EVENT/CALENDAR LISTING

                                                                                                                  Wednesday, January 9, 2006

 

 

Opera Providence presents

 

                                                                        

 

               Mozart at the METacomet

 

 

WHAT:	A spectacular evening in charming country club setting.  Enjoy a hearty dinner and performance celebrating the genius of Mozart on his 250th Anniversary through his most beloved operatic melodies.
WHO:	Featuring Kara Lund, soprano, Rene de la Garza, baritone and Fredric Scheff, tenor, accompanied by Timothy Steele. Hosted by Loriana De Crescenzo, Executive Director of Opera Providence.
MORE:	Proceeds benefit the OPERAtunity education and outreach program and the continuation of its in-school educational programs for students in grades K-12.
MENU:	Experience Vienna Italian style. Dinner begins with a traditional pasta e fagioli soup followed by insalate miste, penne alla marinara, spezzatini di vitello coi piselli, petti di pollo alla marsala e patate arrostite.  The meal concludes with an old fashioned spumoni.
WHERE:	Metacomet Country Club 500 Veterans Memorial Parkway East Providence, Rhode Island
WHEN:	Wednesday, January 18th, 2006 6:00 pm cocktails, 6:30 pm dinner followed by the performance.
TICKETS:	Tickets are $50 per person. For best seating call Opera Providence at 401-331-6060 by January 13th.

 

OPERAtunity information:

OPERAtunity has brought its programs to a diverse school-based population including Rhode Island’s core urban districts and students in suburban and rural settings.  Programs include artist-in-residence and after school multi-session projects, outreach, in-school performances, main-stage professional performances, interactive assemblies and performances in cross collaboration with other non-profits. The OPERAtunity education and outreach program has reached over 27,000 children, youth and adults throughout the state of Rhode Island since 1998.

 

Kara Marina Lund, soprano, is a stunning soprano and a brilliant actress with a gift for unusual and difficult repertoire. She has performed a wide variety of modern music, and appeared in the world premiere of the new opera "Air", performed at Rhode Island College in September 2004. Recent concerts include an all-Scandinavian program, a 20th-century art song recital, and cabaret standards at the Opera Providence Summer Concert Series, "Opera on the Hill". Kara will be featured as Lola in Cavalleria rusticana and as Touriere I in Suor Angelica with Opera Providence.

 

Rene de la Garza, baritone,  has been praised for its rich color and strong dramatic delivery. The talented baritone has sung with the Albany Symphony, the New Haven Symphony, The Brooklyn Philharmonic under Lukas Foss, The St. Cecilia Chamber Orchestra and the Rhode Island Philharmonic. His operatic repertoire is quite diverse having sung operas of the baroque and leading characters in the operas of Mozart. In the standard operatic repertory he has sung Rossini’s Figaro, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor, Germont in La Traviata, Ford in Falstaff and the title role in Rigoletto. He has performed with the Opera Company of Boston, Opera New England, New Jersey Lyric Opera, Opera Providence, the Hartford Concert Opera and at Trinity Repertory Theatre in Richard Cumming’s opera Picnic which was directed by Oskar Eustis.

Frequently in demand as a solo recitalist, he has performed the music of the baroque with harpsichordist Robert Conant at the Saratoga Baroque Festival, also in Schubert’s Winterreise and music of contemporary American composers. He has appeared at The Newport Music Festival, The Kennedy Center and on concert series throughout New England.  As a soloist in Orchestral and Choral music he has sung Mahler's Des Knaben Wunderhorn Songs, Bach’s B Minor Mass with the Aston Magna orchestra, Brahm’s Ein Deutsches Requiem, Haydn’s Creation, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Orff’s Carmina Burana, soloist in Britten’s War Requiem, Vaughan Williams Hodie, Faure’s Requiem and Jesus in Bach’s St. John Passion. He has appeared with the Chatham Chorale, the Chorus of Westerly, The Rhode Island Civic Chorale, The Providence Singers, Albany Chorus Pro Musica, Capitol Hill Choral Society and the Waterbury Chorale.  Mr. de la Garza will appear as Alfio in Cavalleria rusticana with Opera Providence in February 2006 at The Columbus Theatre.

 

Dr. Fredric S. Scheff, tenor, earned wide acclaim in the national tour of Lloyd-Webber's The Phantom of the Opera. After earning his Doctorate from the University of Kansas, Dr. Scheff returned to Rhode Island, where he lives with his wife and four children. Recent credits include Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, many performances with Opera Providence, and the beginning of an ongoing concert collaboration with Matthew Larson and international opera star Maria Spacagna. He received rave reviews as the Witch in Hansel & Gretel , “Frederic Scheff made a great witch, adding the one touch of humor and some of the best acting in the show.”- Channing Gray, The Providence Journal Bulletin.

Mr. Scheff will appear as Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana with Opera Providence in February.