What to Expect
Featured in this concert are:
Elizabeth de Trejo made her Metropolitan Opera debut in Lulu in the 2009-2010 season. Also that season, she debuted the role of Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor with Opera Tampa and she returned to Carnegie Hall to perform Carmina Burana. Ms. de Trejo will return to Opera Tampa for the role of Violetta in La Traviata in 2011. She made her Carnegie Hall debut in the 2008-2009 season as a soloist, with John Rutter conducting and returned from the Toledo Opera where she performed the role of Gilda in Rigoletto. Also in the 2008-2009 season Ms. de Trejo sang Adina in L’elisir d’amore with Dayton Opera and Marguerite with Opera Tampa and returned to Carnegie Hall as the soprano soloist in the Rutter Requiem. In addition to her operatic repertoire, de Trejo is a consummate recitalist and concert performer, having given numerous concerts both in Europe and the United States. She can be seen on the recently released EMI Classics DVD of Der Rosenkavalier with Vasselina Kasarova, Nina Stemma and Alfred Muff under the direction of Franz Welser-Möst and Sven Erich Bechtolf live from Opernhaus Zürich.
Rochelle Bard's recent performances include Micaëla in Carmen with Ash Lawn Opera, Musetta in La Boheme with Sacramento Opera, the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor with Opera Idaho, the title role in The Merry Widow with St. Petersburg Opera Company, Gilda in Rigoletto with Rockland Opera, and the Foreign Princess in Rusalka with Boston Lyric Opera, for which Opera News deemed her a "deliciously evil enchantress, conveying the haughty cruelty of the Foreign Princess with a bright, crystalline soprano." She completed her Artist Residency in 2008 with Opera San José with much acclaimed performances of Lucia di Lammermoor, Gilda in Rigoletto, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Violetta in La Traviata, and Juliette in Roméo et Juliette. In 2010, she debuted as Magda in La Rondine with Opera Tampa, followed by performances of Violetta in La Traviata with the Music by the Lake Festival, and a return to Opera Tampa to sing the title role in The Merry Widow. During the summer of 2011, Ms. Bard debuted as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with Utah Festival Opera as well as sing the title role in The Merry Widow.
Jessica Best captivates an audience from the moment she steps foot on stage. Best made her main-stage debut withThe Santa Fe Opera in summer 2008, covering the role of Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro and performing in the ensembles of Le Nozze di Figaro under the baton of Kenneth Montgomery, Falstaff with Maestro Paolo Arrivabeni and the American Premier of Adriana Mater, directed by Peter Sellars and conducted by Ernest Martinez-Izquierdo. While at The Santa Fe Opera, Ms. Best performed an honest and heart broken Musetta in an Act IV scene from La Bohème. A comedic and lively portrayal of Edith in The Pirates of Penzance with Mercury Opera Rochester opened the fall 2010 season. It was followed by sassy Lolo in The Merry Widow with Opera Tampa. Earlier in 2010 Ms. Best performed the role of Suzy and Lolette in La Rondine with Opera Tampa as well as singing several Mezzo heroines in their Gala Concert. Ms. Best was a Resident Artist with Opera Tampa for the 2009-2010 season and Young Artist with Opera Tampa from 2007-2009: singing the roles of Nella in Gianni Schicchi and La Maestra in Suor Angelica in the 2009 season. Ms. Best was presented with a Coin of Excellence from General David Petraeus in a prestigious solo performance as an artist with Opera Tampa. Best holds a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Nazareth College.
Irene Roberts' recent opera engagements include joining the Metropolitan Opera roster as Stephano in Roméo et Juliette, Siébel in Faust with the North Carolina Opera, performing Mahler’s Ruckert Lieder at Duke University under the baton of Harry Davidson, Amore in Orfeo ed Euridice at Palm Beach Opera, two summer seasons at the Castleton Festival performing in Suor Angelica, The Beggar’s Opera and covering Miss Jessel in The Turn of the Screw. She made her debut at the Townsend Opera as Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia and as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly at the Opera Western Reserve. A recent graduate of the Palm Beach Opera’s Young Artist Program, Ms. Roberts performed on the main-stage as Emilia in Otello, Zerlina in Don Giovanni and Mercédès in Carmen. Her cover assignments included Maddalena in Rigoletto and Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro. She also performed Dorabella in Così fan Tutte, Nancy in Albert Herring and Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro for PBO’s One Opera in One Hour series. Ms. Roberts has appeared in concert with the Fairax Choral Society as a guest soloist in Wilberg’s Requiem and Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb led by the former Mormon Tabernacle Choir conductor, Craig Jessop. A native of Sacramento, California, Ms. Roberts holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the University of the Pacific Conservatory of Music in Stockton, Calif. She completed her graduate studies with a Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Gerard Powers' engagements include Rodolfo in La Bohème in the Gala Concert at Florida Grand Opera; Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with Boston Lyric Opera; the Gala Concert at New Orleans Opera; Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly at the Royal Albert Hall in London, and Richard Smythe in The End of the Affair by Jake Heggie for the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. He sand the tenor solo in Lukas Foss's The Prairie at Rose Hall in Lincoln Center with the Brooklyn Philharmonic. Other recent engagements for Mr. Powers include Don José in Carmen at Germany’s Cologne Arena and Opera Festival of New Jersey, the Duke in Rigoletto with Portland Opera Repertory Theatre in Maine, and Fenton in Falstaff with Opera Illinois; concert engagements included Federico in Cilea’s L’Arlesiana with Teatro Grattacielo at New York’s Alice Tully Hall and Kodály’s Psalmus Hungaricus with the Oratorio Society of New York at Carnegie Hall.
Nat Chandler's recent roles include King Arthur in Spamalot, Fred/Petruchio in Kiss Me Kate, district attorney Frederick Katzmann in Anton Coppola's Sacco and Venzetti and Shaunard in La Boheme. He played the role of Roy Darwin in Off-Broadway’s Counsellor at Law starring John Rubinstein and toured nationally as Lancelot in Camelot starring Robert Goulet. Mr. Chandler starred as Raoul in The Phantom of the Opera directed by Harold Prince and toured with Sarah Brightman in The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber. Other national tours include Sondheim’s Into the Woods and Lun Tha in The King and I starring Yul Brynner. Other Off-Broadway venues include the prestigious 92nd Street Y’s Lyrics and Lyricists series, City Center Encores! production of The Ziegfeld Follies of 1936 (cast recording on Sony Records), and creating the role of Tony Toscanini in the fabled Tales of Tinseltown. Recently, Mr. Chandler has performed the roles of Gaston in Beauty and the Beast, Miles Gloriosus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum for which he received a Kevin Kline nomination for Best Actor in a Musical, and a very special Carousel in which he played Billy Bigelow with Shirley Jones as Nettie Fowler, all to critical acclaim. He received two Barrymore Award nominations for Best Actor in a Musical for his performances as the Phantom in the Kopit/Yestin Phantom! and Lancelot in Camelot at the Walnut Street Theatre.
Lawrence Harris' performances include the High Priest in SAMSON & DELILA with Hawaii Opera; the title role in RIGOLETTO with Connecticut Grand Opera, Opera Company of Brooklyn, New Rochelle Opera, Garden State Symphony and Sherman Symphony Orchestra; Germont in LA TRAVIATA with San Antonio Opera and Philadelphia's Kimmel Center; Scarpia in TOSCA with Opera North, Opera East Texas, Philadelphia's Kimmel Center; King Melchior in AMAHL & THE NIGHT VISITORS with Lincoln Center's Little Orchestra Society, Fort Worth Opera and Opera East Texas; the Burgomaster in THE RED MILL with Lincoln Center's Little Orchestra Society; Tonio in I PAGLIACCI with Philadelphia's Kimmel Center. Harris recently performed as soloist in BEETHOVEN'S "SYMPHONY NO. 9" with Texarkana Symphony Orchestra and the South Shore Symphony and was soloist for the Richard Tucker Foundation. Last summer he made his debut as Count di Luna in IL TROVATORE with the San Antonio Opera, under the baton of Maestro Enrique Patron Rueda. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in Weill Recital Hall in 2009 in a Puccini Birthday Celebration performing Act II from TOSCA. He made his debut in Mexico in November 2009 in the title role of RIGOLETTO at both the Teatro Pablo de Villavicencio and the Teatro Angela Peralta.
Stefanos Koroneos made his debut in La Boheme at the Staatstheater in Freiburg (Germany) singing the role of Schaunard. He has since then performed in main theatres in Italy, USA, Germany, Russia, Greece, Korea and Malta.Theatre appearances include Teatro alla Scala (Vesprae sollenae de confessor), Bolshoi Theatre (La Traviata), Teatro Reggio di Parma (Madame Butterfly, Tosca), Rossini Opera Festival (Il Viaggio a Reims),Palm Beach Opera (Tosca), Teatro Giglio di Lucca (Madame Butterfly), Opera Orchestra of New York (L'Africaine), Connecticut Opera (Tosca), Opera Tampa (Tosca, Boheme), Fresno Grand Opera (Boheme, Faust), Teatro Alighieri di Ravenna (I vespri Siciliani, Rigoletto, Madame Butterfly), Teatro Verdi di Bussetto (I Vespri Siciliani, La Forza del Destino, Rigoletto, Traviata), Teatro Comunale di Piacenza (Rigoletto, Un Ballo in Maschera), Teatro Comunale di Pisa (Rigoletto, Madame Butterfly), Teatro Sociale di Rovigo ( Rigoletto), Ente concerti Sassari (Madame Butterfly), Teatro Fraschini di Pavia (Rigoletto), Teatro Comunale di Ferrara (I Vespri Siciliani), Teatro Comunale di Modena (I Vespri Siciliani), Teatro Goldoni di Livorno (Madame Butterfly), Teatro Comunale di Trento (Rigoletto, Madame Butterfly), among others. Koroneos was born in Athens and moved young in Italy (Milan) to study first at the G. Verdi Conservatory.
Ian O'Brien A voice student of Maria Spacagna, O'Brien is a Vocal Performance major at Rhode Island College. He was selected to perform as the featured soloist at an ASCAP-sponsored event celebrating the life of George M. Cohen and has enjoyed performances on regional stages in Rhode Island, Boston and New York. Mr. O’Brien has apprenticed as a New Artist with Opera Tampa and performed in their production of The Merry Widow with Anton Coppola conducting. Mr. O'Brien has performed on many of the northeast's greatest stages including Symphony Hall and Jordan Hall in Boston and Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall in New York City. Mr. O'Brien's specialties include Irish, Scottish and German dialects as well as superior pronunciation of Italian and German. In addition, he studied for 12 years classical viola and renaissance flute.
American tenor Gregory Schmidt combines a ringing Italianate sound with ease in the high tessitura of the Bel Canto repertoire; he is equally at home with Mozart and the French lyric repertoire. Signature roles include Edgardo, Almaviva, Don Ramiro, Don Ottavio and Tamino. Schmidt’s unusually beautiful voice and commanding stage presence have brought him consistent critical acclaim. “Gregory Schmidt [exhibits] bright and accurate sound, charged with genuine emotion…combining credible acting with elegant style” wrote Jess Anderson for Opera News. “Schmidt might be the finest tenor ever to tread the Skylight (Opera Theater) stage,” enthused Tom Strini of the Milwaukee Journal (Lucia di Lammermoor). “On top of that, he is a dashing, handsome fellow…Lucia could plausibly go mad over Schmidt’s Edgardo.” Critic Christopher Weimer wrote “Schmidt…cut a dashing figure on stage, acted very affectingly, and sang the entire role marvelously. His arias stood out for their musicianship.” Upcoming engagements include Don Ramiro (La Cenerentola) with Madison Opera, Tonio (La Fille du Régiment) with Tulsa Opera and Tenor Soloist in Philip Glass’s Kepler with Spoleto Festival USA. Schmidt is on the roster of the Metropolitan Opera, where he has covered the roles of Ernesto (Don Pasquale), Tamino (Magic Flute) and Flamand (Capriccio). Recent engagements include Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor) and Almaviva (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) with Opera Tampa, under the baton of Maestro Anton Coppola; Nemorino (L’Elisir d’Amore) and Tebaldo (I Capuleti e i Montecchi) with Tulsa Opera; Camille (The Merry Widow) and Alfredo (La Traviata) with St. Petersburg Opera; Don Ramiro (La Cenerentola) with Fresno Grand Opera; and Ferrando (Così fan Tutte) with El Paso Opera. Schmidt has performed Alfredo with St. Petersburg Opera, Tacoma Opera and Des Moines Metro Opera; Edgardo with Opera Tampa, El Paso Opera, Chattanooga Opera, Nevada Opera and Skylight Opera Theater; and Don Ottavio with Nashville Opera, Opera Carolina, Skylight Opera and Madison Opera. Schmidt made his professional debut with Washington D. C. Opera in the role of Count Belfiore in Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera, returning to the Kennedy Center stage the following season as Tamino. He apprenticed with Santa Fe Opera and was a Metropolitan Opera Audition National Finalist.