Directed by Malena Dayen Conducted by Israel Gursky Filmed at Target
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Opera in Three Acts Libretto by Arturo Colautti Directed by Malena Dayen Conducted by Israel Gursky Filmed at Target Margin Theater, Brooklyn NY Sung in Italian with English subtitles Umberto Giordano’s FEDORA Libretto by Arturo Colautti Performed at the Target Margin Theater, Brooklyn NY Streaming on November 10th, 2020 FEDORA LORIS Michelle Johnson Jeremy Brauner DE SIRIEX OLGA Marcello Guzzo Maria Brea DESIRÈ DIMITRI Samuel White Eugenia Forteza GRECH LOREK Rubin Casas Michael Gracco CIRILLO ROUVEL Brian Montgomery Jordan Weatherston Pitts BOROV A PEASANT BOY Rick Agster Kinneret Ely SERGIO NICOLA Pavel Suliandziga William Desbiens FISARMONICA Ezio Pelliteri Fedora Crew and Creative Team Artistic Director Stefanos Koroneos Director Malena Dayen Conductor Israel Gursky Lighting Designer Jon DeGaetano Assistant to Lighting Designer Matthew Deinhart Projections Sangmin Chae Cameramen Global Vision Editing Global Vision Assistant Conductor Nicole Russell Assistant to Artistic Director Danika Fernandez Graphic Designer and Social Media Assistant Darissa Townes Assistant to Artistic Director Nicole Russell Marketing Assistant Cindy Cai Fundraising Assistant Ashleigh Ayres Social Media Intern Isabella Brutch I Camerati Our sincere thanks to our foundation, corporate and individual donors who have helped Teatro Grattacielo accomplish its mission this year. Your generosity had made this production possible. The Horace W.Goldsmith Foundation The Geoffrey C. Hughes Foundation The Pizzimenti Cultural Foundation Louis Tallarini Katherine Maxwell The Dubose And Dorothy Heyward Memorial Fund Friends Of Teatro Grattacielo We especially thank the following individual donors for their generous, continuing support of Teatro Grattacielo and its mission of reviving opera masterpieces and helping emerging young artists advance their careers. John Metcalfe John Mucci Ms. Lori Minasian Milton Kimura Robert C. Wilcox Peter Bloch Bob Scrofani Joseph Neustadter Angelique Burzynski David And Jaqueline Morton Albert And June Cardinali About the Cast Michelle Johnson (Fedora) Soprano Michelle Johnson, a Grand Prize Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions where she was described as “a clear audience favorite” (New York Times), has been lavished with praise… “Her voice is velvety and pliant – a dulcet dream.” Recent engagements include, a return to Chicago Opera Theater as Zemfira in Aleko, solo performances with Madison Symphony Orchestra, Waterbury Symphony and Strauss’ Vier letzte Lieder with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra. In 2020-2021, Ms. Johnson makes her Teatro Gratticielo, Allentown Symphony, Florentine Opera, Opera on the James and Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia debuts. Jeremy Brauner (Loris) A finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council competition, north east region 2019, and a 2020 winner of an Encouragement Grant from the Wagner Society of New York, Jeremy Brauner is often described as having a brassy rich, powerful and liquid flowing tenor. He earned a BFA in musical theatre from Montclair State University where he had his first experience with opera. He began his opera career as a baritone. In 2016 he made his tenor debut as Alfredo (La traviata) with Dell’Arte Opera Ensemblé. He has since performed such roles as Mario Cavaradossi (Tosca), Ricardo (Un ballo in maschera), Calaf (Turandot). Most recently Jeremy performed the role of B.F. Pinkerton (Madama butterfly) with Ceder Rapids Opera Theatre. Marcello Guzzo (De Siriex) Hailed as “strong and charming” by The New York Times and “majestic“ by The Boston Globe, Marcelo Guzzo is considered one of the most prominent singers of his generation. Mr. Guzzo launched the 2019/20 season with his debut as Macbeth at Opera North, following his notable debut at Hong Kong Opera as Don Giovanni, a role he will perform again at The Kursaal in San Sebastián, Spain in February 2020. Mr. Guzzo has also performed in concert with Andrea Bocelli, conducted by Plácido Domingo, and appeared on tour throughout the U.S.A. in the Lincoln Center Theater’s Tony Award winning production of South Pacific, in the leading role of Emile De Becque. Maria Brea (Olga) Maria Brea, soprano, is a native of Caracas, Venezuela and she just won 6th prize in the Vinas competition and a Special Zarzuela prize for the best Zarzuela singer and was one of only six winners who sang in the orchestra concert for the winners at Teatro Liceu de Barcelona. Maria was awarded as Best Musical Actress by HOLA 2020 in the production of El Barbero de Sevilla with New Camerata Opera in the role of Elena. In April 2020 Maria Brea was to make her debut as Frasquita in Carmen at Rose Theater at Lincoln Center with MasterVoices. Ms. Brea made her Opera Tampa debut singing the title role in Maestro Anton Coppola’s Lady Swanwhite, a world premiere. Samuel White (Desiré) Tenor Samuel White most recently performed the role of Matthew Gurney in an updated version of Tobias Picker’s Emmeline at Manhattan School of Music in April 2019. He performed the role of Eisenstein in Strauss’ Die Fledermaus at The Lyric Opera Studio Weimar in Weimar, Germany during January 2019. In Summer 2018 at Aspen Opera Center, Mr. White sang in the contemporary opera scenes program which including scenes from Ned Rorem’s Our Town, and Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking. Other performance credits include Die Zauberflöte (Tamino), Dido and Aeneas (Aeneas), La Rondine (Ruggero), Sweeney Todd (Pirelli), and Into the Woods (Cinderella’s Prince/Wolf). Eugenia Forteza (Dimitri) French-Argentinean Mezzo-Soprano Eugenia Forteza has been praised for her “earthy vocal presence” (Opera Wire), “powerful voice” (Atuvu.ca) and “wonderful legato lines and impressive breath control” (Voce di Meche). Eugenia was a Finalist and Opera Role Prize Winner at the 2017 Concorso Internazionaledi Canto Katia Ricciarelli in Cerisano, Italy. Recent highlights include covering the title roles in Maria de Buenos Aires and L’Incoronazione di Poppea with Bare Opera and performing Eufemia in Leoncavallo’s La Bohème at the Festival d’Art Vocal in Montréal, Canada. Eugenia is the founder of the popular blog 360° of Opera. She is represented by Spotlight Artists Management. For more information please visit www.eugeniaforteza.com. Rubin Casas (Grech) This season, the Pasadena, Texas native sang Haydn’s Mariazeller Masse for Mid America Productions at Carnegie Hall and Scarpia in Tosca with the Opera Company of Middlebury, where he previously sang Banco in Macbeth. He returned to the Metropolitan Opera to cover The Bonze in Madame Butterfly. He will sing the Beethoven Ninth Symphony with the Idaho Falls Symphony and Oroveso in Norma in Hong Kong. Casas “provided rumbling bravura” as the Commendatore in Don Giovanni at Cedar Rapids Opera Theater. Casas has sung with Tacoma Opera, Shreveport Opera, Virginia Opera, Spokane Opera, Connecticut Grand Opera, Opera Las Vegas, New York City Opera and the Metropolitan Opera. He is an alumnus of Yale University. Michael Gracco (Lorek) Considered to be a “sonorous baritone of impressive lyricism” (Opera News), Michael Gracco graduated from the Manhattan School of Music in 2017 with his BM in voice. He was a finalist in the Metropolitan National Council auditions, Eastern division (2015, 2016) and received the De Lacamera award (2013) in the Connecticut division. In the 2017-2018 season with Tulsa Opera, he understudied the role of Valentin and performed the role of Wagner, understudied Ping and performed Mandarin in Turandot. In the 2018-2019 season, Michael performed The Businessman in The Little Prince and Masetto in Don Giovanni with Tulsa Opera and sang Belcore in L’elisir d’amore with City Lyric Opera. In the 2020 season, Michael understudied Vincenzo Gellner and performed Gregorio in Sarasota Opera’s productions of La Wally and Romeo and Juliet. Brian Montgomery (Cirillo) Brian Montgomery has performed to critical acclaim with important opera companies throughout the world, having sung over 60 leading roles. He took part in several word premieres, including The Ghosts of Versailles (Corigliano), The Voyage (Glass), Dreamkeepers (Carlson), among others and many 20th Century works. Brian speaks 5 Western languages and some Mandarin Chinese. He has sung at the Metropolitan Opera and 15 years in major opera houses. For the past few seasons, Mr. Montgomery was been appearing in leading baritone roles on the stages in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, where he resided for a decade and was sought after as a teacher and educator. Brian returned to The Metropolitan Opera during the 2014-15 season for Carmen. Jordan Weatherston Pitts (Rouvel) Jordan made his principal artist debut to critical acclaim as the drag queen Renata in Iain Bell and Mark Campbell’s world premiere of Stonewall with New York City Opera and continues an active performance schedule of romantic and lyric repertoire. His most recent roles include the cover of Romeo in Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette with the Hawaii Opera Theatre, a cover of The Magician (Nika Magadoff) in Menotti’s The Consul with Opera Saratoga, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Achille in La Belle Helene, Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi, Alfredo in La Traviata, Younger Thompson (Cover) in Tom Cipullo’s Glory Denied, Goro in Madama Buterfly, and Malcolm in Verdi’s Macbeth. In 2018 Jordan was both a Studio Artist with Opera Saratoga’s Young Artist Program as well as an Orvis Studio Artist with the Hawaii Opera Theatre. Rick Agster (Borov) Rick Agster (Boroff and Gretsch cover), bass, provides “excellent comic relief” and a “warm basso voice and persona.” Rick most recently appeared as Simone in Gianni Schicchi with Regina Opera; as Benoit/ Alcindoro in La Boheme with MidAtlantic Opera; and premiered the role of Police Chief Bimson in the new opera The Silk City with Garden State Opera. Notable roles include Zuniga in Carmen, Commendatore in Don Giovanni, Doctor Grenvil in La Traviata, Antonio and Bartolo in Le Nozze di Figaro and Bogdonowitsch in The Merry Widow. For up-to-date information, visit www.RickAgster.com. Kinneret Ely (A Peasant Boy) Kinneret Ely covered Anna in Catalani’s Loreley and Fata Azzurra in Respighi’s La Bella Dormente nel Bosco in Teatro Grattacielo’s 25th Anniversary Concert in September 2019.