Nashville Opera Association

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Nashville Opera
FallLiffCenter.jpg
Noah Liff Opera Center in Nashville
Background information
Origin Nashville, Tennessee, United States
Genres Opera
Occupation(s) Opera Company
Years active1981-present
Website Nashville Opera Web Site
MembersGeneral and Artistic Director
John Hoomes
Past membersFounder
Mary Cortner Ragland
Thor Johnson
Former Chief Executive Officer
Carol Penterman

The Nashville Opera Association is a professional opera company in Nashville, Tennessee and is a member of OPERA America. [1] The company currently offers four fully staged opera productions and an educational outreach program during an annual season which runs from October through April. Performances are offered at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in Downtown Nashville and the Noah Liff Opera Center in the Sylvan Heights section of West Nashville. Designed by architect Earl Swensson, the 26,000-square-foot (2,400 m2) Noah Liff Opera Center houses the company's executive offices, conference facilities, and a rehearsal studio.

Opera Artform combining sung text and musical score in a theatrical setting

Opera is a form of theatre in which music has a leading role and the parts are taken by singers, but is distinct from musical theater. Such a "work" is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librettist and incorporates a number of the performing arts, such as acting, scenery, costume, and sometimes dance or ballet. The performance is typically given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble, which since the early 19th century has been led by a conductor.

Nashville, Tennessee State capital and consolidated city-county in Tennessee, United States

Nashville is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Tennessee. The city is the county seat of Davidson County and is located on the Cumberland River. The city's population ranks 24th in the U.S.

Tennessee Performing Arts Center performing arts center in Nashville, Tennessee

The Tennessee Performing Arts Center, or TPAC, is located in the James K. Polk Cultural Center at 505 Deaderick Street in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, occupying an entire city block between 5th and 6th Avenues North and Deaderick and Union Streets. The cultural center adjoins the 18-story James K. Polk State Office Building.

Contents

History

The Nashville Opera Guild was chartered in 1981 under the direction of Mary Cortner Ragland. They produced their first opera, Madama Butterfly, in the same year. In 1987, the Nashville Opera Guild transferred its charter to the Nashville Opera Association. Two years later, they hired their first permanent director, Kyle Ridout, whose tenure lasted five years. In 1995, the former General Director Carol Penterman (through 2012) and current Artistic Director John Hoomes joined the Nashville Opera. [2] The Nashville Opera merged with the Tennessee Opera Theater in 1997, increasing production from one or two to four operas per season. In April 2009 the Nashville Opera's new facility, the Noah Liff Opera Center, had its grand opening.

<i>Madama Butterfly</i> Opera by Giacomo Puccini

Madama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa.

John Hoomes joined Nashville Opera in 1995 as the Artistic Director, and was named CEO and Artistic Director in 2012. As a freelance stage director, he has directed over 200 productions of opera and music theatre in the US, South America, and Canada.  The New York Times declared his Nashville Opera world premiere of Elmer Gantry “An Operatic Miracle...in Nashville.”  A June 2010 Opera News feature article acknowledged, “Hoomes has proved himself one of the most interesting stage directors in the regional market today with a seemingly limitless knowledge of repertoire.”

Since receiving his master's degree from Indiana University, he has worked for many professional opera companies including New York City Opera, Opera Lyra Ottawa, Teatro Colón, Kentucky Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Lake George Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, The Lyric Opera of Kansas City, The Opera Company of Philadelphia, Opera, The Florentine Opera, Indianapolis Opera, Opera New Jersey, The Opera Company of North Carolina, Pensacola Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Opera Memphis, Arizona Opera, Opera Carolina, Opera Cleveland, Opera Columbus, and Sarasota Opera.

Mr. Hoomes has directed a wide variety of opera productions including: Tosca, Andréa Chenier, La Bohème, Carmen, Die FLedermaus, Der Rosenkavalier, Madama Butterfly, La Traviata, The Marriage of Figaro, La Fanciulla del West, Salome, Don Giovanni, Ernani, Jenufa, Otello, Aïda, and Turandot.

In fall 2009 Mr. Hoomes directed the Tennessee premiere of The Fall of the House of Usher by composer Philip Glass, a state of the art, multi-media production which involved ground-breaking, immersion video techniques. This innovative production was critically acclaimed both by the Wall Street Journal and Opera News.

Mr. Hoomes staged the world premieres of Robert Aldridge's Elmer Gantry, as well as a second new production of the same work for Florentine Opera (recorded on Naxos Records and winner of 2 Grammys; also named the #1 opera CD release by Opera News), and the world premiere of songwriter Marcus Hummon's chamber opera, Surrender Road at Martha Rivers Ingram Hall in Nashville.

Hoomes also directed the “Southeastern professional premiere” of five contemporary pieces:  Poulenc's La Voix Humaine and Peter Maxwell Davies’ The Lighthouse, David Lang's The Difficulty of Crossing a Field, Romulus Hunt by Carly Simon, Michael Nyman's The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, and an acclaimed production of Daniel Catán's opera Florencia en el Amazonas.  Mr. Hoomes later remounted Nashville Opera's production of Florencia en el Amazonas for the New York City Opera in the Rose Theatre at Lincoln Center.

In January 2017, he staged Nashville Opera's third world premiere, THREE WAY, by Robert Paterson and David Cote. Nashville Opera's world premiere production of Three Way was then remounted at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in June 2017 in collaboration with American Opera Projects.

World Premieres

Grammy Award Accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States

A Grammy Award, or Grammy, is an award presented by The Recording Academy to recognize achievements in the music industry. The trophy depicts a gilded gramophone. The annual presentation ceremony features performances by prominent artists, and the presentation of those awards that have a more popular interest. The Grammys are the second of the Big Three major music awards held annually.

Marcus Spencer Hummon is an American country music artist.

Elmer Gantry is a 2007 American opera by Robert Aldridge to a libretto by Herschel Garfein based on the 1926 novel by Sinclair Lewis of the same name. The Nashville Opera presented the world première in November 2007.

Repertory

1980-81

1982-83

1983-84

1984-85

Pietro Mascagni Italian composer known for operas

Pietro Mascagni was an Italian composer primarily known for his operas. His 1890 masterpiece Cavalleria Rusticana caused one of the greatest sensations in opera history and single-handedly ushered in the Verismo movement in Italian dramatic music. While it was often held that Mascagni, like Ruggiero Leoncavallo, was a "one-opera man" who could never repeat his first success, L'amico Fritz and Iris have remained in the repertoire in Europe since their premieres.

Ruggero Leoncavallo Italian composer

Ruggero Leoncavallo was an Italian opera composer and librettist. Although he produced numerous operas and other songs throughout his career it is his opera Pagliacci (1892) that remained his lasting contribution, despite attempts to escape the shadow of his greatest success.

1985-86

1986-87

1987-88

1988-89

1989-90

1990-91

1991-92

1992-93

1993-94

1994-95

1995-96

B. J. Ward (actress) Actress and singer

Betty Jean Ward, professionally known as B. J. Ward, is an American actress, voice actress and singer. She is the creator and star of Stand-Up Opera, a musical one-woman show, and is a licensed aviator.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Austrian composer of the Classical period

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, baptised as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the classical era.

1996-97

1997-98

Benjamin Britten English composer, conductor, and pianist

Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten was an English composer, conductor and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British classical music, with a range of works including opera, other vocal music, orchestral and chamber pieces. His best-known works include the opera Peter Grimes (1945), the War Requiem (1962) and the orchestral showpiece The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (1945).

Leonard Bernstein American composer, conductor, author, music lecturer, and pianist

Leonard Bernstein was an American composer, conductor, author, music lecturer, and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the U.S. to receive worldwide acclaim. According to music critic Donal Henahan, he was "one of the most prodigiously talented and successful musicians in American history."

1998-99

1999-00

2000-01

2001-02

2002-03

2003-04

2004-05

2005-06

2006-07

2007-08

2008-09

2009-10

2010-11

2011-12

2012-13

2013-14

2014-15

2015-16

2016-17

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References

  1. ↑ Archived 2010-10-07 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ↑ Archived 2010-09-24 at the Wayback Machine
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