Cabs Opera Gala
Feast your senses and revel in the sumptuous world of opera as a remarkable cast of American opera stars performs well-loved arias, duets, and ensembles from Mozart’s Magic Flute, Verdi’s Il Trovatore, Puccini’s La Boheme and Tosca, and Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. The soloists will be joined by the Festival Singers, a chorus of local vocalists who will join the soloists in the luminous Belle Nuit from Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffman and the rousing Make Our Garden Grow from Bernstein’s Candide.
The Gala will be accompanied by distinguished international instrumentalists Kaya Kuwabara (violin), Richard Phillips (cello), Nicola Crowe (flute), Kymia Kermani (clarinet), Karen Gibbard (oboe), percussionists from Arundel School, and Sarah Nichols (harp), and is directed by New York pianist William Hobbs. The chorus is directed by Colbert Mpofu.
Instrumental arrangements by New York based composer Wei-Chieh Lin
Picnic in style, under the stars on this truly romantic HIFA evening.
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Laquita Mitchell (soprano)
“Mitchell has a singularly beautiful voice, supple and satiny, with the heft to penetrate Puccini’s heavy orchestration” Cincinnati Post
Laquita has led performances with the Los Angeles Opera, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, New York City Opera, Washington National Opera, Opéra Comique in Paris, among many others. A native of New York City, soprano Laquita Mitchell was a Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Grand Prize Winner. She was also the First Prize Winner of the Wiener Kammer Oper’s 2003 Hans Gabor Belvedere Competition, making her the first American to win this competition in over twenty years.
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“Camille Zamora digs deep into Anna Bolena with the richness of her colorful and unwaveringly powerful soprano instrument… a consummate actress whose ability to get inside her character is phenomenal.” Houston Chronicle
Recent highlights include Twin Spirits: Robert and Clara Schumann at Lincoln Center and LA’s Music Center with Sting, Trudie Styler, Joshua Bell, and Nathan Gunn; Elle in La Voix Humaine at Auckland Opera (New Zealand); Ilia in Idomeneo at Boston Lyric Opera; Despina in Così fan tutte at Glimmerglass Opera; and Amore/Valetto in L’incoronazione di Poppea at Houston Grand Opera.
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“Ronnita Miller brought a rich voice and noble phrasing to the role of the fateful earth goddess, Erda.”
New York Times – Anthony Tommasini
Ronnita Miller 2011-12 Season includes her return to Los Angeles Opera as Fillippevna in Eugene Onegin, and performances in Iceland with the Symphony Orchestra in their concert presentation of The Ring under the baton of Kent Nagano. This outstanding artist won the Marilyn Horne Song Competition, an honour that culminated in their joint New York recital in 2010.
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“American tenor sensation Michael Slattery would hold his audience at any tempo. Such is is belief in every note he sings and every word he utters” The Independent – London
Since graduating from Juilliard, Michael Slattery has worked with the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival, the French National Orchestra in Paris, the Akademie für Alle Musik in Berlin, and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall. His solo disks include newly released Dowland in Dublin, as well as The Irish Heart and Secret and Divine Signs, which have received critical acclaim from Gramophone Magazine and Five Star ratings from BBC Music Magazine and ClassicFM.
www.michaelslattery.com
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“Remember the name of baritone Lester Lynch. He plays Scarpia as the bully and thug that he is. This guy can sing up a storm.” The Globe and Mail
Recognized for a voice that it is commanding, rich, and vocally nuanced, Lester Lynch’s recent engagements have taken him to the stage of Lyric Opera of Chicago where he was heard as Porgy in Porgy and Bess, Minnesota Opera where he sang Count de Luna in Il Trovatore and to Lyric Opera of Kansas City as Germont in La Traviata. Additional engagements include performances with the Opera Company of Philadelphia, Los Angeles Opera, Washington National Opera, Dayton Opera, Nashville Opera, Kentucky Opera, and with the Cleveland Orchestra, Washington Master Chorale, Nashville Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, and in concert at Carnegie Hall in celebration of Marilyn Horne’s 75th birthday alongside Susan Graham, Karita Mattila, Thomas Hampson and Thomas Questhoff, among others.