The Bienen School of Music combines a nationally ranked music program of conservatory-level intensity with the academic rigor and scholarly resources found only at an elite private research university. Additionally, the world-class music making and other cultural resources of downtown Chicago provide exceptional opportunities for learning outside the classroom.
See Stagetime performing artists, administrators, staff and others who have a current or past relationship to Northwestern University Bienen School of Music.
2024
WTO Company
This Stagetime member is part of the 2024 Wolf Trap Opera company.
Jen Pitt, stage director; Patrick Furrer, conductor; Joachim Schamberger, director of opera; Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra
Count Danilo’s family had forbidden him to marry the beautiful but impoverished Hanna, although they adored each other. Now, circumstance has made her the richest widow in Pontevedro, but the Count hesitates to declare his love, fearing Hanna will think he is only interested in her new fortune. What’s a “Merry Widow” to do? This staging takes Franz Lehár’s ravishing melodies to a world of parties, fantasy, intrigue, and illusion in present-day Paris, where all is not as it seems.
Performed in German; new dialogues by Jen Pitt in English.
This production includes the use of strobe lights and haze.
Run time: Approximately 110 minutes, including a 15-minute intermission.
Joachim Schamberger, director; Stephen Alltop, conductor
Poppea, the mistress of Emperor Nerone, is determined to ascend the throne—whatever the costs. In a world where gods influence mortal affairs, virtue doesn’t always triumph, and this story of love, deception, murder, and betrayal is as relevant today as it was in composer Claudio Monteverdi’s time.
Performed in Italian with English supertitles. Run time: approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes, including one intermission. CONTENT ADVISORY WARNING: The staging of the final scene in this production features a brief, stylized and silent depiction of mass gun violence. This production also includes themes of violence, suicide, and sexual content, and will employ the use of stage fog and strobe lighting effects.
W. A. Mozart (arr. Josef Triebensee), Overture to Don Giovanni (Oboe II) Ivana Loudová, Don Giovanni’s Dream (English horn) Emil Hartmann (ed. Joshua Kearney), Serenade, Op. 43 (Oboe)
Donald Nally, conductor; Jack Reeder, assistant conductor; Charles Foster, keyboard; Hannah Christiansen and Luke Lentini, violin; Lena Vidulich, viola; Isidora Nojkovic, cello; Hannah Novak, double bass; John Dawson and Daniel Gostein, percussion
“I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than their ancestors.” Thus begins Julia Wolfe’s musical meditation on our struggle for women’s rights through the lens of a letter from Abigail Adams to her husband John—dated March 31, 1776—with half of the emerging nation’s population in the balance. Wolfe’s 2022 Letter from Abigail is paired with David Lang’s the national anthems, a collection of phrases from many nations’ anthems with one common thread: “Please don’t make us live in chains again.” Also on the program are Lang’s where you go, inspired by the well-known phrase from the Book of Ruth, and a selection from Michael Gordon’s Anonymous Man—a memoir chronicling the composer’s time in a neighborhood in transition, and his conversations with two homeless men living there.
Michael Gordon, "One Day I Saw" from Anonymous Man Julia Wolfe, Letter from Abigail (Midwest premiere) David Lang, the national anthems David Lang, where you go