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Publish Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 28, 2005
Contact: Maryann Devine
215-735-1685 x 23
mdevine at avaopera.org
AVA Presents First Philly Staging of
Tchaikovsky Opera IOLANTA
Pianist Ghenady Meirson accompanies opera,
releases piano solo debut CD on opening night
Helen Corning Warden Theater, The Academy of Vocal Arts,
1920 Spruce Street, Philadelphia:
Friday, Feb. 25, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 27, 3 p.m. matinee
Tuesday, Mar. 1, 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Mar. 2, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, Mar. 4, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, Mar. 6, 3 p.m. matinee
Sung in Russian with English supertitles.
For tickets or info, 215-735-1685 or visit www.avaopera.org
Philadelphia: A blind princess who is unaware that she cannot see is the title character of Tchaikovsky's lovely opera, Iolanta. The extraordinary young singers of The Academy of Vocal Arts perform this seldom-heard opera in its first Philadelphia staging from February 25 - March 6 in the Academy's own Helen Corning Warden Theater with piano accompaniment by Ghenady Meirson, AVA's Russian repertoire vocal coach. Renowned tenor Peter Kazaras directs this one-act work which is fully staged and costumed. Iolanta is sung in Russian with easy-to-read supertitles in English. For tickets or more information, call 215-735-1685 or visit www.avaopera.org.
In Iolanta, the blind and sheltered princess is affianced to the Duke of Burgundy, whom she has never met, and who is now in love with another. She finds herself falling for his friend, Count Vaudémont, who, also smitten, reveals to her the concept of light. Through the intervention of a famed Moorish doctor, and her love for Vaudémont, she gains her sight. Based on the play Yolanta or King René's Daughter by Henrick Herz and one of Tchaikovsky's last works, Iolanta contains many beautiful and dramatic arias and duets. The composer's brother, Modest, had the task of writing the libretto.
Every year AVA presents a recital of arias, duets, and ensembles from the Russian repertory directed by Ghenady Meirson. With works like Eugene Onegin on the program at major opera houses, and arias by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, and Rimsky-Korsakoff appreciated by recital audiences, experience in the Russian repertoire is an important part of a singer's education. This season, in place of a recital, AVA presents Iolanta.
On Iolanta's opening night, February 25, Mr. Meirson releases his piano solo debut CD entitled Songs & Dances. The idea for Songs & Dances came to him after presenting and performing Mussorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death for AVA's "Evening of Russian Romances" last year. The CD includes pieces by Russians Sergei Rachmaninoff and Vladimir Ryabov, as well as Chopin, Mendelssohn, and Granados. To order, visit the Artists Place section of PrivateLessons.com, the Web site Mr. Meirson founded in 1996, or call 1-888-387-8273.
Iolanta patrons will have the chance to experience even more Russian culture. Ticket buyers receive $5 off the Moiseyev Dance Company at The Annenberg Center. Call 215-898-3900 for details.
THE ARTISTS
Educator, author, composer, pianist, and music industry entrepreneur Ghenady Meirson began studying piano at an early age in his native Odessa, Ukraine. He graduated from the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome and The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. At Curtis, he majored in piano, studying with Seymour Lipkin and Mieczyslaw Horszowski, and in accompanying, studying with Dr. Vladimir Sokoloff.
In 1982, Mr. Meirson wrote a singer's manual entitled Do Sing in Russian and began specializing in Russian vocal repertoire. Since then, he coached countless artists for opera, oratorio, recitals, and recordings, and has assisted such organizations as The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Opera Company of Philadelphia, The Philadelphia Singers, The Mendelssohn Club Chorus. Mr. Meirson coaches Russian repertoire at both The Academy of Vocal Arts and The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.
In 1996, Mr. Meirson founded PrivateLessons.com, a membership-based network that connects the public with independent music teachers across the U.S. and Canada. Now an established leader in its niche, PrivateLessons.com helps thousands of musicians and over 150,000 visitors per month seeking private music teachers.
Peter Kazaras. In addition to enjoying a worldwide career as an operatic tenor, performing at the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Houston Grand Opera, San Francisco Opera, Seattle Opera, and Vienna, among many others, Peter Kazaras has recently also worked as a director, coach and artistic advisor. Recent engagements have included Bellini's Norma for Seattle Opera, and Acis and Galatea with the Santa Fe Pro Musica, where reviews said, "His sensually charged interpretation made the physical magnetism between the two lovers a glowing reality. He brilliantly balanced the mythological and the real, the comic and the serious...."
In addition, he directed Menotti's The Medium and Ibert's Angelique for San Francisco Opera's Merola Program, Marschner's Der Vampyr for Florida State University, Mark Adamo's Little Women at the Cabrillo Festival, and this past spring, Die Fledermaus for Madison Opera, where critics hailed, "The stage direction by Peter Kazaras had so many creative moments it was hard
to keep up with them." Next season's projects include Suor Angelica/Gianni Schicchi for Hartt
College of Music, and Le nozze di Figaro for the Seattle Opera Young Artists Program.
Projects for Eos Orchestra have included staging and singing Schuetz' The Birth of Jesus; staging Arianna Zukerman in a selection of Schubert lieder, to be repeated this fall with Red: An Orchestra, in Cleveland; concert staging and lighting for Act III of Adams' Nixon in China at Alice Tully Hall; staging of Stravinsky's Pulcinella; and staging a concert reading of excerpts from Bernard Herrmann's Wuthering Heights. For Spoleto USA he served as Artistic Advisor and sang The Madwoman in an acclaimed production of Britten's Curlew River. He has also staged a program of operetta excerpts for New York Festival of Song, directed three casts in Britten's The Turn of the Screw for the Chautauqua Institute Music School, as well as staged, designed lights for, and performed the Tenor soloist in Britten's War Requiem for the Milwaukee Symphony. In addition, he staged the original 1998 workshop of Jonathan Sheffer's Blood on the Dining Room Floor, which led to an off-Broadway production. He has given master classes at Florida State University, Yale, and Vassar, where he co-directed their Opera Workshop.
A native New Yorker, Peter Kazaras is a graduate of Harvard College and resides in Manhattan. In addition to singing and directing, he also coaches singers and actors privately in performance technique.
THE ACADEMY OF VOCAL ARTS
The mission of The Academy of Vocal Arts, founded in 1934 by Helen Corning Warden, is to provide tuition-free vocal and opera training of the highest quality, and financial support during training, to exceptionally talented and committed young singers who have the potential for international stature, and to present them in professional performances that are accessible to a wide community.
Gifted singers come from throughout the world to seek the exceptional guidance and training that The Academy of Vocal Arts offers. AVA is unique, not only because it is a fully tuition-free institution that focuses solely on operatic training, but also because it has established a niche as an organization that produces opera, thus integrating both professional and educational components. Admission into AVA's four-year program is determined by competitive annual auditions. The roster of resident artists is deliberately kept low: approximately twenty-five singers each year. Those who are accepted receive training equivalent to more than $60,000 per year. A faculty of individuals who are among the finest in their fields provides intensive training in voice, acting, stage combat, repertoire, languages, and other related subjects necessary for an operatic career.
Over the past six decades, outstanding singers of international stature have attended AVA, including David Adams, Lando Bartolini, Gwendolyn Bradley, Thomas Carson, Elizabeth Carter, Richard Clark, Dominic Cossa, John Darrenkamp, Harry Dworchak, Ryan Edwards, Wilhelmenia Fernandez, Allan Glassman, Vernon Hartman, Nancy Herrera, Jeffrey Kneebone, James Morris, Stuart Neill, James Pease, David Poleri, Julien Robbins, Valerian Ruminski, Jane Shaulis, Hugh Smith, Ruth Ann Swenson, Indra Thomas, Richard Troxell, Victoria Vergara, Stephen West, and Beverly Wolff.
FACT SHEET
The Academy of Vocal Arts
Iolanta
Music by Piotr Ilyitch Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Libretto by Modeste Tchaikovsky
Sung in Russian with English supertitles
Produced by the AVA Opera Theatre
K. James McDowell, executive director and producer
Christofer Macatsoris, music director
Ghenady Meirson, music director and pianist
Peter Kazaras, stage director
Peter Harrison, set designer
Val J. Starr, costume designer
Cast
Iolanta - Manon Strauss Evrard/Ariya Sawadivong
King René - Matthew Arnold
Vaudémont - Jeffrey Halili/Noah Stewart
Robert - Jason Switzer/Yungbae Yang
Alméric - Jeffrey Stanislawczyk
Bertrand - Markus Beam
Martha - Nicole Piccolomini
Ibn-Hakia - Joseph Specter
Brigitta - Ellie Dehn
Laura - Kristen Leich
PERFORMANCE DATES, TIMES, AND LOCATIONS
Helen Corning Warden Theater, The Academy of Vocal Arts,
1920 Spruce Street, Philadelphia:
Friday, Feb. 25, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 27, 3 p.m. matinee
Tuesday, Mar. 1, 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Mar. 2, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, Mar. 4, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, Mar. 6, 3 p.m. matinee
TICKETS
Regular: $80 (premium seating) and $45
Seniors: $70 (premium seating) and $35
Students: $60 (premium seating) and $25
For tickets or more information, contact
215-735-1685 or 215-893-1999, or visit www.avaopera.org
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