Richard Pearlman
Encyclopedia
Richard Pearlman was an American theatre and opera director and educator known for his encyclopedic knowledge on every aspect of opera
from stage direction to makeup.
Born in Norwalk, Connecticut
and raised in Tucson, Arizona
, Pearlman received a degree in English from Columbia University
in New York
, and began his career in opera as a resident stage director at the Metropolitan Opera
from 1964 to 1967 where he worked with Gian Carlo Menotti
, Franco Zeffirelli
, Luchino Visconti
and Tyrone Guthrie
. While serving as assistant director for an absent Zeffirelli, Pearlman directed his first opera, Donizetti
's Lucia di Lammermoor
at the Lyric Opera of Chicago
in 1962.
These experiences led to his first credited direction, the first American staging of Berlioz
's Béatrice et Bénédict
for the Washington National Opera
in the 1964-65 season. After a period as a staff director at the Metropolitan Opera, he became General Director of Washington Opera from 1967 to 1970. His work there included a version of The Medium
recorded by Columbia
, the operatic debut of film star Madeline Kahn
, and a highly regarded film/live action production of Turn of the Screw
with Benita Valente
and Eleanor Steber
.
In the years that followed, Pearlman made numerous directing debuts across the U.S. His association with San Francisco Opera
's Spring Opera Theatre began in 1971 with Donizetti's Don Pasquale
and continued with six more productions through 1976.
Pearlman staged the world premiere of George Rochberg
's The Confidence Man at the Santa Fe Opera
in 1982. In 1971, he directed the first professionally mounted production of The Who
's rock opera
Tommy
starring Bette Midler
, for Seattle Opera
. In 1987 he staged and produced the premiere of Reaching for the Moon
, a hitherto-unperformed musical by George
and Ira Gershwin
.
From 1976 to 1995, Pearlman served as director of the Eastman Opera Theatre at Rochester University's Eastman School of Music
where he trained many important singers including Renée Fleming
.
In 1995 Pearlman was appointed director of the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists, the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s apprenticip program where he helped launch the careers of scores of young singers, including Nicole Cabell
, Erin Wall
, Maria Kanyova, Dina Kuznetsova, Matthew Polenzani
, David Cangelosi and Christopher Feigum.
Pearlman productions had a reputation for both faithflul adherence to the intentions of the composer and bold interpretation. A production of Monteverdi
’s L'incoronazione di Poppea
was updated to Mussolini
's Italy in the 1930s
, a production of Mozart
's The Magic Flute
featuring a live boa constrictor
, and a staging of Britten
's Albert Herring
was a wicked send-up of then-British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
's Tory
utopia
. "Opera is the music," he once said. "If you try to go against that, it never comes out right."
Also active as a writer and translator, his translations of La bohème
, La Périchole
, Faust
, La finta giardiniera
, and La cambiale di matrimonio
(rechristened The IOU Wedding) are frequently performed.
He died from cancer at Rush University Medical Center
in Chicago
http://www.playbillarts.com/news/article/4314.html.
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
from stage direction to makeup.
Born in Norwalk, Connecticut
Norwalk, Connecticut
Norwalk is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the population of the city is 85,603, making Norwalk sixth in population in Connecticut, and third in Fairfield County...
and raised in Tucson, Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
, Pearlman received a degree in English from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, and began his career in opera as a resident stage director at the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
from 1964 to 1967 where he worked with Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti was an Italian-American composer and librettist. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. He wrote the classic Christmas opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, among about two dozen other operas intended to appeal to popular...
, Franco Zeffirelli
Franco Zeffirelli
Franco Zeffirelli KBE is an Italian director and producer of films and television. He is also a director and designer of operas and a former senator for the Italian center-right Forza Italia party....
, Luchino Visconti
Luchino Visconti
Luchino Visconti di Modrone, Count of Lonate Pozzolo was an Italian theatre, opera and cinema director, as well as a screenwriter. He is best known for his films The Leopard and Death in Venice .-Life:...
and Tyrone Guthrie
Tyrone Guthrie
Sir William Tyrone Guthrie was an English theatrical director instrumental in the founding of the Stratford Festival of Canada, the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, at his family's home, Annaghmakerrig, in County Monaghan, Ireland.-Life and career:Guthrie...
. While serving as assistant director for an absent Zeffirelli, Pearlman directed his first opera, Donizetti
Gaetano Donizetti
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. His best-known works are the operas L'elisir d'amore , Lucia di Lammermoor , and Don Pasquale , all in Italian, and the French operas La favorite and La fille du régiment...
's Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucia di Lammermoor is a dramma tragico in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor....
at the Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1952, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicolà Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria Callas's American debut in Norma...
in 1962.
These experiences led to his first credited direction, the first American staging of Berlioz
Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
's Béatrice et Bénédict
Béatrice et Bénédict
Béatrice et Bénédict is an opera in two acts by Hector Berlioz. Berlioz wrote the French libretto himself, based closely on Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing....
for the Washington National Opera
Washington National Opera
The Washington National Opera is an opera company in Washington, D.C., USA. Formerly the Opera Society of Washington and the Washington Opera, the company received Congressional designation as the National Opera Company in 2000. Performances are now given in the Opera House of the John F...
in the 1964-65 season. After a period as a staff director at the Metropolitan Opera, he became General Director of Washington Opera from 1967 to 1970. His work there included a version of The Medium
The Medium
The Medium is a short two-act dramatic opera with words and music by Gian Carlo Menotti. Commissioned by Columbia University, its first performance was there on 8 May 1946. The opera's first professional production was presented on a double bill with Menotti's The Telephone at the Heckscher...
recorded by Columbia
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
, the operatic debut of film star Madeline Kahn
Madeline Kahn
Madeline Kahn was an American actress. Kahn was known primarily for her comedic roles in films such as Paper Moon, Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles, What's Up, Doc?, and Clue.-Early life:...
, and a highly regarded film/live action production of Turn of the Screw
The Turn of the Screw (opera)
The Turn of the Screw is a 20th century English chamber opera composed by Benjamin Britten with a libretto by Myfanwy Piper, "wife of the artist John Piper, who had been a friend of the composer since 1935 and had provided designs for several of the operas". The libretto is based on the novella...
with Benita Valente
Benita Valente
Benita Valente , is a distinguished American soprano whose long career has encompassed the operatic stage as well as performance of lieder, chamber music and oratorio. She is especially lauded for her interpretations of Mozart and Handel, but she also excelled in certain Verdi roles...
and Eleanor Steber
Eleanor Steber
Eleanor Steber was an American operatic soprano. Steber is noted as one of the first major opera stars to have achieved the highest success with training and a career based in the United States.-Biography:...
.
In the years that followed, Pearlman made numerous directing debuts across the U.S. His association with San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera is an American opera company, based in San Francisco, California.It was founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola and is the second largest opera company in North America...
's Spring Opera Theatre began in 1971 with Donizetti's Don Pasquale
Don Pasquale
Don Pasquale is an opera buffa, or comic opera, in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. The librettist Giovanni Ruffini wrote the Italian language libretto after Angelo Anelli's libretto for Stefano Pavesi's Ser Marcantonio ....
and continued with six more productions through 1976.
Pearlman staged the world premiere of George Rochberg
George Rochberg
George Rochberg was an American composer of contemporary classical music.-Life:Rochberg was born in Paterson, New Jersey. He attended the Mannes College of Music, where his teachers included George Szell and Hans Weisse, and the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Rosario Scalero and...
's The Confidence Man at the Santa Fe Opera
Santa Fe Opera
The Santa Fe Opera is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe in the U.S. state of New Mexico, headquartered on a former guest ranch of .-General history:...
in 1982. In 1971, he directed the first professionally mounted production of The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
's rock opera
Rock opera
A rock opera is a work of rock music that presents a storyline told over multiple parts, songs or sections in the manner of opera. A rock opera differs from a conventional rock album, which usually includes songs that are not unified by a common theme or narrative. More recent developments include...
Tommy
Tommy (rock opera)
Tommy is the fourth album by English rock band The Who, released by Track Records and Polydor Records in the United Kingdom and Decca Records/MCA in the United States. A double album telling a loose story about a "deaf, dumb and blind boy" who becomes the leader of a messianic movement, Tommy was...
starring Bette Midler
Bette Midler
Bette Midler is an American singer, actress, and comedian, also known by her informal stage name, The Divine Miss M. She became famous as a cabaret and concert headliner, and went on to star in successful and acclaimed films such as The Rose, Ruthless People, Beaches, and For The Boys...
, for Seattle Opera
Seattle Opera
The Seattle Opera is an opera company located in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1963 by Glynn Ross, who served as the company's first general director through 1983, Seattle Opera's season runs from August to late May, with five or six operas offered and with eight to ten performances each, often...
. In 1987 he staged and produced the premiere of Reaching for the Moon
Reaching for the Moon
"Reaching for the Moon" is a popular song written by Irving Berlin for the 1930 musical film of the same name.In 1930, United Artists prepared this original music film written by Irving Berlin with his music and lyrics...
, a hitherto-unperformed musical by George
George Gershwin
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
and Ira Gershwin
Ira Gershwin
Ira Gershwin was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs of the 20th century....
.
From 1976 to 1995, Pearlman served as director of the Eastman Opera Theatre at Rochester University's Eastman School of Music
Eastman School of Music
The Eastman School of Music is a music conservatory located in Rochester, New York. The Eastman School is a professional school within the University of Rochester...
where he trained many important singers including Renée Fleming
Renée Fleming
Renée Fleming is an American soprano specializing in opera and lieder. Fleming has a full lyric soprano voice.Fleming has performed coloratura, lyric, and lighter spinto soprano repertoires. She has sung roles in Italian, German, French, Czech, and Russian, aside from her native English. She also...
.
In 1995 Pearlman was appointed director of the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists, the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s apprenticip program where he helped launch the careers of scores of young singers, including Nicole Cabell
Nicole Cabell
Nicole Cabell , is an American opera singer. She is presently best known as the 2005 winner of the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition....
, Erin Wall
Erin Wall
Erin Wall is a Canadian operatic soprano.She studied at the Vancouver Academy of Music, Western Washington University, Rice University and Music Academy of the West and was a finalist at the Cardiff Singer of the World competition in Wales in 2003, a competition where 951 singers from 56 nations...
, Maria Kanyova, Dina Kuznetsova, Matthew Polenzani
Matthew Polenzani
Matthew Polenzani is an American lyric tenor, born in Evanston, Illinois. He has appeared with the Metropolitan Opera of New York, the Seattle Opera, and other companies. He has also sung with numerous symphony orchestras. Polenzani earned a bachelor’s degree from Eastern Illinois University in...
, David Cangelosi and Christopher Feigum.
Pearlman productions had a reputation for both faithflul adherence to the intentions of the composer and bold interpretation. A production of Monteverdi
Claudio Monteverdi
Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, gambist, and singer.Monteverdi's work, often regarded as revolutionary, marked the transition from the Renaissance style of music to that of the Baroque period. He developed two individual styles of composition – the...
’s L'incoronazione di Poppea
L'incoronazione di Poppea
L'incoronazione di Poppea is an Italian baroque opera comprising a prologue and three acts, first performed in Venice during the 1642–43 carnival season. The music, attributed to Claudio Monteverdi, is a setting of a libretto by Giovanni Francesco Busenello...
was updated to Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
's Italy in the 1930s
The Italian economy under Fascism, 1922-1943
The Economy of Italy under Fascism refers to the economy in Italy between 1922 and 1943 when the Fascists were in control. Italy had emerged from World War I in a poor and weakened condition. An unpopular and costly conflict had been borne by an underdeveloped country. Post-war there was inflation,...
, a production of Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
's The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue....
featuring a live boa constrictor
Boa constrictor
The Boa constrictor is a large, heavy-bodied species of snake. It is a member of the family Boidae found in North, Central, and South America, as well as some islands in the Caribbean. A staple of private collections and public displays, its color pattern is highly variable yet distinctive...
, and a staging of Britten
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
's Albert Herring
Albert Herring
Albert Herring, Op. 39, is a chamber opera in three acts by Benjamin Britten.Composed in the winter of 1946 and the spring of 1947, this comic opera was a successor to his serious opera The Rape of Lucretia...
was a wicked send-up of then-British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
's Tory
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
utopia
Utopia
Utopia is an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system. The word was imported from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt...
. "Opera is the music," he once said. "If you try to go against that, it never comes out right."
Also active as a writer and translator, his translations of La bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
, La Périchole
La Périchole
La Périchole is an opéra bouffe in three acts by Jacques Offenbach. Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy wrote the French-language libretto based on the 1829 one act play Le carrosse du Saint-Sacrement by Prosper Mérimée, which was revived on 13 March 1850 at the Théâtre-Français...
, Faust
Faust (opera)
Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
, La finta giardiniera
La finta giardiniera
La finta giardiniera , K. 196, is an Italian opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart wrote it in Munich in January 1775 when he was 18 years old and it received its first performance on January 13 at the Salvatortheater in Munich...
, and La cambiale di matrimonio
La cambiale di matrimonio
La cambiale di matrimonio is a one-act operatic farsa comica by Gioachino Rossini to a libretto by Gaetano Rossi. The libretto was based on the play by Camillo Federici and a previous libretto by Giuseppe Checcherini for Carlo Coccia's 1807 opera, Il matrimonio per lettera di cambio...
(rechristened The IOU Wedding) are frequently performed.
He died from cancer at Rush University Medical Center
Rush University Medical Center
Rush University Medical Center is a 676-bed academic medical center that includes hospital facilities for adults and children. It also includes the Johnston R. Bowman Health Center...
in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
http://www.playbillarts.com/news/article/4314.html.