Organization

Bard Summerscape

Singer

Soprano

Talise Trevigne

Iris

Tenor

Gerard Schneider

Osaka

Baritone

Douglas Williams

Kyoto

Bass

Matthew Boehler

Il Cieco

Cecelia Hall

Una geisha

Samuel Levine

Ragpicker

Shopkeeper

Conductor

Leon Botstein

Stage director

James Darrah

Set designer

Emily MacDonald

Cameron Jaye Mock

Costume designer

Peabody Southwell

Video designer

Adam Larsen

Orchestra

American Symphony Orchestra

Fisher Center at Bard

Italian

Annandale

United States

Fisher Center

LUMA Theater

IRIS
by Pietro Mascagni

At once opulent and eerie, Pietro Mascagni’s Iris, composed in 1898 with libretto by Luigi Illica, received its North American premiere at Bard SummerScape in 2016. The American Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Leon Botstein performed with a brilliant cast of accomplished singers including the Australian tenor Gerard Schneider as a menacing and callous Osaka alongside the soprano Talise Travigne who movingly embodied the naivete and fragility of the eponymous character. 

Performed in Italian with English supertitles.

Iris Mascagni

English

Approved

Composed by Puccini’s friend Pietro Mascagni (perhaps best known for his beloved Cavalleria rusticana), Iris debuted in Rome in 1898, ushering in a wave of fin-de-siècle exotic opera. Mascagni’s dreamlike score provides the backdrop for Luigi Illica’s haunting libretto recounting the tragic story of Iris, an innocent young girl tricked into abandoning her elderly blind father and lured to a brothel in Tokyo’s notorious red-light district.

The stellar cast is headlined by Grammy-nominated soprano Talise Trevigne, lauded for her “deep melting sound” (New York Times) as the vulnerable Iris. Austrian Australian tenor Gerard Schneider sings the role of the fickle Osaka, and bass-baritone Douglas Williams portrays the villainous Kyoto. 

Conducted by the “peerlessly adventurous” (New York Times) Leon Botstein, this production by talented young stage director James Darrah features set designs by Emily MacDonald and Cameron Jaye Mock, with projections by Adam Larsen and costumes by Peabody Southwell—all of which combine to highlight the darker themes of this rarely performed opera.

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew

Ensemble

Co-Producer