Marian's SongHGOco PRESENTS

A Chamber OperaMusic by Damien SneedLibretto by Deborah D.E.E.P MoutonCommissioned by Houston Grand OperaPremiered by Houston Grand Opera

7:30 p.m. April 30, 2021Available on demand through May 30, 2021

Marian's Song

“Bringing Anderson’s story to the forefront of our minds was necessary for me. To see a singer of such grace and humility navigate the harsh world around her, gives hope, for our generation, that we too can be unstoppable and make change.”

—Librettist Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton, in the Houston Chronicle

BackgroundMarian’s Song is a chamber opera by composer Damien Sneed and librettist Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton, based on the life of celebrated contralto Marian Anderson (1897–1993), who broke racial bound-aries throughout her career.

It was in 1939 that Anderson stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. and gave a legendary performance of

“America” to a crowd 75,000 strong. The historic moment took place after Anderson was denied the chance to perform at Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution. And that wasn’t the only time the singer made history. Anderson also was the first Black American to sing at the Metropolitan Opera.

Commissioned by HGOco, Marian’s Song shares Anderson’s incredible life through a fusion of spoken-word poetry, opera, and multimedia projections. To further HGOco’s educational outreach efforts, Mouton also has created high school residency curriculum that pairs with the work in its entirety.

Since Marian’s Song made its world premiere on the Wortham stage in March 2020, it has continued to attract wide interest from the community, making it a perfect choice for inclusion in the HGO Digital season.

The StoryMarian’s Song takes place both in the present day and in the past, during Anderson’s lifetime. When current-day Howard University student Nevaeh, who admires the singer thanks to stories shared by her grandmother, learns the church where Anderson sang as a child is slated for demolition, she travels to Philadelphia to try to save it. Nevaeh’s journey is woven together with Anderson’s life story—her disappointments, her triumphs, and along the way, the works she sang so transcendently, including spirituals and classical pieces.

Fun FactMarian’s Song is a personal project for both its librettist and composer. Librettist Mouton, Houston’s first Black poet laureate and the creator of Houston VIP Poetry Slam, used her talents as a spoken word artist and slam poet to write dialogue for Nevaeh. And just like Nevaeh, composer Sneed is a graduate of the historically Black school Howard University.

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CastNevaeh Johnson Tina B Marian Anderson Zoie Reams ‡ Billy King/Classmate Nicholas Newton, Nancy Haywood/Kathy Moore and Steve Homer/Jill and Allyn Risley Fellow † Jane/Mrs. Roberts/ Cynthia Clayton Eleanor Roosevelt Pastor/Promoter/Walter White Geoffrey Peterson

† Houston Grand Opera Studio artist ‡ Former Houston Grand Opera Studio artist

Creative TeamComposer Damien Sneed Librettist Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton Conductor Benjamin Manis Stage Director Dennis Whitehead Darling Assistant Stage Director Eboni Bell Chorus Master/Principal Coach Kevin J. Miller Set Realizer Brian Ruggaber Costume Designer Kristie C. Osi Shackelford Lighting & Projection Design Driscoll Otto Stage Manager Annie Wheeler Assistant Stage Manager Meg Edwards Projected Titles Translation Jasminne Mendez – Spanish Projected Titles – English Jeremy Johnson

CreditsDirector of Photography and Editor  Ben Doyle Producer  Daniel James Producer Dale Edwards     Assistant Producer  Ciara Ayala    Audio Producer Ryan Edwards     Audio Producer Shannon Smith Lighting Supervisor Michael James Clark    Production Manager  Kristen Burke               Technical Director  Joshua McIntosh             Hair & Makeup  Dotti Staker                Wardrobe Judy Malone-Stein

HGOCO TEAM Director Carleen Graham Sr. Producing Manager Emily Wells Sr. Education Manager Alisa Magallón Operations Manager Meredith Morse Kathleen Brown Programs Coordinator Andy Horton Community Initiatives Coordinator

HGOco ChorusCody Ryan Arthur Steve Buza Elizabeth Gautsche Brian M. Gibbs Jessica Suzanne Hahn Aarianna Longino

The entire staff of HGO contributed to the success of this production. For a full listing of the company’s staff, please visit HGO.org/about-us/people.

Orchestral musicians are represented by the Houston Professional Musicians Association, Local #65-699, American Federation of Musicians. 

Stage crew personnel provided by IATSE, Local #51.

Wardrobe personnel provided by Theatrical Wardrobe Union, Local #896.

Guarantor

Grand Underwriter National Endowment for the Arts

Underwriter Beth and Gary Glynn

Sponsor Glen Rosenbaum

Video Production

MELLONTHEANDREW W.

FOUNDATION

Streaming Partner

Marvin Henderson Chairein Jackson Cristino Perez Denise Ward Crystal White

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HGO OrchestraBenjamin Manis Conductor

VIOLIN  Denise Tarrant*, Concertmaster   Chloe Kim†, Assistant Concertmaster  Natalie Gaynor*, Principal Second Violin     Carrie Kauk†, Assistant Principal Second Violin   Hae-a Lee-Barnes†  Miriam Belyatsky†  Anabel Detrick†  Rasa Kalesnykaite†  Chavdar Parashkevov†  Mary Reed†  Erica Robinson†  Linda Sanders†  Oleg Sulyga†  Sylvia VerMeulen†  Melissa Williams†  

VIOLA  Eliseo Rene Salazar*, Principal  Lorento Golofeev†, Assistant Principal  Gayle Garcia-Shepard†  Erika Lawson†  Suzanne LeFevre†  Dawson White†  

CELLO   Barrett Sills*, Principal  Erika Johnson†, Assistant Principal   Ariana Nelson†  Wendy Smith-Butler†  Steven Wiggs†  

DOUBLE BASS   Dennis Whittaker†, Principal  Erik Gronfor†, Assistant Principal  Carla Clark† 

FLUTE   Henry Williford*, Acting Principal Flute 

OBOE  Elizabeth Priestly Siffert*, Principal  Mayu Isom† 

CLARINET   Sean Krissman†, Principal  Eric Chi*, Acting Principal 

BASSOON   Amanda Swain*, Principal  Michael Allard† 

FRENCH HORN  Sarah Cranston†, Principal  Kimberly Penrod Minson†  Spencer Park†  

TRUMPET  Tetsuya Lawson†, Principal  Randal Adams†  

TROMBONE  Thomas Hulten†, Principal  Mark Holley† 

TUBA  Mark Barton†, Principal  

HARP  Joan Eidman†, Principal 

TIMPANI  Alison Chang†, Principal 

PERCUSSION  Richard Brown*, Principal 

PIANO  Patrick Harvey 

ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL MANAGER  Richard Brown* 

* = Core Member † = Core Member on leave for this production

Marian's Song

Who’s Who DAMIEN SNEED COMPOSER

As a multi-genre recording artist and instru-mentalist, Damien Sneed is a pianist, vocalist, organist, composer, conductor, arranger, producer, and arts educator whose work

spans multiple genres. The Sphinx Medal of Excellence recipient has worked with jazz, classical, pop, and R&B legends, including the late Aretha Franklin and Jessye Norman, Wynton Marsalis, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, J’Nai Bridges, Lawrence Brownlee, and many others. Sneed is founder and artistic director of Chorale Le Chateau, which was featured on the 2016 recording of Wynton Marsalis’s Abyssinian Mass with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. He is a featured producer and writer on the Dove Award–winning Clark Sisters project, The Return, released in March 2020. Other recent work includes a project for solo piano responding to the pandemic, commissioned by the Library of Congress, called “Sequestered Thoughts,” which premiered online on June 2020. Sneed was commissioned by Alvin Ailey Dance Theater to create an original score for the short film Testament, which premiered in December 2020. He was commis-sioned by the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis to compose The Tongue & The Lash, a chamber opera about James Baldwin’s 1965 debate with William Buckley. Other commissions premiering in spring 2021 include the Tuskegee Airmen Symphonic Rhapsody in honor of the Tuskegee Airmen, a new piece commissioned by Houston’s Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, and a choral suite commissioned by the Trenton Children’s Chorus. Sneed is a faculty member of the Manhattan School of Music and an artist-in-residence at Michigan State University.

DEBORAH D.E.E.P. MOUTON LIBRETTIST

Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton is an internationally known writer, educator, activist, performer, and poet laureate emeritus of Houston. She was formerly ranked as the second best

Female Performance Poet in the World. Her recent poetry collection, Newsworthy (Bloomsday Literary), was nominated for a Pushcart Prize, named a finalist for the 2019 Writer’s League of Texas Book Award, and received honorable mention for the Summerlee Book Prize. Its German translation, under the title Berichtenswert, is set to be released in Fall 2021 by Elif Verlag. Mouton was a finalist for Texas State Poet Laureate, a Kennedy Center Citizen fellowship, and the prestigious Breadloaf Retreat. Her work has been highlighted and studied in Canada, England, New Zealand, and Germany. She recently performed as a part of the Kennedy Center’s virtual performance, Arts Across America, and was named a Houston Artist Commissioning Project award winner by the Society for the Performing Arts Houston. Her second book, Black Chameleon, is

set to be released in 2022 by Henry Holt & Co. She recently created a new Storybook Opera for HGOco, Lula, the Mighty Warrior, which reinterprets one of the stories from Black Chameleon and is set to debut in early 2021.

BENJAMIN MANIS CONDUCTOR

Conductor Benjamin Manis joined HGO as Resident Conductor in September 2019. Recent performances at HGO include Rigoletto, El Milagro del

Recuerdo, and the 2020 world premiere of Marian’s Song. In May of 2019 Manis completed his Master of Music degree at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where he studied with Larry Rachleff. Manis has served as cover conductor for the St. Louis and Dallas Symphonies, working with conductors David Robertson and Stéphane Denève, and was a winner of the 2019 Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award. He returned to the Aspen Music Festival for the third consecutive summer in 2019, and will appear there again next summer as the winner of the Aspen Conducting Prize. 

DENNIS WHITEHEAD DARLING STAGE DIRECTOR

Dennis Whitehead Darling is an award-winning international stage director for theater and opera based in Philadelphia. In 2018, Darling was selected by Opera Memphis as their

Inaugural McCleave Fellow in Directing, a groundbreaking fellowship dedicated to advancing the careers of directors/music directors of color. His recent directing credits include Marian’s Song (2020 HGO world premiere), The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess (Red Mountain Theatre), Independence Eve (Opera Birmingham), Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill (Hattiloo Theatre/Spazio Teatro No’hma in Milan), Jelly’s Last Jam (Hattiloo Theatre), The Parchman Hour (Hattiloo Theatre), Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Spazio Teatro No’hma in Milan), Intimate Apparel (University of Memphis), Movin’ Up in the World (Opera Memphis), Sunset Baby (Hattiloo Theatre), James and the Giant Peach (Circuit Playhouse), Blue Viola (Opera Memphis), Mr. Rickey Calls a Meeting (Hattiloo Theatre), and Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet (Hattiloo Theatre). Observership, associate directing, and assistant directing credits include Jack The Ripper (English National Opera), world and regional premieres of Lights Out: Nat

“King” Cole (Geffen Playhouse, People’s Light Theatre), and Triumph of Honor (Opera Memphis). Upcoming productions include La bohème (Opera Columbus), Giulio Cesare in Egitto (Carnegie Mellon), Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, starring Angie Stone (Hattiloo Theatre @ The Cannon Center), Sanctuary Road (North Carolina Opera), and The Secret River (Opera Orlando). 

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EBONI BELL ASSISTANT STAGE DIRECTOR

Eboni Bell is a Houston-based actor, director, and choreographer who also served as assis-tant stage director for the 2020 world premiere of HGO’s Marian’s Song. She was seen most

recently on other Houston stages in Standing Room Only’s produc-tions of American Idiot and Seussical the Musical, directed by Kevin Cahoon. Bell previously directed Katie: Strongest of the Strong (HGO), Fatherland and Panto: Hansel and Gretel (Stages Repertory Theatre), Next to Normal (Applause Theatre Company), The Credeaux Canvas (Sam Houston State University), and Freedom Train (Express Children’s Theatre). She is the co-founder of Iconotheatrix, a new youth theater, where she directed and choreographed RENT: School Edition, Spring Awakening, Chicago, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Bell is the Inclusion, Engagement, and Training Director of Stages Repertory Theatre in Houston.

DRISCOLL OTTO LIGHTING & PROJECTION DESIGN

Driscoll Otto’s credits include lighting and projection design for HGO’s 2020 world premiere, Marian’s Song; The Huntington Theatre Company’s production of The Purists

directed by Billy Porter; projections for The Flying Dutchman in Florence, Italy; and lighting and projections for Iolanta at Chicago Opera Theater. Otto’s design work is seen frequently in New York City and in regional theater and opera. His credits include The Huntington Theatre Company, Utah Opera, The Old Globe, Opera Omaha, Opera Philadelphia, Dallas Theater Center, Drury Lane Theatre, The Dallas Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, Houston Shakespeare Festival, Trinity Repertory Company, Hangar Theatre, Flat Rock Playhouse, Lyric Opera Kansas City, and productions of Legally Blonde and Rock of Ages for Norwegian Cruise Lines. Highlights to his resume include projection design for Santa Fe Opera’s production of The Golden Cockerel and The Metropolitan Opera’s production of La donna del lago.

KRISTIE C. OSI SHACKELFORD COSTUME DESIGNER

Kristie C. Osi Shackelford is a Houston-based costume designer and wardrobe specialist with a Master of Fine Arts in Costume Technology from the University of Houston. Her career

began at HGO, where she worked as a stitcher in the costume shop and later designed the costumes for the 2020 world premiere of Marian’s Song. Her credits include Carmen (Opera Orlando); Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Too Heavy for Your Pocket, and ‘da Kink in My Hair (The Ensemble Theater); Tilly the Trickster, Bunnicula, and A View From The Bridge (Lone Star College); Picasso at Lapin Agile (Rice University); Taming of The Shrew and Mamma Mia (Dobie

High School Theatre); and The Leader and Kassandra (Opera in the Heights). Upcoming projects include the world premiere of The Secret River with Opera Orlando in December 2021. Shackelford’s costume design for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom was awarded Costume Design of the Decade from the Broadway World Regional Awards in January 2020. Her passion for innovation and creativity has taken her as far as Madrid to present research within the field of costume technology to designers from around the world.

BRIAN RUGGABER SET REALIZER

Brian Ruggaber is the award-winning scenic designer who created the sets for the world premiere of Marian’s Song with HGO in 2020. Currently in his eighth year with the University

of Memphis, he heads The Department of Theatre & Dance’s scenic design program and has designed scenery for over 160 productions including opera, drama, musical theater, and dance. He has a strong interest in developing works with diversity, equity, and inclusion as core themes. His work has been seen in regional theaters, interna-tional festivals, and Off-Broadway. Ruggaber previously served as Resident Scenic Designer for The University of Cincinnati – College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) and Associate Professor of Design at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He is a proud member of United Scenic Artists Local 829, IATSE 492, and an active member of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT). He has a Master of Fine Arts from The University of Massachusetts and Bachelor of Fine Arts from Virginia Commonwealth University. In addition to design, Ruggaber has worked extensively in production and has manufactured scenery for commercial production shops, television, and regional theaters.

KEVIN J. MILLER(UNITED STATES) CHORUS MASTER/PRINCIPAL COACH

American pianist and collaborator Kevin J. Miller is acclaimed for his dynamically artful performances. He is an assistant conductor

with HGO. His other HGO Digital performances this season include Giving Voice and Suite Española: Explorando Iberia. Recent engage-ments include a recital with international tenor Joseph Calleja and Nadine Sierra at the Supreme Court of the United States, as well as an appearance with Calleja on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series. Miller prepared soprano Jessye Norman for performances of Laura Karpman’s production of Ask Your Mama, which was performed at Carnegie Hall. He has collaborated with the internationally acclaimed countertenor, David Daniels, in a recital at the Glimmerglass Festival. He can be heard on the recording Been in da Storm So Long, which features baritone Kenneth Overton. Miller has a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano from the Mannes College of Music, and a Master of Music degree and Artist Diploma in Collaborative Piano from the University of Michigan School of Music. He has participated in some

Marian's Song

of the country’s most prestigious festivals and young artist apprentice-ships, including The Tanglewood Institute of Music, Aspen Summer Music Festival, The Cleveland Art Song Festival, San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program, Washington National Opera’s Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program, and the Glimmerglass Festival.

TINA B POET—NEVAEH JOHNSON

It wasn’t long after writing her first poem that Tina B competed in poetry slams and won her first competition in 2007. She soon became a member of Houston’s 2008 Slam Team and

was featured as “Artist of the Week” in the Houston Press in 2009. By 2010, she began opening for major recording artists, starting with J. Cole, and receiving commissions for her literary artworks. Her appearances include festivals such as South by Southwest (SXSW), media outlets such as ESPN, and corporate events. She made her debut with HGO as Nevaeh in the 2020 world premiere of Marian’s Song. Tina B is a businesswoman, writer, artist, and founder of both Tina B Poetry, LLC and Heartspeaks Romance Poetry. She special-izes in creating unforgettable experiences by performing custom poems for any occasion. With a budding interest in acting, she ranks among the greats in the spoken word community as she shares her gift around the world. Also a motivational speaker and a project manager in the commercial construction industry, Tina B has a Bachelor of Science degree in Construction Science and a Master of Science in Business Marketing from Texas A&M University – College Station. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

ZOIE REAMS(UNITED STATES) MEZZO-SOPRANO —MARIAN ANDERSON

HGO Studio alumna Zoie Reams has been lauded by Opera News for her “velvety mezzo.” Her past roles with HGO include Marian

Anderson in the world premiere of Marian’s Song (2020), Maddelena in Rigoletto (2019), and Rosalia in West Side Story (2018). This season for HGO, Reams appeared in HGO Digital concert Giving Voice and will perform the role of Sister Sophia in outdoor singalong My Favorite Things: Songs from The Sound of Music. Also during the 2020-21 season she joined Minnesota Opera in a special holiday concert and will do so again as Nancy in Albert Herring, and returns to Des Moines Metro Opera as the Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd and Juno in Rameau’s Platée. Last season, Reams sang Jan Arnold in Joby Talbot’s Everest and Georgia Davenport in the world premiere of Dan Shore’s Freedom Ride at Chicago Opera Theater. Operatic high-lights of recent seasons include making her house debut at Lyric Opera of Chicago as Flora in La traviata, performing at Opera Columbus as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, singing the title role in Carmen at Opera Louisiane, and making her house and role debut at Des Moines Metro Opera as Margret in Wozzeck. Reams has appeared extensively in concert, including performing Handel’s Messiah with the Washington

National Cathedral Choir and Baroque Orchestra last season. Reams was the second-place winner at HGO’s Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias (2016), first-place winner of the Emerging Artist division of the Classical Singer Competition (2015), and second place winner of the Gulf Coast Region of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions (2016). 

NICHOLAS NEWTONNancy Haywood/Kathy Moore and Steve Homer/Jill and Allyn Risley Fellow

BASS-BARITONE—BILLY KING/CLASSMATE

Second-year HGO Studio artist Nicholas Newton also was featured in HGO Digital

productions The Making of The Snowy Day, an Opera for All and Giving Voice. The third prize winner in HGO’s 2019 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias and an alumnus of HGO’s Young Artists Vocal Academy (2016), he previously played Billy King in the world premiere of Marian’s Song (2020) and Monterone in Rigoletto (2019); he also was cast as Second Soldier in Salome (canceled). His notable performances include the roles of Count Ceprano in Rigoletto and Capulet (cover) in Roméo et Juliette with Wolf Trap Opera, Achilla in Julius Caesar at Rice University, and L’arbre and Le fauteuil in L’enfant et les sortilèges at the Aspen Music Festival. Newton was a 2019 national semifinalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and the first-place winner in the 2018 Virginia & Susan Hawk Competition. In summer 2019, he sang Monterone in Rigoletto with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. In the summer of 2020, he had been set to return to Wolf Trap Opera as Colline in La bohème, but that production was canceled due to COVID-19.  

CYNTHIA CLAYTON SOPRANO—MS. JANE ROBERTS/ ELEANOR ROOSEVELT

American soprano Cynthia Clayton was most recently seen at HGO as Ms. Jane Roberts/Eleanor Roosevelt in the world premiere of

Marian’s Song, the Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd, and Madame Larina in Eugene Onegin. Clayton is well known throughout the United States and overseas for her critically acclaimed performances of leading operatic roles including Puccini and Mozart heroines. Other highlights include Desdemona in Otello; Leonora in Il trova-tore; Nedda in Pagliacci; Violetta in La traviata; Micaela in Carmen; Marguerite in Faust; the title role in Jenůfa; the title role in Susannah; and the title role in Florencia en el Amazonas. She has had leading roles at HGO, New York City Opera, Dallas Opera, San Diego Opera, Utah Opera, Cleveland Opera, Opéra en Plein Air (Belgium), Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Opera Grand Rapids, and Central City Opera. She has been a member of the faculty at the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston since 2005.

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GEOFFREY PETERSON BARITONE—PASTOR/WALTER WHITE

Geoffrey Peterson’s roles include Pastor/Walter White in the world premiere of Marian’s Song with HGO; King Melchior in Amahl and the Night Visitors and Corporal in La Fille du

Regiment at Opera in the Heights; Nosey Parent in Speed Dating Tonight! with the Taos Opera Institute; and Luiz in The Gondoliers with the Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Houston. Peterson has worked as a teaching artist with HGOco, touring with Opera to Go! as Pavo Picasso in Strega Nona during the 2019-20 season, leading empathy training workshops at the Harris County Juvenile Detention Center, and performing as part of the Storybook Opera program. This summer, he will join the Gerdine Young Artist Program at Opera Theater St. Louis, where he will perform the role of Doctor in William Grant Still’s Highway 1, U.S.A., and cover several other roles. An advocate for social justice through music, Peterson has performed as a soloist with the Houston Ebony Opera Guild, The Dorothy Cotton Jubilee singers, and the Vitamin L chorus.