 From left: Tookah Cotlow Sapper, Alan Briones, Kimberly Merrill, Erik Grendahl, Benita Valente, Gillian Watson, Emily Kuller Dalessio, Ashley Elizabeth Buckhout, Andi Chinedu Nwoke and Ghenady Meirson
 From left: Jose Melendez, Colin Alexander, Mike Mekailek, Kaleigh Rae Gamaché, Sara Evans Stejskal, Benita Valente, Sarah Young, Callie Veronica Hart Merz, Francesca Federico, Cara Waring and Ghenady Meirson
 Benita Valente will give a vocal master class on standard operatic arias.
The distinguished American soprano Benita Valente began serious musical training with Chester Hayden at Delano High School. At 17, she became a student of Lotte Lehmann at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, where she got her initial professional music experience. In 1955 she won a scholarship to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she studied with Marcel Singher. While a student at Curtis she began her summer studies at the Marlboro Music School. At Marlboro Festival she performed with Rudolf Serkin, Felix Galimir and Harold Wright. In October 1960 she made her New York concert debut at the New School for Social Research. After winning the Metropolitan Opera Auditions in 1960, she was chosen to participate in the young artists program at the Met. In 1962, she then sang with the Freiburg im Breisgau Opera, making her debut as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte. After appearances with the Nuremberg Opera in 1966, she returned to the USA and established herself as a versatile recitalist, soloist with orchestra, and opera singer. At that point she continued vocal studies with Margaret Harshaw thought her career. She made her long-awaited Metropolitan Opera debut in New York in September 1973. Her roles at the Metropolitan Opera have also included Gilda, Nanetta, Susanna, Ilia, and Almirena. Other roles are Euridice at Santa Fe, the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro in Washington, and Dalilah in Florence. Festival appearances include Tanglewood, Aspen, Ravinia, Grand Tetons, Santa Fe, Vienna, Edinburgh, and Lyon. Benita Valente has been especially noted for her collaborations with living composers, she has sung in many chamber music and recital performances, often in world premieres. She is one of this era's most cherished musical artists. As the soprano in residence at the prestigious Marlboro Festival her performances and recordings with the legendary pianist Rudolf Serkin won great acclaim. Other major chamber music collaborators have included the Guarneri and Juilliard and Orion String Quartets, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, clarinetist Richard Stolzman, guitarist Sharon Isbin and pianists Peter Serkin, Emmanual Ax, Leon Fleisher, Richard Goode, Malcolm Bilson and Cynthia Raim. Benita Valente has been orchestral soloist with virtually every important conductor and orchestra in the world. She has sung under the batons of Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Bernardi, Leonard Bernstein, Comissiona, Conlon, de Waart, Eschenbach, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Kubelik, Leinsdorf, Raymond Leppard, James Levine, Kurt Masur, Muti, Seiji Ozawa, Robert Shaw, Slatkin and Tennstedt, and with every major symphony in the USA, Canada and Europe. Benita Valente has been recorded by seventeen recording companies. She received a Grammy Award for her recording of Schoenberg's Quartet No.2 and a Grammy nomination for her recording of Haydn's Seven Last Words of Christ, both performed with The Juilliard String Quartet. Her recent recordings include music of Vaughan Williams, Debussy, and Bolcom. Benita Valente was the 1999 Recipient of Chamber Music America's Highest Award: The Richard J. Bogomolny National Service Award, the first vocalist to receive the award in its twenty-year history.  After the class with Benita Valente and pianist Don St Pierre
 Pique Dame cast, Russian Opera Workshop 2012 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Philadelphia Premiere of Rachmaninoff Francesca da Rimini and Rarely Performed Tchaikovsky Romeo & Juliet Presented by Russian Opera Workshop in Free Concert Series Academy of Vocal Arts, June 24-27, 2013 PHILADELPHIA, June 2013: Now in its third summer season, Russian Opera Workshop presents a Philadelphia premiere of Rachmaninoff Francesca da Rimini, opera-in-concert, and Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet, a rarely heard scene from sketched but never realized opera based on Shakespeare's drama. All performances are in Russian with English supertitles. Free public concerts will take place June 24-27, 2013 at 7:30 PM at the Helen Corning Warden Theater, the Academy of Vocal Arts, 1920 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19103. The opera performances are preceded by a series of three vocal Master Classes led by premiere voice coaches and professors, June 7-21, 2013, which are also open to public at no charge. The free public concerts feature Russian Opera Workshop’s participating opera artists from across the United States. In addition, the performance of Francesca da Rimini includes a chorus comprised of singers from such local choral groups as Philadelphia Singers, Choral Arts Philadelphia, and Mendelssohn Club. 2013 FREE EVENT SCHEDULE All Performances and Master Classes: TICKETS: Free Admission. No registration or tickets required, open seating. VENUE: Helen Corning Warden Theater at the Academy of Vocal Arts, 1920 Spruce Street, Philadelphia. Program and schedule are subject to change. LECTURE-CONCERT Monday, June 24 at 7:30 PM Russian Romances Concert Talk on Sergey Rachmaninoff’s Francesca da Rimini by American composer Daron Hagen, followed by the concert of Russian Romances, introducing the 2013 Russian Opera Workshop artists. With pianist Laura Ward. OPERA-IN-CONCERT Tuesday-Thursday, June 25, 26 and 27 at 7:30 PM Rachmaninoff: Francesca da Rimini Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet, scene from sketched but never realized opera. With the 2013 Russian Opera Workshop artists and chorus comprised of singers from the Philadelphia area choral groups. Ghenady Meirson, Music Director and Pianist, Tim Ribchester, Chorus Master. MASTER CLASSES Friday, June 7, 12:00 NOON - 6 PM Thor Eckert, AVA faculty, leads a master class on auditioning for competitions, agents and opera companies. A professional development class. Don St. Pierre (Curtis faculty), accompanist Thursday and Friday, June 13 and 14, 1:00 PM Benita Valente, a distinguished American soprano. Vocal master class on standard opera repertoire, any language. Two groups of singers on consecutive days. Don St Pierre (Curtis faculty), accompanist Thursday-Friday, June 20 and 21 at 1:00 PM William Stone, AVA faculty. Vocal master class on standard opera repertoire, any language. Two groups of singers on consecutive days. Don St Pierre (Curtis faculty), accompanist Russian Opera Workshop Alumni Success: As of April 2013, five opera companies nationwide hired Russian Opera Workshop artists in the roles they learned here. Further, bass Nicholas Masters (‘12) wins The Dallas Opera Guild's Vocal Competition. Baritone Efraín Solís (‘11) was a Grand Finalist of 2013 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Mezzos Cynthia Cook (‘11) and Raehann Bryce-Davis (‘12) were accepted in Florida Grand Opera Young Artist Program. Pianist Geoffrey Loff (‘12) was accepted in Minnesota Opera Young Artists program. Baritone Jeff Williams (‘12) to sing the title role in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin at the Seagle Music Colony Young Artists. Sopranos Shelley Jackson (‘11) and Youna Jang (‘11) were accepted to the Academy of Vocal Arts. About Russian Opera Workshop: Russian Opera Workshop is an independent summer training program for aspiring and professional opera singers. The program was founded in 2011 by Ghenady Meirson, faculty member at both the Academy of Vocal Arts and Curtis Institute of Music. The workshop offers an intensive one-month Russian language immersion and vocal training program followed by free public performances. For more information: Ghenady Meirson 267.475.6500 or RussianOperaWorkshop.com MEDIA CONTACT Inna Heasley 215.280.4824 or [email protected]  Left to right: Ghenady Meirson, Benita Valente and Mikael Eliasen
|
Like us on Facebook
|
RSS Feed
