What to Expect
ROSA D’IMPERIO (Aida) has received a myriad of glowing reviews by both the European and American press such as “Tall, handsome and dramatic, D’Imperio delivered in a big, vibrant voice…This woman is a real find: she has presence, breath control, and even a trill” (News-Times), “agile of tone and singing with gleaming tone” (Opera News), “a real dramatic soprano that can also float a sweet Verdi cantilena” (Mannheimer Morgen), and “rich purity of tone, fluid range and impressive dramatic communication" (The New York Newsday).
Ms. D’Imperio most recently debuted as Turandot for Teatro Lirico D’Europa, as Lady Macbeth for Fresno Grand Opera and Opera Santa Barbara, and as Elisabetta in Don Carlo and as Minnie in La Fanciulla del West for the Martha Cardona Lyric Theater in New York City. She also appeared in "A Survey of Opera", a concert scripted and conducted by Maestro Coppola himself as part of the Altamura Opera Center Summer Concert Series.
Other performance highlights include Abigaille in Nabucco, in Paris, Hamburg, Basel and Mannheim for Companions Opera and upstate New York, for Taconic Opera, Tosca for Opera Tampa, New York Grand Opera, Treasure Coast Opera and New Rochelle Opera, Odabella in Attila for New York Grand Opera, Leonora in Oberto for Sarasota Opera, Aida for New Rochelle Opera and for Gateway Classical Music Society and, Desdemona in Otello for Palm Beach Opera, Marguerite with Opera Cleveland the title role in Strauss's Die Ägyptische Helena for Teatro Lirico di Cagliari in Sardinia and Lola in the U.S. Premiere of the Zarzuela Curro el de Lora with the Greenwich Village Symphony Orchestra.
In her native Puerto Rico, she has sung the principal roles in Tosca, Il Tabarro, Cavalleria Rusticana, La Boheme, Les Contes d'Hoffmann Aida and Andrea Chenier and Dolores in La Dolorosa for Teatro de la Opera, Opera de Puerto Rico, Culturarte, and, the Puerto Rico Zarzuela Foundation.
In concert, Ms. D’Imperio has sung the title role of Adriana Lecouvreur with the Prague Radio Symphony, Manon Lescaut highlights for Opera de Puerto Rico Puccini Gala, Rossini’s Stabat Mater with Gateway Classical Music Society Orchestra, Beethoven’s Ninth with Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Bach’s Magnificat with Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, Verdi Requiem with The West Village Chorale and has appeared with the orchestras of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Theatre An der Wien, Fujxo, Danbury, Krakow, Ile de France, Baden-Baden and of Amigos de la Zarzuela at Carnegie Hall. She has been a winner of the Joyce Dutka Arts Foundation competition and was a finalist in the George London Foundation Competition.
STACEY RISHOI (Princess Amneris) In the 2011-12 season Rishoi sings as Amneris in Aida with Opera Tampa, joins the roster of Lyric Opera of Chicago for its production of Aida, sings as soloist in Beethoven's "Choral Fantasy" and "Symphony No. 9," both in a return to Jacksonville Symphony and, in another return, in "This is Opera" with Opera Omaha. She also returns to Cincinnati Opera as La Ciesca in Gianni Schicchi and as Flora in La traviata. In 2010-11 she returned to Calgary Opera to sing Amneris and to Cincinnati Opera to sing Maddalena in Rigoletto and Madama Larina in Eugene Onegin. She also performed the role of Komponist in Ariadne auf Naxos with Toledo Opera, and appeared as soloist with both the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra and Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra in Verdi's Requiem, and the Toledo Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven's "Symphony No. 9." Other highlights of Ms. Rishoi's recent seasons include two successful role debuts: Dalila in Samson et Dalila with Nashville Opera and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with Orlando Opera; her return to Washington National Opera as Waltraute in Die Walküre; Beethoven's "Symphony No. 9" with North Carolina Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Grant Llewellyn; Dvorák's Stabat Mater and Beethoven's Missa Solemnis with Choral Arts Society of Washington, DC; de Falla's The Three Cornered Hat with Columbus Symphony; joining the roster of the Metropolitan Opera for the world premiere of Tan Dun's The First Emperor; Mozart's Requiem with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, among others. Ms. Rishoi is a winner of the 1999 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and the Norman Treigle Award from New York City Opera.
American Tenor MARC HELLER (Radames) has appeared several times at the Metropolitan Opera, opposite Placido Domingo, Anna Netrebko and Roberto Alagna, in worldwide radio, satellite and cinematic simulcasts of performances of Tan Dun’s The First Emperor and of Romeo et Juliette, re-broadcast regularly internationally. Mr. Heller has sung operas and concerts all over the world, including the cities of New York, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Beijing, Macau, Los Angeles, Berlin, Oslo, Dubai (producer and director), and many others. Most recently of note, Mr. Heller appeared as Radames in Verdi’s Aida staged directly at the pyramids and in internationally simulcast performances including on Italy’s RAI and in a brand new production at Royal Albert Hall in London broadcast on the SKY network, to great critical acclaim. As a recording artist, Mr. Heller has appeared as principal or solo artist of several internationally distributed albums, the latest of which is as Chairman Mao in John Adams’ Nixon in China, available on Naxos, and only the second recording ever done of the opera, Grammy nominated for its production.
MARK S. DOSS (Amonasro) accomplished one of his major goals during the 2010/11 season by successfully singing the role of Amonasaro in Aida with the Vienna State Opera Company. Doss' recent debuts include Italy's famed Arena di Verona (Escamillo), Florence's Teatro del Maggio Musicale (Jochanaan in Salome), Madrid's Teatro Real and Bologna's Teatro Comunale (Jochanaan), as well as Teatro La Fenice in Venice (Přemysl in Janacek's Šárka). Mr. Doss also made his role debut as Balstrode in Peter Grimes with Teatro Regio Torino, and opened the season in Salome (Jochanaan) as his house debut at the Deutsche Staastoper Berlin. Highlights of recent seasons include a Covent Garden debut, as well as a La Scala verdi role debut, as Amonasro in Aida, the title role in Boito's Mefistofele with Oper Frankfurt, Escamillo in his debut at Teatro alla Scala, among others.
GEORGE CORDES (King of Egypt) Bass-baritone George Cordes has earned high praise in both the comic and serious repertoire with such companies as the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera and Dallas Opera. Mr. Cordes’ many roles with NYCO include Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro, Colline in La Boheme, the Four Villains in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Timur in Turandot, Monterone in Rigoletto, the Speaker in The Magic Flute, Zuniga in Carmen, Masetto in Don Giovanni, Harasta in The Cunning Little Vixen, Tchelio in The Love for Three Oranges and Pistola in Falstaff. As a concert soloist, Cordes has performed most of the standard sacred and secular works, including "Messiah," Mozart's "Requiem," Verdi's "Requiem," "Elijah," Bach's "St. Matthew Passion" and "Magnificat," the masses of Beethoven, Mozart and Schubert, among others. Cordes began his vocal training at the Boston Conservatory of Music with Iride Pilla and Bradley Pennington. He continued his vocal and dramatic studies with Clifford Billions and Alfred Anderson at the University of Akron School of Music, where he earned his master of music degree. He was an apprentice artist with Santa Fe Opera for two seasons and Pittsburgh Opera for three seasons and has won numerous awards and competitions.
GUSTAV ANDREASSEN (Ramfis) Norwegian-American bass Gustav Andreassen has performed with major opera companies and orchestras throughout North American and Europe. Mr. Andreassen’s prolific opera career includes Daland in Der fliegende Holländer, Truffaldino in Ariadne auf Naxos, King in Aida, Blitch in Susannah and Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte. He has performed as Sourin in Pique Dame and as Prince Gremin with San Francisco Opera, Osmin with both Boston Lyric Opera and Glimmerglass Opera, Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Wolf Trap Opera, as well as Commendatore in Don Giovanni with Boston Baroque, Florida Grand Opera and Cincinnati Opera, among others. Internationally Mr. Andreassen has appeared with Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Hamburgishe Staatsoper, De Vlaamse Opera, and in Lucca, Italy in such roles as Ferrando in Il trovatore, Sparafucile in Rigoletto and King Philip II in Don Carlos. An avid concert artist, Mr. Andreassen has an extensive list of symphonic engagements. In addition to winning the Heinz Rehfuss Singing-Actor Award at Orlando Opera, Mr. Andreassen received three prestigious awards while a graduate student at Cincinnati Conservatory or Music: the Italo Tajo Award, the Norman Treigle/New York City Opera Award, and the Corbett Award. While an undergraduate at the University of Arizona he was awarded first place in the Amelia Rieman Competition and placed second in the Western Region Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.