PROGRAM
PLÁCIDO DOMINGO, ELI AND EDYTHE BROAD GENERAL DIRECTOR
JAMES CONLON, RICHARD SEAVER MUSIC DIRECTOR
CHRISTOPHER KOELSCH, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
PRESENTS
OPERA IN THE PARK—SOUTH GATE PARK
OCTOBER 13, 2016
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Macbeth
Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave and Andrea Maffei,
based on the tragedy by William Shakespeare CREATIVE TEAM
CONDUCTOR
CAST
PRODUCTION NOTES
MACBETH,
a general in Duncan’s army
Plácido Domingo
The running time is approximately three
hours, including one intermission.
Darko Tresnjak
LADY MACBETH
Ekaterina Semenchuk
Flames and atmospheric fog and haze are
used in this performance.
CO-SCENIC DESIGNERS
BANQUO,
a general in Duncan’s army
Ildebrando D’Arcangelo
Supertitles written by Christopher Bergen.
Joshua Guerrero‡
COSTUME DESIGNER
MACDUFF,
Thane of Fife
MALCOLM,
son of Duncan
Josh Wheeker*†
LIGHTING DESIGNER
LADY-IN-WAITING
Summer Hassan†
Sean Nieuwenhuis*
DOCTOR / FIRST APPARITION Theo Hoffman*†
CHORUS DIRECTOR
SECOND APPARITION
Liv Redpath*†
THIRD APPARITION
Isaiah Morgan
Scenery and props constructed by Studio
Sereno, Los Angeles. Costumes constructed
by the Los Angeles Opera Costume Shop.
Puppet heads sculpted by Michelle Millay.
Wigs constructed by the Los Angeles
Opera Wig and Make-Up Department.
Steve Rankin*
VALET
Reid Bruton
* LA Opera debut
CLIMBING CONSULTANT
ASSASSIN
James Martin Schaefer
†Member of the Domingo-Colburn-Stein
Young Artist Program
James Conlon
DIRECTOR
Colin McGurk*
Darko Tresnjak
Suttirat Anne Larlarb*
Matthew Richards*
PROJECTION DESIGN
Grant Gershon
FIGHT DIRECTOR
Daniel Lyons*
ASSOCIATE CONDUCTOR
ARTISTS SUBJECT TO CHANGE.
Christopher Allen‡
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
Production made possible by generous gifts from
Nino Sanikidze
The Milan Panic Family
Barbara Augusta Teichert
The Blue Ribbon
MUSICAL PREPARATION
Additional generous support provided by
Barbara Donner
HEAD PIANIST / PROMPTER
Milena Gligić†
Miah Im
Susanna Lemberskaya
‡Alumnus of the Domingo-Colburn-Stein
Young Artist Program
SUPPORT
Erik Friedman
STAGE MANAGER
Pre-performance talks by James Conlon. Preperformance talks are generously sponsored
by the Flora L. Thornton Foundation and the
Opera League of Los Angeles. (There is no
pre-performance talk on September 17.)
Joyce and Aubrey Chernick
LA Opera’s Opera in the Park is made possible through generous support of
Los Angeles County and Supervisor Hilda L. Solis
Please refrain from talking during the performance,
and turn off all cell phones, electronic devices and
watch alarms. If you are using an assistive hearing
device, or are attending with someone who is,
please make sure that it is set to an appropriate
level to avoid distracting audio feedback.
Latecomers will be seated at the discretion of the
house management. Members of the audience who
leave during the performance will not be shown
back into the theater until the next intermission. The
use of cameras and recording equipment is strictly
prohibited. Your use of a ticket acknowledges your
willingness to appear in photographs taken in public
areas of the Music Center and releases the Center
and its lessees and others from liability resulting
from use of such photographs. Any microphones
onstage are used for recording or broadcast purposes only; onstage voices are not amplified.
SYNOPSIS
ACT ONE
Macbeth and Banquo, generals in the
army of King Duncan of Scotland,
encounter a band of witches, who hail
Macbeth as Thane of Cawdor and as
future king, and hail Banquo as father of
kings thereafter. Messengers from
Duncan approach, proclaiming Macbeth
the new Thane of Cawdor, thus fulfilling
the first prophecy. Amazed at this turn of
events, Macbeth muses on his chances of
achieving his ambition to be king (“Due
vaticini compiuti”).
Lady Macbeth reads a letter from her
husband describing his meeting with the
witches. Exulting in the prospect of power
(“Vieni, t’affretta!”), she vows to add her
own cunning and boldness to Macbeth’s
ambition. When a servant brings word
that the king will spend that night in the
castle, she invokes powers of darkness to
aid her aims. Macbeth enters, and his wife
persuades him to murder Duncan that
night. Duncan arrives, retiring at once.
Macbeth, dreading his task, imagines a
dagger before his eyes (“Mi si affaccia un
pugnal?”). As a night bell sounds, he
steals into the royal chamber, returning
shortly afterward to tell Lady Macbeth
that the deed is done. Taking the dagger
from his hands, she coolly goes to smear
blood on the sleeping royal guards, thus
incriminating them. There is a knock at
the gate, and the couple withdraws.
Macduff and Banquo enter, discover the
murder and awaken the court. Led by the
hypocritical couple, the assembled crowd
invokes God’s vengeance.
ACT TWO
Macbeth is now king. Duncan’s son
Malcolm, whom many suspect of his
father’s murder, has fled to England.
Macbeth and his wife plot the murder of
Banquo and his son, lest the latter gain the
crown as the witches prophesied. After her
husband leaves, Lady Macbeth reaffirms
their pursuit of power (“La luce langue”).
STAY
CONNECTED!
A group of assassins awaits Banquo.
Troubled by a foreboding of evil (“Come
dal ciel precipita”), he is set upon and
killed, but his son Fleance escapes.
At a state banquet, Lady Macbeth
toasts her guests in a drinking song (“Si
colmi il calice”). Macbeth is secretly
informed that Banquo’s murder has been
accomplished. When he suddenly sees
the general’s ghost, his horrified reaction
astonishes his guests. Lady Macbeth
chides her husband, who momentarily
regains his calm as she sings a reprise of
the drinking song. But the bloody specter
continues to haunt him, and the guests
notice his guilty behavior.
INTER MISSION
ACT THREE
Macbeth visits the witches to learn his fate.
At his insistence, they conjure up a series of
three apparitions. The first, a warrior, tells
him to beware Macduff; the second, a
bloody child, assures him that no man born
of woman can harm him; finally, a crowned
child reveals that he will rule invincible until
Birnham Wood marches against him.
Somewhat reassured, Macbeth asks the
witches if Banquo’s sons will ever reign in
Scotland; in reply, they invoke a procession
of future kings, followed by Banquo. As
Macbeth faints in dread, the witches disappear. Lady Macbeth finds him; together
they vow to kill all of their enemies.
ACT FOUR
Near Birnham Wood, a band of Scottish
refugees bewails its oppressed homeland,
caught in the grip of Macbeth’s tyranny.
Macduff joins them, grieving over his wife
and children, murdered on Macbeth’s
orders (“Ah, la paterna mano”). Duncan’s
son Malcolm arrives at the head of an
English army. Determined to liberate
Scotland from tyranny, Malcolm instructs
the soldiers to cut branches from the forest as camouflage for an attack on
Costume design by Suttirat Anne Larlarb
for Lady Macbeth.
Macbeth’s castle. Malcolm and Macduff
unite with the crowd in a call to arms.
A doctor and lady-in-waiting observe
the guilt-wracked Lady Macbeth as she
wanders the castle in her sleep, wiping
imaginary blood from her hands
(“Una macchia è qui tuttora”).
During the siege of the castle,
Macbeth clings to the hope he can withstand the forces of Malcolm and Macduff,
but he is soul-weary and curses his fate
(“Pietà, rispetto, amore”). Word of his
wife’s death reaches him.
Messengers bring the astounding news
that Birnam Wood seems to be advancing
upon them. Macbeth leads his men to
battle. Macduff seeks out Macbeth and,
crying that he was not born of woman
but torn prematurely from his mother’s
womb, fights the tyrant. Macbeth falls,
mortally wounded (“Mal per me che m’affidai”). Rejoicing, the army and assembled
populace hail Malcolm, Duncan’s rightful
successor, as their new king.
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