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Home , Heidi Stober, Patrick Summers, Tamara Wilson

Studio Buddies Newsletter

Published bi-annually b y t h e Houston Grand Guild June 2010

Contents  W e l c o m e Winter/Spring 2010 1 This issue of the HGO Studio Buddies Newsletter could be called the “Awards” edition as several of the talented young artists with the HGO Studio have earned some truly prestigious awards Studio Alumni News 2 including winning the 2010 Met National Council Grand Finals. Read on! Profile: Kathy Kelly 3

W e l c o m e 4 W i n t e r /Spring 2010 in Review

Winter 2010 naya. After the competition the Awards! audience was treated to per- Rachel Willis-Sørensen and Na- The Winter rep for HGO opened formances by current Studio thaniel Peake were honored as with a critically acclaimed new members. Rachel Willis-Sørensen, BUDDIES SPRING 2010 Na- production of Puccini's T o s c a . Michael Sumuel, and Catherine tional Council Grand Finals win- Starring alongside sublime sopra- Martin sang a beautiful rendition OUTING ▼ no were Studio of the Cosi t ri o , Soave sia il vento. ners. Nathaniel Peake and Ra- members Michael Sumuel as one This was followed by A d a m C i o f- chel Willis-Sørensen triumphed of Scarpia's evil henchmen Sciar- fari and Brendan Tuohy re p ri si n g again, both were awarded Sara Tucker Study Grants by the Ri- rone and Adam Cioffari a s t h e their roles in an excerpt from chard Tucker Foundation, follow- Jailer. David Hanlon and Stepha- Carlisle Floyd’s Of Mice and Men , ing auditions in New York. A d d i- nie Rhodes helped to coach for with the composer himself ti onally, Nathaniel Peake won T o s c a and David Hanlon played watching from the wings. The the George London Award of in the orchestra during perfor- evening ended with all the cur- $10,000 at the eponymous com- m a n c e s . rent Studio artists doing a de- lightful performance of R e i t ' , p e t i t ion in New York where fellow This was followed by a superb Cowboy, die Welt ist so weit, Studio artist Kiri Dyan Deonarine production of Britten’s T h e T u r n of Cowboy from Arizona Lady by won the $1000 encouragement the Screw in which Studio alum- Hungarian composer Emmerich ▲ Michael Sumuel, Jessica Red- award. Following this, Kiri Dyan na Tamara Wilson (HGOS ’05-’07) Kálmán. man, and Adam Cioffari Deonarine won first place at the returned to play Miss Jessel and Dallas Opera Vocal Competition. pianist Bethany Self (HGOS ’04- The Recitals at Rienzi series con- Nathaniel Peake reached the ’06) played in the orchestra. This tinued in late February with a finals of Placido Domingo’s pres- production was coached by concert entitled “To the distant ti gi ou s Operalia and sang with Bethany Self and Stephen beloved” featuring three song the orchestra at La Scala and he Hopkins. cycles in German. Accompanied won the Zarzuela prize. Ryan by Kathy Kelly on piano, the McKinney (HGOS ’05-’08) also On February 4th Houston Grand evening started with Adam Ciof- reached the finals of Operalia Opera held the 22nd Annual fari performing Vier ernste and won the Birgit Nilsson prize. Eleanor McCollum Competition Gesänge (Four Serious Songs) by The 2010 Shoshana Foundation for Young Singers, the Concert of Brahms, followed by Catherine Richard F Gold Career Grant w a s Arias, one of the highlights of Martin singing Lieder eines fa- awarded to Michael Sumuel. The each season at HGO. Judged by hrenden Gesellen (Songs of a ▲ Michael Sumuel, Susan Simp- 2010 HGO Guild Scholarships Anthony Freud, Patrick Summers, wayfarer) by Mahler, and con- son, Heide Loos, and Marsha went to Stephanie Rhodes and and Carlisle Floyd, the evening cluded with Octavio Moreno and Bourque Octavio Moreno. Stephanie will showcased some of the most An die ferne Geliebte ( T o t h e spend four weeks in Moscow in promising young voices in opera distant beloved) by Beethoven. November/December 2010 un- today. The first place and Au- dertaking language training and dience Choice awards went to coaching. Having specialized in countertenor Anthony Roth Cos- Spring 2010 Russian repertoire since grad tanzo. Soprano Devon Guithrie The Spring began with the Studio school, this is a wonderful oppor- took second place followed by Buddies outing to the Houston tunity for her to hone her skills. b a ri t o n e Boris Dyakov i n third Museum of Natural Science, pre- Octavio will be undertaking a place. HGO Studio co-fou nde rs ceded by brunch hosted at Lynn European audition tour in Sep- and Carlisle Floyd Guggolz’s building close to the tember/October and will also were both in attendance, which museum. The tour was led by spend some time coaching and was an honor for HGO and for Marsha Bourque, Guild member observing with the Royal Opera, the audience. This fall the HGO and docent at the museum. Covent Garden. Studio will welcome three new HGO’s Spring rep began with ▲ Peter Weston and Catherine members, Boris Dyakov, third Congratulations to all these ta- Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades M a r t i n place winner at the Concert of lented young artists on their tre- A r i a s , Brittany Wheeler, a n o t h e r (known as Pikovaya Dama to mendous achievements! finalist at the Concert of Arias, purists) which featured several and pianist/coach Elena Port- Studio artists including C a t h e r i n e

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Martin as the Governes s, Brendan Gershwin's “Tchaikovsky and oth- Night’s Dream. Tuohy as Tchaplitsky/Major Do- er Russians” by Rachel Willis- BUDDIES SPRING OUTING Stephen Hopkins will move to mo, Michael Sumuel as Narumoff, Sørensen in which she had to sing Europe this summer to join the ▼ Rachel Willis-Sørensen as Ma- the names of fo rty-nine different music staff of Vienna State Op- scha, Octavio Moreno as S o u ri n Russian composers very rapidly era. and Studio alumna Maria “Ma- and seemingly in one breath! sha” Markina (HGOS ’06-’09) a s HGO’s season wrapped up with David Hanlon will be in San Fran- Pauline/Daphnis. Stephanie performances of T o s c a at the cisco participating in San Fran- Rhodes served as a coach for this  Miller Outdoor Theater featuring cisco Opera’s Merola Program. production as well as playing Adam Cioffari as both Angelotti onstage piano for the produc- Adam Cioffari will sing Leporello and the Jailer, Michael Sumuel a s ti on. in Mozart’s w i t h Sciarrone, and conducted by Music Academy of the West. This powerful work was followed Studio alumnus Eric Melear by another breathtaking produc- (HGOS ’02-’04). Brendan Tuohy will appear on the tion in Handel’s Xerxes which main stage of Cincinnati Opera The Studio Buddies said goodbye featured Adam Cioffari in the in Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von to our wonderful young artists at hilarious role of Elviro and Studio Nürnberg and at concerts in a the Buddies Farewell Party at the alumna Heidi Stober (HGOS ’04- festival in Chicago. ▲ J e s sica Redman, Brian Char-  home of Paul and Linda Lynn. ’06) a s A t alanta. David Hanlon Rachel Willis-Sørensen and K i ri boneau, and Brendan Tuohy and Stephen Hopkins were The artists all have busy summers Dyan Deonarine will join the coaches for this work. ahead of them. Catherine Martin, Young American Artist program Nathaniel Peake and Michael The last of the Recitals at Rienzi at the . R a c h e l Sumuel will all be Filene Young series was held in early May fea- will be singing the role of First Artists, alongside Coaching Fel- turing a mostly Russian theme Lady and Kiri will be covering l o w Stephanie Rhodes a t W o l f and entitled “You Can’t Go Pamina, both in Mozart’s T h e Trap Opera in Vienna, VA. Mi- Home Again”. Accompanied by Magic Flute. chael and Catherine will both David Hanlon, Stephanie Rhodes,  perform in Wolf Trap’s production Octavio Moreno is spending the and Kathy Kelly, Kiri Dyan Deona- of Rossini’s Il turco in Italia, con- summer in Mexico before return- rine, Rachel Willis-Sørensen, Na- ducted by Eric Melear. All three ing here for the HGO Mariachi thaniel Peake, and Michael Su- singers will take part in the other commission in the fall. muel performed works by Tchai- two shows, Zaide by Mozart and kovsky, Rachmaninov, Irving Ber-  ’s M i d s u m m e r lin and a hilarious rendition of

Studio Alumni News ▲ Adam Cioffari a nd B re n d a Harvey-Traylor (HGOS ’07-’09) who made his Metropolitan Op- m a n c e o f Ana María Martínez performed the role of Emilia in era debut as Ping in the fall ’ s Tu- (HGOS ’94-’95) as Marguerite in Otello with the Canadian Opera randot production, was invited at the Chicacho Lyric as Company before returning to back to perform again in the “beautifully sung” and “the taking part in the spring! In February he sang his first lynchpin of the performance.” “Great Singers III: Evenings of Strauss opera, Capriccio, perform- Song” series, accompanied by ing Olivier in Victoria, Canada, Ryan McKinny (HGOS ’05-’08) Kathy Kelly. followed by the lead role in Il b a r- performed Escamillo in biere di Siviglia in Arizona and this with as Liam Bonner (HGOS ’05-’08), summer he can be seen as Pa- w e l l a s Herkules in Gluck’s Al- made his debut with the pageno in Die Zauberfl ö te and ceste with Oper Leipzig. He also Metropolitan Opera as Moralès in Sid in Albert Herring, both with received positive reviews for his Carmen followed by Hor a t i o i n Santa Fe Opera. role of Leone in Handel’s Ta- ▲ Catherine Martin and Bonnie Ambroise Thomas’s Hamlet, also merlano with the Los Angeles Sue Wooldridge at the Met. Liam made his role James (J.J.) Kee (HGOS ’07-’09) O p e ra . debut as the lead role in Hamlet continued his work with Deutsche in the Washington DC National Oper Berlin where he was see n as Fiona Murphy (HGOS ’04-’07)

Opera production of that work. Ein Hausknecht i n Der Rosenka- was seen as Roméo in I C a p u l e-

valier and Sergeant in M a n o n ti e i Montecchi with Opera Gabriel Gonzales (HGOS ’95-’97) Lescaut. I re l a n d in Dublin. spent the early spring in Spain performing sixteen performance s Maria “Masha” Markina (HGOS This fall Marjorie Owens (HGOS of in several ’06-’09) returned to HGO to play ’02-’06) performed her amazing cities. Pauline/Daphnis in T h e Queen of lead in w i t h Spades and will be returning to the Boston Lyric Opera after Scott Hendricks (HGOS ’97-’99) the Hamburg Staatsoper to play which she returned to the Met received rave reviews in the title Zai da in Il turco in Italia a n d C h e- to cover Aïda again. This sum- role in K in g Ro ge r by Szymanowski rubino in Le nozze di Figaro. mer Marjorie is performing Ger- ▲ Jennifer Sickler, Susan Simpson, in . hilde in Die Walkure at O p é ra Catherine Martin, and Adam The March issue of O p e r a ( U K ) Bastille in Paris. Ci o ffa ri Joshua Hopkins (HGOS ’03-’05), m a gai n ze reviewed the perfor-

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FAREWELL PARTY ▼ Norman Reinhardt (HGOS ’03-’06) Teatro Municipal de Santiago Gibson as Bob Boles and L i a m performed Evandros in Alceste before before going to San Fran- Bonner as Ned Keene in Peter and Froh in Das Rheingold, both in cisco where she will be seen as Grimes; Joyce DiDonato as Sister Leipzig. Sophie in and Susanna in Helen, Susanne Mentzer as Jade Le nozze di Figaro. Boucher, Jon Kolbet as Howard Evan Rogister (HGOS ’06-’08) Boucher, and Beau Gibson as Fr conducted Manon Lescaut, La Susanna Stranders (HGOS ’03-’04) Grenville in ; bohème , Die Frau ohne Schatten, will be touring the UK this summer Albina Shagimuratova a s L u c i a , and Die Zauberflöte with on bicycle (over 700 miles) with Scott Hendricks as Enrico, and Deutsche Oper Berlin. soprano Alice Woodbridge per- Beau Gibson as Normanno in forming concerts en route in ord e r Lucia di Lammermoor; Marie Before coming to Houston for to raise money for Alzheimer’s Lenormand as Cherubino, Su - Xerxes Heidi Stober (’04-’06) w as and Multiple Sclerosis. sanne Mentzer as Marcellina, featured as the Milliner in Der Ro- and Jon Kolbet as Don Basilio in senkavalier with Deutsche Oper Alumni returning next season are Le nozze di Figaro; and J a m i e Berlin. She will be performing the Ana María Martínez a s C i o -Cio- Barton as Dryad in Ariadne auf role of Morgana in with San in Madama Butterfly; Beau Naxos.

 Profile: Kathy Kelly ▲ Paul Chuey and Catherine M a r t i n As the Head of Music Staff and music and she was also an avid as Arizona State she came to M u si c Director of HGO Studio, choral singer. Around this time she the with a Kathy Kelly has been a beloved was exposed to her first great singer friend who was audition- figure at HGO since she joined in piano teacher. Kathy moved to ing for a role SFO's Merola pro- 2004. Teacher, coach, mentor, Tempe, Arizona her junior ye a r o f gram. Kathy learned that Mero- conductor, virtuosic pianist, Kathy high school, and while still playing la also looked for pianist- has worn many hats during her piano and violin, she was still coaches and decided to audi- time here and has excelled at mostly into choir. Most people tion for the San Francisco Opera each endeavour. Her achieve- thought that she would be a sing- Center's Music Director, Patrick ments are even more impressive er, particularly since her new Summers. Already a superb given that as a child her highest school didn’t place much value pianist, Kathy came into the aspiration was to become a choir on orchestra. audition very confident and d i re c t o r . experienced, probably for the Kathy attended the Arizona State first time, “an abject failure...It ▲ Nathaniel Peake and Mi- Kathy grew up in Northfield, a Uni versity where she was a piano was clear in the first five minutes chael Sumuel small town near St. Paul, Minneso- major and minored in German. It that I'd stepped in over my ta, which was home to two un- was here that she met her future head.” as Kathy said in a Playbill dergraduate liberal arts colleges, husband Paul Chuey who was, as interview from 2006. No one had and most residents were con- they say, the big man on campus told her that she needed to play nected to the academic work in with his saxophone and took part piano to reflect the whole, or some way. Both Kathy's parents in rock, punk, and jazz music as parts of, orchestra and had to were good amateur singers and well as symphony. As several pian- speak to the singers about how took part in the local community ists do, Kathy played a lot for to listen for their cues from dif- theater. She remembers a pro- singers in college but her piano ferent instruments. Planting the duction of O k l a h o m a in which her performance wasn't expected to seeds of what was to become a father played Judd, a n d C u r l y be her primary focus due to her long friendship, Maestro Sum- was played by the high school interest in choir. mers turned the audition into a choir director. She remembers lesson, teaching Kathy what an watching Donna Paulson at the While working on her Masters, opera pianist is supposed to be ▲ Laura Canning and Brenda piano bringing in the singers on Kathy ran into the conductor of and how the piano could Harvey-T r a y l o r cue, everything and the local Lyric Opera Theater and represent different instruments thinking “I want to know how to learned that the person who was for the singer depending on do that!” since she knew every- supposed to be his graduate as- where they were in the score. “I t thing that was going on. She also sistant wasn't coming and so Ka- was that generosity that drew remembers how she heard clas- thy was invited to take on the me to [Patrick Summers]. I sical music for the first time with assistantship position. The first op- learned a lot on that day about the St. Olaf College Choir and era she helped prepare was Cosi what a teacher is.” specifically remembers Montiver- fan tutte. Kathy says "I went into di, Bach, and Handel's . the practice room with Cosi and After graduating from ASU Ka- that... was... it..." There Kathy ex- thy went to Germany on a Ful- Kathy started piano lessons at the perienced that seminal moment bright Scholarship pursuing a age of seven and also learned which so many of us have expe- Diploma in Piano Performance violin. She took part in the Minne- rienced where we fall in love with as well as studying contempo-

sota Youth Symphony while in this incredible art form. rary German piano mu si c. Fol- ▲ Adam Cioffari, Stephanie middle school and was intro- lowing this she moved to Seattle Rhodes, and Michael Sumuel duced to a great deal of music. Soon after this Kathy Kelly expe- where her husband Paul was in in the pool! Up to that point the majority of rienced one of her life's important l a w s c h o o l . She went to w o rk her exposure had been to choral turning points. While still a student preparing for her se cond

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FAREWELL PARTY ▼ Merola audition in which she su c- repertoire, for almost eight years. she is going to miss Houston. ceeded! She went on to work for She has been counting down San Francisco Opera after the We in Houston were lucky her days in our fair city express- Merola program, and during enough to experience Kathy's ing her love for all the things she breaks between seasons she re- talents when Patrick Summers loves about Houston in her daily turned to Seattle where she stu- brought her onboard at HGO. Facebook posts. To o u r dear died and practiced. From there Now Kathy will be heading to the Kathy we all say, “Viel Glück!” Kathy was recommended by prestigious as Patrick Summers to the Metropoli- Studienleiter (Head of Music Staff) tan Opera where she worked as under Franz Welser-Möst, the new assistant conductor, coach, and music director there. Kathy Kelly is ▲ Kiri Dyan Deonarine, Natha- prompter, specializing in German certainly going to be missed and niel Peake, Stephanie Rhodes,

Catherine Martin, Adam Cioffa-

ri, and Michael Sumuel

Welcome!

Francis Greep will join Houston ognized within the profession to Young Artist Program at West

Grand Opera as Head of Music have the linguistic, musical and Australian Opera. In this capac -

Staff and Music Director of the administrative abilities to prepare ity, he championed and en-

HGO Studio. “I have known and a singer for any situation. He will couraged new repertoire and admired Francis's work for most of carry on with the type of distinc- productions at West Australian his professional career,” says HGO tion and brilliance created by O p e ra , including Bellini's La

Music Director Patrick Summers. Kathleen Kelly and Richard Bado Sonnambula, Britten's Peter

“He possesses the wide range of that has become the legacy of Grimes, Puccini's The Girl of the skills that are logistically and ad- this position.” Golden West, Perth's first staged ministratively necessary in this Wagner production (Tristan und Francis Greep has served as position to disseminate the artistic Isolde) and soon-to-be-seen first Head of Music and assistant con- philosophy of Houston Grand performances of Offenbach's ductor for all productions at West O p e ra . Tales of Hoffman. Australian Opera since 2006. He is ▲ Kiri Dyan Deonarine with her “Francis is someone who is rec- also the Artistic Director of the husband Chris

Kathy Kelly, BUDDIES VISITS ▼ Imelda Gott, and Barbara K au fman ►

▲ Alexi Markin, Maria Markina, Alice Gates, and Wayne Wilner in Russia

Dear readers,

We hope you’ve enjoyed this issue of the Studio Buddies Newsletter. If we

have made any omission or errors, please accept our apologies.

If you have news to report about yourself or about a Studio member, alumnus/alumna, staff member, or Buddy, or if you have any comments or suggestions, please email Asad at [email protected] Thank you,

Asad S. Jafari Fred & Imelda Gott ▲ Marjorie Owens and Asad HGO Guild Buddy & Newsletter Editor Studio Buddies Trustees Jafari backstage in Boston