Room 217 Is Calling
The Shining
Music by Paul Moravec
Libretto by Mark Campbell
Based on the novel by Stephen King
Premiered May 7, 2016, Ordway Music Theater (Saint Paul, Minnesota)
Based on Stephen King’s spine-chilling novel, The Shining comes to the Ellie Caulkins stage as an opera, written by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Paul Moravec and librettist Mark Campbell. Hoping for a fresh start, the Torrance family takes up the care of Colorado’s infamous Overlook Hotel. Little do they know that the isolation and the hotel’s corrupting spirits will spark an inevitable descent into madness.
February 26, March 1, 3, 4, 6 | 2022
The Ellie Caulkins Opera House at Denver Performing Arts Complex
Performed in English, with English and Spanish subtitles at every seat
Estimated Length: 2 hours, 20 minutes with one 25-minute intermission
*Join us one hour prior to each performance at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House of a free and insightful pre-performance discussion led by opera historian Betsy Schwarm.
Sets and costumes from Minnesota Opera.
The Shining is generously sponsored by Janet Mordecai, and by The Chotin Foundation in honor of Dr. Larry Chan.
Additional support provided by National Endowment for the Arts, the Francis Goelet Charitable Trust, and Ann & Gerald Saul.
Special thanks to our The Shining Giving Circle members:
Mike Hughes and The Honorable Karen L. Brody, Ann Corrigan and Kent Rice, Jack Finlaw and Gregory Movesian, Marilyn Munsterman and Charles Berberich, Andrew Sirotnak and James White, Carol Whitley
Cast
GRAMMY® Award-winning Baritone Edward Parks has been hailed by Opera News for his “warm, velvety baritone” and the New York Times for providing “precision, sensitivity and nuance in abundance” and a “robust, earthy voice”. He was awarded 3rd prize in Placido Domingo’s 2015 Operalia Competition and was presented in the organization’s “The Voices of 2015” concert in Hungary. The 2018-2019 season included a return to Minnesota Opera as Audebert in Silent Night, a revival of his Escamillo in Carmen with the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival in Japan, and Valentin in Faust with Opera San Antonio. The 2019-2020 season sees him as the cover of Joseph De Rocher in Dead Man Walking with Lyric Opera of Chicago and New Israeli Opera, the Count in Le nozze di Figaro with Hawaii Opera Theatre, Jack Torrance in The Shining with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs with San Francisco Opera.
A graduate of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artists Development Program, Mr. Parks made his Metropolitan Opera debut in the 2009-2010 season as Fiorello in Il barbiere di Siviglia and has since appeared as Schaunard in La bohème and as Larkens in La fancuilla del West, which was broadcast in HD around the world. He also appeared as Schaunard in the Met’s 2011 tour of Japan. Recent engagements include the title role in the world premiere of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs with Santa Fe Opera, the recording of which earned him a GRAMMY® Award.
For her creation of the title role in David Carlson’s Anna Karenina, Opera News proclaimed that soprano Kelly Kaduce is “…an exceptional actress whose performance was as finely modulated dramatically as it was musically… and her dark, focused sound was lusty and lyrical one moment, tender and floating the next.” Among her engagements in the 2019-20 season are the title role of Suor Angelica and Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi with Opera Memphis, a reprise of Wendy in Paul Moravec’s The Shining with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and Older Alyce in Tom Cipullo’s Glory Denied with Atlanta Opera.
In the summer of 2018, Ms. Kaduce sang Cio-Cio San in Madama Butterfly with Santa Fe Opera. In the 2017-18 season, she sang the title role of Massenet’s Thaïs with Minnesota Opera, the title role of Tosca with Michigan Opera Theatre, and Polly in The Threepenny Opera with Boston Lyric Opera. Her engagements in the 2016-17 season included Nedda in Pagliacci with Virginia Opera, Liù in Turandot with Atlanta Opera, and her role debut as Desirée Armfeldt in Sondheim’s A Little Night Music with Des Moines Metro Opera. In the summer of 2016, Ms. Kaduce debuted with Des Moines Metro Opera as Alice Ford in Falstaff, and sang Giorgetta in Il tabarro with Bard Music Festival.
Ms. Kaduce’s recent engagements include the title roles of Tosca, Madama Butterfly, Manon Lescaut, and Rusalka, and the world premiere of The Shining with Minnesota Opera; Madama Butterfly with Florida Grand Opera, Canadian Opera Company, and West Australian Opera; Mimì in La bohème with Boston Lyric Opera; Tosca with Houston Grand Opera; Katja in Weinberg’s Die Passagierin with Lyric Opera of Chicago; Blanche in Dialogues des Carmélites, Nedda in Pagliacci, and the title role of Salome with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis; Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus with Lyric Opera of Kansas City; Liu in Turandot with Utah Opera; Anne Sorenson in Puts’ Silent Night and Princess Lan in Tan Dun’s Tea with Opera Philadelphia; Liu in Turandot in a return to Minnesota Opera; Rusalka with L’Opéra de Montréal and Opera Colorado; Patricia Nixon in Nixon in China and Countess in Le nozze di Figaro with Eugene Opera; Violetta in La traviata with Opera Tulsa and Malmö Opera; Countess in Le nozze di Figaro with Eugene Opera; Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with Michigan Opera Theatre; Desdemona in Otello with Kentucky Opera; and Suor Angelica at Teatro Municipal de Santiago in Chile.
Among Ms. Kaduce’s career highlights are several world premieres, including Rosasharn in Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath with Minnesota Opera, Carlson’s Anna Karenina with Florida Grand Opera and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Caroline in Danielpour’s Margaret Garner with Michigan Opera Theatre, the Chinese Actress and Zi Zhen in Sheng’s Madame Mao with Santa Fe Opera, and two roles in the Central Park trilogy with Glimmerglass Opera.
Her concert credits include Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Barber’s Prayers of Kierkegaard, Berg’s Seven Early Songs, and Argento’s Casa Guidi. She has also appeared with St. Louis Symphony Orchestra for an evening of arias, with Florida Philharmonic Orchestra as soloist in Beethoven’s Egmont, and with Boston University Symphony Orchestra in Britten’s War Requiem and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.
Kelly Kaduce is a graduate of both St. Olaf College and Boston University, and is a previous winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
Kevin Deas has gained international renown as one of America’s leading bass-baritones. He is perhaps most acclaimed for his signature portrayal of the title role in Porgy and Bess, having performed it with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, National Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Pacific Symphony, as well as the most illustrious orchestras on the North American continent, and at the Ravinia, Vail, and Saratoga festivals.
Kevin Deas’ exciting 2019-20 season includes performances of Mozart’s Requiem with the Eugene Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, Orchestra Iowa, and National Philharmonic & Chorale, Stravinsky’s Pulcinella with the Florida Orchestra, Handel’s Messiah with the National Cathedral, Saint-Saens’ Henry VII with Odyssey Opera of Boston, Verdi’s Requiem with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Mineria and Rhode Island Philharmonic, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Pacific Symphony and Bach Festival Society of Winter Park, Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the Pacific Symphony, William Walton’s Façade at the Virginia Arts Festival, Bernstein’s Songfest and the premiere of Daniel Kidane’s Dream Song with the Seattle Symphony, selections from Gershwin with the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, selections from musicals Les Miserables, Show Boat, and Ragtime with Providence Singers, in “The Spiritual in White America,” a presentation of black spirituals transformed for the white concert stage by Harry Burleigh and Nathaniel Dett, at the Phillips Collection, and a Christmas concert with the Portland Symphony.
2018-19 season highlights include performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Orquesta Sinfonica de Mineria and the Buffalo Philharmonic, Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius with the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico, Porgy and Bess with the Florida Orchestra, performances of Handel’s Messiah with the National Cathedral and Virginia Symphony, Bach’s St. John Passion with the Louisiana Philharmonic, Joe Horowitz’s “Dvorak in America” project with the Las Vegas Philharmonic, and Verdi’s Requiem with the National Philharmonic. Kevin Deas has also performed as a soloist in Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with VoxAmaDeus, in Mozart’s Requiem with Boston Baroque, Handel’s Messiah at the National Cathedral, and Bach’s St. Matthew Passion at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church (NYC). He also sang the title role in Porgy and Bess with Duisberg Phiharmoniker; in Porgy and Bess: A Symphonic Picture with the Reading Symphony Orchestra, and in a tour of Asia with the Pacific Symphony; sings in Bernstein’s Wonderful Town with the Seattle Symphony; and is soloist with the Delaware and El Paso symphony orchestras, and with the PostClassical Ensemble, with which he was Artist in Residence.
Other recent successes include Messiah with the Houston Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, and National Cathedral; Vaughn Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem with the Richmond Symphony, Verdi’s Requiem with the Virginia Symphony, Puccini’s Messa di Gloria with the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park, Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast with the Buffalo Philharmonic, Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius with the Jacksonville Symphony, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass with Baltimore Choral Arts Society, Mozart’s Requiem with VoxAmaDeus, “The Trumpet Shall Sound” with the PostClassical Ensemble, and Rachmaninoff’s The Bells with JoAnn Falletta at SUNY Potsdam.
He has performed Verdi’s Requiem with the Richmond and Winnipeg symphonies and the National Philharmonic,; Messiah with Boston Baroque, the Cleveland Orchestra, Seattle and Kansas City symphonies, the National Philharmonic, and at the Warsaw Easter Festival; Mozart’s Requiem with the Alabama and Vermont symphonies; Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Grand Rapids Symphony and the Oratorio Society of New York; St. John Passion with the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park and Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Mexico; Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges with the New York Philharmonic; and Copland’s Old American Songs with the Chicago and Columbus symphonies.
A strong proponent of contemporary music, Kevin Deas was heard at Italy’s Spoleto Festival in a new production of Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors in honor of the composer’s eighty-fifth birthday, recorded on video for international release. He also performed the world premieres of Derek Bermel’s The Good Life with the Pittsburgh Symphony and Hannibal Lokumbe’s Dear Mrs. Parks with the Detroit Symphony. His twenty-year collaboration with the late jazz legend Dave Brubeck has taken him to Salzburg, Vienna and Moscow in performances of To Hope! He performed Brubeck’s Gates of Justice in a gala performance in New York.
Kevin Deas recorded Wagner’s Die Meistersinger (Decca/London) with the Chicago Symphony under the late Sir Georg Solti, and Varèse’s Ecuatorial with the ASKO Ensemble under the baton of Riccardo Chailly. Other releases include Bach’s Mass in B Minor and Handel’s Acis and Galatea (Vox Classics); Dave Brubeck’s To Hope! with the Cathedral Choral Society (Telarc); and Haydn’s Die Schöpfung with the Virginia Symphony and Boston Baroque (Linn Records). Dvorák in America (Naxos), features Mr. Deas in the world premiere recording of Dvorák’s “Hiawatha Melodrama” and the composer’s own arrangement of “Goin’ Home” with the PostClassical Ensemble.
Vale Rideout is celebrated for his “clarion” and “soaring and impassioned” tenor voice (Opera News). Equally comfortable with standard and contemporary repertoire, he is continually in demand on the operatic and concert stage throughout the United States, and as a distinguished recording artist.
In recent seasons, Mr. Rideout has sung Villers in Carlisle Floyd’s Prince of Players and Camille in The Merry Widow with Florentine Opera Company; Hades in the premiere of Julian Wachner’s REV 23 with the Boston New Music Festival; Britten’s War Requiem with Fresno Philharmonic; Carmina Burana with North Carolina Symphony; the U.S. premiere of Ēriks Ešenvalds’ St. Luke Passion with Highland Park Orchestra in Dallas; Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with Arcadia Chorale and Wilkes University Chorus, and a Bernstein “Marathon” at the New York Festival of Song.
Mr. Rideout’s work as a Britten specialist has been acclaimed by the New York Times, whose critic wrote that his voice “…has remarkable purity in the high range and is able to maintain a sleek polish across the dynamic range. With his excellent diction and natural, smooth-flowing delivery light on vibrato, he was an ideal match for Britten.” Mr. Rideout has performed Britten’s War Requiem with several leading orchestras, including New York Philharmonic and Los Angeles Philharmonic, both under Lorin Maazel; and the Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings at Trinity Wall Street in New York and with Wisconsin Philharmonic. His recent Britten opera performances include Peter Quint in The Turn of the Screw with Boston Lyric Opera and Central City Opera, and Male Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia with Cal Performances under Lorin Maazel. His work with Britten’s repertoire can be heard on his debut solo recording, Britten & Finzi Song Cycles (Acis).
Mr. Rideout’s operatic roles include Mime in Das Rheingold with North Carolina Opera; the title role in Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex with the Washington Chorus at the Kennedy Center; Tamino in Die Zauberflöte with Opera Coeur d’Alene and Nashville Opera; Alfred in Die Fledermaus with San Francisco Opera and New Orleans Opera; Alfredo in La traviata with Eugene Opera, Roméo in Roméo et Juliette with Kentucky Opera; the title role of Faust with Opera Tampa; Nadir in Les pêcheurs de perles with Hawaii Opera Theatre; Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor with Central City Opera; and Edgar in Der Vampyr with American Symphony Orchestra.
Mr. Rideout frequently brings his musicianship to contemporary opera, including recent performances as the title role in Stewart Copeland’s The Invention of Morel and the main antagonist in Hannah Lash’s Beowulf in Opera America’s New Opera Showcase; Davey Palmer in Dove’s Siren Song with Hawaii Opera Theatre; Roderick in Glass’ The Fall of the House of Usher with Nashville Opera; Tancredi in Musto’s The Inspector with Wolf Trap Opera; and Stage Manager in Rorem’s Our Town with Central City Opera.
Recent concert engagements include the world premiere of Joseph Vella’s The Hyland Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York; Stravinsky’s Les noces and Philip Glass’ Symphony No. 5 at Trinity Wall Street; Britten’s War Requiem with the Washington Chorus; Mendelssohn’s St. Paul with New York Choral Society at Carnegie Hall, and Berlioz’ La damnation de Faust with Richmond Symphony Orchestra. He has sung Messiah with Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Haydn’s Paukenmesse with Berkshire Choral Festival; and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Symphonica Toscanini in Rome and Brussels, conducted by Lorin Maazel.
Mr. Rideout can be heard on several acclaimed recordings of 20th century and contemporary opera, including two Grammy-winning recordings with Florentine Opera Company: Frank in Aldridge’s Elmer Gantry (Naxos), and Igneo in Davis’ Rio de Sangre (Albany Records); and as Edgar in the company’s Grammy-nominated recording of Floyd’s Wuthering Heights (Reference Recordings). He also sang on the Grammy-nominated recording of Steven Stucky’s August 4th, 1964 under Jaap Van Zweden with Dallas Symphony Orchestra (Dallas DSO Live); Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 under Leonard Slatkin with Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO Live From Orchestra Hall); David Schiff’s Gimpel the Fool, Marvin David Levy’s Masada, and Weill’s The Eternal Road (Naxos); Carmina Burana with New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO Records); The Ballad of Baby Doe with Central City Opera (Newport Classics); and The Inspector with Wolf Trap Opera (Wolf Trap Records).
Praised for his “technically flawless performance” by Opera News, American baritone Troy Cook made his Royal Opera, Covent Garden debut as Guglielmo in Cosi fan tutte, and made his role debut as Ford in Hamburgische Staatsoper’s Falstaff following his debut with the company as Marcello in La bohème.
Mr. Cook’s 2019-2020 season begins with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra as he joins them for a night of arias and ensembles to open their concert season. He then travels to Oregon to make his house debut with Portland Opera as Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, followed by another house debut with Teatro San Carlo Napoli as “Watty” Watkins in Gershwin & Gershwin’s Lady Be Good. He also returns to the Lyric Opera of Kansas City as Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor, and brings his Father Palmer, the role he created in the acclaimed American opera Silent Night, to Utah Opera, where he will also be seen as Athanaël in Thaïs.
Troy began his 2018-2019 season singing Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor with Opera Philadelphia and returned there in the spring to sing Marcello in La bohème. He also appeared with Minnesota Opera and Austin Opera to reprise the role of Father Palmer in Silent Night, and appeared with the Tucson Symphony for Handel’s Messiah. He finished the season with Central City Opera as Sharpless in Madama Butterfly. He also appeared in recital with the Tuesday Musical Club.
In the 2017-2018 season Mr. Cook created the role of John Cree in the world premiere of Elizabeth Cree with Opera Philadelphia. He also bowed as Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor with Florida Grand Opera, Rodrigo in Don Carlo with Washington National Opera, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly with Syracuse Opera, Marcello in La bohème with Syracuse Opera, and Falke in Die Fledermaus with Utah Opera and Des Moines Metro Opera. In concert he appeared with the Charlotte Symphony and Memphis Symphony for Handel’s Messiah.
Mr. Cook began the 2016-2017 season in performances with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City as Peter in Hansel und Gretel, and Atlanta Opera to reprise the role of Father Palmer in Silent Night. He debuted the San Diego Opera as Ford in Falstaff, sang the title role in Eugene Onegin with Syracuse Opera, and made a debut with Washington National Opera as Sharpless in Madama Butterfly. He also appeared with the Portland Symphony for Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem and with the Phoenix Symphony for Handel’s Messiah. During the summer of 2017, he returned to Des Moines Metro Opera, singing Frederick in A Little Night Music, and joined the Hong Kong Philharmonic as the baritone soloist for the Carmina Burana.
In the 2015-2016 season, Mr. Cook performed the role of Jupiter in Virginia Opera’s production of Orpheus in the Underworld, followed by debuts with the Dallas Opera as de Bretigny in Manon, Austin Opera as Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia, and the Macau Festival as Valentin in Faust. On the concert stage, he sang Messiah with the Pacific Symphony and the Indianapolis Symphony. He spent the summer with Des Moines Metro Opera for their 2016 Summer Festival, singing de Bretigny in Manon and Young Galileo in Galileo Galilei.
The 2014-2015 season brought important role debuts for the baritone, including Germont in La Traviata with Central City Opera and a critically acclaimed Rodrigo in Don Carlo with Opera Philadelphia. He appeared in Lady Be Good at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid, made his company debut with Utah Opera as Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, and returned to the role of the Marquis de la Force in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites with both the Portland and Winston-Salem Symphonies. Additionally, he debuted with the San Francisco Symphony for Handel’s Messiah, and appeared in concert with both the Portland Symphony and AZ Music Fest.
The 2013-2014 season brought performances as Paolo in Simon Boccanegra with Kentucky Opera, Riccardo in Boston Lyric Opera’s I puritani, Marcello in La bohème with Pittsburgh Opera and North Carolina Opera, and the Marquis de la Force in Dialogues des Carmélites with Opera Theatre of St. Louis. Mr. Cook also appeared in concert with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra and Winston Salem Symphony. He closed the season as Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music with Central City Opera.
During the 2012-2013 season, Troy Cook appeared as Marcello in La bohème and Father Palmer in Silent Night with Opera Philadelphia, in Handel’s Messiah with the Boise Philharmonic, and Lord Cecil in Maria Stuarda with Washington Concert Opera. He concluded the season with a debut as Silvio in Pagliacci with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and in a return to Central City Opera as Gaylord Ravenal in Show Boat.
Previous highlights include creating the role of Father Palmer in the world premiere of Silent Night with Minnesota Opera; Marcello in La bohèeme with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, Florida Grand Opera, Berkshire Opera, Semperoper Dresden, and Opera Philadelphia; Lescaut in Manon Lescaut with Opera Philadelphia; the Count in Le nozze di Figaro with Lyric Opera of Kansas City; Escamillo in Carmen with the Green Mountain Opera Festival; Sharpless in Madama Butterfly with Opera Philadelphia and Berkshire Opera; Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor with Las Palmas Opera and Lyric Opera of Kansas City; Guglielmo in Così fan tutte with Santa Fe Opera and Toledo Opera; Zurga in Les pêcheurs de perles with Lyric Opera of Kansas City and Opera Carolina; Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Opera Omaha, San Francisco Opera and Fort Worth Opera; Mr. Flint in Billy Budd with San Francisco Opera; Albert in Werther with Kentucky Opera; and Giacomo in Beatrix Cenci with Grand Théâtre de Genève. He has also appeared with the Metropolitan Opera, Opera Bilbao, Opera Pacific, and La Monnaie, Brussels.
Equally in demand on the concert stage, Mr. Cook has appeared with the Pacific Symphony, Arizona Musicfest, Portland Symphony Orchestra, the Winstom-Salem Symphony, the American Ballet Theater, the LA Philharmonic, San Antonio Symphony, and the Marilyn Horne Foundation.
Joseph Gaines is a versatile artist who has attracted the attention of opera companies and orchestras and been recognized by audiences and critics for his beautifully sung, well-acted interpretations of character roles.
He has appeared with the Pittsburgh Opera as Pedrillo in The Abduction from the Seraglio, Caius in Falstaff, Goro in Madama Butterfly, and Basilio in Le Nozze di Figaro, Central City Opera as Goro , Basilio and as Howard Boucher in Dead Man Walking, Opera Philadelphia as Monastatos, The Inspector in Oscar, and Pong in Turandot, Utah Opera as Basilio, Pong in Turandot and Goro, Opera Colorado as Monastatos, and with the Philadelphia Orchestra as the Third Jew in Salome. He has also joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera for their production of Falstaff and sung the four servants in an adaptation of The Tales of Hoffman and Belfiore in La Finta Giardiniera for Opera Theatre of Pittsburgh and Goro with Las Vegas Opera.
Recent engagements include returns to Opera Philadelphia as Dan Leno in the world premiere of Kevin Puts’ Elizabeth Cree, Opera Colorado as Trin in La Fanciulla del West, San Diego Opera as Pang in Turandot, Utah Opera as Flask in Moby Dick and Monastatos, Hawaii Opera Theater as the Four Servants in Les Contes d’Hoffman. In the future, he will return to Hawaii Opera as Basilio and Curzio, Central City Opera as Squeak in Billy Budd, and debut with Austin Opera as Pang.
He has participated in young artist training programs of Sarasota Opera, Central City Opera, and Glimmerglass Opera and has appeared on their stages in roles from Das Liebesverbot Madama Butterfly, Orpheus in the Underworld, L’Incoronazione di Poppea, and The Ballad of Baby Doe. A regular guest of the Indianapolis Opera, Opera News Online, described his performance in Verdi’s Falstaff (“the sweet-voiced Bardolfo of Joseph Gaines could have been singing Fenton;” and, for The Magic Flute (“sang Monostatos’ music beautifully while cavorting about the stage.”) He has also sung Beppe in I Pagliacci and Goro in Madama Butterfly for Regina Opera.
On the concert stage, he has appeared with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra as Sellem in The Rake’s Progress as tenor soloist in Handel’s Messiah at St. Thomas Church in New York and with Teatro Grattacielo in their production of The Jewels of Madonna.
Mr. Gaines holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Houston , where he studied with Joseph Evans, and performed a number of roles in his repertoire today, including Pedrillo, the title role in Peri’s Orfeo ed Euridice, and Danceny in Susa’s Dangerous Liasons. He also studied singing with Christina Wartenberg at the Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Leipzig, Germany under the auspices of a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarship during which time he performed Triquet in Eugene Onegin and the title role in Rothchild’s Violin.
An active concert singer, Mr. Gaines has performed Handel’s Messiah with the Detroit Symphony and the renowned Choir of Men and Boys at New York City’s St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue New York, the latter available on commercial recording. He has also been a featured soloist with the Washington Bach Consort, Ars Lyrica Houston, Mercury Baroque, the Houston Chamber Choir, the Houston Bach Society, the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, the Master Singers of Westchester (Mozart’s Grand Mass in C-minor), and the Bronx Symphony Orchestra (Haydn’s Harmoniemesse) among others. He can also be heard on recording of Scarlatti’s oratorio La Concettione della Beata Vergine by Ars Lyrica Houston on the Naxos label. He has also appeared with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra as tenor soloist in Handel’s Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day.
Grants and awards include: The Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarship; The Anna Sosenko Assist Trust; and The McGlone Award for Outstanding Young Artist at Central City Opera and the coveted 2007-2008 William M. Sullivan Foundation Awards, which includes a $10,000 career grant
Micah VonFeldt has had a passion for the theater since he was five years old. Over the past eight years, he has performed in the ensemble of several musicals, such as The Lion King and Legally Blonde. He has also had lead roles in many children’s theatrical productions, including Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Matilda, Murder on the 518, and High School Musical 2, as well as title roles in Peter Pan, Aladdin, and The Music Man. In 2019, Micah was awarded “Outstanding Male Performance” at the Junior Theater Festival in Atlanta for his role of Michael Banks in Mary Poppins, Jr. Micah is in the seventh grade, and lives in Highlands Ranch with his mom, dad, and two older brothers.
Creative Team
Appointed in 2015 as Opera Colorado’s first-ever music director, Ari Pelto’s “breathtaking wizardry in the pit” (The Denver Post) has been widely celebrated, with Pelto in demand at opera houses and concert halls throughout the United States. At the age of 24, Pelto was appointed Assistant Conductor at the Spoleto Festival and he has since gone on to conduct worldwide. International engagements include performances with Bochumer Philharmoniker and opera productions at New National Theatre of Tokyo and the Teatro Nacional Sucre in Quito, Ecuador. In 2004 he made his highly-praised debut with New York City Opera, conducting La Traviata, after which he became a regular, returning for productions of Madama Butterfly, La Bohème, and Carmen. Recent successes include Eugene Onegin at Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Lucia di Lammermoor at Virginia Opera, and La Voix Humaine at Chicago Opera Theater. Here in Denver, he has led many acclaimed performances, including this season’s La Traviata. Opera Colorado is pleased to announce an extension of Pelto’s contract through the 2023-24 season.
Eric Simonson is an ensemble member of the renowned Steppenwolf Theatre Company, a position he maintains while working as a writer and director for film, television, theatre and opera. He is currently a writer and producer on The Man in the High Castle and Homecoming — both for Amazon. Simonson recently wrote the TV movie Killing Reagan, which premiered on National Geographic on October 16 and was nominated for two Critics Choice Awards.
Other recent films include the documentary, “Studs Terkel: Listening to America” (Emmy nomination); “A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin“, which won an Oscar for Documentary Short and received a nomination from the International Documentary Association (IDA) for Distinguished Achievement; “On Tiptoe: Gentle Steps to Freedom” (Oscar nomination, IDA Award, Emmy nomination). All three films subsequently aired on HBO/Cinemax. Other films include “Hamlet” (co-directed with Campbell Scott) for Hallmark Entertainment, and the independent feature, “Topa Topa Bluffs“. Simonson has also written and developed multiple television series for HBO, FX, Starz, TNT, and USA networks.
Broadway writing credits include the hit play “Lombardi“, “Magic/Bird“, and “Bronx Bombers“, which he also directed.
Simonson’s other directing and writing credits in theatre include work at Steppenwolf Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, Primary Stages in NY, The Huntington Theatre, Milwaukee Rep, Kansas City Rep, The Kennedy Center, Pasadena Playhouse, Seattle Rep, Arizona Theatre, San Jose Rep and Court Theatre in Chicago. His work at Steppenwolf includes the premiere productions of his plays “Fake“, “Honest“, “Carter’s Way“, his adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse-Five“, the critically acclaimed and nationally produced “Nomathemba” (co-written with Ntozake Shange and Joseph Shabalala), and “The Song of Jacob Zulu“, which was invited to the Perth International Arts Festival, ran on Broadway, and received six Tony nominations including Best Director. Other plays include published works “Bang the Drum Slowly” and “Work Song” (co-written with Jeffrey Hatcher), which premiered at Milwaukee Repertory Theatre.
Opera directing credits include the North American premiere of “The Handmaid’s Tale” at Minnesota Opera, and world premiere productions of “The Shining, “The Grapes of Wrath“, and “Silent Night” (Pulitzer Prize).
Simonson has been honored with the Princess Grace Foundation’s Statue Award for Sustained Artistic Achievement, the Frankel Award for new play development, and several Edgerton Foundation grants for new play development.
Latino American director, David Radamés Toro, applies his background in physical theatre and mime to a variety musical repertoire with an affinity for baroque and 20th/21st century works. He has worked at companies including Minnesota Opera, the Wexford Opera Festival, Washington National Opera, Cincinnati Opera, and Opera Neo.
As a director, David is known for bringing honesty and humanity to the opera stage. In reviewing his production of Flight, The Minneapolis Star Tribune wrote, “This staging showed that “Flight” has a beating heart, and something to say.” The San Diego Union Tribune described his 2019 production of La Calisto as “well sung and cleverly staged.” During the summer of 2020, David directed Opera Neo’s Virtual Magic Flute, a fully staged green screen opera filmed remotely from the singers’ homes and streamed in four parts.
An admirer of modern era opera, David has had the privilege of directing 21st-century works such as Three Way (Fargo-Moorhead Opera, 2021), Glory Denied (Opera Fayetteville, 2020), and Flight (Minnesota Opera, 2020), as well as assisting on world premieres such as Today It Rains (Opera Parallèle, 2019), Dinner at Eight (Minnesota Opera, 2017), and The Shining (Minnesota Opera, 2016). In 2015, He directed the premiere of Rose Made Man: An Inside Out Opera for the Cohen New Works Festival in Austin, TX.
David Radamés Toro holds degrees from The University of Texas (DMA, Opera Directing), The Ohio State University (MM/MA, Voice Performance and Pedagogy), and The University of Colorado at Boulder (BM, Voice Performance).
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Paul Moravec, recipient of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize in Music, is the composer of numerous orchestral, chamber, choral, operatic, and lyric pieces. His music has earned many distinctions, including the Rome Prize Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, three awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Rockefeller Foundation. A graduate of Harvard College and Columbia University, he has taught at Columbia, Dartmouth, and Hunter College and currently holds the special position of University Professor at Adelphi University. He was the 2013 Paul Fromm Composer-in-Residence at the American Academy in Rome, and recently served as Artist-in-Residence at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ. He was also elected to membership in the American Philosophical Society.
Frequently commissioned by notable ensembles and major music institutions, Moravec’s current project is an oratorio about The Underground Railroad for premiere by the Oratorio Society of New York at Carnegie Hall in May, 2018. His most recent premiere is The Shining, based on the Stephen King novel, at Minnesota Opera in May, 2016. Other recent premieres include The Overlook Hotel Suite, with American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, Winter Songs, with the Harvard Glee Club and Radcliffe Choral Society, Light Shall Lift Us, with Opera Orlando, The King’s Man, with Kentucky Opera, and Amorisms, with Alias and the Nashville Ballet. Recent seasons have included the New York premiere of The Blizzard Voices, with the Oratorio Society of NY at Carnegie Hall, as well as the premieres of Violin Concerto, with Maria Bachmann and Symphony in C, and Shakuhachi Concerto, with James Schlefer and the Orchestra of the Swan (U.K.). Other recent premieres include Danse Russe, an opera for the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts; Brandenburg Gate, with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall; Piano Quintet, with Jeremy Denk and the Lark Quartet; and Wind Symphony, with a consortium of American concert bands.
Moravec’s discography includes Northern Lights Electric, an album of his orchestral music with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project released in 2012 on the BMOP Sound label. He has five albums of chamber music on Naxos American Classics: Tempest Fantasy, performed by Trio Solisti with clarinetist David Krakauer; The Time Gallery, performed by eighth blackbird; Cool Fire, with the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival; Useful Knowledge, with soprano Amy Burton, baritone Randall Scarlata, Trio Solisti, and la Fenice Quintet; and Violin Concerto, with Maria Bachmann and Rossen Milanov’s Symphony in C. Among his many other recorded works are: Double Action, Evermore, and Ariel Fantasy, performed by the Bachmann/Klibonoff Duo (Endeavour Classics); Sonata for Violin and Piano performed by the Bachmann/Klibonoff Duo (BMG/RCA Red Seal); Atmosfera a Villa Aurelia and Vince & Jan, performed by the Lark Quartet (Endeavour Classics); Morph, performed by the String Orchestra of New York (Albany); Anniversary Dances, with the Ying Quartet (Dorian Records); Cornopean Airs, with American Brass Quintet and organist Colin Fowler; and Andy Warhol Sez, with bassoonist Peter Kolkay and pianist Alexandra Nguyen. Other releases include Blue Fiddle, with Hilary Hahn on Deutsche Grammophon, and Piano Quintet, with Jeremy Denk and the Lark Quartet, on Bridge Records.
Paul Moravec’s music is published exclusively by Subito Music Corporation. For more information, visit the composer’s website at www.paulmoravec.com.
Mark Campbell’s work as a librettist is at the forefront of the contemporary opera scene in this country. A prolific writer, Mark has created 36 opera librettos, lyrics for 7 musicals, and the text for 5 song cycles and 2 oratorios. His works for the stage have been performed at more than 80 musical venues around the world and the names of his collaborators comprise a roster of the most eminent composers in classical music and include three Pulitzer Prize winners.
Mark’s best-known work is Silent Night, which received a Pulitzer Prize in Music and is one of the most frequently produced operas in recent history. The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, an audience favorite, received a 2018 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording. Mark’s other successful operas include The Shining, Stonewall, Later the Same Evening, The Nefarious, Immoral but Highly Profitable Enterprise of Mr. Burke & Mr. Hare, The Manchurian Candidate, As One, The Other Room, Memory Boy, Empty the House, The Inspector, Approaching Ali, A Letter to East 11th Street, Dinner at Eight, Volpone, and Bastianello/Lucrezia. His musicals include Songs from an Unmade Bed, The Audience and Splendora.
Mark has received many other prestigious prizes for his work, including the first Kleban Foundation Award for Lyricist, a Grammy nomination for Best Classical Recording, two Richard Rodgers Awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, three Drama Desk nominations, a Jonathan Larson Foundation Award, a New York Foundation for the Arts Playwriting Fellowship, the first Dominic J. Pelliciotti Award, and a grant from the New York State Council of the Arts.
Recordings of his works include: The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs (Pentatone), Sanctuary Road (Naxos), As One (Bright Shiny Things), Volpone (Wolf Trap Records), Bastianello/Lucrezia (Bridge), Rappahannock County (Naxos), Later the Same Evening (Albany) and Songs from an Unmade Bed (Ghostlight).
Mark is also an advocate for contemporary American opera and serves as a mentor for future generations of writers through such organizations as American Opera Projects, American Lyric Theatre, and Washington National Opera’s American Opera Initiative.
Upcoming premieres include Edward Tulane for Minnesota Opera (Paola Prestini, composer); The Secret River for Opera Orlando (Stella Sung, composer); Supermax for Saratoga Opera (Stewart Wallace, composer); a new version of Stravinsky/Ramuz’s L’Histoire du Soldat for the Moab Festival, A Nation of Others for the Oratorio Society of New York (Paul Moravec, composer) and the book for the musical Les Girls (Cole Porter, composer).
WRITTEN BY
Tabitha King, updated by Marsha DeFilippo
PHOTO CREDIT
Shane Leonard
Stephen Edwin King was born in Portland, Maine in 1947, the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his parents separated when Stephen was a toddler, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father’s family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. When Stephen was eleven, his mother brought her children back to Durham, Maine, for good. Her parents, Guy and Nellie Pillsbury, had become incapacitated with old age, and Ruth King was persuaded by her sisters to take over the physical care of the elderly couple. Other family members provided a small house in Durham and financial support. After Stephen’s grandparents passed away, Mrs. King found work in the kitchens of Pineland, a nearby residential facility for the mentally challenged.
Stephen attended the grammar school in Durham and then Lisbon Falls High School, graduating in 1966. From his sophomore year at the University of Maine at Orono, he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, THE MAINE CAMPUS. He was also active in student politics, serving as a member of the Student Senate. He came to support the anti-war movement on the Orono campus, arriving at his stance from a conservative view that the war in Vietnam was unconstitutional. He graduated from the University of Maine at Orono in 1970, with a B.A. in English and qualified to teach on the high school level. A draft board examination immediately post-graduation found him 4-F on grounds of high blood pressure, limited vision, flat feet, and punctured eardrums.
He and Tabitha Spruce married in January of 1971. He met Tabitha in the stacks of the Fogler Library at the University of Maine at Orono, where they both worked as students. As Stephen was unable to find placement as a teacher immediately, the Kings lived on his earnings as a laborer at an industrial laundry, and her student loan and savings, with an occasional boost from a short story sale to men’s magazines.
Stephen made his first professional short story sale (“The Glass Floor”) to Startling Mystery Stories in 1967. Throughout the early years of his marriage, he continued to sell stories to men’s magazines. Many of these were later gathered into the Night Shift collection or appeared in other anthologies.
In the fall of 1971, Stephen began teaching high school English classes at Hampden Academy, the public high school in Hampden, Maine. Writing in the evenings and on the weekends, he continued to produce short stories and to work on novels.
In the spring of 1973, Doubleday & Co. accepted the novel Carrie for publication. On Mother’s Day of that year, Stephen learned from his new editor at Doubleday, Bill Thompson, that a major paperback sale would provide him with the means to leave teaching and write full-time.
At the end of the summer of 1973, the Kings moved their growing family to southern Maine because of Stephen’s mother’s failing health. Renting a summer home on Sebago Lake in North Windham for the winter, Stephen wrote his next-published novel, originally titled Second Coming and then Jerusalem’s Lot, before it became ‘Salem’s Lot, in a small room in the garage. During this period, Stephen’s mother died of cancer, at the age of 59.
Carrie was published in the spring of 1974. That same fall, the Kings left Maine for Boulder, Colorado. They lived there for a little less than a year, during which Stephen wrote The Shining, set in Colorado. Returning to Maine in the summer of 1975, the Kings purchased a home in the Lakes Region of western Maine. At that house, Stephen finished writing The Stand, much of which also is set in Boulder. The Dead Zone was also written in Bridgton.
In 1977, the Kings spent three months of a projected year-long stay in England, cut the sojourn short and returned home in mid-December, purchasing a new home in Center Lovell, Maine. After living there one summer, the Kings moved north to Orrington, near Bangor, so that Stephen could teach creative writing at the University of Maine at Orono. The Kings returned to Center Lovell in the spring of 1979. In 1980, the Kings purchased a second home in Bangor, retaining the Center Lovell house as a summer home.
Stephen and Tabitha now spend winters in Florida and the remainder of the year at their Bangor and Center Lovell homes.
The Kings have three children: Naomi Rachel, Joe Hill and Owen Phillip, and four grandchildren.
Stephen is of Scots-Irish ancestry, stands 6’4″ and weighs about 200 pounds. He is blue-eyed, fair-skinned, and has thick, black hair, with a frost of white most noticeable in his beard, which he sometimes wears between the end of the World Series and the opening of baseball spring training in Florida. Occasionally he wears a moustache in other seasons. He has worn glasses since he was a child.
He has put some of his college dramatic society experience to use doing cameos in several of the film adaptations of his works as well as a bit part in a George Romero picture, Knightriders. Joe Hill King also appeared in Creepshow, which was released in 1982. Stephen made his directorial debut, as well as writing the screenplay, for the movie Maximum Overdrive (an adaptation of his short story “Trucks”) in 1985.
Stephen and Tabitha provide scholarships for local high school students and contribute to many other local and national charities.
Stephen is the 2003 recipient of The National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters and the 2014 National Medal of Arts.