DON JUAN IN PRAGUEDON JUAN IN PRAGUE

David Chambers is a director, writer, and producer of theatre and opera. His work has been seen in New York, from basements to Broadway to BAM, in theatres throughout the US, as well as Europe, Russia, and Asia. Additionally, he has worked in films, including The Good Shepherd, directed by Robert DeNiro with Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie. He taught acting and directing at the Yale School of Drama for three decades. Since then, he has been on the faculty of The New School for Drama, The Stella Adler Studio, and Harvard University. He currently teaches in the Department of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies at Yale University, USA.

A 2024 Grammy-nominated producer, recipient of the 2020 Musical America Award for Artist of the Year/Agent of Change and a Kennedy Center 50NEXT Honoree (2022), Beth Morrison is an opera-theatre producer and the President and Creative Producer of Beth Morrison Projects and the co-Founding Director of PROTOTYPE: Opera/ Theatre/ Now Festival. Morrison is noted as a “contemporary opera mastermind” (LA Times) and “a powerhouse leading the industry to new heights” (WQXR). Beth created Beth Morrison Projects (BMP) in 2006 to identify and support the work of emerging and established living composers, and to change the opera industry by cultivating a new generation of talent and telling the stories of our time. BMP has commissioned, developed, produced and toured over 65 works in 19 countries around the world, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning chamber operas Angel’s Bone (Du Yun/ Royce Vavrek) and p r i s m (Ellen Reid/Roxie Perkins). Opera News has noted, “More than any other figure in the opera industry, Beth Morrison has helped propel the art form into the twenty-first century." In 2013, Beth co-founded the PROTOTYPE Festival for which she serves as Artist Director, which has become “essential to the evolution of American opera” (New Yorker). Morrison is also in demand as a speaker both nationally and internationally and has delivered key note speeches for Classical:Next, Opera America, Opera Europa, Mannes School of Music/ The New School, among others. Morrison holds a Bachelor of Music from Boston University, a Master of Music from Arizona State University, and an MFA from Yale School of Drama. Beth is also a Lecturer at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University.

Younghee Michelle Kim is an art educator and collector, and is a member of the President’s Council of the Julliard School since 2007, a board member of the Johnson Museum at Cornell University since 2008, and a board member of Amherst College Mead Museum since 2009. Kim is a graduate of Amherst College with Phi Beta Kappa, and NYU Stern School of Business. She also attended Doshisha University in Kyoto for advanced studies in Japanese, and University of Hong Kong for Certificate in Mandarin language. She received a joint Master’s degree in Cybersecurity Risk and Strategy from NYU Law School and NYU Tandon School of Engineering in 2019, and a Master’s degree in Contemporary Art from Sotheby’s Institute of Art in New York in 2021. Kim is a member of the Economic Club of New York’s Council on Foreign Relations. She is a patron of Metropolitan Opera, a member of Wagner Society in New York and Bayreuth, a member of the Artemis Council at the New Museum, and a patron of Islamic Arts and Asian Arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Petr Kofroň established an ensemble for contemporary music in 1983 known as the Agon ORCHESTRA, of which in the 90s he became the exclusive programme director and conductor. The orchestra is geared to Czech avant garde music of the eighties (J. Berg. Z. Vostřák, Jan Klusák, R. Komorous, M. Kopelent), contemporary alternative Czech music (J. Adamík, P. Graham, P. Kofroň, M. Smolka, M. Chadima. M. Grygar, M. Šimáček, V. Havel, F. Topol, M. Nejtek, M. Ivanovič, I. Acher) as well as world contemporary music (J. Cage, S. Reich, P. Glass, J. Adams, F. Zappa, E. Sharp, J. Zorn, A. Coleman, M. Gordon, D. Lang, H. Goebbels, B. Bargeld). Petr Kofroň has conducted the Agon ORCHESTRA both on prestigious stages in Europe -- Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Hungary, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Holland, Denmark. Spain, Italy, England (in particular he attended the Warsaw Autumn, Budapest Spring Festival, Berliner Festwochen, London’s The South Bank Centre, Mousontum in Frankfurt), in the USA (especially in the Lincoln Center in New York) in Canada (in particular Musique actuelle in Canadian Victoriaville), as well as on local stages (repeatedly at the Prague Spring Festival, the Bratislava Melos-Ethos, the Brno International Music Festival etc.) He has collaborated with the Prague City Orchestra, the Prague Chamber Philharmonic, the Talich Orchestra, at all times with special projects of music of 20th century. The Agon ORCHESTRA is based in the Prague theatre ARCHA, where the Agon ORCHESTRA annually presents a cycle of four concerts of novelties. Petr Kofroň won the prize of the journal Harmonie for the best recording of contemporary music in 1994 and in the same year also the prize of the Czech Music Council as an appreciation of the existence of the ten-year existence of the Agon ORCHESTRA. The critics of the journal Stereo & Video declared the CD Graphic Scores and Concepts as the best recording of serious music in 1996. The concert performance of the opera The Fall of the House of Usher by Glass was nominated in 1996 for the prize of Radio Classic as “the event of the year”, and the stage performance of the same opera in the State Opera Prague (directed by Petr Tyc) was declared the best opera staging in 1999 based on a questionnaire conducted by Divadelní noviny (Theatre newspaper). In 1996-2004 Petr Kofroň was the artistic director in the Plzeň opera house, which, while he was active there, sky-rocketed. Kofroň changed the image of the theatre by inviting a number of stage directors, who so far had no experience of opera but represented trends in contemporary theatre (N. Vangeli, J. A. Pitínský, J. Burian. J. Pokorný. K. Brožek. M. Dočekal, M. Čičvák, J. Heřman, D. Balatka, Z. Plachý). Kofroň began to conduct opera here in 2000 and since then he has presented Šárka by Zdeněk Fibich, Yolanta by Tchaikowsky, The Kiss by Smetana, Capuleti ed i Montecchi by Bellini, Ariadne auf Naxos by Strauss, Kunál’s Eyes by Otakar Ostrčil, Werther by Massenet, Flying Dutchman by Wagner. In addition to opera Petr Kofroň has introduced a series of concerts with the Symphony Orchestra of the Plzeň Opera at which he has conducted great works by world composers (Mahler’s Symphony No. 1), similarly he has laid emphasis on Czech symphonic works (Smetana, Janáček, Suk, Fibich) and music of 20th century (Ives, Shostakovich, Terry Riley). Petr Kofroň is the author of books -- Eternal Search – Chapters on Western Post-War Music (Unijazz, 1988), Thirteen Analyses (H & H, 1993) Graphic Scores and Concepts (Votobia, 1996) No Tone! A Reader for Those Who Doubt the Sense of Modern Music (HOST, 1998), In Future New Opera Art Will Fall From Heaven Like Out of the Blue (Modern problems of Opera) (HOST, 2002). Petr Kofroň participated as a composer and conductor in the production of the following CDs: AGON I - Adamík, Kofroň, Pudlák, Smolka (ARTA Records, 1991), Czech New Music in the Sixties - Rychlík, Berg. Komorous, Vostřák (ARTA Records, 1994), Graphic Scores and Concepts - Ponc, Röhl, Logothetis, Grygar, Cage, Cardew, Knížák, Nyman, Goode, Palla (audio ego, 1996), AGON - Red & Black - Graham, Kofroň, Smolka, Šimáček (double CD, audio ego, 1997). Martin Smolka (audio ego, 1998), Filip Topol & Agon Orchestra (Indies Records 2001). In the National Theatre Opera Philip Glass's operas La Belle et La Bête (2003) and Les Enfants Terribles (2011), and Michael Nyman's Man and Boy: Dada (2004). From August 2013 to May 2019, Petr Kofroň was the Artistic Director of the National Theatre Opera and the State Opera in Prague.

Iva Bittová’s countryman Milan Kundera wrote how Europe’s “small nations” form another Europe. The violinist-vocalist may be ‘small nation’ Czech but her musical worldview and visionary creativity acknowledge no borders. Her powers of spontaneous creativity are more bountiful than it is fair to confer on one person. Witness and marvel.
[50 words] by Ken Hunt

Iva Bittová was born in 1958 in Bruntál in northern Moravia in what was then Czechoslovakia – and nowadays the Czech Republic. Both of her parents were musicians. Her mother Ludmila was a pre-school teacher who spent most of her life with her family; her father Koloman Bitto – Bittová is the surname’s female form – was a musician strongly influenced by the land of his birth – southern Slovakia. His main instruments were string bass, cimbalom, guitar, and trumpet. This exceptional ability to play almost any instrument he laid his hands on, whether performing in classical or folk music styles, proved a major influence on his three daughters as they grew up. Both of Iva’s sisters – her older sister Ida and her younger sister Regina – are professional drama and music performers.

Iva attended drama pre-school, specializing in violin and ballet. In due course she gained admittance to the Music Conservatory in Brno, often called the Czech Republic’s second city. She graduated in drama and music. During her studies, Iva took part-time engagements as an actress and musician in Brno’s Divadlo Husa na provázku (Goose On A String Theater). She cites these engagements as some of the most formative and influential of her life.

Around this time she also featured as an actress in radio, TV and movie productions. Later on, while working full time in theater, she re-kindled her interest in playing violin, an instrument she had set aside in her younger years. After her father’s early death, she decided to follow in his professional footsteps as an instrumentalist and by composing her own music.

COMPOSER

Recognized by the San Francisco Classical Voice for music that "harnesses considerable expressive power," Matt Boehler is a composer inspired by the limitless possibilities of the theater and the concert hall. His recent song commissions from singers Sasha Cooke and David Portillo were lauded by Opera News as "accomplished" and "fresh and vital." The world premiere of his opera Fat Pig with Victory Hall Opera, libretto by Miriam Gordon-Stewart, was hailed by Opera magazine as "impressive and captivating." Other recent commissions include works for Washington National Opera, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He is a grant recipient from the San Francisco Arts Commission and the Center for Cultural Innovation, and his song cycle Foursquare Cathedral garnered awards from the Music Publisher's Association and NATS, taking first prize in their Art Song Composition Competition.

A native of Minneapolis, Minnesota, he is now based in San Francisco. He trained as an actor at Viterbo College, an opera singer at Juilliard, and as a composer at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

SINGER

Hailed by The New York Times as "a bass with an attitude and the goods to back it up," Matt Boehler is a singer known in the worlds of opera and theater for his captivating, dynamic performances and his long-earned reputation as an inventive and truly collaborative artist. He has appeared as a principal artist with The Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Dallas Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Minnesota Opera, Spoleto Festival, Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, Theater St. Gallen, and Canadian Opera Company, as well as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, and the New York Festival of Song, among many others. In addition to bringing "power and brilliant tone" (Opera News) to staples of the standard repertoire, Matt is frequently in demand as a new music collaborator and his discography features many world premieres.

A native of Minneapolis, Minnesota, he is now based in San Francisco. He trained as an actor at Viterbo College, an opera singer at Juilliard, and as a composer at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Christopher Burchett’s rich, no-holds-barred voice and committed stagecraft have earned him a place on the stages of opera companies throughout the United States and Europe including New York City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, the Estates Theatre, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, BBC Orchestra at the Barbican Centre, Fort Worth Opera, The Holland Festival, Palm Beach Opera, Beth Morrison Projects, Opera Orchestra of New York, Virginia Opera, Prototype Festival, Opera Omaha, Opera Saratoga, Eugene Opera, Indianapolis Opera, Kentucky Opera, Glimmerglass Opera and Opera Theatre of St. Louis. Most recently, Opera News described Christopher as a “fearlessly vulnerable” performer “who gave an unflinchingly, heroically human performance that will linger long in the memory.”

In 2015 Christopher sang the title role in Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre’s production of Don Giovanni, Sandro in American Symphony Orchestra’s production of Mona Lisa at Carnegie Hall and the title role in Eugene Opera’s production of Sweeney Todd. This was followed by Bach’s St Matthew Passion with the Bel Canto Chorus of Milwaukee and Antonio in the world premiere of Joseph Summer’s The Tempest with The Shakespeare Concerts. In the fall he sang concerts with Salt Marsch Opera, Arias and Barcarolles with Copland House and “A Continental Cabaret” with Opera Saratoga. He then ended the year in Boston with a workshop of the opera Gilgamesh at the New England Conservatory of Music.

2016 engagements included a return to the Omaha Symphony for the chamber work American Muse, a workshop of Jorge Sosa’s La Reina as part of Prototype Festival and a Valentine’s Recital with wife, Avery Boettcher in Pikeville, Kentucky. In the spring he performed the roles of Victor in Buried Alive and Producer in Embedded with Fort Worth Opera as well as Mozart’s C Minor Mass with Orchestra Now at Carnegie Hall. In the fall, Christopher sang the title role in the opera Gilgamesh by Paola Prestini’s as part of the Ouroboros Trilogy produced by Beth Morrison Projects and Friends of Madame White Snake in Boston and then returned to Boston to perform the roles of Dad, Café Manager, and Police Chief in Boston Lyric Opera’s production of Greek.

Last year Christopher performed the Governor/Innkeeper in Man of La Mancha with Indianapolis Opera, Priest and Angel of the Agony in Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius with The Orchestra Now, Raphael in Haydn’s The Creation with the Bloomington Chamber Singers and both Carmina Burana and Creon in Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex with the Washington Chorus at The Kennedy Center for the Arts. Last summer he returned to Opera Saratoga to sing Larry Foreman in The Cradle Will Rock and Sander in Zemire et Azor and then traveled to London to record Arnold Rosner’s The Parable of the Law with the London Philharmonic for Toccata Classics. His 2017 finished singing the role of Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus with Fargo-Moorhead Opera and Germont in La Traviata with Indianapolis Opera.

In 2018 he makes his Chicago Opera Theater debut as John Cree in Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell’s opera Elizabeth Cree followed by return engagements with Boston Lyric Opera singing the role of Mac the Knife in their production of The Threepenny Opera and as the soldier in David T. Little’s Soldier Songs with Beth Morrison Projects and Fargo-Moorhead Opera. This fall he sings Sam in Trouble in Tahiti and a 50th anniversary gala concert with Fargo-Moorhead Opera.
Furture seasons include return performances in New York with The Prototype Festival and Time’s Arrow Festival as well as with Fort Worth Opera singing the role of El Gringo in the world premiere of La Reina.

A champion of new music, Christopher has created roles in 13 world premieres to date. Some of those roles include Orsen in Edwin Penhorwood’s Too Many Sopranos with Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre, M. Carré-Lamadon in Stephen Hartke’s The Greater Good with Glimmerglass Opera, Justin in Anthony Davis’ Wakonda’s Dream and Baritone Soloist in Paul Moravec’s Blizzard Voices, both with Opera Omaha, Jack Absolute in Kirke Mechem’s The Rivals with Skylight Opera Theatre and the Soldier in Paola Prestini’s Oceanic Verses at The Kennedy Center. He has also participated in the revival of several 21st century works including the oratorio Restless Mourning by Anthony Davis and the roles of Braxton and Sherrin in Sir Richard Rodney Bennett’s opera The Mines of Sulphur.

Widely sought after for his concert work, Christopher has appeared with many of the country’s finest Bach festivals including the Carmel Bach Festival, Boulder Bach Festival, Louisville Bach Society and Bethlehem Bach Festival where he sang Bach’s B Minor Mass as part of an Emmy winning national PBS broadcast entitled “Make a Joyful Noise”. Other concert highlights include Handel’s Messiah with the Portland Baroque Orchestra, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the New Hampshire Music Festival, Vaughn Williams’ Fantasia on Christmas Carols with the New York Choral Society at Carnegie Hall, Britten’s War Requiem with both the Louisville Orchestra and Washington Chorus at the Kennedy Center, Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony with Princeton Pro Musica and “So in Love With Broadway”, a concert of musical standards and selections of hits from the music of Frank Loesser with the Omaha Symphony.

Christopher can be heard on the Naxos record label in Stephen Hartke’s The Greater Good, Julian Wachner’s Come My Dark Eyed One, Mohammed Fairouz’s No Orpheus and the title role of Bernard Rands’ opera Vincent. Other recordings available include the newly released first complete recording of Mark Blitzstein’s The Cradle Will Rock on Bridge Records as well as Paola Prestini’s Oceanic Verses on the VIA label, David Lang’s The Difficulty of Crossing a Field on the Cantaloupe label and Joseph Summer’s The Tempest on Albany Records. He can also currently be heard on the I-tunes label as part of the “Opera America Songbook”, a recorded collection of 47 songs commissioned by Opera America to celebrate the opening of the National Opera Center.

Matthew Chellis is considered one of America’s most versatile singing actors. He has appeared with opera companies, orchestras and theatre companies in North and South America and Europe. Chellis has sung over 20 principal roles with New York City Opera and sung with Washington National Opera, Frankfurt Opera, Atlanta Opera, Opera Bogata and Calgary Opera to name a few. Concert performances include numerous appearances at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall and Boston Symphony Hall. Chellis has taught at New York University and Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts prior to his appointment at the CU Boulder College of Music. He is the founder and executive director of the Up North Vocal Institute—an intensive four week vocal training program located in northern Michigan.

Lisa has worked extensively as a choreographer, director, producer and master teacher. She is producing Artistic Director of New York Stage Originals, a theatrical production company dedicated to creating original musical theatre. She co-created the internationally acclaimed show “TAP KIDS” and the TK Summer Intensive, which attracts some of the finest young, tap talent in North America. Lisa directed and choreographed the musical “Scrooge” which played Off-Broadway in NYC at The Lambs Theater and at Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theatre, and “Dream” which premiered at The Spencer Theater, NM. She assisted choreographer Kathleen Marshall on the Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim’s “Follies” where she also acted as coach to leading man Treat Williams. Other Director/Choreography credits include “Talkies” at the Century Center in NYC, “Murder They Danced” at Toronto’s Premiere Dance, “1940’s Radio Hour” at The Emelin Theater in New York. Lisa’s work has been commissioned by NYC Dance Companies Extended Dance Theater and Off Center Dance Theater, and she was billed as “one of New York’s leading choreographers” for work in “The Gypsy Project” at Tribeca Performing Arts Center.

He is a former Lindemann Young Artist and winner of the Met National Council Auditions, making his debut as Silvano in Un ballo in maschera and singing a total of 267 performances. Mr. Schaldenbrand also appeared on the Met stage in the roles of Schaunard (La bohème), Guglielmo (Cosi fan tutte), and Albert (Werther).

Soprano Amelia Watkins has performed with leading orchestras and opera companies in the United States, Canada, Asia and Europe. Since her European debut at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, she has appeared with the Los Angeles Opera, New York City Opera, the Estates Theatre/National Theatre Prague, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Carnegie Hall, Weill Hall, Lincoln Centre, the Tanglewood Music Festival, the Verbier Festival, The National Arts Centre, and in concert in Hong Kong. Her operatic roles include Pamina Die Zauberflöte, Valencienne Merry Widow, Norina Don Pasquale, Despina Così fan Tutte, Zerlina DonGiovanni, Musetta LaBohème, Mme. Herz TheImpresario, Gretel Hansel&Gretel, Frasquita Carmen, Dafne Apollo e Dafne, Elle La Voix Humaine, and extensive scenes of Handel heroines Armida and Cleopatra performed with baroque orchestra. Oratorio performance highlights include Handel's Messiah, Bach’s Magnificat, the Requiem of Mozart, Fauré and Rutter performed at Carnegie Hall, and of Manfred Trojahn performed at the Gewandhaus, Mozart's Exultate, Jubilate and Coronation Mass, and Mahler's Symphony #2, performed at The National Arts Center in Ottawa. Amelia drew critical praise for her portrayal of Brainy Woman in Michael Gordon and Deborah Artman’s Acquanettafor the Prototype Festival, and at the Bard Festival. After a performance of arias from operas by longtime collaborators Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek at the American Library in Paris, Amelia returns to her native Alberta in the Spring of 2024 for a tour of concerts of reinterpreted Mahler works with chamber orchestra. Amelia is also featured as a contributing vocalist in the MOMA installation “Meta'/Physical Therapy” by renowned media artist Shana Moulton.

Embracing musical styles from Bach to Berio and beyond, Amelia specializes in the works of living and experimental composers, performing at Joe’s Pub, Le Poisson Rouge, Roulette, and Issue Project Room, among other venues. She is a frequent vocalist in Darmstadt’s In C. For her portrayal of Mabrouka in the staged premiere of Mohammed Fairouz’s opera Sumeida’s Song, The New York Times praised “the soprano Amelia Watkins, who brings bright sound and touching vulnerability to her performance”. Amelia’s voice was represented in a 496 channel wavefield synthesis speaker array at EMPAC in Troy, NY, by experimental composer Zach Layton, the first use of this technology.

Amelia has been featured in recording on the Grammy-nominated album Vocabularies with Bobby McFerrin, Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s highly acclaimed opera Song From The Uproar, Albany Record’s New Growth, and the studio recording of Acquanetta. Her film and television work includes 'Breastmilk:The Movie', Bravo TV (Canada) "Comédies Musicales", and various commercial and indie film scores. A versatile singer, Amelia enjoys backing up rock and pop bands in the NYC circuit.

A graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Ms. Watkins is the recipient of multiple substantial grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, The Jacqueline Desmarais Foundation for Young Canadian Opera Singers, and has been recognized in other regional, national and international competitions. She has been a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Festival, a Young Artist at Berkshire Opera, a featured academy artist at the Verbier Festival, participant in the Cleveland Art Song Festival, the Carnegie Hall Professional Training Workshop with Thomas Quasthoff, and a resident performer with the Metropolitan Opera Guild outreach program. Amelia is a citizen of Canada, Ireland (European Union), and the United States.