What if the family narrative that shapes us is a lie? Three Decembers tells the story of aging Broadway star Madeline Mitchell and her two adult children as they struggle to connect and heal old wounds while family secrets are revealed.
This intimate, compelling drama takes place over two decades during the AIDS crisis, and has been hailed by critics as a modern masterpiece. The one act Three Decembers takes a deep look at the meaning of connection in the contemporary American family through the story of Broadway star Madeline Mitchell and her children. Stage Director Beth Greenberg, renowned for her work at the New York City Opera, says of the opera: “Buried secrets…dark whispers…love, and devastating loss…all collide and burst forth in Three Decembers. With its skillful balance of drama and èlan, the work probes the fraught relationships between a successful actress-mother and her two children—a daughter coping with a failing marriage, and her young, gay son at the beginnings of the AIDS epidemic.”
JAKE HEGGIE
Jake Heggie is an American composer of opera, art song, choral, chamber, and orchestral music. His operas include Dead Man Walking (libretto by Terrence McNally), Moby-Dick (libretto by Gene Scheer), It’s A Wonderful Life (Scheer), If I Were You (Scheer), Great Scott (McNally), Three Decembers (Scheer), For a Look or a Touch (Scheer) and Two Remain (Scheer), among others. In addition to eight full-length operas and several one-acts, Heggie has composed nearly 300 art songs, as well as concerti, chamber music, choral and orchestral works. He recently completed and recorded Songs for Murdered Sisters, a song cycle based on new poems by Margaret Atwood, created for baritone Joshua Hopkins and commissioned by Houston Grand Opera. A Guggenheim Fellow, Heggie served as a mentor for Washington National Opera’s American Opera Initiative and CU Boulder’s New Opera Workshop. In 2016, he was awarded the Eddie Medora King Prize by the UT Austin Butler School of Music, and a recipient of the Champion Award from the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus in a private concert that featured a performance by the great Patti LuPone.
ADRIANA ZABALA (MADELINE MITCHELL)
Adriana Zabala is acclaimed for operatic, concert and recital performances throughout the U.S. and abroad. The New York Times hailed her as “a vivid, fearless presence,” and the L.A. Times as “an extraordinary, vibrant mezzo-soprano.” In addition to traditional roles such as Cherubino and Rosina, Ms. Zabala has created characters in distinctive new works such as Sister James in Cuomo and Shanley’s Doubt (recently broadcast on PBS’ Great Performances), Rosie Cheney in Puts and Campbell’s The Manchurian Candidate, Erminella in Musto and Campbell’s Volpone, the title character in Aldridge and Garfein’s Sister Carrie, Manja in Cohen and Brevoort’s Steal a Pencil for Me, and Lucy Talbott in Bolcom and Campbell’s Dinner at Eight.
MONICA DEWEY (BEATRICE)
Recognized for her endearing timbre and indelible warmth and beauty, Monica Dewey is a soprano from Atlanta, Georgia. She started her career with the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in 2017 as Servilia in La Clemenza di Tito. Since then, she has made several notable house debuts, including the San Francisco Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, and Oper Köln, while performing additional recitals at Opera America and the Kerrytown Concert House. Described by Opera News as having “an endearing timbre bursting with warmth… as close to perfect as opera gets”, Monica is an exciting, versatile soprano. This summer, Monica is excited to return to Opera Theatre of Saint Louis for their New Works, Bold Voices Lab and the International Meistersinger Akademie (IMA) in Neumarkt, Germany. For the 2021-2022 season, Monica joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera in their productions of Ariadne auf Naxos, Rigoletto, and Brett Dean’s Hamlet.
THEO HOFFMAN (CHARLIE)
Mr. Hoffman has concertized with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Wiener Akademie and Il Giardino Armonico at the Salzburg Mozartwoche, Marlboro Music, Orchestre National de Lille, Grand Teton Music Festival, Portland Symphony Orchestra, and Chamber Music Northwest. He has appeared in recital at some of the world’s leading venues, including the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and Alice Tully Hall. Mr. Hoffman is the recipient of the 2018 Sara Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation, as well as awards from the Sullivan Foundation, the Gerda Lissner Foundation, and The Kurt Weill Foundation. Hoffman was a Grand Finalist in the 2016 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Hoffman is a graduate of The Juilliard School.
Composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer, with Adriana Zabala (mezzo-soprano), Monica Dewey (soprano), and Theo Hoffman (baritone), were in residency developing Three Decembers. The opera probes the tensions between an aging actress and her children, a daughter in a failing marriage and a young, gay son under the shadow of the AIDS. Copresented with the Berkshire Opera Festival.
Berkshire Opera Festival’s production of Three Decembers is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.
