[NEohioPAL]Oberlin Conservatory Opera Theater Stages Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites

[Marci Janas]

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OBERLIN Opera Theater News
Oberlin Conservatory of Music =95 Office of Public Relations =95 39 West=20=

College Street =95 Oberlin OH 44074-1576
Phone 440-775-8328  =95 Fax 440-775-5457  =95 CTS Box Office =
440-775-8169


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:		MEDIA CONTACT: Marci Janas
October 21, 2005				440-775-8328 or =
marci.janas at oberlin.edu

=09
Dialogues of the Carmelites, Poulenc=92s Opera about Fear, Faith, and=20
Courage
During the French Revolution, to be Staged by Oberlin Opera Theater=20
November 16 =97 20

Complimentary Media Tickets: 440-775-8328
Limited Seating Available for Weekend Performances
Call Oberlin College=92s Central Ticket Service at 440-775-8169


OBERLIN, OHIO =97 Dialogues of the Carmelites (Dialogues des =
Carm=E9lites),=20
Francis Poulenc=92s tragic opera about fear, faith, and courage in a=20
Carmelite convent during the French Revolution, will be staged by=20
Oberlin Opera Theater in November. The production opens on Wednesday,=20
November 16, at 8 p.m. in Oberlin College=92s Hall Auditorium, located =
at=20
67 North Main St. on Route 58, between the Oberlin Inn and the Allen=20
Art Museum. The three-act, 12-scene opera will be sung in French with=20
English supertitles. There will be two intermissions.

Stage direction for Dialogues of the Carmelites is by Sally Stunkel,=20
visiting assistant professor of opera theater. Musical direction is by=20=

Ari Pelto =9292.

Performances of Dialogues of the Carmelites are at 8 p.m. Wednesday,=20
Friday, and Saturday, November 16, 18, and 19, with a 2 p.m. matinee on=20=

Sunday, November 20. Tickets are  $5 for all students; $8 for those=20
with an Oberlin College I.D. (faculty, staff, alumni, and parents),=20
area educators, and senior citizens; and $12 for the general public.=20
All seats are reserved. Tickets are $3 more when purchased at the door.=20=

Call Oberlin=92s Central Ticket Service, located in the lobby of Hall=20
Auditorium, at 440-775-8169. Box office hours are noon to 5 p.m.,=20
Monday through Friday. Hall Auditorium is wheelchair accessible, free=20
parking is available throughout the campus, and hearing enhancement is=20=

available upon request.

Dialogues of the Carmelites is sponsored by the Oberlin Conservatory of=20=

Music=92s Opera Theater program through generous support from the Louis=20=

C. Sudler Fund. It is produced in cooperation with the Oberlin College=20=

Theater and Dance Program by arrangement with Boosey & Hawkes, Inc.,=20
sole agent in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico for Casa Ricordi-BMG Ricordi=20=

S.p.A, a BMG Editions Company, publisher and copyright owner.

Synopsis and Director=92s Notes
Based on a true historical event, Poulenc=92s opera follows the story of=20=

Blanche de la Force, a high-strung noblewoman who has sought refuge=20
from her uncontrollable and innate fears in the Carmelite convent at=20
Compi=E8gne. Based on George Bernano=92s screenplay of the same name,=20
Dialogues of the Carmelites is an insightful psychological adaptation=20
that takes place during the waning days of the French Revolution=92s=20
Reign of Terror. The well-known writer on French music, Roger Nichols,=20=

says that the story=92s real subject is =93grace and the transference of=20=

grace.=94 Blanche and the young nun Constance exemplify the idea that=20
experience is of little value if unaccompanied by grace.

=93This is an opera about mysticism, and the nature of fear and =
courage,=94=20
says director Sally Stunkel. =93The growing anti-clerical movement of =
the=20
French Revolution resulted in the confiscation of church property and=20
the persecution of the clergy. Hostility towards institutionalized=20
Christianity, including monastic orders, was stimulated by the=20
widespread conviction of revolutionaries that abuses by the French=20
monarchy were shared and supported by the church. The Carmelites were=20
caught in a social and political whirlwind that rolled uncontrollably=20
out of history and swept them away.=94

Performers and Production Team
This production of Dialogues of the Carmelites features Oberlin=20
Conservatory students, double cast in the principal roles. The=20
principals alternate performances, with one cast appearing Wednesday=20
and Saturday, and the other Friday and Sunday. The principal roles=20
include Blanche de la Force (Sheena Ramirez =9206, Megan Hart BMus =9205,=20=

MM =9106); Madame de Croissy (Katherine Lerner =9206, Ilene Pabon =9207);=20=

Madame Lidoine (Jessica Marcrum =9207, Jennifer Forni =9206); Mother =
Marie=20
(Mara Adler =9206, Alexis Grenier =9207); Sister Constance (Ami Vice =
=9206,=20
Alice Teyssier =9206); Mother Jeanne (Julienne Walker =9207, Lauren Free=20=

=9207); Sister Mathilde (Kira McGirr =9206, Jennifer Jakob =9207); =
Chevalier=20
(Thorsteinn Arbjornsson =9206, Alek Shrader =9206); Marquis de la Force=20=

(Aaron Agulay =9206); Father Confessor (Michael Sansoni =9207); First=20
Commissioner (Samuel Levine =9207, Andrew Owens =9208); Second =
Commissioner=20
(Kevin Ray =9207); Jailer (John Ordu=F1a =9206); Thierry, a valet (Kevin =
Ray=20
=9207); and Dr. M. Javelinot (Jason Eck =9208). The members of the =
chorus=20
include: Joseph Barron =9208, Evan Bennett =9208, Lillie Chilen =9208, =
Jason=20
Eck =9208, Natalie Fagnan =9206, Jenna Hall =9207, Sam Levine =9207, =
Justin=20
Manalad =9208, Tiffany Marx =9208, Jennifer Noel =9207, John Ordu=F1a =
=9206,=20
Andrew Owens =9208, Kjirsti Petersen =9208, Kevin Ray =9207, Daniella =
Risman=20
=9206, Elizabeth Shoup =9208, Carlin Singer =9206, Maureen Sutliff =9208, =
Mark=20
Tempesta =9209, and Stephanie Washington =9207. Mira Barakat =9208, =
Meghan=20
Brooks =9208, Sarah Dunn =9207 , Kimiko Glynn =9208, Sarah Klauer =9207, =
Leigh=20
Madeline Nelson =9207, Olivia Savage =9208, Renee Solomon =9208, and =
Sophie=20
Wingland =9208 portray revolutionary women.

The Oberlin production team of professional staff and students=20
includes: Assistant Music Director Alan Montgomery, assistant music=20
director of opera theater; Assistant Director and Stage Manager=20
Victoria Vaughan, assistant director of opera theater; Scenic Designer=20=

Damen Mroczek, lecturer in theater; Managing Director/Technical=20
Director Michael Louis Grube, associate professor of theater;=A0Costume=20=

Designer Chris Flaharty, associate professor of theater; Lighting and=20
Sound Designer Jen Groseth, lecturer in theater; and assistant stage=20
managers Allison Choat =9206, Courtney Merrell =9208, and Kate Cudworth,=20=

=9206. Damen Mroczek is in charge of properties.

Francis Poulenc (Composer, 1899-1963) came into his own as a composer=20
when he began exploring (under the direct influence of Stravinsky) the=20=

galant music of the 18th century. In the neo-classical ballet Aubade=20
(1929), for piano and 18 instruments, Poulenc found a free and=20
musically respectable framework for his melodic gifts. The untimely=20
death of a friend and colleague in 1936 triggered a new maturity =97 he=20=

rediscovered his Catholic faith, a concern with serious songwriting=20
(mostly to the verse of the humanist surrealist Paul Eluard), and the=20
forging of a lifelong association with the lyric baritone Pierre=20
Bernac. This period initiated a long series of religious works and=20
melodies that form the cornerstones of Poulenc=92s reputation. The war=20=

increased a strain of melancholy in his work, evinced by a new=20
willingness to admit the lyrical and harmonic language of Ravel to an=20
already full roster of musical influences (Satie, Stravinsky,=20
Musorgsky, Debussy, and Prokofiev, among others). An understandable=20
urge to celebrate all things vital and sensuous and =97 above all =97=20
French, led to wartime works such as the opera Les mamelles de Tir=E9sias=20=

(1944). The postwar years were marked by increasing isolation at the=20
rearguard of French contemporary music (his self-awareness as a=20
harmonic reactionary is revealed in several awkward excursions into=20
serial writing =97 he could follow Stravinsky only so far) and by =
several=20
bouts of depression and nervous exhaustion. His larger works of this=20
period =97 Dialogues des Carm=E9lites (1953-6) is an example =97 =
consolidate=20
the religious and musical discoveries made in the key years of=20
1936-1940 while displaying a growing technical and formal mastery.=20
(Source: Grove Music Online.)

Ari Pelto (Conductor) has been heralded as =93a dynamic young force in=20=

the conducting world=94 following two tours with the San Francisco=20
Opera=92s national touring company. After bringing Mozart=92s Cosi Fan=20=

Tutte to 21 states in 2001, Pelto spent the next year conducting 30=20
performances of Puccini=92s La Boheme in 20 states and traveling to =
Japan=20
as guest faculty and conductor at the New National Theatre in Tokyo. In=20=

1999 he made a successful international debut in Germany with the=20
Bochumer Symphoniker, and the same year conducted Lucia di Lammermoor=20
at the Festival Opera in Walnut Creek, California, returning the next=20
year to lead The Barber of Seville. In the past year he has been a=20
regular guest conductor with both the Florida Orchestra and the Toledo=20=

Symphony. Recently, Pelto was one of four young conductors selected to=20=

conduct the Seattle Symphony at the invitation of its music director,=20
Gerard Schwartz. As assistant conductor of the Florida West Coast=20
Symphony in Sarasota, Florida, from 2000-2002, he conducted more than=20
30 concerts. While studying in Indiana, he was appointed assistant=20
conductor of the Indiana University Opera Theater, where he led=20
performances of The Marriage of Figaro, Dialogues of the Carmelites,=20
Don Pasquale, Idomeneo, Orpheus in the Underworld, and Falstaff. He was=20=

also musical director for productions of La Traviata and Suor Angelica.=20=

He has performed as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral=20
violinist in Europe, China, and throughout the United States.=20
Engagements in the coming year will take him to the Atlanta Ballet, the=20=

Florida Orchestra, the San Francisco Conservatory, New York City Opera=20=

(where he returns to conduct Madama Butterfly following his debut=20
conducting La Traviata in the fall of 2004), the San Francisco Opera,=20
and once again to Tokyo=92s New National Theatre. Pelto earned a =
bachelor=20
of music degree in violin performance from the Oberlin Conservatory of=20=

Music in 1992.

Sally Stunkel (Director) has directed for the Sacramento Opera, Tulsa=20
Opera, Opera Theater of St. Louis, Skylight Opera, the Aspen Music=20
Festival, Kentucky Opera, and Four Corners Opera, and has more than 80=20=

productions to her credit as a director. As a former opera singer, she=20=

has sung with the Colorado Springs Opera, Skylight Opera, and Baltimore=20=

Opera. With more than 15 years in dance training, she has also=20
choreographed various operas. She is a graduate of the Cincinnati=20
Conservatory of Music (where she received the National Opera=20
Association=92s [NOA] award for best opera for her productions of The=20
Consul and Postcard from Morocco). She has headed the opera programs at=20=

the former St. Louis Conservatory of Music, the University of=20
Tennessee, the University of the Pacific in California, and the=20
University of Iowa, where she won first place for her Marriage of=20
Figaro from the NOA. She has taught and directed with the apprentice=20
programs at the Des Moines Opera, Chattauqua Opera, the Banff Center in=20=

Alberta, Canada,=A0and the Aspen Music Festival. She will be premiering=20=

her new English language version of Mozart=92s The Magic Flute at the=20
University of Kentucky this year.

The Oberlin Conservatory of Music, founded in 1865 and situated within=20=

the intellectual vitality of Oberlin College since 1867, is the oldest=20=

continuously operating conservatory in the United States. Renowned=20
internationally as a professional music school of the highest caliber=20
and pronounced a =93national treasure=94 by the Washington Post, its =
alumni=20
have gone on to achieve illustrious careers in all aspects of the=20
serious music world. Numerous Oberlin alumni have attained stature as=20
solo performers, composers, and conductors, among them Jennifer Koh,=20
Steven Isserlis, Denyce Graves, Franco Farina, Lisa Saffer, George=20
Walker, Christopher Rouse, David Zinman, and Robert Spano. All of the=20
members of the contemporary music ensembles eighth blackbird and the=20
International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) are Oberlin graduates, and=20
members of the Mir=F3, Pacifica, Juilliard, and Fry Street quartets,=20
among others, include Oberlin alumni, who can also be found in major=20
orchestras and opera companies throughout the world.
=0C

The Oberlin Conservatory of Music Opera Theater		=09
DIALOGUES OF THE CARMELITES
By Francis Poulenc
Libretto by Francis Poulenc after Georges Bernanos=92 play

Ari Pelto, conductor
Sally Stunkel, stage director

Wednesday, November 16 at 8 p.m.
Friday, November 18 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, November 19 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, November 20 at 2 p.m.

Reserved seating tickets:
$5 All Students
$8 Oberlin College ID
$8 Educators
$8 Senior Citizens
$12 Public
All tickets $3 more when purchased at the door

Central Ticket Service
(440) 775-8169
Located in the lobby of Hall Auditorium.
Open Noon to 5 p.m.
Monday =96 Friday

Hall Auditorium
Hall Auditorium, 67 N. Main St. on
Rte. 58, between the Oberlin Inn and
the Allen Art Museum. Free Parking.


FREE OPERA SCENES PROGRAM
Saturday, December 17
4 p.m. & 8 p.m.
Kulas Recital Hall
Excerpts from:
Faust, The Tenderland, Werther, Falstaff,=09
Xerxes, La Calisto, Griselda, Idomeneo,
Return of Ulysses, Coronation of Poppea,
Dido & Aeneas, The Barber of Seville,
Don Giovanni, The Magic Flute, Turn of the Screw,
La Traviata, Regina, Manon, and Fidelio

# # #

Media Contact:
Marci Janas
440-775-8328
marci.janas at oberlin.edu
www.oberlin.edu/con
www.oberlin.edu/~events
www.oberlin.edu/operathe


Marci Janas
Director of Conservatory Media Relations
Oberlin Conservatory of Music
39 West College Street
Oberlin, OH  44074
www.oberlin.edu/con
(P) 440-775-8328
(F) 440-775-5457
marci.janas at oberlin.edu

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<=
center><bigger><bigger><bigger><bigger><bigger><bigger><bigger><bigger><bi=
gger><bigger><bigger><bigger>OBERLIN</bigger></bigger></bigger></bigger></=
bigger></bigger>
<bold>Opera Theater News</bold>

=
</bigger></bigger></bigger></bigger></bigger></bigger><smaller><x-tad-smal=
ler>Oberlin
Conservatory of Music =95 Office of Public Relations =95 39 West College
Street =95 Oberlin OH 44074-1576

Phone 440-775-8328  =95 Fax 440-775-5457  =95 CTS Box Office =
440-775-8169</x-tad-smaller><smaller>

</smaller></smaller></center><smaller><smaller>

</smaller></smaller><bold><bigger>

</bigger></bold><underline>FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE:</underline>		<underline>MEDIA CONTACT:</underline> =
Marci Janas

October 21, 2005				440-775-8328 or
=
<bold><underline><color><param>0000,0000,FFFC</param>marci.janas at oberlin.e=
du</color></underline></bold><x-tad-smaller>


</x-tad-smaller><bold><bigger>=09

</bigger></bold><center><bold><italic><bigger><bigger>Dialogues of the
Carmelites, </bigger></bigger></italic><bigger><bigger>Poulenc=92s Opera
about Fear, Faith, and Courage </bigger>

<bigger>During the French Revolution, to be Staged by Oberlin Opera
Theater November 16 =97 20</bigger>

</bigger></bold></center><bigger>

</bigger><center>Complimentary Media Tickets: 440-775-8328

Limited Seating Available for Weekend Performances

Call Oberlin College=92s Central Ticket Service at 440-775-8169<smaller>

</smaller></center><smaller>


</smaller><bigger>OBERLIN, OHIO =97 <italic>Dialogues of the Carmelites
(Dialogues des Carm=E9lites)</italic>, Francis Poulenc=92s tragic opera
about fear, faith, and courage in a Carmelite convent during the
French Revolution, will be staged by Oberlin Opera Theater in
November. The production opens on <bold>Wednesday, November 16, at 8
p.m. in Oberlin College=92s Hall Auditorium</bold>, located at 67 North
Main St. on Route 58, between the Oberlin Inn and the Allen Art
Museum<bold>. </bold>The three-act, 12-scene opera will be sung in
French with English supertitles. There will be two =
intermissions.</bigger>

<bigger>

Stage direction for <italic>Dialogues of the Carmelites</italic> is by
Sally Stunkel, visiting assistant professor of opera theater. Musical
direction is by Ari Pelto =9292.


Performances of<italic> Dialogues of the Carmelites</italic> are at
<bold>8 p.m. Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, November 16, 18, and 19,
with a 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday, November 20. Tickets are  $5 for all
students; $8 for those with an Oberlin College I.D. (faculty, staff,
alumni, and parents), area educators, and senior citizens; and $12 for
the general public.</bold> <bold>All seats are reserved. Tickets are
$3 more when purchased at the door.</bold> Call Oberlin=92s Central
Ticket Service, located in the lobby of Hall Auditorium, at
440-775-8169. Box office hours are noon to 5 p.m., Monday through
Friday. Hall Auditorium is wheelchair accessible, free parking is
available throughout the campus, and hearing enhancement is available
upon request.=20


<italic>Dialogues of the Carmelites </italic>is sponsored by the
Oberlin Conservatory of Music=92s Opera Theater program through generous
support from the Louis C. Sudler Fund. It is produced in cooperation
with the Oberlin College Theater and Dance Program by arrangement with
Boosey & Hawkes, Inc., sole agent in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico for
Casa Ricordi-BMG Ricordi S.p.A, a BMG Editions Company, publisher and
copyright owner.

=20

<bold>Synopsis and Director=92s Notes =20

</bold>Based on a true historical event, Poulenc=92s opera follows the
story of Blanche de la Force, a high-strung noblewoman who has sought
refuge from her uncontrollable and innate fears in the Carmelite
convent at Compi=E8gne. Based on George Bernano=92s screenplay of the =
same
name, <italic>Dialogues of the Carmelites</italic> is an insightful
psychological adaptation that takes place during the waning days of
the French Revolution=92s Reign of Terror. The well-known writer on
French music, Roger Nichols, says that the story=92s real subject is
=93grace and the transference of grace.=94 Blanche and the young nun
Constance exemplify the idea that experience is of little value if
unaccompanied by grace.

<fontfamily><param>Times</param>

</fontfamily>=93This is an opera about mysticism, and the nature of fear
and courage,=94 says director Sally Stunkel. =93The growing =
anti-clerical
movement of the French Revolution resulted in the confiscation of
church property and the persecution of the clergy. Hostility towards
institutionalized Christianity, including monastic orders, was
stimulated by the widespread conviction of revolutionaries that abuses
by the French monarchy were shared and supported by the church. The
Carmelites were caught in a social and political whirlwind that rolled
uncontrollably out of history and swept them away.=94<bold>

</bold></bigger><flushboth><bigger>

</bigger></flushboth><bold><bigger>Performers and Production Team =20

</bigger></bold><bigger>This production of <italic>Dialogues of the
Carmelites </italic>features Oberlin Conservatory students, double
cast in the principal roles. The principals alternate performances,
with one cast appearing Wednesday and Saturday, and the other Friday
and Sunday. The principal roles include Blanche de la Force (Sheena
Ramirez =9206, Megan Hart BMus =9205, MM =9106); Madame de Croissy
(Katherine Lerner =9206, Ilene Pabon =9207); Madame Lidoine (Jessica
Marcrum =9207, Jennifer Forni =9206); Mother Marie (Mara Adler =9206, =
Alexis
Grenier =9207); Sister Constance (Ami Vice =9206, Alice Teyssier =9206);
Mother Jeanne (Julienne Walker =9207, Lauren Free =9207); Sister =
Mathilde
(Kira McGirr =9206, Jennifer Jakob =9207); Chevalier (Thorsteinn
Arbjornsson =9206, Alek Shrader =9206); Marquis de la Force (Aaron =
Agulay
=9206); Father Confessor (Michael Sansoni =9207); First Commissioner
(Samuel Levine =9207, Andrew Owens =9208); Second Commissioner (Kevin =
Ray
=9207); Jailer (John Ordu=F1a =9206); Thierry, a valet (Kevin Ray =9207); =
and
Dr. M. Javelinot (Jason Eck =9208). The members of the chorus include:
Joseph Barron =9208, Evan Bennett =9208, Lillie Chilen =9208, Jason Eck =
=9208,
Natalie Fagnan =9206, Jenna Hall =9207, Sam Levine =9207, Justin Manalad
=9208, Tiffany Marx =9208, Jennifer Noel =9207, John Ordu=F1a =9206, =
Andrew
Owens =9208, Kjirsti Petersen =9208, Kevin Ray =9207, Daniella Risman =
=9206,
Elizabeth Shoup =9208, Carlin Singer =9206, Maureen Sutliff =9208, Mark
Tempesta =9209, and Stephanie Washington =9207. Mira Barakat =9208, =
Meghan
Brooks =9208, Sarah Dunn =9207 , Kimiko Glynn =9208, Sarah Klauer =9207, =
Leigh
Madeline Nelson =9207, Olivia Savage =9208, Renee Solomon =9208, and =
Sophie
Wingland =9208 portray revolutionary women.

</bigger><flushboth><bigger>

</bigger></flushboth><bigger>The Oberlin production team of
professional staff and students includes: Assistant Music Director
Alan Montgomery, assistant music director of opera theater; Assistant
Director and Stage Manager Victoria Vaughan, assistant director of
opera theater; Scenic Designer Damen Mroczek, lecturer in theater;
Managing Director/Technical Director Michael Louis Grube, associate
professor of theater;=A0Costume Designer Chris Flaharty, associate
professor of theater; Lighting and Sound Designer Jen Groseth,
lecturer in theater; and assistant stage managers Allison Choat =9206,
Courtney Merrell =9208, and Kate Cudworth, =9206. Damen Mroczek is in
charge of properties.=20

</bigger><flushboth><bigger>

</bigger></flushboth><bold><bigger>Francis
Poulenc</bigger></bold><bigger> (Composer, 1899-1963) came into his
own as a composer when he began exploring (under the direct influence
of Stravinsky) the <italic>galant</italic> music of the 18th century.
In the neo-classical ballet <italic>Aubade</italic> (1929), for piano
and 18 instruments, Poulenc found a free and musically respectable
framework for his melodic gifts. The untimely death of a friend and
colleague in 1936 triggered a new maturity =97 he rediscovered his
Catholic faith, a concern with serious songwriting (mostly to the
verse of the humanist surrealist Paul Eluard), and the forging of a
lifelong association with the lyric baritone Pierre Bernac. This
period initiated a long series of religious works and <italic>melodies
</italic>that form the cornerstones of Poulenc=92s reputation. The war
increased a strain of melancholy in his work, evinced by a new
willingness to admit the lyrical and harmonic language of Ravel to an
already full roster of musical influences (Satie, Stravinsky,
Musorgsky, Debussy, and Prokofiev, among others). An understandable
urge to celebrate all things vital and sensuous and =97 above all =97
French, led to wartime works such as the opera <italic>Les mamelles de
Tir=E9sias</italic> (1944). The postwar years were marked by increasing
isolation at the rearguard of French contemporary music (his
self-awareness as a harmonic reactionary is revealed in several
awkward excursions into serial writing =97 he could follow Stravinsky
only so far) and by several bouts of depression and nervous
exhaustion. His larger works of this period =97 <italic>Dialogues des
Carm=E9lites</italic> (1953-6) is an example =97 consolidate the =
religious
and musical discoveries made in the key years of 1936-1940 while
displaying a growing technical and formal mastery. (Source:
<italic>Grove Music Online.</italic>)

</bigger><flushboth><bigger>

</bigger></flushboth><bold><bigger>Ari Pelto
</bigger></bold><bigger>(Conductor) has been heralded as =93a dynamic
young force in the conducting world=94 following two tours with the San
Francisco Opera=92s national touring company. After bringing Mozart=92s
<italic>Cosi Fan Tutte</italic> to 21 states in 2001, Pelto spent the
next year conducting 30 performances of Puccini=92s <italic>La
Boheme</italic> in 20 states and traveling to Japan as guest faculty
and conductor at the New National Theatre in Tokyo. In 1999 he made a
successful international debut in Germany with the Bochumer
Symphoniker, and the same year conducted <italic>Lucia di
Lammermoor</italic> at the Festival Opera in Walnut Creek, California,
returning the next year to lead <italic>The Barber of
Seville</italic>. In the past year he has been a regular guest
conductor with both the Florida Orchestra and the Toledo Symphony.
Recently, Pelto was one of four young conductors selected to conduct
the Seattle Symphony at the invitation of its music director, Gerard
Schwartz. As assistant conductor of the Florida West Coast Symphony in
Sarasota, Florida, from 2000-2002, he conducted more than 30 concerts.
While studying in Indiana, he was appointed assistant conductor of the
Indiana University Opera Theater, where he led performances of
<italic>The Marriage of Figaro</italic>, <italic>Dialogues of the
Carmelites</italic>, <italic>Don Pasquale</italic>,
<italic>Idomeneo</italic>, <italic>Orpheus in the Underworld</italic>,
and <italic>Falstaff</italic>. He was also musical director for
productions of <italic>La Traviata</italic> and <italic>Suor
Angelica</italic>. He has performed as a soloist, chamber musician,
and orchestral violinist in Europe, China, and throughout the United
States. Engagements in the coming year will take him to the Atlanta
Ballet, the Florida Orchestra, the San Francisco Conservatory, New
York City Opera (where he returns to conduct <italic>Madama
Butterfly</italic> following his debut conducting <italic>La Traviata
</italic>in the fall of 2004), the San Francisco Opera, and once again
to Tokyo=92s New National Theatre. Pelto earned a bachelor of music
degree in violin performance from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in
1992.


<bold>Sally Stunkel </bold>(Director) has directed for the Sacramento
Opera, Tulsa Opera, Opera Theater of St. Louis, Skylight Opera, the
Aspen Music Festival, Kentucky Opera, and Four Corners Opera, and has
more than 80 productions to her credit as a director. As a former
opera singer, she has sung with the Colorado Springs Opera, Skylight
Opera, and Baltimore Opera. With more than 15 years in dance training,
she has also choreographed various operas. She is a graduate of the
Cincinnati Conservatory of Music (where she received the National
Opera Association=92s [NOA] award for best opera for her productions of
<italic>The Consul </italic>and<italic> Postcard from
Morocco)</italic>. She has headed the opera programs at the former St.
Louis Conservatory of Music, the University of Tennessee, the
University of the Pacific in California, and the University of Iowa,
where she won first place for her <italic>Marriage of Figaro</italic>
from the NOA. She has taught and directed with the apprentice programs
at the Des Moines Opera, Chattauqua Opera, the Banff Center in
Alberta, Canada,=A0and the Aspen Music Festival. She will be premiering
her new English language version of Mozart=92s <italic>The Magic
Flute</italic> at the University of Kentucky this year.


<bold>The Oberlin Conservatory of Music</bold>, founded in 1865 and
situated within the intellectual vitality of Oberlin College since
1867, is the oldest continuously operating conservatory in the United
States. Renowned internationally as a professional music school of the
highest caliber and pronounced a =93national treasure=94 by the
<italic>Washington Post,</italic> its alumni have gone on to achieve
illustrious careers in all aspects of the serious music world.
Numerous Oberlin alumni have attained stature as solo performers,
composers, and conductors, among them Jennifer Koh, Steven Isserlis,
Denyce Graves, Franco Farina, Lisa Saffer, George Walker, Christopher
Rouse, David Zinman, and Robert Spano. All of the members of the
contemporary music ensembles eighth blackbird and the International
Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) are Oberlin graduates, and members of the
Mir=F3, Pacifica, Juilliard, and Fry Street quartets, among others,
include Oberlin alumni, who can also be found in major orchestras and
opera companies throughout the world.

</bigger>=0C

<smaller><smaller><smaller>

</smaller></smaller></smaller><bold><underline>The Oberlin
Conservatory of Music Opera Theater</underline>			=
<underline>

</underline><italic>DIALOGUES OF THE CARMELITES

</italic></bold>By Francis Poulenc

Libretto by Francis Poulenc after Georges Bernanos=92 play=20


Ari Pelto, <italic>conductor</italic>

Sally Stunkel, <italic>stage director


</italic><bold>Wednesday, November 16 at 8 p.m.

Friday, November 18 at 8 p.m.=20

Saturday, November 19 at 8 p.m.

Sunday, November 20 at 2 p.m.


Reserved seating tickets:

</bold>$5 All Students

$8 Oberlin College ID

$8 Educators=20

$8 Senior Citizens=20

$12 Public

<bold><italic>All tickets $3 more when purchased at the door

</italic></bold>

<bold>Central Ticket Service=20

(440) 775-8169</bold>

Located in the lobby of Hall Auditorium.

Open Noon to 5 p.m.

Monday =96 Friday

<bold>

Hall Auditorium

</bold>Hall Auditorium, 67 N. Main St. on=20

Rte. 58, between the Oberlin Inn and=20

the Allen Art Museum. Free Parking.<bold>

</bold>


<bold>FREE OPERA SCENES PROGRAM

</bold>Saturday, December 17

4 p.m. & 8 p.m.

Kulas Recital Hall

Excerpts from:

<italic>Faust, The Tenderland, Werther, Falstaff,	       =20

Xerxes, La Calisto, Griselda, Idomeneo,      =20

Return of Ulysses, Coronation of Poppea,

<fontfamily><param>Times New Roman</param>Dido & Aeneas, The Barber of
Seville,

Don Giovanni, The Magic Flute, Turn of the Screw,

La Traviata, Regina, Manon, and Fidelio=20

</fontfamily></italic>

<center># # #

<smaller><smaller>

</smaller></smaller></center><bold><smaller><x-tad-smaller>Media
Contact:

Marci Janas

440-775-8328

=
</x-tad-smaller><underline><color><param>0000,0000,FFFC</param><x-tad-smal=
ler>marci.janas at oberlin.edu</x-tad-smaller></color></underline><x-tad-smal=
ler>

=
</x-tad-smaller><underline><color><param>0000,0000,FFFC</param><x-tad-smal=
ler>www.oberlin.edu/con</x-tad-smaller></color></underline><x-tad-smaller>=


=
</x-tad-smaller><underline><color><param>0000,0000,FFFC</param><x-tad-smal=
ler>www.oberlin.edu/~events</x-tad-smaller></color></underline><x-tad-smal=
ler>  =20

=
</x-tad-smaller><underline><color><param>0000,0000,FFFC</param><x-tad-smal=
ler>www.oberlin.edu/operathe</x-tad-smaller></color></underline><x-tad-sma=
ller>

</x-tad-smaller></smaller></bold><fontfamily><param>Times</param>

</fontfamily>

Marci Janas

Director of Conservatory Media Relations

Oberlin Conservatory of Music

39 West College Street

Oberlin, OH  44074

www.oberlin.edu/con

(P) 440-775-8328

(F) 440-775-5457

marci.janas at oberlin.edu


--Boundary_(ID_p3SfolqxnOGFDHezWrC4cw)--