Composer Kevin Puts Will Debut His First Opera in Minnesota

Composer Kevin Puts
(Photo: Gregory Downer/Opera News)

"When Dale Johnson, artistic director of Minnesota Opera, saw Joyeux Noël, Christian Carion's 2005 film inspired by this true story, he immediately sensed in it the makings of a powerful opera. 'I was so moved by it. The singing of 'Silent Night,' the image of Sprink carrying the Christmas tree, the three lieutenants' struggle with the orders from their commanders [to resume fighting], their struggle with themselves as human beings.... Here are these young guys stuck in this horrible situation. How are they going to deal with it?' Joyeux Noël focuses on the lieutenants, the priest and the German singer and his love interest, all of whose lives are irrevocably changed by the unofficial truce. 'It felt like a very classical opera plot. They're all trying to live their lives, and there's this huge story going on around them that they can't control, and that they're being buffeted by.' The film has many potent visual images, and Johnson felt music could be used to create equivalent effects. So he knew he wanted a composer who was 'a really strong orchestral writer.' Johnson wanted a fresh voice and contacted music publisher Bill Holab to ask, ''Who's interesting? Who's got a real point of view?' And Bill sent me Kevin Puts, plus several other extraordinary young people. I was listening to Kevin's Second Symphony, and I started crying — it was so beautiful. The next day I told [Minnesota Opera's then President and CEO] Kevin Smith, 'I think I have the guy for Joyeux Noël.' He listened and agreed.' However, though Puts (Puts as in

Conductor Michael Christie
(Photo: Krista Campbell)

'Johnson puts his money where his mouth is') had written a great deal of extraordinary orchestral work, including four symphonies and numerous concertos, he had never written an opera. In fact, the composer, who is thirty-nine, had written only one piece of vocal music — Einstein on Mercer Street, a work for baritone and chamber ensemble. Still, Johnson believed in him. 'I knew he had it in him. I knew he knew how to create tension and develop a piece of music — really develop it to a climax and finish it — and that's a rare commodity.' So, like that German singer on the battlefield, Johnson took a leap of faith and offered Puts the commission." [Source] Read the whole story, including a funny anecdote about troubleshooting a bagpipe during composition, at Opera News. The Minnesota Opera will perform Silent Night on November 12, 15, 17, 19 and 20, 2011. The cast includes William Burden, Joseph Beutel, Liam Bonner, Troy Cook, Ben Wager and Karin Wolverton. Michael Christie will conduct. A full biography for composer Kevin Puts is after the jump. For more information about the opera, click here.

OPERATIC OVERTONES
One of the reasons the Dale Johnson may have felt the film was worthy of becoming an opera, was the fact that the soundtrack heavily featured soprano Natalie Dessay and tenor Rolando Villazón. Listen to clips from the film to hear the extraordinary use of music to touch the hearts of so many film goers. A trailer of the film follows.

Interview with Tenor Nick Phan About His New CD - Part 2

If you missed Part 1 of the interview with tenor Nick Phan about his new recording, Winter Words featuring the music of Benjamin Britten, click here to read it in full. Opera Fresh would like to thank Mr. Phan for the generosity of his time and willingness to discuss his feelings about the recording. Here now is the second and final part of the interview:

Of all the poems, why did Britten focus on these eight of Hardy and seven of Michelangelo?
Britten would often pull books of poetry down from the shelf and peruse them, collecting various poems in his head over time. So the poetry that he would choose to set were often poems he had been ruminating on over a long period of time. I think in the end it came back to the importance of theme for him.

Does Britten's setting of Winter Words hold up to other great song cycles like Vaughan Williams Songs of Travel or Winterreise of Schubert?
Totally. While there isn't a narrative to Winter Words that links the cycle together as there is in both Winterreise and Songs of Travel, the thematic link between the songs is incredibly strong. Also, structurally, he works a bit of genius – the cycle is structured like a palindrome. Both the first and eighth song reminisce about times past, the second and seventh songs both deal with a young boy in a train station, the third and sixth songs both deal with young birds, while the fourth and fifth songs provide the center around which the other songs are reflected. It's pretty brilliant, because it provides this amazing cohesion between the songs.

Do you feel there is a more intimate immediacy in communicating text of songs in recital with piano versus performing full-costumed operas with orchestra?
Yes, definitely. When a singer is alone with a piano, you are the most naked and vulnerable you could possibly be. There is nothing to hide behind – it's just you and the audience. I love that about songs – I think that is what makes them so powerful. There is the possibility for real intimacy and an incredibly deep and direct level of communication.

How much influence do you think Britten's life partner, tenor Peter Pears, had on the composition of Winter Words and Seven Sonnets?
A huge influence – Pears and Britten worked very closely on much of his composition, and these songs were most definitely tailor-made for Pears' voice and technique.

The music for Winter Words was written in 1954 when Britten was 41 and Pears was 44. Do you think Winter Words is a song cycle that perhaps gets more poignant as you perform it at different stages of your own life?
Definitely – the thematic material makes it much that way. The whole cycle is about viewing innocence through that lens of experience. I think that as we get older, the layers through which look back only deepen, and so the way we relate to it will become richer and richer as we age.

The Seven Sonnets was composed by Britten 14 years earlier than Winter Words. Can you distinguish the growth in the composer's writing?
A bit. Mostly, it is pretty clear that Britten knew the intricacies of Pears' voice and vocal technique by the time he wrote Winter Words. At the same time, it is a bit difficult – compositionally, Britten was going for a very specific effect in the Michelangelo sonnets, trying to give a nod to Italian music and vocalism – which is incredibly successful at. Winter Words has a much more British musical feel, and in that sense, it is a bit like trying to compare apples and oranges.

As Michelangelo's sonnets were largely dedicated to Tommaso dei Cavalieri, do you think that Benjamin Britten as a gay man was somewhat drawn to these works beyond their poetic nature?
I assume so – there are many homosexual themes to much of Britten's music, and it is evident that it was something that he wanted to explore in his work. Billy Budd, Death in Venice, and his first Canticle all have heavy homosexual overtones. Still, in my research, I didn't encounter much written about that particular subject when it came to Britten's composition of the Michelangelo Sonnets.

Were there any specific translations that you sought out for the Italian sonnets?
In addition to my own translation work, I worked between Pears' translations at the front of the score, James Saslow's translations from his book The Poetry of Michelangelo (which provided really helpful biographical and historical annotations), and Carl Johengen's translations which are used in the liner notes.

As you perform these two different song cycles, do you feel that Britten succeeds in composing for the Italian language just as well as his native English? Are there any detectable differences in his writing to accommodate the language?
I do feel that is equally successful in both languages – his setting of the Italian is really impressive and colorful. Both cycles are incredibly colorful and full of texture in the realizations of the texts, and I think both show off his exceptionally virtuosic skill at setting text to music.

Three Britten songs are tagged on at the end of the recording. Do they hold special significance for you?
We included Britten's folksongs much like Britten and Pears included them on their programs. The material of this album is incredibly intense, and we felt that it needed some "lighter" music to break up the intensity and provide a bit of breathing room in the program. I love all of the folksongs on the album – I think Britten was a master at making you hear something so familiar and rooted into our western cultural consciousness as if you were hearing it for the first time. His arrangements of these folksongs are truly masterful.

Has interpreting the songs of Britten affected how you look at some of the composer's opera roles for tenor in Albert Herring, Peter Grimes, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Death in Venice or Turn of the Screw?
I haven't had the chance to perform any of his operatic roles yet – but I am bursting at the seams to get the chance!

Given any choice of composer or repertoire, what would you like your next recording project to be?
For the next album, I'm planning on deepening my exploration of Britten's music. I'm particularly fascinated with Britten's relationships with some of the other musicians he collaborated with in addition to Peter Pears. I explored a lot of the music he composed for these musicians in great detail during my summers at Marlboro, and I'd really like to take some of that music into the recording studio now . Down the road, other composers I would really like to explore in the recording studio would be Schumann, Bach, Handel and Mozart, but for now I'm mostly focused on trying to explore Britten. He wrote so much for the tenor voice, and especially as the centenary of his birth approaches in 2013, it seems really timely that my fascination with his music and life is blossoming now.

Check out these sources for more information about Nick Phan and Winter Words:
http://www.nicholas-phan.com/
http://www.avie-records.com/album_detail.php?id=547
http://www.opus3artists.com/artists/nicholas-phan

Pop-Rock Star Pink Gives Her Rendition of "Summertime" in NY

Mary Elizabeth Williams Garners Major Success as Aida

Ethiopian Princess: Mary Elizabeth Williams

"And there was radiant soprano Mary Elizabeth Williams as Aida, who was probably the reason this company dared take on Aida in the first place. Williams is not actually an Aida; her voice is about two sizes too small for the part. She is, however, a consummate artist, who stood out with the company as Tosca (another ambitious assignment) in 2009, and who won more local attention as Adriana Lecouvreur at the Washington Concert Opera last fall. She has a soft bronze voice with a limpid quality, whether she is singing at her loudest or floating out a gentle little phrase that tamed the bombast of the big Act II ensemble. She is also a wonderful presence on stage, at once regal and human. As Aida, the Ethiopian princess captured by the Egyptians and enslaved to the princess Amneris, Williams seemed a true princess in disguise, whether she was going through the motions of a slave girl or standing up to Amneris and starting to snap at her that she was, indeed, her equal. She looked it, every inch." [Source]

Watch a brief video of the singer discussing Aida at the Virginia Opera, after the jump.

When Ta’u Pupu’a Met Fellow Polynesian Dame Kiri Te Kanawa

Polynesian Delight: Pupu'a and Te Kanawa

"In March 2007, I went to a performance of Il Trittico at the Met, and I saw a poster saying Dame Kiri Te Kanawa will be signing autographs at the performance. I was so excited because she is also Polynesian – she’s half, and I’m full. After Il Tabarro I went out and stood in line. They had me write my name beforehand so she would know to write 'To Ta’u Pupu’a, from Dame Kiri.' She looked at my name on the card and looked up to me. She then said, 'What do you do?' I exclaimed, 'I’m a tenor!' She asked if I was in school, and I said no. And then she said, 'How can I help you?' I looked at her and didn’t understand what she meant. She then said, 'I would like to help you.' Next, she turned to her assistant and said, 'Robert, give him my phone number.' And she turned back to me and said, 'Call me. Call me tonight.' I got her number and I was on Cloud Nine! The intermission finished with Suor Angelica and I was so anxious I couldn’t even sit through Gianni Schicchi. I walked home and kept thinking, 'What just happened??'" Read the rest of the fascinating and inspirational story over at the San Francisco Opera blog by clicking here.

Annenberg Center Presents "Il Teatro Alla Moda" in Beverly Hills

Roberto Capucci diva gowns: (top row) Raina Kabaivanska, Helga Dernesch*, Anna Caterina Antonacci;
(bottom row) Stefania Bonfadelli, Katia Ricciarelli, Anna Caterina Antonacci
[*costume originally for Salome/Teatro alla Scala/1987 as Herodias]

"The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts presents the U.S. premiere of Il Teatro Alla Moda (Theater in Fashion), the first exhibition to explore Italy’s famous haute couture designers and their impact on the stages of opera, dance and theater. More than 80 costumes, sketches and drawings from Giorgio Armani, Roberto Capucci, Enrico Coveri, Fendi, Alberta Ferretti, Romeo Gigli, Antonio Marras, Missoni, Emanuel Ungaro, Valentino and Gianni Versace will be on display here to celebrate the current transformation of the Italian Renaissance Beverly Hills Post Office into a distinctive performing arts venue and to honor the designers’ contributions to the performing arts. The exhibition will have a limited 4-week run from Oct. 14–Nov. 13. While the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts is under construction, the exhibit will be on display at 253 N. Beverly Dr. on the ground floor of the new MGM Place, which will be converted into a temporary gallery." [Source]

For more information about the operatic connections to the costumes in this exhibit, click here. More information for the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts can be found here. Check out two more colorful costumes after the jump.

Stars Celebrate $56 Million Renovation of New York's City Center

The newly painted ceiling of New York's City Center (Photo: Luke Szczygielski)

The 88-year old institution celebrated its re-opening on Tuesday after a massive overhaul of the Moorish style auditorium's lobby, restrooms, backstage areas and hall seating. "Much was made of the various programming that has graced the City Center stage. There have been musicals, represented on Tuesday by Patti LuPone (who sang 'Everything's Coming Up Roses' from Gypsy), Brian Stokes Mitchell (who sang 'It Ain't Necessarily So' from Porgy and Bess, which has been produced at City Center) and Donna Murphy (who, in an homage to our city, sang 'I Happen to Like New York,' a song she also performed a decade ago at a gala right after Sept. 11, she explained at the dinner following at Cipriani 42nd Street. "I love that song," she said). There has been plenty of dance. And there has been opera, which was represented Tuesday by Denyce Graves, who sang from Samson and Delilah. 'Feel free to sing along,' Ms. Graves said. 'I know it's been on a Ragu spaghetti commercial, so you may recognize it.'" [Source]

Read lots more about the details of the renovation over on WQXR , there is photo coverage over at TheaterMania and three more anecdotes from the evening are after the jump.

156 Years Later, Wexford Gives "La Cour de Célimène" a Revival

Claudia Boyle as La Comtesse in the
Wexford-revived 1855 opera by
Ambroise Thomas. (Photo: Clive Barda)

"Stephen Barlow’s new production, with Paul Edwards’s picture-book designs placing a tilted set within a picture frame, is as frothy as you could wish for, though the matched timing of stage movement and music sometimes takes a trick too many from the world of Hollywood cartoons. Conductor Carlos Izcaray is a willing co-conspirator. He conducts with lots of fizz, though he sometimes becomes a little unyielding in sustaining pressure to ensure that the froth keeps foaming. The real stars of the evening are the two female leads, Claudia Boyle’s coolly commanding Comtesse, fluttering with graceful ease through acrobatic demands, and Nathalie Paulin, as her sister, La Baronne, often partnering impressively in her vocal flights. Bass John Molloy’s worldly Commandeur de Beaupré takes on the mantle of being a stiff dullard rather too well (and Molloy’s usually reliable comic timing here misfires), though tenor Luigi Boccia’s Chévalier de Mérac is more immediately ingratiating. The comic chorus of 12 lovers, caught like puppets on a string, are wittily portrayed, dragged through the most extravagant of poses by their own vanity as well as the controlling presence of the Comtesse." [Source]

Rufus Wainwright Tells Rolling Stone He's Ready For BAM

Rebecca Bottone (l) and Janis Kelly (r) in Prima Donna at the Manchester International Festival

You have have an opera, Prima Donna, that's about to open in New York.
Yeah, that’s premiering in February at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. It's very, very exciting – it’s part of the New York City Opera season. The opera was supposed to be here years ago, and it had to kind of travel the world in order to return home. So it’s a homecoming of that work. Opera has always been kind of my ace in the hole. I was converted to the form when I was a teenager. So I always had that in the background. But I didn’t want to be a classic musician, necessarily. So I just sort of take those influences and infused them into my songwriting. But I knew, down the line, that I'd want to return back to that form, as sort of musical sacrifice for all the beauty that it’s given me over the years. I’ve hopefully done that with Prima Donna.

William Joyner and Janis Kelly

When did you know it was the right time to take on the opera? I'd been thinking of an idea for a long time. And I was actually expecting it to be a much later kind of conquest in my life. I thought maybe in my fifties or something. As it is with many theatrical endeavors, this story just fell in my lap – of the day in the life of an opera singer – and these characters just instantly, miraculously appeared in my imagination and needed to come to life. I think a lot of playwrights or opera writers – you’re sort of summoned by the work itself. It’s not really you that goes out looking for it. [Source]

(Photos: Clive Barda)

MET Sirius XM Radio Tonight: "Siegfried"

Listen to the Metropolitan Opera perform Wagner's Siegfried live tonight at 6:00 PM EST on Sirius XM radio. Intermission guests: Luca Pisaroni , Ekaterina Gubanova and Barbara Frittoli.

Kevin Newbury Takes "Hansel and Gretel" in a New Direction

For more information about the show at Virginia Opera click here.

Anna Netrebko Supports Russian Children's Welfare Society, Inc.

"Famed operatic soprano Anna Netrebko is an Honorary Director of RCWS and has been involved with the organization for over 10 years, having graced the stage of both the Plaza Hotel and Waldorf-Astoria for performances at RCWS’ Annual Petroushka Ball. She has garnered critical esteem and stirred up devoted fanfare worldwide for her riveting performances and breathtaking voice. This season, she will be starring in two new productions at the Met opening the season by starring in Anna Bolena followed by Manon in the spring. Here is a brief introduction to Anna and her work with the RCWS." To get more information about donating click here and to see more of the supporters of this charity, including Dmitri Hvorostovksy, Elena Obraztsova, Daniel Ulbricht, Johnny Weir, Piotr Beczala, Maija Kovalevska, Diana Damrau and more, click here. 

Happy Birthday: Galina Vishnevskaya

"Líu's Death Scene"
Turandot (Puccini)
w/Franco Corelli & Birgit Nilsson

Galina Pavlovna Vishnevskaya (Russian: Гали́на Па́вловна Вишне́вская) (born October 25, 1926) is a Russian soprano opera singer and recitalist who was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1966. Vishnevskaya was born in Leningrad. She made her professional stage debut in 1944 singing operetta. After a year studying with Vera Nikolayevna Garina, she won a competition held by the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow (with Rachmaninoff's song "O, Do Not Grieve" and Verdi's aria "O patria mia" from Aida) in 1952. The next year, she became a member of the Bolshoi Theatre. She remained a member of the Bolshoi company for 22 years. She gave unforgettable interpretations of more than 30 roles in Russian and Western European operas. Following a brilliant debut as Tatyana in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene

"Puskay pogibnu ya"
Eugene Onegin (Tchaikovsky)

Onegin, she went on to perform, among others, the title role in Verdi’s Aida, Violetta in Verdi’s La traviata, the title role in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, Natasha Rostova in Prokofiev’s War and Peace, Katarina in the 1957 world premiere of Shebalin’s The Taming of the Shrew, Lisa in Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades, Kupava in Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Snowmaiden, and Marfa in his The Tsar’s Bride. On May 9, 1960 she made her first appearance in Sarajevo at the National Theatre, as Aida. In 1961, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Aida; the following year she made her debut at the Royal Opera House with the same role. For her La Scala debut in 1964, she sang Liù in Turandot, opposite Birgit Nilsson and Franco Corelli. In addition to the roles in the Russian operatic repertoire, Vishnevskaya has also sung roles such as Violetta, Tosca, Cio-cio-san, Leonore, and Cherubino. Benjamin Britten wrote the

"Vocalise" Op.34, No. 14
(Rachmaninov)

soprano role in his War Requiem (completed 1962) especially for her. She also sang Polina in the first Russian production Prokofiev’s The Gambler in 1974, performed Poulenc’s mono-opera La voix humaine in 1965, and starred in the film version of Shostakovich’s opera Katerina Izmailova in 1966. Vishnevskaya was married to the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich from 1955 until his death in 2007; they performed together regularly (he on piano or on the podium). Both she and Rostropovich were friends of Dmitri Shostakovich, and they made an electrifying recording of his opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk for EMI. During the Soviet regime Galina Vishnevskaya opposed the authorities. According to Robert Conquest, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn stayed at their dacha from 1968 while writing much of The Gulag Archipelago. For that reason,

"Act 2, Finale" Tosca (Puccini)

among others, the couple was exposed to particular attention and pressure from the intelligence service of the USSR. In 1974 Galina Vishnevskaya and Mstislav Rostropovitch left the Soviet Union and in 1978 they were deprived of Soviet citizenship. They first settled in the United States and later lived in France and Great Britain. Galina Vishnevskaya starred in the greatest opera theaters of the world, including Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera, Opera de Paris, Teatro alla Scala and the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, performing with the most celebrated masters of opera and the theatrical arts. In 1982, the soprano bade farewell to the opera stage, in Paris, as Tatyana in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. In 1987, she stage directed Rimsky-Korsakov's The Tsar's Bride in Washington, D.C. She sang the part of Marina in a renowned

"Songs and Dances of Death"
(Mussorgsky, orchestrated by Shostakovich)

recording of Boris Godunov, conducted by Herbert von Karajan, with co-soloists Nicolai Ghiaurov, Martti Talvela, Ludwig Spiess and Alexei Maslennikov, and in 1989 performed the same role in the film version directed by Andrzei Zulawsky, with the score conducted by Mstislav Rostropovitch. During the period in which she was forced to live abroad, Galina Vishnevskaya made a complete recording of Prokofiev’s War and Peace and recorded five discs of romances by Glinka, Dargomyzhsky, Mussorgsky, Borodin and Tchaikovsky. Galina Vishnevskaya’s whole life and creative work have been aimed at renewing and glorifying Russian opera traditions. At the beginning of the 1990s, in the wake of perestroika, she and Mstislav Rostropovitch were given back their

"Ritorna vincitor" Aida (Verdi)

Russian citizenship. Returning to Russia, she became an honorary professor of the Moscow Conservatory. She described her life in the book Galina: A Russian Story, the English version of which was published in 1984, with the Russian version following in 1991. Galina Vishnevskaya has received an honorary doctorate of arts from numerous universities. For many years she has worked with young people in the arts, giving master classes throughout the world and chairing the juries of leading international competitions. She is President of the All-Russia Fair of Singers in Yekaterinburg. The long-awaited opening of the Galina Vishnevskaya Opera Centre

"Con onor muore"
Madama Butterfly (Puccini)
[sung in Russian]

took place in Moscow on September 1, 2002. At the Centre, the great diva shares her accumulated experience and unique knowledge with talented young singers in order that they may proudly represent the Russian school of singing on the international operatic stage. In 2006, she was featured in Alexander Sokurov's documentary Elegy of a life: Rostropovich, Vishnevskaya. In 2007, she starred in his film Aleksandra, playing the role of a grandmother coming to see her grandson in the Second Chechen War. The film premiered at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. Galina Vishnevskaya has received many prestigious awards for her contributions to the art of music: the Medal for the Defense of Leningrad (1943), the Order of Lenin (1971), the Diamond Medal of Paris, the Order for Services to Fatherland in the third degree (1996) and the Order for Services to Fatherland in the second degree (2006). She is also a Grand Officer of the French Order of Arts and Letters (1982), a Chevalier of the French Legion of Honour (1983) and an Honorary Citizen of Kronshtadt (1996). The diva made many recordings, including Eugene Onegin

"Casta diva" Norma (Bellini)

(1956 and 1970), Mussorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death (1961 and 1976), Britten's War Requiem (with Sir Peter Pears and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, conducted by the composer; 1963), The Poet's Echo (1968), Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov (1970 and 1987), Puccini's Tosca (1976), Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades (with Regina Resnik, 1976), Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (1978), Tchaikovsky's Iolanta (with Nicolai Gedda, 1984), and Prokofiev's War and Peace (1986). Galina and her late husband have two daughters and six grandchildren. The daughters have followed in the path of their parents and have become distinguished musicians. The older one, Olga, plays the cello and instructs. She is married to French businessman Olaf Geran-Germess and they have two sons - Oleg and Mstislav. The younger daughter, Elena, is a pianist and General Director of the International Music Festival in Evian (France). She married the Italian publisher Stefano Tartini and they have four children - Ivan, Sergey, Anastasia and Alexander. [Source, Source]

More photos of the soprano with famous friends after the jump.

Jonas Kaufmann MET Recital to Air Live on Sirius XM Radio

It was just announced that the Jonas Kaufmann recital to be held at the Metropolitan Opera on Sunday, October 30 at 4 PM EST will be broadcast live over Sirius XM Radio.

"The star tenor, last seen at the Met as Siegmund in Die Walküre, makes his New York recital debut with a program of songs by Liszt, Mahler, Duparc, and Strauss." For ticket information click here and to watch a video of excerpts from a previous recital click here.

MET Sirius XM Radio Tonight: "Don Giovanni"

Listen to the Metropolitan Opera perform Mozart's Don Giovanni live tonight at 7:30 PM EST on Sirius XM radio. Intermission guest: Richard Croft.

Marilyn Horne Returns to New Jersey To Celebrate Opera

Days Gone By: Marilyn & Henry

"Do the stars predict a promising future for Opera New Jersey? It certainly seemed so Sunday night, as diva Marilyn Horne and three of her former students — now rising stars themselves — lent their luster to the organization’s 'Celebrate Opera' Gala. The event, which was held Sunday evening at the Hyatt Regency Princeton, honored Ms. Horne for her long and glorious singing career and her continuing work as a teacher and promoter of young artists. For her part, Ms. Horne said that she was delighted to be back in New Jersey. She said she remembered fondly the nine years she had spent in the state with the late Henry Lewis, who was then her husband, as well as the conductor and music director of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra....After dinner, three young singers entertained the gala audience with a half-hour concert. All had been associated with the Marilyn Horne Foundation, which presents young singers in recitals throughout the country. (In May 2010, the foundation’s programs became part of Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute.) Baritone Keith Phares sang 'Largo al factotum' from The Barber of Seville, as well as arias by Ravel and Korngold. He recently appeared with Opera New Jersey as Falke

Keith Phares

Rinat Shaham

Erica Strauss

in Die Fledermaus and has sung with many major companies, including San Francisco Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, the Opera Company of Philadelphia, and Glimmerglass Opera. Mezzo-soprano Rinat Shaham sang art songs by Richard Strauss and Poulenc, as well as 'Habanera' from Carmen. She just performed the title role in that opera with The Opera Company of Philadelphia. As a recital artist she has sung with some of the world’s pre-eminent conductors. Soprano Erica Strauss has sung with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Metropolitan Opera, and Sarasota Opera. Also a recital artist, she sang an aria from Rusalka as well as songs by Chaminade and Rossini. All three singers joined in the trio 'Soave sia il ventro' from Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte.” [Source]