2018-19 opera season and vocal master classes announced

EVANSTON – Northwestern University’s Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music announces its 2018-19 opera season, featuring three performances directed by Artist in Residence and Director of Opera Joachim Schamberger. Under his direction, the 2018-19 opera lineup will include Britten’s “The Turn of the Screw” from Nov. 15 to 18 and Stravinsky’s “The Rake’s Progress” from Feb. 28 to March 3, 2019, with a third production to be announced for May 23 to 26, 2019.

The Robert M. and Maya L. Tichio Vocal Master Class Series returns for a fifth year, featuring master classes led by tenor Matthew Polenzani, baritone Thomas Hampson and collaborative pianist Warren Jones.

The Bienen School 2018-19 opera season includes:

“The Turn of the Screw”

By Benjamin Britten
Libretto by Myfanwy Piper
Directed by Joachim Schamberger
Conducted by Taichi Fukumura
Nov. 15 to 18
Ryan Opera Theater, 70 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston

Based on the Henry James novel of the same title, Britten’s “The Turn of the Screw” was commissioned by the Venice Biennale and premiered in 1954. In this haunting chamber opera, a young governess arrives at an English country house to care for two children. She is advised by their guardian never to write to him about the children, never to inquire about the history of the house and never to abandon the children.

Performances are Thursday through Saturday, Nov. 15 through 17, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 18 at 3 p.m. Tickets are $18 for the general public and $8 for students with valid ID.

“The Rake’s Progress”

By Igor Stravinsky
Libretto by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman
Directed by Joachim Schamberger
Feb. 28 to March 3, 2019
Cahn Auditorium, 600 Emerson St., Evanston 

Premiered in Venice in 1951, Stravinsky’s opera is loosely based on the eight William Hogarth paintings and engravings titled “A Rake’s Progress.” The tale follows the moral decline and fall of Tom Rakewell, who deserts his sweetheart Anne Trulove for the worldly pleasures of London, in the company of the devious Nick Shadow.

Performances are Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 28 through March 2, 2019, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, March 3, 2019, at 3 p.m. Tickets, on sale in mid-November, will be $18 for the general public and $8 for students with valid ID.

The Northwestern opera season will close with a yet-to-be-announced production May 23 to 26, 2019, in Cahn Auditorium. Tickets, which go on sale in mid-February, will be $18 for the general public and $8 for students with valid ID.

The Tichio Vocal Master Class Series invites audiences to encounter stars of the opera world sharing vocal performance insights with top students from the Bienen School voice and opera program. 

Matthew Polenzani Vocal Master Class

Monday, Oct. 22, 7 p.m.
Galvin Recital Hall, 70 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston

The 2018-19 season of Tichio Vocal Master Classes begins with tenor Polenzani, recipient of a 2004 Richard Tucker Award, the Metropolitan Opera’s 2008 Beverly Sills Artist Award and a 2017 Opera News Award. This season, Polenzani returns to Lyric Opera of Chicago in his signature title role of Mozart’s “Idomeneo,” appears at Sicily’s Teatro Massimo di Palermo as Rodolfo in Puccini’s “La bohème,” makes his role debut as Vaudémont in Tchaikovsky’s “Iolanta” and sings the title role of Mozart’s “La clemenza di Tito” at New York’s Metropolitan Opera. In this master class, Polenzani coaches Bienen School voice and opera program students in scenes from Charles Gounod’s “Roméo et Juliette,” Georges Bizet’s “Les pêcheurs de perles” and W. A. Mozart’s “Don Giovanni.”

Tickets are $10 for the general public and $5 for students with valid ID.

Thomas Hampson Vocal Master Class

Monday, Jan. 14, 2019, 7 p.m.
Galvin Recital Hall, 70 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston 

Baritone Hampson has been recognized with numerous honors and awards over the course of his career. In 2010, he was presented with a Living Legend Award from the Library of Congress, and he has been named a Metropolitan Opera “Met Mastersinger” in addition to being inducted into both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and Gramophone’s Hall of Fame. His 2018-19 season highlights include the world premiere of Rufus Wainwright’s “Hadrian” with Toronto’s Canadian Opera Company, concert appearances with the Vienna Symphony and Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Puccini’s “Tosca” with the Vienna State Opera and the world premiere of Tarik O’Regan’s “The Phoenix” with Houston Grand Opera. In this master class, Hampson guides Bienen School voice and opera program students through the intricacies of American art song.

Tickets are $10 for the general public and $5 for students with valid ID.

Warren Jones Vocal Master Class

Wednesday, April 3, 2019, 7 p.m.
Galvin Recital Hall, 70 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston

Pianist Jones has performed with such artists as Stephanie Blythe, Anthony Dean Griffey, Bo Skovhus, Eric Owens, John Relyea and Richard “Yongjae” O’Neill, and he serves as principal pianist for the Santa Barbara-based chamber music group Camerata Pacifica. In 2010, “Musical America” named him Collaborative Pianist of the Year, and he received the 2011 Achievement Award from the Music Teachers National Association of America. A longtime member of the Manhattan School of Music faculty, Jones also served as assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera and has adjudicated the Metropolitan Opera Auditions and the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.

Tickets are $10 for the general public and $5 for students with valid ID.

For tickets to opera performances and Tichio Vocal Master Classes, visit concertsatbienen.org or call the Bienen School of Music Ticket Office at 847-467-4000. For more information, visit concertsatbienen.org or call 847-491-5441.

The Bienen School is a member of the Northwestern Arts Circle, which brings together film, humanities, literary arts, music, theater, dance and visual arts.