The Servant

Marco TUTINO was born in Milan in 1954 and he is considered one of the most distinctively Italian composers. He has composed chamber and symphonic music not only for the major Italian concert societies but for music institutions abroad such as the BBC, The Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra and The Moscow Soloists. He has composed several operas for the stage: Pinocchio (1985, Genoa, Vienna, Florence), Cyrano (1987, Alessandria, Verona, Metz), Vite Immaginarie (1989, Bologna, Modena, Messina) La Lupa (1990, Livorno, Szeged, Palermo, Erfurt, Rovigo, Ostrava), Riccardo III (1996, Rovigo, Venezia), Il gatto con gli stivali (Puss in Boots – 1997, Verona, Giesen, Erfurt, Metz, Trapani), Dylan Dog (1999, Verona, Rovigo), Peter Uncino(Peter Hook – 2003, Verona, Genova, Milano, Roma), Federico II (2004, Jesi), La Bella e La Bestia (2005, Modena) Le Bel Indifferent (2005, Macerata, Cagliari) and The Servant (2008, Macerata). In 2003, La Scala commissioned Tutino to compose a new opera, ‘Vita’, based on the Pulitzer-winning novel ‘Wit’ by Margaret Edson. In 2003, Placido Domingo performed his cantata ‘Canto di Pace’ (Peace Song), composed to a prayer by John Paul II, at the Teatro delle Muse in Ancona. Marco Tutino was Artistic Consultant of the Teatro Valli in Reggio Emilia (1991 / 1994 begin_of_the_skype_highlightingend_of_the_skype_highlighting), Artistic Director of the Pomeriggi Musicali orchestra in Milan (1991 / 1994 begin_of_the_skype_highlightingend_of_the_skype_highlighting), and Composer in Residence of the Arena di Verona (1998 / 2002 begin_of_the_skype_highlightingend_of_the_skype_highlighting). In January, 2002 he was appointed Artistic Director of the Teatro Regio in Turin and in 2006 he became General and Artistic Manager of Teatro Comunale di Bologna. His opera Il Servo (The Servant) was commissioned by the artistic director of the Sferisterio Opera Festival (Macerata Opera) and the famous director and creator, Pier Luigi Pizzi.

SYNOPSIS:

Set in the 1860s London this is a story of Tony, a spoilt, rich, young man who steadily comes under the influence of his strange new butler, Barrett. The manservant gradually takes over the household and, with the aid of his ’sister’, corrupts him. The drama revolves around issues of both class and gender, and the relationship between the two.

Tony - newly returned from abroad - is buying a new house. His girlfriend, the stuffy and overbred Sally helps him find a manservant who will look after him. The two men set about planning the redecoration of Tony’s new home, and Tony proposes to Sally.

Barrett starts to behave strangely: he interrupts the young couple’s lovemaking and when Tony catches a chill he simply ’forgets’ to give him the flowers Sally had sent.

A couple of months later Barrett wants to leave, as there is too much work to be done in the household. Tony doesn’t want to let him go, so they agree that he employs Barrett’s niece, Vera, a young girl from Birmingham. She is young and sexy, and when Barrett leaves for the countryside Tony seduces her.

After a visit to Sally’s family home the young couple decides to return to the London house, only to find Barrett in Tony’s bedroom, and Vera in the joining bathroom, hiding. Tony and Barrett argue, and – having been accused of incest - Barrett finally confesses that Vera is his fiancé, not his niece. Susan realises that Tony also had slept with the girl. They all leave.

Tony, back home alone is slowly sinking into a torpor, he is drinking too much while the mess is building up around him. However, Sally stays by him. One day, he runs into Barrett in the local pub. He desperately wants him back, and Barrett agrees to come. Slowly the master-servant relationship dissolves completely. Barrett doesn’t treat Tony like his master anymore, he behaves as he pleases, regarding the now alcoholic Tony as his social equal.

Barrett invites a new girl to the house, Mabel, who – again – seems to be Tony’s type. He appears to be spending more and more time with the two of them downstairs, in the kitchen and in Barrett’s room playing strange games. Sally tries her best to get Tony back to normal, but he refuses to change anything about his behaviour and to move in with her. He admits that Mabel is not only Barrett’s girlfriend but his also and congratulates Sally on her new job.

Camille DEREUX (mezzo-soprano)

The French soprano Camille Dereux started singing with the Children’s Choir of the Paris Opera, and she had the opportunity to tour Europe and perform on some of the world’s most prestigious stages as a vocal soloist. She studied at the Lausanne Conservatory in Switzerland, and - from 2007 - at the Manhattan School of Music under Patricia Mc Caffrey. She also participated in master classes with Edda Moser, Dale Duesing, Marianna Nicolescu and Catherine Malfitano among others. Performances include Dialogue of the Carmelites by Poulenc, Transformations by Conrad Susa (Lausanne Opera), Mass in C Major by Mozart, Mass in C Major (Victoria Hall in Geneva), excerpts from Elijah at the MET Museum, Susanna in the Marriage of Figaro (Intermezzo) among others. Miss Dereux is a Lidal North Summer programme prize winner (Oslo), and was chosen to perform a recital at the Trinity Church (New York City) in 2010. She has also had years of training in acting at the Lausanne Conservatory and at the age of sixteen she acted in the Cannes Winner French movie: ’Look at me’ by Agnès Jaoui.

Peter FURLONG (tenor)

Equally at home in both contemporary and traditional repertoire, this English/American tenor has been universally praised by the press. He has sung at such theatres as Wexford Festival, Ireland, Theatre Dortmund, Germany, Dicapo Opera Theatre, New York, Santa Fe Opera, Opera Colorado, and at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. He will have his Czech Republic and Hungarian debuts in the Czech production of Armel Opera Competition and Festival in the autumn of 2010. Peter’s major roles include Lt B.F. Pinkerton, Rodolfo, Edgardo, Tamino, Macduff, Rinuccio, and Albert Herring.

Alexey BOGDANCHIKOV (baritone)

The Russian baritone Alexey Bogdanchikov graduated from the State Gnessiny Music Academy. He is a soloist at the Galina Vishnevskaya Opera Centre, a student at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory and a soloist at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory Opera Theatre. His major roles include Onegin, Marcello, Robert, Belcore, Morales and Marullo. He participates in the concert project "Moscow Debuts"and is the winner of numerous singing competitions. Alexey Bogdanchikov has performed in Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, Vladivostok, Smolensk, Habarovsk, Berlin, Vittenberg among other places.

Jiří PETRDLÍK

After graduating from the conducting department of the Conservatory in Prague, and obtaining his degree from the Prague Musical Academy (HAMU) the young Czech conductor Jiří Petrdlík (1977) completed his education by participating in the Mastercless of Kurt Masur in Wroclaw. Between 2002 and 2004 he conducted at the National Theatre in Brno. Afterwards, he joined the Town Theatre as Chief Conductor.

Since 2005 he has also conducted at the J. K. Tyl Theatre in Pilsen, as well as working with the University Choir of Charles University. Since May 2010 he has been the Artistic Director of the Prague Mixed Choir. Other conducting credits include numerous Czech and foreign theatres and orchestras: The National Theatre in Prague, Théâtre du Capitole du Toulouse, Mazowiecki Teatr Muzyczny Warszawa, Teatro di Messina, The University of North Texas Opera, The Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra, The Moravian Philharmonic in Olomouc, The Philharmonic of B. Martin in Zlín, The Pilsen Philharmonic, The Czech Symphonic Orchestra and the The Film Symphonic Orchestra. He has toured Japan, Poland, Great Britain, France, Italy, USA, Slovakia, Germany at international festivals and competitions, and is a member of the board of the Antonín Dvořák Society, a founding member of the Zdeněk Fibich Society and a teacher at the Jaroslav Ježek Conservatory in Prague.

Jaroslav MALINA (1937) studied in the Faculty of Education of Charles University and in the department of stage design of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague with Professor Frantisek Trőster, later teaching there himself (1990-2000) and serving as Rector (1996-1999). He has served as a professor at universities in U.S.A., Japan, Finland and Great Britain where he received an Honorary Doctorate from Nottingham Trent University (in 2002). In 1991, 1999, and 2003 he was the General Commissioner of the PQ. His activities at home and abroad (Finland, Great Britain, Italy, Poland, Bulgaria, Russia, Spain, U.S.A.) include over 400 of theater, film and TV sets (often with costuming), nearly 30 of one man exhibitions (scenography, paintings, graphics, posters) and dozens of participation at group exhibitions, for which he has won numerous awards. His art work is represented in the collections of the prestigous institutions in Czech Republic, in The TRI in Columbus, The Performing Arts Library and Museum in San Francisco, The Mc Nay Museum of Art in San Antonio, Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien and many other private collections at home and abroad.

Helena ANYZOVA started her career as a costume designer in Czech theaters in 1960. She worked in all the major theatres, and in all kind of theatre forms - from classical plays, to ballet, opera, and even avant-garde. She was part of the film crew for The Years Of Christ (1967), debuting Juraj Jakubisko, and later continuing the collaboration with him on other films: Deserters And Pilgrims (1968), and Birdies, Orphans, And Fools (1969). Her fourth film, based on Kundera´s novel, was The Joke (1968), directed by Jaromil Jire Jireš. She even acted in a few films, all of which were strictly forbidden by the communist regime, and it was not possible to continue with the collaboration with any independent filmmakers. The most remarkable is her threefold role in Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970), directed by Jaromil Jireš. Since 1996 she focused on working with director Ludvik Golat and scenografic designer Miroslav Malina at the National Theatre in Ostrava. She regularly participates in the Czech Prague Quadriennal exhibition, and others abroad. Costume design for German theatres: Meiningen - La Traviata (G. Verdi), Osnabruck - The Cunning Little Vixen (L. Janacek), Julius Caesar (G. F. Handel), Trier - The Bartered Bride (B. Smetana). Currently she is working on the fourth study of Rusalka.

Luděk GOLAT

The Czech stage director and opera singer Luděk Golat studied singing at the Prague Conservatory and graduated from the singing department of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, where he also studied opera direction. He started his career as an opera soloist, performing at the Chamber Opera in Prague and with the Ostrava Opera Ensemble before becoming a professor at the Ostrava Conservatory, assistant director at the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno, and assistant director of the opera ensemble of the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre in Ostrava between 1992 and 2006. Later he has been managing this theatre as a general director for more than a decade. He played an important role directing not only at the children’s opera studio in Ostrava but also with the Romany musical and dramatic studio of the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre. His critically acclaimed directions - Lancelot, Pelléas and Mélisande, Bastien and Bastienne, The War, Macbeth, among others - have been been chosen 'Direction of the Year‘ many times. As a guest director he has staged the relavant classics of opera history in Italy (Theatro Comunale Adria, Theatro Dell´Opera di Roma, San Severo, Ascoli Piceno, Teatro Ventidio Basso, Chiety, Massa-Carrara, Lecce, Teatro Politeama Greco); Korea (Seoul), Egypt (Cahira), Canada (Opera Lyra Ottawa, Opera Mississauga), Germany (Baadishes Staatsteater Karlsruhe), Turkey (Ankara) and the United States (Florida).