Gráinne Gillis
Contralto
SHOWS
Wagner/Holmès
The third show from contralto Grainne Gillis, and her first biographical one, telling the story of the diaspora French-Irish composer Augusta Holmes and how she was influenced by the great god of Bayreuth, Richard Wagner. Interwoven with compositions by both Holmès and Wagner, this play with music explores the major theme of Holmès' dynamic life: artistic, musical, personal and national liberation .
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Wagner/Holmès is part of Zeitgeist Island 24 and is generously supported by Culture Ireland and the Irish Embassy in Berlin.
Wagner/Holmès
Programme Notes
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Wagner/Holmès
1. Weiche Wotan, weiche! (Das Rheingold) - Wagner
2. L'heure Rose (Les Heures) - Holmès
3. Noël d'Irlande - Holmès
4. L'heure d'or (Les Heures) - Holmès
5. So ist es denn aus (Die Walküre) - Wagner
6. Stark ruft das Lied (Siegfried) - Wagner
7. Irlande (symphonic poem adapted by Rucinski) - Holmès
8. Extract from Lutèce - La Gauloise - Holmès
9. L'heure de Pourpre (Les Heures) - Holmès
10. Snippet from Walkürenritt (Die Walküre) - Wagner &
Femmes au lache coeur (La Montaigne Noir) - Holmès
11. L'heure d'Azur (Les Heures) - Holmès
12. Trois Anges Sont Venu Ce Soir - Holmès
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Original script written by Gráinne Gillis, based on the biography by Hélène Can and assorted articles about Augusta Holmès.
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Gráinne Gillis
Praised by Opera Magazine as singing with ‘magnetic allure’, by The Guardian as being ‘magnificent’ and noted by the Observer as having a voice with 'rich, dramatic potential' and Opera Now for the clarity of her diction, Gráinne Gillis is an Irish-American contralto and that rare beast in that fach: a contralto who can really act. She read Music at University College Cork and graduated from the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in 2002.
Since retraining as an opera singer, roles have included Dritte Dame in Die Zauberflöte, Dama (Macbeth), Annina (La Traviata), Baba (The Medium), Flora Sandes in Dead Equal (ENO Baylis), Gertrud (Hänsel und Gretel). Flora (King’s Head Theatre) in La Traviata, Hélène (Faust et Hélène), the Old Woman (Candide), Madame Popova in The Bear, Dryade in Ariadne auf Naxos, La Zia Principessa (Suor Angelica), Lucia (Cavalleria Rusticana), Vampyrmeister/Suse in Der Vampyr, Schwertleite (Die Walküre), She-Ancient in The Midsummer Marriage and Margret in Wozzeck.
Roles in 2023/24 season have included Baba in The Medium, Margret in Wozzeck, and Klytämnestra in Elektra at the Brandenburger Theater, where she made her German theatre and role debut to great acclaim for her clear German diction and ‘organ-like tones’. She also reprised her role of Schwertleite for New Palace Opera’s Act III of Die Walküre in London, in advance of singing it again for Regent’s Opera in their Ring Cycle in 2025. Four new roles in 2025 are yet to be announced.
In 2018-2020 she was a soloist in the opening concert of The London Song Festival, made her Irish debut as Ruth in The Pirates of Penzance at the Cork Opera House, and in 2022 was also in COH’s production of the new Irish opera Morrigan. Cancelled pandemic work included new Irish opera production Sea Trilogy. During the pandemic, Gráinne was involved in projects including No Room No Room No Room, Last Party on Earth, Bread and Circuses, and Femme Lunatique’s Objects and Apparitions and Disturbing The Peace. She has also developed two one-woman shows so far (Mezzo Sings The Bard and The Contralto Cabaret) which have been performed in London and Berlin.
Awards include Italian Government Scholarships, Help Musicians UK and the Equity Charitable Trust, as well as this Culture Ireland award. Gráinne also works as a voiceover artist and writer.
Jess Rucinski
Pianist Jess Rucinski has served as repetiteur, music director and/or continuo player for operatic productions in her home city of Boston (USA) and at festivals including the Aspen Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, the Trentino Music Festival, and the Tanglewood Music Center. Since moving to Berlin in 2016, Jess has appeared with the “opera band” The Cast, the contemporary music ensemble PHØNIX16, and as part of BAM!, the Berliner Festival für aktuelles Musiktheater; and coached at the Berlin Opera Academy. With the Deutsche Oper Berlin, she participated as pianist and musical assistant for productions in the Tischlerei and in the orchestra for Nixon in China.
A few words of thanks & acknowledgement...
Every show I do, I realise how it would not be possible to put on without the help of other people. Huge thanks to the following:
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Scott Curry of the Lotte Lehmann Akademie for introducing me to the music of Augusta Holmès;
Dr. Hélène Cao for kindly sending me some of the original scores of Holmès that she'd worked on;
Zeitgeist Irland 24, Culture Ireland and the Embassy of Ireland in Berlin for supporting this project;
John O'Brien (conductor) for helping me with the application;
WeiHsi Hu for creating a wonderful skirt for me when I despaired of finding anything suitable;
Julie Wyma for adding a director's touch to the show;
Kelly Lovelady for transposing certain pieces to suit the one-woman format;
Wendy at Diggy's Digitals for some amazing social media work on this in the last week, when it was clear I'd bitten off far more than I could chew;
The Mendelssohn-Remise & Studio Knutson for hosting the show;
Kaine Hayward for your unflagging support of my voice and my crazy endeavours;
Jess Rucinski for being an incredible collaborator on this show - I couldn't have wished for better;
and lastly, but never least, my late mentor, the British mezzo Su Cullen, who taught me how to create my own work and to whom this show is dedicated.
Other MSTB productions, and more...
The Contralto Cabaret
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Stride la vampa! - Il Trovatore - Giuseppe Verdi
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The Contralto Cabaret - Lyrics by Susan Cullen, Music by Adler & Ross
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Song of a Nightclub Proprietress - Madeleine Dring
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Pour une femme - La Fille du Régiment - Gaetano Donizetti
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Afraid, am I afraid? - The Medium - Giancarlo Menotti
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I am easily assimilated - Candide - Leonard Bernstein
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Il Segreto d'esser felici - Gaetano Donizetti, English lyrics by Susan Cullen:
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In a world that is fraught with emotion
We must seize every moment of gladness;
I will tell you, if you have a notion,
How to chase away sorrow and sadness:
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Never let a kind thought go unspoken,
Or do something you'll live to regret;
Bonds of friendship must never be broken
That's a lesson we must not forget!
Ah!
Bonds of friendship must never be broken
That's a lesson we must not forget!
We must never forget, not forget! x 2
We must never forget!
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Mezzo Sings The Bard
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One Charming Night- A Midsummer Night's Dream - Henry Purcell
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SURPRISE excerpt - audience participation!
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Una Macchia (excerpt) - Macbeth - Giuseppe Verdi
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Lady Macbeth - a scena - Joseph Horowitz
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SURPRISE aria - audience participation!
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I hate men - Kiss Me Kate - Cole Porter
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Ah se tu dormi - Romeo e Giulietta - Nicolà Vaccai
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J'ai versé le poison - Cleopatre - Jules Massenet
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Dove mai riedo?... S'é ascolti - Amleto - Saverio Mercadante
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The Compleat Works - Clea Laine & John Dankworth
Gráinne Gillis
Praised by Opera Magazine as singing with ‘magnetic allure’, by The Guardian as being ‘magnificent’ and noted by the Observer as having a voice with 'rich, dramatic potential' and Opera Now for the clarity of her diction, Gráinne Gillis is an Irish-American contralto and that rare beast in that fach: a contralto who can really act. She read Music at University College Cork and graduated from the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in 2002.
Since retraining as an opera singer, roles have included Dritte Dame in Die Zauberflöte, Dama (Macbeth), Annina (La Traviata), Baba (The Medium), Flora Sandes in Dead Equal (ENO Baylis), Gertrud (Hänsel und Gretel). Flora (King’s Head Theatre) in La Traviata, Hélène (Faust et Hélène), the Old Woman (Candide), Madame Popova in The Bear, Dryade in Ariadne auf Naxos, La Zia Principessa (Suor Angelica), Lucia (Cavalleria Rusticana), Vampyrmeister/Suse in Der Vampyr, Schwertleite (Die Walküre), She-Ancient in The Midsummer Marriage and Margret in Wozzeck.
Roles in 2023/24 season have included Baba in The Medium, Margret in Wozzeck, and Klytämnestra in Elektra at the Brandenburger Theater, where she made her German theatre and role debut to great acclaim for her clear German diction and ‘organ-like tones’. She also reprised her role of Schwertleite for New Palace Opera’s Act III of Die Walküre in London, in advance of singing it again for Regent’s Opera in their Ring Cycle in 2025.
In 2018-2020 she was a soloist in the opening concert of The London Song Festival, made her Irish debut as Ruth in The Pirates of Penzance at the Cork Opera House, and in 2022 was also in COH’s production of the new Irish opera Morrigan. Cancelled pandemic work included new Irish opera production Sea Trilogy. During the pandemic, Gráinne was involved in projects including No Room No Room No Room, Last Party on Earth, Bread and Circuses, and Femme Lunatique’s Objects and Apparitions and Disturbing The Peace. She has also developed two one-woman shows so far (Mezzo Sings The Bard and The Contralto Cabaret) which have been performed in London and Berlin.
Awards include Italian Government Scholarships, Help Musicians UK and the Equity Charitable Trust. This year she received a Culture Ireland award as part of Zeitgeist Irland 24, to write and develop a show about Richard Wagner and Augusta Holmès. Gráinne also works as a voiceover artist and writer.
SUSAN CULLEN
The late Susan 'Su' Cullen began her professional career with English National Opera and a featured performance as Countess Ceprano in the award -winning Rigoletto, directed by Jonathan Miller.
A freelance career took her all over the world. Operatic work was combined with appearances in London’s West End, TV and Radio. Founder and Artistic Director of The Opera Express! she translated and adapted several operas to create workshop/performances for children throughout the UK. Shortly before her death in June 2023, she had formed Camaraderie,a performers' co-operative raising money for a variety of charities and balanced performing with a career as a voice coach, writer and director. She was my mentor and friend for almost a decade, and wrote The Contralto Cabaret for me, which I first performed in London in 2022. She was so proud of this show, and it will always have a special place in my heart because of the one and only, irreplaceable Su.
Panaretos Kyriatzidis
A Britten Pears young artist, Panaretos Kyriatzidis is in high demand as a collaborative performer, vocal coach and musical director. He has won the Gerald Moore Award, Oxford Lieder Young Artist Platform, Emmy Destinn Awards accompanist prize and London Song Festival duo prize.
Panaretos (aka Pan) is the Musical Director of St Paul’s Opera and co-founder of The Opera Makers. He has performed extensively across the UK and abroad, has broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and has musically directed award-winning opera productions, one of which received an Olivier Award nomination.
A native of the Greek island of Thasos, Panaretos holds a BA in law and is an avid food lover. He is a member of staff at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and at Morley College.
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Kaine Hayward
Kaine Hayward is an Australian vocal coach who has sung as a lyric-spinto tenor with Opera Australia Touring and Outreach, Pacific Opera and Opera New England. He has toured and headlined shows worldwide, and is increasingly in demand internationally as a vocal coach and singing teacher because of his keen ear and deep interest in old-school belcanto. He is currently based in Germany.
A few words:
A show is a journey, a process, and there are so many people to thank thus far in my journey of creating and producing shows. If I forget anyone, I beg your indulgence:
I've now performed The Contralto Cabaret twice in Berlin. The bulk of the thanks for this coming to pass must go to Kaine Hayward, who also performed as Grigor Denisovich II with me, and Destynee Presents.
At WAF2022, I have to thank WAF, the National Opera Studio, Morag McLaren, Dotty Lawrence, Panaretos Kyriatzidis, LVL/UP, Julie Balloo, Rosina Zoppi & Oper Im Knopfloch, John Roussety, all the friends who've cheered me on and supported me, and last, but by no means least, my dear friend and mentor, the late Susan 'Su' Cullen, who wrote The Contralto Cabaret based on an idea I had, made costumes and props and who unflaggingly believed in me.
For the 2018 production: Provence Maydew, Lois Hadley, Leon Berger (who supplied Yorick), Neil Baker, Sarah Agha at Killer Showreels, and Indra & Louis Bhose who made my promo.
As I continue creating, I'm so grateful for the support of Culture Ireland and the Irish Embassy in Berlin, and to the team at Engender at the ROH.
Thank you all for your support and belief - it takes a village to create shows!