Stage director Kelly Kitchens and music director Andrew Romanick lead UW Voice students in performing excerpts from Benjamin Britten’s Turn of the Screw and Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel. With members of the UW Symphony (Ryan D. Farris, conductor).
Notes: No Late Seating! This production presents themes that may not be appropriate for children. Please call the Meany Box Office (206-543-4880, 12 to 4 pm Monday through Friday) to request a reservation for Visual Description technology.
SYNOPSES
THE TURN OF THE SCREW
Based on Henry James’s chilling novella, Benjamin Britten’s opera The Turn of the Screw tells the story of a governess desperate to protect her wards from evil as they experience strange encounters at a remote country house. But are the apparitions what they seem? A masterpiece of suspense and ambiguity, this opera continues to keep audiences on the edge of their seats.
HANSEL AND GRETEL
Based on the fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, Engelbert Humperdinck’s beloved opera follows the harrowing journey of two siblings abandoned by their impoverished parents and now facing the perilous world on their own. After being lured by treats, Hansel and Gretel find themselves trapped in a house of horrors. If they want to make it out alive, they have to find the courage and the wits to escape Sugarface.
PRODUCTION TEAM
Kelly Kitchens, Stage Director
Andrew Romanick, Music Director
Ryan D. Farris, Conductor
Trevor Cushman, Lighting Designer
Chelsea Cook, Costume Designer
Robin McCartney, Scenic and Props Designer
Nathan Young and Ian McGeoy, Video Coordinators
Savannah Rutherford, Assistant Director and Stage Manager
Gabe Stefanides, Assistant Stage Manager
Mara Mihali, Assistant Stage Manage
CAST
(In order of appearance)
Hansel and Gretel
Mallory McCollum: Dew
Sarah Santos: Gretel
Isabelle Villanueva: Hansel
Karen Dunstan: Sugarface
Turn of the Screw
Tri V. Nguyen: Prologue
Adia Bown: Governess
Zachary Fitzgerald: Quint
Lainey Graham: Miles
Cassidy Cheong: Flora
Sydney Belden: Miss Jessel
Maria Soledad Mayorga Maldonado: Mrs. Grose
ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL
Rachel Reyes - Flute/Piccolo/Alto Flute
Minh-Thi Butler - Oboe/English Horn
Ysanne Webb - Clarinet
Cameron DeLuca - Clarinet/Bass Clarinet
Ryan Kapsandy - Bassoon
Nicole Bogner - Horn
Elise Moe - Horn
Kyle Jenkins - Trumpet
Nathaniel Wyttenbach - Trombone
Abigail George - Timpani/Percussion
Kaisho Barnhill - Percussion
Kelly Hou - Harp
Kane Chang - Piano/Celeste
Grace Pandra - Violin
Hanu Nahm - Violin
Flora Cummings - Viola
Cory Chen - Cello
Nathan Eskridge - Bass
PROGRAM NOTE
Opera Workshop, University of Washington, School of Music
Selections from Hansel & Gretel and The Turn of the Screw
Hansel and Gretel
The fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel by the Brothers Grimm has captivated audiences for generations with its compelling and harrowing journey of two abandoned young people forced to forge their way through a world filled with darkness and danger. The story continues to resonate with audiences and offers countless opportunities for adaptation and interpretation.
Engelbert Humperdinck's operatic rendition of Hansel and Gretel (1893) is renowned for its lush, expressive score that blends elements of German Romanticism with folk influences. The music is rich in orchestral color and memorable melodies, powerfully capturing the fairy tale's atmosphere and emotional range. With its masterful blend of melodic richness, dramatic tension, and thematic cohesion, Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel remains one of the most beloved works in the operatic repertoire.
In this production’s reimagining of the classic story, the setting shifts from the familiar fairy-tale world to an analogous contemporary context: the global Great Recession of 2008-2009. During this time, the world was gripped by the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The Great Recession's widespread unemployment, foreclosures, and poverty left countless families struggling to survive and forced them to make impossible decisions while on--and often beyond--the brink of disaster.
This interpretation of Hansel and Gretel invites audiences to reconsider the fairy-tale archetypes, exploring them beyond their fanciful elements, and seeing them rather as reflections of the real and urgent struggles facing humanity in a fractured world. Whether in an enchanted forest or in a nonfictional world of economic devastation, Hansel and Gretel serves as a warning and a reflection of how much fight even uncertain survival necessitates in treacherous circumstances.
Turn of the Screw
Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw (1954), based on Henry James's gothic novella of the same name, delves into the unsettling realm of psychological horror, where nothing is quite what it seems. Set in a remote country estate, the opera tells the story of an unnamed Governess tasked with caring for two seemingly innocent children, Miles and Flora, who become entwined in eerie and inexplicable events. The Governess, determined to protect her wards from what she perceives as unseen evil, encounters the spectral figures of two former servants, Peter Quint and Miss Jessel. Are these apparitions real? Or are they figments of the governess’s disturbed imagination?
The chilling atmosphere of The Turn of the Screw evokes a Brontë-esque sense of isolation and a foreboding mood of Hitchcockian tension—building with a psychological intensity that leaves the audience questioning the nature of the threat. Britten’s adaptation preserves the novel’s ambiguity, ensuring that its supernatural elements remain open to interpretation. The opera does not present the ghosts as clear-cut manifestations of evil; instead, it leaves their motives and often their presence uncertain.
The music in The Turn of the Screw is as taut and elusive as the story itself. Britten, a composer known for his precision, constructs a musical world that mirrors the novella’s psychological complexity. The opera’s form is driven by a dynamic use of theme and variations, a technique that Britten employed to shape the drama. The variations punctuate the opera’s rapid succession of scenes, adding layers of tension and shifting moods, much like the story's constant oscillation between reality and illusion.
Britten’s opera remains a masterpiece of ambiguity. Moment to moment it weaves an ever-building, magnetic atmosphere of uncertainty and unease, as hinted by the title. Akin to the governess’s own unreliable perspective, the opera leaves its meaning open-ended, allowing audiences to draw their own conclusions about the nature of evil and the reliability of perception.
Biographies
Isabelle Villanueva
Isabelle Villanueva is a Junior pursuing a double degree in Vocal Performance and Psychology, with a passion for merging these fields to explore music-based therapies in Pediatric Psychology. She serves as a research assistant for the Culture, Diversity, and Health Lab, focusing on mitigating healthcare disparities. A five-time Puget Sound NATS champion, Isabelle recently performed as Venus in Philemon und Baucis. She expresses deep gratitude to the cast and crew for their contributions to this memorable production. Isabelle’s Junior Degree Recital is scheduled for May 2025.
Lainey Graham
Lainey is a sophomore studying vocal performance under Dr. Carrie Shaw, and is working toward a double degree in history with hopes to eventually teach. She sings with the University Chorale and Chamber Singers at UW. Lainey is from the Denver area, and prior to starting college, she spent a year interning at an outdoor school in Evergreen, CO, where she once narrowly avoided an encounter with a moose. Outside of music, Lainey is enjoys listening to podcasts, painting, and taking photos of the crows on campus.”
Adia Bowen
Adia Bowen Tsi Sʔuyuʔaɫ is in her final year at the University of Washington, where she is completing dual degrees in American Indian Studies and Vocal Performance. She was awarded first place in the Northwest Collegiate Soprano Division of the 2023-2024 NATS Competition last december. Adia’s love for both musical theater and opera drives her artistic pursuits. Her recent credits include Suor Angelica in the opera Suor Angelica at Western Washington University, La Musique in UW’s Les Arts Florissants, and Sister 13 in the world premiere of the musical Come on Get Tappy! with Outright Onstage. She was also part of the chorus for Tacoma Opera’s La Bohème in October 2023. Adia is a 2024-2025 Tacoma Opera Young Artist, where she will appear as Nella in their upcoming production of Gianni Schicchi in February 2025. In March, she will perform as a soloist with the Seattle Symphony in The Healing Heart of the First People of This Land.
Cassidy Cheong
Cassidy Cheong is currently pursuing her Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance at the University of Washington where she is studying with Dr. Carrie Shaw. She is a 2024-2025 Tacoma Opera Young Artist, as well as a recent graduate with honors from Swarthmore College with a BA in Music and Political Science. Cassidy received the 2022 Boyd Barnard Prize for musical excellence, 2023 Peter Gram Swing Prize in Music, and the 2023 Lucretia Mott Award. In addition to opera, she is passionate about performing early music, contemporary music, and beyond. Recent performance credits include La suora infermiera in Puccini’s Suor Angelica at Queens Summer Vocal Institute, La poësie in Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s Les arts florissants with the University of Washington, Lowbrow Opera Collective’s production of Sweets by Kate, and featured soloist in Vivaldi’s Gloria with the Magnolia Chorale.
Sydney Belden
Sydney is so excited to spook you as Miss Jessel! Syd graduated this year from UW with a BM in Vocal Performance and a BA in Environmental Studies. She also was a member of the Alpha Chi Omega sorority and was an intern for the Seattle Subway Foundation for her Environmental Capstone. In the past she sang as a performing member for the Ladies Musical Club of Seattle, a chorister for the Puget Sound Concert Opera, an ambassador for the Seattle Opera Guild (where she was a finalist in their 2021 Singer’s Development Awards), and was a Choral Section Leader Intern at UCUCC. In Summer 2023, she had the pleasure of performing in Austria (Belinda in Dido and Aneas) and Germany (Zweite Dame in Die Zauberflöte). Currently, she is a member of the Tacoma Opera's Young and Emerging Artist Program and has performed in their productions of Carmen, La Boheme, and Madama Butterfly. Sydney is extremely grateful for the kindness, guidance, and support of her directors, friends, colleagues, and family.
Sarah Santos
Sarah Santos, soprano, hails from Houston, Texas, and holds a Master’s of Music in Voice Performance from the University of Washington. She has performed as Farinelli’s Trainer in David T. Little’s Vinkensport, Maria in West Side Story, and was praised by Broadway World for her ‘glorious high notes’ as Constance in The Sorceror. Sarah is an emerging artist with Tacoma Opera and is also a member of Choral Arts Northwest under the direction of Tim Westerhaus. Sarah enjoys watching shows with her friends, leveling up her hikes, and napping with her cat, Obi.
Zachary Fitzgerald
A tenor for the ages" and new to the Pacific Northwest Zachary Fitzgerald has performed internationally within the Lorenzo Malfatti Academia Vocale di Lucca, Tacoma opera, Cincinnati Opera, and Kent State Opera. Along with his performance resume Zachary most recently finished studies at Kent State receiving master's degrees in Vocal Performance and Choral Conducting. Zach will now complete his Doctorate in Vocal Performance studying with Professor Tom Harper at the University of Washington. Special thanks to Dr. Mary Sue Hyatt, Timothy Culver, and Mark and Valerie Kennedy for their support of Zach's voice. Visit Zacharyfitzgeraldtenor.com for even more information about his singing.
Karen Dunstan
Karen Dunstan (she/he/they) is a soprano hailing from Ypsilanti, Michigan. Karen performs in the Seattle area, most recently in Lowbrow OC’s production of Sweets by Kate, and upcoming as Zita in Tacoma Opera’s production of Gianni Schicchi. A University of Washington alumnus, Karen played Holy St. Francis’ Trainer in UW’s Opera Workshop 2022 production of Vinkensport, and Baucis in the 2023 production of Philemon und Baucis. Karen will be playing the Witch once more in NOISE: Northwest Opera In Schools, Etcetera Spring 2025 production of Hansel and Gretel. Karen is passionate about inclusivity and broad access to opera, particularly with regard to queer representation, and examined the history of queer representation in opera in their project “Someone Will Remember Us: Queer Narratives in Opera and Art Song”. They are thrilled to be playing their first pants role.
Mallory McCollum
Mallory holds a BM in Music Education with a credential to teach K-12 Band, Choral, Orchestral, and General music, and a Master’s of Music in Vocal Performance. She is currently studying with Thomas Harper while pursuing her Doctorate in Vocal Performance at the University of Washington. Mallory has also been fortunate to study direction and production with Kelly Kitchens, and most recently assisted directed the University of Washington (UW) 2023 Opera (Philemon und Bachis) and UW’s Spring and Fall 2023-24 Opera Scenes. She has sung several operatic roles, including Rose Maurant in Street Scene, Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus, Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance, and as Diana in Philemon und Bachis. Mallory has also played Marian Paroo in The Music Man, Esther Smith in Meet Me in St. Louis, and Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady.
Soledad Mayorga-Maldonado
Soledad Mayorga-Maldonado is a Chilean soprano born, raced and trained in Santiago de Chile. She was a soprano for ten years both in the Camerata Vocal and Symphonic Choir of Universidad de Chile, where she has also been a soloist with several national and international conductors, in works by Mozart, Bach and Mendelssohn, among others, along with the National Symphony Orchestra of Chile.
In her role as a trainer of new generations, she was a professor in the Music Pedagogy Career at the University of Valparaiso, where she was in charge of the Voice Education course. From 2024 she is pursuing her Master's Degree in Vocal Performance at the UW.
Trí Nguyễn
Tri Nguyen is a Tenor from Everett, Washington. Previously involved in Haydn's Philemon und Baucis at UW as a chorus member & cover, Tri has also sung as Eunuco & Chorus in Verdi's Il Corsaro at Puget Sound Concert Opera and as Principe Yamadori in Puccini's Madama Butterfly with Tacoma Opera. This February, he will rejoin the Tacoma Opera cast as Gherardo in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, his first sizable role in a professional opera company. Outside of opera, you may find Tri as a student at UW studying Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science, as he prepares to be a corporate slave and opera singer after graduating this year.
Kelly Kitchens is a professional director, actor, adaptor, and arts educator based out of Seattle Washington. Her passion for storytelling is anchored in the practice of fierce collaboration and her thirst for art-making excellence is in service to her vision of a more engaged, inclusive, curious world.
Kelly is an omnivore of theatrical genres, forms, and styles; and whether she is directing an opera, a musical, a contemporary work, or a classic play, she is well- known for her powerful staging, razor-sharp pacing, illuminating the pulsing heart of characters, and finding the edges without losing the center. In addition to creating compelling theater, Kelly is also well-known for cultivating courageous and compassionate spaces in the rehearsal hall, the conference room, and the classroom alike.
Her honors include: Two time recipient of and four time nominee for the Gregory Falls Award for Outstanding Director; recipient of and two time nominee for the Gregory Falls Award for Outstanding Production; Seattle Weekly Readers Poll Best Director; recipient of the Broadway World Critics Choice Award for Best Direction of a Play; two time recipient of the R.A.D. (Recognizing Artistic Diversity in Seattle) awards; two time recipient of Seattle Theater Writers Awards for Best Direction of a Play; named in Seattle Magazine’s inaugural list of “Top 20 Most Talented People in Seattle”; and was a nominee for the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture, Mayor's Arts Award.
Kelly serves as an Artist in Residence for the University of Washington’s School of Music; she is also guest instructor in acting and directing for both undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Washington School of Drama and for Cornish College of the Arts. Kelly served as the Associate Artistic Director and then as the Co-Artistic Director at Seattle Public Theater, garnering many awards with that organization which also includes the Gregory Falls Award for Theatre of the Year.
Kelly earned her B.A. from Vanderbilt University and her M.F.A. from the University of Texas at Austin. She is a member of the Sandbox Artists Collective, a member of Actor's Equity Association, and a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.
Andrew Romanick performs in the Seattle area and beyond as a collaborative pianist and opera coach. On faculty at the University of Washington School of Music, he instructs Opera Workshop and Collaborative Piano. This year Romanick has performed and premiered with soprano Carrie Henneman Shaw a number of pieces in Seattle and St. Paul by contemporary composers: Linda Tutas Haugen, Kate Soper, Jocelyn Hagen, Juliana Hall, and Karen P. Thomas. In January, Romanick also contributed to the reconstruction and performance by UW Opera of Joseph Haydn's Philemon and Baucis, or Jupiter comes to Earth. Previous professional performances have taken place virtually with Seattle soprano Chérie Hughes in the Barcelona Festival of Song; with Broadway and Metropolitan Opera Baritone Zachary James in the Hoku concert series in Kona, Hawaii; in the Canto Opera Festival in Louisville, Kentucky; in the Music in the Marche Opera Festival in Mondavio and Fano, Italy; and solo in the Gijón Piano Festival in Spain. Romanick earned his Doctorate of Musical Arts from University of Washington in 2018 in the studio of Robin McCabe.
Ryan Dakota Farris has quickly become one of the most exciting and in-demand conductors in the Pacific Northwest. Ryan was recently appointed as Music Director of both the Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra and the Bainbridge Island Youth Orchestra. He also serves as assistant conductor for Lake Union Civic Orchestra and frequently guest conducts groups across the region, including the Issaquah Philharmonic, Octava Chamber Orchestra, and Seattle Festival Orchestra. This past summer Ryan was one of two conductors from across the country invited to be a fellow at the Bellingham Festival of Music’s inaugural conducting institute.
Currently pursuing his doctorate in Orchestral Conducting at the University of Washington in Seattle, Ryan serves as conductor of the Campus Philharmonia Orchestras and assistant conductor of the University of Washington Symphony. In recent years Ryan has worked as cover conductor for professional orchestras across the country, including the Auburn Symphony in Washington and the Boulder Philharmonic in Colorado. He has also served as assistant conductor for Colorado MahlerFest and the Greater Boulder Youth Orchestras, and as a sectional conductor for Seattle’s Harmonia Orchestra & Chorus.
Ryan was a proud student of the late maestro Michael Jinbo at the Pierre Monteux School and Music Festival in Maine for five summers. He has studied with many notable conductors including Ludovic Morlot, Mercelo Lehninger, David Alexander Rahbee, Donald Schleicher, Kensho Watanabe, and Tiffany Lu.
Off the podium, Ryan has performed as principal cellist with the Boulder Opera Company, Seattle Philharmonic Strings, and the University of Washington Symphony. He appeared as a featured concerto soloist with the South Puget Sound College Orchestra in 2019, and regularly performs in chamber music groups across the region. Before moving to the Pacific Northwest, he played regularly with some of Colorado’s best orchestras, including the Boulder Philharmonic, Fort Collins Symphony, and Colorado MahlerFest. Ryan also composes his own music, performs regularly on period instruments such as baroque cello & viola da gamba, and busts out the traditional Irish fiddle with acclaimed Seattle-based Celtic band Cavort.