Pitttsburgh Announces its 2012/13 season. Joseph Barron will be joining the Pittsburgh Opera for their productions of Don Giovanni, Rigoletto, and Cenerentola. see link BELOW!
http://operagasm.com/2012/02/pittsburgh-opera-announces-2012-2013-season/
And the only Mezzo
-Soprano is our own Marvelous Mezzo, Margaret Mezzacappa, a very talented and amazingly powerful singer. She recently was awarded the George London Award at the 2012 Competition. If you have a chance to attend the National Finals in New York’s Lincoln Center, Metropolitan Opera House next Sunday, March 18th, I hope you can witness the quality of talent on their grand stage. The concert will be supported by the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and will be hosted by a former Middle Atlantic and National Grand Prize winner, Eric Owens.
Cynthia was one of our outstanding Mezzo Sopranos in 2009 and 2010-11 Philadelphia District Auditions. She will be singing next season in Magic Flute and La Somnambula. I love to see the great singers from AVA moving into the big league. Especially when it’s in my home city.
South Florida Classical Review raves:
“… the young American tenor Michael Fabiano was just about perfect. He has the handsome looks, dashing arrogance, and most importantly, the voice to carry off the role of the Duke … Fabiano’s voice has an exciting urgency and lots of ping, just the sort of voice needed for Questo o Quella, to which he brought brilliant high notes, and La donna è mobile …”. Michael came through the Philadelphia Met auditions in 2007 and went on to win the National prize in NY.
Also in the role of Gilda, making her FGO debut is Nadine Sierra, a 2009 Met Auditions winner and a native of Ft. Lauderdale.
Margaret Mezzacappa, mezzo soprano and Elizabeth Zharoff, soprano will each receive $5,000 and move on to the Semi-Finals in NY. Encouragement awards were also given to five singers with each receiving $2,000. They were J’nai Bridges, mezzo, Musa Ngqungwana, bass-baritone, Kristina Lewis, mezzo, Joshua Stewart, tenor, and Olivia Vote, mezzo.
Margaret began her audition with a beautiful rendition of O ma lyre immortelle from Gounod’s Sapho and the judges selected Cruda sorte! from Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri as her second aria.
Elizabeth sang Iolanthe’s Arioso from Iolanthe (Tchaikovsky) and then soared through Qui la voce sua soave from Bellini’s I Puritani, receiving a roar of an ovation from the sold out house. We wish them both all the best on the road to the Big Apple.
The Regional Finals competition for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions will take place at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Art in the Terrace Theater on January 29, 2012 at 2 p.m.. Tickets will go on sale at the Kennedy Center Box Office on January 13, 2012. This years competition will include 14 singers from the Middle Atlantic Region. Ticket price is $32.00 for all seats and always sells out early, so don’t hesitate to order tickets as soon as possible. They must be purchased through the KC Box Office.
We are very happy to announce the following contestants who have been chosen by the judges to go through to the Region Finals at the Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington, DC on January 29, 2011. Each one will receive a cash prize of $1,500 donated by our generous patrons in the Middle Atlantic Region to assist them in preparation for the next round of competition. Congratulations all!
They are:
Musa Ngqungwana, Bass-baritone age 27
Christian Bowers, Baritone age 26
Margaret Mezzacappa, Mezzo soprano age 24
Elizabeth Zharoff, Soprano age 25
Christopher Tiesi, Tenor age 24
Nian Wang, Mezzo soprano age 24
Zach Borichevsky, Tenor age 27
J’nai Bridges, Mezzo soprano age 24
Joshua Stewart, Tenor age 24
With 46 singers currently signed in for the National Council Auditions at Curtis Institute on Saturday Dec 3, 2011, we will have one of the most crowded but talented rosters in recent history. The busy day begins promptly at 10 a.m. and may continue until as late as 6 p.m. with each singer displaying their fantastic voices in two arias each. Admission is free and patrons may come and go all day long. Winners will be announced at the end of the day but if you leave before the announcement you can find the list of winners on this blog.
Winners of the DC Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions held Sunday, November 6, 2011 at The Barns at Wolf Trap in Vienna, VA and going through to the Middle Atlantic Region Finals to be held at Kennedy Center on January 29, 2012 are:
With 33 singers signed on for the auditions at Wolf Trap next Sunday (Nov 6) we will close the registration this Sunday in order to develop the program and line up for the day.
This event is at the Barns and is open to the public free of charge. Stop by between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. or between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. to hear a couple of arias from each contestant.
