AVA Opera Blog

And I was there... (part one)

As you know from the previous blog, I was planning to go to Los Angeles to attend many AVA related events in May. It was a busy week and most enjoyable seeing the resident artists and alums doing what they do best – sing!

Most of my time was spent with the Loren L. Zachary Vocal Competition events. Starting on Thursday evening, I was honored to be the host of a reception for stage director Tito Capobianco, who spoke and worked with the ten finalists from the competition. The insight he gave was invaluable to the young singers. He also worked with four of them on their arias with action tips, including AVA baritone Wes Mason. (pictured left to right - Viktor Antipenko, Tito Capobianco, Olivia Moore, Wes Mason, Chloe Moore, Scott Conner, Mackie MacLean, Nedra Zachery, Peter Huber)

Saturday was the actual competition. I had great company in the audience, including AVA Board Chairman, Mackie MacLean, AVA faculty members Bill Schuman and Thor Eckert, and AVA alums Ailyn Pérez, Stephen Costello and Alex Lawrence. All the singers did a wonderful job and AVA singers took the top prizes of first (Scott Conner, bass), second (Olivia Vote, mezzo-soprano), and third (Chloé Moore, soprano). (pictured left to right - Alex Lawrence, Scott Conner, Olivia Vote, Chloe Moore)

I attended the Judges Dinner that evening as Nedra Zahary’s guest. She is the founder  of this forty year old vocal competition. I had the pleasure of meeting so many wonderful people during the event who knew of the work AVA has been doing. In the program for the competition was a list of the past winners, and I counted twenty-four of them from AVA. (pictured - Me and Nedra Zachary)

The rest of the trip was filled with musical and AVA related adventures, but that’s for another blog!

The flowers that bloom in the spring...

Are not normally blooming indoors, unless you're at the most beautiful spot in the Philadelphia area, Longwood Gardens in Chester County. That’s where AVA held its gala, Viva la Voce! this year.

The famous Dupont Estate is now home to one of the most famous Botanical Gardens in the USA and  it happens to be in our back yard. This event is the culmination of months of planning and with the help of so many people, it was a fabulous evening.

A key part of the evening is, of course, music - and this year two spectacular alums came back to serenade the guests. Soprano Angela Meade and tenor Bryan Hymel graciously offered their voices and personalities to this event. Angela was just finishing up her performances at the Metropolitan Opera, and Bryan just ended a run of Rusalka at the Royal Opera House in London, and had a brief time before beginning rehearsals for Faust for Baltimore Lyric Opera.

It’s always a thrill for me to see the alums back on, as I say ‘home turf’. Bryan had not been back to Philly in a few years, and brought with him his most beautiful and talented wife, Irini. (Through Facebook I found out that Irini made her Royal Opera debut this season as well). It was old home week with vocal coaches Danielle Orlando, Richard Raub, David Lofton and Laurent Philippe accompanying the artists during the concert. Many of the resident artists serenaded during the dinner.

The dinner was awash in green with live flowers at the height of their beauty. During the event AVA  paid tribute to Jeannine Cowles (AVA ’50) who recently endowed the Music Director Chair in honor of Maestro Macatsoris, and to the Davis family in honor of Sally Paxson Davis, our past president and grand-daughter of the founder of AVA, Helen Corning Warden. (photo of Jeannine Cowles, seated and Maestro Macatsoris, standing)

I was lucky enough to help with both the silent and live auctions with the help of Lindsey Crane. Our live auctioneer, for the third time was TV star of Antiques Roadshow, Alasdair Nichol.

Is LA the new NYC....

Well, maybe in May it is.

Seems like Los Angeles is filled to capacity with AVA alums and resident artists during May, and I’m  loving it. There are three events happening in one weekend, two at the same time, on the same day, and I promise to be in the middle of all of them as your roving reporter!

I’ll be in LA for many AVA reasons, and all of them good ones. First of all the Zachary Vocal Competition takes place on Saturday, May 19^th. AVA has five, count em, five finalists in the competition – Chloé Moore, Olivia Vote, Viktor Antipenko, Wes Mason and Scott Conner. If you follow AVA’s email blasts, and I know you do, you know that AVA is sweeping the competition circuit. One of AVA’s favorite stage directors, Tito Capobianco, who will be returning to AVA next season, will be one of the competition judges.

At the Los Angeles Opera La bohème will star three AVA alums, Ailyn Pérez (AVA ’06) as Mimi, Stephen Costello (AVA ’07) as Rodolfo and Museop Kim (AVA ’04) as Schaunard. There are 5 performances from May 12 to June 2. (photo pf AVA's production of La bohème in 2006)

Right across the street from the opera house at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Los Angeles Philharmonic performs Don Giovanni with four alums singing and covering roles. Ryan Kuster (AVA ’11) will sing the role of Masetto, a role he performed with the San Francisco Opera this season. Covering roles will be Olivia Vote, Alex Lawrence (AVA ’11) and Ben Wager (AVA ’09).

While there I hope to meet for the first time AVA alum Winnie Rickert Hiller (AVA ‘77), a voice and acting teacher to many of the best. I’ll also see my old friends Kimberly Henshaw (AVA ‘06) and her husband Jose Adan Pérez (AVA ‘08).

I’ll also be giving an operetta lecture on May 21 to The Friends of Operetta, as the Executive Director of Concert Operetta Theater,  which will be open to the public.

We're taking the crown (part two)...

I mentioned all the great AVA alums who have taken over Great Britain and the Emerald Isles, but I’m still not done!

Along with the Royal Opera House and the English National Opera, there’s also opera at Royal Albert Hall on the other side of the city. A few years ago soprano Cristina Nassif made a splash as Carmen in their semi-staged production. This year it was Indra Thomas’ time, singing the title role in Aida to critical success.

We can’t forget the Glyndebourne Festival which runs all summer. Last season they heard Stephen Costello as Nemorino in Elixir of Love, and this season recent alum Taylor Stayton will be spending his summer there performing the Prince in Rossini’s Cenerentola.

Just over from Great Britain at the Welsh Nation Opera soprano Joyce El-Khoury recently finished her debut there with a run as Violetta in La traviata.

Let us not forget Ireland and the Wexford Festival which has seen more than one AVA alum on their stage. This past season resident artist Luigi Boccia performed the role of Le Chevalier de Mérac, in their production of La cour de Célimène by Ambroise Thomas. In past seasons Angela Meade performed the title role in Mercadante‘s opera Virginia, and Bryan Hymel made his European debut there as the Prince in Rusalka.

Although this blog mentions many past performances, do mark your calendar for alum Corinne Winters debut at the English National Opera as Violetta in La traviata on February 2 – March 6, 2013.

A Cinderella story, opera style….

Lots of buzz in Philly the past few weeks. The fairy tale begins with AVA’s “almost graduate” Michelle Johnson getting a chance-of-a-lifetime offer. While in Houston singing Leonora in Il Trovatore with Opera in the Heights she received that phone call that many want, but rarely receive. David Devan of Opera Company of Philadelphia was calling to offer her the title role in their production of Puccini’s Manon Lescaut, replacing the scheduled soprano who was ill.

She arrived back in Philadelphia to start staging the opera. With score in hand she had the job of learning and memorizing the music as well as the staging. If anyone was going to do this well, it was going to be Michelle! The amount of support and love was huge from all her friends, and coaches, and I know she appreciated it.

On the day she opened I was walking back from the post office and I ran into Michelle on the street. I asked what she was doing out and she said she just needed to walk a bit, to offset opening night jitters.

The run, so far has been a major success. The local critic said, “her singing has magnetic immediacy thanks to the clean vocal lines and word coloring that made her singing speak in beautifully formed musical sentences, similar to the young Renata Tebaldi.”

I wanted to wait to write this blog until I saw the production myself, which I did last night thanks to Dr. Marilyn Luber who had an extra ticket in the 8^th row! I sat next to AVA board member Randy Apgar by coincidence, and somehow knew I was in for a great experience. Everything positive I hard heard about the production was all true - a great cast, which included alums Daniel Mobbs, Cody Austin, John David Miles and resident artist John Viscardi, beautiful sets and stage direction and a wonderful orchestra and conductor.

What’s next for Ms. Johnson? Just the whole world of opera and music. She will perform on the AVA Farewell Concert on May 11^th with fellow graduates Olivia Vote and Scott Conner. After a very personal day in Houston - her wedding to Brian K. Major, she will star as Aida at Glimmerglass Opera, with fellow alum Noah Stewart (AVA ’08),  directed by Francesca  Zambello, July 7 – August 25.  

Hors d'ouvres, yes please...

Gala season at AVA is upon us, and there’s nothing like a great party with great singing to make the spirits soar.

Bucks County Opera Association had their Benefactor’s party a few weeks ago in the beautiful home of Jillian McGlone in the New Hope, PA area. The party was a benefit for their scholarship fund for the resident artists at AVA. The singers for the event were Sydney Mancasola, Margaret Mezzacappa, William Davenport and Nelson Ebo with José Melendéz at the piano.

The weather was spectacular, as was the food and music and I was the MC of the event. One of the reasons for the event is to promote the AVA production of L’elisir d’amore, which will play at Central Bucks High School South in Warrington, Bucks County on Saturday, May 5^th. Ms. Mancasola is singing Adina, along with Chloé Moore, and I interviewed her about this production and how much fun they are having with stage director Nic Muni.

All I can say is this is not your ordinary production. It takes place in Italy after WW II and Adina is a babe. (Need I say more?)

 In case you missed the party in Bucks County, you can still join the South Jersey Opera Association for their gala called Tenore con Amore on Sunday, May 6^th, 5:00 - 8:00 pm. AVA was honored to have tenor Bryan Hymel performed at our Gala in March. Now you have another chance to hear him, as they say, “up close and personal”.

Along with Bryan there will be AVA resident artists Maria Aleida, Margaret Mezzacappa and Zachary Nelson with Luke Housner at the piano to serenade you, a silent auction, and delicious food and drink. I hear that the historic house called Tabula Rasa is quite amazing and this might be your chance to see it, or consider buying it. Proceeds help the South Jersey Opera Association Fellowship, and funds AVA productions in NJ. If you’re interested in joining us for this great event, please contact Denise Stuart at dstuart@avaopera.org for an invitation.

You can see L’elisir d’amore on Sunday, May 13^th, curtain is 2:30 pm at the Gordon Theater, Rutgers/Camden.

Travels and more travels...

Taking a long weekend off from work can be fun, but taking a long weekend off to see alums perform is even better….

Many months ago I had a conversation with Othalie Graham about her performance of Minnie in Fanciulla del West with Nashville Opera. I told her that I would try to make the show (as if Nashville is close to Philadelphia!) I never knew that it would actually happen, all thanks to Stephen Costello.

The Costellos (that’s Stephen and Ailyn Pérez), moved to Chattanooga a few years ago, and I had an open invitation to visit them. With their busy schedule they haven’t spent much time at their home, but he was going to be there during the run of the opera in Nashville (which is 130 miles away), and invited me to stay with him. What a great idea, especially when I found out that Bill Schuman, their voice teacher was going to join us, I jumped at the chance. (photo: Daniel Pantano, Stephen Costello, Othalie Graham, Bill Schuman)

Bill and I met Stephen in Chattanooga on Wednesday afternoon, had great BBQ for dinner that night and got ready for Nashville the following day. Along with Othalie Graham, tenor Jeffrey Haili was also in the cast as Nick, the bartender. We were able to meet Jeff for lunch before the performance and do a little sightseeing before the opera (you must see the Opryland Hotel!)  Nashville Opera did themselves proud, and Othalie and Jeff did a great job with a standing ovation. (photo: Stephen Costello, Jeffrey Halili, Bill Schuman)

Getting back to Chattanooga at 3:30 am made for a long day, but Friday was spent relaxing and seeing some of the local sites including Lookout Mountain and Rock City (I love a good view!) Jeff joined us on his day off, we grilled at Stephen’s house and, as they say, chilled out.

 
Saturday we went the opposite direction into Atlanta to hear Ailyn Pérez make her debut with the Atlanta Symphony singing the Poulenc Gloria. An added treat on the program was violinist Gil Shaham, but Ailyn performed the closing work both artists to a standing ovation. I was so happy to see Tequila Costello, the family puppy who I baby sat for three months while her mommy and daddy were singing in Salzsburg. After a very late dinner, Stephen dropped me off at an airport hotel for a three hour nap before heading home. I was scheduled to attend the Bucks County Opera Association’s benefactor party that afternoon in New Hope, PA and I made it there with no problem. Who needs sleep when there’s music?

I can’t tell you how much fun I had with all the alums. They might be your favorite singers, but they are like family to me. Wait for my trip to Los Angeles next month. I’ll be seeing five alums, hearing two other alums, and hearing five resident artists sing a competition. Life is grand.

 

Where’s Figaro….

This weekend he happens to be at the new Baltimore Lyric Opera Company in the guise of alum Daniel Mobbs, who reprises one of his signature role in Le nozze di Figaro for this very new company. He’s had had a foot in both the old Baltimore Opera, as well as this new company. The first time I met Daniel was at Baltimore Opera while he and alum Stephen Costello were performing in Romeo et Juliet.

Daniel quite excited about this weekend’s performances on March 9 and 11 and wrote that is a "pretty great young cast in a very traditional and cute production."  He went to say that the Baltimore Opera House is “the first opera house where I will get to sing Mozart's Figaro after having sung Rossini's years ago. Two Figaros in the same house! How often does that happen?”

It’s just a hop across the Mason-Dixon line, so try not to miss it. Daniel’s farewell to living in  Philadelphia will be with Opera Company of Philadelphia in their production of Manon Lescaut on  April 20-29 . He’s not giving up professional singing, but is making a huge move to San Francisco where he is the newest voice teacher at The San Francisco Conservatory.

Hey wait, there’s more…alums and resident artists abound on the Baltimore Opera scene!

Resident Artist William Davenport will sing the role of Edgardo in Baltimore Concert Opera’s concert of Lucia Di Lammermoor on March 23 & 25.

Internationally know tenor, Bryan Hymel will make his debut with Baltimore Lyric Opera in the title role of Faust on April 20 & 22.

Dreams really do come true...

Anyone who is an opera lover, an AVA lover, or a Metropolitan Opera lover knows what happened this weekend at the Saturday matinee and radio broadcast - an amazing debut for one soprano.

Long story short – soprano Latonia Moore (2004) was the cover for the Met’s production of Aida. The original soprano on the part got ill, and a replacement was brought in for a weekday performance who was for the Saturday matinee and radio broadcast, so Ms. Moore was asked to go on. With very little notice and almost no stage time, this past Saturday she made her debut on stage and radio.

Let’s cut to the chase, it was a wonderful performance and there was so much love for Latonia by the radio listeners, and in the house that it will be a day that many of us will not forget.

For a little background on Latonia, she is a seasoned singer and has performed the character of Aida before, including at The Royal Opera House in London as well as the State Opera in Hamburg. She will also be singing the role for Dallas Opera, October 26 – November 11, 2012.

She had great colleagues on stage with her including AVA alum James Morris singing the role of Ramfis.
A huge supporter of AVA is Marcello Giordiani, who was the Radames on Saturday’s broadcast. When being interviewed during the intermission alongside Latonia, he mentioned that he met her while she was a resident artist at AVA. He went on to say her voice was like angel wings. A reviewer mentioned that the Amneris of the broadcast, Stephanie Blythe, patted Latonia’s hand at the end of the opera a moved her to the front for an extra bow.

I spoke with  AVA supporter Dr. Emmeline Abella who was at Lincoln Center on Saturday afternoon for the performance. She didn’t know about the cast change until she was seated and read the insert. She was thrilled to have heard Latonia and she mentioned the love in the house for her was monumental.

If you have a chance to hear Ms. Moore’s rendition of Ritorna Vincitor from Act One, it is beautiful, but the applause that followed was so outstanding, I’m sure people there knew history was being made.

We're taking the crown (part one)...

What a fitting thing, taking over the United Kingdom with music.

In the past, most AVA alums did much of their singing in Germany, with stops in Italy, Spain and such. But with the takeover of Britain, Scotland, Wales and Ireland by AVA alums and resident artists, AVA should think of getting a flat in London!

The United Kingdom is love with AVA singers, and why shouldn’t they be?  ENO (English National Opera) and The Royal Opera House (Covent Garden) has been host to many of our singers in the past few years, as has as Royal Albert Hall, but now we’re in Ireland, Wales and Scotland as well.

In the recent past, it seems on any given month you can hear one of our alums somewhere in one of those countries.

At the Royal Opera House they have heard Joyce DiDonato and Eglise Gutierrez in Cendrillion, which will come out on DVD shortly. They have heard Eglise and Stephen Costello in a concert version of Linda di Chamounix, which was released in a three CD set last year. Add to that tenor Bryan Hymel, who starred in the first ever 3D DVD as Don Jose in Carmen, and is currently starring in Rusalka. Add a dash of Michael Fabiano, James Valenti, Latonia Moore, Dongwon Shin and Noah Stewart and you have a full ‘royal’ flush!

Don’t forget Ailyn Perez who sang Violetta/La traviata in December 2011, and was asked back in January to reprise the role with her husband Stephen Costello.

And that’s not to mention The Royal Opera House on tour in Japan where both Ailyn Perez and James Valenti made their debuts.

English National Opera has also seen the likes of AVA alums such as Michel Fabiano as the gangster Duke in Jonathan Milelr's version of Rigoletto.

Stick around for part two and see who has sung at the Royal Albert Hall, the Wexford Festival, the Glyndebourne Festival and the Welsh National Opera.