presents

Igor Stravinsky’s

The

Rake’s Progress

Conducted by

Stephen Karr

Directed and Designed by

Josh Shaw

Assistant Conductor Brad Smith

Assistant Director Alexander Gedeon Stage Manager Kaitrin Kinnare

Costumes by Maggie Green Assistant Costumer Vanessa Stewart

Assistant Stage Manager Brendan Vasquez Director of the Occidental College Glee Club Desiree LaVertu

Lighting Designer Marie Mawji Facilities Manager Brian Fitzmorris

Starring

Brian Cheney as Tom Rakewell Rachele Schmiege as Anne Trulove

Adrian Rosas as Nick Shadow Patrick Blackwell as Father Trulove

Adelaide Sinclair as Baba the Turk Robert Norman as Sellem

Danielle Marcelle Bond as Mother Goose Joel David Balzun as Keeper of the Madhouse

** By arrangement with Boosey & Hawkes, Inc., publisher and copyright owner **

Orchestra

Chorus Flute Eve Bañuelos* Julia Barnett

Clarinet Virginia Figueiredo* Jonathan Sacdalan

Violin I Boryana Popova* Ji-Young An Miroslava Khomik Leila Nassar-Fredell

Violin II Elizabeth Dickenson* Jonathan Rubin Anna Savery Margaret Wu

Viola Alison Perrine* Din Hann Sung Nikki Shorts

Cello Hillary Smith* Christopher Ahn Joo Lee

Bass Stewart Rosen* Sean O’Hara Timpani Benjamin Phelps

The Occidental College Glee Club

Soprano Devi Bhatti Alyssa Brode Jenna Friedman Mallory Gantner Jessie Massoudi Adrien Roberts Mezzo-Soprano Eleen Hsu- Wentlandt Elizabeth Kerstein Nancy Morgan

Tenor Bruce Anderson Daniel Charleston Baritone/Bass Scott Ziemann

Piccolo Julia Barnett

Oboe April Cap* Phil Popham, English Horn Phil Popham

Bassoon Sean Barela* Sumner Arano

Horn Brian Shetland* Gabrielle Mocilnikar

Trumpet John Cross* Joe Ferruzzo

* Denotes Principal Chair

POP Board of Directors

Phil Meyer, Chairman Juliet Brown, Secretary Kelsey Shaw, Treasurer

Stephen Karr Bruce Merritt Josh Shaw Kathy Crandall

Judy Townsend William Kennedy

Hats Off to Our POP Family

$5000 smoking jacket Penny Donnelly & William Kennedy

$1000 ascot Anne Flett, Eric Fütterer, Paul Gurian, Scott Haller, Bruce & Valerie Merritt, Phil Meyer, Kyle Patterson, Robert

Robinson, Chloe Smart, & Michael Tomasulo

$500 wingtips Wendy Arano, Julie Boyd, Brian Carroll, Sharon & Rick Ellingsen, Deborah Gero, William Ireland, Anette

Ostergaard, Myra Rosen, Mimi Rotter, Laura Scott-Sellers, James Standish, Mary Irene Ujda, Jeanne Waldman, Robert Webb, Ted Williams, & Joann Zajac

$250 bowler hat Benjamin Barnes, Amanda Boesche, Elizabeth Clark, Scott Cruit, Patricia DiStefano, W. Allan Edmiston, MD, John Elliott, Judith Hopkins, Angie Hougen, Robert P. Khoury, Kathryn Lane, Daniel Marjoros & Richard Reeves, Morency Maxwell, Michael Melton, William Mosby, Arthur Rieman, Carole Roback, Kenneth Robins, Peter Rutenberg, Barbara Schufreider,

Brigitta Troy, Michael Weiss, & Ian White-Thomson

$100 tweed vest Bruce Anderson, Jacoba Atlas, Robert & Jona Bailey, Colin Barnes, Fay Blair, Mary Bosak, Heidi Brantley, Linda Bridges Karr, Mark Carlson, Jason

Coleman, John Coudures, Frederick Dear, Michael Deck, Carol Donlan, Virginia Fawcett, Colin Gibson, Tom & Sarah Hensley, David Hurwitz, Janet Jack, Arnold Karr, Robert Kieft, Rosalie Kornblau, Candida League, William & Mary Lewis, Judy Lieb, Marjana Mahnovski, Susan Malinowski, Barbara

Merkle, Thomas Metzler, Britta Millard, Amy Miller, Penni Montalbano, Margaret Mostue, Michael Newman, Susan Phifer, Roger Rindge, Marilyn Robertson, Lawrence Rubinstein Frank & Susan Ruch, Jain Sekular, Robert Shetland, Suzanne Siegel, Susanne Spangler, Rhoads Stephenson, Kathryn

Sturdevant, Hannah Waldman, Jacquelyne Wallace, Jennifer Weiss, Monika Whitaker, Sally White, & Yoko Yamaguchi

$50 handlebar mustache Sonja Alarr, Luvi Avendano, Danilo Bach, Alice Bennett, Rubino Bustamante, Eric Castro, Dana Chin, Ralph Ellis, Jennifer Frain, Joseph & Danielle

Gangestad, Louise Ghandhi, Joy Gilham, Frieda Gockel, Amy Inouye, Elizabeth Jones, Yousif Kamal, Clare Kiklowicz, Gina Kim, Enid LaGesse, Jefferson Lanz, Heather Littell, Marguerite Marsh, Tani Mathias, Sara McGah, Myron Meisel, Martha Jo Morehouse, Emily Murray, Thomas Ozanich,

John G. Paton, Ashley Postelwaite, Steven Sailer, Jane Szabo, Marie Vester, Matthew Welch, Robert Woods, & Timothy Wright

Special Thanks David Kasunic and Occidental College | Martha Benedict Photography

Kasimoff Blüthner Piano Company for the use of the Neupert harpsichord Housing for artists graciously provided by Mr. & Mrs. Bruce Merritt and Mr. & Mrs. Scott Trimble

!

!

Become a member of our POP family. Donate today!

$50 handlebar mustache Get insider POP updates ad invitations to special events in our donor e-newsletter, Access to tickets before the general public, Name recognition in production and special event programs $100 tweed vest All benefits listed above plus—A gift of “Glasses & Glasses” (two glasses of wine and two trademark POP sunglasses) at a POP performance, and an Invitation to a POP rehearsal $250 bowler hat All benefits listed above plus— Invitation to one POP Salon, featuring POP Main Stage Artists $500 wingtips All benefits listed above plus— Invitation to one POP Cast Party $1000 ascot All benefits listed above plus— Invitation to two POP Salons, featuring POP Main Stage artists $2500 monocle All benefits listed above plus— Lunch with Artistic Director $5000 smoking jacket All benefits listed above plus— POP Main Stage artists perform for you at an event of your choice.

This project is supported, in part, by a grant from the Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles.

The Rake’s Progress is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.

Brian Cheney (Tom Rakewell) Hailed by KUSC Los Angeles as the “next great tenor”, Brian Cheney has gained international acclaim for his portrayal of characters such as Don José in Carmen, Mario Cavaradossi in Tosca, Rodolfo in La bohème, the Duke in Rigoletto, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, and Canio in Il Pagliacci. “It is tenor Brian Cheney as the brave painter Cavaradossi who really blew me away. Cheney has that terrific tenor sound: the power, richness, and vocal color of a high baritone combined with ringing, awe-inspiring high notes." Stage & Cinema.

Known as opera’s Captain Kirk, his Belmonte in POP’s hit Abduction from the Seraglio continues to charm audiences and critics nationwide. LA Splash hails Cheney as “a beautiful voice, which he melds happily with his campy and funny portrayal of Captain Kirk” and the Huffington Post declares his Belmonte as “Ham-bone supreme.”

Mr. Cheney has performed numerous times as a soloist at Carnegie Hall with his most recent performance performing a world premiere and US premiere of Hungarian music with the American Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Leon Botstein. In 2011, Mr. Cheney also made his Lincoln Center debut as tenor soloist for the 10th Anniversary of 9/11 at Avery Fisher Hall appearing with acclaimed soprano, Jessye Norman. A now frequent soloist at Lincoln Center, Brian will return this season for the popular New Year’s Concert, Salute to Vienna. Engagements for the 2016/17 season include Belmonte in Opera Piccola San Antonio, Festival Opera, and Salt Marsh Opera, Rodolfo in La bohème with the Windsor Symphony and Norwalk Symphony Opera and Tenor Soloist in Salute to Vienna at Lincoln Center, Walt Disney Concert Hall, and the Jacobs Music Center in San Diego.

Rachele Schmiege (Anne Trulove) Rachele Schmiege has been praised for her “incredibly crystalline voice” and “absolutely thrilling” portrayals. This season, she appears as Anne Truelove in Rakes Progress with Pacific Opera Project and Mimi in La femme bohème with MetroWest Opera.

On the concert stage, Ms. Schmiege will be singing Soprano solos in Mendelsohn’s Elijah (Pioneer Valley Symphony and Chorus) and Mozart’s Requiem (Falmouth Chorale). Recent appearances include: Lucette, Cendrillon

(Resonance Works); Soprano II, Hydrogen Jukebox (Nashville Opera); Elle, La voix humaine and Amy, Little Women (Opera on the James); Violetta, La traviata (Hubbard Hall Opera Theater); Gilda, Rigoletto (Cape Cod Opera Outreach); Valencienne, The Merry Widow (Opera Providence); Dortchen Wilde, The Brother’s Grimm (Nashville Opera, US premiere). Recent concert appearances include: Soprano soloist, Requiem, Verdi (Cape Cod Symphony, MidCoast Symphony and Pioneer Valley Symphony); Ein Deutsches Requiem, Brahms (Chatham Chorale); Mass in C minor, Mozart (Newburyport Chorale Society); Magnificat, Bach (Akron Symphony Chorus); Requiem and Exultate Jubilate, Mozart (Chatham Chorale); a new work in collaboration with composer Mohammad Fairouz.

Recently, Rachele placed second in the 2016 Classical Singer National Vocal Competition, Young Artist/Emerging Professional Division. For more information, please visit: www.racheleschmiege.com

Adrian Rosas (Nick Shadow) Hailed by the New York Times as “a stalwart bass-baritone with a burnished voice” and in Opera News as a “mellifluous bass-baritone [with] theatrical flair”, Adrian Rosas is an emerging young artist with “impressive experience and talent” (The Boston Globe). Mr. Rosas has performed with opera companies such as the Seattle Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Houston’s Opera in the Heights, and the Detroit Opera House. As a champion of new and modern music, he has had the opportunity to work on a

variety of newly written works, including Peter Ash’s The Golden Ticket, Robert Xavier Rodriguez’s Frida, Petr Kotik’s Master-Pieces, Matt Aucoin’s Whitman, newly written operas with the American Lyric Theater in New York, and with the Ostrava Center for New Music in the Czech Republic. Equally versed in concert and oratorio work, he has performed at Carnegie Hall (Stern Auditorium, Weill Recital Hall, and Zankel Hall), Merkin Concert Hall, and Alice Tully Hall. Mr. Rosas holds a Bachelor of Music Degree from Western Michigan University, and a Master of Music Degree from The Juilliard School.

Patrick Blackwell (Father Trulove) Patrick Blackwell studied on scholarship at The Juilliard School of Music. He now calls Los Angeles Home, where he will begin his 4th season at Los Angeles Opera as Zwieter Soldat in Strauss's Salome. Mr. Blackwell will make two Debuts this year. Porgy in the Gershwin's Porgy and Bess at The Semper Opera, Dresden and The Sydney National Opera, Australia. He is delighted to return to POP singing the role of Father Trulove.

Adelaide Sinclair (Baba the Turk) Possessing a voice the Los Angeles Times called “rich, fluent and creamy,” mezzo-soprano Adelaide Sinclair has appeared with New York City Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Seattle Opera, Arizona Opera, San Antonio Opera, and the Central City (Colorado) Opera Festival. Abroad, she was soloist for the mainland China premiere performances of Elijah and invited to the Haydn Festival at Eisenstadt, Austria. She has been a featured soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic (at both the

Music Center and Hollywood Bowl), New York Choral Ensemble, L.A. Master Chorale, Pacific Chorale, St. Louis Chamber Orchestra, California Philharmonic, and the Long Beach, Pacific, Utah, Seattle, Portland, St. Louis, and Chicago symphonies, singing under the batons of such luminaries as Shaw, Hillis, Abravanel, Leinsdorf, and Leonard Slatkin. Her Carnegie Hall debut was a staged Elijah with Bryn Terfel in the title role and for six seasons she toured the U.S. with Opera a la Carte, a Gilbert & Sullivan repertory company. Garnering critical acclaim across the country in more than 30 operatic roles and 50 concert works, Miss Sinclair has recorded Wagner and Verdi for Telarc, the Witch of Skye for Highlander: A Celtic Opera, as guest soloist on 'Tis the Season with the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles, and in sacred works of Franck, Schubert, and Mozart under the Con Brio label, as well as creating roles in contemporary works of Hundley, Rorem, and Stoddard. Heard frequently at Bach Festivals, she has been on the summer voice faculties of Idyllwild Arts Academy and SongFest, serves as a judge for the Met Auditions and a panelist for CA Symphonies Conferences, has conducted master classes at dozens of campuses, and been featured in Columbia Artists' community concert series. On-air at KUSC, she was recently referred to by Jim Svejda as, "One of the great voices in captivity today!

variety of newly written works, including Peter Ash’s

Robert Norman (Sellem) Tenor, Robert Norman is thrilled be returning to Pacific Opera Project as Sellem, having previously appeared in eight original productions and two revivals including Pedrillo in Abduction from the Seraglio, Spoletta in Tosca, Brighella in Ariadne auf Naxos, and Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni. He is a finalist for the 2016 Loren L. Zachary Society National Vocal Competition, an L.A. District winner for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and winner of Center Stage Opera’s David W. Scott Memorial Competition. He received both

his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees from CSU Northridge, and is an alumnus of the Opera Santa Barbara Studio Artist Program.

Recent performances for Mr. Norman include Goro in Madama Butterfly with Opera San José, Dayton Opera, Salt Marsh Opera; Dr. Caius in Falstaff with Opera San José; Tobias Ragg in Sweeney Todd with Townsend Opera, Fresno Grand Opera; Steve Hubbell in A Streetcar Named Desire with Opera Santa Barbara, Union Avenue Opera, Townsend Opera, and Fresno Grand Opera. He is a regular performer with Los Angeles Opera’s community and education programs, and has thrilled audiences as a monster hot dog, an evil game show host, a conspiratorial Babylonian advisor, and Mr. Mozart himself.

Upcoming performances for the 2016-7 season include Pedrillo in Abduction from the Seraglio with Pacific Opera Project, Festival Opera and Salt Marsh Opera, and Howard Boucher in Dead Man Walking with Townsend Opera and Fresno Grand Opera. www.robertnormantenor.com

Danielle Marcelle Bond (Mother Goose) Ms. Bond has been hailed by the LA Times with a “Brava!”for her performance as Swiss Grandmother/Austrian Woman/British Dancing Girl in Long Beach Opera’s production of John Adams’ Death of Klinghoffer. As Marilyn Monroe in the US premiere of Marilyn Forever, Opera News says “Bond… sang sumptuously, expressively.” She recently premiered Kenneth Wells’ The Center Cannot Hold as Lady of the Charts, based on the memoir of Elyn Saks. Roles include the title role of Carmen, Dido/ Dido & Aeneas, Hermia/ Britten’s A

Midsummer Night’s Dream, Siebel/ Faust, Olga/ Eugene Onegin, Cornelia/ Handel’s Giulio Cesare, Amahl’s Mother, Flora/ La traviata. Ms. Bond debuted in Germany as Maddalena in Rigoletto with Opera Classica Europa. She has also performed with Opera Santa Barbara’s opera improv. troupe & LA Opera Outreach. She has an extensive oratorio repertoire, garnering her a 2014 American Prize award. She is also a voice actor & sings on film, TV and video game scores.

Joel David Balzun (Keeper of the Madhouse) Last seen with POP as Mr. Cassidy (The Merry Widow Widder), baritone and composer Joel David Balzun currently serves on the faculties of Biola University and Fullerton College. He made his Kennedy Center Debut in 2014 as "Ping" (Turandot), and won the 2016 Rio Hondo Symphony Young Artist Competition. Highlights of the 2016-2017 season include “Caoudal” (Sapho, Massenet) with Angel City Opera, in addition to numerous recital and concert performances in Southern California. As a vocal fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, he recently performed Shostakovich's Symphony No. 14 with the

Tanglewood Festival Orchestra alongside Dawn Upshaw and Sanford Sylvan, and selections from the

his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees from CSU Northridge, and

Midsummer Night’s Dream, Siebel/

Great American Songbook alongside Stephanie Blythe. Other favourite past performance highlights include the title role in Don Giovanni, the Four Villains (Les contes d'Hoffmann), "Sid" (Albert Herring), “Dr. Malatesta” (Don Pasquale), and “Valentin” (Faust). He has previously appeared with Calgary Concert Opera Company, Cowtown Opera Company, Redlands Opera Theatre, the Rio Hondo Symphony, the Rochester Bach Festival, and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Also a successful composer, Mr. Balzun's "haunting and beautiful" music has garnered awards, commissions and performances in Canada, Costa Rica, the United States, and the United Kingdom. He was a guest composer at the 2013 CBDNA National Conference, and at the 2014 CFAMC National Conference, where he was also a guest performer. Mr. Balzun studied Music Composition and Vocal Performance at University of Calgary, Biola Unviersity, and the Eastman School of Music, where he earned his Master's degree, studying with Jan Opalach. http://www.joelbalzun.com/

Josh Shaw, Artistic Director

Josh Shaw is the co-founder and Artistic Director of Pacific Opera with a distinctive artistic vision, formed over a decade of work in opera and the experiences from over 100 productions. During the 2015 POP season Mr. Shaw directed sold-out and critically acclaimed productions of Ariadne auf Naxos, Falstaff, Viva la mamma!, and Abduction from the Seraglio.

Mr. Shaw is the Resident Director for Chamber Opera Players of Los Angeles and has directed productions of Il segretto di Susanna, A Hand of Bridge, Gallantry, A Sunday Excursion, The Man on the Bearskin Rug, Three Sisters who are not Sisters,and The Last Silent Voice (World Premiere) for the up and coming company. He has been on staff at Opera Neo in San Diego for

the past four seasons where he has directed multiple productions and events and has served as Stage Director and Head of Production and Community Events. He is also the resident director of The Southern Illinois Music Festival where he has directed productions of Carmen, Lucia di Lammermoor, Abduction from the Seraglio, and one of the few fully-staged productions of Rossini’s grand opera Guillaume Tell. Other recent directorial projects include Tosca: A moving production, La bohème AKA “The Hipsters”, La Calisto, The Turn of the Screw, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Le nozze di Figaro, The Mikado,Cosi fan tutte, Trouble in Tahiti, Sweeney Todd, Ariadne auf Naxos, Falstaff, Viva la mamma! and Don Giovanni and with POP; The Medium for Redlands Opera Theatre; Cavalleria rusticana and I pagliacci with the Celestial Opera Company; andMadama Butterfly with Salt Marsh Opera.

In 2016 Mr. Shaw has directed several revivals of his “Star Trek” Abduction from the Sergalio including POP’s sold out night at The Ford Amphitheater in Hollywood, and productions at Opera Piccola San Antonio, and Festival Opera in Oakland, CA. Next month he heads to Salt Marsh Opera in CT for the show’s seventh production. Other original librettos by Mr. Shaw include adaptations of Mozart’s The Impresario and his Wild West setting of The Merry Widow. Upcoming projects includeIl barbiere di Siviglia at POP this November and Don Giovanni with SIFest next June.

In his former life as a tenor, Mr. Shaw sang leading roles with Opera Fairbanks, Capital Opera of Sacramento, High Desert Opera, Opera Las Vegas Center Stage Opera, Lyric Opera of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Metropolitan Opera, Intimate Opera Company, The Celestial Opera Company, and Opera Pasadena. He has toured the United States with the Pasadena-based Gilbert & Sullivan troupe, Opera a la Carte for multiple seasons. He has also worked and recorded albums with LA Operetta Project, a foundation dedicated to recording lost early American operetta and music theatre. Mr. Shaw’s most celebrated roles include Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Cavaradossi in Tosca, Rodolfo in La bohème, Alfredo in La traviata, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Don José in Carmen, and the title role in Faust. In conjunction with the Los Angeles Ring Festival in 2010, he sang the lead role of Arindal in Lyric Opera of Los Angeles’ U.S. staged premiere of Richard Wagner’s first opera, Die Feen, of which the LA Times said, “…tenor Josh Shaw revealed a grasp of the heroic potential and temporary madness of Arindal.”

Mr. Shaw is a graduate of Ouachita Baptist University and Southern Illinois University, with a master’s degree in Opera/Music Theater. More information at www.joshshaw.org or www.pacificoperaproject.com

Stephen Karr, Music Director

Born in Greenville, South Carolina, Stephen Karr is a young conductor and keyboardist establishing himself as a compelling interpreter of a wide variety of orchestral and operatic works. In 2011, Stephen co-founded Pacific Opera Project, for which he serves as music director and has led highly successful productions of Trouble in Tahiti, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, Sweeney Todd, La bohème, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Le nozze di Figaro The Mikado, The Turn of the Screw, Carmen, La Calisto (LA premiere), Tosca, Abduction from the Seraglio and Ariadne auf Naxos as either conductor or from the keyboard. In his review of the

Britten, Mark Swed of the LA Times made special note of the orchestra, "expertly conducted by Stephen Karr."

In addition to his work with POP, Stephen has been on the music staff of opera companies and universities across the US, including Des Moines Metro Opera’s OPERA Iowa tour, the Glimmerglass Festival, Michigan State University, Opera New Jersey, Opera Santa Barbara, Palm Beach Opera and UCLA as a pianist/coach and assistant conductor. His international appearances include the Royal Opera House in Muscat, Oman as assistant conductor and principal keyboardist with the Glimmerglass Festival’s production of The Music Man and an appointment as Cultural Envoy from the United States Department of State leading the Rotterdam Youth Symphony and the brass ensemble from Rotterdam's Codarts Conservatory of Music in a concert for the annual World Harbor Days festival.

Stephen’s operatic repertoire includes over thirty separate productions, spanning nearly the entire history of the art form, from Cavalli’s Il Giasone and Lully’s Armide to world or regional premieres of recent works, notably Kenneth Wells’s The First Lady in 2010 in a co-production between the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuropsychology and need theater. He has served as a guest artist or faculty member at Chapman University, California State University Northridge, Michigan State University, USC, Westminster Choir College and UCLA, where he will serve as principal pianist for the Spring 2016 production of Così fan tutte. Stephen's schooling includes degrees in organ performance from Westminster Choir College and Mercer University, as well as a master's degree in orchestral conducting from UCLA, where he studied with Neal Stulberg and led a wide variety of repertoire. He is also a co-founder of the school's resident new music ensemble, contempo flux.

Kaitrin Kinnare is the company manager for Pacific Opera Project and has stage-managed their past eleven productions. She is also a free-lance stage manager and has worked across the United States with companies such as UCLA Opera, Northern Lights Music Festival, Opera Neo and Salt Marsh Opera. Kaitrin graduated with a B.A. in Film Production and a minor in Business Studies from Emerson College in 2010 and worked at NBC Universal Television Studios and Warner Bros. Pictures prior to pursuing a career in live theatrical production.

!Maggie Green came late to professional costume design, though she has been making costumes for family and friends since she was a teenager. It was only after coming to Los Angeles a decade ago that she realized it could be a career. Maggie has a certificate in costume design from Los Angeles City College Theatre Academy, but finds that motherhood was also great training for dressing performers. By far her favorite work has been with Pacific Opera Project, for whom she's been doing costumes since 2012 when they did their first big production with a chorus, Sweeney Todd. She has costumed every show since, making The Rake’s Progress her sixteenth show with POP!

Collaborative pianist Brad Smith taught himself to play the piano at age 11, and began lessons six months later. His primary teachers include Louise Barfield, Andrew Campbell, Kenneth Griffiths, Donna Loewy, and Elisabeth Pridonoff. He has done master-class work with Graham Johnson, Patricia Racette, François le Roux, Cameron Stowe, and Craig Terry. Brad won the 2004 Macon Symphony Orchestra’s Concerto Competition, playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 under Maestro Adrian Gnam. He immensely enjoys collaborative work, working as a vocal coach, recitalist, and rehearsal pianist for operatic, choral, vocal, and chamber music performances.!

At the University of Cincinnati College–Conservatory of Music, Brad earned a Bachelor of Arts in music (summa cum laude, 2008) and a Masters in Collaborative Piano (2011). Not only a pianist, he also received a German minor and edited CCM’s Music Research Forum, one of the country’s only student-produced musicology journals. In 2015, Smith completed his doctoral degree in collaborative piano at the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University in Phoenix, Arizona. Also in 2015, he joined the faculty at Los Angeles Valley College as full-time Piano Accompanist/Coach.

Dr. Smith lives in North Hollywood with his wonderful bride, soprano Kerrie Caldwell.

!Alexander Gedeon is a composer, performer and director, with a keen eye towards realizing music as spectacle. As a recording and performance artist, he created Trick & the Heartstrings, a New York punk-funk trio that released music on the Warner Bros subsidiary 679 in the UK, and recorded with Grammy-award winning producer Paul Epworth. Subsequently, Alexander formed Yellow Alex, a funk/disco ensemble that released music on the Collective Sounds label in Los Angeles (Sony RED). Earlier this year, Alexander made his opera debut as Assistant Director in the world premiere of David Lang's "anatomy theater", presented by LA Opera's Off-Grand series. Alexander will follow the production to New York this winter for the east coast

premiere at BRIC in Brooklyn. Alexander trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, and is a graduate of New York University's Experimental Theater Wing. A massive Stravinskiphile, he is delighted to join POP's amazing team in actualizing this production of "The Rake's Progress".

THE RAKE’S PROGRESS SYNOPSIS

ACT I Anne Trulove and her fiancé, Tom Rakewell, work in her father's pub, The Cyprian Queen on a spring night. Trulove, who doubts Tom’s character, has arranged a job for him in the city, but Tom declines. Alone, he declares his intention to trust his good fortune and enjoy life. When he expresses his wish for money, Nick Shadow, a stranger, appears. He tells Tom that a forgotten uncle has died, leaving him a fortune. Anne and Trulove return to hear the good news. Shadow offers to accompany Tom to London to help settle his affairs, and Tom agrees to pay him for his services in a year and a day. Tom promises to send for Anne; Shadow turns to the audience announcing, “The progress of a rake begins.”

At a club in London, Tom recites Shadow’s rules to live by to the madam, Mother Goose: to follow nature rather than rules and to seek beauty and pleasure. When asked about love, he becomes momentarily terrified. He is eager to escape as the clock strikes one, but Shadow turns it back an hour and assures Tom that time is his. Tom responds with reflections on love, which he feels he has betrayed, but then accepts Mother Goose’s offer to spend the night with her.

Back at the pub, night falls and Anne wonders why she hasn’t heard from Tom. She leaves her father’s house, determined to find him.

ACT I I Tom is bored and disillusioned with his decadent life and no longer dares to think of Anne. He pronounces his second wish: for happiness. Shadow appears and shows him Baba the Turk, a celebrity of great renown. He suggests that Tom marry her to express his freedom and thus know true happiness. Tom agrees.

Anne comes to Tom’s house, surprised to see deliveries of strange packages. Tom, startled at the sight of Anne, he declares himself unworthy and tells her to leave and forget him. Baba calls out from the car, and Tom admits to the astonished Anne that he is married. Both wonder what might have been, while Baba interrupts with impatient remarks. Anne faces reality and leaves, as paparazzi hail Baba.

At breakfast, Tom sits sulking while Baba chatters away. When he refuses to respond to her affection, she complains bitterly. Tom silences her then falls into an exhausted sleep, as Baba remains motionless. Shadow wheels in a machine that turns stones into bread. Tom awakes saying, “I wish it were true”—only to realize that the machine is what he saw in his dream. Elated, he wonders if in return for doing one good deed he might again deserve Anne. Shadow points out the device’s usefulness and the two set out to seek investors.

INTERMISSION

ACT I I I Tom’s business venture fails, and his belongings are up for auction. Anne enters looking for Tom. The auctioneer, Sellem, begins the bidding. When the crowd bids for Baba, she resumes her chatter and, indignant at finding her possessions up for sale, tries to order everyone out. She advises Anne to find Tom, who still loves her. Tom and Shadow are heard singing in the street and Anne rushes out after them while Baba makes a dignified exit.

Shadow has led Tom to a graveyard with a freshly dug grave and reminds him that a year and a day have passed, and his payment is due. Tom must end his life by any means he chooses before the stroke of midnight. Shadow offers an alternative: they will gamble for Tom’s soul. Placing his trust in the Queen of Hearts, Tom defeats Shadow who disappears, condemning Tom to insanity in retaliation. Tom imagines himself Adonis, Venus’ lover.

In Elysian Fields Insane Asylum, Tom awaits his wedding to Venus, mocked by the other inmates. The Keeper admits Anne. Believing her to be Venus, Tom confesses his sins, and for a moment they imagine timeless love. Trulove comes to fetch his daughter, and Anne bids the sleeping Tom farewell. When he wakes to find her gone, he cries out for Venus as the inmates mourn Adonis.

EPILOGUE The principals gather to tell the moral of the story. Anne warns that not every man can hope for someone like her to save him; Baba warns that all men are mad; Tom warns against self-delusion, to Trulove’s agreement; Shadow mourns his role as man’s alter ego. All agree that the devil finds work for idle hands.