The Turn of the Screw | Portland Opera

“A tale as taut as a violin string.”

This haunting ghost story will have you on the edge of your seat.

Based on a Henry James story, it starts simply enough. A governess accepts the charge of caring for two young children in the country. But when the ghosts begin to appear, that simplicity is shattered.

Scene by chilling scene, we’re drawn deeper…until the tale tightens into a struggle for the very lives of the children.

Step by step, it winds tighter, notch by notch . . . until the final snap!

No one does this better than Britten. Intense, evocative music draws you in, and then drives you right to the edge.

Sung in English with projected lyrics.

Performances held at the Keller Auditorium.

Performance time is approximately two hours and fifteen minutes, including one intermission.

Download the study guide here. (pdf format)

Cast

The Governess	Brenda Harris
Peter Quint	Ryan MacPherson
Mrs. Grose	Judith Forst
Flora	Joelle Harvey
Miss Jessel	Mary Phillips
Miles	Michael Kepler Meo
Prologue	Brendan Tuohy

Conductor	Christopher Larkin
Director	Nicholas Muni

Source: Based on the 1898 novella of the same name by Henry James.
Time: Summer, late 19th century
Place: Bly, an English country estate

The Plot

Act 1
Prologue
A man enters holding an aged, handwritten manuscript. He tells the story of a young woman hired by a London gentleman to serve as governess of his orphaned niece and nephew on an isolated country estate. Once strict condition of her employment is that she take full responsibility for any situation and never contact him.

Scene 1 The Journey
The young Governess prepares herself for her new job. She has concerns but determines to make the Guardian proud of her efforts.

Scene 2 The Welcome
Mrs. Grose, the housekeeper, and the children enter to greet the new Governess. Flora and Miles pepper her with questions about the Governess. Mrs. Grose has them practice bows and curtsies. The Governess is overwhelmed by the beauty of the mansion and relieved to find Mrs. Grose to be pleasant and the children to be adorable. Mrs. Grose is pleased that eh children now have someone else, young and energetic, to care for them. The children show the Governess around.

Scene 3 The Letter
Mrs. Grose produces a letter from Miles’ boarding school: he has been expelled. The housekeeper cannot believe it; he is spirited but not wicked. The children sing a nursery rhyme. Observing how gently Miles treats his sister, the ladies decide that the letter must be a malicious fraud.

Scene 4 The Tower
The Governess, alone, extols the virtues of Bly. Her only regret is that her employer can’t see how well she is fulfilling her charge. Suddenly she sees a man standing atop one of the estate towers. She mistakes him for the Guardian, but quickly realizes he is a stranger.

Scene 5 The Window
The children continue their games, singing the lurid tale of “Tom the piper’s son.” The Governess sends them outside and a moment later sees the strange man again this time peering through the window. Shaken and pale with fright, she recounts the occurrence to Mrs. Grose, describing the man in detail; curly hair; a long, pale face; tall and handsome, but with a horrifying expression.

There is no mistake—she has described Peter Quint, the Guardian’s deceased valet. Mrs. Grose proceeds to confess some sordid activities that have occurred at the estate. She explains that Quint was a valet in charge of Bly in his master’s absence. Unsavory and disrespectful, he nevertheless possessed a strange charisma. Quint spent many hours alone with Miles and was intimate with the beautiful Miss Jessel. “He like them pretty, I can tell you, Miss, and he had his will morning and night,” shudders the housekeeper. Mrs. Gorse further explains that despite her awareness of these activities she had remained silent, fearing to trouble the Guardian. The Governess fears that Quint’s influence lingers. Certain he has come for Miles, she vows to protect her charges at all cost. Mrs. Grose does not understand, but promises to support her efforts.

Scene 6 The Lesson
Miles is taking his lessons in Latin and does perfectly despite frequent interruptions by Flora. The Governess praises him and asks if he remembers any other rhymes. He responds with a curious verse, which he claims to have “found” somewhere:

Malo, Malo, Malo I would rather be
Malo, Malo in an apple tree,
Malo, Malo, Malo than a naughty boy
Malo, Malo in adversity

Scene 7 The Lake
Flora is taking her lesson in manners and gazes through a telescope at a large rippling lake on the grounds. She comments in awe at the “great wide sea,” and the Governess invites her to give it a name. Breathlessly reciting the names of all the seas she can think of, the girl finally calls it the Dead Sea. Flora then sings a fanciful lullaby to her doll. The Governess looks out and sees a woman standing across the lake. The figure disappears as silently as it came. She snatches Flora by the hand and sends her off. “It was Miss Jessel! She returns too!” the Governess cries. Certain that Flora saw the apparition but said nothing, she wails that both children are lost and she is powerless to help them.

Scene 8 At Night
Quint calls out for Miles, and the boy calls out in return, enchanted by the strange melody in which Quint describes himself as all things exciting, desirable, and forbidden. Miss Jessel also appears and beckons Flora, who responds in kind. The dead woman laments her fate, evoking the names of legendary women who suffered men’s cruelty, and begs Flora to comfort her. The Governess and Mrs. Grose become aware of and alarmed at the strange behavior of the children. The Governess scolds Miles for being out of bed. “You see, “ he replies, “I am bad, aren’t I ?”

ACT 11

Scene 1 Colloquy and Soliloquy
Miss Jessel and Quint converse in the house. She reproaches him for having seduced and betrayed her while he argues that she was ruined by her own passions. He says he needs a friend. Miss Jessel offers herself, but Quint laughs. “I seek a friend, obedient to follow where I lead,” he declares. “And in that hour,” he says, quoting the poet Yeats, “The ceremony of innocence is drowned.”

Miss Jessel yearns for someone to share her grief. She and Quint sing of their intention to possess the children. The Governess expresses her inability to deal with the evil around her.

Scene 2 The Bells
On a Sunday morning, preparing for chapel, the children play theatrics, solemnly chanting a hymnlike tune that the governess interprets as a coded expression of the evil influence of Quint and Miss Jessel.

The Governess refuses Mrs. Grose’s suggestion that she write to the Guardian, though she fears that the children are slipping out of her control. Mrs. Grose takes Flora into the chapel, but Miles stays behind to wage a battle of wills with the Governess. “You trust me, my dear,” he says, “but you think and think of us … and of the others. Does my uncle think what you think?”

The Governess realizes that Miles has challenged her to act on her knowledge. Afraid that no one will help or believe her, she decides to run away from Bly.

Scene 3 Miss Jessell
Miss Jessel enters the room to claim Flora. Changing her mind about leaving, the Governess chases the specter away. She finally decides to write a letter to her employer asking to see him at once.

Scene 4 The Bedroom
It is night. Miles should be in bed, but he and the Governess resume their cat-and-mouse game. She says she has written to his uncle and asks Miles if there is anything he would like to tell her. Quint’s voice beckons Miles. Suddenly the candle goes out, plunging the room into darkness. “Twas I who blew it, dear!” says the child.

Scene 5 Peter Quint
Miles fears what the Governess might have said about him in her letter. In a wild, galloping rhythm, “Easy to take, easy to take! Take it! Take it!” Quint compels Miles to steal the letter.

Scene 6 The Piano
Miles enthralls the Governess with his virtuosic piano playing while Flora distracts Mrs. Grose with a game of cat’s cradle. The Governess confides to Mrs. Grose that she has written to their employer. Mrs. Grose finally dozes off, allowing Flora to slip out of the room. The Governess soon becomes aware of Flora’s absence. They run outside looking for Flora. Miles, now alone with Quint, plays a triumphant variation.

Scene 7 Flora
The ladies are heard calling in the distance. Finally they bring Flora back into the house. Mrs. Grose scolds the child; the Governess joins them. She bitterly asks Flora, “And where, my pet, is Miss Jessel?” The dead woman appears and calls to the little girl. The Governess points to the apparition, but Mrs. Grose insists that there is no one there. Flora cries out that she also can see nothing and fires spiteful invectives at the Governess. There is an agitated quartet, which closes as Miss Jessel fades away, and Mrs. Grose leads off a distraught Flora. The Governess despairs that she has lost her only ally and has failed to rescue the child.

Scene 8 Miles
The following morning, Mrs. Grose tells the Governess that all night long Flora uttered the most vile things as she slept. Certain that Flora must get away at once, the Governess prepares to send her to London with Mrs. Grose to stay with the uncle, who must know everything by now. But Mrs. Grose says the letter was never sent, and the Governess suspects Miles of the theft. Seeing them off, she braces for a confrontation with the boy.

“So, my dear, we are alone,” says Miles, strolling in. Saying she would do anything to help him, the Governess urges him to confide in her. Suddenly Quint calls out to the boy, who looks frantically about but cannot see him. As the young woman continues to press Miles, Quint cautions him not to reveal anything. Miles finally confesses to having stolen the letter. The Governess demands to know why. “To see what you said about us,” he says. Quint snarls at him to be silent.

The Governess presses Miles to tell her who made him steal it, while Quint continues to beckon Miles towards him. “Only say the name and he will be gone forever,” begs the Governess. “Peter Quint, you devil!” Miles screams, collapsing in her arms. Clasping Miles to her bosom, she exults in having saved him, as Quint fades away. As the “Malo” theme returns, the Governess realizes that the child she holds in her arms is dead.

Origins: The Turn of the Screw

Through a Mirror Darkly…
Reflections on Britten’s Turn of the Screw

“I am the hidden life that stirs when the candle is out; upstairs and down, the footsteps barely heard. The unknown gesture, the soft, persistent word, the long sighing flight of the night-winged bird.”

Peter Quint, in Britten’s Turn of the
Screw, by Myfanwy Piper

There is seduction and beauty implicit and explicit in Peter Quint’s relationship with the boy, Miles in Benjamin Britten’s and Myfanwy Piper’s opera The Turn of the Screw. Despite Piper’s oft-quoted assertion that “neither Britten nor I ever intended to interpret the work, only to re-create it for a different medium,” it seems certain that this idea of “re-creation” is rather the ideal than the practice of this taut, frighteningly realized ghost story as much about oppression and repression as “innocence drowned.”

The opera is based on the Henry James novella of the same title, published in 1898. Originally written to appear episodically in an American magazine, the story on the surface appears to be a classic tale of good versus evil. An unsuspecting young governess is hired by an absentee guardian of two children, Miles, who is 10 years old, and Flora, who is 8. As a condition of her securing the position, the governess is never to contact this mysterious guardian, only identified as the children’s uncle. Things progress well enough, and the governess befriends the children, but very soon, it becomes apparent that these children are not all that they seem. They are haunted by the ghosts of two former employees, Peter Quint, the master’s former valet, and Miss Jessup, the former governess. In the novella, what the ghosts want is never specified and remains ambiguous, as does the governess’s sanity—are the ghosts really there or do they exist only in her feverish imaginings? In any case, her growing anxiety and fear is a palpable presence in the novel, and the reader accepts these emotions as very real indeed, even if uncertain of whether these feelings originate from outside of the governess’s mind, or within it. It is a mark of James’ genius that he is able to create such tension in the story, such ambiguity, such unease right up until the tragic, yet satisfying conclusion, but never opens our eyes to the “truth.” Regardless of the “truth,” the result is the same, the undoing of young Miles—whether by demonic possession, or pathological repression, the strain of being pulled between two opposing forces is too much, and the boy dies.

The opera follows this same outline with one very significant difference. The opera gives voice to the ghosts. Rather than merely appearing, mute before the governess—and at least in her mind—to the children, Quint and Miss Jessup appear to speak to, and are spoken to by the governess, Miles and Flora. This seems to decide which tack the opera will take—the ghosts exist in this telling. (There are those that maintain that James’ practiced obscurity regarding the actuality of the ghosts or the stability of the governess remains in the opera, but this would seem to stretch dramatic credulity to the breaking point—and accepting the reality of the specters raises many more interesting interpretations than simply calling in to question the governess’s reliability as a narrator.)

Britten had been aware of the James novella since his eighteenth year. In 1932, he had heard a radio play of the story, which evidently inspired him to read the book, for six months later his journal entry describes it as “glorious and eerie” as well as “an incredible masterpiece.” It seems to make sense that the novel should have captured his imagination. Besides being an excellent “potboiler,” as James himself referred to it, the book contains several situations and characters which might appeal to the young man—Miles in particular, a precocious boy, discontent with living in Bly, longing for “what a boy wants,” and “his own kind,” and perhaps to the silent presence of Quint, whose motivations in the novel remain unspoken, but merely intimated.

Myfanwy Piper re-introduced Britten to The Turn of the Screw years later when she suggested it as an opera scenario. Piper had never written for Britten, but was a voice clearly respected by the composer—she had consulted on the librettos for both The Rape of Lucretia and Albert Herring. Though Britten asked Piper who she thought would best write the libretto for the newly proposed opera, after such collaboration between the two, another writer would have been awkward and superfluous. Which is not to say that the situation was ideal! While the partnership between Britten and Piper was “progressive and intelligent”, it cannot have been easy for Piper to balance her writing around the needs of a large family, nor for the two to solve dramatic issues by letter. Piper would often mail different variations of the same dialogue to Britten as she wrote them—Britten could be an exacting taskmaster—and one can see why in his brilliant settings of text, so natural and so necessary to the dramatic reading. This collaboration was a happy one and led to the two partnering to create another opera on a James ghost story, Owen Wingrave, and on Britten’s final opera, Death in Venice.

The Turn of the Screw was written and conceived as a chamber opera—indeed the small forces of the 13 piece orchestra and the ensemble nature of the modest cast aid in the overarching sense of claustrophobia implicit in both the novel and the music. This is a closed world; nothing from the outside enters the circumscribed universe of the children, except for the “Other” the implacable presence of the two ghosts. The opera premiered in La Fenice in Venice, 1954 to a “mixed reception.” However, most critics agreed that it was his finest work, intense, insightful, with music that was absolutely suited to the topic and the characters.

It is this music that creates such a fascinating breadth of interpretations of the opera, from those who see the classic struggle of good and evil played out for the souls of the children, to those who interpolate the classic 19th century archetypes of sexuality: “the hysterical woman, the sexually precocious child, the Malthusian couple and the perverse adult” into the drama. The James novel, too, leaves room for much more exploration than simply the governess’s reliability, but Britten’s music, depending on one’s auditory reading, gives substance to the insubstantial and meaning to outwardly meaningless details. As with all great works of art, Britten’s retelling of James’ novel sheds new light onto a psychological labyrinth and stands on its own, making us question our own interpretations of reality and the nature of “good” and “evil.”

About the Composer: Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)

“Composing is like driving down a foggy road toward a house. Slowly, you see more details of the house—the color of the slates and bricks, the shape of the windows. The notes are the bricks and mortar of the house.”
--Benjamin Britten

Britten had a practical, workman-like attitude toward composition. Such a prosaic approach may surprise the casual music-lover seized by a vision of Mozart’s divine inspiration or Beethoven’s tortured process, but, after a glance at Britten’s life and body of work, it seems to fit the man well.

Britten was born on November 22, 1913 in Lowestaft, England. At five, the boy began composing, snatching time to write before school. At age 11, his talent attracted the attention of Frank Bridge, a composer fluent in the emerging styles of the early 20th century. Bridge gave Britten the tools and techniques to frame his inspiration.

At 17, Britten entered the Royal College of Music, where he studied piano and composition. Unfortunately, he found the atmosphere unfriendly to him and his music. The great English composer Ralph Vaughn Williams was a professor there and was openly derisive of Britten’s mentor, Frank Bridge. Vaughn Williams found “brilliance” and “technical virtuosity for its own sake,” suspect, so Britten’s exceptional talent, misperceived, doomed his relationship with the older composer. Adding to his frustration, Britten encountered resistance to performing his work. In 1935, he composed music for a series of documentary films for the General Post Office. This experience taught him skills he later used in his operas—particularly innovation and economy.

On the set, he met W.H. Auden, with whom he began to collaborate on a regular basis. This partnership led to works of intense political commentary, particularly Our Hunting Fathers and Ballad of Heroes. Auden prompted Britten to confront his political stance. A passionate conscientious objector, Breitten and his life-partner, Peter Pears, left England for the United States in 1939. There he continued to write, producing several significant works including his first foray into opera, the operetta Paul Bunyan. It was withdrawn before it was performed, however, and didn’t make its debut until 1976.

Britten and Pears returned to England in 1942, and Britten began his contributions to English opera. In 1944, he began work on Peter Grimes which premiered on June 7, 1945 at the Sadler’s Wells Opera Company. While the opera was a huge critical and popular success, the hostility Britten experienced from some in the Sadler’s Wells Company soured him on the operatic establishment. In a country that had only two opera companies, this was something of a problem. Still, Britten liked composing operas, and so he began writing for smaller, more open companies. For Glyndebourne he wrote The Rape of Lucretia and Albert Herring, both using smaller casts and orchestras. Eventually, he founded the English Opera Group, which evolved into the Aldeburgh Festival. Philosophically, Britten wanted to “restore to the musical setting of the English language a brilliance, freedom, and vitality that have been curiously rare since Purcell.” This neo-classical sentiment did not eschew modern techniques—nor did it alienate opera-goers. Britten used a musical—and dramatic—language all his own.

Britten’s significance is hard to overstate. His operas cement the importance of his musical contributions. His obvious love of the voice and his endless variety of musical language place Britten among the great operatic masters.

Brenda Harris - The Governess

Soprano

Ms. Harris has appeared in leading roles with many of the world's most prominent opera companies and orchestras.

Brenda Harris - The Governess

Soprano

Ms. Harris has appeared in leading roles with many of the world's most prominent opera companies and orchestras. She has been heard in a wide range of roles with companies such as the Metropolitan Opera, Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Italy, the Washington National Opera, New York City Opera, Opera du Rhin in Strasbourg, Michigan Opera Theatre, Opera Pacific, the Canadian Opera Company, Edmonton Opera and Opera Theatre of St. Louis. She has been praised by critics as having “drop-dead gorgeous singing, soaring on high, glowing with mezzo-ish warmth in lower registers, nearly every phrase elegantly turned” (Dallas Morning News), as well as an “unstinting intensity, brilliant high Cs, breathtaking high-note tapers, trills, elegant tone and total dramatic commitment.” (Opera News)

Ms. Harris begins the current season singing the title role in Tosca with Opera Cleveland, and then joins the Austin Lyric Opera singing Wagner and Verdi selections in a Gala concert to mark the opening of their season. She sings Strauss’ Four Last Songs with the Austin Symphony, and a program of Verdi selections, (including La Forza del Destino and Aida) with the Jacksonville Symphony. Upcoming engagements include singing The Governess in Turn of the Screw with the Portland Opera, both Madame Cortese in Il Viaggio a Reims and Queen Elizabeth in Roberto Devereux with the Minnesota Opera, and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth with the Utah Opera.

In the 2006 – 2007 season Ms. Harris sang leading roles with opera companies across the continent, including the title role of Ariadne auf Naxos in a new production with the Utah Opera, and the title role of Norma with the Portland Opera, of which The Oregonian said “her 'Casta diva' had stillness and poise, and she negotiated the subsequent coloratura with splendid fury.” Additionally, she sang Lady MacBeth in Macbeth with the Arizona Opera and Edmonton Opera and Alice Ford in Falstaff with Fort Worth Opera. On the concert stage she sang Daron Hagen’s Shining Brow with the Buffalo Symphony, Strauss’ Four Last Songs with the New Haven Symphony, and Schubert’s Mass No. 6 in E-flat with the Music of the Baroque and Jane Glover. Under the baton of Joel Levy, Ms. Harris was presented in a Gala Concert with the Stichting Veerhavenconcert in Rotterdam. She was also featured in recital at Brenau University in Atlanta.

During the 2005 – 2006 season, Ms. Harris sang the title role of Vanessa with both the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Italy and the Chautauqua Opera, the title role in Mercadante's Orazi e Curiazi with Minnesota Opera, the title role of Norma with Michigan Opera Theatre, Katerina in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk with Austin Lyric Opera, and Violetta in La Traviata with Fort Worth Opera. With Maestro Keith Lockhart at the podium, Ms. Harris performed as Soprano Soloist in Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony with the Utah Symphony.

Notable highlights of previous seasons include portraying Vitellia in La Clemenza di Tito with the Metropolitan Opera, the title role of Agrippina, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni and Arminda in La Finta Giardiniera with the New York City Opera, Chrysothemis in Strauss' Elektra with Austin Lyric Opera, both the title role in Agrippina and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni at the Washington National Opera, and the title role in Norma with the Minnesota Opera. With the Atlanta Opera she was the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro, Donna Elvira and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Desdemona in Otello, Violetta in La Traviata, and Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte. With the Chautauqua Opera she has portrayed title roles in Ariadne auf Naxos and Maria Stuarda, Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, and Alice Ford in Falstaff. She has appeared with the Canadian Opera Company as Aminta in Il Re Pastore, the Montreal Opera as Donna Anna, the Edmonton Opera as both Donna Anna and the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro, the Vancouver Opera as Rosalinda, and the title role of Norma with the Opera de Quebec. In Europe, Ms. Harris has appeared in Spoleto, Italy as Eva in Die Meistersinger, with Opera du Rhin in Strasbourg as both Vitellia in La Clemenza di Tito and as the title role of Barber's Vanessa. On the concert stage, she has performed as a soloist with the St. Louis Symphony, The Orchestra of St. Luke's, Chicago's Music of the Baroque, Honolulu Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, and Boston Baroque, and has offered numerous concerts at Carnegie Hall with the Oratorio Society of New York.

Brenda Harris has recorded leading roles for Newport Classic, including Scarlatti's Ishmael, Haydn's La Cantarina and The Creation, and Handel's Tolomeo on the Vox label.

www.brendaharrissoprano.com

Ryan MacPherson - Heurtebise

Tenor

Previously at Portland Opera: The Turn of the Screw, 2009

Ryan MacPherson - Heurtebise

Tenor

Previously at Portland Opera: The Turn of the Screw, 2009

Ryan MacPherson is one of the most in-demand young tenors of this generation. This season he made his role debut with New York City Opera as Anathol in VANESSA and has recently added the role of Don José in CARMEN to his repertoire, with notable performances with Opera Memphis, Festival Opera of Walnut Creek and at the National Concert Hall in Dublin. He also made his company debut at the Opera National de Paris (Bastille) as the Vision of a Young Man in DIE FRAU OHNE SCHATTEN and role debut as Ruggero in LA RONDINE with Sarasota Opera and performances of Don Ottavio in DON GIOVANNI with Utah Symphony and Opera and George Hancock in MARGARET GARNER with Michigan Opera Theatre. Mr. MacPherson wraps up the year with the New York Philharmonic where he is featured in performances of ELEKTRA in concert under the baton of Maestro Maazel. Upcoming engagements include Rodolfo in LA BOHÈME with Lyric Opera Productions in Dublin, Tamino in THE MAGIC FLUTE with Florentine Opera, the title role in CANDIDE with Toledo Opera, Heurtebise in ORPHÉE and Ferrando in COSÌ FAN TUTTE both with Portland Opera.

Last season Mr. MacPherson took the stage as Ferrando in COSÌ FAN TUTTE for New York City Opera and opened their previous season as Flamand in CAPRICCIO after touring with the company in Japan as Laurie in LITTLE WOMEN. He is a recent recipient of the Richard F. Gold Career Award honoring his contribution as a young artist to New York City Opera. Other notable roles from last season include Belmonte in ABDUCTION FROM THE SERAGLIO with Michigan Opera Theatre, Luis in THE GONDOLIERS with the Utah Symphony and Opera and roles in the concert productions of Zemlinsky's DER FERNE KLANG and Smyth's THE WRECKERS with the American Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. MacPherson also recently performed his first Duke in RIGOLETTO with Opera Memphis and then made debuts with Lyric Opera Kansas City repeating the role of Camille in THE MERRY WIDOW and with Shreveport Opera in the title role of FAUST and the role of Hot Biscuit Slim in PAUL BUNYAN with Central City Opera.

In 2003, Mr. MacPherson made his Opera Memphis debut as Rodolfo in LA BOHÈME and in the spring of 2004 returned to sing the role of George Shannon in the world premiere of LEWIS AND CLARK. That summer he traveled to Long Beach Opera for Henry Morosus' DIE SCHWEIGSAME FRAU with Andreas Mitisek directing and returned to New York City Opera where he created the role of Iff the Water Genie in the world premiere of Charles Wuorinen's HAROUN, SEA OF STORIES and was heard by Opera Memphis audiences as Camille in THE MERRY WIDOW.

He has toured the nation twice with San Francisco Opera's Western Opera Theatre Tour; once as Alfred in DIE FLEDERMAUS and again as Ferrando in COSÌ FAN TUTTE. He also created the roles of Reporter and Cardinal O'Connoll for the world premiere of Anton Coppola's SACCO AND VANZETTI for Opera Tampa. Other performance highlights include Eisenstein with the San Francisco Opera's Merola Program production of DIE FLEDERMAUS; Roderigo in OTELLO with Opera Theatre of St. Louis and Opera Omaha; Rinuccio in GIANNI SCHICCHI with the Metro Lyric Opera of New Jersey and the Merola Program; Sam in SUSANNAH at the Aspen Music Festival; Don Ottavio in DON GIOVANNI at the Bardavon 1869 Opera House.

Included in the prestigious companies throughout the United States, he has sung with Opera Omaha in the role of Remendado in CARMEN followed by his debut with the New York City Opera in SALOME as the Third Jew and in LE NOZZE DI FIGARO as Don Curzio. In 2003 he made his debut with Toledo Opera in the role of Ferrando in COSÌ FAN TUTTE.

Mr. MacPherson made his Carnegie Hall and Kennedy Center debuts creating the role of Meriwether Lewis in Michael Ching's new opera CORPS OF DISCOVERY. Mr. MacPherson's oratorio engagements have included Stravinsky Renard, Ravel L'enfant et les Sortilèges, Haydn Lord Nelson Mass, Mozart Vesperae Solennes De Confessore and Requiem, and Handel Ode On St. Cecilia's Day and Messiah.

As graduate student of Yale University, Ryan MacPherson performed the roles of Rodolfo in LA BOHÈME, Vaudemont in Tchaikovsky's IOLANTA, Fenton in FALSTAFF, Ein Soldat in DER KAISER VON ATLANTIS and Eisenstein in DIE FLEDERMAUS. Prior to his studies at Yale, he attended the University of Missouri-Columbia, and was heard as Sam in SUSANNAH, Tony in WEST SIDE STORY and Whizzer in MARCH OF THE FLASETTOS.

www.ryanmacpherson.com

Judith Forst - Mrs. Grose

Mezzo-Soprano

Canadian born mezzo-soprano Judith Forst has been highly acclaimed for her operatic and concert performances throughout North America and in Europe in many of the worlds most prestigious theaters.

Judith Forst - Mrs. Grose

Mezzo-Soprano

Canadian born mezzo-soprano Judith Forst has been highly acclaimed for her operatic and concert performances throughout North America and in Europe in many of the worlds most prestigious theaters which have included the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Munich, Netherlands Opera, Dallas Opera, Washington Opera, Vancouver Opera, and the Santa Fe Opera, among many others. In 2006 she made her debut at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan as the Kabinicha in Janacek’s Katya Kabanova. Recognized as one of Canada's most distinguished artists, she has been honored with the Order of Canada.

During the 2006-2007 season Judith Forst appeared at the Santa Fe Opera as Mme de la Haltiere in Massenet’s Cendrillon, in Vancouver in Jenufa and in the Calgary premiere of Heggie’s Dead Man Walking. She made her debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Herodias and also returned to the Metropolitan Opera as the Kostelnicka in Jenufa. Engagements for Judith Forst during the 2007-2008 season include Salome at Dallas Opera and Vancouver Opera, Prokofiev’s War and Peace at the Canadian Opera Company, and the world premiere of Transit of Venus for Manitoba Opera. She will also appear in concert with the Vancouver Symphony. Judith Forst is now most identified with roles such as the Kostelnicka in Janacek's Jenufa, Klytemnestra in Strauss's Elektra, Herodias in Salome and Mme de Croissy in Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmelites, the Countess in Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades, Augusta Tabor in Moore’s The Ballad of Baby Doe, the Baroness in Barber’s Vanessa and the Witch in Hansel und Gretel. Prior to expanding into this repertoire, she had sung a repertoire of extraordinary versatility and one which encompassed virtually all styles and periods and which has extended into the soprano repertoire as well.

Judith Forst began her career at the Metropolitan Opera when, after her participation in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, General Manager Sir Rudolf Bing immediately offered her a contract with the company. Her first roles at the Metropolitan included Preziosilla in La Forza del Destino, Stephano in Romeo et Juliette and Siebel in Faust. She has returned to the Metropolitan regularly all through her career for roles such as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni under James Levine, Giulietta in Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Countess Adelaide in Arabella, and the Kabinicha in Katya Kabanova. After her first seasons at the Metropolitan, Forst was soon heard at most of the operatic theaters in North America in roles such as Dorabella in Cosi Fan tutte, Rosina in Il Babiere di Siviglia, the title role in La Cenerentola, Adalgisa in Norma Charlotte in Werther, Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier and Bizet’s Carmen. She made her Seattle Opera debut as Giovanna Seymour in Anna Bolena and subsequently appeared in this role opposite Dame Joan Sutherland in San Francisco, Toronto, Detroit, Washington, DC and in New York where the concert was also televised as part of the “Live from Lincoln Center” series. Forst made her European debut in Paris in 1985 in a concert performance of Hoffmann and her Munich debut as Preziosilla in La Forza del Destino. She made her London debut in the spring of 1992 in the British premiere of Rossini's Ermione and starred as the Composer in a new production of Ariadne auf Naxos at the English National Opera in 1994.

In recent seasons Forst has participated in productions of many contemporary works and world premieres. She appeared in two such premieres at the San Francisco Opera, singing in Sousa's Liaisons Dangereuses and Previn's Streetcar Named Desire. Both productions were telecast nationally. Forst appeared in Dallas in Argento's Valentino, and in Toronto she created the roles of Pamphilea and Antiope in The Golden Ass with the Canadian Opera Company. Among the many other 20th Century roles she has performed have been Marie in Berg's Wozzeck, a role she debuted with the Canadian Opera Company and also sang at the San Francisco Opera, the Kostelnicka in Jenufa, which she has sung in Vancouver, Toronto and for her debut in Prague, the Kabanicha in Katya Kabanova, which entered her repertoire in Santa Fe and which she has also sung at the Metropolitan Opera and at La Scala. Forst appeared as Countess Adelaide in Arabella in both San Francisco and at the Metropolitan Opera and sang her first Herodias in Salome in San Francisco, where she has recently returned for yet another new role, Augusta Tabor in Moore's The Ballad of Baby Doe. She made a sensationally received debut as Klytemnestra in Elektra at Santa Fe and was also highly praised for her Jocasta in Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex in Toronto. Forst has been heard in no less than three leading roles in Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmelites, Mere Marie and Mme Lidoine and in 2002 as Mme de Croissy.

Ms. Forst also keeps an active career on the concert and recital stage and has been heard with leading orchestras throughout North America. As one of Canada's most revered artists, Judith Forst was the subject of a CBC Television Portrait in 1987. Judith Forst's most recent discography includes the live recorded opera album A Streetcar Named Desire with André Previn conducting and From the Diary of Anne Frank, an album of original pieces with two of them being expressly commissioned for Ms. Forst. Receiving outstanding mention is the artist's solo Italian Aria album recorded with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Mario Bernardi released in 1988.

Joélle Harvey - Flora

Soprano

A native of Bolivar, New York, soprano Joélle Harvey is quickly becoming recognized as one of the most exciting young talents of her generation.

Joélle Harvey - Flora

Soprano

A native of Bolivar, New York, soprano Joélle Harvey is quickly becoming recognized as one of the most exciting young talents of her generation. As a member of Glimmerglass Opera’s 2007 Young American Artists Program, Ms. Harvey performed the role of Cupid in Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld to great critical acclaim and covered soprano Lisa Saffer in the role of La Princesse in Philip Glass’ Orphée. In May of 2007, Ms. Harvey graduated with her Bachelor’s Degree in vocal performance from the University of Cincinnati College- Conservatory of Music (CCM), where she performed the roles of Amor in Cavalli’s L’Egisto, Emmie and Flora in, respectively, Britten’s Albert Herring and The Turn of the Screw, Poppea in L’incoronazione di Poppea and Sophie in Massenet’s Werther, for which she received the university’s coveted Sam Adams award for achievement in acting. In February of 2008, Ms. Harvey received second place in Houston Grand Opera’s Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers. Ms. Harvey’s future engagements include Zerlina in Don Giovanni with the Merola Opera Program, Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro with The Dallas Opera, Flora in The Turn of the Screw with Portland Opera, Cupid in Orpheus in the Underworld with Eugene Opera, and Miranda in the Monte Carlo premiere of Tod Machover’s new opera Death and the Powers. Ms. Harvey currently resides in Cincinnati, where she is pursuing her Master’s Degree in vocal performance at CCM.

Mary Phillips - Miss Jessel

Mezzo-soprano

Mary Phillips is a remarkably versatile dramatic mezzo-soprano who shines equally on concert and opera stages and moves smoothly from Handel, Mozart and Beethoven through Verdi, Wagner, Strauss, and Mahler and up to works of the present day.

Mary Phillips - Miss Jessel

Mezzo-soprano

On the opera stage she has won acclaim at Canadian Opera as Fricka and Waltraute in Die Walküre (directed by Atom Egoyan) and as Waltraute in Götterdämmerung (directed by Tim Albery). Her success in their Ring Cycle led COC to immediately invite her to sing the role of Eboli in Verdi’s Don Carlo. Ms. Phillips joined the Met roster in the 2005-06 season, making her debut as Preziosilla in La Forza del Destino. Her regular appearances with the company have since included Wagner, both in New York and on tour in Japan, singing Waltraute and Rossweise in Die Walküre and covering Fricka. In addition she has sung the role of Mrs. Alexander in their acclaimed new production of Philip Glass’s Satyagraha and covered la Principessa in Suor Angelica, the Mother of Yue-Yang in Tan Dun’s First Emperor, and Elvira Griffiths in Picker’s An American Tragedy. Her San Francisco Opera debut was also in Verdi, as Giovanna/Maddalena in Rigoletto, while in Seattle she has sung Wellgunde and Rossweise in their acclaimed Ring cycles, and looks forward to returning there for Azucena in Il Trovatore in 2009. That year she also sings Miss Jessel in Turn of the Screw for Portland Opera, and Santuzza in Cavelleria for Orlando Opera.

Ms. Phillips has been equally praised in earlier, lighter repertoire, including Eduige in Handel’s Rodelinda for Dallas Opera and performances as Dorabella in Così fan tutte for Virginia Opera (with her twin sister Lori as Fiordiligi). In the bel canto repertoire she has been warmly received as Adalgisa in Norma for Fort Worth and Rosina in Il Barbieri di Siviglia for Opera Birmingham. Ms. Phillips’ international appearances have taken her to the Edinburgh Festival as Erda in the Scottish Opera Ring Cycle and twice to Barcelona’s Teatre de Gran Liceu (Sesto in Giulio Cesare and the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos).

She is gaining a reputation for her work in contemporary repertoire, as well, notably for her performance as Sister Helen Prejean in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, which she first undertook at Austin Lyric Opera. She is a favorite colleague of the composer, who has been at the piano for her performances of his song cycle “The Starry Night” at the Ravinia Festival as well as at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall and at the Library of Congress. Her facility with new works led to her New York Philharmonic debut, in the world premieres of Michael Torke’s Four Seasons and Aaron Kernis’s Garden of Light, conducted by Kurt Masur. Other contemporary credits include her Dallas Opera debut as Ceres in Lee Hoiby’s The Tempest, works for mezzo-soprano and viola with Paul Neubauer, and works of Ned Rorem with Brian Zeger. She also appears as a featured soloist on Flesh & Stone, a recording comprised of song cycles by Jake Heggie, the proceeds from which will go to support Classical Action/Equity Fights AIDS. Soon to be released on Naxos is her recording of songs of Charles Ives.

She is much in demand on the concert stage: in particular, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Handel’s Messiah have provided an introduction to many orchestras and conductors, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic (Zubin Mehta, conducting), the Boston Symphony Orchestra (Graf), the Springfield Symphony, the Honolulu Symphony and the Hong Kong Philharmonic (Sam Wong), the North Carolina Symphony and Handel & Haydn (Grant Llewellyn), and the Atlanta Symphony (Levi), with whom she recorded the Mahler 2 for Telarc. She looks forward to more Mahler in 2008-09, most prominently the role of Mulier Samaritana in Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with Lorin Maazel and the New York Philharmonic, and Symphony No. 2 in Beijing as part of the celebrations surrounding the 2008 Summer Olympics, as well as Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 for Utah Symphony and Opera with Keith Lockhart and Verdi’s Requiem in North Carolina with Grant Llewellyn.

In addition to these foundations of the canon she is re-invited by conductors and orchestras to demonstrate her grasp of a wide range of repertoire. Hans Graf invited her to Houston for Prokovief’s Alexander Nevsky and Bruckner’s Te Deum, Claus Petr Flor invited her to Dallas for Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater and Mozart’s Requiem, Carl St. Clair conducted her Indianapolis Symphony performance of Philip Glass’s Symphony No. 5, Miguel-Harth Bedoya has asked her for de Falla’s El Amor Brujo at both the Baltimore Symphony and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra; Mark Russell Smith has brought her to Richmond in Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’Ete and Mahler 2; She appeared regularly in Atlanta and with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at the invitation of Robert Shaw (Mendelssohn’s Elijah); and Nicholas McGegan has brought her to the Hollywood Bowl for Vivaldi’s Gloria and to Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra for performances of Beethoven’s Opferlied and Symphony No 9 which were recorded and are available on iTunes.

As a gifted recitalist and chamber musician, Ms. Phillips has appeared widely under the auspices of the Marilyn Horne Foundation and the New York Festival of Song, at venues including Carnegie Hall (Weill Recital Hall), Marlboro Music Festival, Barge Music and Anchorage Concert Association.

Mary Phillips holds degrees in both music and theater from Rhode Island College, and a Master’s Degree in Music from Yale University. She was an apprentice in the Santa Fe Opera program, and a participant at the Marlboro Festival and the Ravinia Steans Institute for Young Artists.

Mary Phillips currently resides in New York with her young son, Max.

http://www.schwalbeandpartners.com/artistpage.asp?LAST_NAME=Phillips

Michael Kepler Meo - Miles

Treble

Michael Kepler Meo is currently singing with the Portland Boychoir, under the umbrella of Portland Choirs. He joined the group four years ago, when he was in kindergarten.

Michael Kepler Meo - Miles

Treble

Michael Kepler Meo is currently singing with the Portland Boychoir, under the umbrella of Portland Choirs. He joined the group four years ago, when he was in kindergarten.

Michael has made several appearances as the soloist singing Mexican folksongs with performing dance troupe Ballet Papalotl. With this troup, Mike also performs traditional Mexican folkloric dances in a wide variety of venues.

Michael is a student at Ethos Music Center, where he has been studying guitar under Michelle Boss Barba, and piano under Amoree Lovell. In May 2007, he won 1st place in the Multnomah County Fair Talent Show.

Christopher Larkin - Conductor

Christopher Larkin is a regular guest of companies throughout North America.

Christopher Larkin - Conductor

Christopher Larkin is a regular guest of companies throughout North America. He has appeared on the podiums of the Santa Fe Opera (La Traviata), Washington Opera (Samson et Dalila, I Puritani), New York City Opera (Don Giovanni, La Boheme) and Houston Grand Opera (Tosca, Romeo et Juliette, Le Nozze di Figaro), Portland Opera (Il Viaggio a Reims and Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Opera Pacific (Little Women), Opera Carolina (La Cenerentola), Fort Worth Opera (Little Women, Dialogues of the Carmelites), Boston Lyric Opera (East Coast premiere of Todd Machover’s Resurrection), Nashville Opera (La Boheme), Utah Opera (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) and Lake George Opera (L’Italiana in Algeri). Last season, Mr. Larkin made a notable debut at the Wexford Festival conducting Floyd’s Susannah and Opera Carolina for La Cenerentola, and Il Viaggio a Reims for the Music Academy of the West.

Last season, he made debuts with the Florentine Opera for Il Barbiere di Siviglia and with the Oberlin Conservatory of Music for Little Women, and returned to the Fort Worth Opera for Falstaff and to the Music Academy of the West for La Boheme. He then returned to Portland for La Cenerentola, Kentucky Opera for Dialogues of the Carmelites and Fort Worth Opera for Angels in America.

As Music Director of the New York City Opera National Company, he led national tours of Madama Butterfly and Il Barbiere di Siviglia. Prior to coming to New York, he held the position of Associate Conductor with Houston Grand Opera. While in Houston, he led the world premieres of Little Women and Michael Daugherty’s Jackie O with the Houston Opera Studio, and also conducted the highly acclaimed multi-media productions of Carmen, Madama Butterfly, and I Pagliacci.

Maestro Larkin has worked as an Assistant Conductor and vocal coach with several major opera companies in North America, including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Vancouver Opera, and the Canadian Opera Company.

http://www.pinnaclearts.com/artist.php?id=122

Nicholas Muni - Stage Director

Previously at Portland Opera: Faust, 2006; The Turn of the Screw, 2009

As a freelance stage director, Nic has directed over two hundred productions with companies in North America, Europe, and Australia.

Nicholas Muni - Stage Director

Previously at Portland Opera: Faust, 2006; The Turn of the Screw, 2009

As a freelance stage director, Nic has directed over two hundred productions with companies in North America, Europe, and Australia. His fruitful relationship with the Houston Grand Opera and Seattle Opera has resulted in two acclaimed co-productions: Il Trovatore, which has been in Seattle, Houston, Tulsa, Melbourne, at the Canadian Opera company in Toronto and at the San Francisco Opera, and Norma, which has been presented in Seattle, Houston, Cincinnati and Los Angeles.

Additional work with Houston Grand Opera includes the world premiere of Jackie O, an opera based on the life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis that was also presented at Banff Center for the Arts in Alberta, Canada.

His work at the Canadian Opera Company includes Lulu (three-act version), Rigoletto, which has also been presented in Edmonton, Tulsa, Ottawa, and Minnesota, Jenufa, which was presented in the autumn of 1966 in Vancouver and at Cincinnati Opera in 1998 and Pelléas et Mélisande, also presented at Cincinnati Opera and due for a revival at COC in 2007. For the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, he has created productions of La Finta Giardiniera, Ariadne auf Naxos, and Iphigènie en Tauride. The Minnesota Opera is another company which fostered his early work, where he has directed Rusalka, Don Giovanni, Rigoletto, and two world premieres: Libby Larsen’s Frankenstein, the Modern Prometheus, and Robert Moran’s From the Towers of the Moon.

The 1993-94 season marked his European debut at Stadttheater Gießen with La Fille du Régiment. Its success led to subsequent engagements at that same theater for productions of Idomeneo, Die Zauberflöte, and The Rake’s Progress. The 1993 season also marked debuts at Boston Lyric Opera with the American premiere of the Neopolitan version of Bellini’s I Puritani, and La Bohème at the Tiroler Landestheater in Innsbruck, Austria. In what is considered one of his most interesting projects, he directed a unique chamber version of Berg’s Wozzeck in a co-production of the Banff Center for the Arts and Montreal Nouvelle Ensemble Moderne as well as The Rape of Lucretia at the Eastman School of Music, Jenufa at Vancouver Opera.

His directing debut with the Cincinnati Opera was the summer of 1998, with productions of Jenufa and Samson et Delila. In the 1999 summer season at Cincinnati he created new productions of Don Giovanni, Faust and The Turn of the Screw. Other productions include Pelléas et Mélisande at Canadian Opera and Cincinnati Opera; Salome, Elektra and Nabucco at Cincinnati Opera; Der Fliegende Holländer at Opera Ireland; The Crucible – University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music; Beyond Innocence/Out-o-sense – Cincinnati Ballet; a revival of Jenufa – Canadian Opera Company; a revival of Il Trovatore – San Francisco Opera and Triple-Bill: La Voix Humaine/The Seven Deadly Sins/Medusa (world stage premiere) at Cincinnati Opera; Street Scene – International Kurt Weill Festival in Dessau; Der Kaiser von Atlantis/The Maids (North American premiere) – Cincinnati Opera and the world premiere of La Conquista by Lorenzo Ferrero at the National Theater in Prague.

His revival of Jenufa at the Canadian Opera Company in winter 2003 received the DORA award for best theater production of the year.

Recently completed projects include Macbeth – Canadian Opera Company in Toronto (which was nominated for a DORA award for best production of 2006), Show Boat (in the world premiere of his own version, based on the 1927 original production) – Stadttheater Bern; Tosca – Theater Erfurt; Albert Herring – Cincinnati Conservatory of Music; Faust – Vancouver Opera, Portland Opera and Canadian Opera (which was nominated for a DORA award for best production of 2007), Une Education Manquée and Le pauvre Matelot – Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Madama Butterfly – Indiana University Opera Theater and Werther – Cincinnati Conservatory of Music.

Upcoming projects include Assassins, Così fan tutte, The Coronation of Poppea – Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, The Love for Three Oranges – Indiana University Opera Theater, The Turn of the Screw – Portland Opera, Pelléas et Mélisande at Canadian Opera and the US premiere of Wagner’s Das Liebesverbot at Glimmerglass Opera.

http://www.nicmuni.com/