Houston Grand Opera

d'après Antoine de Saint Exupéry

Last May, the world premiere of The Little Prince Opera was held at the Grand Houston Opera House. Composed by Rachel Portman and Nicolas Wright, and staged by Francesca Zambello, a world-renowned personality. Additional shows were given due to its huge success.
In a few months, this great opera will tour the United States, opening at the Skylight Milwaukee Opera. The show will tour until 2005.
We wish this opera the best hoping to see it one day on one of the famous Broadway stage!
"The Little Prince makes a lovely opera. It might do well on Broadway." The New York Times, June 2003.

Production team:

Composer: ..................................................Rachel Portman
Libretto: ........................................................Nicolas Wright
Stage director: ............................................Francesca Zambello
Conductor: ...................................................Patrick Summers / James Lowe
Set and costume conception: ....................Maria Bjornson
Lighting: .......................................................Rick Fisher
Assistant to the director: ............................Dennis Sayers.
Sets: .............................................................Adrian Linford
Costumes: ...................................................Sue Willmington Voice (Chorus)

Characters:

Le Petit Prince	Soprano	Nathaniel Irvin
Le Pilote	Bariton	Teddy Tahu Rhodes
Le Renard	Mezzo-soprano	Marie Lenormand
La Rose	Soprano	Kristin Reiersen
L'eau	Soprano	Laquita Mitchell
Le Serpent, Le Vaniteux	Tenor	Jon Kolbet
L'Allumeur de réverbères, Le Buveur	Tenor	Scott Scully
Le Businessman	Bariton	Aaron Judisch
Le Géographe	Bass	Ethan Watermeier
Le Roi	Bariton	Joshua Winograde
Les Étoiles, Les Oiseaux	chorus	20 children

Baobabs and hunter are Scott Scully, Joshua Winograde, Ethan Watermeier and Aaron Judisch.

Orchestration:

2 Flutes, 1 Oboe, 2 Clarinets, 1 Basson, 1 Trumpet, 1 Horn, 1 Trombone,
2 Percussions, Celesta, Harpe, String Orchestra


	The Little Prince and the Pilot		© Ken Howard, 2003 Houston Grand Opera Production

Représentations :

	Salles de spectacle	adresse	dates
•	Skylight Opera Company	Milwaukee Wisconsin	12, 14, 17, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28 mars 2004
•	Santa Fe Opera	Santa Fe New Mexico	à préciser
•	Tulsa Opera	Tulsa Oklahoma	Février-mars 2005
•	Oklahoma City	Oklahoma	2005
•	Boston Lyric Opera	Boston	2005

Le Petit Prince et le Renard
© Ken Howard, 2003
Houston Grand Opera Production

Les Baobabs et le Petit Prince
© Maria Bjørnson, 2003
Redcase Limited

The King
© Maria Bjørnson, 2003
Redcase Limited

Le Vaniteux
© Maria Bjørnson, 2003
Redcase Limited

Permitted by "Société pour l’œuvre et la mémoire d’Antoine de Saint Exupéry" and Les Éditions Gallimard

Critics in USA:

Bernard Holland - june 2003

"Deftly handled, The Little Prince makes a lovely opera. It might do well on Broadway."
"...[the music] is unfailingly graceful and civil, and acutely responsive to the mood of the stage. Like opera at its 16th – century beginnings, Ms. Portman’s work lifts words in the air and carries them along."
"...Charming as Maria Bjornson's sets and costumes are and as nicely handled as Francesca Zambello's direction is, they depend on Nicholas Wright's inventive rhyming to give them life. Lighting (by Rick Fisher) becomes as important as Rachel Portman's music. It is hard to ssay whose opera this is; it is perhaps collective: modest parts exceeded by their sum."

Charles Ward - june 2003

"With the aid of stage director Francesca Zambello, playwright Nicholas Wright and the late designer Maria Bjørnson, [Rachel] Portman has brought The Little Prince tantalizingly close to a major operatic success."
"Zambello's staging reflected the cunning skill of a director whose work ranges from opera to television to Disneyworld."
"The music was unrelentingly appealing. Bjørnson's designs repeatedly provoked the child in the overwhelmingly adult audience..." "Portman’s The Little Prince was unfailingly attractive--simple, communicative, touching."

Wayne Lee Gay - June 2, 2003

"Long before the final curtain …most of the jewel-bedecked, black-tied opera buffs in the opening night audience for the premiere of Rachel Portman’s The Little Prince, were fumbling for hankies and brushing away tears."
"...Portman handles standard idioms with a level of skill bordering on genius."
"Judging from the extraordinary impact the piece made on opening night, it seems quite possible that The Little Prince will enter the international repertoire, permanently."
"It is Portman’s music that gives the work its heart-wrenching impact."
"...Portman orchestrates wonderfully...she also shows a magnificent command of vocal writing in her first foray into opera."

Crédits :

The Little Prince Opera is a co-production Houston Grand Opera,
Santa Fe Opera, Skylight Opera Theatre, Tulsa Opera et Boston Lyric Opera.
Produce with St. Rose Music Publishers Co., Inc. New York.
The Little Prince Opera © Rachel Portman et Nicholas Wright
Le Petit Prince © Editions Gallimard Paris, 1946. Used by Permission.
Traduction de Richard Howard © Harcourt Inc., 2000. Used by Permission.
Exclusivité musicale par St. Rose Music Publishing Co. Inc. New York.

www.littleprinceopera.com

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