The Elixir of Love
February 13, 2010, 7pm ● February 14, 2010, 3pm
An Opera in 2 Acts

Scene  |  Full Cast  |  Story  |  Stars Bios  |  Composer Bio

The Cast:

Peasants, soldiers of Belcore's platoon

Production Crew:

(Production and Artists subject to Change)

The Scene: An Italian Village, early 19th Century

The Story

          In an Italian village in the early nineteenth century, a wealthy country girl named Adina has stolen the heart of a poor young farmer named Nemorino. She spurns his declaration of love after flirting with the dashing but arrogant Sergeant Belcore, and Nemorino turns to Dr. Dulcamara, a traveling salesman who sells “remedies for all ills.” The smitten young man asks the doctor for a love potion, and the opportunistic Dulcamara offers to sell Nemorino a bottle of wine which he claims will help Nemorino win the heart of his beloved once it has had time to take effect (or rather once the charlatan has had time to make good his escape). Nemorino hastily spends the last of his money, drinks the entire bottle, and, tipsy and confident, informs Adina that she will be his within a day. Outraged at his indifferent behavior, she finds Belcore and agrees to marry him that very day as Nemorino, desperate for the potion to take effect, begs her to delay the wedding just one day. She refuses and holds a wedding feast that night, but nothing goes as expected – between the foolishness of Nemorino, the fickleness of Adina, and the craftiness of Dr. Dulcamara, the participants, the guests, and most of all the audience are in for a delightful series of surprises.
View an extended synopsis for The Elixir of Love

Star and Conductor Biographies

	Otokar Klein (tenor) Nemorino          Slovak-Hungarian tenor Otokar Klein has sung at major opera houses throughout Europe, appearing in performances of The Gambler at the German State Opera of Berlin, The Barber of Seville with the Vienna State Opera, and The Bartered Bride at the Zurich Opera House. He has also performed the roles of Léopold in La Juive, Quint in The Turn of the Screw, Ramiro in La Cenerentola and Almaviva in The Barber of Seville with State Opera Budapest. With Prague State Opera he performed the role of Ottavio in Don Giovanni, and with the National Theatre of Bratislava he appeared as Jeník in The Bartered Bride and Nemorino in The Elixir of Love. Other important performances include Boris Godunov at the Royal Theater of the Mint in Brussels, Don Pasquale with Opera Nice, L’italiana in Algeri with the Saxon State Opera of Dresden, among many. Concert performances include Carmina burana at the Regio Torino Theatre, works by Dvořák and Janáček at the Festival Besançon, and Beethoven's Missa Solemnis with the Dresden Philharmonic.
	Emily Truckenbrod (soprano) Adina          Emily Truckenbrod, returning to WGO for the third season, has a clear voice that makes “the angels sigh with envy.” (The Dispatch and The Rock Island Argus) Her most recent role with the WGO was Oscar in A Masked Ball. Previous roles include Adele in Die Fledermaus, The Queen of the Night and Papagena in The Magic Flute, Marie in La Fille du Regiment (Daughter of the Regiment), and Yum Yum in The Mikado. She maintains an active international recital schedule, including appearances at the Teatro Nacional “Manuel Bonilla” in Honduras, St. Mark’s Cathedral in Salzburg, Austria, and La Chapelle Notre-Dame de Compassion in Paris. She has also performed with symphonies and opera companies throughout the Midwest.
	Jorge Ocasio (bass) Dr. Dulcamara          Basso buffo Jorge Ocasio gives his Wichita Grand Opera debut as the traveling charlatan, Dr. Dulcamara, a role for which he has received acclaim in performances with several companies throughout the United States and Puerto Rico, including Regina Opera Company in New York City, Houston's Opera in the Heights, and the Teatro de la Opéra in his native San Juan. In addition, he has sung the roles of Leporello (Don Giovanni) with Opera in the Heights, Il Commendatore (Don Giovanni) with Teatro del Barrio, Dr. Bartolo (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) with Opera Company of Brooklyn, and the Sacristan (Tosca) with New Rochelle Opera in New York City. Other performance highlights include principal roles in Puerto Rico's “Puccini Gala” and in New York's popular “Verdi Marathon,” appearances with the “X Festival of Music” where he performed as soloist in J.S. Bach's humorous "Coffee Cantata" in Costa Rica and Guatemala, with the Baroque Ensemble of New York, with Aprile Millo as Tosca at Connecticut Grand Opera and in television broadcasts as the dizzy Sacristan with Opera de Puerto Rico, and in the title role of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro in Rome, Italy.
	Michael Nansel (baritone) Sgt. Belcore            Michael, a former resident of Wichita, returns to Wichita Grand Opera after singing the roles of Fiorello and the Sergeant in The Barber of Seville last season. Since 2004, he has performed with the Washington National Opera in the roles of the Major Domo in Andrea Chénier, the Bartender in the North American premiere of Sophie’s Choice, and Alcindoro in La Bohème. As comfortable with musical theatre as with the classical stage, Michael has performed as the title role in Sweeney Todd, Gaylord Ravenal in Show Boat, and Captain Von Trapp in The Sound of Music. He has also sung with Wolf Trap Opera and The Washington Savoyards.
	Patrick Hansen Conductor          A versatile artist, Patrick Hansen is a stage director, conductor, vocal coach, and acting teacher. He is currently the Director of Opera Studies at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University, where he has directed Lully’s ThéséeM, Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia, Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites, Britten’s Albert Herring, Mozart’s Così fan tutte, and Handel’s Alcina. Last summer, he conducted He is also the Associate Director of the Janiec Opera Company at Brevard Music Center, at which he conducted Puccini’s Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi with Janiec Opera Company at Brevard Music Center, and more recently, he directed Opera Memphis’ production of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice in a new English translation and performing edition. Formerly the Artistic Administrator for Florida Grand Opera, Mr. Hansen was the Director of the Young American Artist Program at Glimmerglass Opera from 1998 to 2005 and the former Music Director of Opera Festival of New Jersey where he conducted Dallapiccola’s Il Prigioniero, Bartok’s A Kékszakállu Herceg Vara, Die Zauberflöte, and the world premiere of Frank Lewin’s revised edition of Burning Bright. Mr. Hansen has been on the music staffs of The Juilliard Opera Center, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Tulsa Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Nashville Opera, Opera Memphis, and Opera Iowa.
	Martin Mázik Conductor          As principal conductor of the Slovakian National Opera in Bratislava, Maestro Mázik conducts more than 100 performances per season, including the operas La Traviata, Carmen, Don Giovanni, and The Elixir of Love. In addition, he has appeared with major opera companies and orchestras in Europe, Japan and The United States. Since January 2006, he has conducted two tours through Germany, Austria, and Switzerland totaling over 60 performances. He made his U.S. opera debut with Wichita Grand Opera’s Don Giovanni in 2004 and returned to conduct Die Fledermaus in 2005, Romeo and Juliet in 2007, A Masked Ball, La Bohème, and Faust in the 2007-2008 season, and The Barber of Seville last season.

Composer Bio

Gaetano Donizetti: Gaetano Donizetti was one of the most important opera composers of the “bel canto” tradition and, along with Bellini, is often considered both the heir of Rossini and the predecessor of Verdi. Born in extremely modest circumstances, his early encounters with music made possible by his first composition teacher and lifelong mentor, Simon Mayr, a native of Bavaria who was maestro di cappella at the cathedral in Bergamo. At the age of twenty, Donizetti obtained a commission, with Mayr’s help, that resulted in Enrico di Borgogna, which premiered in Venice in November 1818. More commissions followed, though during this period he also composed a large proportion of his sacred works and several string quartets. In 1821 he wrote Zoraida di Granata for the Teatro Argentina, Rome: it was Donizetti's most successful yet, winning him an invitation to write for Naples from the leading impresario of the time, Domenico Barbaia.

Donizetti settled in Naples in February 1822 and was based there for the next 16 years, writing many operas for the city but also receiving performance offers and commissions across a wide area. Among the most important was an invitation in 1828 to participate in the opening season of the new Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, for which he supplied Alina, regina di Golconda. After more than a decade in the theatre, Donizetti's reputation was established, nationally and internationally, by his 31st opera, Anna Bolena. From then until his departure for Paris in 1838 he produced 25 operas, among which are many of his most famous: he composed with equal facility overtly ‘Romantic’ works, those on historical or classical subjects, and comic pieces. He grew increasingly preoccupied with obtaining a commission in Paris, and his opportunity finally arrived in 1835 when Rossini commissioned new works for the Théâtre Italien from both Donizetti and Bellini. Donizetti's effort, adapted from Byron's play, was Marin Faliero.

A series of personal blows struck in the late 1830s. In 1835 and 1836, his parents died within a few weeks of each other, and in July 1837, at the age of only 29, his wife Virginia died after giving birth to a stillborn child. Discouraged by a sequence of professional disappointments and personal tragedy, Donizetti left Naples in October 1838 and settled permanently in Paris. The rate of his production hardly slowed in this new atmosphere: he wrote several grand works for the Paris Opéra; La Fille du regiment appeared at the Opéra-Comique; and the Théâtre de la Renaissance presented the French premiere of Lucia de Lammermoor. In 1842 he accepted the far more prestigious position of Hofkapellmeister to the Habsburg court in Vienna and court composer to the Austrian emperor, an appointment that was assured by the success of Linda di Chamounix, his first opera written expressly for Vienna. Further Viennese operas appeared, the ultra-melodramatic Maria di Rohan and the classically comic Don Pasquale, and Donizetti completed a last grand opera, Dom Sébastien, late in 1843. His health had been declining for some years, and in 1844 illness slowed his furious productivity to a crawl. In the autumn of 1847 he was moved back to Bergamo, where he died on 8 April 1848.

- May Smart