Volpone: A New Comic Opera

Wolf Trap proudly presented the world premiere of its first commissioned opera! Volpone ("The Fox"), is a bright, biting comedy inspired by the classic Ben Jonson play of the same name. The wealthy Volpone feigns mortal illness in order to con a group of his so-called "friends" into believing that each of them will inherit his fortune–and the lengths to which they will go in the name of greed made for an evening of high humor sung to a witty and tuneful score by John Musto with libretto by Mark Campbell. The cast featured an exciting group of singers including several former members of the Wolf Trap Opera Company.

A Mission to the Future
Since 1971, Wolf Trap has had the privilege of participating in the development of some of today's best operatic talent. The Wolf Trap Opera Company has offered training and career opportunities to emerging singers, conductors, directors, designers, coaches, stage managers, administrators, and technical staff. However, the success of our young artist training program is linked to the programming of repertoire in established operatic idioms. Such a structure means that we have not been able to make a similar contribution to the next generation of composers and librettists. We are thrilled to begin to include the creation and presentation of new opera in Wolf Trap's mission.

We see Volpone as the first step in a journey that enables talented young singers to participate in the creation of new work. Our regular work in discovering and promoting the best young operatic talent puts us in the position to identify singers who would both benefit from and make a solid contribution to this project. As a result, many of the premiere cast members will be alumni of our young artist training program.

The combination of the Wolf Trap Foundation's expertise in commissioning new works and the Wolf Trap Opera Company's experience in and acclaim for producing chamber opera gives us a unique opportunity to add to the body of new work. The search for a composer led us unswervingly to John Musto. We are fortunate to work with a creative artist with John's experience in writing vocal, instrumental, and film music. It's incredible that John had not yet received an opera commission, and we are proud to have the chance to collaborate with him. In turn, John's selection of Mark Campbell as librettist was inspired. Once he knew he wanted to write a comedy, John felt that it was doubly important to work from a libretto with a tight structure, such as a libretto in verse would provide.

We set out first and foremost to make a solid contribution to the chamber opera repertoire. We wanted to engage the best creative talent available to fashion a piece that would play well in both a typical (mid-sized) opera house and a small theatre. Volpone was designed for The Barns at Wolf Trap, a theatre with 350 seats, a stage footprint of 30X40 feet, and a pit that holds 28 musicians. It was a priority to put our resources in service of finding the highest quality creative talent rather than creating a grand piece that demanded huge choral, orchestral, and scenic resources. We also believe that a work that requires manageable resources has an increased chance to enjoy an active post-premiere life.

Comedy has been a mainstay of the operatic tradition for hundreds of years, and we all feel strongly that it is woefully underrepresented in the canon of new work. Volpone builds on the past, incorporating the lessons and successes of musical comedy in all its guises, and it looks to the future by drawing on the freshness, inventiveness and ingenuity of John and Mark's talent.

The world premiere performances of Volpone took place at The Barns at Wolf Trap on March 10, 12 and 14, 2004. 

Artistic Staff and Cast 
 
The Making of Volpone: A New Comic Opera 
 
Volpone in the News