NEA Opera Honors
The National Endowment for the Arts has announced the winners of the first annual Opera Honors. Congratulations to Carlisle Floyd, James Levine, Richard Gaddes, and Leontyne Price!
Community Butterfly Drive Tomorrow!
Happy Halloween! If you have kids or find yourself strolling down State Street after the Farmers’ Market tomorrow, stop on by the COMMUNITY BUTTERFLY DRIVE, a cooperative arts project in celebration of Madison Opera’s Madama Butterfly. In partnership with the Monroe Street Fine Arts Center and Kids in the Rotunda, we’re inviting children from the community to decorate butterflies to go on display in an aerial collage in the Overture Center lobby during performances on Nov. 21 and 23.
The info:
- Nov. 1, 9 a.m. – 2 p.m., decorate butterflies in the Overture Center lobby, 201 State Street
- Kids in the Rotunda on Nov. 1 is offering a rock’n’roll costume party, featuring performances by The Madgadders at 9:30 a.m., 11 a.m., and 1 p.m.
- Everything is FREE!
Heating up
It may have snowed yesterday in Madison, but in the office things are just beginning to heat up. Artists begin arriving next week, text and art for the Butterfly program are due Thursday, ads are popping up everywhere…this all has meant a slight deficit in blogging, but stay tuned for all sorts of multimedia behind-the-scenes action when rehearsals get started next week!
Butterfly Conductor Earns Praise in Wexford
Italian Maestro Leonardo Vordoni makes his US debut in Madison Opera’s Madama Butterfly next month, and if his debut at Wexford Festival Opera in Ireland is any indication, we’re all in for a treat. Helming the renowned festival’s production of Perdotti’s Tutti in Maschera, The Stage (UK) says, “Leonardo Vordoni conducts a spirited account of the score. An unmissable delight.” Kudos!
UPDATE 10/22: “Conductor Leonardo Vordoni delivers all the zest and exuberance in the score and the opera is exceptionally well cast.” –Irish Independent (Dublin)
UPDATE 10/27: “Conductor Leonardo Vordoni draws a scintillating performance from the orchestra, keeping the textures crisp, even in the beguiling Act III duet between Vittoria and Emilio…” –The Independent (UK)
Madison Opera Singer Fares Well at Met Opera Auditons
The Metropolitan Opera’s National Council Auditions for Wisconsin were held in Milwaukee on Saturday. Mezz-soprano Jamie Van Eyck (pictured left), who plays Kate Pinkerton in our upcoming production of Madama Butterfly, was one of the co-winners to advance to the regional finals in Minneapolis. Read the whole story here!
Ms. Van Eyck, a native of Wausau, WI, is currently studying at UW-Madison with Julia Faulkner, the 1985 winner of the National Council Auditions and Madison Opera star of The Tender Land (2008). She has performed with Santa Fe Opera, Utah Opera, Opera Boston, and The Wolf Trap Opera Company in addition to the National Symphony Orchestra, Bostony Symphony Orchestra, Utah Symphony, and L.A. Philharmonic. At the Tanglewood Music Center’s Festival of Contemporary Music, she performed the role of Mama in the highly acclaimed North American premiere of Elliott Carter’s opera What Next? under the baton of James Levine. Madison Opera couldn’t be more excited to have Ms. Van Eyck back in Wisconsin and performing with us!
