Toledo Opera Presents
Broadway’s
Best
(January 5, 2005, Toledo, OH) –Toledo
Opera is bringing the music of Broadway to the Peristyle
Theatre on Saturday, February 12, 2005 in an evening celebrating
American classics. Its annual Opera Gala 2005, From Broadway To The Met! will
captivate both young and old with excerpts from many of those
fantastic shows that opened on Broadway but were so incredibly
beautiful that they have been, to some extent, taken over by
opera companies. The evening’s pieces will include classics
from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess and Bernstein's Candide.
Others heard in the Gala are Bernstein's West Side
Story, which Toledo Opera plans to mount in a future season,
Cole Porter's Kiss Me Kate, which was prominent in
the movie De-Lovely, starring Kevin Kline and Ashley
Judd, Jerome Kern's Showboat, and My Fair Lady,
by the team of Lerner and Lowe. Rodgers and Hammerstein will
be represented by Carousel, South Pacific and Oklahoma.
While not all of the music selected
was intended for trained opera singers, Conductor Thomas
Conlin believes that all
of it will benefit from these fine voices. And some pieces,
such as "Glitter and be gay" from Candide,
demands real opera singing. “All of the melodies will
be familiar and eminently hummable and whistleable”,
said Conlin. The original scoring will be utilized in
all of the songs, so the accompaniments will be heard as they
were played on
Broadway prior to the recent use of synthesizers in place of
acoustic instruments such as violins and cellos. The evening
promises much variety, with some really lush, romantic sounds
along with plenty of the familiar brassy Broadway
pit-band energy.
A special feature of this season's
Gala will be the participation
of the Toledo Opera Chorus, which, along with the full Toledo
Symphony Orchestra, will enhance the solo singing by four outstanding
young artists: soprano Jan Grissom, mezzo-soprano Jessie Raven,
tenor George Dyer, and baritone Weston Hurt. Thomas Conlin
will be conducting the evening’s performance. Toledo
Opera’s General Director Renay Conlin states “I
put as much care into selecting singers for the Opera Gala
as I do in casting an opera. I try to find singers that not
only have beautiful voices, but are also extremely communicative
and charismatic. Our four soloists fit this bill perfectly!”
One of the evening’s performers is tenor George Dyer,
a graduate of Utah Opera’s Young Artists Program and
now a regular guest of opera companies throughout North America.
He has performed Tamino in Die Zauberflöte for
Opera Carolina and Opera Columbus, Alfredo in La Traviata for
Opera Columbus and Piedmont Opera, the Duke in Rigoletto and
Nanki Poo in The Mikado for Piedmont Opera, Lenski
in Eugene Onegin, and Tamino for the Lyric Opera of
Kansas City. Mr. Dyer has been a national finalist in the San
Francisco Opera's Merola Program auditions and a district finalist
in the Metropolitan Opera auditions.
Mr. Dyer will be joined by mezzo-soprano
Jessie Raven, who is steadily gaining attention for her stage
presence and vocal intensity. Hailed for her “infectious
voice and wonderously compelling acting ability”, Ms.
Raven made her debut with New York City Opera in the title
role in Carmen, which
she also performed with Opera Columbus and El Paso Opera. In
addition, Ms. Raven performed Orlovsky in Die Fledermaus with
Augusta Opera, and Maddalena in Rigoletto with Connecticut
Opera and Augusta Opera. She has also appeared with Dallas
Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Central City Opera, New England
Conservatory, Grant Park Symphony, and the Arkansas Symphony
Orchestra.
Another Gala soloist, baritone Weston
Hurt, is a recent graduate of The Juilliard Opera Center
and is known for his beautiful transparent, stylish singing.
Mr. Hurt will be heard in opera, concert, and recital throughout
the United States this season. He
began the season with performances of Sharpless in Madama
Butterfly for his debut with Lyric Opera of San Antonio.
He was heard as The Emperor of China in Stravinski's Le
Rossignol, and in Handel's Oreste, with the Spoleto
Festival, Italy, in the summer of 2004. A first place
winner at the 2003 Oratorio Society of New York Competition,
Mr. Hurt has also won numerous awards and prizes.
To complete this stellar group of singers is soprano Jan Grissom.
A guest of leading opera companies throughout North America,
Ms. Grissom has made appearances regularly with Houston Grand
Opera, Washington Opera, San Diego Opera, Baltimore Opera,
Opera Pacific, Metropolitan Opera and Portland Opera among
many others. In Europe, she has appeared at the Hamburg State
Opera as Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos. Recent engagements
have included a return to the Metropolitan Opera to sing Musetta,
the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center as Gilda, Opera Pacific
as Konstanze, and Florentine Opera of Milwaukee as Violetta
in La Traviata.
Even though the Gala features such
talented vocalists, as with other recent Gala evenings, the biggest challenge in
planning the presentation has been narrowing down the
enormous amount of suitable material available to a manageable
number of selections. According to Maestro Conlin, “There are
enough fantastic excerpts from great Broadway musicals for
dozens of Gala concerts. All of the music at the
Gala is by American composers, who dominated ‘The Great
White Way’ (as Broadway was once called) until the arrival
of the British Sir Andrew Lloyd-Webber. Along with jazz,
the Broadway Musical had long been regarded as a unique American
contribution to the world's culture. It's still a moving and
inspiring expression of the American spirit.” Many other
opera companies have incorporated Broadway’s favorites
into their opera seasons. For example, the Metropolitan Opera
has presented Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, Chicago Lyric
Opera has produced Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, and San
Francisco Opera has performed Bernstein's Candide, to
name a few of the shows that have succeeded on the opera circuit.
In
order to complete this perfect Valentine’s date, the
Toledo Opera Guild will be hosting its annual Lady In Red benefit
party. Guests who attend both the Opera Gala and the Lady
In Red party will begin the evening at The Toledo Club
for a selection of delicious hors d’oeuvres. They will
then board buses to the Gala performance at the Peristyle and
return following the performance for a buffet dinner and dancing.
Guests will be swept away by the infectious music of Hep Cat
Revival. This annual event has become one of the most popular
parties in Toledo. In the past four years, Toledo Opera has
sold-out the 1,700-seat Peristyle Theatre. In addition, nearly
500 opera attendees have joined Toledo Opera afterwards for
the Lady In Red party.
Treat
your Valentine to an evening of dinner, operetta, and dancing.
The Opera Gala is being held at 7:30 p.m. at the Toledo Museum
of Art’s Peristyle Theatre located at 2445 Monroe Street.
Tickets for the Opera Gala range from $12-$50 per ticket and
general tickets for Lady In Red are $75 per person.
To buy tickets or for more information, call the Toledo Opera
office Monday through Friday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m. at (419)
255- SING (7464) or toll free, 866-860-9048. Information about
the evening’s events is available at www.toledoopera.org.
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