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Il Trovatore

October 8 & 10, 2021

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Il Trovatore

October 8 & 10, 2021

Not seen by Toledo Opera audiences since 2008, Il Trovatore makes its triumphant return to the Valentine stage this fall. Set in Spain, Verdi's lush music tells the story of sorcery, familial revenge, bitter rivalry, and forbidden love. Count di Luna, is obsessed with Leonora, a young noblewoman in the queen’s service, who does not return his love. She loves the troubadour Manrico, leader of the partisan rebel forces. In di Luna's past, a bohemian woman seeks revenge for the murder of her mother. All of the confluent story lines culminate in tragedy, conducted by Maestro Adam Turner and staged by director Jeffrey Buchman.

Starring Metropolitan Opera Soprano Leah Crocetto as Leonora and Metropolitan Tenor Carl Tanner as Manrico.
Performed in Italian with English Supertitles.

 

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Artist Bios
Leah Crocetto

Leonora

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Leah Crocetto

Described by the New York Times as possessing an “agile coloratura technique and a feeling for the Italianate style… with warmth, full penetrating sound and tenderness,” American soprano Leah Crocetto continues to astonish audiences with her moving portrayals of opera’s greatest heroines. Ms. Crocetto made her debut with Opera Australia in spring 2021 singing the title role in Aida for performances in Sydney and Melbourne.  During the 2020/21 season she was scheduled to sing the title role in Norma with Pittsburgh Opera, Elisabetta (Don Carlo) with The Dallas Opera, and Anna in Rossini’s Maometto II with Washington Concert Opera, but these engagements were unfortunately canceled due to the global pandemic. In the 2019/20 season, Ms. Crocetto returned to Washington National Opera as Desdemona (Otello), followed by performances as Liù (Turandot) with Palm Beach Opera, and Verdi’s Requiem with the Philadelphia Orchestra. In 2018/19, Ms. Crocetto was Norma in concert with North Carolina Opera, followed by her solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall with pianist Mark Markham. With Seattle Opera, she performed the role of Leonora (Il Trovatore) and debuted with the Melbourne Symphony as soprano soloist in Verdi’s Requiem. Career highlights include her role debut as Aida, Luisa Miller, Liù (Turandot) and Mimì (La Bohème) with San Francisco Opera; Liù (Turandot) with the Metropolitan Opera; Aida and Madame Lidoine in Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites with Washington National Opera; Aida with Seattle Opera; her debut as Alice Ford in Falstaff and Leonora (Il Trovatore) with Oper Frankfurt; her role and house debut as Mimì (La bohème) and Tosca with Pittsburgh Opera; her role debut as Eleonora in the first US performances of Donizetti’s L’assedio di Calais with the Glimmerglass Festival; Desdemona (Otello) and her role debut as the titular character in Rossini’s Semiramide with Opera National de Bordeaux; Anna in Maometto II with the Canadian Opera Company; Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) with Santa Fe Opera; Desdemona (Otello) with English National Opera; and Elisabetta di Valois in a new production of Don Carlo with Opera Philadelphia.

Carl Tanner

Manrico

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Carl Tanner

American tenor Carl Tanner has established his international career performing regularly in the world’s most prestigious opera houses such as The Metropolitan Opera, Opera National de Paris, Washington National Opera, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Teatro alla Scala, Teatro Real, Madrid, New National Theatre of Tokyo and the Liceu de Barcelona amongst others. In December 2018, Mr. Tanner performed the title role of Otello on opening night at the Metropolitan Opera to great acclaim. The occasion also marked Gustavo Dudamel’s house debut. Immediately prior to this, he performed the role at the Bolshoi Opera and Savonlinna. Upcoming performances include return to Grange Park Festival for Maid of Pskov, the San Diego Opera and Opera Carolina for Aida, a debut with the Gerencia Orquesta Sinfónica y Coro Prado del Rey (RTVE) in Madrid, Canio (Pagliacci) with Opera North Carolina, Turandot with The Pacific Symphony, and a return to the Metropolitan Opera. Other recent engagements include Verdi’s Aida at the Metropolitan Opera, Tosca at Deutsche Oper, La fanciulla del West at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie de Liège, Madama Butterfly at the Opéra National de Paris, Il Trovatore at the Semperoper in Dresden and at the Staatsoper in Hamburg, Aida at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, Turandot in Hamburg, Carmen at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino under the baton of Zubin Mehta, at the Teatro alla Scala, and at the Teatro San Carlo, La Gioconda in Berlin and the Teatro Real de Madrid and Tosca in his Covent Garden debut.

Deborah Nansteel

Azucena

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Deborah Nansteel

Deborah Nansteel made her debuts with The Metropolitan Opera as Alisa (Lucia di Lammermoor), the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Gertrude (Roméo et Juliette), Carnegie Hall in Mozart’s Coronation Mass, and the New York Philharmonic alongside Eric Owens in In Their Footsteps: Great African American Singers and Their Legacy. Last season she made a series of returns to the Washington National Opera as Emilia (Otello) and Second Lady (The Magic Flute), and to the Lyric Opera of Chicago for Suzuki (Madama Butterfly).  She also performed the role of Brigitta in Bard Music Festival’s Die tote stadt in concert and the role of Mother in the world première of Blind Injustice with Cincinnati Opera which will soon be commercially released on the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s Fanfare Cincinnati label. Upcoming she will make a series of role debuts: Amneris (Aida) with Opera Carolina and Opera Grand Rapids; Azucena (Il Trovatore) with Opera Tampa; and Filippyevna (Eugene Onegin) in a return to Santa Fe Opera. She will also return to the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Paula (Florencia en el Amazonas) and The Metropolitan Opera (Lucia di Lammermoor).  In addition, she will sing the Alto Soloist in performances of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with Spokane Symphony and Verdi’s Requiem with St. Ignatius Loyola. 2020 and 2021 engagements were to include the Mother in Jeanne Tesori and Tazwell Thompson’s Blue with Minnesota Opera, the role of Miriam in the World Premiere of Tobias Picker’s Awakenings with Opera Theater St. Louis, and a return to the Metropolitan Opera for The Fiery Angel.

Kyle Pfortmiller

Count di Luna

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Kyle Pfortmiller

Kyle Pfortmiller made his Metropolitan Opera debut as the Marquis d’Obigny in a new production of La Traviata directed by Willy Decker during the 2010-2011 season. Since then, he has been heard at the Met in roles in Capriccio, Andre Chenier, Faust, La Fanciulla del West, The Magic Flute, and as Brian's father in the New York Premiere of Nico Muhly's Two Boys. Mr. Pfortmiller has employed his unique talent in opera, operetta, musical theatre, and television from the contemporary to the classic. His repertoire includes the title roles in Don Giovanni, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and Rigoletto, as well as Valentin (Faust), Eisenstein and Falke (Die Fledermaus), Count Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro), Silvio (Pagliacci), Count Carl Magnus Malcolm (A Little Night Music), Billy Bigelow (Carousel), Pierre/Red Shadow (The Desert Song), Hajj, the Poet (Kismet) and Henry Higgins (My Fair Lady). Some of his most recent roles include a reprise of the role of Mr. XE in the Pulitzer Prize winning opera, Angel's Bone, by Du Yun and Royce Vavrek with the Beijing Festival and the Hong Kong New Arts Festival, his role debut as King Arthur in the musical Camelot with Intermountain Opera, his role and company debut in the US premiere of Vivaldi’s Farnace as Aquilio with Spoleto Festival USA, and his television debut in an episode of Food That Built America on the History Channel. Mr. Pfortmiller last appeared with Toledo Opera as Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro.

Allen Michael Jones

Ferrando

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Allen Michael Jones

Bass Allen Michael Jones is rapidly building an exciting and varied up-and-coming career. Mr. Jones was slated to make his house debuts at Minnesota Opera, singing as Zaretsky (Eugene Onegin), Police Buddy No. 3 (Blue), and Singer Ranger (The Shining), but now he is scheduled to sing Superintendent Budd (Albert Herring). During the summer of 2021, Mr. Jones will join the Santa Fe Opera, singing Zaretsky (Eugene Onegin), as well as covering Snug (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), and Van Helsing in the world premiere of The Lord of Cries. During the 2021-2022 season, Mr. Jones looks forward to making his role debuts as Ramfis (Aida) and the Father (Blue) with Toledo Opera. In the spring of 2020, Mr. Jones was scheduled to make his Atlanta Opera debut as L'imperial commissario (Madame Butterfly) and his house debut with Washington National Opera as Police Buddy No. 3 in (Blue). In 2020, Mr. Jones finished his second year as a Studio Artist with Michigan Opera Theatre, performing the roles of Masetto (Don Giovanni), Zaretsky (Eugene Onegin), Balthazar (Amahl and the Night Visitors), Maximillian (Candide), and Policeman/Man in Suit/Man in the Barn in Ricky Ian Gordan’s highly celebrated Grapes of Wrath. In 2019 Glimmerglass Festival season, Mr. Jones covered the Father (Blue), Joe (Show Boat), Suleyman Pasha (The Ghosts of Versailles) and performed the role of the Commissario (La Traviata). Also a gifted composer, Mr. Jones is a proud graduate Morehouse College where he received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music Composition before going on to earn his Master of Music Degree in Vocal Performance from Georgia State University.

Grace Wipfli

Ines

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Grace Wipfli

Grace Wipfli, from Toledo, Ohio, has proven to be an impressive, charming, and promising young soprano. Her performance highlights include Sa femme in Milhaud’s Le Pauvre Matelot, Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), The Governess (The Turn of the Screw), Ann Truelove (The Rake’s Progress), and The Beggar Woman (Sweeney Todd). Most recently, while attending the 2021 Sewanee Summer Music Festival, Ms. Wipfli was chosen as a winner of the Jacqueline Avent Concerto Competition. She was awarded an Encouragement Award from the Midwest Region of the 2020 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Ms. Wipfli made her Carnegie Hall debut as the Soprano Soloist in Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Dona Nobis Pacem”, in March of 2020, days before the world shut down. She is currently in her second season as Toledo Opera’s Soprano Resident Artist and is making her Toledo Opera debut in this production of Il Trovatore. She is a proud graduate of Northwestern University where she earned her Master of Music and Capital University where she completed her Bachelor of Music. Ms. Wipfli currently studies with Laura Brooks Rice.

Brian Skoog

Ruiz

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Brian Skoog

Brian Skoog is known for his “strong voice” (Cleveland Classical) and “fine lyric tenor” (Toledo Blade). This season, he will sing the role of Mozart (Mozart and Salieri) with The Cleveland Opera. His truncated 2020 season included performances of Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings with the Heights Chamber Orchestra, Edmondo (Manon Lescaut) with The Cleveland Opera, and a virtual residency with Pensacola Opera. Skoog is a previous Apprentice Artist with Central City Opera, where he sang the role of Tamino in The Magic Flute for the Nina Odescalchi Kelly Family Matinee as well as the dual role of Larry/Matt in The Face on the Barroom Floor. Recent opera seasons include: Tebaldo (I Capuleti e i Montecchi) and Tamino (Die Zauberflöte) with The Cleveland Opera, Gastone (La Traviata) with Cleveland Opera Theater, Le Remendado (Carmen) with Dayton Opera, Theseus (Hercules vs. Vampires) and Elder Hayes (Susannah) with Nashville Opera, and Mark Smeaton (Rex) with Utah Festival Opera. In recent seasons, Skoog has appeared with the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, the Stambaugh Festival Orchestra, and the Toledo Symphony Orchestra. Skoog was the tenor soloist for the world premiere of Margaret Brouwer’s Voice of the Lake; Seen and Heard International praised his "brilliant" singing and called him "one of the highlights.” He will soon appear on a CD of Brouwer’s compositions on the NAXOS music label. In 2022, Skoog will perform Quarantine Poems, a new song cycle for tenor and three bassoons by Ryan Charles Ramer. Skoog is a former Toledo Opera Resident Artist and last appeared in Toledo as President Chester A. Arthur (The Ballad of Baby Doe). For more information, visit www.brianskoog.com.

 

Michael Colman

A Bohemian

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Michael Colman

Lyric bass Michael Colman, recently hailed by Opera News for “fielding a fine, dark bass-baritone,” has performed leading and supporting roles with many premier regional opera companies including Basilio (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) with Chautauqua Opera and Virginia Opera, The Commentator (Scalia/Ginsburg) with Opera Carolina, Opera Grand Rapids, Chautauqua Opera, and Opera in the Rock, Guglielmo (Così Fan Tutte) with Opera Grand Rapids, Leporello (Don Giovanni) with the Janiec Opera Company, Colline (La Bohème) with Indiana University, Imperial Commissioner (Madama Butterfly) with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Sergeant of Police (The Pirates of Penzance) with Dayton Opera, Ceprano (Rigoletto) with Toledo Opera, as well as concert performances as the Bass Soloist (Messiah) with the Dayton Philharmonic and the Bass Soloist (Mozart Requiem) with The Virginia Consort. A native of Adrian, Michigan, he earned degrees from Baylor University, The University of Kansas, and Indiana University studying with Peter Volpe. Mr. Colman is a past Resident Artist of Toledo Opera.

Adam Turner

Conductor

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Adam Turner

American conductor Adam Turner is being lauded as a conductor to watch on international opera stages. Currently in his fourth season as Artistic Director of Virginia Opera (following four seasons as Principal Conductor & Artistic Advisor), Maestro Turner garners critical acclaim for the breadth of his repertoire, artistic vision, and polished technique. Of his recent performance of Street Scene with Virginia Opera, Opera News hailed the “sensitive conducting” of Adam Turner “who demonstrated an affinity for a score as stylistically diverse as the characters in the plot.” This season, he joins Toledo Opera to conduct their production of Il trovatore, and leads four productions for Virginia Opera – Das Rheingold, La Bohème, Three Decembers, and Le Nozze di Figaro. In addition, he conducts concert performances of “Classical Broadway” for Portland Symphony Orchestra and returns to Central City Opera in the summer of 2022. In recent seasons, he has conducted The Seven Deadly Sins for the Buffalo Philharmonic, Eugene Onegin with Intermountain Opera Bozeman, Jake Heggie’s Three Decembers with San Diego Opera, and Madama Butterfly for Central City Opera. Mo. Turner also recently conducted Virginia Symphony Orchestra’s “POPS! Concert Series” consisting of shows entitled Serpentine Fire: The Music of Earth, Wind, and Fire; Havana Nights with the Mambo Kings; The Streisand Songbook; Queens of Soul; Music of Neil Diamond; and, Dancing & Romancing, in addition to performances of Leonard Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti co-presented with Virginia Opera and Virginia Arts Festival. In his post at Virginia Opera, he has conducted performances of Il Postino, La Cenerentola, Tosca, Street Scene, Don Giovanni, The Elixir of Love, Madama Butterfly, Der Freischütz, The Seven Deadly Sins, Pagliacci, Samson et Dalila, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Der fliegende Hollände.

 

Jeffrey Buchman

Stage Director

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Jeffrey Buchman

Opera News calls director Jeffrey Buchman “a formidable talent.” Some recent productions include:  La bohème, Eugene Onegin, Rigoletto and Die Zauberflöte for Florida Grand Opera, Carmen for Atlanta Opera; Tosca for Opera Tampa, Le nozze di Figaro and Madama Butterfly for Opera Naples, Il barbiere di Siviglia for Baltimore Opera, La traviata, Don Giovanni and Die Zauberflöte for the Academy of Vocal Arts and Carmen, La bohème and La traviata for the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.  Mr. Buchman is in as much demand for new opera as he is for fresh, compelling productions of the operatic classics.  In contemporary opera, he has recently created productions of As One (Laura Kaminsky) for Hawaii Opera Theatre and Opera Colorado, 27 (Ricky Ian Gordon) for Michigan Opera Theatre, No Exit (Andy Vores) for Florida Grand Opera, Ainadamar for the University of Miami Frost School of Music, and the world-premieres of Tesla, Intelligent Systems, and Fairy Tales: Songs of the Dandelion Woman, all by Carson Kievman. Winner of the prestigious Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition and the National Society of Arts and Letters vocal competition, Mr. Buchman is on the faculty at the University of Miami Frost School of Music and the Brancaleoni International Music Festival (Italy). Mr. Buchman has directed Carmen and La bohème for Toledo Opera.

Audience Guide

Read about the plot, composer, and more in-depth information regarding Il Trovatore.

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Tuesday Talks

This free public panel discussion composed of artists, scholars, and Toledo community members goes beyond what's on stage and delves into the opera's issues which can be seen in today's contemporary society. Wine reception to follow.

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Pre-Opera Talk

Join us one hour before the curtain for an informational presentation providing historical context and insight into Il Trovatore.

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Collaborating Partners

We proudly collaborate with these organizations to bring you this performance.

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Performance Information

This production has been rehearsed, staged, and performed within strict COVID-safe conditions. The historic Valentine Theatre is committed to providing healthy and safe facilities for audiences, performers, and staff. At this time, the Valentine is requiring all audience members to be masked while inside the theater, lobbies, and restrooms.

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