Jacqueline
Opera in Four Movements for Soprano and Cello
Music by LUNA PEARL WOOLF | Libretto by ROYCE VAVREK
Created for MARNIE BRECKENRIDGE, soprano and MATT HAIMOVITZ, cello
Commissioned and premiered by TAPESTRY OPERA in Toronto, CANADA, February 19-23, 2020.
Dramaturgy and Direction by MICHAEL HIDETOSHI MORI
Design by CAMELLIA KOO
Jacqueline is a powerful opera for virtuosic cellist and soprano, exploring the talent and tragedy of Jacqueline du Pré and her relationship with her cello. The opera animates the struggle of du Pré’s changing identity as the one thing that most defined her is cut away by Multiple Sclerosis. Brought to life by two contemporary virtuosi, celebrated American soprano Marnie Breckenridge plays Jacqueline, and former du Pré protégé and world renowned cellist Matt Haimovitz plays her constant companion, her cello.
Inspired by the structure and emotional landscape of Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto, composer Luna Pearl Woolf and Librettist Royce Vavrek create an intense two-hander, told in thematically linked fragments, charting a course of great prodigy and great tragedy. Drawing on the myth of Samson, the biblical hero whose supernatural strength was shorn from him at the height of his powers, as well as Haimovitz’s and others’ personal recollections of du Pre, the form of the work echoes du Pre’s iconic interpretation of the Elgar, using the concerto’s four-movement structure to navigate a prismatic and passionate, if all too short, life in music.
Circa 90 minutes.
Jacqueline is published by Oxingale Music.
“Jacqueline is the thrilling result of real simplicity…stripping away the inessential to reveal a moving story free from ego.”
The Globe and Mail
NEWS: Jacqueline premiere nominated for FIVE
DORA AWARDS
MARNIE BRECKENRIDGE WINS FOR OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY AN INDIVIDUAL
WINNER – Outstanding Performance by an Individual – Marnie Breckenridge
Outstanding Performance by an Individual – Matt Haimovitz
Outstanding New Opera – Royce Vavrek, Luna Pearl Woolf
Outstanding Design: Scenic – Camellia Koo
Outstanding Production (Opera) – Tapestry Opera
Praise for Jacqueline
“The music, both vocal and instrumental, is gorgeous and sometimes startling in its layering and detail, echoing the same experimental nature of the libretto and the whole approach of the production.”
“A harrowing, darkly humorous, and emotionally sensitive exploration of what it means to have a singular talent unravel, Jacqueline journeys through the life and trials of one of classical music’s greatest figures.”
“A brilliant, wrenching chamber work…flings us headfirst body and soul into the centre of towering virtuosity and pain that was and always will be du Pré…Jacqueline is a profoundly moving opera, one that shreds the emotions…”
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Award-winning composer Luna Pearl Woolf has long used her evocative voice to advocate for social and political change. Her work has been praised as “brilliant … profoundly moving” (Opera Going Toronto) for its “psychological nuances and emotional depth” (NY Times). Her dramatic works are championed by major opera houses and international performing artists. Woolf’s oratorio Number Our Days, with concept and libretto by David Van Taylor, was commissioned and premiered by PAC NYC in its inaugural 2023-2024 season, receiving a thunderous response: “extraordinary, completely original…new and electrifying,” “death-affirming, life-inciting,” “elegiac, funny, haunting…poetic, and utterly unique.” Canada’s CBC Music named the JUNO award-nominated recording Vagues et Ombres including Woolf’s 2022 work, Contact, as their #1 Classical Album of the year; and her 2021 composer-portrait album, LUNA PEARL WOOLF: Fire and Flood (Pentatone Oxingale Series) was nominated for a GRAMMY Award. Woolf’s opera Jacqueline, about legendary cellist Jacqueline du Pré, with a libretto by Royce Vavrek, commissioned and premiered by Tapestry Opera, was hailed as an “extraordinary piece, one that deserves an unquestioned place in the 21st-century canon” (The Globe and Mail). Its 2020 premiere garnered five nominations and a win in Toronto’s prestigious Dora Awards.Woolf mentors new opera creators in her work with Montreal’s Musique 3 Femmes, and teaches about the intersection of text and music at institutions such as the National Theater School of Canada and McGill University. She is co-founder of Oxingale Productions, a ground-breaking record label and music publisher supporting new music by lyrical and innovative contemporary composers. A dual Canadian-American citizen, Woolf was born Western Massachusetts and lives in Montréal, Quebec. www.lunapearlwoolf.com
Royce Vavrek is an Alberta-born librettist and lyricist who has been called “the indie Hofmannsthal” (The New Yorker) and “one of the most celebrated and sought after librettists in the world” (CBC Radio). His opera “Angel’s Bone” with composer Du Yun was awarded the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Music. Among his many collaborations include operas with Missy Mazzoli (“Song from the Uproar”, “Breaking the Waves”, “Proving Up”, “The Listeners”), David T. Little (“Dog Days”, “Vinkensport, or The Finch Opera”, “JFK”), Mikael Karlsson (“Melancholia”), Paola Prestini (“Silent Light”, “The Old Man and the Sea”), and Ricky Ian Gordon (“27”, “The House Without a Christmas Tree”). Royce holds a BFA in Filmmaking and Creative Writing from Concordia University and an MFA in Musical Theater Writing from NYU. He is an alum of American Lyric Theater’s Composer Librettist Development Program. roycevavrek.com
Acclaimed soprano and actor, Marnie Breckenridge known for her “commanding voice with a splendid high register” (Opera News) “lyrical poignancy and dramatic power…a young Meryl Streep” (Chicago Tribune) and her “lovely soprano voice” (NY Times) is captivating international audiences in a diverse range of roles from the Baroque to Modern. A favorite among some of the most gifted composers of our time, she has sung lead roles in 8 world premieres of award-winning new operas and countless art songs/recordings. Several of her favorite contemporary works include: Mother in DOG DAYS by David T. Little (LA Opera, Ft. Worth, Prototype), Ruth in Luna Pearl Woolf’s, THE PILLAR (Washington Chorus), Sierva Maria in Peter Eötvös’s LOVE AND OTHER DEMONS (Glyndebourne), La Princesse in Philip Glass’ ORPHÉE, title role in Milhaud’s MÉDÉE, Margarita Xirgu in AINADAMAR (Opera Parallèle), and as Cunegonde in CANDIDE (English National Opera). She received the 2020 DORA award for “Outstanding Performance by an Individual in an Opera” in Woolf’s, JACQUELINE (Tapestry Opera). Recent song albums include: David Conte’s Everyone Sang, Herschel Garfein’s, The Layers and Mortality Mansions, Henry Mollicone’s There Is Another Sky, Robert Paterson’s Summer Songs and In Real Life, Richard Aldag’s Arab Love Songs (and several others) as well as her self-produced Holiday Album, Happy Golden Days on all streaming platforms. She is a featured soloist on Dmitri Hvorostovsky’s Heroes & Villains and New World Records’ Victor Herbert Collected Songs and portrayed the role of Kathie in Gordon Getty’s feature film of the opera, Goodbye, Mr. Chips. http://www.marniebreckenridge.com IG: marniebreckenridge
Renowned as a musical pioneer, multi-Grammy-nominated cellist Matt Haimovitz is praised by The New York Times as a “ferociously talented cellist who brings his megawatt sound and uncommon expressive gifts to a vast variety of styles” and by The New Yorker as “remarkable virtuoso” who “never turns in a predictable performance.” In addition to his touring schedule, Haimovitz mentors an award-winning studio of young cellists at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University in Montreal and is the first-ever John Cage Fellow at The New School’s Mannes School of Music in New York City. Haimovitz made his debut in 1984, at the age of 13, as soloist with Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic. He has gone on to perform on the world’s most esteemed stages, with such orchestras and conductors as the Berlin Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic with Zubin Mehta, the English Chamber Orchestra with Daniel Barenboim, and others. Making his first recording at 17 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Haimovitz’s recording career encompasses more than 30 years of award-winning work on Deutsche Grammophon (Universal), Oxingale Records, and the PENTATONE Oxingale Series. His honors include the Trailblazer Award from the American Music Center, the Avery Fisher Career Grant, the Grand Prix du Disque, and the Premio Internazionale “Accademia Musicale Chigiana.” He studied with Leonard Rose at The Juilliard School and graduated magna cum laude with highest honors from Harvard University. Haimovitz plays a Venetian cello, made in 1710 by Matteo Gofriller. www.matthaimovitz.com
Michael Hidetoshi Mori is an opera director and arts leader based in Toronto, Canada. He has won Canada’s highest award for outstanding direction in opera twice, has received awards as a recording artist and film director, dramaturged and directed Nicole Lizée’s RUR a torrent of light which won the MCANA 2023 Best New Opera (first time for a Canadian work), and most recently became the youngest recipient of Opera Canada’s Ruby Award. Michael is the current General Director of Tapestry Opera in Toronto, chair of the board of the Association for Opera in Canada, and a recently elected board member of Opera America.. www.michaelmori.ca
Workshopping Jacqueline
OXINGALE MUSIC 