The OperaEnglish SynopsisSinopsis en Español
The Story
An Impossible Dream: Can an eccentric, elderly knight capture the heart of the woman he adores? This poignant opera brings to life one of the noblest gentlemen in all literature – Don Quixote. Romantic and idealistic, he sees Dulcinea not as she truly is, but as the ideal of womanhood. With loyal Sancho Panza at his side, this soulful “knight-errant” sets off on a quest – fighting windmills he believes are "giants", escaping bandits, and risking death – to win the love of his idolized Dulcinea.
The Music
Excitingly Spanish, with pulsating rhythms and stirring choruses, the music also has an intimate, tragic side as Don Quixote realizes his dream is ending. His final scene is one of the most touching, sensitive and moving in all opera as he lies delirious, believing he hears Dulcinea’s voice calling from a bright star.
The Look
The magical world of Don Quixote’s classical Spain is brought to life in this exciting new production. It’s all here: the bright colors of a vivid country, the dented armor of a crumpled Don Quixote, huge windmills whirling in the mists, and the tranquility of a starry night out of which both death and hope appear.
Cast Highlights
Charismatic Metropolitan Opera star Ferruccio Furlanetto will captivate you as the delusional Don Quixote. International star Denyce Graves, our ‘Delilah’ from 2007’s Samson and Delilah returns as the enchanting Dulcinea, joined by the irrepressible Reinhard Dorn as loyal Sancho Panza. San Diego Opera's own Ian Campbell will direct with San Diego Opera’s Resident Conductor Karen Keltner to make this new production an evening of laughter and tears you will long remember.
The running time is approximately 2 hours, 16 minutes.
Act I
A square in front of Dulcinea's house
A festival is being celebrated, as four hopeful admirers of Dulcinea serenade her. She explains philosophically that being adored is not enough. She withdraws as the crowd acclaims the arrival of the eccentric Knight and his squire, Sancho. Don Quixote is riding on his horse Rosinante, and Sancho is on a donkey. Delighted by the attention of the crowd, Quixote tells a reluctant Sancho to throw them money. After the crowd disperses, Quixote himself serenades Dulcinea, but is interrupted by Juan, a jealous admirer of Dulcinea. A sword fight follows, interrupted by Dulcinea herself. She is charmed by Quixote’s antique attentions. The old man offers her his devotion and a castle. She suggests instead that he might retrieve a pearl necklace of hers stolen by Ténébrun, a bandit chief. He undertakes to do so as, to his surprise, Dulcinea rejoins her men friends. Recovering his composure, and convinced she loves him, Quixote stands guard outside her window.
Act II
In the countryside
On a misty morning, Don Quixote and Sancho enter, the Knight composing a love poem. Sancho delivers a grand tirade against their expedition, against Dulcinea and against women in general. As the mists disperse, Quixote sees windmills which he mistakes for giants. To Sancho's horror, Quixote attacks them, crying out the name of Dulcinea.
Act III
In the mountains
Don Quixote and Sancho are searching for the bandits, whom Quixote is convinced are nearby. Sancho goes to sleep while Quixote stands guard. The bandits suddenly appear and after a brief fight take the knight prisoner. Sancho escapes. Surprised by the defiance of the old man, the bandits give him a beating and intend to kill him, however Quixote’s reply moves Ténébrun, the bandit chief, to mercy. Quixote explains his mission and the necklace is returned to him. The bandits ask for the blessing of the noble knight before he leaves.
Act IV
A garden
A party is in progress, but Dulcinea is melancholy. Rousing herself, she snatches a guitar and sings and leaves. Sancho and Don Quixote arrive. While waiting for Dulcinea, Sancho asks for his reward to which Quixote responds with vague promises of an island, a castle and riches. Dulcinea and her party greet the Knight who returns the necklace to universal acclaim. However when he asks Dulcinea to marry him, Quixote is greeted with laughter. Taking pity, Dulcinea tells the others to leave, apologizes and explains that her destiny and her way of life are different from his. She kisses him on the forehead and leaves. When partygoers make fun of the old man, Sancho vigorously reproaches them, and takes his master away.
Act V
A mountain pass.
On a clear starry night, Don Quixote is dying. He remembers having promised Sancho an island as his reward, and offers him an isle of dreams. As he dies, Quixote sees a star shining brightly above, and believes he hears the voice of Dulcinea beckoning to him.
ACTO I
En una plaza frente a la casa de Dulcinea
En medio de una fiesta popular, cuatro ilusionados admiradores de Dulcinea le cantan una serenata a la muchacha. Ella intenta explicar su modo de vivir la vida. Explica que la vida consiste en mucho más que ser adorada por los demás. Se aparta mientras la multitud aclama la llegada del eccéntrico caballero y su acompañante, Sancho Panza. Don Quijote está montado sobre su caballo, Rocinante, y Sancho sobre un burro. Encantados por la atención de la gente, don Quijote pide a Sancho que les arroje dinero, lo cual Sancho hace a regañadientes. Cuando se dispersa la muchedumbre, don Quijote le canta una serenata a Dulcinea, pero lo interrumpe Juan, un celoso admirador de la muchacha. El altercado da lugar a una lucha de espadas, impedida por insistencia de Dulcinea. A la muchacha le divierten las atenciones del caballero anciano, quien le ofrece su devoción y un castillo. Ella le sugiere, en cambio, que quizás podría recuperar su collar de perlas que ha sido robado por Tenebruno, jefe de unos bandidos. Don Quijote se compromete a emprender la misión, aunque le sorprende que Dulcinea se aparte para reunirse con sus amigos. Don Quijote recupera la calma, convencido que Dulcinea lo ama, y pasa a montar la guardia al lado de su ventana.
ACTO II
En el campo
En una mañana brumosa, entran don Quijote y Sancho. El caballero compone un poema de amor. Sancho lanza una gran invectiva en contra de la expedición, contra Dulcinea y contra las mujeres en general. En la medida en que se dispersa la bruma, don Quijote ve remolinos que confunde con gigantes. Para el horror de Sancho, don Quijote los ataca mientras pronuncia a gritos el nombre de Dulcinea.
ACTO III
En las montañas
Don Quijote y Sancho buscan a los bandidos, quienes, según don Quijote, están cerca. Sancho se acuesta a dormir mientras don Quijote monta la guardia. Los bandidos aparecen de repente y después de una breve lucha, llevan prisionero al caballero. Sancho logra escapar. Sorprendidos por la actitud desafiante del anciano, los bandidos le dan una golpiza y proponen matarlo; sin embargo, el comportamiento de don Quijote conmueve a Tenebruno, y éste se apiada de él. Don Quijote explica cuál es su misión y logra recuperar el collar de perlas. Antes de su partida, los bandidos le piden la bendición al noble caballero.
ACTO IV
En un jardín
Ha comenzado una fiesta, pero Dulcinea se siente melancólica. Se reanima, toma una guitarra, canta y se aparta. Llegan Sancho y don Quijote. Mientras esperan a Dulcinea, Sancho pide la recompensa por sus servicios, a lo cual don Quijote responde con promesas vagas de una isla, un castillo y otras riquezas. Dulcinea y sus acompañantes saludan al caballero, quien devuelve el collar, acción que provoca una acogida entusiasta de todos. No obstante, cuando pide a Dulcinea su mano en casamiento, todos responden con risas. Sintiendo compasión por el anciano, Dulcinea pide a los demás que se marchen. Se disculpa y explica a don Quijote que su destino y su modo de vida son diferentes a los de él. Lo besa en la frente y se retira. Cuando los demás se burlan del anciano, Sancho los reprocha vigorosamente y se aleja con su amo.
ACTO V
En un paso de montaña
En una noche estrellada, don Quijote yace moribundo. Recuerda haber prometido a Sancho una isla y su recompensa, y le ofrece una isla de sueños. Mientras se desvanece y muere, don Quijote ve una estrella brillante en el cielo. En su delirio, cree oír la voz de Dulcinea llamándole.
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THE CAST
Please click an artist’s name to read more.
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Don Quixote
Ferruccio Furlanetto
Don Quixote
Ferruccio Furlanetto
Italian bass Ferruccio Furlanetto has been associated with San Diego Opera for more than twenty years since his debut in the title role in Verdi’s Oberto in 1985. He returned for Méphistophélès in Faust and the title role in Don Giovanni on two occasions each, King Philip in Don Carlo, Basilio in The Barber of Seville, and most recently in the title role of Boris Godunov in 2007. Recent engagements include Boris Godunov at the Vienna Staatsoper and King Philip and Boris Godunov at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, making him the first Italian ever to sing those roles there. With the Metropolitan Opera he has appeared in many operas including Ernani, Simon Boccanegra, Don Carlos, La Juive and The Marriage of Figaro. He first appeared at theSalzburg Festival in 1986 as Mozart’s Figaro, returning as Leporello, Don Alfonso, Don Giovanni and King Philip. Many of his performances are available on more than twenty-seven CDs and DVDs including King Philip, Don Giovanni, Attila, Figaro, Alfonso, Leporello and Zaccaria in Nabucco which he will sing in San Diego Opera’s 2010 season. Ferruccio Furlanetto is a Kammersänger of the Wiener Staatsoper and an Honorary Ambassador to the United Nations.
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Sancho Panza
REINHARD DORN
Sancho Panza
REINHARD DORN
German bass Reinhard Dorn made his San Diego Opera debut as Taddeo in The Italian Girl in Algiers in 1997, returning in 2000 as Leporello in Don Giovanni and 2006 as the Speaker in The Magic Flute. He also sings Sancho Panza in Don Quixote this season. Recent engagements include Landgraf Hermann in Tannhäuser, Don Magnifico in Cinderella, Sarastro in The Magic Flute, Osmin in The Abduction from the Seraglio, Baron Ochs in Der Rosenkavalier, Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte, Frank in Die Fledermaus and Kezal in The Bartered Bride for Semperoper Dresden. In Cologne he has sung Mustafa in The Italian Girl in Algiers, Baron Ochs and Landgraf Hermann. Other appearances include Baron Ochs and Rocco in Fidelio in Hamburg, Kezal at the Glyndebourne Festival, the title role of Don Pasquale in Bonn, and Pogner in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Maggio Musicale in Florence as well as in Japan with Bayerische Staatsoper.
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Dulcinea
Denyce Graves
Dulcinea
Denyce Graves
American mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves made her San Diego Opera debut as Delilah in Samson and Delilah in 2007, a role she has sung with many of the world’s leading opera companies including the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera Covent Garden, Houston Grand Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Washington National Opera, Opéra de Marseilles and New Israeli Opera. Another signature role, Carmen, has been heard in New York, Vienna, Paris, Geneva, Genoa, Chicago, Munich, Madrid and San Francisco. Her varied operatic repertoire includes Federica in Luisa Miller with Metropolitan Opera, Cuniza in Oberto with Covent Garden, Judith in Bluebeard’s Castle with Los Angeles Opera & Washington National Opera, Dulcinée in Don Quichotte and Azucena in Il trovatore with Washington National Opera, Charlotte in Werther with Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, and Baba The Turk in The Rake’s Progress at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. World premieres include Margaret Garner in Detroit, Cincinnati, Philadelphia and Charlotte and Grendel at Los Angeles Opera & Lincoln Center Festival. She is an active concert and recital performer and sang The Lord’s Prayer at the State Funeral of President Gerald R. Ford. Recordings include the aria CD Voce di Donnna and The Lost Days, a recording of Latin songs with jazz musicians in Spanish & Portuguese. Highlights from Samson and Delilah are featured on her Virgin Classics recording of French Opera Arias and complete opera recordings include La vestale, Hamlet, Rigoletto and Otello.
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Juan
Bryan Register
Juan
Bryan Register
American tenor Bryan Register made his San Diego Opera debut in 2006 as
Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor and returned in 2007 as the
First Philistine in Samson and Delilah. Other roles include
Don José in Carmen with Virginia Opera, Astolf in Die
Verschworenen, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni and Leander
in Maskarade with Bronx Opera Company. An active concert
soloist, he has appeared at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall
performing such works as Mozart’s Requiem, Haydn’s Lord
Nelson Mass, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Handel’s
Messiah and Judas Maccabeus, among others. He has
been part of the apprentice programs at The Santa Fe Opera and
Glimmerglass Opera and received the Birgit Nilsson Scholarship at
Manhattan School of Music. Most recently, he has been added to
the roster of the “Emerging Singers Program” sponsored by the Wagner
Society of Washington D.C. and was a 2008 winner of the Gerda Lissner Competition.
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CONDUCTOR
KAREN KELTNER
CONDUCTOR
KAREN KELTNER
American conductor and Resident Conductor of San Diego Opera, Karen Keltner has conducted an extensive
and wide-ranging repertoire of the opera literature for her home company. Since her debut performance of
Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges in 1980, she has been at the helm of much of San Diego
Opera’s French repertoire including Faust, The Pearl Fishers, and Carmen, and has
become a recognized specialist in 20th century opera, conducting last season’s critically acclaimed
Wozzeck, and in past seasons, Salomé, Thérèse Raquin, Vanessa, Cold Sassy Tree, A Streetcar
Named Desire, Of Mice and Men, The Conquistador, and The Lighthouse. She travels extensively
throughout the United States as a guest conductor to companies including Washington National Opera,
New York City Opera, Seattle Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Opera Carolina, Glimmerglass Opera, and has
performed internationally in both Canada (Vancouver Opera and Manitoba Opera) and in France at
the operas of Strasbourg and Nancy. She earned degrees in French as well as the Doctorate of Music,
and frequently holds master classes for singers in the cities to which she travels.
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Director
Ian Campbell
Director
Ian Campbell
Ian Campbell has been the General Director and Artistic Director of San Diego
Opera since 1983. Campbell was born in Australia, and is a graduate of the
University of Sydney. He also holds the two designations of Fellow, and Certified
Professional Manager, from the Australian Institute of Management. For forty years
Campbell has worked in opera as a singer, stage director, administrator, radio
broadcaster and writer. As a stage director his work includes La bohème
and The Tales of Hoffmann for The State Opera of South Australia;
Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci for Santa Barbara
Grand Opera; Falstaff, Il trovatore, Tosca,
Katya Kabanova, La traviata and La bohème
for San Diego Opera. Campbell began his operatic career in 1967 as a principal character tenor
with the Australian Opera and sang until 1974. He then moved into management as Senior Music
Officer for the Australia Council from 1974 to 1976 and was General Manager of The State Opera
of South Australia in Adelaide from 1976 to 1982. In 1982 he joined the Metropolitan Opera
in New York as Assistant Artistic Administrator, and in July 1983 became General Director of San Diego Opera.
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Choreographer
Nicola Bowie
Choreographer
Nicola Bowie
British Choreographer Nicola Bowie debuted at San Diego Opera in Salome in 1998 and returned last season for Tannhäuser. She trained at the Legat School of Russian Ballet and the Royal Ballet Upper School and danced professionally with English National Ballet. Bowie joined English National Opera in 1976 and was appointed Head of Movement in 1988, a post she held until 2001. In this capacity she worked on over 60 productions. Most recently, she directed Madama Butterfly for Eugene Opera and La bohème for Florida Grand Opera in 2008. She has worked extensively in Europe and the US most notably for the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Glimmerglass, Boston, San Diego and Washington Opera, Seattle, Cincinnati, Dallas, Bonn, Dresden, Munich and Glyndebourne. She has directed productions for NYCO, Portland Opera, San Francisco Opera Merola Program, Madrid, Scottish Opera, Tel Aviv and Opera Zuid. In California, she directed productions for USC and CSULB.
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Scenic Design
Ralph Funicello
Scenic Design
Ralph Funicello
San Diego Opera debut. American Scenic Designer Ralph Funicello Broadway credits include: Julius Caesar, Brooklyn Boy, Henry IV (Outer Critic’s Circle, Drama Desk and Tony Award nominations) and King Lear; for Off Broadway, Ten Unknowns and Pride’s Crossing. He has designed for numerous theatres including the American Conservatory Theatre, Lincoln Center Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, South Coast Rep, New York City Opera, The Shakespeare Theatre in Washington D.C., Stratford Festival of Canada, and The Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford on Avon. Funicello has received The Merritt Award for Excellence in Design and Collaberation, A Los Angeles Music Center Distinguished Arts Award and the L.A. Drama Critics’ Circle Award and his work has been seen at the Library of Performing Arts in New York City, USD, Tiffany & Co., San Diego and The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. He currently holds the position of Powell Chair in Set Design at SDSU.
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Costume Designer
Missy West
Costume Designer
Missy West
American Costume Designer Missy West has been the Costume Supervisor for San Diego Opera for over
14 years and was the assistant designer for Wozzeck in 2007, The Pearl Fishers
in 2004 and The Magic Flute in 2001. Other opera works include Assistant designer for
Frau Margot world premier at Fort Worth Opera; for Broadway, works include building
costumes for Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, Jelly’s Last Jam,
Cats, Starlight Express and Black and Blue. Film credits include
on-set costuming for: Seabiscuit, Legend of Bagger Vance, Thomas Crown
Affair, For the Love of the Game, Die Hard with a Vengeance, Mighty
Aphrodite and Fried Green Tomatoes. West has also worked for Alvin Ailey Dance
Company, on international tours and fashion as well as television and commercials.
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