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In-person program and public performances return in 2022
PHILADELPHIA (March 2, 2021) -- While the COVID-19 pandemic is on its way to a resolution, Russian Opera Workshop opted to continue its 2021 training season as a private Virtual Role Study Workshop. "As we approach the end of the war against the COVID-19 pandemic, and as in any war, the final days can be highly unpredictable. To avoid complacency, and for the safety of our artists and patrons, this summer we opted to continue as a private Virtual Role Study Workshop. Our in-person program with public performances will return in 2022," commented Ghenady Meirson, the founder and music director of Russian Opera Workshop. In its 11th summer season, the program includes two separate training sessions of popular Tchaikovsky standards, Iolanta (June 7-18) and Eugene Onegin (July 5-16). Participating artists will receive daily Russian language classes and intensive role preparation. In addition, special guest speakers include international opera stars Angela Meade and Bryan Hymel, the General Manager of San Francisco Opera Center, Markus Beam, and the preeminent audition coach and AVA faculty, Thor Eckert. About Russian Opera Workshop Russian Opera Workshop is a privately operated, independent program, located in summer residence at the Academy of Vocal Arts (AVA) in Philadelphia. Founded in 2011, by Ghenady Meirson (AVA, Curtis), the program is focused on one Russian opera per session, offering intensive language and vocal training, and public performances. Repertoire and Performance History Tchaikovsky Mazepa - 2016 The Maid of Orleans - 2014, 2019 Eugene Onegin - 2011, 2014, 2018 The Queen of Spades - 2012, 2017 Iolanta - 2011, 2015, 2019 Romeo & Juliet Fragment - 2013, 2016 Rachmaninoff Aleko - 2012, 2016 Francesca da Rimini - 2013 Rubinstein The Demon - 2015 Dargomyzhsky Rusalka - 2017 Borodin Prince Igor - 2018 High Resolution Photos Photo is courtesy of Russian Opera Workshop Martin Luther Clark, Jr. and Samantha Long in Russian Opera Workshop’s 2019 production of Iolanta (Photo by Leonard Meirson) COMPANY CONTACT Ghenady Meirson, Founder and Music Director http://www.russianoperaworkshop.com/ [email protected] 267.475.6500 # # #  Guest Artist - Ben Wager, Russian Opera Workshop Artist 2011 & 2012, will appear in the role of King René in Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta.
Tchaikovsky IOLANTA - Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg with Anna Netrebko, Complete Video11/29/2014
OPERA ROLES
René, King of Provence - Bass Robert, Duke of Burgundy - Baritone Count Vaudémont, Burgundian Knight - Tenor Ibn-Hakia, Moorish Physician - Baritone Alméric, armor-bearer to King René - Tenor Bertrand, doorkeeper of the castle - Bass Iolanta, blind daughter of King René - Soprano Marta, Bertrand's wife, Iolanta's nursemaid - Contralto Brigitta, Iolanta's friend - Soprano Laura, Iolanta's friend - Mezzo Soprano Iolanta's girlfriends - Ensemble SYNOPSIS King René’s daughter Iolanta is blind from early childhood. Anguished and determined to find a cure, René creates a sheltered world where Iolanta is not to know of her blindness and no one is to reveal the truth for fear of execution. The great Moorish healer advises René that Iolanta must know of her misfortune and have desire to see light, only then the cure is possible. Lost in the woods, Count Vaudemont enters a beautiful palace garden where he meets Iolanta. He falls in love, discovers that she is blind and is the first person to explain the virtues of light. Furious king condemns Vaudemont to death. The event awakens Iolanta's desire to see light, to be cured and to save her beloved. (Synopsis by Russian Opera Workshop)  Spontaneous Russian Opera Workshop faculty reunion. From left Ghena, Sharon and Michele. We attended Curtis Opera Theatre's opening of IOLANTA. I had a blast preparing the opera. So xappy for my Curtis students, both casts were exceptional!
 King René’s daughter Iolanta is blind from early childhood. Anguished and determined to find a cure, René creates a sheltered world where Iolanta is not to know of her blindness and no one is to reveal the truth for fear of execution. The great Moorish healer advises René that Iolanta must know of her misfortune and have desire to see light, only then the cure is possible. Lost in the woods, Count Vaudemont enters a beautiful palace garden where he meets Iolanta. He falls in love, discovers that she is blind and is the first person to explain the virtues of light. Furious king condemns Vaudemont to death. The event awakens Iolanta's desire to see light, to be cured and to save her beloved. (Synopsis by Russian Opera Workshop)
 Donald St. Pierre returns to Russian Opera Workshop 2014. In previous summer programs Don helped prepare Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Iolanta and Pique Dame, and Rachmaninoff's Aleko and Francesca da Rimini.
Donald St. Pierre was associated with the Skylight Opera Theatre as music director from 1978 to 1990. He conducted more than fifty productions there, from Monteverdi's Il Coronazione di Poppea to Stephen Oliver's Mario and the Magician (American premiere). He was keyboard player of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra until 1978. In 1986 he served as chorus master at the Vienna State Opera for Leonard Bernstein's Quiet Place (recorded by DGG and conducted by the composer). As a recital accompanist, Mr. St. Pierre has appeared at such venues as New York's Lincoln Center, London's Wigmore Hall and Almeida Theatre, and Paris's Théâtre du Châtelet, as well as at the Tanglewood, Santa Fe Chamber Music, Bowdoin, Bard, and Grand Teton music festivals. He is one of the contributing composers to the AIDS Quilt Songbook, published by Boosey & Hawkes and recorded on the Harmonia Mundi label. Mr. St. Pierre serves on the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music. 
It's opera audition season and mini reunion surprises continue! Fleur Barron (ROW 2011), dropped by my AVA Eugene Onegin rehearsal
yesterday. Very nice! During 2011 Russian Opera Workshop summer program Fleur performed the roles of Olga, Mother and Filipievna in Eugene Onegin. Thanks to Shelley Jackson (ROW 2011 Iolanta) for taking the photo with my 'picture-taker', and as Fleur pointed out, a.k.a. 'camera'. 
Mini reunion! As I was rehearsing AVA production of Eugene Onegin, a couple of Russian Opera Workshop (ROW) alumni dropped by.
In this photo left to right Brad Cawyer (ROW Russian class), Katie Kupchik (ROW 2012 Zemphira in 'Aleko'), Youna Jang (ROW 2011 Tatyana; AVA Artist 2013 Tatyana), Ghenady Meirson, (AVA faculty, ROW founder), Shelley Jackson (ROW 2011 Iolanta title role; AVA Artist 2013 Tatyana), Peggy Pei-Ju Yu (ROW 2012 Zemphira in 'Aleko') and John Viscardi (ROW 2011 Lensky; AVA Artist 2013 Lensky).  Soprano Shelley Jackson was accepted to the Academy of Vocal Arts and will join the
AVA Artist Roster in the fall of 2012. Russian Opera Workshop 2011 alumna, Shelley performed the title role of Iolanta in Tchaikovsky's opera Iolanta. Congratulations, Shelley!  Mr. Hagen will give a lecture on Tchaikovsky's last opera "Iolanta." This free public event is part of Russian Romances concert on July 25, 2011 at the Helen Warden Corning Theater in Philadelphia. Follow this site for future listings of all free public events.
Full Biography Daron Hagen (pronounced hɑgən/, us dict: hah-guhn, born November 4, 1961 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) taught himself to read music at the age of 11, began piano lessons at the age of 12, completed his first symphony at 14, conducted his first orchestral première at 16, and at 19 became the youngest composer since Samuel Barber to have a work premièred by the Philadelphia Orchestra. Commissions during his early twenties from the New York Philharmonic and the Kings Singers launched his career before the first of his seven major operas, Shining Brow (1992), garnered international critical and audience acclaim and established him as one of America 's most successful and respected opera composers. Hagen's list of commissioners is extensive and includes The Philadelphia Orchestra, The New York Philharmonic, The National Symphony, The Milwaukee Symphony, The Albany Symphony, The Seattle Symphony, and The Buffalo Philharmonic. Most recently, Hagen has written concertos for Joel Fan, Gary Graffman, Jeffrey Khaner, Yumi Kurosawa, Michael Ludwig, Sara Sant'Ambrogio, the Amelia Piano Trio, Jaime Laredo, and Sharon Robinson, among others. He has received awards from the Rockefeller Foundation (twice), the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, Meet-the-Composer, the Bearns Prize from Columbia University, the Barlow Endowment Prize, Opera America, the ASCAP-Nissim Prize, and the Kennedy Center Friedheim Prize. In 2010, his Suite for Piano was a commissioned work for the Van Cliburn piano competition, resulting in hundreds of performances of the piece worldwide. Hagen has been a Featured Composer atfestivals including Tanglewood, Wintergreen, and Aspen and currently serves as Artistic Director for the Seasons Music Festival. He has served as Composer-in-residence with the Long Beach Symphony and the Denver Chamber Orchestra. As Artistic andExecutive Director of the Perpetuum Mobile Concerts in New York and Philadelphia during the eighties, he presentedpremieres of over one hundred American composers' works. Hagen's music enjoys more than a hundred performances a year. All of his operas, Amelia, Shining Brow, Bandanna, Vera of Las Vegas, New York Stories, The Antient Concert receive regular staged and concert revivals internationally—some under Hagen's stage direction or under his baton. His songs and song cycles are too frequently performed totrack. Hagen's works have been recorded on overtwo dozen CDs. In 2009, Naxos released Shining Brow (Buffalo Philharmonic / Falletta) and the complete Hagen Piano Trios (Finisterra Trio). Bandanna wasreleased on Albany under his baton in 2007; Vera of Las Vegas on the CRI label. Nearly all of Hagen's vocal music is recorded and available commercially. Hagen's music is published by E.C. Schirmer, Carl Fischer, and Burning Sled. Hagen is a trustee of the Douglas Moore Fund for American Opera, former president of the Lotte Lehmann Foundation, and a Lifetime Member of the Corporation of Yaddo. He serves frequently as an admissions and grants panelist for numerous national organizations including Opera America, the Copland House, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, among others. Hagen is a graduate of Curtis and Juilliard. He served two years on the musical studies faculty of the CurtisInstitute of Music; nine years on the composition faculty of Bard College; as a Visiting Professor at the City College of New York; and as a Lecturer in Music at New York University. He has served twice as Composer-in-Residence for the Princeton University Atelier; as Composer-in-Residence at the Chicago Conservatory of Music of the Chicago College of the Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, as Franz Lehar Composer-in-Residence at the University of Pittsburgh; as Artist-in-Residence at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Sigma-Chi-William P. Huffman Composer-in-Residence at Miami University; and for a year as Artist-in-Residence at Baylor University. Currently fulfilling commissions for the Sarasota Opera, the Seattle Symphony, and Lyric Fest of Philadelphia, among others, Hagen lives in New York City with his wife Gilda and his son Atticus. |
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