|
Kristofer Barber, bass-baritone, has had an extremely busy and productive year since his debut at the 2005 Wisconsin District Met Competition. This past year has included performances of Frank in DIE FLEDERMAUS and Bartolo in LE NOZZE DI FIGARO at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, King Balthazar in AMAHL AND THE NIGHT VISITORS and Simone in GIANNI SCHICCHI with fledgling local company, Stoughton Opera, Manny in MASTERCLASS with Angela Iannone in UW-Madison's Summer Theatre season, and Mr. Barber's first Mozart REQUIEMS with Ripon College and Lake Edge Lutheran Church in Madison. The upcoming year is bringing performances of Le Fauteuil and L'Arbre in Ravel's L'ENFANT ET LES SORTILÈGES, the Father in HANSEL AND GRETEL, and Il Commendatore in DON GIOVANNI. Along with a full round of auditions, Mr. Barber is planning to complete his DMA degree in voice this year at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he is a student of Paul Rowe.
Jean Broekhuizen, (District Winner 2003-2005, Upper Midwest Regional Winner and Outstanding Mezzo 2005, National Semifinalist 2005), enjoyed another wonderful summer at the Central City Opera! Returning for a third summer at Central as an Apprentice Artist, Jean sang the roles of Silver Dollar in THE BALLAD OF BABY DOE, and Pallade in L'INCORONAZIONE DI POPPEA. She also sang a Salon Recital, to great success. Most interestingly, she sang a song cycle by Henk Badings, in Dutch. This was Jean's first foray into singing in Dutch, despite her Dutch citizenship. It was an adventure! At the end of the summer she was honored to receive the Young Artist Award from the Central City Opera, in appreciation of her work. On September 8, 2006, Jean will make her International Debut in a concert with her old friend, Dena Kay Jones, piano, in Juarez, Mexico. Jean and Dena will perform the Siete Canciones Populares Espaniolas of de Falla. This fall, Jean will be heading across the pond to Europe, where she will visit with family and do a European audition tour. She thanks the MONC Wisconsin District for all its support and wishes everyone another great contest this year!
Colleen Brooks, (District Fifth Place Award Winner, 2005), is just finishing up her first year in the doctoral program at the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, OH where she is studying voice with Barbara Honn as well as teaching students of her own. She was thrilled to make her professional debut this past January with Northwest Performing Arts in Portland, OR as Fiordiligi in a concert version of Mozart's COSI FAN TUTTE. She will return to Portland this June as a festival artist in the Astoria Music Festival singing the role of Nadine in a concert production of DER STEIN DER WEISEN, a recently rediscovered opera by Mozart and several of his contemporaries. Just last weekend Colleen finished a run of DON GIOVANNI at CCM in which she sang the role of Donna Elvira. Colleen is very much looking forward to the opportunity to coach and perform AT THE STATUE OF VENUS with Jake Heggie at CCM's Grandin Music Festival this coming August.
Steven Ebel, (2004 4th place), just returned to New York from a summer as a Tanglewood Vocal Fellow. There he performed music of Schubert, Strauss, Flanders & Swann and Jolas in recial. In Pirates of Penzance this March with Opera Delaware he was noted for his "clear and strong singing" (The News Journal). He also sang II Postiglione in La Fanciulla del West with the New York City Opera and Tito in La clemenza di Tito with New York Opera Studio. He has performed two solo recitals in New York: "A Tenor's Songbook" and a program of music by Benjamin Britten entitled "Sonnets and Songs of the Isles." Mr. Ebel is a graduate of University of Wisconsin-Madison during his time at the university he performed as Nanki-Poo in The Mikado, Orpheus in Orpheus in the Underworld , Arturo in Lucia Di Lammermoor and Dr. Miracle in Dr. Miracle. While in Wisconsin he performed as The Prince in a touring version of Rusalka (A Mermaids Tale) with Opera for the Young. Recently he took second place in the 2005 New York Oratorio Society Solo Competition and won first prize for the Long Island Masterworks Paul Straney Award in June. Upcoming performances include two concerts this springwith New Music New York.
Jamie-Rose Guarrine, (District Winner 2005), just completed a wonderful season as a Resident Artist at the Minnesota Opera, where she sang the role of Zerlina in DON GIOVANNI, in addition to a last-minute replacement as "La Colorature" in the American Premiere of JOSEPH MERRICK, THE ELEPHANT MAN. This summer she participates in the San Francisco Opera's Merola Program in scenes from I PURITANI as well as the Aug. 19th Grand Finale at War Memorial Opera House. She returns to the MN opera for a second season, singing the role of Susanna in LE NOZZE DI FIGARO, Rose in LAKME, and taking part in the world premiere of THE GRAPES OF WRATH. Jamie-Rose will also return to Madison in December to solo with the Madison Symphony Orchestra in the company's Christmas Spectacular. She hopes everyone is doing great!
Brian Hotchkin, baritone, has had a busy summer of performing. Recent engagements include the title role in LE NOZZE DI FIGARO at the Bay Area Summer Opera Theater Institute(BASOTI) in San Francisco under maestro Mathias Kuntszch, where he also sang Demetrius in highlights from Britten's A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM in a collaborative Shakespeare program that combined both singers and actors. Other recent performances include KoKo in a concert performance of Gilbert and Sullivan's THE MIKADO with the Music Institute of Chicago, and John in the Midwest premiere of Ronald Perera's THE YELLOW WALLPAPER at the Ruth Page Center for the Performing Arts. Upcoming performances include the title role in LE NOZZE DI FIGARO with Millennium Chamber Players. In February, Brian will join the Young Artist Program at Opera Santa Barbara where he will cover the roles of Tom and Silvano in Verdi's UN BALLO IN MASCHERA.
Sarah McIntyre will study and sing at the International Vocal Arts Institute and San Juan, Puerto Rico. She will later sing the title role of ZAIDE in Salzburg, Austria, with the American Austrian Mozart Academy. In December, she will be the soprano soloist for the Greensboro Oratorio Society's production of MESSIAH, in Greensboro North Carolina.
Benjamin LeClair recently sang Oroveso in NORMA at Opera in the Heights, a Houston, TX opera company. LeClair is a student of Thomas Wikman in Chicago and studies Italian repertoire with Gianna Panovsky, including such roles as: King Phillip, and Mozart's Don Giovanni and Figaro.
Andrea Marie Moore, (4th Place District Winner and People's Choice Winner 2005), is excited to report a successful audition season! Following the Met district competition, Andrea was accepted into the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program at the Kennedy Center with the Washington National Opera Company. Also, she will be participating in the Chautauqua Voice Program with renown teacher Marlena Malas this summer.
Amy Olipra recently completed her Master of Music in voice at Indiana University in December and just finished performing as an Apprentice Artist at Sarasota Opera in several scenes programs and concerts, as well as the mainstage productions of LA BOHEME, I MASNADIERI, LE NOZZE DI FIGARO, and DIE FLEDERMAUS.
Rebecca Olthafer, mezzo-soprano (Arline Johnson Award 2005), is thrilled to report a move to Chicago, IL! In Chicago, Rebecca joined OperaModa for a performance at the Chopin Theater and will be featured in their OperaModaUncovered calendar. This season she will be singing in TURANDOT and DIALOGUES OF THE CARMELITES with the Lyric Opera of Chicago chorus.
Katherine Pracht, (District tri-winner 2001 and 2005), is pleased to report that she went on to win the Outstanding Mezzo Award at the Minneapolis Regionals this, her final, year singing in the Met auditions. Following her performance as Jo in Skylight Opera's LITTLE WOMEN, Pracht has had a flood of concert work in 2006, including Chicago's Winter Delights Festival, Brahms's Viola Songs and Liebeslieder Waltzes on the UW-Milwaukee Chamber Concert Series, Mozart’s Missa Brevis, K.220 with Racine Symphony, Bach's St. John Passion with Nova Singers of the Quad-Cities, and a German Opera concert with the Rochester Aria Group. She looks forward to singing in a recital for the Lake Geneva Chapter of Lyric Opera Chicago in August, followed by performances of Hansel in HANSEL AND GRETEL at Skylight, and her Florida recital debut in Evenings Around the Steinway on The Artist Series of Sarasota. In order to open herself up to the possibilities of the east coast, Katy and her husband, Scott, are making an exciting move to Philadelphia in October.
Heath Rush,(District 4th Place 2002), recently performed as an Apprentice Artist at Sarasota Opera in several scenes programs, concerts, and the mainstage productions of LA BOHEME, I MASNADIERI, LE NOZZE DI FIGARO, and DIE FLEDERMAUS. Heath returned to Wisconsin in April for the CMA Recital and is currently heading to California, where he was accepted as an apprentice at the San Francisco Opera's Merola Program for the summer of 2006.
Darralyn Scott has returned from a productive month at the International Institute of Vocal Arts in Chiari, Italy where roles performed included Hansel in HANSEL UND GRETEL and Cherubino in LE NOZZE DI FIGARO. Darralyn recently performed in an aria concert at the Italian Community Center in Milwaukee, and looks forward to performing there again in November.
Christopher Smith, tenor, is a recent graduate of Wartburg College, where he studied voice with Rosemary and Daniel Gast and coached with Simon Estes. At last year's Wisconsin District Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, he won the Skylight Opera Theatre Award for "unusual dramatic talent, interesting presence, and vivid projection of text and music" and the Milwaukee Music Teacher's Association, Inc. Award. Since last fall, he has appeared as Tamino in Wartburg's production of THE MAGIC FLUTE, Peter Schlafer in Music for a while's production of A LITTLE NIGHTMARE MUSIC, Lieut., the Duke of Dunstable in Madison Savoyards' production of PATIENCE, and Beadle Bamford in Four Seasons Theatre's production of SWEENEY TODD. When not performing, he can be seen at the MIles Away Cafe in Stoughton, WI, as a member of the singing waitstaff. He holds a Bachelor of Music in vocal performance from the above-mentioned academic institution; he currently studies voice with Susan Blumer of Milton and coaches with Barbara Kierig of the University of Minnesota - Minneapolis.
|
