-----

Music Academy Opera Scenes at the Lobero
Saturday July 14, 2012

By Music Academy of the West

Music Academy Voice and Vocal Piano Fellows, under the supervision of noted stage director Fabrizio Melano and a trio of Academy faculty artists, will perform best-loved scenes from six venerable operas at Santa Barbara's Lobero Theatre on July 14 and 16. One of the most popular events of the Music Academy's summer season, this staged operatic potpourri will be presented at 2 pm on Saturday, July 14, and at 7:30 pm on Monday, July 16. Tickets cost $40. It will be the first time the Music Academy presents Opera Scenes at The Lobero.

This year's program will include Verdi's La Traviata and Falstaff, Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia, Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande, Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, and Puccini's Suor Angelica. Featuring costumed singers and minimal props, the performances will complete the Music Academy's annual three-week acting and movement workshop for Voice Program Fellows. Joining Mr. Melano behind this year's Opera Scenes presentation will be Academy faculty artists John Churchwell, Jonathan Kelly, and Carrie-Ann Matheson. Mr. Melano will serve as stage director, with Messrs. Kelly and Churchwell and Ms. Matheson as music directors.

An established figure on the international opera scene, Mr. Melano has worked with leading houses throughout the world for more than 40 years. He began a long-standing relationship with the Metropolitan Opera in 1969 and has directed 21 operas there, among them seven new or revised productions. Much of his work has been seen in PBS' Live from the Met series. An assistant conductor at the Met, Ms. Matheson is a member of the company's select full-time regular music staff, where she works as a pianist, prompter, and vocal coach. Mr. Kelly is an assistant conductor at the Met and San Francisco Opera, and has worked in similar capacities at Glimmerglass Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Opera Theater of Lucca, and the Chautauqua Institution. Mr. Churchwell began serving as head of music for San Francisco Opera last summer, and previously was an assistant conductor for both the Met and San Francisco Opera.

The Lobero Theatre is located at 33 East Canon Perdido Street in Santa Barbara. The Music Academy's 2012 Opera Scenes presentation is generously supported by Linda and Michael Keston.

The Music Academy's 2012 season also will include an ambitious new production of Igor Stravinsky's exuberantly inventive opera The Rake's Progress, as well as performances by acclaimed soprano Kiri Te Kanawa and celebrated violinist Gil Shaham. The Academy is presenting more than 200 events over the course of this year's Summer School and Festival, which began June 18 and concludes on August 11. Additional highlights will include performances by the Miró Quartet, pianist Ingrid Fliter, and percussionist Colin Currie, as well as conducting turns by James Gaffigan, Alexander Lazarev, Nicholas McGegan, Andrew Grams, Larry Rachleff, and Yan Pascal Tortelier. Featuring the Academy's exceptionally talented Fellows, together with illustrious guest performers and faculty, the events will be presented at the Academy's scenic Miraflores campus and in venues throughout Santa Barbara.

For tickets and information, call 969-8787 or visit www.musicacademy.org.

# # # #

Be the first to comment on this article.