Oberlin Online
Opera Theater
 Contact  Directories  Search  Oberlin Online

nav_home
nav_faculty
nav_press
nav_photos
nav_cts
nav_calendar
nav_con
nav_thedance
nav_artist
nav_opera

October 19, 1999
For Immediate Release

Hall Auditorium
67 N. Main St Between Oberlin Inn and the Allen Art Museum.

Central Ticket Service
Reserved Seating:
$12 public
$8 senior citizens
$8 faculty/staff/alumni
$5 all students

24-hour ticket reservation line:
(440) 775-8169.

Located in the lobby of Hall Auditorium, 67 N. Main St. between the Oberlin Inn and the Allen Art Museum.

Open 12 to 5 pm,
Monday - Friday.

Media contact:
Alice Iseminger
(440) 775-8171

Oberlin College
Theater and Dance Program
67 North Main Street
Oberlin, Ohio 44074-1191

 



THE OBERLIN CONSERVATORY OPERA THEATER PRESENTS MASSENET'S MANON NOVEMBER 17, 19, 20 & 21

OBERLIN, OHIO—�The Oberlin Conservatory's Opera Theater will present Jules Massenet's romantic opera Manon in three acts, sung in French with English supertitles, on Nov. 17, 19, and 20 at 8 p.m., and a 2 p.m. matinee on Nov. 21, in the college's Hall Auditorium. Massenet's mussic reaches the height of French romanticism in this tragic story of the young and beautiful Manon and her pursuit of love, riches and fame in a corrupt world.

Robert Spano (OC '81) will conduct members of the Oberlin orchestra. The director is Jonathon Field, director of Opera Theater and assistant professor of music. Manon is produced in cooperation with the Oberlin College Theater and Dance Program and supported by the Louis C. Sudler Foundation.

In the beginning of the opera, Manon is on her way to a convent, and has stopped in the Inn at Amiens where she meets an array of characters: her cousin, Lescaut, who admonishes her to be good and then he goes off gambling; old Guillot, who unsuccessfully tries to woo her; and Des Grieux, a handsome young Chevalier who convinces her to run off with him to Paris. They have been living together in Paris for a short while when Lescaut tracks them down, furious that they are not married. While Des Grieux explains his honorable intentions, Lescaut�s companion, De Bretigny, informs Manon that the Chevalier�s father is planning to have him kidnapped that very day; he persuades her to desert Des Grieux for his own good and come live with him, as he has lots of money. After the kidnapping, the embittered Chevalier enters the Seminary and Manon becomes the toast of Paris. She realizes that she cannot live without Des Grieux after all, and seduces him back to her side. They are gambling at the Hotel de Transylvanie when Des Grieux is accused of cheating, with Manon as his accomplice; he is arrested and she is taken away for deportation. He escapes and rescues her on route to the docks, but she is too sick to go on and quietly dies in his arms.

Jules Massenet (1842-1912) was an immensely popular composer during his lifetime; his light, lyrical style also won him much critical acclaim. He wrote twenty-seven operas, only a couple of which have remained in the traditional canon- Werther and Manon . He was above all a melodist who charmed his hearers with his astonishing faculty for invention and with the expressive power he knew how to breathe into a musical phrase; his orchestration bears the hallmark of a master. The librettists for Manon , Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille, based the opera loosely on the 1731 romance written by Antoine-Fran?ois Pr?vost.

This production of Manon features Oberlin Conservatory students double-cast in some roles. Principal cast members include Manon Lescaut (Erika Tolano, AD�00 and Rhiannon Giddens MM�00), Des Grieux (Jan Kvistborg AD�00 and James Morera �00); Lescaut (Marc Callahan �00); Comte Des Grieux (Michael Chipman AD �00); Poussette (Ariadne Votava �00); Javotte (Marcia Davis �00); Rosette (Laurie Rubin �01); Guillot (Scott Mello �02); and De Bretigny (Jonathan Stinson �01). Oberlin students round out the chorus of aristocrats and travelers.

ROBERT SPANO (Conductor), now in his fourth season as Music Director of the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra, is one of the world�s most prominent conductors. His reputation is enhanced by a vast knowledge of an extraordinary breadth of repertoire and his unique and imaginative style of programming. Mr. Spano has conducted nearly every major North American orchestra, including the Boston and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Philadelphia Orchestra. He has conducted the Houston Grand Opera and Santa Fe Opera and debuted last season with the Chicago Lyric Opera. He has also conducted orchestras and opera companies all over the world, including the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic, Royal Opera at Covent Garden, and Welsh National Opera. As Music Director of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Mr. Spano has brought the orchestra to serious international attention. He recently renewed his committment to the organization by signing a five-year contract which will see the Philharmonic through it s 50th anniversary season. In addition to his demanding performance schedule, Robert Spano remains committed to music education. In 1998 he began his tenure as head of the prestigious Conducting Fellowship Program at the Tanglewood Music Center. In September 2000, he will lead the Youth Orchestra of Australia and guest soloist Pinchas Zukerman on a national tour which includes a performance at the Olympic Games in Sydney. He graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he studied conducting with Robert Baustian, and continued his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music with the late Max Rudolf.

JONATHON FIELD (Director) has directed over fifty productions throughout the United States and is becoming one of America's most sought after stage directors. He has directed touring productions for the Lyric Opera of Chicago of Trouble in Tahiti, Gianni Schicchi, The Old Maid and the Thief, and The Spanish Hour. For San Francisco Opera's Western Opera Theatre he directed La Cenerentola and Die Fledermaus and for Seattle Opera, an updated version of La Boheme. In San Francisco he has also directed Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin and Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov in the original Russian. Over the past ten years, he has also directed ten productions for the Arizona Opera, being deemed by the press "their most perceptive stage-director". Mr. Field's range extends from the avante-garde to musical comedy. He has successfully introduced computer-generated scenery to opera production in Candide, and he has pioneered the use of video-projected scenery in productions of Tales of Hoffmann. and Der Freischutz. In the realm of operetta and musicals, he has staged H.M.S. Pinafore for Opera Omaha, Trial by Jury for Lake George Opera, Bernstein's Wonderful Town in Chicago, and Merry Widow and Countess Maritza in San Francisco.

The Oberlin Opera Theater production staff includes assistant music director Alan Montgomery; assistant director/stage manager Jennifer Bertoni, Oberlin alumna; scene designer Michael Louis Grube, associate professor of theater; costume designer Chris Flaharty, associate professor of theater; lighting designer Jen Groseth, lecturer in theater.