GYÖRGY LIGETI (1923-2006)
Le Grand Macabre (1975-77; rev. 1996)
Surreal, darkly whimsical, grotesque, sardonic, spine-tingling, exhilarating—these all have been used to describe György Ligeti’s only opera, Le Grand Macabre. Based on the theater piece La Balade du Grand Macabre by Belgian author Michel de Ghelderode, the composer created the libretto with Michael Meschke for this fantastical work, set in near-apocalyptic Breughelland (a reference to the eerily fascinating canvases of Dutch painter Pieter Breughel). It is a comic masterpiece that took 26 years to get its first performance in the United States (even though it had already been performed in nearly 30 European cities). Ligeti himself gave an idea of what he had in mind in this opera of the absurd: “It’s an imagining of the end of the world, but very colorful, very bizarre, populated with medieval imps... It’s a Rabelaisian world, a world full of obscenities, sexual and scatological. People are constantly eating and drinking and leading a very chaotic life. It all happens in a sort of broken-down dictatorship where two opposing parties, both completely corrupt, pursue in reality the same crooked policies... It’s tragic and light-hearted at the same time…It’s not my intention to be provocative, though naturally I enjoy shocking people a bit.” It is best not to attempt a detailed description of the complex plot. Suffice it to say that the action is set in motion when Nekrotzar—the Grim Reaper—the Grand Macabre of the title, announces his mission to destroy the world. The atmosphere is surreal, carnival-like with everything turned upside down…starting with a parody of an overture, scored for 12 pitched car horns. You’ll also hear gurgling, hiccups, snippets of Beethoven’s “Eroica,” ragtime, laughter, jazz, and Viennese waltzes, but also delicate harmonies, exquisite singing, and mesmerizing orchestrations—all melded together in a swirling soundscape. The New York Times called it “the biggest achievement by one of the outstanding composers of our time.”

In September 2009 Alan Gilbert began his tenure as Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, the first native New Yorker to hold the post.

For his inaugural season he introduced a number of new initiatives: the positions of The Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence, held by Magnus Lindberg, and Artist-in-Residence, first held by Thomas Hampson; an annual three-week festival; and CONTACT!, the New York Philharmonic's new-music series. In the 2009–10 season he led the Orchestra on a major tour of Asia in October 2009, with debuts in Hanoi and Abu Dhabi. He also took the Philharmonic to nine cities on the EUROPE / WINTER 2010 tour in January–February 2010, and is conducting world, U.S., and New York premieres. Also in the 2009–10 season, Mr. Gilbert became the first person to hold the William Schuman Chair in Musical Studies at The Juilliard School, a position that includes coaching, conducting, and hosting performance master classes.

Highlights of Mr. Gilbert's 2008–09 season with the New York Philharmonic included the Bernstein anniversary concert at Carnegie Hall and a performance with the Juilliard Orchestra, presented by the Philharmonic. In May 2009 he conducted the World Premiere of Peter Lieberson's The World in Flower, a New York Philharmonic Commission, and in July 2009 he led the Philharmonic's Concerts in the Parks and Free Indoor Concerts, Presented by Didi and Oscar Schafer, and performances at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival in Colorado.

In June 2008 Mr. Gilbert was named conductor laureate of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, following his final concert as its chief conductor and artistic advisor. He has been principal guest conductor of Hamburg's NDR Symphony Orchestra since 2004, and he has conducted other leading orchestras in the U.S. and abroad, including the Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco symphony orchestras; the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras; and the Berlin Philharmonic, Munich's Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Amsterdam's Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and Orchestre National de Lyon. In 2003 he was named the first music director of the Santa Fe Opera.

Alan Gilbert studied at Harvard University, The Curtis Institute of Music, and The Juilliard School. From 1995 to 1997 he was the assistant conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra. In November 2008 he made his acclaimed Metropolitan Opera debut conducting John Adams's Doctor Atomic. His recording of Prokofiev's Scythian Suite with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award, and his recording of Mahler's Symphony No. 9 received top honors from the Chicago Tribune and Gramophone magazine. On May 15, 2010, The Curtis Institute of Music awarded Mr. Gilbert an Honorary Doctor of Music degree.

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DOUGLAS FITCH, director and designer, born in 1959 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Doug Fitch has worked in media ranging from architecture and opera to puppetry and edible art (he did, after all, attend La Varenne—École de Cuisine in Paris.). As a child he developed an interest in puppetry, and, inspired by his father’s participation in community theater, he and a brother began putting on their own shows. During fourth grade he enrolled in a college-level puppetry class along with his mother, who wanted to learn about doll-making. Fast forward a few years…Doug Fitch’s work in concert-theater rekindled his fascination with puppetry and inspired, for example, a miniature theater filmed-live-and-projected above the stage in Avery Fisher Hall for the Philharmonic’s A Soldier’s Tale by Stravinsky in 2005. He was always lured by “a world where anything can become anything else, where absurd juxtapositions surprise and delight, where deep seriousness about art is infused with an equally profound sense of play,” the Boston Globe noted. But, before you can create magic in the hall, there are logistics to be worked out. “Like the question of limited space on stage, not shining lights into musicians’ eyes, sightlines for the audience, etc. Still, every dilemma offers a golden opportunity.” Doug Fitch’s approach to storytelling and visualizing music usually involves lights and projections—“but no smoke and mirrors,” he adds. “I prefer ‘obvious magic’—the kind you could do yourself.” The Cunning Little Vixen has a especially appealing dimension for the designer, because it transports the audience into the world of the forest (that time-honored metaphor for the realm of the subconscious, where anything can happen). It’s obvious that Doug Fitch connects deeply with the opera. “I love the idea of taking a childlike world seriously; Vixen’s music is so sophisticated, so beautiful, while still conveying a sense of wonder in how it unfolds the world to your senses.”

Find additional upcoming performances with Doug Fitch

Edouard Getaz, who was born in Lausanne, Switzerland, works both as a director and a producer with his company, Intercontinental Pictures. He produced Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat in 2005 with the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall. With the production company Giants Are Small, he produced Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He has also produced several shows and public events, ranging from major fashion shows to giant projections on large historical buildings worldwide. Mr. Getaz is currently co-producing Peter and the Wolf (and the duck!), which is in active development for Broadway. Mr. Getaz’s first directorial endeavor was the short film Virgin Red (2005), which played at several major international film festivals. His second short, Freud’s Magic Powder, premiered at the Locarno Film Festival in 2009. Mr. Getaz is now developing his first full-length feature film. For almost 15 years, he contributed to the programming of the Cully Jazz Festival, which became one of the most prominent jazz festivals in Switzerland. He subsequently worked with Montreux Jazz Festival’s legendary producer and founder, Claude Nobs. In 1998 Mr. Getaz co-founded the event communications agency, Creatives. He earned a master’s degree in law and has studied film direction and production at New York University.

Giants Are Small, officially founded in 2007 after two years of experimental developments, was started by visual artist and opera director Douglas Fitch, filmmaker and producer Edouard Getaz, and multimedia entrepreneur Frederic Gumy. Its first production was Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du soldat with the New York Philharmonic, featuring F. Murray Abraham, Marian Seldes, and Tim Blake Nelson. This was the first time that “live animation” (a technique consisting of puppeteering miniature elements in front of a camera, to create moving images that are projected in real time, in synch with the orchestra’s performance), was brought to a wide audience. The three performances at Avery Fisher Hall met with great success and marked the beginning of the history of this unique company. In addition to performances of L’Histoire du soldat, Giants Are Small has since created new productions including Stravinsky’s Petrushka. In 2008 the company presented a new version of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a production that merged live classical music, live animation, and video special effects together in real time; the concert was presented five times at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Recently, Giants Are Small has entered into a co-production agreement with Big Heart Productions, a company headed by former Disney executive Annie Hamburger, to produce a version of Peter and the Wolf for Broadway; the project will feature 3-D technology in real time with live animation. Giants Are Small works closely with many of the world’s leading orchestras, among them the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, as well as major musical academies in the United States, such as the University of Maryland and Bard College.

Canadian soprano Barbara Hannigan received her bachelor and master of music degrees from the University of Toronto, where she studied with Mary Morrison. Her operatic roles include Lucia in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia, Despina in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Amore in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Eurydice, Anne Truelove in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, the title role in Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen, and Larinda in Hasse’s Larinda e Vanesio. She sang in the world premieres of Louis Andriessen’s Writing to Vermeer, Jan van de Putte’s Wet Snow, Michel van der Aa’s solo opera One, and Gerald Barry’s The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant. She has received acclaim for her performances of Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre, which she has sung with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Asko and Schönberg Ensembles of Amsterdam. Ms. Hannigan has performed with orchestras and ensembles around the world; collaborated with conductors including Reinbert de Leeuw, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Simon Rattle, Kurt Masur, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Ingo Metzmacher, Peter Oundjian, Oliver Knussen, Jonathan Nott, Peter Rundel, Michael Gielen, and Peter Eötvös; and has worked with the composers including Ligeti, Louis Andriessen, Gerald Barry, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Oliver Knussen, and Henri Dutilleux. Upcoming engagements include productions at Brussels’s Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie; a new opera by George Benjamin at Aix-en-Provence; a concert tour with the Ensemble Intercontemporain under Pierre Boulez; and concerts with the Berlin Philharmonic led by Mr. Rattle.

“Barbara Hannigan, setting afire a breathtaking fireworks display of technique and tempo, went to the extremes of human expression, and doused the orchestra with boiling hot emotion." (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Germany)

American soprano Kiera Duffy received a 2008 Sullivan Foundation grant and was a finalist in the 2007 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Her 2009–10 season includes an appearance with the Los Angeles Philharmonic as part of the Green Umbrella concert series in Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire; John Corigliano’s Ghosts of Versailles at the Wexford Opera Festival; the Center for Contemporary Opera’s new production of Morton Feldman’s only “anti-opera,” Neither, at the Wien Modern; and Britten’s Rape of Lucretia at Toledo Opera. Ms. Duffy will also make her Atlanta Symphony Orchestra debut in Mozart’s Coronation Mass; sing Praetorius’s Christmas Vespers with Cleveland’s award-winning Apollo’s Fire; and appear in several performances of Orff’s Carmina burana with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra and at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Ms. Duffy has been heard at Tanglewood with James Levine as Despina in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Tebaldo in Verdi’s Don Carlo, and in the U.S. staged premiere of Elliott Carter’s What Next? She has performed with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Utah Symphony, Spoleto Festival USA, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, and in New York City Opera’s VOX Showcase. Born in Philadelphia, Kiera Duffy was an accomplished pianist before pursuing singing, and holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Westminster Choir College. She is the recipient of numerous awards and recognition from organizations such as the Metropolitan Opera National Council, Philadelphia Orchestra Greenfield Competition, and the Young Concert Artists International Competition. Ms. Duffy last appeared with the New York Philharmonic in September 2008 performing Pierre Boulez’s Pli selon pli: Improvsations sur Mallarmé, led by Lorin Maazel.

Soprano Jennifer Black made her Santa Fe Opera debut as Micäela in Bizet’s Carmen during the 2006 summer season, and has since returned as Mimì in Puccini’s La bohème in summer 2007 and Adina in Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’amore during the summer of 2009. She made her Los Angeles Opera debut in 2008 as Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi and as Suor Genovieffa in Suor Angelica in a new production of Puccini’s Il trittico. She made her New York City Opera as Musetta in La bohème in 2006, and returned as Micäela in October 2007. Ms. Black completed The Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Program in 2008, and most recently returned to The Met as Lisa in the 2009 new production of Bellini’s La Sonnambula. Upcoming engagements include her debut at Minnesota Opera and Opera Colorado as Mimì; singing Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello at Arizona Opera, Violetta in Verdi’s La Traviata with Opera Carolina, and Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni at Opera New Jersey; and her debut at Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse in two roles: Musetta in La bohème and Fifth Maid in R. Strauss’s Elektra.

“Black's sweet, full-bodied sound soared thrillingly.” (Opera News)

Mezzo-Soprano Renée Tatum is currently a first-year member of The Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Program, as well as alumna of The 2009 San Francisco Opera Adler Fellowship and 2008 Merola Opera Program, where she performed the role of Nancy in Britten’s Albert Herring. Recent engagements have included: Emilia in Verdi’s Otello, Inez in Verdi’s Il Trovatore, Slave in R. Strauss’s Salome, and Annina in Verdi’s La Traviata, all with the San Francisco Opera. Other engagements in the 2008–09 season have included: Maddalena from Verdi’s Rigoletto in The Richard Tucker Gala at Avery Fisher Hall, Klytämnestra’s Train Bearer in R. Strauss’s Elektra with the New York Philharmonic, The Secretary in Menotti’s The Consul with Chautauqua Opera, covering Jocasta in Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex with The Los Angeles Philharmonic, Mercedes in Bizet’s Carmen with New Orleans Opera, and Omar in Adams’s The Death of Klinghoffer, with The Juilliard Opera Center. She is also a two-time recipient of the Richard F. Gold Career Grant. A regional finalist in the 2007 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Tatum holds degrees from the Manhattan School of Music and California State University Fullerton, as well as an Artist Diploma from The Juilliard School. Upcoming engagements include Mere Marie in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmelites with the Juilliard Opera Center, Dritte Dame in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, with Santa Fe Opera, Inez in Il Trovatore with The Metropolitan Opera, and Flosshilde and Welgunde in Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen with San Francisco Opera.

Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo appeared this season as Polinesso in Handel’s Ariodante with Gary Wedow and the Juilliard Opera Center, and made debuts at the New York City Opera as Armindo in Handel’s Partenope and in Handel’s Messiah with The Cleveland Orchestra, University Musical Society in Ann Arbor, and Musica Sacra at Carnegie Hall. Next summer he returns to the Glimmerglass Opera for the title role in Handel’s Tolemeo. Other recent opera roles have included the Sorceress in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Nireno in Handel’s Giulio Cesare at the Glimmerglass Opera; Oberon in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the Seattle Opera’s Young Artists Program; Cherubino in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro with the Santa Barbara Opera Company; and the title role in the Manhattan School of Music’s main stage production of Foss’s Griffelkin. Mr. Costanzo has been a featured soloist with the orchestras of Indianapolis, Alabama, Detroit, Denver, and Seattle, as well as in the premiere of John Corigliano’s A Dylan Thomas Trilogy with the National Symphony Orchestra at both the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall. Mr. Costanzo began performing professionally at age 11 in the Broadway touring production of Falsettos. He also appeared in the touring production of The Sound of Music and on Broadway in A Christmas Carol. In 1998 he made his film debut as Francis in Merchant Ivory’s A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries. He graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton University and received his master’s of music degree at the Manhattan School of Music.

“a countertenor of assurance, spirit, and plenty of dynamic range.” (Opera News)

Mezzo-soprano Melissa Parks recently made her Italian debut in Bologna, Modena, Lugo, and Piacenza as Mrs. Lovett the Italian premiere of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd. Her recent roles have included Mrs. Peachum in John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera, conducted by Lorin Maazel at his Castleton Festival; Dame Quickly in Verdi’s Falstaff with Cleveland Opera; Zulma in Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri and the Third Maid in R. Strauss’s Elektra with Seattle Opera; Marcellina in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro with Pittsburgh Opera; Auzucena in Verdi’s Il trovatore with Michigan Opera Theatre; and Erda in Wagner’s Das Rheingold with New Orleans Opera. Ms. Parks’s other engagements have included working with The Metropolitan Opera in both Donizetti’s The Daughter of the Regiment and Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahoganny. She has also sung Ulrica in Verdi’s Un ballo un maschera with Virginia Opera, the Verdi Requiem with the Utah Symphony Orchestra, and La Marquise in The Daughter of the Regiment with the Opera Company of Philadelphia. Ms. Parks’s upcoming appearances include a return to Michigan Opera Theatre as Katisha in Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Mikado, and Dame Quickly in Falstaff with the Utah Opera and Symphony. As the winner of the Fifth Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition, she performed the role of Dame Quickly in Falstaff in a Gala Concert hosted by the late tenor. She studied at Philadelphia’s Academy of Vocal Arts.

Tenor Mark Schowalter has sung with some of the world’s finest conductors and orchestras, including James Levine and The Metropolitan Opera and Munich Philharmonic; Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony and Saito Kinen Orchestras; Valery Gergiev at The Metropolitan Opera; the late Mstislav Rostropovich with the National Symphony Orchestra; and Charles Dutoit with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. Currently in his tenth consecutive season at The Met, Mr. Schowalter will perform the roles of Spalanzani in Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffman, Sergeant in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, Scaramuccio in R. Strauss’s Adriane auf Naxos, and the Second Gravedigger in Ambroise Thomas’s Hamlet. Past role highlights have included Jaquino in Beethoven’s Fidelio led by Levine, St. Brioche in Lehar’s The Merry Widow, Chaplitsky in Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades, Reverend McMillan in the world premiere of Tobias Picker’s An American Tragedy, and four Strauss operas: Der Rosenkavalier, Die Frau ohne Schatten, Elektra, and Ariadne auf Naxos, including the telecast on PBS in 2003. Mr. Schowalter’s other recent engagements include the role of Bob Boles in Britten’s Peter Grimes with Seiji Ozawa at the Saito Kinen Festival in Matsumoto, Japan, and the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, Italy; Schoenberg’s Moses und Aron with Levine and the Munich Philharmonic; and Lysander in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, at the Florentine Opera. His roles with Minnesota’s North Star Opera Company include his portrayal of Tassilo in Kalman’s Countess Maritza. Mark Schowalter’s recent concert performances include Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde with the Maverick Chamber Festival; Mozart’s Requiem with the Minnesota Orchestra; Monteverdi’s Vespers 1610 with Helmuth Rilling at the Oregon Bach Festival; and Bach’s St. John Passion, Mozart’s Bastien und Bastienne, and Vespers 1610 with Christopher Hogwood and the St. Paul Chamber and National Symphony Orchestras.

Bass-baritone Eric Owens returns to the Washington National Opera this season as Don Basilio in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, and as Porgy in Francesca Zambello’s production of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. His concert appearances include John Adams’s The Wound-Dresser and holiday performances of Handel’s Messiah, both with the National Symphony Orchestra; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; and Mozart’s Requiem with both the Boston and Detroit Symphony Orchestras. Last season Mr. Owens made his Metropolitan Opera debut in John Adams’s Doctor Atomic, and his solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. He also returned to The Metropolitan Opera as Sarastro in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, and appeared in Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Operatic highlights include Lodovico in Verdi’s Otello at San Francisco Opera; Ramfis in Verdi’s Aida at Houston Grand Opera; Sparafucile in Verdi’s Rigoletto, Ferrando in Verdi’s Il trovatore; Colline in Puccini’s La bohème at Los Angeles Opera; the King of Scotland in Handel’s Ariodante; and Seneca in Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea at the English National Opera. Mr. Owens sang the title role in the world premiere of Elliot Goldenthal’s Grendel, directed and designed by Julie Taymor. He created the role of General Leslie Groves in the world premiere of Doctor Atomic at the San Francisco Opera, and of the Storyteller in the world premiere of Adams’s A Flowering Tree. A native of Philadelphia, Eric Owens studied voice as an undergraduate at Temple University, and as a graduate student at The Curtis Institute of Music. This is his New York Philharmonic subscription debut.

“The bass baritone Eric Owens brought a burnished and powerful voice to his sensitive performance.” (The New York Times)

“Consistently charismatic, theatrically and vocally” (New York Magazine)

“Absolutely remarkable” (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

Bass Wilbur Pauley has appeared in more than 80 performances with the New York Philharmonic since his debut at age 18 with the Westminster Symphonic Choir in Wagner’s Das Liebesmahl der Apostel, led by Pierre Boulez. His solo debut was as the basso profundo in Stravinsky’s Les Noces under John Lanchbery. With Zubin Mehta, Mr. Pauley sang the bass solo in Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy and the role of Petrus in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. Highlights of Mr. Pauley’s 30-year career include the world premiere of John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles at The Metropolitan Opera, Weill’s The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny at the Salzburg Festival; two Broadway engagements — the musical Band in Berlin, and The Merchant of Venice with Dustin Hoffman — plus some dozen film sound tracks, including Beauty and the Beast, Dead Man Walking, and Enchanted. His voice will be heard in the upcoming Disney animated feature, Tangled. In 1992 Wilbur Pauley founded the male vocal ensemble Hudson Shad. Recent New York City performances include Iannis Xenakis’s Oresteia at Columbia University’s Miller Theater, and the Carnegie Hall premiere of The Seven Deadly Sins with Ute Lemper and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. In March 2010 Mr. Pauley made his debut with the Orchestre Symphonique du Luxembourg in Xenakis’s Ais. In November 2010 he will participate in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Tenor Peter Tantsits recently sang the high tenor role of Syme in his debut at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala for the Italian premiere of Lorin Maazel’s opera 1984. His orchestral appearances include performances with the National Symphony Orchestra (in Washington, D.C.), the Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich at the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen at Die Glocke, and the American Symphony Orchestra at Avery Fisher Hall, with upcoming engagements including the Munich Philharmonic at the Kulturzentrum Gasteig and the London Symphony Orchestra at The Barbican, in addition to performances in France of Schoenberg’s arrangement of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the Orchestre du Festival Lyrique-en-mer. He has worked closely with conductors Lorin Maazel, Leonard Slatkin, Kristjan Järvi, Leon Botstein, Emmanuelle Haïm, Gil Rose, and Philip Walsh. Committed to the creation of new opera, Mr. Tantsits’s current roles include Xu Xian in Zhou Long’s Madame White Snake for Opera Boston, which will be seen in Singapore and China at the Beijing Music Festival, and Colin McPhee in Evan Ziporyn’s A House in Bali for the Brooklyn Academy of Music/BAM Next Wave Festival, Boston’s Majestic Theater, and the Ravinia Festival. A member of the International Contemporary Ensemble/ICE, he is noted for his performances of Peter Maxwell Davies’s Eight Songs for a Mad King and has performed works by Berio, Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Dallapiccola, Sofia Gubaidulina, Mauricio Kagel, Ligeti, Nono, Wolfgang Rihm, Galina Ustvolskaya, and Xenakis. Mr. Tantsits is scheduled to premiere works written for him and ICE by Georges Aperghis and David Lang. Originally trained as a violinist, he holds degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory and Yale University.

Bass Joshua Bloom was born in Melbourne, Australia, and completed his B.A. in history at the University of Melbourne. In 1998 he made his Opera Australia debut in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville on tour with OzOpera, subsequently becoming a Young Artist, and later, a principal guest artist for the company. His roles for Opera Australia have included Schaunard in Puccini’s La bohème; Guglielmo in Mozart’s Così fan tutte; Figaro in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro; Escamillo in Bizet’s Carmen; and Leporello in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. In 2002 he was an Opera Foundation Australia Stipendiat at the Vienna Staatsoper, performing Fiorello in The Barber of Seville and the Imperial Commissioner in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. Mr. Bloom joined San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program, performing the title role in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and Dottore Bartolo in The Barber of Seville. Other roles in San Francisco included Angelotti in Puccini’s Tosca; Garibaldo in Handel’s Rodelinda; Ribbing in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera; and The Black Minister in the U.S. premiere of Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre. He made his Chicago Opera Theater debut in Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict, appeared in Mozart’s The Magic Flute and R. Strauss’s Salome for Santa Fe Opera, and sang Don Alfonso in Cosí fan tutte for San Francisco Opera’s Western Opera Theater. Other recent engagements include Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the Teatro Petruzelli in Bari, Italy. Future roles include Truffaldino in R. Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos for The Metropolitan Opera, and Rodolfo in Bellini’s La Sonnambula for Opera Australia.

Rob Besserer has worked with many choreographers and directors since the 1970s, including the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, Mark Morris Dance Group, where he originated the role of Drosselmeir in The Hard Nut, and Mikhail Baryshnikov’s White Oak Dance Project, of which he was a founding member. He has collaborated on six productions with director Martha Clarke, the latest being Belle Epoque at Lincoln Center Theater. He won an Obie Award for his performance in Ms. Clarke’s mixed-media hunger piece, The Hunger Artist in 1987, and a Bessie Award for Sustained Achievement in 1984. He is currently playing the role of Ambrogio in The Metropolitan Opera’s Bartlett Scher production of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, and in 2011 he will be featured in Mr. Scher’s new Met production of Rossini’s Le Compte Ory.

New York Choral Artists, a professional chorus founded and directed by Joseph Flummerfelt, has been heard with the New York Philharmonic in recent seasons performing repertoire ranging from Michael Tippett’s A Child of Our Time to Mozart’s Requiem. Among the memorable collaborations with the New York Philharmonic was the concert on September 20, 2001, of Brahms’s A German Requiem, commemorating the events of September 11. The chorus opened the Philharmonic’s 2002–03 subscription season performing the world premiere of John Adams’s On the Transmigration of Souls, commissioned by the New York Philharmonic with Lincoln Center’s Great Performers. Other highlights of include participation in the 1995 New York Philharmonic concert celebrating the 50th anniversary of the United Nations, and a televised performance of the 1986 Statue of Liberty Concert in Central Park. The chorus performed Verdi’s Requiem with the Philharmonic in March 2006, conducted by Lorin Maazel, and in the October 5–6, 2006, and February 2009 Philharmonic concert performances of Ravel’s one-act opera, L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, also conducted by Mr. Maazel.

Find additional upcoming performances with New York Choral Artists

Catherine Zuber (costume designer) has won four Tony Awards, for her work on South Pacific, The Coast of Utopia, The Light in the Piazza, and Awake and Sing! Her other Broadway credits include Edward Albee’s Seascape (for which she received a Tony nomination), Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (Outer Critics Circle nomination), The Royal Family (Outer Critics Circle nomination), Oleanna, A Man for All Seasons, Cry-Baby, Mauritius, Doubt, Little Women, Dracula, Frozen, Dinner at Eight (Tony, Outer Critics Circle, and Drama Desk nominations), Twelfth Night (Tony and Drama Desk nominations), Ivanov, Triumph of Love (Drama Desk nomination), The Sound of Music, and The Red Shoes. Ms. Zuber has already designed costumes for productions by The Metropolitan Opera, among them Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, John Adams’s Doctor Atomic, the 125th Anniversary Gala, and Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann. Her other operatic work has included Bizet’s Carmen for the English National Opera and Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette for the Salzburg Festival. Her Off-Broadway work has included BAM and The Old Vic’s The Bridge Project (productions of The Cherry Orchard, The Winter’s Tale, As You Like It, and The Tempest) as well as A Lie of the Mind, Intimate Apparel (Lucille Lortel Award, Ovation Award, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle nominations), The House in Town, Engaged (Obie Award), Beckett/Albee, The Beard of Avon (Lucille Lortel Award), and Far Away. She also designed for the 1999 Fête des Vignerons in Vevey, Switzerland. Catherine Zuber’s other honors have included the Henry Hewes Award for Outstanding Costume Design in both 2003 and 2004; Lucille Lortel and Ovation Awards in 2004; and Obie Awards for Sustained Achievement in 1997 and 2005. Her upcoming productions include Rossini’s Le Comte Ory for The Metropolitan Opera and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown for Lincoln Center Theater. She is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.

Clifton Taylor (lighting designer) has collaborated with Douglas Fitch on several projects including at the Tanglewood Music Center (under the direction of James Levine) and the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. His Broadway credits include Frozen, Jay Johnson: The Two and Only, and Hot Feet. His Off-Broadway credits include several Encores! productions at New York City Center, several plays for MCC, the Irish Rep, and many others. Recent opera credits include the U.S. Premiere of Elliott Carter’s What Next?, Ariadne Unhinged for Gotham Opera, Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny for Tanglewood, Pamina Devi for the Vienna New Crowned Hope Festival, and Pigmalion for the Opera de Lorraine at Paris’s Théâtre du Chatelet, among many others. In the world of dance, Mr. Taylor’s designs have been commissioned by major companies around the world, including New York’s American Ballet Theatre, San Francisco Ballet, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. He is the resident designer for the Karole Armitage Gone! and Elisa Monte Dance Companies and has been the lighting director for the “Fall for Dance Festival” at New York City Center since its inception in 2004. In addition, Mr. Taylor is a sought-after lecturer on lighting and projection design. Under grants from the Asian Cultural Council, he has created numerous master classes in design both in Cambodia and Indonesia, where he has ongoing relationships with several arts organizations and foundations. In addition, he has lectured throughout the U.S. at major universities and professional conferences. Mr. Taylor and Mr. Fitch are currently developing a new production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute to open a new 1,200-seat performing-arts center in Chile in early 2011.