NEWSLETTER Board of Directors Election
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NEWSLETTER ARGO GHERARDI, EDITOR NOVEMBER 2012 Board of Directors Election November 13, 2012 Members of the San José Opera Guild will elect directors and officers at the General Membership Meeting to be held at the Nov. 13 Opera San José lecture at the Jewish Community Center in Los Gatos. For Directors For Officers Corinne Carter Joan Shomler Olga Nespole, Vice President Wendy Dewell Diane Snow Margaret Boddy, Recording Secretary Jan Eurich Alice Swanson Nina Gherardi, Corresponding Secty. Peggy Heiman Augusta Wilson Elliot Swanson, Treasurer Edna Herman Phyllis Whitney Argo Gherardi, Parliamentarian Laurel Kaleda Connie Zilles Susan English will complete the second Hannelore Romney Steve Zilles year of her two-year term as President. Serving on the Nominating Committee: Corinne Carter, Co-Chair; Hannelore Romney, Co-Chair; Phyllis Whitney; Connie Zilles. Please plan to attend and cast your vote. Amahl and the Night Visitors “Ever since I began singing the role of ‘His last summer. At first I was nervous about singing Mother’ in Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visi- ‘Amahl’ because it’s a big role but now I am just tors, I dreamed about what it would be like to excited. Besides, I like singing with my mom.” have a son who sang beautifully and who shared Known for her numerous performances in op- the vision of performing with his mother!” said eratic roles around the United States and our Bay Layna Chianakas Haddad. She knew this was a Area, Ms. Chianakas is an Associate Professor of tall order, but miraculously, her dream is turning Voice at San José State University and still main- into a reality as her son and she will sing the opera tains an active national performing career. This as a scholarship fundraising effort for San José project is very dear to her heart as she will sing State University’s Opera Workshop and Choral with Metropolitan Opera tenor and colleague, programs. Professor Joseph Frank, in the role of King Kas- Ghythe Haddad, a 6th grader at Valley Chris- par, rounded out by a cast of graduate and under- tian Junior High School will sing the title role. graduate SJSU voice students as well as the SJSU “I’ve always liked to sing and I perform when Choraliers who will perform the Shepherds’ Cho- we have people over for dinner but I never had rus in the production. Director of Choral Activi- voice lessons until my mom began teaching me Continued on P. 2 Opera Goes to School Career Updates By Corinne Elliott Carter Soprano Melinda Whittington was sponsored, In October and November, 120 schools in the in part, by the San José Opera Guild for her par- Bay Area have the unique experience of having ticipation in the 2012 Merola Young Artist Sum- a live performance of an opera or operetta per- mer Program. Here are some of her thoughts on formed in their school. For these children it of- that experience. fers a lifetime experience. “My fellow Merolini have provided a listening In 1939 children were bused to the San Fran- ear, musical and emotional support, many good cisco Opera House for student matinees. What laughs and memories, and talent and devotion that evolved from many like programs is Opera à la encourage me to always strive for excellence. … Carte, a San Francisco Opera Guild production In addition to the amazing relationships that have where a mini-version of an opera is performed in been formed, my other take away for the summer the school. can be summarized in one word: BALANCE. … When away from your “normal” life--your re- San José Opera Guild provides docents for each lationships, jobs, and home-- and given the amaz- performance in the South Bay area to introduce ing opportunity to focus on nothing but your craft the singers and help prepare the school for the all day, every day, the scale can easily tip. I have production. The school will purchase one or had to work to balance my singing life with my two performances that are targeted for 3rd to 8th personal life. I have had to work to balance all graders. The children selected to perform have the opinions of so many well-qualified coaches speaking parts that require weeks, if not months, and teachers while recognizing and maintaining of preparation in advance of the performance. On what makes me a unique, individual artist. I have the day of the performance, the cast of costumed had to work to balance all the details of vocal singers, the pianist, and the docent arrive early technique, stylistic rules, the business of being an for the dress rehearsal, and the children finally opera singer, the pressure I put on myself with get to meet the professional singers. Kindergar- my heart, my artistry, my love for what I do, and teners are exceptional in their enthusiasm. for sharing that with others.” This year the San Francisco Opera Guild has Talise Trevigne (former Opera San José resident prepared an operetta, Pirates of Penzance, for artist) made her San Francisco Opera debut as Pip eight area schools. If you are a member of the in Moby Dick in a role she created at the Dallas San José Opera Guild and are interested in be- Opera in 2010. She garnered Britain’s Royal Phil- coming a docent, please contact Corinne Elliott harmonic Society Music Award for her portrayal Carter or email www.sjoperaguild.org ### of Violetta in Graham Vick’s La Traviata with Birmingham Opera and the City of Birmingham Amahl and the Night Visitors Symphony Orchestra. Other recent engagements Continued from P. 1 include Gilda (Rigoletto) with Tulsa Opera; the ties, Dr. Jeffrey Benson, will conduct. “This is title role of Manon with Knoxville Opera; Mi- truly a labor of love from each of us. We believe caëla (Carmen) with San Diego Opera; creating in the high quality of our School of Music and the role of The Beloved in Liza Lim’s The Nav- Dance Vocal Department, and feel very passion- igator at the Brisbane Festival, which she later ate about showing our community what we can performed in Moscow and Paris; and originating do to enhance the arts in San José,” said Benson. the title role of Judith Weir’s filmArmida . On the concert stage she has appeared with Dance The- See Calendar for time and dates. ### Continued on P. 3 PAGE 2 SAN JOSÉ OPERA GUILD Career Updates Continued from P.2 Opera Traveller ater of Harlem, the Lincoln Center Festival, the By Mort Levine Dallas Symphony, and at the Dorothy Chandler The most amazing and mystifying of all the op- Pavillion, the Kennedy Center, and New York’s eras of Philip Glass arrived in the Bay Area the Schumann Festival. Trevigne made her operatic last weekend in October to packed houses and début under the direction of Maestro Julius Rudel thrilled audiences. Clearly a path-breaking piece in La Traviata and Don Giovanni in Aspen. She of music theatre, Einstein on the Beach in 1976 has also performed principal roles in Purcell’s (when it had its US premiere at the Met) proved Dido and Aeneas, Les Malheurs D’Orphée, Nerea that contemporary forms had a place on the opera in Handel’s Deidamia, Norina in Don Pasquale, stage. Constance in Les Dialogues des Carmélites, Mi- Ostensibly, as conceived by the composer and randa in The Tempest, and Sophie in Der Rosen- by his collaborator, director-set designer Robert kavalier. Wilson, the work uses our knowledge of Einstein Soprano Elizabeth Caballero (Merola (2001- to engage us in a meditation on genius. It tells the 2002) triumphs in Lyric’s lush production of Ma- story in a way that opera lovers are able to find a dama Butterfly and was the headline in the Kan- different way to gather in the music, dance and sas City Star on September16,2012. Other roles the accompanying lyrics which are mostly bits of have included Liu in Austin City’s Turandot, and syllables, solfege (do, re, mi), counting out loud Magda in Florida Grand Opera’s La Rondine. or bursts of somewhat surrealistic poetical dialog. Acclaimed by the San Francisco Chronicle as a The music usually described as minimalist “powerful diva in the making,” Cuban-Ameri- consists of long, almost Wagnerian chord strings can soprano, Elizabeth Caballero, is becoming interrupted by upwardly spiraling riffs from the widely recognized for her fearless portrayals of electronic organs and assorted woodwinds. the lyric soprano repertoire. This set of three performances at UC Berkeley’s Georgia Rowe of the San José Mercury News, Zellerbach theatre quickly became as hot a ticket commenting on the cast of San Francisco Opera’s as the extravaganza across the bay at AT&T base- revival of Verdi’s Attila, noted that Merola’s ten- ball park. or Nathaniel Peake (2002-2009) in his first ap- The four hours plus of performance begins with pearance with the company, impressed as Uldino, a kind of droning overture before the doors open. Attila’s Bretan slave. “Baritone Quinn Kelsey As people get seated it becomes clear they can (2002) gave a warm, expressive performance as come and go as they please. There is no inter- the Roman general, Ezio.” mission. There are no arias, no divas or doomed Opera News Magazine describes Lyric Soprano lovers, no linear narrative story line, but the au- Ailyn Pérez (Merola 2005) as having a lovely dience was expected to fill in the missing pieces voice, musical imagination, acting ability and an just as you would do in making sense of an ab- impressive appetite for hard work.