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GL!MMERATA: 2013 Glimmerglass
Festival Spring Gala
The Glimmerglass Festival, the Cooperstown-based opera and
musical theater company, hosted its annual spring gala April
10 at the Metropolitan Club. The event was chaired by
Patricia Chadwick and Nina Lesavoy and celebrated the
company’s Young Artists Program, which celebrates its 25th
anniversary this season, and its Summer Internship Program.
About $500,000 was raised for the acclaimed training
programs.
The Young Artist Program is an apprentice program for
emerging singers, coach/accompanists and directors. The
company annually receives more than 1,000 applications, and
about 40 positions are filled. The highly competitive Summer
Internship Program offers close to 60 internships in
production and administration.
More than 320 guests filled the Great Hall of the
Metropolitan Club for cocktail hour. After mingling with
Glimmerglass Festival artists such as Jay Hunter Morris, who
is also set to sing Siegfried in the Metropolitan Opera’s
upcoming production, bass-baritone Eric Owens and tenor Noah
Stewart, guests traveled into the West Lounge for a
40-minute performance by Glimmerglass artists past and
future who presented a mix of music from art song and opera
to musical theater.
Noah Stewart and Nadine Sierra began with a performance of
“E il sol dell’anima” from Verdi’s Rigoletto. David
Pittsinger, who joins the company this summer as King Arthur
in the musical Camelot, performed a moving rendition of
“This nearly was mine” from South Pacific, and Eric Owens
performed “Infelice!... e tuo credevi” from Verdi’s Ernani.
2013 Glimmerglass Festival Artists in Residence Julie and
Nathan Gunn and co-chairs of the event performed next. The
couple stepped to the mic to speak about their upcoming
engagement at the Festival.
“I am thrilled to be working with the young artists this
coming summer,” Julie Gunn said. As Glimmerglass Artists in
Residence, Julie and Nathan Gunn will mentor the emerging
young singers that will join the program
this summer.
With Julie Gunn at the piano, Nathan Gunn, who will sing the
role of Lancelot in Camelot, performed “Make Believe” from
Show Boat with Andriana Chuchman.
Klea Blackhurst then sang “There's No Business Like Show
Business” from Annie Get Your Gun with pianist Michael Rice.
The Glimmerglass Festival’s 2013 season includes Wagner’s
The Flying Dutchman, so the next two performers presented
works by Wagner. Richard Cox performed "Wintersturme" from
Wagner's Die Walküre. Jennifer Check closed the program with
“Dich, teure Halle” from Wagner’s Tannhäuser. Director of
the Young Artists Program Michael Heaston accompanied on the
piano.
The dinner that followed concluded with a brief auction led
by
Simon Teakle, the owner of Simon Teakle Fine Jewels with 20
years of experience at Christie’s.
The evening as guests joined the Young Glimmerglass Group,
the company’s young professionals group chaired by Pauline
Eveillard, Kristen Kovner and Sage Mehta, which was already
enjoying desserts and dancing to the Peter Duchin Orchestra.
The Glimmerglass Festival 2013 season runs July 6 through
August 24. New productions of Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman;
Lerner and Loewe’s Camelot, Verdi’s King for a Day and
Passions, a double bill of David Lang’s the little match
girl passion and Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, run in rotation.
The mainstage productions are supplemented by special
performances, concerts and lectures throughout the season.
Tickets start at just $26 and youth tickets (ages 6-18)
start at $10 when accompanied by an adult. Call (607)
547-2255 or visit
www.glimmerglass.org for tickets and additional
information
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