Houston Grand Opera 2006-2007 Season

Houston Grand Opera revives its acclaimed Francesca Zambello production of Gounod’s French masterpiece Faust with a stellar cast, led by one of America’s most gifted tenors, William Burden (The Coronation of Poppea, 2006) as the man who sells his soul to the devil for a second chance at youth. Burden’s Faust, hailed as “superb…beautiful French, with fine line and glowing tone,” (Philadelphia’s City Paper), is lured into eternal damnation by Mephistopheles, sung by the incomparable American bass Samuel Ramey (Boris Godunov, 2005) in one of the roles that has made him world famous. Georgian soprano Tamar Iveri makes her house debut as Marguerite, the naļve young woman who falls for Faust. Her devoted brother Valentin is sung by American baritone Earle Patriarco (The Barber of Seville, 2004).

Sebastian Lang-Lessing (Carmen, 2006) conducts; Elizabeth Bachman directs. The “lush” (Houston Chronicle) sets and costumes are by Earl Staley; lighting is by Ken Billington.

Faust	William Burden	Conductor	Sebastian Lang-Lessing
Mephistopheles	Samuel Ramey	Original Director	Francesca Zambello
Marguerite	Tamar Iveri * ^	Director	Elizabeth Bachman
Valentin	Earle Patriarco	Set/Costume Designer	Earl Staley
		Lighting Designer	Ken Billington
		Chorus Master	Richard Bado ‡
		Fight Director	Brian Byrnes

For about 30 years, Samuel Ramey has reigned as one of the music world’s foremost interpreters of bass and bass-baritone operatic and concert repertoire. With astounding versatility he commands an impressive breadth of repertoire with virtually every musical style from Argante in Handel’s Rinaldo, which was the vehicle of his acclaimed Metropolitan Opera debut in 1984 to the dramatic proclamations of the title role in Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle, which he sang in a new production at the Metropolitan Opera televised by PBS. Mr. Ramey’s interpretations embrace the lyric and dramatic roles of Mozart and Verdi; and the heroic roles of the Russian and French repertoire.

Samuel Ramey in the title role of Boito's Mefistofele. Florence Opera in Florence, Italy.

The unique expressiveness of the bass voice has inspired many composers to assign the portrayal of devils and villains to basses, and it is in this repertoire that Mr. Ramey has established a reputation unequaled in the musical world. In 1996, Mr. Ramey presented a sold-out concert at New York’s Avery Fisher Hall titled A Date with the Devil in which he sang fourteen arias representing the core of this repertoire, and he continues to tour this program throughout the world.

Samuel Ramey has appeared on the stages of the Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Royal Opera, Covent Garden, Vienna Staatsoper, Opera de Paris, Arena di Verona, Deutsche Oper Berlin, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, the operas of Munich, Hamburg, Geneva, Florence, Zurich and Amsterdam, among others. In concert, he has performed with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra and the symphonies of Chicago, Philadelphia, Cleveland, and San Francisco.

Samuel Ramey holds the distinction of being the most recorded bass in history. His more than eighty recordings include complete operas, recordings of arias, symphonic works, solo recital programs and popular crossover albums on every major label. His recordings have garnered nearly every major award including 3 Grammy Awards, Gran Prix du Disc Awards, and “Best of the Year” citations from the journals including Stereo Review and Opera News.

It was a cold day out in Houston when I met him for this interview, but he greeted me with an alluring smile and a warm handshake. Decked out in black leather designer duds, the devil today is not wearing Prada, he is wearing Gianni Versace silk shirt and form-fitting pants.

Theresa: I must admit I’m terrified right now. Because I’ve seen you play the Devil in Mefistofele.

Theresa: The last time you played the Devil here in Houston was Mefistofele in May of 1999. After that you performed in Boris Godunov. But after seeing your performance as the Devil, I said to myself coming over here for this interview “Oh my God, I’m about to meet the Devil.”

Theresa: Well that’s easy for you to say (laughs). And you are awesome!!! You are amazing as the Devil. You play the Devil beautifully. Everyone should meet the Devil at least once in their lives to give themselves the opportunity to mend the error of their ways. So I definitely encourage everyone to see Faust by Gounod now playing at the Houston Grand Opera from January 20 – February 3, 2007 to have the opportunity to be terrified of Samuel Ramey as the Devil once again.

Samuel: No, I’m not a Leo. Many people think I’m a Leo actually because of my hair (laughs).

Theresa: Yes, you have this hair that looks like a lion’s mane. When is your birthday?

Samuel: I was born in a small town in Western Kansas, Colby, Kansas and grew up there. Most of my schooling was at Wichita State University also in Kansas after I got my degree from there. I went to New York where I continued my private studies.

Samuel: No. Growing up, I had no exposure to Opera at all. I didn’t really know what opera was. Colby, Kansas is a very, very small town. But growing up, I always enjoyed singing, I’m interested in music. Everybody in my family sang to a certain extent. My oldest brother had a bass voice as well and my other brother also sang. I had 2 brothers and one sister, all much older than me. I was raised more like an only child because my brothers and sister were all grown up and gone from home. My dad was a butcher, a meat cutter. And my mom was a housewife.

Samuel: No, they sang for fun. Nobody pursued music in any way. My mother always hoped that somebody in the family would so I was her last chance (laughs). She was very happy that I did. We lived a very simple life. My mom tried to get me to take piano lessons but I was more interested in sports. But I sang all the time. I sang in church choirs when I was in high school. It was my last year in high school when I decided that I would study music and probably the idea of becoming a teacher.

Samuel: No, I don’t think so. I mean, I had a voice and my high school music teacher encouraged me.

Samuel: Yeah. And then when I went to college I got interested in Opera really just by listening to recordings.

Samuel: Well yeah, from my first exposure to it, yeah because I always liked being in plays. And I enjoyed singing, so I thought, “Wow, this is a sung play. Great!” Well then a friend of mine told me about a summer opera company in Central City Colorado that they hired young singers to sing in the chorus and they had this all-apprentice program. So I went out to my local radio station and I sent in an audition tape and sent it off and they took me.

Samuel: And I went out there. That was my first exposure to Opera. I’ve never seen an opera until I was actually in one. I started out in the chorus and the apprentices had to study some of the opera scenes we did. So I was cast as Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro and just had a short scene. And then I discovered college and continued my studies. After that summer, I decided that I wanted to be an opera singer.

Samuel: I made my debut at the New York City Opera in 1973. I didn’t do the Metropolitan Opera until 10 years later. First I sang the NY City Opera I was more or less at New York City Opera all the time. It wasn’t until a few years at the NY City Opera that I started singing elsewhere.

I made my European debut in 1975 in Glyndebourne, England. I sang the Marriage of Figaro in the summer festival when I was in my early 30’s. Then my European career started to develop in the years after that. Actually, my European career started much earlier than with a lot of the American companies. I sang in the European theatres before I started in San Francisco or Chicago or the larger American companies.

Samuel: Then, I sang in Hamburg, Germany. I sang in Italy a lot. In Milan, La Scala, London, Paris. It was great. You feel like you’re on vacation, but you’re getting paid for it. So, it’s great. It’s quite wonderful.

Samuel: I don’t mind the traveling. What I don’t like is the thing you have to do to get ready when you’re preparing to go on a long trip for instance. The thing you have to do to prepare to get ready to go is what I don’t love. I still enjoy traveling, being in all these places and working in all these places after all these years.

Theresa: Growing up as a young man being trained in the arts, who would you say influenced you the most?

Samuel: Probably my first college voice teacher. His name is Arthur Newman at Wichita State University where I went to college. He had been one of the charter members of the old New York City Center Opera Company, when the company was first founded. He was a member of the company in its early years. So he inspired me a lot and encouraged me a lot. Onstage, Ezio Pinza, he’s a very famous bass who sang at the Met ’20s, ‘30s and into the ‘40s. He had another profound influence on me. It was his voice that I first began listening to when I got interested in opera.

Theresa: Of all the people that you work with, who do you enjoy working with the most?

Samuel: Oh my goodness, that’s a difficult one. I’d probably have to say Marilyn Horne is one of my favorites to work with and Beverly Sills.

Samuel: Well, it’s a little bit more difficult now because we have a 3 ½ year old son. So that complicates the travel because they go with me everywhere. I only have one son and he’ll travel with me everywhere until he goes to school.

Samuel: It’s hard to say (laughs). I don’t know. He seems to like music. So, we’ll see.

Theresa: At this point in your life, who would you dedicate your performance to?

Samuel: My voice teacher now that I’ve been working with for such a long time. His name is Armen Boyajian. He’s an American living in New York and of Armenian descent. I lived in New York a long time after moving there from Kansas. I lived in New York for almost 30 years before I moved to Chicago.

Samuel: I’ve been singing in Chicago for years and always enjoyed being there and I always thought that if for some reason that I wanted to leave New York that Chicago would be a very nice alternative.

Samuel: The part…Mefistofeles…the devil. What can be said about the devil? (Laughs) Well this devil is much different than the one you saw.

Theresa: How can you say that? Because when I saw Mefistofele, he was so amazing and grand and evil as the devil…

Samuel: Well this one is more or less the devil in disguise. He’s a very charming French gentleman type. The devil in Mefistofele is more like the devil himself. He’s much more the devil not in disguise. He’s much less charming (laughs).

Theresa: I don’t agree with that at all. I was totally blown away. That devil would have charmed the pants off of me (laughs). But I guess I see what you’re saying. When they depicted Hell onstage, that devil was more within his element, within his environment.

Samuel: Well, I don’t know. I like both of them. But this one, the Gounod is probably the role that I’ve sung most often in my career. I’ve sung it more than the Boito’s Mefistofele. I’ve sung the Boito a lot also but not as many as Gounod’s. I’ve probably sung nearly 300 performances of the Gounod’s.

Theresa: When I saw Mefistofele – it was amazing. It’s Amazing! I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I mean, if anybody could imagine what hell was like. Aren’t you like amazed? (Laughs) Who am I asking? You’re the Devil, you created all of that!

Samuel: (Laughs a mean spirited boisterous evil laugh). Yeah, I’ve always enjoyed playing the Devil, in the many different operas I’ve played the Devil.

Theresa: That is true. He’s definitely not boring. He’s better than Figaro or Don Giovanni.

Samuel: I remember years ago before I did Faust for the first time, I remember reading Goethe’s Faust. Trying to read it, it was very long. It was interesting to read the source of all the characters of all these operas. But the operas themselves are only interpretations of the literature. Most often times they don’t really follow the Goethe that closely. They’re more or less loosely based on Goethe’s Faust. The Boito comes closest to Goethe.

First of all this opera Faust is really only based on one chapter of Goethe and that’s the chapter that has to do with Marguerite. There’s also Berlioz’s Damnation of Faust which I’ve done. There’s also The Rake’s Progress by Igor Stravinsky which is a more modern setting opera.

Theresa: So, out of everybody else out there in the world, you would know the devil more than anybody.

Theresa: Because you play him brilliantly onstage (laughs). Honestly, I don’t know anybody else who can play the devil as good as you.

Theresa: Nope. And you know what’s so funny? I interviewed Tony Randall as the Devil.

Theresa: I know. It is sad because he was such a great man. How did you know him?

Theresa: That’s right, he's a big opera buff. Did you get to meet him after one of your performances?

Samuel: I think we first met actually when I was singing with the New York City Opera. We did a special gala performance once in Los Angeles of the second act of Die Fledermaus which has this big ball scene. Usually it’s tradition that they have guest singers come and perform at this ball. As a special thing, they asked Tony Randall to sing the part of Prince Orlovsky which he did. That’s when we first met. Then we just met at various times over the years.

Theresa: He was here in Houston for the 2000 Theatre Under The Stars production of the Musical Damn Yankees. He was a legendary actor and a wonderful human being.

Theresa: One of the questions I asked Tony Randall, have you ever come to a point in your life when you had to give up a part of yourself in exchange for success or an opportunity or a big break in life? Much like Faust in the Opera?

Samuel: Well no. I’ve worked very hard for my success. When I look back it seemed to come very easily. But I think it was because that I worked hard and I was well trained and justly rewarded for all the work I’ve done. That’s one way to look at it anyway.

Samuel: I would probably have to say Venice, Italy. This is one of my favorite theatres to sing in and such a beautiful place.

Samuel: Not fluently. I can get by. I speak a little Italian. I speak a little German. I speak a little French.

Theresa: What are your plans for the future and where are you going to be after the show?

Samuel: After this run of Faust, I go off on a dual recital tour with Frederica Von Stadt. Actually one of them is here in the Houston area. One of our performances is in the Opera House in Galveston. I think in early March. The recital tour will travel mostly in the Southeastern part of the United States: Florida, Georgia, places like that. For the rest of the Opera season, I go back to the Met in April for some performances of The Barber of Seville, then in Chicago, with the Chicago Opera Theatre doing Bluebeard’s Castle. Then I go to Europe in Barcelona, Spain and to Rome, Italy. For the next Fall Opera Season, I start it again in Europe in Madrid, Spain.

Samuel: I hope they’ll come and see our production of Faust and find it theatrically inspiring, shall we say? Because we have a good cast and they’re all very good singing actors.

Samuel: I’ve always loved being in Houston. I enjoy the city and the people. It’s great.

The Houston Grand Opera performs at the Wortham Theater Center in Houston’s Downtown Theater District. Opened in 1987, the Wortham Center features the 2,329-seat Brown Theater and the 1,065-seat Cullen Theater.

Subscriptions for the 2006–2007 Season, priced at $140 to $1,125, are now on sale through HGO’s Customer Care Center. Single tickets go on sale August 27, 2006.

New Family Packages: HGO will offer two different three-opera subscription packages for families, which include specially priced children’s tickets and pre-curtain activities in the lobby for the whole family. The packages include Hansel and Gretel, La Cenerentola, and either Aļda or The Cunning Little Vixen. A range of seating options is available throughout the theater, from Orchestra Circle to the Balcony. Adult tickets are deeply discounted (ranging from $77 for three operas to $224) and the children’s tickets are only $10, making this three-opera series an affordable option for Houston families. Additionally, the productions included in the family packages are the most artistically ambitious of the season—three of the four productions offered are being designed specifically for HGO.

New Young Professionals Series: HGO is also proud to offer its first Young Professionals subscription package, created to respond to the popularity of this season’s inaugural “Opening Nights for Young Professionals,” also known as O.N. The O.N. series offers orchestra tickets and exclusive pre-performance cocktail parties at which individuals mingle with their peers and meet the “young professionals” of HGO’s world: young directors, conductors, and HGO Studio artists. This season, over 1000 people came to HGO for the first time to attend O.N. Next season’s reasonably priced $155 O.N. package includes orchestra seats for opening night performances of Don Giovanni, Faust, and Aļda. A $35 tax-deductible contribution is also built into the package.

For information on subscriptions, call Houston Grand Opera at 713-228-OPERA (6737) or 1-800-62-OPERA (1-800-626-7372) 9 a.m.–5 p.m. Monday–Friday.

The Wells Fargo Pre-Curtain Lecture Series takes place forty-five minutes before each performance. Guest speakers present a twenty-minute informal lecture in the orchestra level of the Brown Theater. These lectures, free and open to all ticket holders, are intended to enhance the audience’s enjoyment by preparing them for the production they are about to attend.

The Wortham Theater Center features wheelchair access to both theaters, with a choice of seating locations and ticket prices.

An infrared listening system, underwritten by Shell Lubricants, is available and free of charge at all performances. Please call HGO’s Customer Care Center at 713-228-OPERA (6737) or 1-800-62-OPERA (67372) for details.

Descriptive services for persons with vision loss are available with a 48-hour advance reservation. Please call HGO’s Education and Outreach department at 713-546-0230 for details.

HGO gratefully acknowledges support for the following series: Opening Night Series made possible by Fluor Corporation; Friday Series made possible by Fayez Sarofim & Co.; Weeknight Series made possible by Schlumberger

The 2006-2007 season is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, the City of Houston through the Cultural Arts Council of Houston and Harris County, and the Texas Commission on the Arts through the Cultural Arts Council.