New Music Festival: Voir Dire
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The term “voir dire” comes from Old French: “voir” meaning speak, and “dire” meaning “truth.” Later adapted into legal terminology, it means “to speak the truth.”
With music by Matthew Peterson and libretto by Jason Zencka, Voir Dire is adapted from various court cases witnessed by the librettist during his time as a crime reporter in hidden, small-town America. This chamber opera, directed by Associate Professor David Gately and guest conducted by Viswa Subbaraman, takes place in a courtroom and plays out in a series of colorful and provocative vignettes that give audiences an insider’s look into the dark, uncomfortable, and often bizarre world of legal drama. Drug abuse, fractured families, economic precarity, and sexual violence collide with a justice system unequipped to account for the human element.
Voir Dire is “startlingly immediate and journalistic, as gripping as a great feature story and made memorable by the depth and texture of the music,” says Heidi Waleson of the Wall Street Journal.
Voir Dire is sung in English with titles presented.
Program Information
Welcome Note
Now in its second year, the Conservatory’s educational and artist development partnership with our neighbor Boston Lyric Opera (BLO) is in full swing. The partnership unlocks incredible opportunities for Boston Conservatory students and members of BLO’s Jane and Steven Akin Emerging Artists, and includes the Opera Innovators Series—a curated collection of talks and master classes that engage some of the most innovative and sought-after figures in the opera world. Additionally, Voice Department classes in art song, vocal pedagogy, and the choral arts encompass an exceptional lineup of visiting clinicians, each of whom brings their own powerful and distinct voice to bear on our season’s productions and curricula.
I am so grateful to our generous donors whose giving provides access to the tools and resources our students need to succeed here and beyond. Providing a transformative, high level of training is the Conservatory’s reason for being. Our faculty and administration are deeply committed to fostering a genuine sense of community which defines the Conservatory’s learning and performance environments. There is an ethic of care here that champions people’s goals and aspirations in ways that they feel creative, safe, powerful, and courageous, in and through the learning. We’re helping students build a life for themselves through music that has purpose and that could actually change the world. With a faculty of international renown, an impressive annual lineup of important visiting artists, and a strong commitment to a meaningful list of civic and global initiatives, Boston Conservatory’s Voice Department is an exciting place to be!
I hope you enjoy your experience with us today, and welcome you to join us again.
—Sara Goldstein, Interim Chair of Vocal Arts
Director's Note
voir dire: Law French, from Old French, voir “true” + dire “say,” “to speak the truth”
– a preliminary examination of a witness or the jury pool by a judge or counsel
– an investigation into the truth or admissibility of evidence, held during a trial
To Speak the Truth: The Genesis of Voir Dire
Standing at the precipice of the Great Recession and the beginning of the Obama presidency, before the opioid epidemic became public knowledge, before #MeToo and Black Lives Matter, eight years before America shocked the world by electing Trump, in 2008 Jason Zencka was a court reporter at the Stephens Point Journal in central Wisconsin.
The cases that Zencka witnessed became the basis for Voir Dire, a true-crime opera with its finger on the pulse of twenty-first-century America—a hidden, small-town America. Jason saw drug abuse, fractured families, economic precarity, and sexual violence collide with a justice system unequipped to account for the human element. Ahead of its time in 2008, Voir Dire anticipated the major societal debates of the present day.
Composer Matthew Peterson wove this libretto into singularly powerful moments of song and a vividly eclectic score, forging Zencka’s courtroom tales into a gripping, unique, and powerful opera. In the words of Heidi Waleson of the Wall Street Journal, Voir Dire is “startlingly immediate and journalistic, as gripping as a great feature story, and made memorable by the depth and texture of the music.”
My own experience with this piece came as I directed the world premiere production for the Fort Worth Opera in 2017. It was a piece that stuck in my brain and soul, and I was always looking for an opportunity to produce it again. This production at Boston Conservatory at Berklee marks only the second time that the piece has been performed. When you look at it on the page, it comes off as sometimes brutal, sometimes outrageously comic. And yet it is Matthew Peterson and Jason Zencka’s incredible storytelling and music that make it a cohesive whole. For me, it was blazingly clear as I read and listened to each scene. It describes what I call a “judicial circus,” as the characters try to make sense of the American justice system and their own lives. And, we must remember that the stories depicted here are not some unusual occurrences, but rather are lifted from the headlines of “middle-America Wisconsin.” They happen in cities, towns, and rural areas all over our country. I am excited to share this piece and experience with a wider audience.
—David Gately, Director
Composer's Note
I wrote the first version, for four voices and eight players and the conductor in the speaking role of the Judge, from November 2008 to October 2009. Composed for two Swedish ensembles—the vocal quartet VOX and Norrbotten NEO—for an April 2010 premiere in Gothenburg, it was never performed. Ensemble VOX was a stylistically flexible group of four singers specializing in everything from Renaissance opera to children’s concerts and newly composed works. The opera contains much music tailored to VOX: tight four-part harmonies, the men’s excellent falsetto, and even the baritone’s circus training. Unfortunately, following the second (!) rehearsal, a singer in VOX had an insurmountable issue with the content of “A Trial,” and when Jason and I were unwilling to cut the scene completely, the group pulled out.
Eventually, two more planned productions—with the Stockholm University College of Opera in 2010 and Houston’s Opera Vista in 2012—were canceled. (The latter introduced conductor Viswa Subbaraman to the work, and he became a vital champion, conducting the premiere, the recording, and this BoCo production.) After an excerpt from Voir Dire was selected for the 2014 Frontiers Festival at Fort Worth Opera, FWO decided to produce the work in 2017. Following a workshop at Seagle Opera Festival, Jason revised the libretto. Among the additions were the bass-baritone role of Judge Dodsworth*, a new opening, and a new ending. I finished composing the revised version in 2016. Directed by David Gately, the April 2017 premiere production at FWO received rave national reviews and a feature at the Opera America Conference. The fourth time is the charm.
What is Voir Dire musically? It’s an opera I co-composed at ages 24 and 32. It is polystylistic, channel-surfing zaniness juxtaposed with moments of song and music that are devastating in their simplicity. It contains the indications “beat poet meets lounge lizard,” “spoken like a game show host,” and “squawk.” It is four notes: C, B, A, and G-sharp, or just G. It is fully chromatic ostinatos and senza misura aleatoric sections, driving motor rhythms and melodies with chord changes. It is quintessential opera, but also not really opera. It is funny and sad and violent and strange. It was a watershed piece for my compositional style, and I haven’t written anything quite like it since. As a whole, I think it rings true. This is vital, given the weight of Jason’s subject matter, which in 2008 was ahead of its time.
I’d like to thank BoCo, former general director of FWO Darren Woods, conductor Viswa Subbaraman, and director David Gately. Special thanks to my librettist, Jason Zencka, the “prime mover” whose libretto has meant so much to the course of my compositional voice, my life, and my career.
—Matthew Peterson, composer
*In the BoCo production, Judge Dodsworth will be sung by a mezzo, which Jason and I find equally appropriate, and very exciting.
Synopsis
Scenes and Musical Numbers
2. A 911 Call
3. A Bond Hearing
4. Jailhouse
5. The Preliminary Hearing
6. A Custody Debate
7. Justice
8. The Witness
9. A Plea
10. A Confession
11. “I can’t explain”
12. A Trial
13. Voir Dire
14. “Speak the truth”
Cast
SOPRANO – Olivia Brice, Ally Brigley* (Cover: Bella Abbrescia)
MEZZO SOPRANO – Aubrey Bosse, Julia Janowski*
TENOR – Robert Kleinertz, Nick Alessi*
BARITONE – Raphael Laden-Guindon^, Jason Edelstein* (Cover: Alec House-Baillargeon)
*Friday/Sunday cast
^Guest artist
Orchestra
Dayna Dengler, B.M. '26
CLARINET
John Azpuru Jr., M.M. '25
PERCUSSION 1
Jin Cho, B.M. '26
PERCUSSION 2
John Hanchey, B.M. '27
PIANO
Alex Polyakov*
VIOLIN
Gaia Sbeghen, P.S.C. '24
VIOLA
Zeynep Yigitoglu, B.M. '25
CELLO
Olivia Myers, M.M. '25
BASS
Leo Martinez, B.M. '25
*Boston Conservatory faculty
About the Artists
Viswa Subbaraman, conductor, has served as artistic director and music director for Skylight Music Theatre and Opera Vista. An internationally acclaimed conductor, Subbaraman has been a key figure in bringing new operas to the American canon. Recent world premieres include A Thousand Splendid Suns for Seattle Opera, We Shall Not Be Moved for Opera Philadelphia (with further performances at Dutch National Opera and Pittsburgh Opera), and Voir Dire for Fort Worth Opera. Other recent engagements include Flight and Blue with Seattle Opera, Brett Dean’s Hamlet with the Metropolitan Opera, and Rigoletto with Opera Delaware.
Danielle Ibrahim, scenic designer, is a Boston–based artist, designer, and technician. A graduate of Boston University, Ibrahim has worked with the Glimmerglass Festival, Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre, Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra, Boston Playwrights Theatre, and more. Ibrahim is thrilled to have the opportunity to design for Voir Dire and is especially grateful to the production team at Boston Conservatory who made this possible.
Chloe Moore, costume designer, is a Boston–based educator, costume maker, and designer. Her contributions include recent productions at Central Square Theater, A.R.T., American Players Theater in Spring Green, Wisconsin, Boston Early Music Festival, Boston University’s School of Theatre and Opera Institute, and Emerson Stage, where she also serves as faculty in the Costume Design Program. Learn more about Moore.
Paul Marr, lighting designer, has a long relationship with Boston Conservatory. He has designed for the Dance Division for more than 10 years, including this year’s full season. Last year, he designed the lighting for the opera one-acts The Island of Tulipatan and As One. He is thrilled to be working with David Gately and the Conservatory’s opera program again.
Angie Jepson, fight choreographer, teaches in the Conservatory’s theater and opera programs, and she is a fight choreographer and intimacy director in the Boston area. Recent credits include fight and intimacy direction for POTUS at SpeakEasy Stage Company and Private Lives at Gloucester Stage Company, as well as intimacy direction for Bluebeard’s Castle/Four Songs (directed by Anne Bogart) with the Boston Lyric Opera. Learn more about Jepson.
Daniel Pelzig, choreographer, recently directed City of Angels at the Conservatory and choreographed The Band’s Visit at the Huntington. Broadway credits include 33 Variations, starring Jane Fonda, and A Year with Frog and Toad. He has directed or choreographed at the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Santa Fe Opera, and Houston Grand Opera. Theater credits include work at the Guthrie, Alliance, Goodman, and Shakespeare theaters. He served five years as resident choreographer for Boston Ballet. Learn more about Pelzig.
Cast Bios
Nicholas Alessi (M.M. '24, opera; B.M. '22, voice) is a Boston-based tenor. His past credits at the Conservatory include the title role in Benjamin Britten’s Albert Herring, Elder Gleaton/Sam (cover) in Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah, and King Ouf in Chabrier’s L’étoile. In April, he will perform as Lysander in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Alessi currently studies in the voice studio of Frank Kelley.
Aubrey Bosse (M.M. '25, opera) is a mezzo-soprano from Dallas, Texas. She earned her bachelor’s degree at Texas Christian University and currently studies with Rebecca Folsom. Her recent credits include Second Lady in Die Zauberflöte, Hansel in Hansel and Gretel, and the Hostess in Speed Dating Tonight!
Olivia Brice (M.M. '25, voice) is from Bellingham, Washington. She received her bachelor’s degree from Ithaca College. Her latest credits include the understudy of La Fée in Cendrillon with Chicago Summer Opera, and Pamina in The Magic Flute with Ithaca College. She studies with Monique Phinney and is so excited to make her Boston Conservatory debut!
Ally Brigley (G.P.D. '24, opera) grew up in Alberta, Canada. She is currently studying with soprano Sara Goldstein, and is very excited to be in Voir Dire! Her other recent credits include Oasis in Chabrier’s L’étoile, Barbarina in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, and Soprano Pig in Michael Ching’s Three Little Pigs REMIX.
Jason Edelstein (M.M. '25, opera) is a baritone from Paramus, New Jersey, who received his bachelor’s degree from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. His recent credits include Prince Hérisson in Chabrier’s L’étoile, Giuseppe in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Gondoliers, and Booth in Sondheim’s Assassins. Edelstein will play Demetrius in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream this April. He currently studies with David Small.
Nina Gojcaj (M.M. '25, opera) is a mezzo-soprano from Detroit, Michigan, who received her bachelor’s degree from Oakland University. Her most recent roles include Polyphemus in Handel’s Acis and Galatea, Jane in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Patience, the First Prioress in Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites, and Aloès in Chabrier’s L’étoile. She currently studies with Rebecca Folsom.
Grace Heldridge (P.S.C. '24, voice; M.M. '23, opera) is a mezzo-soprano from Omaha, Nebraska, studying with Rebecca Folsom. She is a graduate of the University of Kansas. Boston Conservatory credits include Lazuli (L’étoile), Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro), Annio (La Clemenza di Tito), Nancy (Albert Herring), Mrs. Ott (Susannah), and Hannah Older (As One). This coming April Heldridge will play Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Alec House-Baillargeon (M.M. '25, opera) is from Gouverneur, New York and received his bachelor’s degree from the the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam. His most recent highlights include The Baker in Sondheim’s Into the Woods, Morales in Bizet’s Carmen with Brevard Music Center, and Prince Hérisson in Chabrier’s L’étoile. He currently studies with David Small.
Julia Janowski (M.M. '24, opera) is a mezzo-soprano currently studying with Rebecca Folsom. This season, she appeared on the mainstage as Aloès in L’étoile. In April, she will play Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Last season, she sang Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro and Mrs. McLean in Susannah. Janowski is a native of Marquette, Michigan.
Robert Kleinertz (M.M. '25, opera) is a tenor from Hopewell Junction, New York. His upcoming credits include Lysander in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and a role debut at Lincoln Center this summer, as Tebaldo in Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi. Kleinertz currently resides in Boston with his cat, Beef, who helps him prepare and practice his roles.
Raphael Laden-Guindon, guest artist, received his B.A. from Yale University and M.M. in Opera from McGill University. Recent credits include Harapha in Handel’s Samson with Cambridge Chamber Ensemble; the title role in Le nozze di Figaro with NEMPAC Opera Project; and the Baritone Soloist in the world premiere of Keiko Devaux’s L’écoute du Perdu with Musique 3 Femmes and Ensemble Paramaribo.
Darya Narymanava (P.S.C. '24, voice; M.M. '23, voice) is a mezzo-soprano from Borisov, Belarus. She is currently a student of Monique Phinney. Her most recent credits include Lazuli in L’étoile, Hannah Older in As One, Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro, and Arbate in Mitridate. In 2023, Narymanava was named a Boston District Winner of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition.
Production Credits
Artistic Director – Isai Jess Muñoz
Conductor – Viswa Subbaraman
Assistant Conductor – Andrew Bisantz
Stage Director – David Gately
Scenic Designer – Danielle Ibrahim
Costume Designer – Chloe Moore
Costume Design Assistant – Lindsay Weaver
Lighting Designer – Paul Marr
Fight Director – Angie Jepson
Choreographer for “Justice” – Danny Pelzig
Production Stage Manager – Bethany Rachel
Production Assistant Stage Manager – Zachary Sayre
Surtitle Designer – Emma Shelton
Surtitle Operator – Emma Shelton
Coaching and Musical Preparation – Jean Anderson, Maja Tremiszewska
Rehearsal Pianists – Maja Tremiszewka, John Elam
PRODUCTION STAFF:
Director of Performance Services – Hanna Oravec
Assistant Director of Production – Rebecca Donald
Principal Stage Manager – Bethany Rachel
Technical Director, Mainstage – Taylor Kaufman
Assistant Technical Director, Mainstage – Caleb Harris
Costume Shop Manager – Alison Pugh
Assistant Costume Shop Manager – Leah Foley
Wardrobe Manager – Blue Barber
Wardrobe Assistant – Liv Curnen
Sound Supervisor – Steve Deptula
Sound Assistant – Maddy Poston
Lighting Supervisor – Matthew Martino
Production Electrician – Gabe Goldman
Props Manager – Larry Dembski
Deck Carp/Deck Electrician – Nick LaRosa
Scenic Painters – Diana Mendiola Tovar, Brenda Dziadzio
STUDENT PRODUCTION STAFF:
Student Assistant Stage Manager – Brooklynn Schroeder
Student Assistant Choreographer – Abriel Coleman
Production Assistants – Olivia Monarch, Aidan Rufer, Bri Chang, Preston Milne, Lori Newsom
Deck Crew – Lauren Benner
Costume Crew – Liana Barolome, Noah Colvin
Light Board Operator – Sadie Sheetz
Student Lighting Programmers – Brogan Nelson, Olivia Monarch, Karina Tejere
CONCERT SERVICES STAFF:
Senior Manager of Concert Services – Luis Herrera
Coordinator, Concert Services – Matthew Carey
Concert Production Manager – Kendall Floyd
Performance Technology Technicians – Sara Pagiaro, Goran Daskalov
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