelor and master ofmusic degrees from Northwestern University

and launched his professional singing career with the Lyric Opera Center

for American Artists of Lyric Opera ofChicago. More information about the

artist is available at www.VictorBenedetti.com

CARLOS FELICIANO

A native of Puerto Rico, tenor Carlos Feliciano was recently heard with the

Oslo Opera and the Oslo Symphony Orchestra. He completed a two-year 

resident artist program with the Pittsburgh Opera and made his debut

with the company as Messaggiero in Aida. Other roles with Pittsburgh

Opera include the Philistine Messenger in Samson et Dalila and Pinkerton

in Madama Butterfy as well as Ernesto in Don Pasquale. He performed with

the Project Opera of Manhattan’s The Rape ofLucretia, Die Zauberflote,

7
Le Nozze di Figaro and II Barbiere di Siviglia. Feliciano made his European

debut in March 2007, singing with the New York Opera Society in Castres,

France. He returned to Castres the following year to perform Fenton in

Verdi’s Falstaff. Feliciano received a bachelor ofmusic degree from the 

Manhattan School of Music and completed his graduate work at The Juilliard School. He received first place at the Five Towns Music and Arts

Foundation Competition in 2006; was a finalist for the Violetta Du Pont 

Voice Competition 2007; and has also received a full-tuition scholarship

from The Juilliard School as well as scholarships from the Manhattan School

of Music, the Assisi Music Festival, and the Musical Arts Corporation of

Puerto Rico.

SARAH PIllOW

Soprano Sarah Pillow has built a unique career by drawing on her expertise 

in jazz, classical, and early music. Her performance credits include several

avant-garde projects at The Kitchen in New York City; The Marian Vespers of

1610 with The New York Collegium; and The Montreux Jazz Festival. Pillow

has toured more than thirty cities in the United States with both her jazz

quartet and her crossover project, Nuove Musiche. She is also the director 

of her own group, Galileo’s Daughters, and has eight recordings available of

both jazz and early music repertoire. Recent performances have taken her

to British Columbia; Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Mumbai, India;

and New York City. More information about Sarah Pillow can be found at

www.galileosdaughters.com and www.buckyballmusic.com.

JU1IANA RAMBA1DI

A national finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions,

soprano Juliana Rambaldi received an aria Award and the George London

Award. She began her career at the Lyric Opera Chicago Center for American Artists. Following her training, she performed many roles at Lyric Opera

Chicago, including Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Marguerite in Faust, and 

Musetta in La Boheme. In 2000 she received critical acclaim for creating the 

role ofCatherine in the world premiere ofWilliam Bolcom’s A Viewfrom the

Bridge. Rambaldi has also sung many leading roles with other American

opera companies. She sang her New York debut as the Countess in Le Nozze

di Figaro with New York City Opera; appeared as Sandrina in Mozart’s

La Finta Giardiniera with Glimmerglass Opera; and sang the role ofAntonia 

in Les Contes d’Hoffman and Violetta in La Traviata with Houston Grand 

Opera as well as significant roles in the opera houses of Honolulu, Saint

Louis, and Seattle. Her extensive concert repertoire includes Villa-Lobos’

Bachianas Brasileiras, Orffs Carmina Burana, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Mozart’s

Exultate,jubilate and Mass in C Minor, and Ferko’s Stabat Mater. In addition 

to her operatic and concert work, Rambaldi is an accomplished actress, 

currently performing as “La Diva” with Teatro Zinzanni, a circus and cabaret 

in Seattle.

JOHN TIRANNO

Versatile American tenor John Tiranno’s recent opera engagements include 

Alfredo in La Traviata (Granite State Opera), Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor

(Connecticut Grand Opera), Belmonte in Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail

(Concert Opera of Philadelphia), Beppe in Pagliacci (New York Grand Opera),

Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni (Opera Colorado), Dr. Caius in Falstaff(Toledo

Opera), the title role in Gounod’s Faust (Opera in the Heights), and Lord

Tolloller in Iolanthe (Nashville Opera). As a concert soloist, he has appeared

in performances of Mahler’s Symphony no. 8 (National Academy Orchestra

of Canada), Beethoven’s Symphony no. 9 and Haydn’s Creation (Vermont

Mozart Festival), and Handel’s Messiah with the Dayton Philharmonic

Orchestra. He has sung with the American Symphony Orchestra, Boheme 

Opera, the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra, the Discovery Orchestra,

Lake George Opera, Light Opera of New York, Sarasota Opera, and Teatro

Grattacileo in New York City.

9
CAMILLE ASSAF

A graduate of l’Universite de la Sorbonne in Paris and the Yale School of

Drama, Franco-American designer Camille Assaflives in New York City,

where she designed costumes and sets for Dance New Amsterdam, the

Guggenheim Museum, the Joyce Theater, the New York City Ballet, and

the Park Avenue Armory as well as for the New York Opera Society production of Don Giovanni. Other costume credits in the United States include 

A Midsummer Night's Dream (WolfTrap Opera), Elmer Gantry (Nashville

Opera), The Glass Cage (Mint Theater, New York City), The King Stag (Yale

Repertory Theater), Pride and Prejudice (Playmakers Repertory Theater),

and The Lieutenant ofInishmore (Syracuse Stage). She has also designed 

costumes for the opening ceremony ofthe 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing

and for operas staged in Castres, France; Florence, Italy; Hong Kong, China;

and Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Camille Assafis a recipient of a grant from 

the career development program ofthe National Endowment for the Arts

Career Development Group.

MARCUS DOSHI

Marcus Doshi designs scenery and lighting for theater, opera, and dance 

and collaborates with artists and architects in an array of non-performance

ventures. In addition to designing the lighting for the New York Opera

Society productions of Don Giovanni and Falstaff, his credits include awardwinning New York City productions of Hamlet and Othello as well as productions of Measurefor Measure; Tfana, a Boy and His Soul; Things ofDry Hours;

The First Breeze of Summer; and Queens Boulevard (The Musical). Outside of

New York, his work has been seen at Het Musiektheatre in Amsterdam

(Pamina Devi); Phnom Penh, Cambodia (Where Elephants Weep), and Seattle

(Elektra) as well as at theaters in Boston; Chicago; Hartford, Connecticut;

Kansas City, Missouri; and Portland, Oregon. Doshi received his undergraduate education at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana, and a master

offine arts degree from the Yale School of Drama. More information about 

him is available at www.marcusdoshi.com.

10

IRIS DAWN O’BRIEN

Stage manager Iris Dawn O’Brien’s recent credits include the Broadway

production of Hamlet and Off-Broadway’s Sarah Ruhl’s Passion Play; Yale

Repertory Theatre’s Rough Crossing, Sarah Ruhl's Passion Play and Trouble

in Mind; and Northern Stage’s Parallel Lives. Other credits include the Los

Angeles Film Festival in 2008; Tony Kushner’s The Henry Box Brown Play

and HmatrixH at New York University’s graduate acting program; and Peer

Gynt, Good Egg, Marcus: or the Secret ofSweet, and Titus Andronicus at the 

Yale School of Drama.

11
Program Notes

In 1865 the German author Wilhelm Busch wrote and illustrated the children’s book Max und Moritz— Eine Bubengeschichte in sieben Streichen (Max

and Moritz—A Story of Seven Boyish Pranks). The German title satirizes

the custom, prevalent since the eighteenth century, of giving a subtitle to 

novels and dramas by way of a didactic explanation for the existence ofthe

work. The blackly humorous tale in rhymed couplets exaggerates the pranks

and punishments that are a universal feature ofthe life of active children. It

was a popular bedtime story in German-speaking households throughout

the rest ofthe nineteenth century and on into the twentieth century, when it

was eventually translated into all ofthe European languages and became a

pan-European favorite. Max und Moritz has become a benchmark of German culture and even today is as well known in German-speaking countries

as the fairy tales ofthe brothers Grimm. Students ofthe history of comic

strips consider Max und Moritz to have been the direct inspiration for the

Katzenjammer Kids, which debuted in The American Humorist in 1897.

Max and Moritz: A Cartoon Opera in Seven Pranks is an adaptation of

the mid-nineteenth-century story for modern times, developed by librettist

0ystein Wiik and composer Gisle Kverndokk. The composer writes:

An opera director told me that he believed Stravinsky was influenced

by Mozart operas and the Broadway musical ofthe 1940s when

composing The Rake’s Progress. I think this is a very good way of

seeing it, and ever since I have been thinking ofthis as an interesting

point ofview when I have worked on my operas. The playfulness 

held together in a strong dramaturgy is very present in these two

forms, and that is what I value the most in musical theatre.

I see Max and Moritz as an absurd piece ofmusical entertainment. Evoking Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale, I exploit the theatrical

connotations of military trumpet, piccolo blasting, romantic cello

solos, and the arias and duets in classical forms. Then there is the

Broadway showmanship that I feel is necessary to highlight the

humorous aspect. It is always wonderful to burst into song. This is

12

also a sort of Marx Brothers way of developing the music, to

suddenly delve into another kind of piece, another kind ofmusic

that came from nowhere but is acted out as the most natural

thing—a game of association.

Cartoon music is historically linked to opera. The Hollywood 

film music tradition came from European romantic composers

who had written big operas in Vienna and Berlin, and created in 

Hollywood, as Erich Korngold said, “little hidden operas.” The way

the music described the action and the emotions was very operatic.

This is developed to the extreme in cartoon music, and following 

up the action to the split second— “mickey mousing” —is a fun

way to create a musical structure that, [if] isolated, can seem

very complex. I use this technique in Max and Moritz. The music

follows the characters step by step with all sorts ofsurprises — 

bumps, crashes, horror warnings, yoga chanting, ballet music, and

lush romantic outbursts. I use a great variety ofstyles—marches,

waltzes, tarantella, coloratura aria, Jerry Herman-like songs, swing, 

Charleston, and a few quotes from Tchaikovsky, Mozart, and Verdi.

This is a quick, funny opera for the whole family!
Next Week at the National Gallery ofArt

Trio con Brio Copenhagen

Music by Ravel and Saint-Saens

October 20, 2010

Wednesday, 12:10 pm

West Building Lecture Hall

Great Noise Ensemble

Armando Bayolo, conductor

Music by Louis Andriessen

October 24, 2010

Sunday Evening, 6:30 pm

East Building Atrium