Concerts: Rapunzel
& The River

Saturday, August 11 8:00 p.m.
Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium

Rapunzel:
Lou Harrison

Featuring the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, conducted by Marin Alsop.

Jennifer Foster, Soprano
Sanford Sylvan, Baritone
Wendy Hillhouse, Mezzo Soprano




Marin Alsop, Music Director and Conductor
Michael Scarola, Stage Director
Matthew Antaky, Scenic and Lighting Designer
Tesse Crocker, Costume Designer
Leonidas Kassapides, Shadow Artist

The River:
Virgil Thomson

Accompanying the award-winning film by Pare Lorentz
Milton Williams, Narrator

Marin Alsop joins two rare and fantastical productions to create a truly remarkable tribute to composers Lou Harrison and Virgil Thomson! Tonight will be a Festival night to remember when we present Harrison's opera Rapunzel together with a full screening of the award-winning documentary film The River with its score by Virgil Thomson performed live with orchestra. Alsop presents these two masterworks on the same program in tribute to the two composers' longtime friendship and to their historic significance in contemporary American music.

Composer Lou Harrison received the Twentieth Century Masterpiece Award for Rapunzel in 1954 and was presented the award by Igor Stravinsky. The opera is set to a text by English poet William Morris and is a reinterpretation of the fairy tale found in Grimm. Harrison combines lyricism and atonality to create a modern telling of a tale that is filled with introspection and psychological detail. Marin Alsop has gathered a cast of world-class opera singers for this rapturous production. Soprano Jennifer Foster, lauded for her tenderness, warmth and fearlessness, is Rapunzel. Her Prince, Sanford Sylvan, is famous for creating the role of Klinghoffer in John Adams' opera The Death of Klinghoffer, and his breathtaking recording of Adams' The Wound Dresser, which he performed at the Festival in 1991. Mezzo soprano Wendy Hillhouse, who has made Lou's music her expertise, will play the Witch. Hillhouse has been featured at the Festival in both Gorecki's Symphony No.3 and Bernstein's Jeremiah Symphony. Composer Harrison will join you for this original staging by Director Michael Scarola, with sets and lighting designs by Matthew Antaky and costumes designed by Tesse Crocker.

Harrison dedicated Rapunzel to his "friend and mentor" Virgil Thomson. Their friendship led Marin Alsop to program The River, a film directed by Pare Lorentz and scored by Thomson. The River is Pare Lorentz' greatest achievement as a filmmaker. Completed in 1938, the film was his second for the Resettlement Administration. It combines stunning visuals, a magnificent score by Virgil Thomson, and Lorentz's own moving narration to paint a vivid portrait of the necessity of the work of the Tennessee Valley Authority. The film won the Venice Film Festival in 1938 and Lorentz's was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for the narrative, which James Joyce called "the most beautiful prose that I have heard in 10 years." Milton Williams narrates these poetic words with his powerful dramatic presence and unparalleled musicality.

While the film is an important document of its time, the score Virgil Thomson created for The River is both significant and enduring. Aaron Copland once said, "it is a lesson in how to treat Americana" — high praise from a true master of the art!

Opera, film and superlative musicianship! It is an evening that pays tribute to two American masters and is in keeping with Marin's goal of creating rare, once-in-a-lifetime opportunities for artists and audiences alike. This program is sure to sell out. Order tickets early!

Tickets: $21-30

Sponsored by:

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"Rapunzel" program notes

"The River" program notes