presents

My Friend’s StoryA Preview of a New Opera

Presented in collaboration with Yale School of Music and the Yale Office of the Provost, with the support of Yale School of Drama

COMPOSER Martin BresickLIBRETTIST J. D. McClatchy DIRECTOR David Chambers

CONDUCTOR Julian Pellicano PRODUCER Lileana Blain-Cruz

SINGERS Ryan Allen, Claire Coolen, Jonathan Hays, Abigail Nims, & Christian Reinert

MUSICIANS Michael Compitello, Lisa Dowling, Liam Kinson, Lisa Moore, Holly Piccoli, Ashley Smith, & Jacques Lee Wood

LIGHTING DESIGNER Masha Tsimring SCENIC DESIGNER Kristen Robinson STAGE MANAGER AND COSTUME DESINGER Sara Holdren

June 19 & 20 at 8pmIseman Theatre

Copland Fund for Music

Presented with support from:

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The Artists

Martin Bresnick JD McClatchy David Chambers

Ryan Allen Claire Coolen Jonathan Hays

Abigail Nims Christian Reinert

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MARTIN BRESNICK (Composer)compositions, from chamber and symphonic music to film scores and computer music, are performed throughout the world. Bresnick delights in reconciling the seemingly irreconcilable, bringing together repetitive gestures derived from minimalism with a harmonic palette that encompasses both highly chromatic sounds and more open, consonant harmonies and a raw power reminiscent of rock. At times his musical ideas spring from hardscrabble sources, often with a very real political import. But his compositions never descend into agitprop; one gains their meaning by the way the music itself unfolds, and always on its own terms. Besides having received many prizes and commissions, the first Charles Ives Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, The Rome Prize, The Berlin Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Koussevitzky Commission, among many others, Martin Bresnick is also recognized as an influential teacher of composition. Students from every part of the globe and of virtually every musical inclination have been inspired by his critical encouragement. Martin Bresnick’s compositions are published by Carl Fischer Music Publishers, New York; Bote & Bock, Berlin; CommonMuse Music Publishers, New Haven; and have been recorded by Cantaloupe Records, New World Records, Albany Records, Bridge Records, Composers Recordings Incorporated, Centaur, and Artifact Music.

J. D. MCCLATCHY (Librettist) has taught for many years at Yale, where he also serves as the editor of The Yale Review. He has written eight volumes of poetry and three of prose, in addition to having edited dozens of other books. His translation, Seven Mozart Librettos, appeared in 2010, and he has translated several operas for performance at the Metropolitan Opera. As a librettist, he has written operas for William Schuman, Francis Thorne, Bruce Saylor, Tobias Picker, Lorin Maazel, Lowell Liebermann, Ned Rorem, Elliot Goldenthal, Michael Dellaira, Daron Hagen, Jeanine Tesori, and others—work that has been seen in opera houses around the world. He is a member and former president of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He lives in Stonington, Connecticut.

DAVID CHAMBERS (Director) is a director, writer, and producer of theatre, opera, and film. His stage work has been seen on and off Broadway, at major regional theatres in the US and in Europe. He has directed numerous premieres of American and European plays as well as half the Shakespeare canon. His opera productions have been seen at PS 122, Bard Summerscape, The Prague National Theater, and the Brooklyn Academy of Art (BAM). As a writer, he has translated plays by Moliere and Ibsen, as well as created librettos for operas. In film, Chambers served as Staging Supervisor for Robert DeNiro’s The Good Shepherd, starring Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie, and is Senior Producer of a television documentary in development, Shakespeare Now. He has extensive interests in Russian theater, with a concentration on Chekhov and revolutionary director Vsevolod Meyerhold. Chambers is Professor of Directing at the Yale School of Drama.

JULIAN PELLICANO (Conductor) is quickly distinguishing himself as a dynamic presence on the concert stage. In September 2013 Mr. Pellicano begins an appointment as Resident Conductor with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. During the 2012-2013 season he made his South American debut with the Orquestra Sinfonica de Porto Alegre (Brazil) and other recent appearances have included concerts with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, Eastern Connecticut Symphony, New Britain Symphony and Boston’s Dinosaur Annex Ensemble. An Artist in Residence at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, he has been the conductor of the Norfolk New Music Ensemble since 2008. He has worked in masterclasses with Kurt Masur, Peter Eötvös, Zsolt Nagy, Martyn Brabbins, Carl St. Clair, L’Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and he holds degrees from the Peabody Conservatory, the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, Sweden and the Yale School of Music.

About the Artists

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About the ArtistsLILEANA BLAIN-CRUZ (Producer) is a director from New York City and Miami. Recent projects include Christina Anderson’s Hollow Roots which premiered this past January in the Under the Radar Festival at the Public and A Guide to Kinship and Maybe Magic, a collaboration with choreographer Isabel Lewis and playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins at Dance New Amsterdam.She received her MFA in directing from the Yale School of Drama, where she directed Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights, The Taming of the Shrew, Tall Skinny Cruel Cruel Boys, Buffalo Maine, Cavity and Fox Play as part of the Carlotta Festival of New Plays. She was one of the Co-artistic directors of the 2011-2012 Yale Cabaret, where she directed Funnyhouse of a Negro, Vaska Vaska Glöm, and SALOME. She was an Artistic Associate of The Exchange and The Orchard Project, a member of the Lincoln Center Director’s Lab, and an Allen Lee Hughes Directing Fellow at Arena Stage. She is a graduate of Princeton University. Lileana just directed a new translation of The Bakkhai at the Fisher Center of Performing Arts at Bard College and is currently working on an adaptation of the Alejandro Jodorowsky film, EL TOPO as part of the NYTW 2050s Fellowship.

RYAN ALLEN (Jacob) though recognized in comic roles, is excited to undertake a tragic character in My Friend’s Story. He has also sung the pathetic Candy in five productions of Of Mice and Men, most recently with the Utah Opera in 2011. Mr. Allen next undertakes the title role in Don Pasquale with the American Landmark Festivals in July and Don Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia with the Hubbard Hall Opera Theater in August. Earlier this year he sang another elderly bass, Simone in Gianni Schicchi with the New Jersey Verismo Opera Association. Mr. Allen debuted with the Metropolitan Opera in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in 1993 and at Carnegie Hall in the Mozart Requiem in 1989. The bass received a Master of Music degree from the University of Texas at Austin and began his career in California as an invitee to the San Francisco Opera’s noted Merola program.

CLAIRE COOLEN (Hannah) Rising young soprano Claire Coolen is a recent graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, where she performed Gilda in Rigoletto, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Rose in Street Scene, Nanetta in Falstaff, and Mrs. Winemiller in Lee Hoiby’s Summer and Smoke. She has also performed the Governess in Britten’s Turn of the Screw at the Banff Opera Theatre in Banff, Alberta. Last summer she performed Dorinda in Handel’s Orlando with the Siena Music Festival in Siena, Italy. She is also a recent alumna of the Opera Studio at Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Italy where she studied under Renata Scotto and performed in concert at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. Claire is presently filming the role of Musetta in the motion picture film The Bohemians, a modern adaptation of Puccini’s La Bohème. (www.thebohemiansmovie.com).

JONATHAN HAYS (Narrator) In 2013, baritone Jonathan Hays has performed Carl Nielssen’s Symphony No.3 with the Harrisburg Symphony; Bach’s Ich geh und suche mit verlangen with The Bach Concert Series in Baltimore, MD; Schubert’s Winterreise in recital at Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA, and Mozart’s Don Giovanni in Memphis, TN. Career highlights include performances with the Los Angeles Opera, Washington Opera, Lincoln Center Festival, Bel Canto at Caramoor, Opera de la Colombia, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Mostly Mozart Festival, and Toronto Symphony, among many others. His recording of Jeremy Gill’s song cycle, Helian, ranked fourth on Philadelphia City Paper’s list of Top 10 Classical Albums of 2011, and the Big Easy Foundation honored him with their 2011 award for Best Performance of New Classical Music. He is on the voice faculties of Dickinson College, Susquehanna University, and Brooklyn College and Conservatory of Music. For more information, visit www.jonathanhays.net.

ABIGAIL NIMS (Milena) Mezzo-soprano Abigail Nims has established herself as a musician of integrity and versatility, continuing to garner praise for her committed performances of repertoire spanning from the Baroque to the

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About the Artistscontemporary. Ms. Nims has appeared as soloist with renowned orchestras such as the San Francisco Symphony, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the São Paulo Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, and Teatro Municipal of Santiago, Chile. Her opera credits include leading roles with New York City Opera, Wexford Festival Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Atlanta Opera, Florentine Opera, and Virginia Opera. She sang the role of Veruca Salt in the premier recording of Peter Ash’s The Golden Ticket, and her performance of Martin Bresnick’s song cycle “Falling” is featured on the composer’s album Every Thing Must Go. Ms. Nims holds degrees from the Yale School of Music, Westminster Choir College, and Ohio Wesleyan University. She is a member of the voice faculty at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

CHRISTIAN REINERT (Peter) Tenor Christian Reinert is an exciting tenor on the rise in the operatic world, his voice described by the New York Times as having “an appealing smoothness and assurance.” Recent engagements include Romeo with Livermore Valley Opera and the Townsend Opera Players, an appearance in concert with the Alabama Symphony, his Carnegie Hall debut with the American Symphony Orchestra in the US Premiere of Mátyás Seiber’s Ulysses, Rodolfo in Dicapo Opera’s La bohème, and Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with Opera Roanoke. Upcoming he makes his Arizona Opera debut as the Stuermann in Der fliegende Holländer. Other highlights include Cassio in Otello with Kentucky Opera, Edmondo in Manon Lescaut with New Orleans Opera, and Alfredo in La traviata with Opera Birmingham. In concert Mr. Reinert has performed Handel’s Messiah, Verdi’s Messa da Requiem, Dubois’ The Seven Last Words of Christ, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Randall’s The Peaceable Kingdom and Beethoven’s Choral Fantasia.

MICHAEL COMPITELLO (Percussion) Percussionist Michael Compitello is devoted to creating new art through collaborations with composers, performers, actors, and artists in all mediums. Currently Director of Percussion Studies at Cornell University,

Michael has worked with composers David Lang, John Luther Adams, Martin Bresnick, Helmut Lachenmann, Alejandro Viñao, and Marc Applebaum on premieres and performances of new works, and has performed as a chamber musician and soloist in diverse locations such as the Darmstadt Summer Course, the LA Phil’s Green Umbrella Series, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and the Kurt Weill Festival.

LISA MOORE (Piano) Australian pianist Lisa Moore lives in New York City and New Haven where she collaborates with a large and diverse range of musicians and artists. Described as “brilliant and searching” in The New York Times and “New York’s queen of avant-garde piano” in the New Yorker she has performed with the London Sinfonietta, Steve Reich Ensemble, New York City Ballet, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Paul Dresher Double Duo, American Composers Orchestra, So Percussion and Signal - in concert halls around the world including Carnegie Hall, La Scala and the Musikverein. From 1992-2008 Moore was the (founding) pianist for the Bang On A Can All-Stars (winner of Musical America’s 2005 Ensemble of the Year Award). She won the silver medal in the 1981 Carnegie Hall-Rockefeller International American Music Competition. Moore has 7 solo CDs (Cantaloupe and Tall Poppies) and over 30 collaborative discs (Sony, Nonesuch, DG, CRI, BMG, New World, ABC Classics, Albany). For more of Moore please visit www.lisamoore.org

LIAM KINSON (Clarinet) was born in Perth, Western Australia, in 1988, and began playing the clarinet at the age of 12. He was accepted into Perth Modern School on a full scholarship less than a year later, and studied with jazz/classical clarinettist Neil Boon, who began teaching him seemingly harmless but somewhat prophetic techniques such as circular breathing and improvising. 12 years later, Liam is now studying in the Contemporary Performance Program at the Manhattan School of Music, where these things have come in handy! He studied at the Australian National Academy of Music for 2 years, and was the finalist in the chamber competition at the academy and also had the privilege of

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About the Artistsworking with such musicians as Michael Collins and Pekka Kuusisto. He also performed David Stock’s Klezmer clarinet concerto Yerusha with the orchestra of the academy. Now living in Manhattan and studying with David Krakauer, Liam has performed at many new music venues around the city, his most recent project being a new ensemble called TAK, formed with friends from the contemporary program. He has also performed with Tactus and Ensemble Moto Perpetuo. He has more than a passing interest in electronic music, and also likes to meld music with dance and multimedia to create new and interesting projects.

HOLLY PICCOLI (Violin) is an Australian born violinist, valedictorian of the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School 2004, alumna of the Australian National Academy of Music 2008, and most recently alumna of the Yale School of Music, class of 2012, graduating with highest marks in her degree and honored at graduation as a Student Marshall. After graduating from Yale University, Holly continued at the Yale School of Music on staff, teaching chamber music performance to Yale undergraduates. Holly also became a member of the Yale Baroque Ensemble (YBE), performing early and new music with the YBE quartet. Holly was an Australian Chamber Orchestra(ACO) Emerging Artist of 2009. Since then, having been invited to perform in the ACO, Holly has toured with them on many national tours as well as internationally to the USA, Europe and Asia. Loving to travel and explore all genres of music, Holly will strive to see all corners of the world and the music within it.

JACQUES LEE WOOD (Cello) Member: Bachsolisten Seoul, Trinity Baroque Orchestra, Grand Harmonie, and the American Baroque Orchestra. Guest member: A Far Cry, The Firebird Ensemble, Bach Collegium Japan. Faculty: Korea Philharmonic Summer Research Institute, Korea-Japan Summer Music Festival, Seoul National Symphony Orchestra Summer Academy, Bari International Summer Music Festival (Italy), Manchester-by-the-Sea Summer Chamber Music, International Musical Arts Institute, Music at Eden’s Edge. DMA

Candidate, Yale University, MMA and MM Yale University, BM New England Conservatory. Cello studies with Laurence Lesser, Aldo Parisot. Mr. Wood is a Swiss Global Artist.

LISA DOWLING (Double Bass) is a Bassist, Vocalist and Improviser living in Brooklyn, New York. Her playing has been described as ‘energetic and precise’ by the New York Times and ‘sublime, lovely and exotic’ by Bruce Gallanter of the Downtown Music Gallery. Celebrated for her energetic and refreshing approach to contemporary music, she has commissioned and premiered over 15 works for Double bass. She has appeared on stage with the Emerson Quartet, Colin Carr, Carolyn Sampson, Bang on A Can, and has appeared as a soloist with TACTUS, The New York Chamber Players, the Nouveau Classical Project and has recently enjoyed solo recitals at the Gershwin Hotel’s Contagious Sounds Series and Spectrum. She has toured France with the Early Music Ensembles Les Siecles and Opera Fuoco and has participated in the Juene Atlantique Festival (France) working with conductor Philippe Herreweghe and the Tafelmusik Baroque Institute in Toronto. In 2007 she was a sponsored artist at the Boston Early Music Festival performing on Viola da Gamba and Double bass. In 2010 she was a fellow at the Bang on a Can Summer Institute at MassMoca, MA and was a artist in resident at OMI 2012. Lisa is also DJ Li’l Miss Dolemite and enjoys spinning funk, soul, jazz, afrobeat and hiphop, recently completing a residency at The Mkittrick Hotel (Sleep No More).

ASHLEY SMITH (Clarinet) has performed as a soloist with several of Australia’s major orchestras. His Melbourne premiere of the Lindberg Concerto was ranked amongst The Age’s Top 5 Classical Performances 2010. In 2013 Ashley shall perform extensively in Australia with the Australian String Quartet, the Syzygy Ensemble, as well as in recital with his duo partner, pianist Aura Go. Internationally, Ashley has engagements with Bang on a Can, the Chamber Music Society of the Lincoln Center and the Beijing Modern Music Festival. Described as ‘incandescent... a masterly display of skill and insight... as an apologist

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About the Artistsfor contemporary music-making, you would search hard to find this young clarinettist’s equal’ (The Age), clarinettist Ashley William Smith has emerged as one of Australia’s most exciting young musicians. The current Music Council of Australia Freedman Fellow and ABC Symphony International Young Performer Award winner, Ashley has been identified as a ‘rising star’ by the world’s leading clarinet manufacturer and is a Buffet-Crampon Artist. Ashley received his Master of Music from Yale University in 2013, where he was awarded the Nyfenger Prize as the most outstanding woodwind student.

MASHA TSIMRING (Lighting)Selected credits include: American Night: The Ballad of Juan Jose (Yale Repertory Theatre); King Richard 2, Cloud 9, Petty Harbour, The Seagull, Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights, The Taming of the Shrew (Yale School of Drama); Ain’t Gonna Make It, Cowboy Mouth, Funnyhouse of a Negro, Basement Hades, Persona, Dorian Gray, PleasureD, (Yale Cabaret); Good Goods, Drip (Crowded Fire); Fireworks Festival (Berkeley Repertory Theatre); The Norman Conquests, Skylight (Shotgun Players); Once in A Lifetime (ACT Conservatory). Masha holds a BFA from Emerson College and a MFA from Yale School of Drama. www.mashald.com

KRISTEN ROBINSON (Scenic Designer) American Night the Ballad of Juan Jose (Yale Repertory Theatre) Richard the Second, Fox Play and The Seagull (Yale School of Drama). The Princess Play’s 2&1 (New Haven, site specific project) Small Things, The Island, Persona, Out of the Blue, Dorian Gray (Yale Cabaret); The Tempest, Twelfth Night, Rosemark’d Queen (Yale Summer Cabaret Shakespeare Festival); Pippin, Big River, Oliver!, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (The Carnegie Visual and Performing Arts Center); Engaged!(Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival); and Equus (New Edgecliff Theatre). She is so thankful to be working with such a team!

SARA HOLDREN (Stage Manager and Costume Designer) is a director, performer, and theater maker from Charlottesville, Virginia and a 2015 Directing MFA candidate at the Yale School of Drama. Her previous directing work includes Shakespeare’s Richard III, As You Like It, and The Tempest, Peter Barnes’ Red Noses, and her own adaptations of Leonid Andreyev’s He Who Gets Slapped and Shakespeare’s Henry IV: Parts 1 & 2.She is a 2008 graduate of Yale College, where she served as the artistic director of the experimental theater ensemble the Control Group. She studied Acting Shakespeare at RADA and has designed costumes for such performances as Summer and Smoke by Tennessee Williams and The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder. This is her inaugural outing as a stage manager. See more of her work at saraholdren.com.

SPECIAL THANKS Bill and Greta Fertik for their generous contribution to the set

info & tickets for these and many other events at

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