(RE)LIVE Voice, Opera & Vocal Coaching Department - Program FINAL 9.24.2021
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Voice, Opera & Vocal Coaching Department
Eastman School of Music
(RE)LIVE
Selections from Ben Moore’s Stage Works
Music by Ben Moore
Wilson Southerland, Music Director
Madeleine Snow, Stage Director
Friday, September 24, 7:00 PM
Hatch Recital Hall
The Voice, Opera, and Vocal Coaching Department acknowledge that the Eastman School of
Music and the University of Rochester are located on Indigenous Lands of the Onondaga Nation
and recognize the Indigenous peoples who have lived and continue to live here. In so doing, the
department acknowledges the sovereignty of the Onondaga Nation, part of the Haudenosaunee
Confederacy, and their long-standing presence on this land, which precedes the establishment
of this University, New York State, and the United States of America.Enemies, A Love Story
Music by Ben Moore
Libretto by Nahma Sandrow
Yadwiga Anna Louise Martin
Tamara Dominie Boutin
Masha Sarah Luebke
Herman Edward Bland
Based on the book ENEMIES, A LOVE STORY by Isaac Bashevis Singer.
World premiere by Palm Beach Opera (2015)
Synopsis:
Both tragedy and comedy, Enemies, a Love Story tells the story of Herman
Broder, a Polish Jewish intellectual living in Brooklyn with his wife, Yadwiga,
in 1948. Yadwiga, a farmer’s daughter, hid Herman from the Nazis in her
father’s hayloft during the war. Herman also has a mistress, Masha, a
survivor of the camps who lives in the Bronx. Herman believes that his first
wife, Tamara, was killed in the war along with their two children so he is
astonished when she turns up alive three years after the war. Unable to sort
out his life, Herman juggles his three women for a time, until news of
Yadwiga’s pregnancy leads him to commit to being a good husband and
father. Herman can be playful but his head is full of philosophical ruminations,
nightmare flashbacks to the hayloft, and memories of childhood; his heart is
full of guilt as well as love. Eventually he realizes that Masha is the woman
he needs, but ultimately he recognizes that he is incapable of making a life
with her. He leaves, Masha kills herself, and Tamara and Yadwiga are left
to start again and raise his baby.
~ Selections ~
Yadwiga’s aria Yadwiga
Tamara’s aria Tamara
The “March” scene Herman and Tamara
“Lies” Herman
Women’s Trio Yadwiga, Tamara and Masha
Herman’s Final Scene Herman
2Henry & Company
Music and Lyrics by Ben Moore
Book and additional lyrics by Barry Kleinbort
Presented at the Appalachian Summer Music Festival in 2002
Synopsis:
Henry and Company is an intimate musical theater piece with a 4-member
cast. It tells the story of Henry Smith, a hugely successful novelist who
returns to his hometown of Centerville in the 1980s to deliver a dedication
speech for the new high school gymnasium. Once there, he is unwittingly
forced to confront demons from the past involving his two best childhood
friends, Jim and Kelly. Accompanying Henry on this trip is his wife, Emma,
who has been instrumental in establishing Henry’s writing career and now
remains in his life only to run his business matters. As he struggles to find
the words for the dedication and find a way forward in his life, we catch
glimpses of Henry’s past: his early passion for Emma, Emma's love for
Henry, Henry's unfulfilled longing for Kelly, Henry's seriously compromised
quest to be a great writer, and his deeply complicated friendship with Jim.
Through a series of flashbacks, it is revealed that Jim had married Kelly
before enlisting in the army, where he was shipped out to Vietnam and killed
in the war. In a final flashback, Henry retrieves an early memory that brings
him to a new level of understanding, enabling him to reevaluate his life and
deliver an honest speech about the responsibility we have to those around
us, especially those we love.
~ Selections ~
Early Morning
Henry Samuel Robertson
Kelly Cailin Jordan
Emma Veronica Siebert
Jim Harrison Caplin
Goodbye Old Centerville
Henry Samuel Robertson
3Henry & Company (continued)
Were I to Touch You
Henry Samuel Robertson
Someone Like You
Emma Veronica Siebert
Ambition Sequence
Henry Samuel Robertson
Kelly Cailin Jordan
Emma Veronica Siebert
Jim Maxwell Flores
Same Old Smile
Kelly Cailin Jordan
Henry, Where’re You Goin’?
Henry Samuel Robertson
Kelly Rachel Singh
Emma Veronica Siebert
Jim Noah Sesling
Shooting Star
Henry Samuel Robertson
Kelly Rachel Singh
Jim Noah Sesling
~ 10-minute Intermission ~
4Gene & Tate Music and libretto by Ben Moore
Present-day Gene Isaac Pendley
Young Gene Murphy Meyn
Present-day Tate Broderick Brown
Young Tate Joshua Carlisle
Lena Ori Marcu
CHORUS
Finn Bucci, Harrison Caplin, Maxwell Flores,
Cailin Jordan, Samuel Robertson, Christopher Sánchez, Noah Sesling,
Veronica Siebert, Rachel Singh
Synopsis:
Gene, a single man in his 50s, has caught sight of Tate, on his phone, on a
street corner in New York. Gene and Tate were boyfriends for a brief time
when they were students at Harelton College 30 years ago. The opera
follows the intense conversation between the two men as they walk together.
They have not spoken since they parted ways in college and time has
clouded their memories. As they walk, they view the past, observing their
young selves and processing the inevitable emotions that arise. They visit
the day they met, when they fell in love, their breakup, and the death of their
dear friend, Lena. Gene and Tate are repeatedly faced with the reality of
lost opportunities and fateful choices. They’re also faced with the fact that
marriage and family were not seen as a possibility in their college days,
much less full acceptance.
~ Selections ~
Look at Him Present-day Gene and Tate; Young Gene and Tate,
Lena, Chorus
Revelation scene Young Tate, Present-day Gene
Love Scene Young Gene and Tate
Gene’s Sermon Present-day Gene and Tate; Young Gene and Tate
Lena’s Aria Lena (*Content warning: self-harm/suicide)
Fight duet Present-day Gene and Tate
5ODYSSEY, a youth opera
Music by Ben Moore
Libretto by Kelley Rourke
Based on Homer’s The Odyssey
Commissioned by The Glimmerglass Festival, 2015
Synopsis:
Based on Homer’s epic, Odyssey tells the tale of Odysseus as he journeys
home after the Trojan war to be reunited with his beloved wife,
Penelope. He encounters the Cyclopes, Poseidon, Athena, Circe, and
many others along his way.
~ Selections ~
James Wolter, conductor
Shipwrecked Sailor
Penelope Laura O’Neill
Odysseus Christian Davakis
Circe’s Tango
Circe Megan Brilleslyper
Third Ballad Ensemble
Bard I Kayla Stein
Bard II Jack O’Leary
Odysseus Christian Davakis
Sailors Finn Bucci, Christian Davakis, Logan Dubner,
Jacob Hunter, Christopher Sánchez
Homecoming Quartet
Athena Anneliese Wolfanger
Poseidon Samuel Yuh
Bard I Kayla Stein
Bard II Jack O’Leary
6Robin Hood, a youth opera
Music by Ben Moore
Libretto by Kelley Rourke
Commissioned by The Glimmerglass Festival, 2017
Synopsis:
When the law of the land is corrupt, what’s an honest citizen to do? In the
absence of the King, the Sheriff has seized the country’s assets for himself.
Robin Hood is the unlikely leader of a band of ordinary folks who flee to the
forest and attempt to create a new kind of society.
~ Selections ~
James Wolter, conductor
Lead with Love
Scarlet Isabella Lecomte
Ensemble Megan Brilleslyper, Laura O’Neill, Kayla Stein,
Anneliese Wolfanger
In the Middle of it All
Scarlet Isabella Lecomte
Robin Jacob Hunter
Different
Robin Jacob Hunter
Marion Bergen Price
Finale
Full Company
7Ben Moore ~ Artist Bio
The music of American composer Ben Moore includes art song, opera,
musical theatre, cabaret, chamber music, choral music and comedy material.
His work has been called “brilliant” and “gorgeously lyrical” by the New York
Times while Opera News has praised the “easy tunefulness” and “romantic
sweep” of his songs. Singers who have performed his work include Deborah
Voigt, Susan Graham, Frederica von Stade, Isabel Leonard, Lawrence
Brownlee, Robert White, Nathan Gunn and Audra McDonald.
Moore composed the scores for three operas including Enemies, a Love
Story which premiered at Palm Beach Opera in 2015 and was seen at
Kentucky Opera in November 2018. The opera has been called “an
important new work that will find its place among those works that audiences
will be moved by...” (Fred Plotkin/WQXR). Odyssey and Robin Hood are
youth operas commissioned by the Glimmerglass Festival. Odyssey
premiered in 2015 and has since been seen at venues across the country
including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Seattle Opera and Minnesota
Opera. Opera News called it “an opera for all ages” with an “ebullient and
lyrical” score. Robin Hood premiered in 2017 and has had productions at
Seattle Opera and Houston Grand Opera. In 2006 the Metropolitan Opera
featured two of Ben’s comedy songs in a gala broadcast nationally.
Upcoming events (postponed due to Covid) include The House on
Kronenstrasse at Chelsea Opera, productions of Robin Hood and Odyssey
at Kentucky Opera and Michigan Opera Theatre and The Wave Rises, a
choral work newly revised for Cantori New York. In 2022 Delos records will
release an album of Ben’s songs featuring Matthew Polenzani, Isabel
Leonard, Janai Brugger and Broadway singers Liz Callaway and Alex
Gemignani.
8Voice, Opera, Vocal Coaching Department
Katherine Ciesinski, Chair
Lindsay Baker
Nicole Cabell
Kathryn Cowdrick
Christina Curren
Alison d’Amato
Steven Daigle
Beryl Garver
Anthony Dean Griffey
Timothy Long
Russell Miller
Jan Opalach
Jonathan Retzlaff
Wilson Southerland
Robert Swensen
Special Thanks
McKenzie Garey
Mark Houser
Josh Lau
Fran Turk
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