February 26 | 7:30pm | Get Tickets
February 28 | 2:00pm | Get Tickets
Audio Description, Touch Tour, and Braille Programs are available at the Sunday performance.
The Girl of the Golden West (La fanciulla del West) drops you straight into a rough-and-tumble Gold Rush mining camp where fortunes are chased, guns are loaded, and hope is a dangerous thing. Powered by some of Puccini’s (La boheme, Madama Butterfly) most cinematic, emotionally charged music, the score surges with sweeping romance, tension, and raw intensity.
When the mysterious Dick Johnson rides into town, Minnie dares to imagine a life beyond the barroom. But Johnson is hiding a dangerous secret, and when his true identity as an outlaw is revealed, everything ignites. With Sheriff Jack Rance closing in and the camp on edge, Minnie is forced to play for the highest stakes of her life: love versus the law, mercy versus vengeance. One audacious gamble will decide who walks free… and who doesn’t.
The Girl of the Golden West
Music by Giacomo Puccini
Libretto by Guelfo Civinini and Carlo Zangarini
#GoldenOC
This production will be performed in Italian with English captions.
What’s Interesting About This Opera…
- The composer behind La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot.
- Puccini’s music, especially from The Girl of the Golden West, inspired later musical theatre, including The Phantom of the Opera.
- One of the very first operas set in America
Synopsis
Act 1
Inside the Polka Saloon
A group of Gold Rush miners enter the “Polka” saloon after a day working at the mine (“Hello! Hello! Alla ‘Polka'”). After a song by traveling minstrel Jake Wallace (“Che faranno i vecchi miei”), one of the miners, Jim Larkens, is homesick and the miners collect enough money for his fare home (“Jim, perché piangi?”).
A group of miners playing cards discover that Sid is cheating and want to attack him. Sheriff Jack Rance quiets the fight and pins two cards to Sid’s jacket, as a sign of a cheat.
A Wells Fargo agent, Ashby, enters and announces that he is chasing the bandit Ramerrez and his gang of Mexicans. Rance toasts Minnie, the woman who owns the saloon, as his future wife, which makes Sonora jealous. The two men begin to fight. Rance draws his revolver but at that moment, a shot rings out and Minnie stands next to the bar with a rifle in her hands (“Hello, Minnie!”). She gives the miners a reading lesson from the Bible (“Dove eravamo?”).
The Pony Express rider arrives (“La posta!”) and delivers a telegram from Nina Micheltorena, offering to reveal Ramerrez’s hideout. The sheriff tells Minnie that he loves her, but Minnie puts him off as she is waiting for the right man (“Ti voglio bene, Minnie”).
A stranger enters the saloon and asks for a whisky and water. He introduces himself as Dick Johnson from Sacramento, whom Minnie had met earlier. Johnson invites Minnie to dance with him and she accepts. Angrily, Rance watches them.
Ashby returns with the captured Ramerrez gang member, Castro. Upon seeing his leader, Johnson, in the saloon, Castro agrees to lead Rance, Ashby and the miners in a search for Ramerrez, and the group then follows him on a false trail and in what turns out to be a wild goose chase. But before Castro leaves, he whispers to Johnson that somebody will whistle and Johnson must reply to confirm that the place is clear. A whistle is heard, but Johnson fails to reply.
Minnie shows Johnson the keg of gold that she and the miners take turns to guard at night and Johnson reassures her that the gold will be safe there. Before he leaves the saloon, he promises to visit her at her cabin. They confess their love for each other. Minnie begins to cry, and Johnson comforts her before he leaves.
Act 2
Minnie’s dwelling, later that evening
Wowkle, a Native American woman who is Minnie’s servant, her lover Billy Jackrabbit and their baby are present as Minnie enters, wanting to get ready for Johnson’s visit. Johnson enters Minnie’s cabin and she tells him all about her life. It begins to snow. They kiss and Minnie asks him to stay till morning. He denies knowing Nina Micheltorena. As Johnson hides, a posse enters looking for Ramerrez and reveal to Minnie that Johnson is the bandit Ramerrez himself. Angry, she orders Johnson to leave. After he leaves, Minnie hears a gunshot and she knows Johnson has been shot. Johnson staggers in and collapses, Minnie helps him by hiding him up in the loft. Rance enters Minnie’s cabin looking for the bandit and is about to give up searching for Johnson when drops of blood fall on his hand. Rance forces Johnson to climb down. Minnie desperately makes Rance an offer: if she beats him at poker, he must let Johnson go free; if Rance wins, she will marry him. Hiding some cards in her stockings, Minnie cheats and wins. Rance honors the deal and Minnie throws herself on the unconscious Johnson on the floor.
Scene from act 3 of the premiere, with Enrico Caruso, Emmy Destinn, and Pasquale Amato
Act 3
In the Great Californian Forest at dawn, sometime later
Johnson is again on the run from Ashby and the miners. Nick and Rance are discussing Johnson and wonder what Minnie sees in him when Ashby arrives in triumph: Johnson has been captured. Rance and the miners all want Johnson to be hanged. Johnson accepts the sentence and only asks the miners not to tell Minnie about his capture and his fate (“Ch’ella mi creda”). Minnie arrives, armed with a pistol, just before the execution and throws herself in front of Johnson to protect him. While Rance tries to proceed, she convinces the miners that they owe her too much to kill the man she loves, and asks them to forgive him (“Ah! Ah! E Minnie!”). One by one, the miners yield to her plea (“E anche tu lo vorrai, Joe”). Rance is not happy but finally he too gives in. Sonora unties Johnson and sets him free. The miners bid Minnie farewell (“Le tue parole sono di Dio”). Minnie and Johnson leave California to start a new life together.
Credit: OPERA America
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Touch Tour
Available at Sunday performance. Before the show, blind or low-vision patrons can explore the costumes, props and set pieces through a guided tactile experience.
Captions
Opera in German? Italian? English? Opera Columbus has English captions at every performance.
If you or a guest would like accessibility services, please contact us ahead of the performance so we can make your experience seamless. Questions? Reach out to Kelsi at kmoore@operacolumbus.org
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Creatives .
Giacomo Puccini
Carlo Zangarini
Guelfo Civinini
Kenneth Overton is lauded for blending his opulent baritone with magnetic, varied portrayals that seemingly “emanate from deep within body and soul.” Kenneth Overton’s symphonious baritone voice has sent him around the globe, making him one of the most sought-after opera singers of his generation. Kenneth is a 2020 GRAMMY AWARD WINNER for Best Choral Performance in the title role of Richard Danielpour’s The Passion of Yeshua with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by JoAnn Falletta. This season, Overton will lead two productions for the Welsh National Opera’s new season. The new work Migrations, and in the world premiere of The Shoemaker. Overton will reprise his most celebrated role in Porgy and Bess as Porgy, co-produced by Opera Carolina and North Carolina Opera. Concert engagements will include Handel’s Messiah at the University of Chicago’s Rockefeller Chapel, a concert staging of Porgy and Bess with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra in Hamburg, a solo recital for the African American Music Festival at Pennsylvania State University, a solo recital with the Howland Chamber Music Circle, Mahler’sLieder eines fahrenden Gesellen for the Spartanburg Philharmonic, and a return to The Kennedy Center with The Washington Chorus as the soloist for Duruflé’s Requiem and Undine Smith Moore’s Scenes from the Life of a Martyr Last season’s operatic engagements included Kenneth’s Metropolitan Opera debut in the fall of 2021 as Lawyer Frazier in Porgy and Bess, a reprisal of the role of Ralph Abernathy in I Dreamwith Opera Carolina and Charlottesville Opera, The Homecoming Soldier in Zach Redler’s The Falling and The Rising with Opera Carolina, Germont in La Traviata for Fort Worth Opera, and Boston Lyric Opera’s production of Terence Blanchard’s Champion. In concert, Overton appeared with the National Philharmonic as a soloist for Mozart’sRequiem and Hailstork’s A Knee on the Neck, Nathaniel Dett’s The Ordering of Moses with the Harlem Chamber Players, Handel’s Messiah with the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, Mozart’sRequiem with the National Chorale, as a soloist in “Deep River: Black Currents in Classical Music” with the American Composer’s Orchestra, a solo recital with The Quick Center for the Arts at St. Bonaventure University, George Crumb’s American Songbook II with Chamber Music Northwest, and the premiere of Damien Geter’s An African American Requiem with the Oregon Symphony – with subsequent performances at the Kennedy Center with Choral Arts Society of Washington. Most recently, Overton appeared in On Site Opera’s The Road We Came, an immersive and site-specific experience that explores the composers, musicians and places that define the rich Black history of New York City through a series of self-guided, musical walking tours. He also sang the title role in Porgy and Bess for New Orleans Opera as well as A Night of Black Excellence with Fort Worth Opera and this past summer, Nadia Boulanger and Her World with the Bard Music Festival. Previously, Kenneth made a triumphant role début of Friar Lawrence in Roméo et Juliette with Oregon Bach Festival; performing on the 150th anniversary of Berlioz’s death and conducted by the irreverent John Nelson, critics deemed the production “too beautiful, too musical” not to be performed. Whilst at the festival, he also performed Mozart’s Requiem and Bach’s Magnificat. In addition, he returned to San Francisco Opera for Billy Budd, performed in Porgy and Bess with Harrisburg Symphony, and performed in Union Avenue Opera’s 25th Anniversary Gala. In concert, he appeared at Carnegie Hall for Angela Rice’s Thy Will be Done and Vaughan Williams’ Dona nobis pacem, Mechem’s Songs of the Slave with Symphony of the Mountains, and with the Oregon Bach Festival for Richard Danielpour’s Passion of Yeshua which he also sang at UCLA’s Royce Hall as well as the Buffalo Philharmonic which was recorded for release on Naxos. Mr. Overton is quickly becoming a champion of new works, returning to San Francisco Opera in “the most eagerly anticipated new opera of the season”; the World Premiere of John Adams’ Girls of the Golden West. He also created the role of Ralph Abernathy in the World Premiere of the Rhythm & Blues opera I Dream by Douglas Tappin for Opera Grand Rapids, Toledo Opera, and Opera Carolina and performed the role of Stephen Kumalo in Kurt Weill’s Lost in the Stars for Union Avenue Opera. Previous engagements also include Amonasro in Aida with Boheme Opera, a return to The New York City Opera performing the role of Jake Wallace in Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West, and Sharpless in Madama Butterfly for Opera Idaho. Additionally, Kenneth thrived in his Hungarian debut as the title role in Porgy and Bess in the Margaret Island Open Air Theatre’s production where he was heralded as one of “America’s most renowned Opera singers.” Alongside the New England Symphonic Ensemble, Kenneth took Carnegie Hall by storm in his soloist performances of Faure’s Requiemand the New York Premier of Michael John Trotta’s Seven Last Words of Christ with Mid America Productions. In addition, he returned to David Geffen Hall with the National Chorale in Mozart’s Requiem, and Vesperae Solennes de Confessore. He also starred in the significant World Premiere of Upon This Handful of Earth by Norwegian Composer Gisle Kverndokk, commissioned by the New York Opera Society.
Kenneth Overton
Everett McCorvey, Principal Guest Conductor, is a native of Montgomery, Alabama. He received his degrees from the University of Alabama, including a Doctorate of Musical Arts. He has performed in many cities around the world and theaters across the country, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Kennedy Center, Aspen Music Festival, Radio City Music Hall, Birmingham Opera Theater, Teatro Comunale in Florence, Italy, Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, England, as well as performances throughout Spain, the Czech and Slovak Republics, Austria, Japan, China, Brazil, Ireland, Poland, Portugal and Hungary, Mexico, Peru and France. He joined the Tony Award winning Sherwin Goldman Production of PORGY AND BESS at Radio City Music Hall in 1982 and was also part of the Metropolitan Opera’s Debut Production of Porgy and Bess in 1985. McCorvey’s career has spanned all areas of the performing arts business from performer to musical director, stage director, voice teacher, producer, impresario, orchestra conductor, union representative, administrator and mentor. McCorvey recently conducted the World Premiere of Stella Sung’s Opera THE SECRET RIVER with Opera Orlando in December of 2021. The Librettist for the opera was Pulitzer Prize Winner Mark Campbell. He was also featured in Taromina, Sicily conducting the Grand Finale Opera Gala at the Mythos Opera Festival 2018 and in December of 2019, he conducted the Dvořák Symphony #9 in Prague’s Smetana Hall with the North Czech Philharmonic. Upcoming concerts includes Musikverein Golden Hall in Vienna conducting the Boshualave Martinu Philharmonic and in Haydn Hall Vienna with the Euro sinfonietta as well as an upcoming Word Premiere with the Santa Fe Opera’s Opera for All Voices in performances of THIS LITTLE LIGHT OF MINE by Chandler Carter with the libretto by Diana Solomon Glover. Later in 2022, McCorvey will serve as Chorus Master with the Santa Fe Opera production THIS LITTLE LIGHT OF MINE and Music Director and Conductor for the Kentucky Opera performances of the same work. McCorvey served as the Music Director and Conductor of the World Premier of BOUNCE, The Basketball Opera, conceived and directed by Gretha Holby with the lead composer Glen Roven and author and librettist Charles R. Smith, Jr. Additional music for BOUNCE was written by Tomas Doncker and West Side Story Film Star Ansel Elgort. https://bouncethebasketballopera.org This past September 11, 2021 on the 20th Anniversary of the attacks, he conducted the National Chorale and the US Army Field Band in New Jersey’s 9/11 Commemoration at Liberty State Park. He has also appeared in television movies and feature films including The Long Walk Home. Dr. McCorvey’s operatic roles include Don Jose in Carmen, Ferrando in Cosi Fan Tutte, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Fenton in Falstaff, Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus, Puck in La Grande Duchess de Gerolstein, and many others. Orchestra and Oratorio works include the Beethoven Symphony #9, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Mozart’s Requiem, Verdi’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s Mass in B Minor and the St. Matthew Passion, among others. Vocal Excellence is a hallmark of Dr. McCorvey’s work. As a teacher he has given masterclasses and vocal workshops throughout the United States, Europe, South America, China, Japan, and Poland. Dr. McCorvey is the founder and Music Director of the American Spiritual Ensemble, www.americanspiritualensemble.com a group of 24 professional singers performing spirituals and other compositions of African-American composers dedicated to keeping the American Negro Spiritual alive. In its 27-year history, the group has presented over 600 concerts including 20 tours of the United States and 17 tours of Spain. Presently the American Spiritual Ensemble is the only professional ensemble of its kind dedicated solely to the American Negro Spiritual. The Ensemble has released twelve CD’s: On My Journey Now – The American Spiritual Ensemble on Tour, Ol’ Time Religion, Lily of the Valley, Swing Low, Sweet Chariot; The Spirituals; The Spirit of the Holidays; The Duke Returns; Duke Ellington Sacred Concerts; Mosaic, featuring Metropolitan Opera Star Angela Brown; Stand the Storm, Featuring American Soprano Jeryl Cunningham; Been in the Storm Too Long featuring American Baritone Kenneth Overton as well as two CD’s featuring the music of John Jacob Niles produced by McCorvey featuring American Soprano Hope Koehler. McCorvey recently produced a CD Anchored in the Lord featuring singers from the Bay View Music Festival’s American Negro Spirituals Intensive program, where McCorvey serves as Director. The US Public Broadcasting Station (PBS) has produced six Documentaries featuring McCorvey’s work, including It’s a Grand Night for Singing: 10th Anniversary (1992); Impresario (2002); A Tribute and a Toast to Opera (2005); The Spirituals (2007); The American Spiritual Ensemble in Concert (2017); and It’s a Grand Night for Singing 25th Anniversary (2017). Dr. McCorvey is also in his seventh season as the Artistic Director of the National Chorale of New York City www.nationalchorale.org. Celebrating 54 years of great choral singing, the National Chorale is a symphonic choir which performs at Lincoln Center in New York City. The National Chorale is well-known in New York and around the region for its performances of the great choral titans as well as for the popular New York Messiah Sing-In at Lincoln Center! The Sing-In is one of the oldest sing-in’s in the country. Dr. McCorvey has served on the faculty of the New York State Summer School of the Arts in Saratoga Springs, New York where he was Artist-in-Residence and Associate Conductor and is also a frequent advisory panelist and on-site reviewer for the National Endowment for the Arts Opera/Musical Theatre program in Washington, D.C. He also served on the faculty of the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) in Graz, Austria. He is on the opera faculty in the summers at the Bay View Music Festival in Petoskey, MI, www.bayviewassociation.org/performingarts/musicfestival, and is co-director of the Bay View Music Festival’s American Negro Spirituals Intensive program, a program dedicated to helping young singers learn about the American Negro Spirituals. Dr. McCorvey is a teacher and vocal advisor to many singers in the profession. Dr. McCorvey has been the recipient of several awards highlighting his teaching, research and service. Recent awards include the SEC (South Eastern Conference) Faculty Achievement Award, given to a faculty member from each of the 14 SEC Athletic Conference schools. He was also the recipient of the UK Libraries Medallion for Intellectual Achievement in 2018. This award is one of UK’s most prestigious awards given to one Kentuckian, it recognizes high intellectual achievement by a Kentuckian who has made a contribution of lasting value to the Commonwealth. The award also promotes education and creative thought. Other awards include the Lexington Music Awards Lifetime Achievement Award (2020); two Regional Emmy Awards for UK Opera Theatre’s summer production of “It’s A Grand Night for Singing” (2018); the Notable African-Americans in Lexington Award given by the Lima drive Seventh-Day Adventist Church (2018); the Central Music Academy Lifetime Achievement Award (2015), the Alabama Governor’s Artists Award, the highest arts award given to an artist from Alabama (2015), the Salvation Army Community Service Award (2014) and the Camp Horsin’ Around Community Service Award (2014). In 1998 he was the Acorn Award Recipient given by the Kentucky Advocates for Higher Education. This prestigious Award goes to only one Professor in the state of Kentucky who exemplifies excellence, innovation and creativity in teaching and research. Dr. McCorvey was also the recipient of an outstanding faculty award from the University of Kentucky Lyman T. Johnson Alumni Association for 1998 and was selected to receive the Outstanding Alumni Award in the Arts from the Society for the Fine Arts at the University of Alabama, his Alma Mater, in February of 1999. Dr. McCorvey produced only the second full-length recording of The Tender Land by Aaron Copland with the University of Kentucky Opera Theatre recorded in Zlin, Czech Republic and released January 2002, featuring singers from the University of Kentucky Opera Program with Kirk Trevor conducting the Boshuslave Martinu Philharmonic Orchestra. Two other CD’s released in 2008, were a world premiere of a new opera, The Hotel Casablanca, by Thomas Pasatieri, produced by Dr. McCorvey and performed by the University of Kentucky Opera Theatre and a collection of songs by John Jacob Niles, performed by soprano Hope Koehler and produced by McCorvey. Both recording were released by Albany Records. In the spring of 2010 UK Opera released a new CD of Die Fledermaus with Maestro John Nardolillo conducting and in December of 2010 a World Premiere CD of Thomas Pasatieri’s new opera God Bless Us Everyone which premiered in New York at DiCapo Opera with students from UK Opera and which received a rave New York Times Review. Dr. McCorvey is of the belief that every citizen in the country should find ways to give back to his or her community, city or country. He has been very active in his volunteer activities working to keep the arts as a part of the civic conversation and currently serves on many local, regional and national boards. In his home state of Kentucky, he is Chairman of the Kentucky Arts Council Board and nationally he is on the Sullivan Foundation Board of Trustees, www.sullivanfoundation.org, an organization dedicated to supporting young professional singers with career grants and study awards for continuing development. He holds an Endowed Chair in Opera Studies/Director of Opera and Professor of Voice at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky. www.ukoperatheatre.org. In September of 2010, Dr. McCorvey served as the Executive Producer of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Alltech 2010 FEI World Equestrian Games held in Lexington, Kentucky. The Opening Ceremony was broadcasted on NBC Sports and was viewed by over 500 million people worldwide. The Alltech 2010 FEI World Equestrian Games was the largest equestrian event to ever be held in the United States. He is married to soprano Alicia Helm. They have three children.
Dr. Everett McCorvey
