AVA Opera Blog

Boo!...

I was invited to a great Halloween party at the home of Pearl and Chuck Mintzer in New Hope, PA on October 20. The event was a fund raiser for the Riverside Symphonia, which will host four AVA singers in their April concert. Many of the members of the Bucks County Opera Association were also invited, so I was in good (and scary) company.

I knew this was going to be a great party just driving up to the house, with skeletons and Halloween signs telling us to turn back! I was brave enough to drive ahead and walk into a terrific house that was fitted for the occasion.

Bucks County Opera Association is one of the invaluable regional support groups. They sponsor two AVA opera a year in Bucks County, as well as underwrite a fellowship for one of the AVA resident Artists. This year AVA will travel north with Così fan tutte and La traviata.

I found the group at the party, and they all came as characters from The Wizard of Oz dressed with the help of Anna Given Williams, one of their members. There were witches of all makes and model, The Tin Man, The Cowardly Lion, Scarecrow, Glinda the Good Witch, and of course Dorothy. Also in the group was Virginia Piquette Hartman, AVA Class of 1979, dressed as the, oh-so sexy Elvira. Virginia lives in Bucks County and is the newest member of the group.

Costumes are not generally my forte, but with the help of "The Val Starr Costume Collection" at AVA, I found a robe that was used in The Magic Flute a few seasons ago. They kept asking me who I was supposed to be, and I didn’t know, so I was granted the title of the Wizard of Oz, to fit with their theme.

A big thank to Pearl and Chuck for having me at their great party.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!

Photos L to R:
1. Virginia Hartman. James Paccioretti, Susan Kane, Anna Williams, Franca Warden, Frank and Diane Bochenek
2. Way too many to mention, but Chuck (white t-shirt) and Pearl (Lioness) Mintzer in the middle
3. Virginia Hartman, alumna and Elvira for the evening

Splitting time...

I have had the pleasure of meeting an AVA alumnus last week, Damon Nestor Ploumis (class of 1999). He happens to be in Philadelphia for the month as the director of AVA's production of Cosi fan tutte. What could be better than a singer actually becoming a stage director? They understand the voice, they know the limitations and they can speak in a language that is understandable to singers.

With one week under his belt, Damon seems to be right back in the swing of AVA, and the rehearsals are moving along at a fast pace. This will be a traditional Cosi production with all the drama and comedy that befalls two sets of lovers. As you AVA tickets holders know from past productions, it will be sung in Italian with English supertitiles.

Mr. Ploumis was educated at Eton, the universities of Cambridge and Athens, and the Ecole Biblique Française in Jerusalem. He completed his formal vocal studies at AVA, where he studied with famed baritone Louis Quilico.

A principal guest artist with the Finnish National Opera, he recently sang Bartolo, in Il Barbiere di Siviglia. In the past seasons he has sung the roles of Don Profondo (Viaggio a Reims), Dulcamara (L’Elisir d’amore), Don Magnifico (La Cenerentola), and Mephistopheles (La Damnation de Faust).

Play gypsies...

As many of you might know, along with my duties at AVA, I am also the founder of Concert Operetta Theater, which is the only Viennese operetta company in the USA.

With the help given to me by AVA and executive director Kevin McDowell, I have made a home in this genre and have taught this repertoire to many local singers. Many AVA resident artists and alumni have graced my productions, including the opening of this season on October 6.

Emmerich Kalman’s Countess Maritza is one of my favorite operettas. What was a hit in 1924 still has the audience loving the story and the music today. When putting together a cast you try to find the perfect singer for the role, and this time the leads went to one resident artist and two alumni.

This is the second time I have produced Countess Maritza, the first starring then resident artist Amy Van Looy as Maritza, and tenor alum Jay Anstee as Tassilo. Whoever was going to sing it this time had big shoes to fill.

The role of Maritza was offered to soprano alumna Rebecca Carr. She is a wonderful singer who appeared in my first season of COT as Anna Elise in Paganini. Second year resident artist tenor Cody Austin sang her future love, Tassilo. Soprano alumna Kimberly Henshaw sang the character Lisa, who is the sister to Tassilo.

The magic that happened on the stage was quite wonderful, and I’m proud to have had AVA singers represented in that production. Critic Steve Cohen in the Broad Street Review gave the production and the company very high praise, also our own John Lane did a bit of pre-publicity in the University City Review.

I need to thank all the AVA alumni and resident artists that have sung for Concert Operetta Theater in the past six seasons; Jay Anstee, Markus Beam, Cody Austin, Rebecca Carr, Colleen Daly, Eric Dubin, Anne Hagan, Jeff Halili, Kimberly Henshaw, Erin Holland, Jennifer Hsiung, Bryan Hymel, Takesha Kisart, Angela Meade, Evelyn Pollock, Ariya Sawadivong, Joseph Specter, and Maila Traczyk. Master Vocal Coach Richard Raub and Coach Luke Housner.

Rebecca Carr, Cody Austin, Kimberly Henshaw

A voice from a far...

How great to hear from our alumni. I sent out a reminder that the blog has had over 150 postings on it, and from that I heard back from some alumni telling me what they are doing.

Tenor Richard Brunner made a name for himself on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, singing in all the major houses from the Metropolitan Opera to the Vienna State Opera. He sings all the large tenor roles in the repertoire including, Narraboth (Salome), Calaf (Turandot), Bacchus (Ariadne auf Naxos), and Florestan (Fidelio) to name a few.

Richard sent me an email to catch up and said, “YO! (the official greeting from Philadelphia). I thought you might like to know that in June I was at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston singing Jimmy Mahoney in a highly acclaimed production of The Rise and Fall of the city of Mahagonny. Right now I am in Tokyo singing Tannhäuser.  I was supposed to sing Walther and have moved into the role of Tannhäuser due to cancellations, and the response has been incredible.  I will be returning to Leipzig after this, as well as singing MacDuff in Macbeth in Dessau Germany. Today I am off to visit my son Matt (born in Lansdowne, PA) who is now an officer in the Navy stationed at Sasebo.  We have not seen each other in 5 years.” 

Richard was at the Met last season covering a role in Der Meistersinger, maybe next time he’s in the states he’ll stop in Philly for a soft pretzel!

Oh how we danced...

When board member Dr. Rosalie Burns mentioned last May that she was going to celebrate her 50th anniversary, she asked if it was possible to have AVA singers perform.

Dr. Burns and her husband Dr. Herbert I Goldberg were medical residents in NYC when they met and spent time on the beaches of Long Island. The anniversary event was scheduled to take place near the beaches, but with a twist of fate the event happened in the AVA theater with friends and family in attendance.

Rosalie invited resident artists, soprano Joyce El Khoury and AVA alumnus, bass Keith Miller to be the singers for the event. I notice that both Joyce and Keith had a tear in their eyes (along with everyone else there) when Rosalie and Herbert renewed their vows. It was a wonderful day and I’m happy that I was a part of it.

Photos L to R
1. Joyce El Khoury and Keith Miller
2. Robert (Bob) and Peggy Lyon, me, Rosalie Burns, Peggy Adams (Bucks County Opera Association)
3. David Devan (AVA Board Member and Managing Director of Opera Company of Philadelphia)
4. Robert Driver (Artistic Director of Opera Company of Philadelphia)

Home again...

Mezzo-soprano Nicole Piccolomini is a hometown girl from the Big Apple. Although she’s been working in Berlin for the past year, she got a reprise this summer, and was able to come home and spend time with her mom, Mary and enjoy New York City.

She didn’t rest on her ‘laurels’ this summer and fall, but was a working singer. During the summer we was in Caramoor Festival as the understudy to Eva Podles in Il trovatore. From Verdi she moved to Piazzolla and the music of tango.

Astor Piazzolla wrote a wonderful piece called Maria de Buenos Aires, which is a tango operita, and it fit Nicole like a sexy dress. Neil Goren knew he had his Maria when he heard Nicole audition, and she made her professional NYC debut last month with Gotham Chamber Opera.

I was there on opening night with her AVA voice teacher Carlos Serrano and resident artist Colleen Daly. We were joined there by board member, and opera lover Joseph McGuire. Later in the run I know AVA accompanist Michele Scanlon and Friend of AVA’er, Mitzi Cooper (who also saw Tracie Luck in Margaret Gardner a few nights earlier) were there to see Nicole.

Less than 48 hours after the close of the opera, Nicole was back in Berlin, Germany to begin the season with the Deutsches Oper Berlin. Some of the roles she will sing include Maddalena (Rigoletto), and Lola (Cavalleria Rusticana).

Photo on L - Nicole with Carlos Serrano
Photo on R - Nicole with Joe McGuire

Let the competitions begin...

Yes, the winning season has started. And the first major competition is completed with three winners from AVA.

Opera Index, Inc. held the finals of their competition on Friday, October 12. When the dust settled, three out of the five major winners were from AVA. The females have had their wins, but Opera Index was a clean sweep by the male resident artists.

First place went to tenor Michael Fabiano, third place to tenor Bryan Hymel and fourth place to baritone Christopher Bolduc. The winning range from $4,000 to $10,000 for these winners.

Opera Index is a non-profit, totally volunteer organization whose mission is to provide advocacy for opera and support for its artists. The elements of this mission are threefold:
* To provide support for opera singers at the onset of their careers including such endeavors as financial gifts and Opera Index sponsored performances.
* To foster a community of opera lovers through activities created to promote shared relationships and to enhance socialization in the opera environment.
* To promote knowledge to its membership on opera: its history, singers and organization.

This competition is not new to AVA artists, with many past winners including; John Robert Autry, Markus Beam, Richard Burk, James Caputo, Elizabeth Carter, Jennifer Check, Eglise Gutiérrez,  Jose Garcia, Bryan Hymel, Takesha Kizart, Patrick Marques, Emily Martin, Angela Meade, Dana Beth Miller, Daesan No, Ailyn Perez, Evelyn Pollock, Lillian Roberts, Sara Seglem, Dongwon Shin, Michael Szczesniak (Michele Angelini), Noah Stewart, Todd Thomas, Derek Taylor, James Valenti, Caroline Whisnant and Yungbae Yang.

I have to give a ‘shout-out’ to a non AVA winner, but someone who is part of the family here. Voice teacher Ruth Golden was also a past winner.

Libiamo...

Each year AVA throws a wonderful preview party and champagne reception. This year it occurred on October 9.

the reception is AVA's change to thank the amazing donors who help make AVA a wonderful, tuition-free organization. Executive Director, K. James McDowell gave personal thanks to season sponsors, the Pitcairn Financial Group and WRTI 90.1FM, as well those individuals who sponsored the yearly fellowships for the resident artists.

The biggest part of the evening was dedicated to Maestro Macatsoris and the music staff at AVA. They presented tidbits from this season's selected operas including Manon Lescaut, Un ballo in maschera, and Kat'a Kabanova. They also sang selections from Così fan tutte, including the quintet, which Maestro Macatsoris asked all the singers who are studying the roles to sing together-so instead of five singers, the floor was filled with fourteen amazing singers!

Every resident artist had a chance to fill the theater with music with Libiamo from La traviata. Two different pair of singers got to chance to bring Violetta and Alfredo to life.

If this is any indication of the coming season, wow!

Photos
1. Board member Harold (Rick) Pitcairn, soprano Ariya Sawadivong and Rittenhouse Hotel General Manager David Benton.
2. Board President B.A. (Mackie Maclean) and his wife Charlotte with soprano Takesha Meshè Kizart.

Gruss gott...

We always start our Friends of AVA season off with a wild and crazy party, and for the past five years it has been an Oktoberfest celebration. With the help of Nan Altman, who was our sponsor along with her husband Brett, the theater was set with beautiful fall decorations.

It’s an evening of beer, cheer and Viennese operetta, and the resident artists did the event proud with their renditions of Kàlmàn, Lehàr, and Johann Strauss operetta music.

You might know from my blogs that soprano Angela Meade was the winner of both Operetta and Opera at the Belvedere Competition in Vienna this summer, so the music part of the evening was in good hands with Ms. Meade opening and closing the concert.

Angela, and mezzo-soprano Nina Nelsen opened the program with a hysterical duet from The Gypsy Baron by Strauss. Also from the Strauss songbook Elspeth Kincaid performed the funniest Prince Orlovsky and "Chacun a son gout" I have ever seen. Tenor Cody Austin and baritone Steven LaBrie took turns singing from Countess Maritza, and bass-baritone Jeremy Miller, along with the help of the lovely raffle girls sang from Czardasfüstin. Both shows are by Kàlmàn.

Rounding out the evening with showstoppers by Lehàr was soprano Ariya Sawadivong singing the opening aria from Friederike, Bryan Hymel stopping hearts with "Dein is mine ganzes heartz" from Land of Smiles, Colleen Daly evoking woodland sprites with "Vilia", and Jessica Julin with Christopher Bolduc singing the ever popular "Merry Widow Waltz".

I spoke briefly of the ‘raffle girls’, they were one of the highpoints of the evening. Donning Hungarian costumes they sold tickets for the evening’s raffle. First year sopranos Jan Cornelius and Corinne Winters with mezzo-soprano Cynthia Cook took the crowd (and their money) by storm.

Photos from left to right
1. First year resident artsists (from tall to small) baritone Alex Lawrence, tenor Taylor Stayton and baritone Josue Ceron - helping serve the guests
2. Baritone Steven LaBrie, alumna Kimberly Henshaw and mezzo-soprano Elspeth Kincaid enjoying dinner
3. Rosalie Gerson, me, and my Mom (Angie)
4. The "raffle girls" in action - Cynthia Cook, Jan Cornelius, and Corinne Winters

Tenor personified...

Many of you have been asking me about tenor Michael Fabiano after his great success singing in Manon at the end of last season.

Michael kept himself very busy over the summer and made his European debut in a role that you will get to see him sing for AVA this season – Alfredo in La traviata.

Michael dropped me an email with these great photos, saying, “I had a big success this past summer singing Alfredo in La traviata. It was awesome. I'm even more excited to reprise it at AVA because now I can fine-tune a lot of stuff that I didn't have time to this past summer. As it is, more Traviatas are coming in now, so it's great. I was in Klagenfurt, in Austria at the Stadttheater. It’s a nice start. I spent a little time in Verona and Venice as well for vacation after the production.”

That’s not all for Mr. Fabiano. He will make his La Scala Opera debut later in this season as Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi. He will follow that by singing the same role in Athens, Greece.

For all of you planning your opera trips for the 2008-2009 season, do not miss his first Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with Opera Colorado.

Great things are happening for this wonderfully talented singer. Pretty soon I can say that I knew him when…!