Podcast appearances and mentions of cori ellison

CATHERINE FILLOUX (BOOK) is an award-winning playwright who has been writing about human rights and social justice for twenty-five years.  Filloux is the librettist for three produced operas, NEW ARRIVALS (Houston Grand Opera, composer John Glover), WHERE ELEPHANTS WEEP (Chenla Theatre, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, composer Him Sophy) and THE FLOATING BOX (Asia Society, New York City, composer Jason Kao Hwang).  WHERE ELEPHANTS WEEP was also broadcast on national television in Cambodia, and THE FLOATING BOX was a Critic's Choice in Opera News and is released by New World Records.  Catherine is the co-librettist with composer Olga Neuwirth for the opera ORLANDO, which premiered at Vienna State Opera. In development:  Thresh's L'ORIENT (composer Kamala Sankaram, choreographer Preeti Vasudevan); MARY SHELLEY (composer Gerald Cohen, dramaturg Cori Ellison, Black Tea Music).  Her plays have been produced around the U.S. and internationally.  She has been honored with the 2019 Barry Lopez Visiting Writer in Ethics and Community Fellowship; the 2017 Otto René Castillo Award for Political Theatre; and the 2015 Planet Activist Award.  JIMMY ROBERTS  (MUSIC & LYRICS) composed the music for I LOVE YOU, YOU'RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE, second longest running Off Broadway musical in New York theater history. Written with playwright Joe DiPietro, I LOVE YOU received both the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations as Best Musical. It has since played in fifty states, twenty-five countries around the world, and is a major motion picture in Hong Kong. His second Off Broadway musical, THE THING ABOUT MEN, won the 2003 New York Outer Critics Circle award for Best Musical. Jimmy's songs were featured in two other Off Broadway shows: A…MY NAME IS STILL ALICE and PETS! His children's musical, THE VELVETEEN RABBIT, toured the United States for well over a decade. Jimmy is also a sought-after performer. In entertaining programs that combine classical and popular music, he has appeared at Merkin Concert Hall, the Time Warner Center, the 92nd Street Y, Steinway Hall, and the National Arts Club. A graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with noted pianist, Constance Keene, Jimmy Roberts is also a poet, whose work has appeared often in the New York Times Metropolitan Diary, as well as TROLLEY, the journal of the NYS Writers Institute. JOHN DAGGETT (BOOK & ADD'L LYRICS) is a differently-abled actor who has starred Off-Broadway in the critically acclaimed plays LEMKIN'S HOUSE, TEAHOUSE OF THE AUGUST MOON, and LOVE LEMMINGS.  Other New York credits include: ROME, PORTRAIT OF A PRESIDENT, AN ARTIST'S LIFE, THE WITCHES TRIPTYCH, and his one-man show FLYING BY THE SEAT OF MY PANTS (Theatre Row).  Regional: Guthrie, Merrimack Rep, Jewish Repertory Theatre, Portland Stage, Roxy Theatre, Odyssey Theater, Kavinoky Theatre and H.T.Y.  Numerous roles for Pennsylvania Shakespeare, Orlando Shakespeare, Shakespeare in Delaware Park, Lake Tahoe Shakespeare and Sherwood Shakespeare.  John served as a member of the Government Relations Committee of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Welcome to the Big Dipper What defines home, family, and identity? Joan Wilkes confronts these questions when she must sell The Big Dipper Inn, near Niagara Falls in upstate New York, known for its music and African American heritage. She's all set to sign the contract when a blizzard lands a group of Amish folks and a busload of men in dresses on her doorstep. For three days and nights, they wait out the storm. Cultures clash, romance crackles, and Joan struggles for answers, as a houseful of strangers becomes an unexpected community.

Roadtrip! After many long months of necessary virtual collaboration, the creative team behind The Pigeon Keeper, a Santa Fe Opera Opera For All Voices (OFAV) commission, finally got to spread their wings for an emotional workshop in San Francisco.  Key Change co-hosts Andrea Fellows Fineberg and Anna Garcia discover what it was like to have everyone (well, almost everyone) in the same room for the very first time––featuring composer David Hanlon, librettist Stephanie Fleischmann, stage director Mary Birnbaum, music director Kelly Kuo, dramaturg Cori Ellison, Ruth Nott, consultant for OFAV, plus Elinore (Ellie) Pett-Ridge Hennessy, Azaria Stauffer-Barney, and Ruby Recht-Appel, all members of the San Francisco Girls Chorus (SFGC). "Stephanie and I really love working and responding in the moment," says David, excited to sit beside The Pigeon Keeper's librettist in real time and space.  For those unfamiliar with the process of developing new operatic works, workshops put the pieces and performers together for a rigorous, accelerated series of rehearsals, and what some may call a smash-through – the first time the piece is heard by the artists in person all the way through, without stopping (even if there are mistakes.) Then the piece is presented to an invited audience of folks who may be interested to produce or present the opera in the future.  “We're always trying things out, which is really exciting. But,” David admits, “there's a lot of flux to that.”  Workshops are, by their nature, intense. Witnessing The Pigeon Keeper live, with its fairytale-like exploration of chosen family and mass migration, profoundly impacted participants of this workshop, especially members of the San Francisco Girls Chorus (SFGC), whose voices add poignant commentary to the storytelling. "I'm not gonna lie to you. I read through the music, and I started tearing up," recalls Ellie. "It just feels like home." And it feels one step closer to realizing The Pigeon Keeper as a fully staged production. FEATURING David Hanlon - Composer, The Pigeon Keeper Stephanie Fleischmann - Librettist, The Pigeon Keeper Mary Birnbaum - Stage Director Kelly Kuo - Music Director Cori Ellison - Dramaturg Ruth Nott - Consultant, Opera for All Voices Elinore (Ellie) Pett-Ridge Hennessy, Azaria Stauffer-Barney, and Ruby Recht-Appel - Members, San Francisco Girls Chorus (SFGC) led by Artistic Director Valérie Sainte-Agathe RELATED EPISODES KCP0204: Hope Is the Thing With Feathers: A first look at The Pigeon Keeper KCP0404 - In a Room Making Music With People: The Pigeon Keeper with Stephanie Fleischmann and David Hanlon *** Key Change is a production of The Santa Fe Opera in collaboration with Opera for All Voices. Produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios Hosted by Andrea Fellows Fineberg & Anna Garcia Audio Engineer: Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe Show Notes by  Lisa Widder Theme music by Rene Orth with Corrie Stallings, mezzo-soprano, and Joe Becktell, cello Cover art by Dylan Crouch This podcast is made possible due to the generous funding from the Hankins Foundation, the Andrew W Mellon foundation, and an Opera America innovation Grant supported by the Anne & Gordon Getty Foundation.   To learn more about Opera For All Voices, visit us at SantaFeOpera.org.  

“To be or not to be, that is the question.” It's hard to think of a more famous line from a more famous play. In this iconic speech from Shakespeare's Hamlet, the troubled Danish prince asks whether this whole life thing is even worth it. But “to be or not to be'' is not the only question we're asking this week.  When everyone knows this line so well, how do you make it fresh again? How does adapting Shakespeare's play into an opera change our understanding of the text? In this episode, host Rhiannon Giddens and her guests explore one of the most famous speeches in literature, its transformation into opera, and why Hamlet's brooding soliloquy continues to intrigue artists and audiences four centuries later. Tenor Allan Clayton created the role of Hamlet in Brett Dean's opera at the Glyndebourne Festival in 2017. Dean wrote this vocally and dramatically challenging part specifically for Clayton: he would have him read monologues from Shakespeare's original in order to get a sense of his voice and once even emailed him changes during an intermission. Opera dramaturg Cori Ellison worked closely with composer Brett Dean and librettist Matthew Jocelyn throughout the development of Hamlet. She has been the staff dramaturg at the Glyndebourne Festival since 2012, where Hamlet premiered, and has worked with opera companies around the world. Actor and director Samuel West has worked across theater, film, television, and radio, but he was obsessed with Shakespeare's Hamlet. He starred as the Danish prince (whom he describes as “a floppy-shirted noodle”) for one year and three days with the Royal Shakespeare Company. But who's counting?! Jeffrey R. Wilson is a faculty member in the Writing Program at Harvard, where he teaches a course called “Why Shakespeare?” He feels that Shakespeare is still so popular because of the deep and varied problems his plays present: textual, theatrical, thematic, and ethical problems. He is the author of three books, including Shakespeare and Trump and Shakespeare and Game of Thrones.

Key Change is back for Season 3!  Hold on… Some things have changed around here; some things have changed everywhere. What happens when a global pandemic upends your well-crafted plans? How does art respond within the confines of social distancing? Where’s Brandon?! Don’t worry, all will be revealed. To better understand where Opera for All Voices (OFAV) is headed this year, it’s helpful to reflect on where it’s been, to acknowledge achievements, and hear from the people whose talents shaped the initiative’s history. For a trip like that, we’ll need a time machine. Luckily, Andrea knows how to drive one.  In 2019, the curtain rose on the world premiere of OFAV’s first-ever commission Sweet Potato Kicks the Sun by Augusta Read Thomas and Leslie Dunton-Downer. That energetic beatboxing-infused opera amazed audience members and energized performers. Bracketed by a sampling of those excited voices, Andrea revisits OFAV’s origin story, trading insights with collaborator Ruth Nott and Cori Ellison, the production’s dramaturg. If Sweet Potato Kicks the Sun played a crucial foundational role in OFAV’s inaugural season, Hometown to the World, composed by Laura Kaminsky, libretto by Kimberly Reed, was poised to reinforce that vision the following year. 2020 messed with everyone’s momentum, but OFAV maintained belief in its mission, to tell the stories of our time and make opera for all voices. The impetus to develop relevant content and foster rich collaborations has never been more necessary. Safely socially distanced, of course. What began several years ago as the desire to introduce new audiences to the art form has since grown into a rich resource, brimming with possibility. Andrea explores that journey and this podcast’s evolution before steering the time machine triumphantly toward the future. “If this grand experiment that is OFAV has taught us anything,” she says, “it is how to move forward, even when everything goes sideways, and how to keep dreaming.” And, yes, she fills everyone in on Brandon’s exciting new endeavor.  RELATED EPISODES Season 1, Episode 2 “What’s in a name?” - the origin story of Opera for All Voices Season 1, Episode 3 “Beatboxing and Opera” - Sweet Potato’s Augusta Read Thomas and Nicole Paris on the origin story of their collaboration Season 2, Episode 1 “Press Play” - Sweet Potato’s Augusta Read Thomas and Leslie Dunton Downer on story and score development on the eve of the Chicago workshop Season 1, Episode 6 “Hometown to the World” - Hometown’s Laura Kaminsky and Kimberly Reed on telling history and collaboration Season 2, Episode 9 “America is Impossible Without Us” - Revisiting Hometown’s story, structure, music, and what it means to be an American with Laura Kaminsky and Kimberly Read during the San Francisco workshop *** Key Change is a production of The Santa Fe Opera in collaboration with Opera for All Voices. Hosted by Andrea Fellows Fineberg Featuring Brandon Neal, Cori Ellison, Ruth Nott, and post-show feedback from Nicole Paris, Rachel de la Torre, Dawn Lura, chorus members, and audience members. Produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios Audio Engineer: Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe Theme music by Rene Orth with Corrie Stallings, mezzo-soprano, and Joe Becktell, cello. Cover art by David Tousley This podcast is made possible due to the generous funding from the Melville Hankins Family Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and an OPERA America Innovation Grant, supported by the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.   To learn more about Opera for All Voices, visit us at SantaFeOpera.org

Keturah chats with author, activist, and librettist, Lorene Cary. They discuss her memoir, Ladysitting, her work at Art Sanctuary and Vote The Jawn, and her experience at ALT’s Composer Librettist Development Program.

Keturah sits down with Lawrence Edelson, founder of the American Lyric Theater, and Artistic Director of Opera Saratoga. They discuss the Composer Librettist Development Program (CLDP), what makes a good librettist, the art of dramaturgy, and creating new opera in America.

Keturah speaks with dramaturg and educator, Cori Ellison, about her role in the creation of new work, the importance of the dramaturg in opera production, what truly makes a libretto work, and the intricate job of crafting supertitles.

Keturah speaks with librettist, director & choreographer, John de los Santos about his path into libretto writing, comedy in contemporary opera, looking at work as a director vs. a librettist, and experiencing paranormal activity while doing research for his and Clint Borzoni’s upcoming opera, The Copper Queen.

When your spouse cheats, your mind starts racing with a million questions. For the Countess Almaviva, one of them is: What happened to the spark we had and how can we get it back? The Countess lives inside Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro in Italian) and her philandering husband, the Count Almaviva, is due for a major comeuppance from his wife and her servant. But the Countess isn’t fixed on vengeance; she’s wondering how she can recapture the romance in her marriage. In this episode, host Rhiannon Giddens and her guests offer relationship advice to the heartsick Countess Almaviva. They focus on her aria “Dove sono,” a quiet moment of reflection when the Countess asks, “Where are the lovely moments?” You’ll hear how Mozart musically brings you inside the Countess’s thoughts, how hard it is to sing that music and why rekindling a romance is something many of us will face. Plus, you’ll hear Susanna Phillips sing the aria onstage at the Metropolitan Opera. The Guests Susanna Phillips has sung the role of the Countess more than any other in her career. She isn’t sure whether the Countess will ever be able to forgive her husband’s dalliances, but she may find out this season when she reprises the role at the Met. Cori Ellison is a dramaturg and a repeat guest on Aria Code. She believes that Mozart had a special gift both for understanding the human condition and sharing those insights through opera. Dan Savage is a sex and relationship advice columnist and podcaster. Like Mozart, he believes that infidelity is a real part of the human condition. He’s less optimistic about the Count’s ability to be faithful when the curtain closes. If you’re interested in going a little deeper on cheating and infidelity, our friends at the podcast Death, Sex, and Money have a whole episode about it! You’ll hear from men and women who’ve cheated and been cheated on, and how it made some of them more honest in their relationships. Subscribe to Death, Sex, and Money wherever you get your podcasts. 

For opera lovers, today's guest needs no introduction. Renée Fleming is one of the most celebrated and cherished singers worldwide.  In the midst of a whirlwind tour, Renée had a moment to chat with dramaturg Cori Ellison about her Santa Fe Opera debut in a concert featuring Letters from Georgia by Kevin Puts and Vier letzte Lieder (Four Last Songs) of Richard Strauss.  Renée shares a peek inside her preparation and collaborative process for singing the role of New Mexico icon artist Georgia O'Keeffe, reflects on one of her most sung pieces of repertoire by Strauss, and shares the drive behind the growing body of arts education advocacy and neuroscience research she is championing. Follow Renée and learn more about her advocacy work at https://reneefleming.com and on Facebook and Instagram @reneeflemingmusic and on YouTube @ReneeFlemingTV. *** Learn more about the Santa Fe Opera and plan your visit at http://www.santafeopera.org. We'd love for you to join us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @santafeopera.  *** Beyond the Opera is produced for the Santa Fe Opera by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios. Our audio engineer is Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe. Our hosts are dramaturg Cori Ellison and Kathleen Clawson, associate director of the Santa Fe Opera apprentice singer program.

Beloved musicians and founders of Bridge Records, Becky and David Starobin make their debut as librettists in collaboration with composer Poul Ruders on this brand new fairytale thriller opera adapted from "The Twelve Brothers" by the Brothers Grimm. Cori digs deep with Becky and David into the collaborative process, the necessary changes to the source material to make it stage worthy, and addressing universal themes of family, love and loss. We also hear how the Bridge Records recording for The Thirteenth Child (recently released) almost went horribly awry and how David saved the day. Follow Becky, David and The Thirteenth Child at http://the13thchild.com. *** The Thirteenth Child runs at the Santa Fe Opera July 27 - August 21, 2019. Learn more and plan your visit at http://www.santafeopera.org. We'd love for you to join us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @santafeopera.  *** Beyond the Opera is produced for the Santa Fe Opera by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios. Our audio engineer is Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe. Our hosts are dramaturg Cori Ellison and Kathleen Clawson, associate director of the Santa Fe Opera apprentice singer program.

All eyes in the village are on Jenufa. Her fiancé sees only a trophy wife. Her rejected suitor sees a chance to avenge the most cutting wrongs in his past. Her righteous stepmother sees her own life’s tragedy about to play out again for her child. The results are two unspeakable crimes which lead to the opera’s true theme—that the wounds of troubled lives can be assuaged through acceptance, forgiveness, and hope. Patricia Racette returns to the Santa Fe Opera for her 10th role on our stage in this production of Jenufa by Leos Janáček, staged by David Alden. Having performed the role of Jenufa many, many times, Patricia now takes on the role of the stepmother, Kostelnicka.  Cori and Patricia talk about what it's like to prepare for a new character in an opera she knows so well; her career expansion from ingenue to more mature, dramatic roles; her passion for coaching young singers; a return to her musical theatre roots; and the answer to the burning question on all Santa Feans' minds -- red or green?    Follow Patricia at http://patriciaracette.com on Twitter @patriciaracette and on Facebook @divapatriciaracette. *** Jenufa runs at the Santa Fe Opera July 20 - August 15, 2019. Learn more and plan your visit at http://www.santafeopera.org. We'd love for you to join us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @santafeopera.  *** Beyond the Opera is produced for the Santa Fe Opera by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios. Our audio engineer is Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe. Our hosts are dramaturg Cori Ellison and Kathleen Clawson, associate director of the Santa Fe Opera apprentice singer program.

What makes the seemingly ridiculous plot of Così fan tutte such a compelling study of the duality of human nature that we revisit time and again? How do we understand the play of gender norms and societal pressure through a contemporary lens? And what's a director to do about a plot point that revolves around mustaches?  R.B. Schlather is one of the most creative and exciting new opera directors on the scene in America, with a strong emphasis on the visual aspect of performance. He recently he made a huge splash with a production of The Mother of Us All by Virgil Thomson at the Hudson Opera House in upstate New York, which was named as one of the 10 best opera performances of 2017 by the New York Times. R.B. makes his Santa Fe Opera directorial debut with our new production of Così fan tutte, Mozart’s and Da Ponte’s final collaboration (after Don Giovanni and Le nozze di Figaro), which has delighted and confounded viewers ever since its 1790 premiere in Vienna. Find out why Cosi is one of Cori's "desert island operas" and how R.B. had to come around to it eventually. Follow R.B. a thttps://www.rbschlather.com on Instagram @r_b_schlather. *** Cosi fan tutte runs at the Santa Fe Opera July 13 - August 22, 2019. Learn more and plan your visit at http://www.santafeopera.org. We'd love for you to join us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @santafeopera.  *** Beyond the Opera is produced for the Santa Fe Opera by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios. Our audio engineer is Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe. Our hosts are dramaturg Cori Ellison and Kathleen Clawson, associate director of the Santa Fe Opera apprentice singer program.  

A conversation from the "feminine perspective" about the often underestimated opera by Georges Bizet, The Pearl Fishers, reveals insights into key themes of power dynamics, the intrinsic conflict of character Leïla, and what it means to be a leader in this day and age. Director Shawna Lucey, soprano Corinne Winters, and host Kathleen Clawson give us a fresh take on the 2019 revival of our stunning 2012 production, which was called “The best of this summer’s season,” by The Wall Street Journal.  They also offer advice for opera newcomers and veterans alike to get the richest possible experience during your visit. Follow Shawna at https://www.shawnalucey.com, on Instagram @29flames, and on Twitter @shawna_lucey. Follow Corinne at http://corinnewinters.com, on Facebook @cmwsoprano, and on Instagram @cmwsoprano.  *** The Pearl Fishers runs at the Santa Fe Opera June 29 - August 23, 2019. Learn more and plan your visit at http://www.santafeopera.org. We'd love for you to join us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @santafeopera.  *** Beyond the Opera is produced for the Santa Fe Opera by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios. Our audio engineer is Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe. Our hosts are dramaturg Cori Ellison and Kathleen Clawson, associate director of the Santa Fe Opera apprentice singer program.  

Baritone Zachary Nelson started his professional opera singing career as an apprentice at the Santa Fe Opera, following college and swiftly made his way onto the main stage in what to him felt like a dream come true. In the 2019 season, he's singing Marcello in the Santa Fe Opera's new production of Puccini's La bohème.  Kathleen Clawson talks with Zach about all things La bohème, his whirlwind stint in Germany, and what it's like to revive a role he's done in multiple productions. Follow Zach at http://www.zacharynelsonbaritone.com on Twitter @ zacharybaritone and on Instagram @zacharynelson410. *** La Boheme runs at the Santa Fe Opera June 28 - August 24, 2019. Learn more and plan your visit at http://www.santafeopera.org. We'd love for you to join us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @santafeopera.  *** Beyond the Opera is produced for the Santa Fe Opera by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios. Our audio engineer is Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe. Our hosts are dramaturg Cori Ellison and Kathleen Clawson, associate director of the Santa Fe Opera apprentice singer program.  

We talk to Santa Fe Opera dramaturg Cori Ellison about the operas in this summer's season—history, production, casting and the beauty and drama of both classics and a world premiere.

Andrea Fellows Walters and Brandon Neal are back with Season 2! Sweet Potato Kicks the Sun, our first commission for Opera for All Voices, gets a closer listen with a live audience. Hopping back in our OFAV time machine, we travel to September 2018 Chicago. Sweet Potato had a live workshop with invited audience and we had a rare opportunity to find out both what audience members were anticipating before the workshop, and what they thought afterward. Andrea and our dramaturg Cori Ellison sat down with composer Augusta Read Thomas and librettist Leslie Dunton Downer to learn more about their alchemical process of working together on a new opera, influences and nuances of story, and what happens next with this new opera. Sweet Potato Kicks the Sun will premiere in Santa Fe, NM in October 2019. ***  If you are new to Key Change, we recommend going back to listen to the first 8 episodes of Season 1 for even more OFAV context. Episode 3 is a first introduction to Sweet Potato Kicks the Sun with composer Augusta Read Thomas and beatbox artist Nicole Paris. If you can’t right this minute, don’t worry! We’ll catch you up. *** Key Change is a production of The Santa Fe Opera in collaboration with Opera for All Voices. Produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios Hosts: Andrea Fellows Walters and Brandon Neal Audio Engineer: Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe Theme music by Rene Orth with Corrie Stallings, mezzo-soprano, and Joe Becktell, cello. Cover art by David Tousley Special music licensing from PodcastMusic.com Special thanks to the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago, Reba Cafarelli, Cori Ellison, Andrea Klunder and Aliyah Rich for recording our audience reactions and Shannon Harris for recording our interviews in Chicago. OFAV Consortium Members:  Lyric Opera for Kansas City, Minnesota Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, San Francisco Opera, Sarasota Opera and Seattle Opera. This podcast is made possible due to the generous funding from the Melville Hankins Family Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and an OPERA America Innovation Grant, supported by the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.   To learn more about Opera for all voices, visit us at SantaFeOpera.org

Verdi’s La Traviata revolves around the high-class courtesan Violetta, the quintessential "tart with a heart" who falls for Mr. Right but can’t decide whether she really wants to settle down. (Spoiler alert: it’s an opera, so she never gets the chance.) In this episode, host Rhiannon Giddens and her guests reflect on Violetta’s spectacular Act I finale and its deep inner conflicts around love and freedom. Plus, you'll hear the complete aria sung from the Met Opera stage. The Guests Diana Damrau is one of the leading sopranos of our time. She has performed at all the world's major opera companies, specializing in lyric and coloratura roles. She's currently singing the role of Violetta at the Metropolitan Opera. Cori Ellison is the company dramaturg for Santa Fe Opera and has also worked with the Glynebourne Festival Opera, New York City Opera and the Juilliard School. She's our go-to opera guru for traditional and contemporary repertoire. Brooke Magnanti is a writer who earned her doctorate in forensic pathology, but you might know her as Belle de Jour. Her book, The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl, documented her year working as an escort and inspired a TV series and several follow-up books. The Team Aria Code is produced by WQXR in partnership with the Metropolitan Opera. Our team includes Merrin Lazyan, Brendan Francis Newnam, Matt Boynton, Ricardo Quiñones, Ania Grzesik, Khrista Rypl and Matt Abramovitz. Original music by Hannis Brown.

Rufus WainwrightHadrianMario LanzaSupertitlesLotfi MansouriBeverly SillsIl TrovatoreThe Coronation of PoppeaCosi Fan TutteHamlet by Brett DeanBreaking the Waves by Missy MazzoliL’Amour de Loin by Kaija SaariahoDead Man WalkingMargaret Garner“Porgi Amor” is an aria from The Marriage of FigaroCCM is the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of MusicFage yogurtThe Twelve CaesarsOne DharmaGoogle maps appGraeter’s Ice Cream

On this week's episode of He Sang/She Sang, hosts Merrin Lazyan and Julian Fleisher are joined by dramaturg Cori Ellison to discuss Verdi's mythical and timeless masterpiece, La Traviata. We also speak with baritone Thomas Hampson, who has been singing the role of Germont for 25 years. Hampson tells us how the complex and beautiful dilemmas that we find in this opera help us to better understand who we really are.  Cori's YouTube pick (Maria Callas and Ugo Savarese, 1953):   Merrin's YouTube pick (Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón, 2005):  Julian's YouTube picks (Joni Mitchell):   This episode features excerpts from the following albums: Giuseppe Verdi: La Traviata (Deutsche Grammophon, 1992)— Cheryl Studer, soprano; Luciano Pavarotti, tenor; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra conducted by James Levine Verdi: La Traviata (Deutsche Grammophon, 2005)— Thomas Hampson; baritone; Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Carlo Rizzi

In this episode we explore Cavalli’s Hipermestra – an Italian baroque masterpiece that is given its UK premiere at Glyndebourne Festival 2017. Renowned soprano Dame Janet Baker recalls a glorious summer spent singing Cavalli at Glyndebourne in 1970. And conductor William Christie, Cavalli historian Christine Jeanneret and Glyndebourne dramaturg Cori Ellison reveal just how important Cavalli is to the history of opera. Presenter: Katie Derham ​​Produced by Katherine Godfrey for Whistledown Productions for Glyndebourne Festival 2017 Music courtesy of NPO Radio 4 Image: William Christie in rehearsals at Glyndebourne. Photographer: Mike Hoban

BAGLG is back with the illustrious and lovely Cori Ellison, opera dramaturg from Glyndebourne to NYCO, translator and sub-titler of basically all things musical, and curator-encourager of new operas by everyone from Rufus Wainwright to Kaija Saariaho. Oh, and also accessibility of classical music and women in the workplace and Italian tenors. Rated PG-13 honesty and language.

Nabucco is the opera that got Verdi back in the game after a long time away from composing, but its premiere almost didn't happen. Hear how it was saved and in an ironic twist of fate, how the opera shortened the career of the soprano who saved it. On this week's episode of He Sang/She Sang, mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton and dramaturg Cori Ellison discuss Verdi's connection to the plight of the Hebrew slaves, why this year's revival at the Metropolitan Opera is so special and the cultural significance of "Va, pensiero."  Cori Ellison's YouTube pick (Riccardo Muti, Opera di Roma) Merrin Lazyan's YouTube pick (Plácido Domingo and Liudmyla Monastyrska, The Royal Opera) This episode features excerpts from the following album: Verdi: Nabucco (Deutsche Grammophon, 1983)— Piero Cappuccilli, baritone; Plácido Domingo, tenor; Evgeny Nesterenko, bass; Ghena Dimitrova, soprano; Lucia Valentini Terrani, mezzo-soprano; Chorus and Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin conducted by Giuseppe Sinopoli

In our first ever Podcast, journalist Naomi Lewin and opera dramaturg Cori Ellison discuss the Met’s production of Kaija Saariaho‘s 2000 opera “L’Amour de Loin.” Naomi Lewin  has produced the podcast, which includes interview clips with the composer, as well as the conductor Susanna Mälkki.   We also hear audio clips from the opera, and […]

Nagasaki, Japan at the turn of the 20th century; the trees are laden with cherry blossom and a beautiful young Geisha’s fate is about to be determined by her marriage to a handsome American. In this podcast, explore Madama Butterfly, Puccini’s heartbreakingly beautiful exploration of a clash between East and West. With contributions from Glyndebourne Dramaturg, Cori Ellison, Fusako Innami from the Japanese studies department of the University of Durham, and Alexandra Wilson, Reader in Music at Oxford Brookes University. Presenter: Katie Derham ​​Produced by Katherine Godfrey for Whistledown Productions for Glyndebourne Tour 2016. Music from the EMI Classics recording of Madama Butterfly featuring Sir John Barbirolli conducting the Orchestra e Coro del Teatro dell’Opera di Roma.

Sparks fly in Hector Berlioz’s witty, offbeat opera Béatrice et Bénédict. Taking inspiration from one of the greatest comic works ever written – William Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing – it’s a meditation on the complexities of love and partnership. Actress Zoe Wanamaker, music critic David Cairns, conductor Robin Ticciati and Glyndebourne’s dramaturg Cori Ellison explore the characters and music of this concise gem from the master of epic composition. Presenter: Katie Derham ​​Produced by Katherine Godfrey for Whistledown Productions for Festival 2016. Music from the LSO Live recording of Béatrice et Bénédict., conducted by Sir Colin Davis

Attending a new opera? Better take it all in because there's a good chance it may not be performed again. According to a 2015 study by Opera America, of the 589 operas that were premiered over the last 20 years, just 71 (or 11 percent) received subsequent revivals. For the second of two episodes dedicated to contemporary opera, we consider why the revival percentage is so low, and what gives a new opera staying power. Marc Scorca, president and CEO of Opera America, says that historically, few operas have ever entered the standard repertoire. "In the years of the 1780s, over a thousand operas a year premiered," he noted, but only a few, including Mozart's Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni, have withstood the test of time and continue to be performed. "Even though we see such a flowering of American creativity in opera, we still see a relatively limited number of new works." The Opera America study found that Mark Adamo's Little Women has been revived the highest number of times, with 66 revivals since its premiere at Houston Grand Opera in 1998. David Gockley, who was general manager in Houston when Little Women premiered, says its popularity is due to its recognizable title, modest scale and ability to be performed by younger singers. "It is a gorgeous gem of a piece," said Gockley, who is now entering his 10th and final season as general director of San Francisco Opera. Gockley encourages young composers to make their operas "more portable, more performable by different-sized companies." Cori Ellison, dramaturg at the Glyndebourne Festival in England, notes that some larger companies are developing adjunct, black-box-style venues where new works can get their start. "It's good if you can commission a good old barn-burning grand opera now and again," she said. "But I think that a lot of the future of new opera in this country has to do with small venues and more modest scale." Dead Man Walking, by American composer Jake Heggie, has received the second highest number of revivals, at 42, since its 2000 premiere with the San Francisco Opera. Gockley said he's looking forward to more new works by Heggie in the season ahead. He also maintains that the current season is nearly a golden age compared with 40 years ago, when he was starting out in Houston. "Compared with 1974, this is an immense amount of activity and to be thankful for." Listen to the full segment at the top of this page and please share your thoughts below.

When George Benjamin's Written on Skin had its American stage premiere at the Mostly Mozart Festival on August 11, it became an unlikely summer blockbuster: a complex, contemporary opera with an abstract storyline and a dense, modernist musical language. The work got standing ovations from audiences and rave reviews from critics – but not all of them. This summer also saw another big premiere: Cold Mountain, by American composer Jennifer Higdon, at Santa Fe Opera. That work features a more accessible language, with traditional melodies and a conventional linear storyline, though reviews were somewhat more mixed. This week's podcast explores which approach works best in contemporary opera, and what has "sticking power." Joining host Naomi Lewin are Marc Scorca, president and CEO of Opera America, which represents North American opera companies, Cori Ellison, dramaturg at the Glyndebourne Festival in England; she also teaches at Juilliard and the American Lyric Theater; and David Gockley, who is entering his 10th and final season as general director of San Francisco Opera. From 1972-2005 he ran Houston Grand Opera, where he commissioned a lot of new work. Gockley is unconvinced by the popularity of Written on Skin. "It's a connoisseur's piece," he said. "Its musical language is extraordinarily complicated. I mean, are you going to sit down and play [a recording of] that at dinner?" As someone whose job includes filling a 3,200-seat house every night, Gockley says that he looks for works with a certain "bourgeois" appeal. "That is what we are – a bourgeois art form," he said. And if audiences don't immediately embrace a new work, "they're not going to come back." Ellison points out that a very different situation exists in Europe. On a list of some 60 notable modern operas recently compiled by Washington Post readers, only about 15 of them are by non-American composers. "Those 15 operas are in a much more modernist style or spectralist style," she said. European opera houses are generally smaller, benefit from government funding and can afford to take more risks stylistically. "It's a different landscape." A scene from Jennifer Higdon's 'Cold Mountain' (© Ken Howard for Santa Fe Opera) But if traditional American opera audiences balk at a complex, modern work, how do we account for the warm reception Written on Skin received, and the cooler one for Cold Mountain? All three guests acknowledge that while Higdon's first opera wasn't perfect, it showed considerable promise. "I left Cold Mountain really wanting to hear Jennifer Higdon's next opera," said Scorca. He adds, "The challenge for today's composers is to find their own sweet spot between being truly contemporary, and writing in the moment of 2015, and finding a way to connect with the audience." And then there are regional tastes – and rivalries. "I think New York feels envious in one way and critical in another way of all the new operatic activity taking place outside of New York," said Gockley. "They are willing to dismiss it as being pap, and therefore, when something like the Benjamin comes along they can jump on that and think it's the bee's knees. As far as I'm concerned, it's just rehashing the modernism that has bit the dust again and again over the last 50 years." To hear our guest's comments on operas based on novels and films, and why that can help their success, listen to the full segment at the top of this page.

Hot, exotic Andalucía. The setting for a doomed love affair where the romantic, but naïve soldier Don José is led astray by the bewitching Carmen. For Bizet, Spain was warm and colourful, but with a dark and dangerous side. Much like the opera’s femme fatale. Mezzo soprano Stephanie d’Oustrac, musicologist Hugh Macdonald and Glyndebourne dramartug Cori Ellison discuss the enduring appeal of Carmen, a character who is at once both alluring and elusive. Presenter: Katie Derham. Produced by Anishka Sharma for Whistledown Productions for Festival 2015.

The form may seem familiar – a feather-light romantic comedy – but Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail is shot through with an emotional and musical core of extraordinary seriousness from the 26 year old composer. And its portrayal of 18th century European attitudes to the meeting of East and West is remarkably insightful. Listen as Matthew Head, Professor of Music at King’s College London, Matthew Dimmock, Professor of Early Modern Studies at the University of Sussex, and Glyndebourne dramaturg Cori Ellison explain how Mozart both reflects and subverts the 18th century European view of ‘the Orient’. ​Presenter: Katie Derham ​​Mozart​ letters read by Peter Marinker Produced by Katherine Godfrey for Whistledown Productions for Festival 2015.

Verdi’s La traviata - one of the greatest love stories ever told in opera and a work of such enduring power that it draws audiences and performers to it again and again. In this podcast Glyndebourne’s dramaturg, Cori Ellison, Dr Francesco Izzo from the University of Southampton, and author, Julie Kavanagh, explain how Verdi’s creation achieves such an exquisite melding of real-life tragedy and dramatic depth. Presenter: Katie Derham, Produced by Katherine Godfrey and Anishka Sharma for Whistledown Productions for Festival 2014.

In this podcast we journey to Russia in the 1820s, the setting for Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s tale of love and loss, Eugene Onegin. The opera was drawn almost verbatim from the novel of the same title by Alexander Pushkin, one of the great works of Russian literature. Here Glyndebourne’s dramaturg Cori Ellison and Marina Frolova-Walker, a specialist in Russian Music at the University of Cambridge, discuss the rich material on offer to Tchaikovsky within the novel and consider how the composer found his own voice with which to tell the story. In addition, baritone Richard Stilwell, who has portrayed Onegin many times, including at the Glyndebourne Festival in 1975, talks about what it’s like to play this not entirely likeable character. Produced for Festival 2014

Peggy Reynolds explores Giuseppe Verdi’s last, great work: the comic opera Falstaff. With contributions from the conductor Sir Mark Elder, who celebrates the delicacy, wit and humanity of Verdi’s score. From Glyndebourne’s dramaturg, Cori Ellison, who reflects on the quicksilver pace of this wonderfully funny work by a composer who we do not tend to associate with comedy. And from the baritone Laurent Naouri, who discusses the role of Falstaff, and the words and music written for the character by Verdi and his librettist, the prodigiously talented Arrigo Boito. [Producer: Mair Bosworth for Festival 2013] Musical extracts from the 1960 Glyndebourne recording of Falstaff. Available from the Glyndebourne shop: https://www.glyndebourneshop.com/verdi-giuseppe-falstaff-cd-1960/

Peggy Reynolds explores Gaetano Donizetti's Don Pasquale. With expert insights from the conductor, Sir Mark Elder, who argues that Don Pasquale is "a brilliant refilling of an old mould". From Francesco Izzo, Senior Lecturer in Music at the University of Southampton, who sets the opera into the wider historical context of the development of opera buffa, arguing that Don Pasquale was a new kind of comic opera, one which treats its characters with great empathy and warmth. From Glyndebourne's dramaturg, Cori Ellison, on the origins of the Basso Buffo character in Italian commedia dell'arte and Donizetti's use of the waltz as a signifier for youth throughout the opera. And from Danielle de Niese, who introduces us to Norina, the opera's feisty heroine and considers the moral of the story. [Producer: Mair Bosworth for Festival 2013] (Musical extracts used with kind permission of Decca Classics)

For Britten's centenary year, Fiona Shaw directs a new production of The Rape of Lucretia, which had its first performance at Glyndebourne in 1946. In this podcast, presenter Peggy Reynolds shares some of the recollections of the original production's star - the great mezzo Kathleen Ferrier - and the creative team who brought Britten's work to the stage. Glyndebourne's dramaturg Cori Ellison, considers the place of The Rape of Lucretia within Britten's canon of works, as the first of his 'chamber operas', and explores the source material for Ronald Duncan's libretto. The conductor, Nicholas Collon, reflects on the historical moment Lucretia was born out of and celebrates Britten's extraordinary vocal and orchestral writing. And Fiona Shaw unfolds the layers of the opera, telling Lucretia's story and considering the work's ongoing significance. [Producer: Mair Bosworth for Tour 2013]

CORI ELLISON, Dramaturg, for the New York City Opera joins Audrey Adams the host of talk! with AUDREY to provide information about the life and times of Margaret Garner and her personal contribution to the opera, which premiere’s on September 11. Ellison’s interview is the first in series of interviews with the director, composer, cast members and production historians of the New York City Opera's premiere of Margaret Garner.

CORI ELLISON, Dramaturg, for the New York City Opera joins Audrey Adams the host of talk! with AUDREY to provide information about the life and times of Margaret Garner and her personal contribution to the opera, which premiere’s on September 11. Ellison’s interview is the first in series of interviews with the director, composer, cast members and production historians of the New York City Opera's premiere of Margaret Garner.