AVA Opera Blog

How to spend your spring...

For AVA resident artists it is by winning vocal competitions. The wins have been many, and with a few competitions left in the season, I might have more to report next month.

The Licia Albenese - Puccini Foundation is one of the more important prizes given in New York City and this year’s prizes were received by to AVA resident artists. Tenor Bryan Hymel was the first place winner and soprano Jan Cornelius received the second prize.

Last weekend was the finals of the J.P. Opera Foundation in West Chester, Pennsylvania, and resident artist soprano Jessica Julin won first place and baritone Steven LaBrie won second. Mezzo-soprano Nina Yoshida Nelson won the audience choice award.

On the weekend of April 26, the Palm Beach Opera Vocal Competition took place, and AVA walked away with two second prizes. Soprano Angela Meade won second place in the Advanced Division, and Steven LaBrie received second place in the Junior Division.

Still lto come this season is the Loren L. Zachary Vocal Competition in Los Angeles. Both Angela Meade and Bryan Hymel are in the finals, which will be held in June.

Lastly, Angela Meade will participate in the finals of the Eleanor Lieber Awards, sponsored by the Portland Opera on May 16 and 18. Angela will be close to her hometown in Washington State, and promises to give a shout out to AVA alumna, Jeannine Cowles.

Firenze e bella...

Yes, Florence is a beautiful city, and tenor Michael Fabiano had a chance to sing it. That might not actually be news, but he had the opportunity to make his very successful debut at La Scala opera in Milan, singing about Florence!

He sang the wonderful role of Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi, in their recent production of Puccini’s Il Trittico. Michael was second cast, so he will not be part the production that will be playing in movie theaters in the USA this month. He told me that it was a great experience, especially to see how an Italian opera house runs, which from what I hear can be quite different than what we expect. He had the pleasure of having his mom and dad attend the performance.

Michael retuned to AVA just in time to begin staging rehearsals for our final production of the season La traviata. This is not a new role for him, since he performed it last summer in an opera festival in Austria, but this time, it will get the Maestro Macatsoris touch.

Michael will be staying part of this summer in Philadelphia where he will sing the role of Rodolfo in La bohème with the Philadelphia Orchestra during their summer season at the Mann Music Center in Philadelphia. This will be a concert version under the baton of  Maestro Rossen Milanov. Michael will be joined by alum baritone Luis Ledesma, who will sing the role of Marcello.

Mario, Mario...

During the past few months I have missed the infectious laugh and joie de vivre of soprano Takesha Meshé Kizart . I can’t be sad not seeing her, because I know she’s doing what she loves – singing!

In the late winter Ms. Kizart was in Dallas singing her first Tosca with Dallas Opera. When I recently saw her at AVA, she told me that it was an amazing experience being back in Texas and such a treat to be among loved ones. She mentioned that it was like going home because while in college at University of Northern Texas in Denton, she was a chorus member at the Dallas Opera.

She was not the only AVA alum singing with Dallas Opera this season. She was preceded by soprano Ruth Ann Swenson and tenor Stephen Costello in a production of The Merry Widow.

Takesha is back at AVA working with her favorite music coaches. She is a fourth year resident artist who will sing and take part in the 2008 farewell recital on May 16th at The Church of the Holy Trinity.

From what I see, she is not taking much time off this summer. Plan a summer trip to hear her at the Caramoor Festival in NY. She will sing the role of Leonora in a concert version of Verdi’s La forza del destino on July 26. Following that, she will make her debut as Tosca in the acclaimed Christopher Alden production with Opera North UK. She tells me that this is a contemporary approach to this Puccini opera. Tosca in a mini-skirt? Maybe.

Photos from the Dallas Opera production of Tosca

Batti, batti...

It’s much quieter at AVA this month because resident artist bass Ben Wager isn’t here. We all miss his beautiful singing and speaking voice, but he is spending part of the spring in Chicago.

He will be singing the role of Masetto in Don Giovanni for the Chicago Opera Theater, which opens on April 30, and runs through May 11. Chicago Opera Theater has posted photos from the rehearsals click here to see them all.

Before leaving for Chicago, and earlier in the winter Ben spent a bit of time in Pittsburgh for opera sessions with Claudia Pinza, adjunct Professor of Voice, at Duquesne University, and founder of EPASCO (Ezio Pinza Council for American Singers of Opera).  Ms. Pinza was very impressed with Ben's performance of Italian arias and invited him to join her in Italy this summer, but he is not able to attend since he accepted an invitation to the Merola Program in San Francisco. 

He was accompanied to Pittsburgh by Delaware native and friend, Dr. Robert Moyer. Dr. Moyer wrote to me about their meeting with Ms. Pinza, “she regaled us with tales of her father studying Don Giovanni for an entire year with Tulio Serafin and shared private pictures of her father, Pavarotti, Freni, DeLuca, Ponselle and many others from the golden age of opera. Many helpful suggestions were made to Ben in terms of roles suited to his voice and career advancement.”

We all miss Ben at AVA, and look forward to his return next September.

Triple play...

  That term can be used in baseball, and now for competition winner soprano Angela Meade.

You've read about Angela’s wins with the Gerda Lissner Vocal Competition, and the George London Foundation Vocal Competition. Now, you have to add The Richard Tucker Foundation win to her most recent list.

Angela was in my office today, and I can tell you she has some exciting productions coming up, but for now, mum’s the word! I can say you’ll see her deep in the heart of Texas and in the big apple, but stayed tuned for more information!

Girl power...

I should say women power...but anyway you say it the women singers at AVA that are sweeping the competition circuit this season.

Last week both sopranos Joyce El-Khoury and Angela Meade were winners in the George London Foundation Vocal Competition. Ms. El-Khoury won the George London award for a Canadian singer, sponsored by Liliane and Robert Brochu. Ms. Meade's award is in memory of Frances Claudet Johnson, sponsored by the M.S. Worthington Foundation.

A few weeks ago, the winners of the Gerda Lissner Foundation Vocal Competition were announced, and once again Angela Meade was listed as a Special Winner. First place winners were sopranos Jan Cornelius and AVA alumna Manon Strauss Evrard. Not forgetting the men - second place prize went to baritone Christopher Bolduc, and third place to baritone Alex Lawrence.

A Cinderella story...

Happy Easter everyone, I’m actually on a little vacation, but this blog just could not wait until Monday. I am very proud of all the AVA singers, and love all the success stories, which the blog was designed for, but when it is someone that you have known since their first day at AVA I just have to shout about it a little louder!

This success story has been in the making for the past three years. I knew I liked resident artist Angela Meade from the first day at AVA. Maybe it’s because she sang operetta, but we all knew there was something special there.

This adventure started on Thursday while I was in Baltimore with Stephen Costello and Ailyn Perez (which is a blog for later in the week) when I found a message on my cell phone from Angela. She was calling to tell me that in just over twenty-four hours she was going to make her Metropolitan Opera debut.

I guess that’s good in itself, but it wasn’t scheduled to happen. She was hired by the Met just about a year ago to be the soprano cover for their production of Verdi’s Ernani. As we know the star NEVER get sick – right! Well it happened this time, and Angela at least got more than a day’s notice to be ready.

I happen to not be near a radio or internet this weekend to follow what was happening, but Angela was on my mind all of Friday night from curtain up to the end of the opera. I found an email today upon arriving home from Angela herself, and here are some of her thoughts.

“I wanted to pass along photos of me in costume and with Thomas Hampson after the show. Everything went AMAZINGLY well, especially for never rehearsing with anyone that I performed with that night including the orchestra and the Maestro. I felt very comfortable and all my colleagues were very supportive. I also will be doing an interview on Sirius on Monday night (March 25), in one of the intermissions of Peter Grimes and I was one of the answers on the Met Opera Quiz on Saturday. Well anyway, I had the time of my life and tried to revel in every moment.”

Associated Press said of Angela's performance "A winner of the 2007 Met National Council Auditions, Meade replaced Sondra Radvanovsky (viral infection) in "Ernani," which before this revival had not been performed at the Met since 1985. "I was a little nervous the first 15 minutes," Meade said. No wonder. She enters for the first time to sing her cavatina "Ernani! Ernani, involami," filled with coloratura trills. Meade, a student at Philadelphia's Academy of Vocal Arts, showed a vibrant voice with nice color and an assured technique. She sang like an old pro from start to finish, combining for moving duets with Marcello Giordani (Ernani) - she happens to share the same voice teacher as Giordani, Bill Schuman."

I think that says it all.  Being ready and prepared is one of the utmost things that a singer needs to have in their bag of talents. I joked with Angela when she sang at the AVA Angels & Benefactors Party in Philadelphia on March 9th. I told her that we were all praying that she would have a shot to sing the role on the stage.

And that ladies and gentlemen is how a career begins – catch this rising star.

Clink on comments below and send Angela your best wishes!

Bryan saves the day...

How fun is it when you have to fly by the seat of your pants? Well, that's what Bryan did last week. Let me begin at the beginning.

Last Thursday was the gala concert for the Opera Orchestra of New York. At 4:30 pm that afternoon while tenor Bryan Hymel was in a coaching with Maestro Macatsoris for La traviata, he received a telephone call from his manager, Neil Funkhouser. "Get to NYC as quick as possible - you’re replacing an ailing colleague this evening at 8 pm on the OONY concert!"

Quick as a flash Bryan is in NYC, wearing his tails on the Acela Amtrak train. Before you know it he’s on the stage of Carnegie Hall making his debut with Eve Queler. He sang La donna è mobile from Rigoletto.

If that wasn’t thrilling enough, the evening ended with the Libiamo from La traviata, which he rehearsed with Renee Fleming. During the actual show Bryan escorted opera legend Renata Scotto on his arm. Tenor Marcello Giordiano implored Madame Scotto to sing a few bars of the lovely melody, which she did with Bryan.

Bryan wasn't the only AVA'er on the program. Soprano Eglise Gutierrez and bass-baritone Daniel Mobbs were also on the program.

Bryan’s sister, Allison Hymel, who is a front office associate at AVA flew up to the concert on a later train, which she made with only minutes to spare. On the way home they had a few hours to kill before the 3 am train departed. I would think that Bryan was still flying high from his concert, so they headed across the street from Penn Station to relax, only to find a group of Brits who Bryan regaled with an encore!

Way to go Bryan!

Photos by Allison Hymel
#1 Ms. Scotto with the Hymels
#2 Mr. Hymel with Ms. Zajick
#3 Mr. Hymel with Ms. Fleming
#4 Ready for bed!

Singing in the sun...

I mentioned a few weeks ago that AVA resident artist soprano Zulimar López-Hernández was going to sing a recital in her hometown of San Juan, Puerto Rico with master vocal coach David Lofton.

Well the photos are in (thank you Mr. López) and she looks as lovely as ever. I just wish that photos could sing!

She mentioned in an email to me that they took a tour of  "La Fortaleza" which is the Governor’s mansion. David was able to play the historic piano in the residence, which was a big honor. They say that there is a ghost that also plays it when nobody is around.”

She also mentioned that Mr. Lofton gave a master class for local singers the day after the recital, and the students loved him.

Photos 1 & 2 - Zulimar and David in recital
Photo 3 - Zulimar and her husband Gilberto Robles

Baritone of power...

Resident Artist baritone Octavio Moreno has been very busy at AVA. He recently sang on the Grand Passions concert as Count Ankarstrom in the Un ballo in maschera scene.

He’s busy working with Maestro Macatsoris on Germont for this season’s La traviata production but he took time out of his schedule to dip his toe into the well of vocal competitions.

Mr. Moreno recently was named a finalist in the Greenfield Competition with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Last season both soprano Colleen Daly, and baritone Steven LaBrie were also finalists. He just arrived back in Philadelphia after a week in Houston where he took third place in the Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers at the Houston Grand Opera.