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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - SAN FRANCISCO, CA, Novermber 2008
Performances: Fri, December 5th and Sat. December 6th at 8 p.m. Opera Academy of California (OAC) is pleased to announce Winter Season in Opera - performance and a master class for singers that will be open to the public. a program of Favorite Scenes and Arias from Famous Operas. The performances will be directed and narrated by Yefim Maizel, the internationally renowned stage director from the Metropolitan Opera, and conducted by Maestro Alexander Katsman, the Music Director of the Livermore Valley Opera and alumnus of the San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program. Ten chosen young and talented singers from the Bay Area will perform, for the first time in the same program, scenes and arias from “La Bohème” by Leoncavallo and by Puccini; also from rarely performed Russian operas “Christmas Eve” by Rimsky-Korsakov and “Tsarina’s Slippers” by Tchaikovsky. Maizel and Katsman bring this music alive and relevant for a San Francisco audience. Both studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, now renamed in honor of great Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov who was the conservatory’s director from 1871 until 1905. Calendar Editors Please Note: “Winter Season in Opera” – Opera Scene Performance Opera Academy of California Fri. December 5, 2008, 8:00 – 10:30 pm
Magic Theater, Fort Mason in San Francisco $40.00 ($25.00 for students and seniors). To purchase tickets: 415/ 642- 0176 Contact:For more information on all the latest developments at OAC, plus audio and video clips, please visit our website, www.opera-academy.com Since 1999 he has worked at the Metropolitan Opera as a Guest Stage Director, where he directed Madama Butterfly (Puccini) and has assisted on productions of Mazeppa (Tchaikovsky), Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (Shostakovich), Il Trovatore (Verdi), Manon (Massenet), The Gambler (Prokofiev), Idomeneo (Mozart), Don Carlo (Verdi), Elektra(Strauss), Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Mozart), Otello (Verdi), The Queen of Spades (Tchaikovsky) and Das Rheingold (Wagner). Mr. Maizel is a member of the faculty of the Bay Area Summer Opera Theater Institute (BASOTI) since 1998, where he directed Riders to the Sea (Vaughan Williams), Suor Angelica (Puccini), La Calisto (Cavalli), The Impresario (Mozart), Little Women (Adamo), and numerous scenes from different operas. Yefim regularly leads workshops and masterclasses for singers with the audience invited and also teaches opera appreciation classes for anybody who would like to enhance their knowledge and enjoyment of opera. Alexander Katsman, Music Director of the Livermore Valley Opera and Alumni of the San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program, received his M.M. from Rimsky-Korsakov State Conservatory in St. Petersburg, Russia. Since his arrival in the U.S. in 1990, Alexander has been sought after as a conductor and collaborative pianist. Locally he conducted for Opera San Jose, West Bay Opera, Bayshore Lyric Opera, Berkeley Opera, Oakland Lyric Opera, Solo Opera, Livermore Valley Opera, San Francisco Lyric Opera, Martinez Opera, Diablo Light Opera and also at CalState University at Hayward and Diablo Valley College. His conducting credits include productions of Un Ballo in Maschera, Madama Butterfly, Der Rosenkavalier, Faust, Rigoletto, La Juive, Andrea Chenier, L’italiana in Algeri, La Cenerentola, Carmen, The Magic Flute, Manon, Suor Angelica, The Bartered Bride, Die Fledermaus, Orfeo et Euridice, Kismet, Sweeney Todd, The Student Prince, Carousel, The Most Happy Fella, Traviata and Merry Widow. Alexander serves on conducting and coaching faculties of Bay Area Summer Opera Theater Institute and Peninsula Teen Opera. He is also on the coaching staff at the Opera San Jose, San Francisco Conservatory and at the Holy Names University. Alexander’s next upcoming production is Le Nozze di Figaro at the Livermore Valley Opera in February of 2009 Opera Academy of California (OAC) is a non-profit charitable and educational organization, founded to educate new audiences about opera, and to give promising young singers an opportunity to polish their craft. OAC brings quality performers and appreciative audiences together to broaden the audience who become passionate about this bravura form of musical theatre. OAC History: Tribute to Mozart’s 250th birthday anniversary with Happy Birthday, Mr. Mozart!, a program of excerpts & scenes from 5 Mozart operas at Fort Mason’s Magic Theater in SF - Maid of Orleans (Tchaikovsky) opera appreciation class preceded the attendance of the Final dress performance at the SF Opera. OAC Upcoming Productions: OAC is currently developing, also, a series of opera appreciation classes based on the season of the SF Opera and Opera Companies around the Bay Area. ### |
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