Industry News
Wolf Trap Opera Company Presents a New Production of The Turk in Italy
Vienna, VA—The GRAMMY-nominated Wolf Trap Opera Company, one of the nation’s most highly regarded opera residency programs, invigorates Rossini’s comedy The Turk in Italy, with a new production that sets the action in the 1960’s Naples of renowned Italian director Federico Fellini. Stage director Gregory Keller returns to The Barns at Wolf Trap for the first time in a decade, having previously led the company’s most recent production of The Coronation of Poppea in the summer of 2000.
“Last heard at The Barns at Wolf Trap in 1993, The Turk in Italy has experienced a boost in popularity during the last 15 years with over 60 professional productions on record, all but one of them outside the United States,” said Wolf Trap Opera Company Director Kim Pensinger Witman. “This is an excellent opportunity for opera lovers on the east coast to hear this ebullient score in a production that has been conceived and designed specifically for this cast, in this theater.”
Setting an unexpected convention considered far ahead of its time, Rossini and his librettist Felice Romani, introduce the character of a poet, Prosdocimo, who serves as both audience moderator and puppeteer of his fellow players. In the course of the two-act opera, the poet, a victim of writer’s block, interferes in the lives of two married Italians, the wife’s love-struck admirer, two foreign gypsies, and a visiting Sultan from Turkey – all to construct a worthy plot for his next staged work. The story explores the timeless struggles of fidelity and fickleness, exploiting them against a backdrop of mistaken identity and true love in one of the zaniest of Rossini’s comedies.
Conductor Eric Melear, last seen conducting the company’s performances of Alcina in 2008, returns to the podium to illuminate the exuberant score. At the conclusion of this summer, his eighth with the Company, Melear departs the United States and his summer home in Vienna, Virginia to join the staff of the busiest opera house on the planet, as Korrepetitor of the Vienna Staatsoper in Austria. His performances of The Turk in Italy cap nearly a decade of strategic growth designed to carve out a niche for himself in the arts. He has honed his talents as pianist, conductor, vocal coach, and chorus master while simultaneously improving his skill as an administrator and audition consultant, and finding a market as a budding photographer.
Returning from the 2009 company is tenor David Portillo (Lyric Opera of Chicago) who sings the role of lovesick Narciso, and baritone Chad Sloan (Kentucky Opera) who tackles the role of the Poet, in a performance modeled after Marcello Mastoianni as Guido Anselmi in the classic Italian film 8 ½. Soprano Angela Mannino (Metropolitan Opera) and Michael Anthony McGee (Seattle Opera) take the stage as the troubled married couple Fiorilla and Don Geronio. Michael Sumuel (Houston Grand Opera) essays the role of Selim, the visiting Turkish Sultan. His character is reunited with traveling gypsies Zaida, sung by mezzo-soprano Catherine Martin (Houston Grand Opera) and Nathaniel Peake (Houston Grand Opera) as Albazar.
Rossini’s underperformed gem, The Turk in Italy, opens Friday night, the 9th of July at 8pm at The Barns at Wolf Trap. Subsequent performances take place on Sunday July 11 at 3pm, and Tuesday, July 13 at 8pm.
About the Wolf Trap Opera Company Established in 1971, the Wolf Trap Opera Company continues to earn national and international recognition for its mission to discover and encourage outstanding emerging talent in the opera field, serving singers of exceptional achievement and potential who are ready to make the transition to full-time professional careers. In addition to the young professional singers, the company also features the work of emerging designers, directors, and conductors; and provides opportunities for aspiring stage managers, administrators, coaches, and technical theatre professionals.
Tickets for Wolf Trap Opera Company performances can be purchased at the Wolf Trap Box Office located at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts at 1551 Trap Road, Vienna, Virginia; by calling 1(877) WOLFTRAP; or online at www.wolftrap.org. For more information, call Wolf Trap at (703) 255-1868.
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“Last heard at The Barns at Wolf Trap in 1993, The Turk in Italy has experienced a boost in popularity during the last 15 years with over 60 professional productions on record, all but one of them outside the United States,” said Wolf Trap Opera Company Director Kim Pensinger Witman. “This is an excellent opportunity for opera lovers on the east coast to hear this ebullient score in a production that has been conceived and designed specifically for this cast, in this theater.”
Setting an unexpected convention considered far ahead of its time, Rossini and his librettist Felice Romani, introduce the character of a poet, Prosdocimo, who serves as both audience moderator and puppeteer of his fellow players. In the course of the two-act opera, the poet, a victim of writer’s block, interferes in the lives of two married Italians, the wife’s love-struck admirer, two foreign gypsies, and a visiting Sultan from Turkey – all to construct a worthy plot for his next staged work. The story explores the timeless struggles of fidelity and fickleness, exploiting them against a backdrop of mistaken identity and true love in one of the zaniest of Rossini’s comedies.
Conductor Eric Melear, last seen conducting the company’s performances of Alcina in 2008, returns to the podium to illuminate the exuberant score. At the conclusion of this summer, his eighth with the Company, Melear departs the United States and his summer home in Vienna, Virginia to join the staff of the busiest opera house on the planet, as Korrepetitor of the Vienna Staatsoper in Austria. His performances of The Turk in Italy cap nearly a decade of strategic growth designed to carve out a niche for himself in the arts. He has honed his talents as pianist, conductor, vocal coach, and chorus master while simultaneously improving his skill as an administrator and audition consultant, and finding a market as a budding photographer.
Returning from the 2009 company is tenor David Portillo (Lyric Opera of Chicago) who sings the role of lovesick Narciso, and baritone Chad Sloan (Kentucky Opera) who tackles the role of the Poet, in a performance modeled after Marcello Mastoianni as Guido Anselmi in the classic Italian film 8 ½. Soprano Angela Mannino (Metropolitan Opera) and Michael Anthony McGee (Seattle Opera) take the stage as the troubled married couple Fiorilla and Don Geronio. Michael Sumuel (Houston Grand Opera) essays the role of Selim, the visiting Turkish Sultan. His character is reunited with traveling gypsies Zaida, sung by mezzo-soprano Catherine Martin (Houston Grand Opera) and Nathaniel Peake (Houston Grand Opera) as Albazar.
Rossini’s underperformed gem, The Turk in Italy, opens Friday night, the 9th of July at 8pm at The Barns at Wolf Trap. Subsequent performances take place on Sunday July 11 at 3pm, and Tuesday, July 13 at 8pm.
About the Wolf Trap Opera Company Established in 1971, the Wolf Trap Opera Company continues to earn national and international recognition for its mission to discover and encourage outstanding emerging talent in the opera field, serving singers of exceptional achievement and potential who are ready to make the transition to full-time professional careers. In addition to the young professional singers, the company also features the work of emerging designers, directors, and conductors; and provides opportunities for aspiring stage managers, administrators, coaches, and technical theatre professionals.
Tickets for Wolf Trap Opera Company performances can be purchased at the Wolf Trap Box Office located at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts at 1551 Trap Road, Vienna, Virginia; by calling 1(877) WOLFTRAP; or online at www.wolftrap.org. For more information, call Wolf Trap at (703) 255-1868.
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