Salome

March 14 & 20 at 7:30 p.m.
22 at 2:00 p.m.

Sung in German
with projected English Translations
The Valentine Theatre

 
Cast/Production Team  •  Synopsis  •  Study Guide  •  Press Release

Cast/Production Team

JohnsonAmy Johnson, soprano (Salome)
Our Toledo Opera audience will remember soprano Amy Johnson’s exciting portrayal of Santuzza in last season’s production of Cavalleria Rusticana.  Recently, Ms. Johnson made her European debut as Giorgetta in Il Tabarro with Vlaamse Opera in Belgium. She went on to perform the title role in Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos at the Prague National Theater and won special acclaim for her portrayal of Tosca at New York City Opera. Recent appearances include leading roles with Glimmerglass Opera, New York City Opera (PBS Live from Lincoln Center), Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Michigan Opera Theater and the opera companies of Arizona, Indianapolis (Tatiana in Eugene Onegin and Fiordiligi), Kentucky, Orlando (Marguerite in Faust), Portland (Desdemona in Otello), Tampa (Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus, Liu in Turandot and Leonora in Il trovatore) and Rosalinde with Virginia Opera.

GarvinBradley Garvin, bass-baritone (Jochanaan)
Bass-baritone Bradley Garvin has appeared, most notably, with The Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Arizona Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Pittsburgh Opera and Palm Beach Opera, among many others. During the 2008-2009 season, he returns to the Lyric Opera of Chicago as the Banker and Theater Director in Lulu, joins Houston Grand Opera as Monterone in Rigoletto, and the Speaker in The Magic Flute at the Metropolitan Opera. In oratorio, he has appeared at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, with the National Chorale in Washington in Bach’s Mass in B Minor, with Philharmonia Virtuosi for Haydn’s Creation, the Bach Consort of Washington for St. John Passion and the Columbus Symphony Orchestra for Honegger’s Christmas Cantata. He is the winner of numerous vocal competitions, including the Washington DC International Vocal Competition, George London Vocal Competition, Placido Domingo International Vocal Competition, and the William Matheus Sullivan Award.

KleinAdam Klein, tenor (Herod)
Career highlights have included appearances with the Metropolitan Opera as Steva in Jenufa, the Chevalier in Les Dialogues des Carmélites and Elemer in Arabella. At San Francisco Opera he was Tchekalinsky in Pique Dame and Iskra in a new production of Tchaikovsky’s Mazeppa. He has also been heard as Don José in Carmen with Atlanta Opera and Cavaradossi in Tosca, as Quint in The Turn of the Screw with New York City Opera, and the title role in Otello with Opera Delaware. He performed Erik in Der Fliegende Holländer with Spoleto Festival (USA) and Atlanta Opera, the Duke in Rigoletto with Central City Opera, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with Dallas Opera and the title role in Les Contes d’Hoffman with Opera Pacific. His discography includes Mime in Siegfried with the State Symphony of Russia on the Naxos label, and the Doctor in Robert Ashley’s Improvement: Don Leaves Linda on the Elektra/Nonesuch label. Mr. Klein recently performed with Toledo Opera as Don José in our production of Carmen.

MeekDeanne Meek, mezzo-soprano (Herodias)
Mezzo-soprano Deanne Meek recently reprised her acclaimed performance of Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream both in France and on tour in Athens. She returns to Utah Opera for Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and Opera North for Meg Page in Falstaff, as well as to the Teatro Real in Madrid as Kristina in The Makropulous Case. Among Ms. Meek’s other engagements are appearances with the English National Opera as Ruggiero in Alcina, Dorabella in Così fan tutte at Opéra National du Rhin and Rossweisse in Die Walküre at the Châtelet in Paris. A frequent presence on the stage of the New York City Opera, she has appeared as Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel and Diana in Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride, and Harriet Mosher in the New York premiere of Tobias Picker’s Emmeline. Ms. Meek has presented solo recitals in the United Kingdom, Paris, New York, Baltimore, Washington DC, St. Louis and the Pacific Northwest.

SchreinerMarc Schreiner, tenor (Narraboth)
A devotee of modern works, tenor Marc Schreiner has been seen as Peter Quint in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw with Nashville Opera, Albert in Benjamin Britten’s Albert Herring, and The Magician in The Consul with Des Moines Metro Opera. He toured with the Lincoln Center Festival and The Edinburgh Festival in Houston Opera’s production of Four Saints in Three Acts. Recent performances include The Duke in Rigoletto with Syracuse Opera, Ramiro in Rossini’s La Cenerentola with Des Moines Metro Opera and the romantic leads in The Mikado and The Gondoliers with the Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Houston. A native of Rollingstone, Minnesota, Mr. Schreiner received a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education from Simpson College, and a Masters in Vocal Performance from the University of Houston, Texas.

powellAbby Powell, mezzo soprano (The Page)
Young American mezzo-soprano Abby Powell has already received glowing reviews from The New York times and The Juilliard Journal. Her operatic roles include Dido as well as the Sorceress in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Mère Marie in Dialogues des Carmelites, Lucretia in The Rape of Lucretia, and both Miss Jessel and Ms. Grose in The Turn of the Screw, Charlotte in Werther, Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier, and most recently, Gertrude in Hansel und Gretel. Ms. Powell is currently working with composer John Adams on his opera The Death of Klinghoffer in the role of Marylin Klinghoffer at the Focus Festival in New York City. Equally at home in recital, upcoming performances include a concert of Mussorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death at The Opera Bastille in Paris. Ms. Powell attended The Juilliard School in New York City where she was awarded the Rise Stevens Prize, the G. & M. Grunin Prize, and the Loretta Lewis Award in Voice.

ByunJin Hwan Byun , tenor (1st Jew)
Jin Hwan Byun received his Performer’s Diploma in Professional Opera Studies from Indiana University where he was the recipient of the Indiana University Music Merit Award. His Bachelor of Music degree is in Vocal Performance from the Seoul National University College of Music, South Korea. Recent performances include Nemorino in L’Elisir d’amore with Florida Grand Opera in its Young Artist Showcase performance. He made his main stage debut with Florida Grand Opera in the roles of Trin in La fanciulla del West, Borsa in Rigoletto and Remendado in Carmen. With Indianapolis Opera he has been heard as Borsa in Rigoletto, and with Nashville Opera he performed the role of Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor. In 2003, Mr. Byun was a semi-finalist in the Washington National Opera’s International Vocal Competition. He made his Toledo Opera debut as Remendado in last season's production of Carmen.

TirannoJohn Tiranno, tenor (2nd Jew)
Originally from Buffalo, NY, tenor John Tiranno’s 2008 engagements included Alfredo in Verdi’s La traviata with Granite State Opera, Frederic in Pirates of Penzance, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the Vermont Mozart Festival, and a return performance with the National Academy Orchestra of Canada in Hamilton, Ontario as tenor soloist. His 2007 engagements included Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 in Hamilton, Ontario, his Avery Fisher Hall debut singing L’Indovino in Leoni’s L’Oracolo, a return to Carnegie Hall as tenor soloist in Imant Raminsh’s The Peace of Wild Things, Marco in The Gondoliers with the Vermont Mozart Festival, Handel's Messiah in Wheeling, WV, and Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor with Connecticut Grand Opera. Other career highlights include Lord Tolloller in Iolanthe with Nashville Opera, Beppe in Pagliacci with New York Grand Opera, Mozart’s Missa Brevis, K.275 with MidAmerica Productions, Giacomino in La Farsa Amorosa with Teatro Grattacielo.

woodsLonel Woods, tenor (3rd Jew)
American tenor Lonel Woods, a native Chicagoan, makes his Toledo Opera debut in the role of Third Jew in Salome. Previous operatic performances include Giuseppe in La traviata, Mingo in Porgy and Bess, The Messenger in Verdi’s Aïda and Parpignol in Puccini’s La bohème with Michigan Opera Theatre. He has appeared as Alfredo in La traviata with Bay view Music Festival, Federico in Verdi’s Stiffelio with Washington Concert Opera and Atilano in Don Frañcisquita and The Second Duelsman in Dangerous Liaisons with The Washington National Opera. A versatile performer he has performed on Broadway and on tour in Hal Prince’s Tony award-winning revival of Showboat. Dr. Woods graduated from DePaul University with a degree in Music Education, received a Master’s of Music from Catholic University, and completed a Doctorate of Musical Arts at the University of Michigan. Dr. Woods is currently on the voice faculty of Spring Arbor University.


MeyersJ. Raymond Myers, tenor (4th Jew)
Tenor J. Raymond Meyers specializes in character and light tenor roles. Recent appearances have included Beppe in I Pagliacci and Basilio/Curzio in Le Nozze di Figaro with Santa Barbara Grand Opera. Other performances include Mercury in Orpheus in the Underworld and Borsa in Rigoletto with Anchorage Opera, Emperor in Turandot and Giles Corey in The Crucible with Utah Festival Opera. A resident of the San Francisco Bay area, he has sung Camille in The Merry Widow, Paris in La Belle Hélène, and Ernesto in Don Pasquale with Pocket Opera. Mr. Meyers’ most recent CD is Heinrich Schulz: A Musical Portrait recorded on the Helicon Records label.

DickersonChristopher Dickerson, bass (5th Jew)
Christopher Dickerson is an alumnus of the prestigious Lyric Opera of Chicago Center of American Artists. While a member of the Lyric Opera Center, Mr. Dickerson created the role of Nimrod Baruch in the world premiere of Lovers and Friends by Michael John La Chiusa. Other credits in Chicago have included Dottore Grenvil in La traviata, Tom in Verdi’s Un Ballo in Machera and the Commissioner in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. He made his debut with Opera Memphis as John Potts in Michael Ching’s Corps of Discover,y and his San Francisco Opera debut in Doktor Faust. Recent performances include the Pirate King in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance with Lyric Opera of San Antonio, Zuniga in Carmen and Angelotti in Tosca with Connecticut Grand Opera, and Sparafucile in Rigoletto with San Antonio Opera. Dickerson studied at Texas Tech University before joining the professional Resident Artist Program of Opera San José.

NegronBrace Negron, bass-baritone (1st Nazarene and Cappodocian)
Brazilian born bass-baritone Brace Negron has been a prolific performer since his arrival to New York in 1998. Other performances in 2008 include the role of Jupiter in Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld with Bronx Opera, Figaro in Le nozze diFigaro with Queens College Opera Studio, and Christiano in Un ballo in maschera with Des Moines Metro Opera. Other accomplishments include a concert series/competition as a finalist in the Azuriales Opera Festival this past August in southern France, a Lincoln Center debut as Ali in December 2007 in an excerpts program of Rossini's L'Italiana in Algeri as part of the Melody for Peace UNESCO Concert at Avery Fisher Hall, and the Lucerne Festival in Lucerne, Switzerland. Mr. Negron received his master’s degree from Manhattan School of Music and his undergraduate degree from Stetson University in Deland, Florida. He made his debut with Toledo Opera in the role of Count Ceprano in our recent production of Rigoletto.

Erik Johanson, tenor (Second Nazarene)
Mr. Johnson has performed in concert, opera and recital throughout the United States, central Europe and Singapore. His operatic repertoire includes the leading tenor roles in Faust, Tales of Hoffman, Die Fledermaus, The Magic Flute and The Mikado. He has also performed with the Toledo and West Virginia symphonies. He is the first prize winner of the McMahon International Competition for Singers and two-time winner of the Friedrich Schorr Prize in Adrian, Michigan. Mr. Johanson is associate professor of voice at the University of Toledo Department of Music.

BlackwellPatrick Blackwell, bass (1st Soldier)
Bass Patrick Blackwell makes his debut with Toledo Opera singing the role of First Soldier. Patrick studied voice on a full scholarship at the Juilliard School with the late Enrico DiGiuseppe. Upon graduating, he was accepted in the prestigious San Francisco Opera's Merola Program for American Artists. He also participated in the Santa Fe Opera, Aspen Opera Theater Center, and Houston Grand Opera programs. His singing experiences have taken him to both Europe and Asia performing Mozart arias and duets as well as African-American Spirituals in Beijing, China and North Korea. His debut with New York City Opera included roles such as Colline in La bohème, The Police Commissioner in Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier and Dr. Grenvil in Verdi's La traviata. Upcoming performances include Ferrando in Verdi's Il Trovatore with the Union Avenue Opera in St. Louis and Porgy in Gershwin's Porgy and Bess with the New Jersey State Opera. Patrick currently lives in Dutchess County, NY. with his wife and three children.

ClinesCory Clines, bass-baritone (2nd Soldier)
Bass-baritone Cory Clines recently appeared with the Pine Mountain Music Festival as Pangloss/Voltaire/Governor in Bernstein's Candide and as Le Podestat in Bizet's Le Docteur Miracle. Other credits include Count Ceprano in Verdi’s Rigoletto, Conspirator in Un Ballo in Maschera with Boston Lyric Opera, Dick Deadeye in Gilbert & Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore, and Gaston in Disney's Beauty & The Beast. Mr. Clines completed his graduate work at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and also holds degrees from the University of Rochester, New York, and Eastman School of Music. Mr. Clines not only makes his debut with Toledo Opera in Salome, but will also be part of our Young Artist Program.

HagadornAubry Hagadorn, soprano (The Slave)
Young Soprano Aubry Hagadorn joined the Toledo Opera Chorus for the 2006-2007 season. She has appeared in the Opera’s recent productions of Rigoletto, Romeo et Juliette, Don Pasquale, and Tosca where she sang the role of The Shepherd Boy. Other performances include Amahl in Amahl & the Night Visitors, Colin Craven in The Secret Garden, and Handel’s Messiah. She has studied voice under the direction of Lora Knight and most recently Renay Conlin. This past summer Aubry was accepted into the Vocal Academy for High School Students at Oberlin College. Aubry is the youngest member ever accepted into the Toledo Opera Chorus.

James MarvelJames Marvel, Stage Director
James Marvel hails from the world of the theater but has, during the past few seasons, emerged as one of American opera’s most talked about young stage directors with intelligently crafted interpretations of many of the standard works of operatic literature, including La bohème (Opera Santa Barbara and Boheme Opera of Trenton, New Jersey), Madama Butterfly (Virginia Opera, Tampa Opera, Piedmont Opera, and Opera Longview), Faust (Opera Santa Barbara and Augusta Opera), Rigoletto (Utah Festival Opera), La traviata (Nevada Opera Theater and Boheme Opera), Falstaff (Intermezzo Opera), Le Nozze di Figaro (Asheville Lyric Opera and Intermezzo Opera), Cavalleria Rusticana (Opera of the Hamptons), Roméo et Juliette (Boston University’s Opera Institute), and Die Fledermaus (Knoxville Opera and Intermezzo Opera). He has also worked on critically acclaimed productions of two works by Philip Glass: Akhnaten (Teatr Weilki in Lodz, Poland) and Galileo Galilei (Boston University Opera Institute).

Recent engagements include productions of The Rake’s Progress for the San Francisco Opera Merola Program Faust for Shreveport Opera, Tosca for Longview Opera and Opera Santa Barbara; new productions of Turandot and Le Nozze di Figaro for Utah Festival Opera, and new productions of Die Zauberflöte for Asheville Lyric Opera and for the Opera Company of Brooklyn. This season, he will direct Les Pêcheurs des Perles for Opera Boston, Lucia di Lammermoor for Syracuse Opera and for New Orleans Opera, Il Trovatore for the Utah Festival Opera, and scenes for Santa Fe Opera.

International credits include work at the 5th International Theater Festival in Budapest, Hungary; the Istropolitana Theatre Festival in Bratislava, Slovakia, the Viola Stage in Prague, Czech Republic, Teatr Wielki in Lodz, Poland, the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland, the Wadham Theatre and Burton-Taylor Theatre in Oxford, England. Theater credits include repeat engagements with the Passage Theatre Company in New Jersey, Clarence Brown Theatre in Tennessee, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and the Inter-Act Theatre Company of Philadelphia. He also directed the Southern premiere of a new Christopher Durang play at the Southern Repertory Theatre in New Orleans.

James Marvel was born and raised in New Orleans and received his B.A. in World Literature from Sarah Lawrence College and Oxford University, England. He holds an M.F.A. in Theatre Arts from the International Actor Training Academy and conducted additional studies at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic. He is a recipient of the Classical Singer Magazine’s award for “Stage Director of the Year” in May, 2008.
PetersonClayton G. Peterson, Scenic Designer
Mr. Petersen, scenic designer for Salome, is a native of Colorado. He received his BFA in theatre and design from Loretto Heights College in Denver. He has worked in the theatre for over twenty years filling the roles of designer, technical director, stage manager and stagehand. In addition to his theatrical work, he is known as a fine artist and teacher. At The University of Tennessee at Knoxville and at The School of Art in Bowling Green Stage University, he has studied performing and fine arts. He holds master’s degrees both in painting and in the theatre arts. He has lived in France, where he studied the Flemish technique of Jan van Eyck. His paintings are known for their strong integration of classical and contemporary techniques, dramatic presentation and their highly spiritual emotional and intellectual content.

Tláloc Lopez-Watermann, Lighting Designer
Brooklyn-based lighting designer Tláloc Lopez-Watermann is pleased to make his debut with Toledo Opera. Tlaloc designs lighting for opera companies around the country. He is also at home designing and collaborating on non-operatic productions. Recently, Tláloc was the production designer on the Ontological Hysteric's Incubator series at Richard Foreman's theater at St. Mark's Church in the east village. He was also the lighting designer for the Target Margin Aristophones Labs for the play The Name Means Public Spirited at HERE art center in Manhattan. His designs have been seen at Opera Louisiane (Baton Rouge, LA) Utah Festival Opera (Logan, UT), Todi Music Fest (Portsmouth, VA), Opera Roanoke (Roanoke VA), and Shreveport Opera (Shreveport, LA). Some of these include: La bohème, The Marriage Of Figaro, The Crucible, Eugene Onegin, The Daughter of the Regiment, Il trovatore, La traviata, Falstaff, and The Magic Flute. Tláloc will also be designing La Cenerentola at North Carolina Opera, and Cosi fan tutte at Opera Shreveport in Spring 2009. He has designed for In Strange Company in Albuquerque, NM. And recently assisted the lighting designer Connie Yun on her Seattle Opera production of Tosca. Tláloc has a BFA in performance Production from Cornish College of the arts and an MFA in Design from NYU Tisch Department of design for stage and film. Tláloc was the the 2002 Allen Lee Hughes lighting Fellow at Arena Stage in Washington, DC.

burgoineNigel Burgoine, Choreographer
Nigel Burgoine is a graduate of the Royal Ballet School in London. He is a former principal dancer with the London Festival Ballet, and past Artistic Director of Toledo Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet and the British Ballet Organization. He implemented educational programs for dancers in Norway, Spain, England and the United States and is the founder and a member of the London Festival Ballet Education Team. He has served as Director of the education unit of the London City Ballet and the Dallas Ballet. A prolific choreographer, his productions include Nutcracker, Cinderella,, Giselle, Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake, Carmen and Coppelia. This season he will bring the ballet classic Cinderella to life at the Maumee Performing Arts Center. Mr. Burgoine is the Artistic Director for Ballet Theatre of Toledo.

ConlinThomas Conlin, Conductor
Thomas Conlin is a regular guest conductor with symphony orchestras, ballet companies and opera companies on five continents, most recently in Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Egypt, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, Turkey and throughout the United States. Many of Conlin’s programs feature works by Barber, Bernstein, Copland, Gershwin and other fellow Americans, and he is a champion of music of our time, but his international career includes conducting Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov in Russia, Beethoven and Brahms in Germany, Mozart and Mahler in Austria, Debussy and Ravel in France, Verdi and Puccini in Italy, Grieg in Norway and Sibelius in Finland. Last season he led the Eastern European premiere of Bernstein’s West Side Story at the National Opera of Croatia, in Zagreb.  

Maestro Conlin’s recording of George Crumb’s Star-Child, on which he conducts the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, won the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition. His music video, Symphonic Wonderworks, won the Gold Award (1st Prize) at the 1992 Houston International Film Festival and was nominated for a Telly Award. His CD of Crumb’s A Haunted Landscape was nominated for an Indie Award as Best Orchestral Recording of 2002, and his latest CD on the Bridge label, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Echoes of Time and the River, was released in 2004 to great acclaim. The first in a series of recordings of works by the Brazilian composer Camargo Guarnieri was released on the Naxos label last Year.

Conlin has collaborated in opera and concert with renowned vocalists Kathleen Battle, Marilyn Horne, Robert Merrill, Sherrill Milnes, Roberta Peters, Giorgio Tozzi and Frederica von Stade, in ballet with Mikhail Baryshnikov, Edward Villella and Violette Verdi, and with instrumentalists Emanuel Ax, Alicia de Larrocha, James Galway, Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman and Isaac Stern. For Toledo Opera he has conducted recent productions of Romeo and Juliet, Don Pasquale, The Turn of the Screw, La traviata, Sweeney Todd, Don Giovanni, La bohème, The Crucible, The Barber of Seville, Faust, Madama Butterfly, Pagliacci, Cavalleria Rusticana, Il trovatore, Amahl and the Night Visitors, The Marriage of Figaro, Tosca and Così fan tutte, and seven of TO’s Opera Galas: Three Tenors! – the Next Generation, A Night in Old Vienna, The Greatest Wagner Concert Ever!, Opera Goes to the Movies, From Russia with Love, Richard Strauss: the Last Great Romantic and From Broadway to the Met.