Upcoming Events ofthe SeventySixth Season of The William

Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot

Belin Concerts

Unless otherwise noted, all programs

take place in the West Building,

West Garden Court.

Inna Faliks and Daniel Schlosberg

Gustav Mahler, Symphony no. 6,

arranged for piano, four-hands,

by Alexander von Zemlinsky

December 3, 3:30

Caroling in the Rotunda

December 9, 10, 16 & 17, 1:30 & 2:30

The Swiss-American Musical Society

Igor Stravinsky, The Soldier's Tale

Christophe Sturzenegger,

The Snow Queen

Christophe Sturzenegger, conductor

Robert Baker, narrator

December 10, 3:30

Turtle Island Quartet

With special guest Liz Carroll

Winter's Eve

December 17, 4:00

Harlem Symphony Orchestra

Amadi Azikiwe, conductor

January 7, 2018, 3:30

Juho Pohjonen, piano

January 14, 3:30

Piffaro, The Renaissance Band

Celebrating Vermeer and the Masters of

Genre Painting: Inspiration and Rivalry

January 21, 3:30

Sybarite5

Celebrating Outliers andAmerican

VanguardArt

January 28, 3:30

Daniel Bernard Roumain and Yayoi Ikawa

Redemption Songs and Sonatas

February 4, 3:30

Admission to the National Gallery ofArt

and all of its programs is free of charge,

except as noted.

The use of cameras or recording equipment during the performance is not

allowed. Please be sure that all portable

electronic devices are turned off.

The department of music produced

these program notes. Copyright © 2017

Board ofTrustees, National Gallery of

Art, Washington

Concerts are made possible in part

through the generosity of donors to

the National Gallery ofArt through

The Circle. Reserved seating is available

in recognition of their support. Please 

contact the development office at 

(202) 842-6450 or circle@nga.gov for

more information.

Cover Jean-Honore Fragonard, The Singer

(detail), c. 1769, Private Collection

nga.gov/music
Program

New York Opera Society

The Three Lives ofRosi/m Almaviva

Andrew Rosenblum, music director

Raquel Barbieri Vidal, stage director

Caitlin Rain, costume designer

Adele Demi, clarinet

Danielle DeSwert Hahn, piano

Chaerim Kim, violin

Hrant Parsamian, cello

Presented in celebration of Fragonard: The Fantasy Figures

NOVEMBER 26, 2017 /3:30

WEST BUILDING, WEST GARDEN COURT

Gioachino Rossini

Librettist Cesare Sterbini

II barbiere di Siviglia

“Ecco ridente in cielo”—Lindoro

“Largo al factotum”—Figaro

“Una voce poco fa”—Rosina

“Dunque io son”—Figaro, Rosina

“Alfine eccoci qua”—Figaro, Conte, Rosina

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte

Le nozze di Figaro

“Cinque... dieci...vend”—Figaro, Susanna

“Non so piu cosa son, cosa faccio”—Cherubino

“Non piu andrai, farfallone amoroso”—Figaro

“Porgi amor, qualche ristoro”—Contessa

“Voi che sapete”—Cherubino

“Venite inginocchiatevi”—Susanna, Cherubino, Countess

“Hai gia vinta la causa...vedro mentr’io sospiro”—Count

“Crudel perche finora—Count, Susanna

“Canzonetta sull’aria: Che soave zeffiretto”—Susanna, Countess

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Gisle Kverndokk

Librettist AkseLOtto Bull

The Guilty Mother *

The Barber of Seville

Rosina

Count Lindoro Almaviva

Figaro

Alisa Jordheim

Andrew Bidlack

Shannon DeVine and Gustavo Ahualli

The Marriage of Figaro

Countess

Count

Susanna

Figaro

Cherubino

Michele G. Cober

Shannon DeVine

Alisa Jordheim

Gustavo Ahualli

Helen Karloski

The Guilty Mother

Countess

Leon

Count

Susanna

Figaro

Kate Maroney

Andrew Bidlack

Gustavo Ahualli

Alisa Jordheim

Helen Karloski

*World Premiere Scene

3
I he Musicians

NEW YORK OPERA SOCIETY

The New York Opera Society (NYOS) develops new audiences for opera by commissioning, creating, and funding distinctive and high-quality productions. To that end,

NYOS serves as a conduit to the public by disseminating important messages, musical 

inspiration, and seminal artistic performances via partnerships with major performance venues, corporations, nonprofits, and governments to present the work of

our artists in the United States and abroad. NYOS annually tours new productions

to international festivals and presents a contemporary opera or a new commission in

the United States. It also hosts a salon series and oversees an international artist-inresidence program and substantive outreach programs. Recent highlights include

productions ofFalstajfand Madame Butterfly for its annual festival in Southern France;

the Lincoln Center and Teatro Sao Pedro, Sao Paulo, Brazil, premieres ofits contemporary Spanish opera, Las Horas Vacias, by Guggenheim fellow and Juilliard faculty 

member Ricardo Llorca; three tours and a world premiere of the NYOS’s commission of Max and Moritz: A Cartoon Opera in Seven Pranks, by Gisle Kverndokk. Other

notable NYOS evenings have taken place at the Chicago Cultural Center, the

Embassy of Italy, New York’s World Financial Center, Lincoln Center’s Alice "Fully

Hall, and the LTited Nations. Audiences have included Supreme Court Associate 

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, the Royal Couple of Norway, the Joint Chiefs of Staff,

Queen Sofia of Spain, Stanley d ucci and Martin Scorsese (at a gala in their honor),

and nearly every European and South American embassy and consulate. NYOS has

recently been favorably reviewed on PBS and in Time and GQ magazines, Opera News,

and the Wall StreetJournal. The New York Opera Society is led by Executive Director

Jennifer Cho, a dedicated board of directors, and philanthropist, Lesley Silvester.

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Creative Team

GISLE KVERNDOKK /COMPOSER

Gisle Kverndokk is one ofNorway’s foremost composers of musical theater. His

works have been performed all over Norway and Germany as well as in Canada and

the United States. His opera Around the world in 80 days was commissioned for the

opening ofthe new opera house in Oslo and premiered there in 2010. Kverndokk

has written two children’s operas for the New York Opera Society: Max and Moritz:

A Cartoon Opera in Seven Pranks (2010) and Supersize Girl (2013). He also has an extensive

production ofsymphonic works, chamber music, church music, and film music and 

has collaborated with all the major orchestras in Norway. He was educated at the

Norwegian Academy ofMusic, Oslo, and the Juilliard School, New York.

AKSEL-OTTO BULL / LIBRETTIST

Aksel-Otto Bull is a Norwegian stage director and playwright. He has directed more

than sixty theater productions throughout Norway. He has been artistic director of

the National Theater in Bergen and for many years has worked in theater education

at the Nordic Institute for Stage and Studio and the Bardar Academy in Oslo. He was

educated at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and the Drama Studio

London. Bull and Kverndokk’s first opera collaboration was Easter, commissioned

by the Bergen National Opera. It premiered in 2014 at Kilden Teater, Kristiansand,

directed by Bull. Their next collaboration was the musical Ruth Maier, commissioned

by the Music Theatre Forum in Oslo. It was presented at New York Theatre Barn’s

New Work Series 2015.

RAQUEL BARBIERI VIDAL / DIRECTOR AND LIBRETTIST

Raquel Barbieri Vidal was born in Buenos Aires, where she graduated as an opera

director from Teatro Colon in 1997. She has directed Don Giovanni, Costfan tutte,

Le nozze di Figaro, and Der Schauspieldirektor (Mozart); Madama Butterfly and La boheme

(Puccini); Faust and Romeo etJuliette (Gounod); Werther (Massenet); Andrea Chenier

(Giordano); L’ocassione fa il ladro (Rossini); Derfliegende Hollander (Wagner); L'he

Bartered Bride (Smetana); The telephone (in the presence of Giancarlo Menotti); La

serva padrona (Pergolesi), Hdry Janos (Kodaly); and La leqon de chant electromagnetique

(Offenbach). She has written the plays Mujeres en la Opera, Desventuras de una Diva,

and Con esafacha de tonta and Malena ...la del tango. She is also the librettist of the

Argentinian opera Camila O'Gorman and has worked at theaters throughout the world.

5
CAITLIN RAIN / COSTUME DESIGNER

Caitlin Rain is from Dallas, Texas. Her recent projects include Coriolanus (Stella 

Adler Studios), Awake and Sing! (Olney Theatre Center), and The Bomb-itty ofErrors

(Second Thought Theater). Her assistant design work includes productions with the

Santa Fe Opera, the Saito Kinen Festival, the Boston Ballet, and numerous regional

theaters. She has a master’s degree in fine arts from Southern Methodist University.

This is her third project with the New York Opera Society.

6

Fhe Cast

ALISA JORDHEIM/ SOPRANO

Soprano Alisa Jordheim is praised for her compelling and vocally assured performances in opera, oratorio, musical theater, early and new music, and recital. A 2013

Merola Opera Program Participant,Jordheim has also performed with the Florentine,

Caramoor, Cincinnati, Madison, Central City, and Emerald City Operas; the Columbus

Symphony and Opera Chorus, at the Grant Park Music Festival, widi the Madison Bach

Musicians; the Columbus, Madison, Fox Valley, and Northwest Indiana Symphonies;

the Greeley and Dayton Philharmonics; and the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra.

Jordheim is the recipient of a 2016 Sullivan Foundation Award and a 2015 Sullivan

Foundation Career Development Grant. A Fulbright scholar and American Scandinavian Foundation fellow,Jordheim studied and conducted research on singing diction

in the Scandinavian languages at the University of Oslo in 2013-2014. She frequently

performs recitals of songs by Scandinavian composers and has published an article on

Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish singing diction in the Journal ofSinging.Jordheim

also completed English and International Phonetic Alphabet translations of numerous

songs by Scandinavian composers. She is an advocate of new music for voice, having

premiered works composed for her by Lori Laitman, Douglas Pew,Joanne Metcalf,

Josh Deutsch, and Rodney Rogers.

Jordheim is a native ofAppleton, Wisconsin, and completed her first two years of

undergraduate study at Lawrence University, where she studied with Patrice Michaels. 

She earned her bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in voice performance at the

University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory ofMusic.

ANDREW BIDLACK/ TENOR

Featured in Opera News as one oftheir “top 25 brilliant young artists” (October 2015),

tenor Andrew Bidlack began the 2017-2018 season at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City,

where he recreated the role of Rob Hall in Everest. He returns to the Metropolitan

Opera in the role of Beppe in Ipagliacci before he travels to Opera Santa Barbara in 

the role ofAlmaviva in II barbiere di Siviglia.

Last season at the Dallas Opera, Bidlack prepared two new roles: Lensky in

Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and Greenhorn/Ishmael in Jake Heggie’s Moby Dick. He

also developed the role ofChristopher Morcom in The Life and Death(s) ofAlan Turing,

by Justine Chen and David Simpatico, for the American Lyric Theater. He also

performed the role ofTamino in Die Zauberflote for the Madison Opera.

Bidlack is a frequent interpreter of contemporary music; he created the roles of

Rob Hall in Joby Talbot’s Everest at the Dallas Opera and that ofIrving Tashman in 

Ricky Ian Gordon’s Morning Star at the Cincinnati Opera. Making his debut with the

Lyric Opera of Chicago, he appeared at Carnegie Hall as The Young Collector in

7
their production ofA Streetcar Named Desire with Renee Fleming, a role he also sang 

in Chicago. At the Dallas Opera, he sang Sandy in Ihe Lighthouse for the inception of

their Chamber Opera Series. He made his European and United Kingdom debut in the

challenging role of Private John Ball in the Welsh National Opera’s world premiere

ofIn Parenthesis, by composer Iain Bell.

Bidlack has appeared as Tamino in Die Zauberflote, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni,

Almaviva in II barbiere di Siviglia, and Ferrando in Costfan tutte at the Florida Grand

Opera; Rodrigo in Rossini’s Otello at Opera Southwest; Almaviva and Don Ramiro in

La cenerentola at Opera Omaha; Tonio in Lafile du regiment at the Palm Beach Opera

and PORTopera; Pedrillo in Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail and Arturo in Lucia di

Lammermoor at the San Francisco Opera; Nemorino in Uelisir d'amove at the Empire

State Lyric Theater; and Bastden in Bastien und Bastienne at the Des Moines Metro Opera.

Bidlack’s international engagements include his South American debut atTeatro

Municipal de Santiago in Chile, the Macau International Music Festival, and an appearance at the Spoleto Festival in Italy, which was recorded on the Chandos label. His

concert performances include the tenor solos in Handel’s Messiah, Mendelssohn’s Elijah,

Haydn’s Creation, and Mozart’s Requiem. He made his Carnegie Flail debut singing the

solos of Bach’s Weihnachtsoratorium and sang the tenor solo in Orff’s Carmina Burana

with both the South Dakota and the Milwaukee Symphonies.

SHANNON DEVINE /BARITONE

Baritone Shannon DeVine recently made his Carnegie Hall debut in Vaughan

Williams’s Donna Nobis Pacem and was also Michele in II tabarro with the New York

Vertical Players Repertory. The New York Times said, “Air. DeVine is a very impressive baritone in the role ofMichele,” and, “can’t wait to see him on bigger and more

important stages.” In 2012, DeVine made his Opera Orchestra ofNew York debut

under Eve Queler in the much acclaimed concert ofWagner’s Rienzi. He has also

performed Leporello in Don Giovanni and Ford in Falstajfat the Theatre Municipal

in loulouse, France; Valentin in Faust, Marcello in La boheme, Count di Luna in

II trovatore with One World Symphony; and Germont in La traviata with the Opera

Company of Brooklyn. His recent performances include Scarpia in Tosca at the Festival

ofthe Aegean in Greece and the world premiere ofI tre compagni with Encompass

Opera in New York.

DeVine earned his master’s degree from the Julliard School, where he performed

the roles of Demetrius in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Silvio in Ipagliacci. His

professional debut came when he was nineteen in the role of Prince Yamadori in 

Puccini’s Madama Butterfly with the Connecticut Opera. He has also appeared with

the Aspen Opera Theater Center as Michele in Puccini’s II tabarro, Ford in Falstajf

with Maestro Julius Rudel, and Guglielmo in Costfan tutte. He was Morales and El 

Dancaire with the Houston Grand Opera in Ron Daniel’s new production of Carmen

8

under Maestro Alain Lombard. His other roles with the Houston Grand Opera

include Riolobo in Florencia en elAmazonas, "Fop in Copland’s The Tender Land, and

Guglielmo in Costfan tutte. Shannon DeVine is a winner of the 2007 Licia AlbanesePuccini Foundation awards and winner ofthe Verdi Concerto Competition at the

Aspen Music Festival. He was at the Tmglewood Music Center in 2003 for his debut

as Jose Tripaldi under the baton of Robert Spano in participation with the world

premiere of Osvaldo Golijov’s opera Ainadamar.

GUSTAVO AHUALLI/BARITONE

Hailed for his rich and powerful baritone, Gustavo Ahualli has become well-known

for his dramatic portrayals in leading roles in both the standard operatic repertoire

and in new works by contemporary composers. The Houston Press extolled his performance as MacBeth, writing that he “proved he has an ideal voice for Verdi, beautiful,

full, rich, and powerful. His singing was effortless, with excellent control, and ripe

with machismo.”

Gustavo Ahualli was born in San Miguel de Tucuman, Argentina, and began his

musical training at age seven with Hilda Deniflee, a student of Kodaly and Bartok.

Ahualli received his master’s degree in vocal performance from the Instituto Superior

de Arte del Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires. Upon moving to the United States in

March 2000, he was named first-prize winner of the New Jersey Association of

Verismo Opera Competition. While in New York, he served as a bilingual cantor for 

Saint Patrick’s Cathedral and for the Sacred Heart Cathedral Basilica in Newark, New

Jersey. Ahualli currently lives in Washington, DC, where he serves on the voice faculty

at the Benjamin T. Rome School ofMusic at the Catholic University ofAmerica.

MICHELE G. COBER/ SOPRANO

Michele G. Cober graduated with honors from the University ofMaryland, College

Park, with a bachelor’s degree in vocal music performance and a master’s degree in

opera performance. A regular performer with the Washington National Opera,

Cober made her company debut as a Handmaiden in Turandot. As a finalist in Placido 

Domingo’s Operalia, World Opera Competition, Cober was selected for an eighteenmonth residency in the Washington National Opera’s Young Artist Program ofthe

Americas. She performed the role of Frankie in Carmen Jones under the baton of

Maestro Domingo with the National Symphony Orchestra and appeared with opera

sensation Bryn Terfel on the nationally broadcast Kennedy Center Honors. In 2005,

she reprised the roles of Clara and Bess with New York Harlem Theater’s production

of Porgy and Bess, which toured Denmark, Germany, and Italy and had previously

performed to great acclaim in Germany and the Netherlands. Also in 2005, Cober

decided to go to law school. She graduated cum laude from Howard University School 

of Law, where she was executive publications editor of the Howard LawJournal. After

9
graduating from law school, she served as a law clerk to Judge Deborah K. Chasanow

in the United States District Court for the District ofMaryland. She began her career

at Kirkland & Ellis, LLP, and is currently a senior associate at Hogan Lovells US, LLP,

in Washington, DC. Her practice focuses on a variety oflitigation and arbitration matters, and she has also handled family law, tort, and criminal cases as part of her pro

bono practice. Cober has been named one of Super Lawyers Washington, DC, “Rising 

Stars” in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017.

HELEN KARLOSKI / MEZZO-SOPRANO

Mezzo-soprano Helen Karloski has been gaining recognition particularly in her

portrayal of the oratorio repertoire. In 2015, she was the recipient of the Ellen Lopin

Blair Award for Lirst Place in the Lyndon Woodside Oratorio Solo Competition.

The Santa Fe New Mexican proclaimed her voice as “beautifully suited for oratorio,”

and wrote that “the sincerity of her delivery, along with her poised bearing and

physical presentation, forged an almost palpable connection with the audience.”

Karloski made her Carnegie Hall debut in the 2016-2017 season performing

Mozart’s Mass in C Minor and Bruckner’s Te Deum under the baton of Kent I ritie

with the Oratorio Society ofNew York. Additional performances last season included

Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the American Classical Orchestra and the

Hudson Valley Philharmonic, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass with Princeton Pro Musica,

and a televised broadcast of Craig Hella Johnson’s Considering Matthew Shepard with

Conspirare. She was also a featured soloist on Conspirare’s Grammy-winning recording The Sacred Spirit ofRussia.

Karloski made her Lincoln Center debut in Mozart’s Solemn Vespers with the

Mostly Mozart Lestival under the baton ofIvan Lischer. She has made recent

appearances with the Santa Le Desert Chorale, the Omaha Symphony, Musica Sacra,

the American Classical Orchestra, and Sacred Music in a Sacred Space. She was the

alto soloist in Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the New York City

Ballet. Her other solo engagements include Vivaldi’s Gloria with the Pittsburgh

Symphony Orchestra, Haydn’s Theresienmesse with Voices ofAscension, Bach’s

Magnificat with the Victoria Bach Lestival, Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Choral

Society of Grace Church, and Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and Brahms’s Alto Rhapsody

with the Saint Andrew Music Society. Lavorite performances include The Cunning

Little Vixen, Le Grande Macabre, and My Fair Lady with the New York Philharmonic,

Les Huguenots and Oresteia at Bard SummerScape, and the New York City premiere

of Elliot Goldenthal’s Grendel, directed by Academy Award-nominee Julie Taymor.

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KATE MARONEY/MEZZO-SOPRANO

Recognized for “vibrant and colorful” singing (New York Times) in works spanning

from the Renaissance to contemporary composers, mezzo-soprano Kate Maroney

was featured in the world tour of more than eighty performances of Einstein on the

Beach with the Philip Glass Ensemble, including recent performances in Gwangju,

South Korea. Grateful for the opportunity to collaborate frequently with ensembles

and orchestras throughout the country, Maroney has recently appeared as a soloist in

concert repertoire at the Lincoln Center with the American Classical Orchestra and

Axiom; in Santa Le with the Santa Le Desert Chorale and Santa Le Symphony String

Septet; and at Boston’s Jordan Hall, Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, and Carnegie Hall.

She has also performed at the Los Angeles Opera, the Oregon Bach Lestival with

the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir, and the Lincoln Center with the New York City

Ballet and Musica Sacra. Other performances have been with Princeton Pro Musica,

the Carmel Bach Lestival, the Orchestra Milano di Giuseppe Verdi, the Clarion Music

Society, the Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity, the Bard Music Lestival with Anonymous 4

and the Bangor Symphony, the Bach Collegium San Diego, the Mark Morris Dance

Group, the Berkshire Bach Society, the Brooklyn Art Song Society, and the Rochester

Philharmonic Orchestra.

A fervent champion of new music, Maroney recently performed Dominick

Argento’s Pulitzer Prize-winning piece, From the Diary ofVirginia Woolf in a staged

adaptation by Hakan Hagegard at the Ordway Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota, as part

ofthe Source Song Lestival. Maroney sang the role of Emily Dickinson in the world

premiere ofMartin Bresnick’s oratorio Passions ofBloom, as part ofthe Arts and Ideas 

Lestival in New Haven and Norfolk, Connecticut. She performed the US premiere

of Damon Albarn’s Monkey: Journey to the West at the David H. Koch Theater during

the Lincoln Center Lestival in 2013 and the US premiere ofHereAll Night with the

Irish theater company Gare St. Lazare Ireland, as part of the Lincoln Center’s 2015

White Lights Lestival. Maroney worked closely with composer Missy Mazzoli to

develop and premiere Songfrom, the Uproar at the Los Angeles Opera (and is on the

premiere cast recording on New Amsterdam Records with the Now Ensemble under

Steven Osgood.) Maroney created the role of Brianna in Matthew Welch’s collaborative opera Sisyphus with Experiments in Opera, and she recorded James Adler’s

Reflections upon a September Morn for Albany Records. Maroney sings on the recording ofJulia Wolfe’s 2015 Pulitzer Prize-winning and 2016 Grammy-nominated

work, Anthracite Fields, with the Bang on a Can All-Stars and the Choir ofTrinity

Wall Street underJulian Wachner. She is a soloist on Clarion’s Grammy-nominated

recording ofMaximilian Steinberg’s Passion Week under Steven Lox, released on

Naxos in 2016. She has worked closely with and premiered works by composers

Philip Glass,Julia Wolfe, Daron Hagen, Dominick Argento, David Lang, Hannah

11
Lash, Matthew Welch, Martin Bresnick, Paola Prestini, Missy Mazzoli, Ted Hearne,

Alex Weiser, Olga Bell, Lisa Bielawa, Harry Stafylakis, Christopher Cerrone,Jacob

Cooper, Ola Gjeilo, and Scott Wheeler.

ANDREW ROSENBLUM / MUSIC DIRECTOR

Andrew Rosenblum, Chicago-based pianist, harpsichordist, and conductor, is highly

sought-after as both a soloist and collaborative artist. In May 2017, Rosenblum won

second prize in the harpsichord category of the 69th Annual Prague Spring International Music Competition. He also won the prize for best performance ofHarpsycho

by Petr Wajsar, which was commissioned for the competition. His 2017-2018 season 

includes his conducting debut at the National Gallery ofArt with the New York Opera

Society on Gisle Kverdokk’s opera Lettersfrom Ruth; rehearsal piano work with the

Chicago Symphony Chorus and Music of the Baroque; performances ofMonteverdi

opera selections with Third Coast Baroque at the Italian Consulate in Chicago; performances at the Logan Center for the Arts and PianoForte Chicago, as part ofthe

2017 Ustvolskaya Festival; and recordings ofthe music of Lori Laitman for multiple

upcoming CD releases.

In December 2015, Rosenblum performed as the harpsichord soloist in Bach’s

Brandenburg Concerto no. 5, with Yo-Yo Ma and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago.

Earlier that fall, he was the pianist for Second Nature by Matthew Aucoin, which was

performed for 18,000 children as part of the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s “Opera in the

Neighborhoods” program. Rosenblum joined the collaborative piano faculty of the

Heifetz International Music Institute in June 2015, returning in the summers of 2016

and 2017. He currently works as a pianist for vocal and instrumental studios at DePaul

and Northwestern Universities, and prior to moving to Chicago, worked as a staff

pianist at the Cleveland Institute ofMusic, staff pianist for the International Clarinet

Association’s ClarinetFest, rehearsal pianist for the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus,

and choral pianist for the Cleveland State University Choirs. As a rehearsal pianist,

he has helped soloists prepare for concerto performances with many leading orchestras, including the Minnesota Orchestra, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and 

the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

Andrew received his master’s degree in collaborative piano and harpsichord from

the Cleveland Institute ofMusic, where he studied with Anita Pontremoli, Peter

Bennett, and Janina Ceaser. He currently studies harpsichord privately with the

internationally renowned harpsichordistJoryVinikour.

12

Program Notes

“Where love is concerned, too much is never enough.”

Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (1732-1799), author of the above quote,

was an extraordinary facilitator, dramatist, spy, inventor, and businessman, whose

plucky battles with the establishment fomented the French Revolution and saved

the American Revolution. Beaumarchais’s ever relevant trilogy—The Barber ofSeville,

The Marriage ofFigaro, and The Guilty Mother—is often referred to and still published as the Figaro Trilogy. Beaumarchais has been immortalized via his beloved alter

ego, the servant Figaro, who upends the monarchy and serves as the hero of works 

that Napoleon Bonaparte characterized as “the Revolution already put into action.”

However, Beaumarchais was also a true advocate of women’s rights and bravely

vocalized the repression of the modern eighteenth-century woman across all social

classes. At the behest ofroyalty and administrators, much of Beaumarchais’s feminist

material was repeatedly censored and cut, particularly from The Marriage ofFigaro.

Beaumarchais’s deeply held convictions about equal rights, meritocracy, and personal

liberty included women, and he resolutely portrayed his female characters outwitting

their oppressors with humanity and humor. He donated the proceeds of his hugely

successful and long-delayed 1784 premiere of The Marriage ofFigaro to the foundation of the Institut de bienfaisance maternelle (Benevolent Maternal Institution),

a charity to assist poor mothers and their children.

The Three Lives of RosinaAlmaviva is our joyful homage to the feminist underpinnings of Beaumarchais’s triptych. We have linked operatic scenes from The Barber of

Seville, The Marriage of Figaro, and The Guilty Mother, so that Rosina becomes the protagonist over the course of her three different lives spanning twenty years. To achieve 

this end, we have chosen a different Rosina for each phase, as well as different Figaros 

and Counts to demonstrate the unimportance of the physical preconceptions of these

characters. Our characters are physically mutable and become alter egos across time

and space. What endures are their circumstances, their intentions, their reactions. Drawing from the seminal operas of Rossini, Mozart, and a newly commissioned excerpt

by Gisle Kverndokk and Aksel-Otto Bull, we hope you enjoy the show.

It’s your world, but I make my way in it. At fifteen, no, I couldn’t

stand up to you. The age ofillusions, when we know nothing, we

hope for everything; we’re wandering in a mist.... And the half

ofthe world that’s never had any use for us, suddenly is besieging 

us. You need us, you adore us, you’re suffering for us. You want

everything—except to know what we think. You look deep in

our eyes—and put your hand up our dress. You call us, “Pretty

thing.” d hat confuses us. The most beautiful woman, the highest

ranked, lives half dazzled by constant attention, halfstifled by

13
obvious contempt. We think all we’re good for is pleasing you— 

till one day, long acquaintance with you dispels the last mist. In a

clear light, we suddenly see you as you are—and generally we start

preferring ourselves. At thirty, I could finally say no—or really

say yes. That’s when you begin backing away from us. Now I’m

full-grown. I pursue my happiness the same as any man.

—Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais

FIRST PART/THE BARBER OF SEVILLE

Our journey begins in a fine house in Seville, Spain, where a young and lively lady,

Rosina, resides with her tutor. She is bored, lonely, and virtually imprisoned in the home 

of her guardian. She assuages her loneliness with music and a dreamy inner world.

Suddenly, her dreams appear to come true: a handsome, poor student arrives, saying 

his name is Lindoro, and she falls in love with him. She doesn’t know he is actually

the Count Almaviva in disguise. At the same time, an atypical man appears, a barber

called Figaro whose abilities vary from making fantastic hairdos to giving shape to

the lives of others. He’s a cheerful, can-do man and by virtue of his many skills and

talents is fondly dubbed the “Factotum.” He can do what others cannot! At the end

of this journey, Rosina outwits her guardian, and she and her count make plans for 

a future together by dint of Figaro’s intervention. She feels genuinely blissful.

SECOND PART/THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO

The count and the countess are living in a beautiful palace in Seville. They were married shortly after Rosina left her first home and abdicated her fortune to her guardian

in exchange for her freedom. Life is seldom exactly what we dream, and Rosina’s life

is no exception: the count is unfaithful to her and she suffers. Figaro is now the count’s

valet, and he is on the eve of his marriage to an exceptionally smart and attractive

woman, Susanna. They are gleefully measuring the room where they are going to live

in the palace.

There is, at the same time, a young page, Cherubino, who is in love with every 

woman he meets, particularly with the countess, for whom he feels something deeper.

Figaro and the count are not fond ofthe page and try to get rid of him more than

once. The countess, Susanna, and Cherubino spend good times together, especially

when both Susanna and the countess disguise Cherubino as a girl to allay the count’s

suspicious jealousy. Fortunately, after unravelling many misunderstandings and

accepting some truths, the countess forgives the count for his misdeeds towards her,

and Figaro and Susanna have a perfect wedding.

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THIRD PART/THE GUILTY MOTHER

Twenty years have passed. The count and the countess are living in France in a state

of considerable tension, partially as a result of their misdeeds to each other. The

count suspects that their only living son, Leon, is not his, and he doesn’t want to

leave him his fortune. Indeed, Leon is the son of the countess and Cherubino,

who died in battle some years before. Out of nostalgia and sorrow, the countess has 

preserved a love letter Cherubino wrote to her, opening his heart and revealing

everything they had done together.

But who is the count to judge others when he has an illegitimate daughter who

lives in the family palace as a maid? This girl and Leon are in love and want to get

married, so we will have to discover the truth of their parentage by the drama’s end...

(that is if everybody permits the young couple’s happiness). Fortunately, Figaro and

Susanna are always there to collaborate!

Program notes by Jennifer Cho and, Raquel Barbieri Vidal

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