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Last Updated: Sep 21st, 2006 - 03:00:51 |
On Saturday March 18, 2006, 8:00 PM at the Palace Theatre, Stamford, CT, the Connecticut Grand Opera & Orchestra will present “Heroes, Monsters & Myths” sponsored in part by UBS. This semi-staged concert will feature a splendid selection of semi-staged scenes and arias from Handel’s Italian operas such as Giulio Cesare, Alcina, Rinaldo and more, conducted by Maestro Laurence Gilgore and directed by Kira Simring. World-renowned countertenor Johnny Maldonado will make his Connecticut Grand Opera debut with a cast of outstanding soloists.
Johnny Maldonado is a winner of the prestigious Luciano Pavarotti International Vocal Competition and has had the honor of being the first countertenor to receive an award from the McCallister Competition. He has performed the title roles of many of the operas from the Baroque repertoire with some of the foremost theaters in the U.S. and Europe, including: the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Bayreuth,
Munich and in Italy, the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome and the Spoleto Festival. He has also been featured on Broadway in the award-winning musical Chicago.
The concert will be conducted by Maestro Laurence Gilgore, who recently led the highly acclaimed production of Puccini’s La Bohème with the Connecticut Grand Opera & Orchestra. Maestro Gilgore will be guest conducting Salome with Opera Company of North Carolina this February. His upcoming performances include Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro with CGO&O this spring and Madama Butterfly with the renowned Puccini Festival at Torre del Lago, (Italy) in 2007.
Mezzo soprano Camille Palmisano, Russian bass Gregory Soloviov, and Japanese soprano Mari Moriya will also make their Connecticut Grand Opera debuts. Camille Palmisano, a native New Yorker, began her operatic career after being chosen to be a member of the San Francisco Opera Merola Program. She has performed throughout Europe, Russia and Asia with many major companies in Paris, Vienna, Moscow, Dresden, Bern and Hong Kong. She was also featured in live broadcasts with Orchestre Radio France and the Berlin Philharmonic and performed in the Dutche Oper’s premiere productions of Andrea Chenier, Boris Godunov, La Clemenza di Tito and Salome.
A graduate of the Moscow State Conservatory, Gregory Soloviov is one of the most exciting young basses performing regularly at the famed Bolshoi Theater. Soprano Mari Moriya, also a young up-and-coming talent will be performing Queen of the Night in Die Zauberfloete with Palm Beach Opera and will cover the same role at the Metropolitan Opera.
Heroes, monsters and myths are the primary characters and themes that appear throughout Handel's operas. These fascinating mythical figures largely ignored for nearly three-hundred years until their revival in the early 20th century, will come to life on the Palace Theatre stage under the direction of Kira Simring. Ms. Simring received her BA in Anthropology from Smith College and her MFA in Directing from the Actor Studio Drama School at New York University. She has worked for the Red Ladder Theatre Company of the San Jose Repertory Theatre and pioneered an experimental company in San Francisco called the Relevant Theatre Company. She has directed professionally in San Diego and New York City a wide range of material, including new works by contemporary playwrights, librettists, composers, dancers, as well as classical material.
For subscriptions and general information, please call CGO&O at 203-359-0009. For single tickets for the opera call Telecharge (800) 233-3123. Tickets for all CGO&O performances at the Palace Theatre are available from $32.00 to $95.00, with student and senior discounts available, group and corporate discounts also available. Handel’s production is made possible in part with support from UBS, the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism, and through public funding from the City of Stamford, Mayor Dannel P. Malloy, to encourage and promote the arts. The SCDC manages the Community Arts Partnership Program on behalf of the City by means of private funding.
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