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MAY 15 AT 3 PM
Opera Exposures,
the Staten Island-based
not-for-profit organization dedicated to presenting seasoned
professional musicians and young artists in accessible
venues at affordable prices, will present its first concert
on Staten Island on Sunday, May 15, 2011, at 3 PM when --
in
cooperation with The North Shore Waterfront Conservancy
of Staten Island -- it will present a recital at
The Reformed Church of Staten Island,
54 Port Richmond Avenue. The featured artists will be
soprano Janinah Burnett, mezzo soprano
Sandra
Schwarzhaupt,
tenors
Angelo Mazzone, Anthony Turner and Lawrence
Craig. Jonathan Kelly, Opera Exposure’s
Musical Director, will be at the piano. Dwight Owsley,
Opera Exposure’s Artistic Director, will serve as
narrator. Edna Greenwich, Opera Exposure’s
Founder and President, is the producer.
The program will include arias from Tales
of Hoffman, Carmen, Porgy and Bess, as well as
spirituals and other musical numbers and surprises.
Tickets are $ 40 and may be purchased in
advance by calling 917/402-8144 or visiting the
Opera Exposures official website at
www.operaexposures.org. They may also be purchased at
the door.
The Artists
Soprano Janinah Burnett, winner of a
2008 Sullivan Foundation Award, is widely known for her
timeless vocal quality and poignant portrayals in signature
roles such as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, and
Mimi in Baz Luhrman’s adaptation of Puccini’s La
Bohème. She received tremendous acclaim winning the
“Ovation Award” with a record 82 consecutive sold-out shows.
Some recent performances include, Frasquita in Carmen
and Musetta in La Bohème, covers at the
Metropolitan Opera, Violetta in La Traviata
with Opera Columbus, Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi
and Norina in Don Pasquale with Connecticut
Opera, Bess in Porgy and Bess with Michigan
Opera Theatre, Mimi in La Bohème with
Baltimore Opera and Manitoba Opera, Micaela in Carmen
with the Skylight Opera Theatre and Todi Music
Festival, and solo performances with the Dallas Symphony
Orchestra. She also performed Violetta in Urbania and
Fermignano, Italy under the baton of Benton Hess.
Lawrence Craig
has earned a reputation for his “Fine baritone” and
“virtuosic talent” in Europe and the Americas in opera,
concert and recital. He has appeared as Escamillo in
Carmen, Guglielmo in Cosi fan tutte, Ford in
Falstaff, Sharpless
in Madama Butterfly, and Papageno in Die
Zauberflöte. Most recently, he appeared as Sportin' Life
in the New York City 75th Anniversary Concert to
honor Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess as well as in fully
staged productions for the inaugural season of the Buck
Hill-Skytop Music Festival and with the Virginia Opera,
Henry Davis in Street Scene with Opéra Toulon of
France, Music Sharing
from New York in Hiroshima, Kobe and Yannai, Japan, and
Porgy and Bess Concerts to great success in
Koszalin, Poland, Bogota, Colombia and
Santiago, Chile.
Tenor
Angelo Mazzone
is a graduate of the Crane School of Music receiving a
degree in French Horn Performance and Music Education.
Angelo began his Vocal
training in Sienna, Italy with the world renowned tenor
Steffano Algieri. Upon his return to the United States, he
decided to pursue a career in opera. Instantly working with
such companies as Sarasota Opera, Tri Cities Opera, and
Opera Excelsior. Mr. Mazzone was the featured tenor soloist
with the Victor Herbert Festival in Saratoga, New York.
Angelo is a fine recitalist, singing songs of Bellini,
Donizetti, Tosti, and Donaudy, delighting audiences at the
Saugerties Pro Musica concert series. Angelo appeared in a
sacred music concert at St. Thomas's Cathedral in Glasgow,
Scotland. He has also been heard with the Caramoor Opera
Festival as well as the International Vocal Arts Institute
in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Angelo recently made his New York
City debut with the West Side Opera Society singing the role
of Roberto in Donizetti's Roberto Devereux
Mezzo Soprano Sandra Schwarzhaupt
began her professional
singing career at age 10 when she
performed at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, at Carnegie
Hall as part of a gala benefit concert.
At age 12,
Sandra was awarded the prestigious Youth Advancement Award
in Dresden, for outstanding young artists.
In 2000, she sang
Mahlerʼs Fourth Symphony in the Musikverein in
Vienna.
In
Rome,
she later performed
at the Accademia
Santa Cecilia where she
debuted as Adele in Die Fledermaus. In Torino,
she sang
the role of Woglinde in Die Götterdämmerung, with the
Orchestra della Rai.
Sandra has recorded
many albums, including one
of Mozart concert arias with the Salzburg Chamber Orchestra
and Boris Belkin, violinist, and a live recording of her
Carnegie Hall Mozart Recital. Sandra
debuted
Schumann’s song cycle, A Woman’s Love and Life (Opus 42)
in
March
2011 in New York and is scheduled to
sing
The Poet’s
Love (Opus 48)
by the
same composer,
in the
fall. In December, she will sing the second
soprano in Mozart’s C Minor Mass (K427) with the
Arcadian Chorale. In January
2012, Sandra will debut in the role of Adalgisa in Norma
in Houston, Texas.
Baritone
Anthony Turner
performed the lead role of Josh Gibson in scenes from
The
Summer King
with American
Opera Projects and the University of Southern Maine. This
new work in progress, composed by Daniel Sonenberg,
chronicles the life of the black ‘Babe Ruth’ of Negro League
Baseball. He has appeared with Opera Ebony in a program of
Negro Spirituals at The New York Historical Society. These
performances are affiliated with the exhibit:
New York
Divided: Slavery and the Civil War.
Mr. Turner is also a featured soloist with YesIsAWorld in
Katrina Ballads,
by composer Ted Hearne, at the Spoleto Festival in
Charleston, S.C.; Opera Exposures, in a program of operatic
arias;
The Art of
the Spiritual
at the Scottish Rite Auditorium in Oakland,
CA and the Yachats Music Festival (OR), under the auspices
of Four Seasons Concerts. He has appeared as guest soloist
with Boston Musica Viva in the
Creation
by Louis Gruenberg, the
Serenade
recital series (Staten Island, NY) and at the Kennedy Center
in the Dance Theatre of Harlem production
St. Louis
Woman.
Jonathan Kelly
(Pianist/Music Director) is an Assistant Conductor at the
Metropolitan Opera and the San Francisco Opera. He has
worked in similar capacities at Glimmerglass Opera, Opera
Theatre of Saint Louis, Opera Theater of Lucca, and the
Chautauqua Institution Frequently seen in concert, he has
appeared with many of today's leading performers, including
Anna Netrebko, Ramon Vargas, Rolando Villazon, Joshua Bell,
and Sting. As an educator he was a Professor at Yale
University, holding the title of Lecturer in Song Literature
and is currently on the faculty of the Manhattan School of
Music in a similar position Born in Worcester,
Massachusetts, Mr. Kelly spent his formative years in
Kentucky. He graduated summa cum laude from the
University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and
continued his studies at Manhattan School of Music under the
tutelage of Warren Jones.
Dwight Owsley
(Host/Narrator),
born in Texas, owes many of his early musical influences to
Ethel Waters, Bessie Smith, Muddy Waters and Leontyne Price,
as well as to the excellent and loving “home training”
received at the knee of his mother Mary Veche Owsley (aka
Jiveass). Also, much of his inimitable “joie de vivre”
springs from her firm love and tutelage. He has lived in New
York City for more than twenty-five years. An enthusiastic
performer since infancy, he has appeared on stage in
recitals, operas, musicals, and in night clubs
internationally. His musical interests have always been
divided between grand opera and American jazz and folk
standards. He has sung with Barbara Carroll, Bobby Short,
Hank Jones, Billy Joel and Kurt Wieting. As he has for the
last seventeen years, he continues to usher in each coming
New Year by singing at midnight for the revelers in the
Carlyle Hotel’s Bemelman’s Bar. Currently he presides over
the concierge desk at the prestigious Manhattan hotel
advising the rich and powerful how to allocate their opera
ticket budgets. In his role as concierge he has received
awards and editorial praise from
GQ,
Harpers
and
Queens,
WWD,
the
New York Times,
Where Magazine,
the New York Hotel Association and many others. In 2004
Dwight was selected by American Express’ travel magazine
Travesías
as one of the twelve most important people to know in the
world of travel. As many of you who have attended previous
Opera Exposures presentations may know, he is also an
exceptionally entertaining raconteur knowledgeable on many
subjects: love, politics, fashion, etiquette, and especially
music. Just ask him.
In June 2004, the newly-formed Opera
Exposures launched its premier operatic event at
Saint Mark’s Church in Manhattan with great success.
Several artists performed for an audience of almost 500
concert-goers, among them many newcomers to the world of
classical music as well as experienced aficionados who
responded with standing ovations and received the program
with great warmth, enthusiasm and civic pride. Opera
Exposures, under the leadership and guidance of its
founder Edna Greenwich, has since hosted several
additional performances at Saint Marks Church and is
well on its way to achieving its stated mission of
presenting seasoned vocal professionals and bright upcoming
talents in diverse venues at accessible ticket prices. The
Amsterdam News has praised her as "a very
enterprising young woman [who] has chosen to address herself
to the challenging task of creating a forum for outstanding
vocal talents."
The
Opera Exposures
Board of Directors
is composed of Edna Greenwich, David
Cowlick, Dwight Owsley and
Carl Sylvestre.
Travel Directions to the Reformed Church of
Staten Island,
54 Port Richmond Avenue, SI
From St. George Ferry Terminal: Go to Ramp “D,” take the #40
Bus along Richmond
Terrace to Port Richmond Square. Walk to the corner and you
will be on Port Richmond Avenue. You will see the graveyard
and the church.
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