Cathedral City Public Arts Commission Performing Arts Series Presents The 3rd Annual ‘Night at the Opera’ LIVEARTS! 2008–2009 Free Public Performance Cathedral City High School Auditorium Friday, April 24th 2009 at 7 pm

Karen Vuong Kalil Wilson Liam McLachlan Erin Wood The 3rd Annual Night at the Opera, is brought to you by the Cathedral City Public Arts Commission and sponsored by our contributors and the Palm Springs Opera Guild. Each year up and coming young opera stars perform favorite arias and ensembles from the worlds greatest operas. If you are interested in opera or great music in general, this FREE performance is not to be missed.Arrive early.

KAREN VUONG, soprano, studied at UCLA, performing in many major productions. She participated in the first two in- augural years of the Domingo-Thornton LA Opera Young Artist program. Her 2006/07 debut season at LA Opera included three major roles. In the 2007/08 season, she performed as Mimi in La bohème under Plácido Domingo, First Playmate in The Dwarf, Shepherd Boy in Tosca, and Yvette in La Rondine. She has been acknowledged in many nationwide competi- tions.Recent engagements include Lay Sister in Suor Angelica at LA Opera, and Sophie in Werther at Kentucky Opera. Next season Vuong is scheduled to sing in the world premiere opera Amelia at Seattle Opera. LIAM MCLACHLAN, tenor, has a Diploma from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, and a Bachelor of Music from the Central Queensland Conservatorium of Music in his native Australia. He has performed in The Threepenny Opera, L’Orfeo, The Bartered Bride, and Tobias in Opera Queensland’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. In the U.S. he is based in Los Angeles and performs for the Los Angles Opera Buffs, and the Palm Springs Opera Guild. He will be performing in their annual Opera in the Park festivities. ERIN WOOD , soprano, is one of the most exciting, talented young artists to emerge during the past few seasons. Her recent portrayals of Verdi and Wagner heroines have received praise for her “soaring soprano”, “immense voice full of grit at the bottom and transcendent radiance at the top”, and “volcanic outpouring of sound that was thrilling to behold”. Ms. Wood has replaced Deborah Voigt both as Sieglinde in Wagner’s Die Walküre with Lyric Opera of Chicago as well as roles in five other operas. . She was a featured artist in Lyric’s first-ever free concert at Grant Park, where she sang Mascagni’s “Easter Hymn” for 20,000 people under the baton of Bruno Bartoletti. KALIL WILSON, tenor, was 1st Place Winner in the 2007 Metropolitan Opera National Council Western Region Audi- tions. He has sung a wide variety of lead tenor roles and oratorio with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Oakland East Bay Symphony, Long Beach Chamber Orchestra, the Mendocino Music Festival, Opera UCLA, and the U.C. Berkeley and UCLA Symphony Orchestras. Wilson graduated summa cum laude from the Vocal Music and Ethnomusicology Depart- ments at UCLA. A Finalist in the inaugural José Iturbi International Vocal Competition and a two-year Fellow at the Aspen Music Festival, he also won First Place in the Palm Springs Opera Guild of the Desert Vocal Competition, and First Place in the Los Angeles Young Artists of the Future competition. MONA LANDS, accompanist and brilliant coordinator of opera/staff, accompanist/opera coach at UCLA, is a graduate of Mills College with a Master’s in Accompanying from USC. She is a member of the UCLA Music Department and works as accompanist and coach for Opera UCLA, where she is Coordinator of Accompanying. She has been an accompanist and coach for the Aspen Theater Center Opera Pacific’s Overture Company, the Enzio Pinzo Council summer program, Guild Opera, and for the Metropolitan Opera Palm Springs Showcase Concerts.

This free performance is made possible through the generosity of: NAI Consulting, The Palm Springs Opera Guild and the Classic Yellow Cab Company