AVA Opera Blog

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.

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 [email protected] 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.

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.

Picking up where I left off...

Sitting down and trying to write a blog after so long isn’t easy. It’s almost like trying to go back on an exercise regimen or a diet after the holidays!

With Facebook, Twitter and YouTube being the new modes of short and visual information I felt that the blog was old hat and that people didn’t want to read long posts. But recently so many people asked me to bring it back  - I just had to do it.

I’m so happy that I have AVA blogging friends on here now, and with their help, we will all try our best to give you our slant on the alums and resident artists. One of the new bloggers is Linda Ginsburg, she just loves getting the word out on the AVA artists and where they are performing. The other new blogger is Lew Loesberg who does most of his blogging for AVA on Facebook and has come incredible information, especially about radio broadcasts.

I think what scares me about blogging is possibly missing something that one of our great AVA artists are doing in the world. There are some alums whose names are on everyone’s lips, thanks to HD movies and DVDs. But there are a huge number of alums you might not know who are making their living singing all over the world. My job is to bring all of them to you for your reading pleasure.

Before going any further, our PR and Marketing Department has added a few other ways for you to follow the AVA singers..

You all know about the AVA web site, but did you know about  weekly email blasts?
You have to sign up for them on AVA’s website, but its well worth knowing all the news, all the time.

Want to sit at home(or your office) and watch some great scenes from past productions?
Did you know AVA has a YouTube Channel? Just up are clips from the Pelléas et Mélisande lecture.
The link is:

Do you Tweet? We now do! Click here and sign up to get our tweets.

Gotta love FB (that’s Facebook for all of you who are not on it!)
AVA has a page you can follow. All you need to do is ‘like' us.

So now I see writing my first blog wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be!

The Big Apple thaws with beautiful singing...

Winter is  almost over, and it’s time to go out and see AVA alums perform. Here are  two events in the Big Apple you won’t want to miss!

Opera Orchestra of New York is back for their second concert of the season. On March 2 they will perform L’Africaine by Meyerbeer at Avery Fisher Hall. That’s good news enough, but having AVA singers soprano Ellie Dehn, tenor Taylor Stayton, and baritone Daniel Mobbs in the concert sweetens the pot even more. Ms. Dehn will sing the role of Inèz, daughter of Don Diego, Mr. Stayton sings Don Alvar, and Mr. Mobbs sings Don Pedro. Following this concert you can hear Ms. Dehn as the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro at the Houston Grand Opera. Mr. Stayton will be right back at AVA as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, and Mr. Mobbs sings Angelotti in Tosca for Opera Company of Philadelphia.

All the way from Los Angeles Opera baritone, and AVA alum José Adán Pérez will make his debut with New York City Opera as Belcore in The Elixir of Love. This isn’t his first sing in NYC, he was there with his mentor (and boss) Placido Domingo a few months ago for a concert. I hope he brings some of the southern California sunshine with him, as well as his lovely wife Kimberly Henshaw, also an AVA alum.
The production runs from March 22 to April 9.

Three rolling stones, on the way to the Met...

AVA is proud to have three resident artists advance to the semi-final round of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.

Soprano Michelle Johnson advanced to the semi-finals on Sunday, when she was the winner of the New England Regional Competition in Boston, MA. That same afternoon, Ms. Johnson was heard on the radio in AVA’s production of Suor Angelica.

That same day, bass-baritone Ryan Kuster and bass Nicholas Masters advanced to the semi-finals as winners of the Mid Atlantic Regional Competition in Washington DC. Mr. Kuster has been named an Adler Fellow with the San Francisco Opera.  He will sing the role of Masetto in their production of Don Giovanni. Mr. Masters will perform in AVA’s production of Don Giovanni which opens on April 30.

I must also recognize resident artist bass-baritone Zachary Nelson, and alum baritone Norman Garrett who won achievements awards at the regional competitions. Mr. Nelson in Boston, and Mr. Garrett in Washington, DC.

Winners of the semi-finals will perform in the national Council Grand Finals Concert on Sunday, March 13 at 3 pm in the Metropolitan Opera House. Met star, and AVA alumna Joyce DiDonato will host the event.

And the ‘stone’ reference? All three winners are voice students of baritone William Stone at AVA.  A baritone of International fame, this is Mr. Stone’s second year as a vocal instructor at AVA.

It's almost summer opera time...

Ok, I know I’m pushing the summer, but I’m cold! Some blog items come to me with lots of fanfare, and other times it’s like a little wind that keeps growing . That’s exactly what has happened with Des Moines Metro Opera’s 2011 season.

Part One - Somehow I heard that Taylor Stayton was going to sing Ernesto in their mainstage production of Don Pasquale. You might remember him in AVA’s “wild-west” production in 2009. When I congratulated him on the contract, he told me that alumna Zulimar López-Hernández was going to be singing Norina in the show as well.  He was thrilled because, although Zulimar played Norina in the 2009 AVA production, they never got to sing it together.

Part Two – I’m surfing Facebook one night (don’t you?) and saw that Jan Cornelius’s status mentioned how 2011 is shaping up to be a great year for her. She begins by singing Giorgetta in AVA’s concert production of Il tabarro, following quickly with the title role in Arabella. Well, I knew all that, but what I didn’t know was that she will also be singing with Des Moines Metro Opera as Mimi in La bohème. When I congratulated her (in the AVA copy room), she mentioned that alumna Colleen Daly was also in the production, in the role of Musetta, a role Jan just sang with Atlanta Opera in October 2010.

Conclusion: Des Moines is going to be one AVA-tastic place to hear opera this summer!

Listening to AVA singers will make you warmer...

During the cold winter in the Philly area, here are hot concerts where you can see AVA resident artists and alums. Don't forget AVA's concert version of Suor Angelica & Il tabarro on January 21, 22 & 26.

Lyricfest
I’ve Got Rhythm – Family Concert
Tipping our top hat to the art of dance in song!
Saturday, January 29 at 3 pm
The Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill
Hear alums Cristina Nassif, Suzanne DuPlantis and resident artist Wes Mason
with Timothy Bentch, and Laura Ward at the piano.
General Admission $10, Students $5

Concert Operetta Theater
Remembering Romberg!
Sunday, January 30 at 4 pm
The Helen Corning Warden Theater at AVA
Alumna Zulimar López-Hernández will sing some of the Romberg greats, including selections from Student Prince, New Moon and Desert Song. AVA’s José Meléndez is the music director, pianist.
Also singing are Catherine Layton, Patrick Layton and John-Andrew Fernandez.
General Admission $20, Students $10

South Jersey Opera Association of The Academy of Vocal Arts
Puccini and Pasta
Wednesday, February 2  at 6 pm
Starring Jan Cornelius, Sean Arnold and Zachary Nelsen
This includes a three course dinner with wine
Joe Palombo’s Mirabella Café
210 Barclay Shopping Center, Route 70 East, Cherry Hill
$50 per person plus tax and gratuity
Reservations required – 856-354-1888

Tomasello’s Winery, Hammonton NJ 
Valentine's Opera Gala
February 13 and 20 at 2 pm
Dinner and concert starring Maria Aleida, Margaret Mezzacappa, Luigi Boccia and Wes Mason
with AVA's Michele Scanlon, music director and pianist.
$65 plus tax and gratuity - Reservations required – 1-800-666-9463

Look how many won...

The Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation Competition helps many singers with prize money and grants and the AVA singers have always placed well in this event.

This year’s competition took place in the spring of 2010 but Sunday, October 24  was the actual gala concert in New York City.

I am so proud to announce that eight of the winners this year are both alums and resident artists of AVA! First Prize went to soprano alumna Jessica Rose Cambio, and fourth prize went to soprano alumna Manon Strauss Evrard.

Grant  winners included resident artists Maria Aleida, Luigi Boccia and Ryan Kuster, and Encouragement Awards were given to alums Jessica Julin, Norman Garrett and Steven LaBrie.

Congratulations to all the winners.

 

(Photo - Daniela Pedi, Maria Aleida, Ryan Kuster, Luigi Boccia)