“Ariodante” Cast Q&A Roundup

George Frideric Handel’s riveting tale of obsession, desire, and royal intrigue, Ariodante, closes out the Curtis Opera Theatre’s 2022–23 season, May 4 through May 7 at 7:30 p.m. at the Perlman Theater in the Kimmel Center. Five of the opera’s stars—Lucy Baker, Sarah Fleiss, Sophia Maekawa, Anastasiia Sidorova (Voice ’22), and Juliette Tacchino—discuss the challenges of bringing their characters to life, share favorite memories of studying here at Curtis, talk about future career plans, and more.


  • “Hopefully, this role will be one I continue to perform throughout my career, and it has been such a wonderful experience to start my journey with this character here at Curtis!” —Lucy Baker
  • “Overall, the vast amount of musical experiences I have had, along with the support from my colleagues and teachers, have taught me to find the truth in every single piece of music I attempt to perform.” —Sarah Fleiss
  • “The most challenging and interesting thing in this role was to portray the sudden shifts in emotion that Ariodante is confronted by. Jealousy, violence, insecurity, and passion are ever-present in this opera, which can, in a way, feel similar to our own relationships with friends and loved ones.” —Sophia Maekawa
  • “Learning from my classmates and taking risks together in seminars and on stage have been very special at Curtis. I remember how exciting it was watching your peers making so much progress in one performance seminar.” —Anastasiia Sidorova
  • “I am extremely lucky to be able to study here at Curtis. Every day fills me with happiness thanks to my teachers (in particular, Joan), the whole organizational team, and the connections I’ve created with all the great musicians who study here.” —Juliette Tacchino

 

CURTIS OPERA THEATRE: ARIODANTE

Music: George Frideric Handel
Libretto: unknown, anonymously adapted from Antonio Salvi’s Ginevra principessa di Scozia, based upon Ariosto’s Orlando furioso.

Featuring members of Tempesta di Mare, orchestra

Thursday, May 4, 2023, at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, May 5, 2023, at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 6, 2023, at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 7, 2023, at 7:30 p.m.

Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center, 300 S. Broad Street

Click HERE for more information.

Single tickets: $19–55, sold by the Kimmel Cultural Campus Box Office at KimmelCulturalCampus.org, or (215) 893-1999.

The Curtis Opera Theatre is generously supported by the Ernestine Bacon Cairns Trust, the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, and the Wyncote Foundation.

Photos of Lucy Baker, Sarah Fleiss, Sophia Maekawa, and Juliette Tacchino by Nichole MCH Photography. Photo of Anastasiia Sidorova (Voice ’22) courtesy of artist’s official website.

Meet the Student: Q&A with Mezzo-Soprano Sophia Maekawa

Japanese-American mezzo-soprano Sophia Maekawa, from Kyoto, Japan, plays the title role in Curtis Opera Theatre’s production of George Frideric Handel’s Ariodante. She entered the Curtis Institute of Music in 2016 and studies in the opera program with adjunct faculty member Julia Faulkner. All students at Curtis receive merit-based, full-tuition scholarships, and Ms. Maekawa is the Edith Evans Frumin Fellow.


 

You are playing the title role in Curtis Opera Theatre’s upcoming production of Handel’s Ariodante. What have you found to be the most challenging aspect of playing this character? 

The most challenging and interesting thing in this role was to portray the sudden shifts in emotion that Ariodante is confronted by. Jealousy, violence, insecurity, and passion are ever-present in this opera, which can, in a way, feel similar to our own relationships with friends and loved ones. I hope you can make it to the opera and find out if these characters will be able to reconcile their feelings for one another!

Is this your first trouser role?

Yes, this is the first full pants-role I will be performing on-stage! Although, I am quite familiar with trouser roles as the majority of the arias I sing as a young mezzo-soprano are written as such.

As you prepare to graduate with your Master of Music degree this spring, what have been some of your most memorable moments at Curtis over the years?

There are plenty of memorable experiences from my time at Curtis, which I will cherish for years to come, but I’d have to say one of the most memorable moments would be performing in Curtis’s production of Sweeney Todd, directed by Emma Griffin in 2018. I did not have any musical theater experience then, but I remember having so much fun singing in the chorus with other Opera Philadelphia members. I can recall that we had great feedback from audiences, and I realized how important it is to crossover into unfamiliar repertoires and styles to continue engaging audiences and broaden our own perceptions of this art form.

What is on the horizon and happening next in your career, post-commencement?

I will be joining the Chicago Lyric Opera’s Ryan Opera Center Ensemble in May 2023 and moving to Chicago after the performances of Ariodante. This is the first time I’ve moved within the U.S. after coming to Philly from Japan back in 2016, so I’m nervous and excited at the same time. But I’m looking forward to being a part of the new team and more performances in new venues!

Visit Sophia Maekawa’s official website HERE.

 

CURTIS OPERA THEATRE: ARIODANTE

Music: George Frideric Handel
Libretto: unknown, anonymously adapted from Antonio Salvi’s Ginevra principessa di Scozia, based upon Ariosto’s Orlando furioso.

Featuring members of Tempesta di Mare, orchestra

Thursday, May 4, 2023, at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, May 5, 2023, at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 6, 2023, at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 7, 2023, at 7:30 p.m.

Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center, 300 S. Broad Street

Click HERE for more information.

Single tickets: $19–55, sold by the Kimmel Cultural Campus Box Office at KimmelCulturalCampus.org, or (215) 893-1999.

The Curtis Opera Theatre is generously supported by the Ernestine Bacon Cairns Trust, the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, and the Wyncote Foundation.

Photos of Sophia Maekawa by Nichole MCH Photography. Photo of Sophia Maekawa and Ben Schaefer in Curtis Opera Theatre’s Albert Herring by William M. Brown.

Meet the Guest Artist: Q&A with Mezzo-Soprano Anastasiia Sidorova (Voice ’22)

Anastasiia Sidorova (Voice ’22), from St. Petersburg, Russia, stars as Polinesso in Curtis Opera Theatre’s production of George Frideric Handel’s Ariodante. The Curtis alumna graduated in 2022 and had studied in the opera program with Patricia McCaffrey, adjunct faculty. All students at Curtis receive merit-based, full-tuition scholarships, and Ms. Sidorova was the Curtis Institute of Music Friends Board Annual Fellow.

 


 

What have you found to be the most challenging or interesting aspect(s) of learning the role of Polinesso, and what do you enjoy the most about performing trouser roles?

The most interesting part was finding the right approach and vocal colors to portray Polinesso, who is villainous yet a human being. Being malicious on stage is not very hard; the hard part is telling the story of “how” and “why” they got to this point of manipulating and hurting everyone around them to get their way. I believe every villain has insecurities and unresolved trauma that result in, most of the time, destroying other people, and in that sense, Polinesso is quite a relevant character.

The most challenging yet rewarding aspect has been finding freedom of sound that allows musical gestures to take over rather than being worried about producing perfect “notes.” I love singing Handel; when you sing coloratura the right way, it feels very healing for the voice, but agility doesn’t come naturally to me; it took a lot of work of “letting go” of unnecessary tension to allow my voice to move fast.

What I enjoy about trouser roles is what I love about being an opera singer/actor in general: we get to experience the lives of so many people. When I work on trouser roles, I love to dig into my masculine side, and I try to do ordinary things even outside of the rehearsal room from a more masculine standpoint. Being a young man for a couple of months is a lot of fun.

Now that you have graduated from Curtis when you look back on your time here at the school, what have been some of your most memorable moments?
Learning from my classmates and taking risks together in seminars and on stage have been very special at Curtis. I remember how exciting it was watching your peers making so much progress in one performance seminar. In general, I had a lot of memorable experiences at Curtis, but the one I think about the most was Curtis on Tour with Mikael Eliasen and Miloš Repický.

What’s next for you, and what roles do you hope to perform in the years to come? 

Right after the last performance of Ariodante, I am going to Germany for some auditions in Dresden, Berlin, and Leipzig. After that, I look forward to performing with the Russian Chamber Art Society in the fall and the 19th Water Island Music Festival in St. Thomas in the winter and returning to my amazing voice students at Crestwood Music Education Center in New York. 

One day I hope to perform Isabella in Gioachino Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri and Dalila in Camille Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalila.

Visit Anastasiia Sidorova’s official website HERE.

 

CURTIS OPERA THEATRE: ARIODANTE

Music: George Frideric Handel
Libretto: unknown, anonymously adapted from Antonio Salvi’s Ginevra principessa di Scozia, based upon Ariosto’s Orlando furioso.

Featuring members of Tempesta di Mare, orchestra

Thursday, May 4, 2023, at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, May 5, 2023, at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 6, 2023, at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 7, 2023, at 7:30 p.m.

Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center, 300 S. Broad Street

Click HERE for more information.

Single tickets: $19–55, sold by the Kimmel Cultural Campus Box Office at KimmelCulturalCampus.org, or (215) 893-1999.

The Curtis Opera Theatre is generously supported by the Ernestine Bacon Cairns Trust, the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, and the Wyncote Foundation.

Photos of Anastasiia Sidorovaby courtesy of artist’s official website.

Meet the Student: Q&A with Mezzo-Soprano Lucy Baker

Mezzo-soprano Lucy Baker, from Wilmington, N.C., stars as Ariodante in Curtis Opera Theatre’s fashion-forward production of George Frideric Handel’s Ariodante. She entered the Curtis Institute of Music in 2021 and studies in the opera program with adjunct faculty member Julia Faulkner. All students at Curtis receive merit-based, full-tuition scholarships, and Ms. Baker is the Gene and Jean Stark Fellow.

 


 

What have you enjoyed the most about stepping into the title role of Handel’s Ariodante?

The role of Ariodante is the hardest role I’ve ever learned, with seven arias full of some crazy coloratura, but it has been such a fulfilling experience getting to work on this opera with early music specialists like Maestro Stern and Leon Schelhase. As I’ve dug deeper into the specifics of singing this music stylistically, I’ve found a new appreciation for baroque music. Specifically, ornamentation is a new skill I’ve had to work hard on. Not only do we have to learn the music on the page, but we also get to compose our own embellishments for the da capo of our arias. It starts with researching performances from other singers and eventually learning to trust myself with my own ideas.

Musically, this role has been challenging but so fun; similarly, the character itself has presented new challenges. I’ve only ever performed comedic roles; every trouser role I’ve done has been a child or young teenager. Getting to play a serious adult character has been so much fun as I learn new ways to approach scenes both dramatically and musically. Hopefully, this role will be one I continue to perform throughout my career, and it has been such a wonderful experience to start my journey with this character here at Curtis!

Since you entered Curtis in 2021 and began your studies with Julia Faulkner, what have been some of your most memorable experiences at the school?

I’ve had so many special performance experiences since coming to Curtis, but my favorite was being a part of Curtis on Tour in the fall. Getting to perfect a program over months of performances and traveling around the East Coast was just so much fun. While on tour, I grew closer with my colleagues and faculty, and that has made the remainder of my time at Curtis even more special. Sarah Fleiss and Joseph Tancredi joined me on tour, and now we are in the same cast in Ariodante. It has been a wonderful way to start and end the year with them!

As you think back about your journey to Curtis and your plans for the future, what was that moment you knew you must pursue a singing career and what roles do you hope to perform in the years to come?

The moment I decided to pursue a singing career is so cheesy, but it is a very clear memory for me. The summer before my senior year of high school, I was on vacation with family in Rome. I was asked to give an impromptu performance at a dinner party of friends of my aunt, and after begrudgingly singing for them, one of them said they had someone I needed to meet. So I was given the opportunity to have a lesson with Delia Surratt, who taught at the Loyola Rome campus. She told me that I was “born to do this,” and hearing it from someone other than my parents and voice teacher, who I had been with for ten years, was all I needed.

I never thought I was good enough to make a career out of singing, and up until that point, I had decided to go to school for speech therapy. However, after that lesson, I decided to give it a shot and looked into music schools when I got home from Italy. These days, I have a few roles under my belt and hope to learn lots more in the future.

At this time, roles by Mozart, Rossini, and Handel fit best for me; hopefully, getting to sing Rosina or get Cherubino up and running again soon. It’s always wonderful to discover new roles in operas I’ve never heard of, and I love to tackle contemporary shows. It would be wonderful to try out some bigger rep like Octavian in the future, but who knows where the future takes me!

Visit Lucy Baker’s official website HERE.

 

CURTIS OPERA THEATRE: ARIODANTE

Music: George Frideric Handel
Libretto: unknown, anonymously adapted from Antonio Salvi’s Ginevra principessa di Scozia, based upon Ariosto’s Orlando furioso.

Featuring members of Tempesta di Mare, orchestra

Thursday, May 4, 2023, at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, May 5, 2023, at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 6, 2023, at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 7, 2023, at 7:30 p.m.

Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center, 300 S. Broad Street

Click HERE for more information.

Single tickets: $19–55, sold by the Kimmel Cultural Campus Box Office at KimmelCulturalCampus.org, or (215) 893-1999.

The Curtis Opera Theatre is generously supported by the Ernestine Bacon Cairns Trust, the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, and the Wyncote Foundation.

Photos of Lucy Baker by Nichole MCH Photography and headshot courtesy of artist’s official website. Photo of Ms. Baker, Eric Owens, Miloš Repický, Joseph Tancredi, Sarah Fleiss, and Ting Ting Wong by Micah Gleason. Photo of Ms. Baker in Curtis Opera Theatre’s Così fan tutte by David DeBalko.

Meet the Student: Q&A with Soprano Juliette Tacchino

Soprano Juliette Tacchino, from Nice, France, stars as Ginevra in Curtis Opera Theatre’s riveting production of George Frideric Handel’s Ariodante. She entered the Curtis Institute of Music in 2022 and studies in the opera program with Joan Patenaude-Yarnell. All students at Curtis receive merit-based, full-tuition scholarships, and Ms. Tacchino is the Lelia A. Wike Fellow.

 


 

What have you found to be the most challenging or exciting aspect(s) of learning the role of Ginevra in Ariodante and bringing this character to life in rehearsals?
Ginevra comes with many challenges. This role, which contains seven arias, three duets, and many recits, is a long emotional journey. We go from supreme happiness and love to extreme misfortune and death. Maestro Stern explained to us how important it is to seek deep within us the experience. With Ginevra, I am invited to dive inside myself and discover certain parts of me that I didn’t know. It’s not always that easy!

The biggest challenge here is not to get overwhelmed by emotions. I would even say I allow myself feelings I do not necessarily feel in everyday life. Omer, our stage director, is amazing. I love working with her. Her vision of this opera is really interesting, and I am learning a lot about how to bring my character to life. However, the two aspects that fascinate me the most are the sets and the costumes. I love this part of a production.

The decor, quite minimalist in a Gothic/Baroque style, makes me sometimes think of the Victorian era, and I admit to having a secret passion for all things vintage and works from the last centuries. I love putting on my costume, getting into character, and acting to transform myself!

From your early years taking piano, dance, and singing with the Children’s Choir of the Opéra de Nice, what experience(s), teachers, or moments inspired you to pursue a career in opera?
I have always been immersed in music. My parents, both pianists, are my main source of inspiration. I was persuaded at first to go for the piano, but when I joined the children’s choir of the Opéra de Nice at ten years old, it was love at first sight. I had the chance to participate in many productions, such as Boris Godounov, Parsifal, La bohème, Aida, and Werther, where I even went to London to rehearse with the conductor. It was very impressive for a child to experience all these adventures.

From there, I understood immediately that the opera stage was my playground. As I played hide and seek in the theatre, I felt at home and no longer wanted to leave that world. I was lucky to have many caring mentors who always encouraged me in Nice—like Claire Brua, Dalton Baldwin, Norah Amsellem—and in Montreal—Rosemarie Landry, and Richard Margison. Now my journey continues with Joan Patenaude-Yarnell in Philadelphia. They are all a great source of inspiration to me, and I owe them a lot. Studying abroad has really allowed me to broaden my perspective.

Since you entered Curtis last fall, what have been some of your most memorable moments at the school in classes, rehearsals, or as you’ve performed on stage?
My favorite moment this year was during our Curtis Symphony Orchestra “French Opera Scenes” concert at the Kimmel Center. Working and singing under the direction of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, surrounded by all the magnificent musicians of the school, was a wonderful experience. It was my very first performance at Curtis, and I had the immense pleasure of singing in my mother tongue, French. My mom came from France to listen to me. It was a special moment that I will never forget! I interpreted “la Scène de la Tour,” an excerpt from the opera Pelléas et Mélisande by Debussy, a composer I particularly cherish. Mélisande is also the role of my dreams. She is so fragile and utopian. I hope with all my heart to embody her one day.

I am extremely lucky to be able to study here at Curtis. Every day fills me with happiness thanks to my teachers (in particular, Joan), the whole organizational team, and the connections I’ve created with all the great musicians who study here. I will continue to enjoy every moment life gives me during my time here at this wonderful school.

Watch Juliette Tacchino, tenor Benjamin Schaefer, and bass-baritone Evan Gray perform a scene from Pelléas et Mélisande at Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Visit Juliette Tacchino’s official website HERE.

 

CURTIS OPERA THEATRE: ARIODANTE

Music: George Frideric Handel
Libretto: unknown, anonymously adapted from Antonio Salvi’s Ginevra principessa di Scozia, based upon Ariosto’s Orlando furioso.

Featuring members of Tempesta di Mare, orchestra

Thursday, May 4, 2023, at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, May 5, 2023, at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 6, 2023, at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 7, 2023, at 7:30 p.m.

Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center, 300 S. Broad Street

Click HERE for more information.

Single tickets: $19–55, sold by the Kimmel Cultural Campus Box Office at KimmelCulturalCampus.org, or (215) 893-1999.

The Curtis Opera Theatre is generously supported by the Ernestine Bacon Cairns Trust, the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, and the Wyncote Foundation.

Photos of Juliette Tacchino by Nichole MCH Photography.