Month: April 2017

Curtis Opera Theatre presents La rondine April 27 and 29 at the Perelman Theater

Date

PHILADELPHIA—April 26, 2017—The Curtis Opera Theatre presents Puccini’s La rondine, conducted by Kensho Watanabe (’13, ’15) and directed by Stephanie Havey, on April 27 and 29 at 7:30pm in the Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater. Puccini’s evocative waltzes and glowing melodies enliven the bittersweet story of a complicated romance.

Money buys happiness but not true love for Magda, the heroine of Puccini’s comic opera. Abandoning her lavish life with a rich banker for the affection of a poor young student, she realizes, heartbroken, that she is unworthy of his marriage proposal. Puccini’s only comic opera, La rondine has grown in popularity in recent decades after initially being criticized as too light in comparison to his more serious operas.

Conductor Kensho Watanabe leads the Curtis Symphony Orchestra in a fully staged production sung in Italian with English supertitles. Scenic design is by Brandon McNeel, costume design is by Matthew Pederson, and lighting design is by Jeff Harris. This production is sponsored in part by Allen R. and Judy Brick Freedman. The Curtis Opera Theatre season is sponsored by The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation and the Wyncote Foundation.

Tickets, priced $10 and $35, are available through the Kimmel Center Box Office, Kimmelcenter.org org (215) 893-1999.

The Curtis Opera Theatre, under the artistic direction of Mikael Eliasen, works with established professional directors and designers to create fresh interpretations of standard repertoire and contemporary works. All of Curtis’s 25 voice and opera students are cast repeatedly each season, receiving a rare level of performance experience on stage and through frequent collaborations with Opera Philadelphia, Curtis on Tour, and the Curtis Symphony Orchestra. As a result Curtis graduates have sung with opera companies all over the world, including La Scala, Covent Garden, the Vienna Staatsoper, Houston Grand Opera, the San Francisco Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera. 

 

CURTIS OPERA THEATRE: La Rondine by Giacomo Puccini 

Thursday, April 27 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, April 29 at 7:30 p.m.
Perelman Theater at the Kimmel Center, Broad and Spruce Streets, Philadelphia

Kensho Watanabe (’13, ’15), conductor
Stephanie Havey, director
Brandon McNeel, set designer
Matthew Pederson, costume designer
Jeff Harris, lighting designer

Cast

Yvette Tiffany Townsend
Bianca Ashley Robillard
Prunier Aaron Crouch
Magda Elena Perroni
Lisette Emily Pogorelc
Suzy Siena Miller
Rambaldo Dogukan Kuran
Ruggiero Jamez McCorkle
Gobin Seongwo Woo
Perichaud Dennis Chmelensky
Crebillon Tyler Zimmerman
Georgetta Heather Stebbins
Gabriella Lindsey Reynolds
Lolette Hannah Klein
Chorus Kendra Broom
  Vartan Gabrielian
  Adam Kiss
  Sophia Maekawa-Drott
  Kodi Meyer
  Anastasiia Sidorova
  Patrick Wilhelm

 

Tickets: $10, $35 sold by the Kimmel Center Box Office, Kimmelcenter.org or (215) 893-1999

 

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Streamed Live April 23: Robert van Sice leads the Curtis Percussion Ensemble

Date

 

PHILADELPHIA—April 22, 2017—Curtis Presents concludes its 2016–17 series with a recital by Robert van Sice and the Curtis Percussion Ensemble on Sunday, April 23 at 3 p.m. in Gould Rehearsal Hall, streamed on Facebook Live and Curtis Performs.

A member of the Curtis percussion faculty since 2008, Robert van Sice is one of the world’s foremost performers of contemporary music for marimba. He will lead the students of the Curtis Percussion Ensemble in a wide-ranging program of works for percussion and mixed chamber ensembles, including Emmanuel Séjourné’s Concerto pour vibraphone et orchestre à cordes, which Mr. van Sice will conduct. Other works on the program include And Legions Will Rise by recent Pulitzer Prize-winner Kevin Puts, and a 20th century percussion favorite, Musique de tables by Thierry De Mey, in which three percussionists use only a table as their instrument. Tickets are $25 and are available from the Curtis Patron Services Office at (215) 893-7902 or Curtis.edu/tickets. 

As a celebrated ambassador for contemporary percussion music, Robert van Sice has shared his virtuosity and artistry at major music centers in over 30 countries, including the first-ever solo marimba recital at Amsterdam’s hallowed Concertgebouw. His current and former students occupy the highest echelons of solo, chamber, and orchestral percussionists performing today. 

Highlighting Curtis alumni and faculty in a new recital series, Curtis Presents brings Curtis graduates and faculty members from around the world to Field Concert Hall. Performers are leaders in their field, whose success as musicians in the 21st century continues the impact and legacy of Curtis music-making, achieved over more than eight decades. Proceeds from the concerts directly benefit current Curtis students. The Curtis Presents season is sponsored by Blank Rome LLP.  


CURTIS PRESENTS: Robert van Sice and the Curtis Percussion Ensemble

Sunday, April 23 at 3 p.m.
Gould Rehearsal Hall, 1616 Locust Street, Philadelphia, Pa.

Robert van Sice, percussion
Curtis Percussion Ensemble 

MEY                  Musique de tables
SÉJOURNÉ       Concerto pour vibraphone et orchestre à cordes       
ANDERSSON   The Lonelyness of Santa Claus
VIÑAO              “The Riff Within” from Relative Riffs
PUTS                 And Legions Will Rise 

Tickets: $25, available from the Curtis Patron Services Office, Curtis.edu/tickets or (215) 893-7902.

The concert will be streamed live at www.curtis.edu/CurtisPerforms and at www.Facebook.com/CurtisInstitute

The Curtis Presents season is sponsored by Blank Rome LLP. 

Live streaming of Curtis Presents recitals is made possible by BNP Paribas.

 

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Baritone Elliot Madore Performs April 9 on Curtis Presents

Date

PHILADELPHIA—April 5, 2017—Curtis Presents features Canadian baritone Elliot Madore with Mikael Eliasen on Sunday, April 9 at 3 p.m. in Field Concert Hall. Described as “an exceptional recitalist” who sings with “exciting confidence and detail” (New York Times), Mr. Madore (’10) presents a program of works by Schumann, Falla, and Ives. This recital is part of the four-concert Curtis Presents season, bringing prominent Curtis graduates and faculty members from around the world back to Curtis.

Since his win at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Elliot Madore has captivated audiences from many of the world’s pre-eminent opera stages, including the Metropolitan Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, Glyndebourne Festival, Santa Fe Opera, Opera Philadelphia, and Opernhaus Zürich. He returns to Curtis to perform alongside his former mentor, Mikael Eliasen, artistic director of the Curtis Opera Theatre and Hirsig Family Dean of Vocal Studies. Highlights of the program include Robert Schumann’s Liederkreis, Op. 39, one of the great song cycles of the 19th century; the popular Spanish song cycle Siete canciones populares españolas by Manuel de Falla; and several songs by the iconoclastic American composer Charles Ives.

Tickets are $25 and are available from the Curtis Patron Services Office at (215) 893-7902 or Curtis.edu/tickets. The concert will also be streamed live on Curtis.edu/CurtisPerforms at 3 p.m. EST.

CURTIS PRESENTS: Elliot Madore

Sunday, April 9 at 3 p.m.
Field Concert Hall, 1726 Locust Street, Philadelphia

Elliot Madore, baritone (’10)
Mikael Eliasen, piano

SCHUMANN    Liederkreis, Op. 39
FALLA              Siete canciones populares españolas      
IVES                  “The Side Show”
                           “Ich Grolle Nicht”
                           “The Circus Band”
                           “Tom Sails Away”
                           “Memories” 

Tickets: $25, available from the Curtis Patron Services Office, Curtis.edu/tickets or (215) 893-7902. 

The concert will be streamed live at www.curtis.edu/CurtisPerforms. 

The Curtis Presents season is sponsored by Blank Rome LLP. Live streaming of Curtis Presents recitals is made possible by BNP Paribas. 

Mr. Eliasen is the Hirsig Family Dean of Vocal Studies.

 

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