JORDAN SHANAHAN (Figaro), a recent graduate of the Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Jordan Shanahan has already attracted the attention of the Metropolitan Opera, who engaged him for their productions of Satyagraha by Philip Glass, Dr. Atomic by John Adams and Hamlet by Thomas. Other companies who have engaged his services include the Santa Fe Opera and the Netherlands Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Orlando Opera, and Natchez Opera. This spring, he sang Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor for Opera Cleveland and the Green Mountain Opera Festival.
His repertoire includes forty roles that encompass a variety of musical styles, periods and vocal demands, including baroque operas of Cavalli (La Calisto) plus world premieres of important new works (An American Tragedy). Other notable roles in his repertoire include Figaro in The Barber of Seville, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor, Silvio in I Pagliacci, andJoe in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking.
His reputation has been furthered by consistent success in important competitions, including awards of 1st place (or its equivalent) by the Gerda Lissner Foundation, the Loren Zachary Society, the Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation, the George London Foundation, the Denver Lyric Opera Guild, the Metropolitan Opera National Council, and the Union League of Chicago.
On the concert stage, Mr. Shanahan has enjoyed success in recitals in New York, Honolulu, Philadelphia, Portland Oregon, Seattle, and also in The Netherlands, and France. He has appeared as an orchestral soloist with the Honolulu Symphony, the Orlando Philharmonic, the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam and the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra.
Mr. Shanahan’s recent recordings include two CD’s of the music of Thomas Pasatieri; the title role the one act opera Signor Deluso on the Grammy nominated “Divas of a Certain Age”, and “Songbook” a collection of songs both available from Albany Records. He is also featured in the Netherlands Opera production of Don Carlo available on DVD from Opus Arte.
Mr. Shanahan was born and raised in Hawai’i, where he appeared in several plays and musicals with local companies, and was an accomplished musician. He received a scholarship to the University of Hawai’i and studied trombone and composition. On the advice of his trombone teacher he began studying voice as a way of improving his musical skills during his first year at UH, and was soon invited to join Hawai’i Opera Theatre, initially as a chorister, and later as a member of the Mae Zenke Orvis Opera Studio. In `1998, he matriculated at Temple University in Philadelphia and sang five leading roles there over the next three years.
Soprano AUDREY LUNA (Rosina), whom Opera News says "has power and a blazing coloratura facility that most lyric sopranos can only dream of," is fast emerging as one of the country's brightest young artists. In her triumphant debut last summer in Ariadne auf Naxos at the Tanglewood Music Festival, Musical America said: "Luna made a simply delectable Zerbinetta, and one (miracle of miracles!) absolutely at home both onstage and in the coloratura excesses of the character's display aria."
In the 2010-11 season Ms. Luna makes her debut with the Metropolitan Opera as Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte and returns to sing Najade in Ariadne auf Naxos. She also sings the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor with Opera Naples, Venus in Le Grand Macabre with New York Philharmonic, appears as soloist in Messiah with the National Philharmonic, and in Mozart's Mass in C Minor with the Valdosta Symphony Orchestra. Other 2010-11 engagements include singing as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Green Umbrella concert series in Unsuk Chin's Cantatrix Sopranica, conducted by Benjamin Shwartz; and as Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, in a joint production with Opera Memphis and Mississippi Opera. In the summer of 2010 she sang Queen of the Night with Santa Fe Opera and Zerbinetta with Tanglewood Music Festival. She sings Madame Mao in Nixon in China with Lyric Opera of Kansas City and Queen of the Night for Spoleto Festival USA in season 2011-12.
Recent seasons include multiple returns to the National Philharmonic as soloist in Brahms' Requiem, Makris' Symphony for Soprano and Strings, and Vivaldi's Gloria; Gilda in Rigoletto with San Antonio Opera; Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel with Syracuse Opera; soloist in Messiah with East Texas Symphony Orchestra; Queen of the Night with Pittsburgh Opera, Opera Ontario and El Paso Opera; Blondchen in The Abduction from the Seraglio with Hawaii Opera Theatre; Cunegonde in Candide with Toledo Opera; as soloist in Carmina Burana with the National Philharmonic, also with the Sioux City Symphony; and as soloist with the Marina del Rey Symphony in an opera gala concert.
Other highlights include Juliette in Roméo et Juliette and Anne in Sondheim's A Little Night Music, both for Hawaii Opera Theatre; Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Portland SummerFest; The Controller in Jonathan Dove's Flight, Adina in L'elisir d'amore, Giulietta in I Capuleti e i Montecchi, and Erisbe in Cavalli''s Ormindo, all with Pittsburgh Opera as a resident artist; the Accuser in Bright Sheng's world premiere of Madame Mao as an apprentice artist with Santa Fe Opera; Belinda in Dido and Aeneas and Amor in Orfeo ed Euridice with Bel Canto Northwest Festival; Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance and Yum-Yum in The Mikado both with The Pentacle Theater in Portland, Oregon; as soloist in Fauré's Requiem, Mozart's Requiem, and Bach's Magnificat at Saint Peter in Chains Cathedral in Cincinnati; and Bach's Weinachts Oratorium with Cincinnati Baroque Ensemble. She also appeared in recital, making her European debut, at the Bach to Bartók Festival in Imola, Italy.
Audrey Luna is the 2009 winner of the Loren L. Zachary Vocal Competition and received the top prize awarded in the 2009 Renata Tebaldi International Voice Competition. She has also been awarded first place in the Caruso International Voice Competition, and Eleanor Lieber Awards, and has garnered prizes from the George London Foundation, the José Iturbi International Voice Competition, Elardo International Opera Competition, the Liederkranz Foundation, the Licia Albanese - Puccini Foundation, and the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
MICHAEL GALLUP (Bartolo), a versatile singing actor, has earned praise for more than two decades as a regular guest of a number of opera companies throughout the United States, including the Los Angeles Opera, Dallas Opera, New Jersey State Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Opera Pacific, Portland Opera, Seattle Opera, San Diego Opera, Long Beach Opera, Arizona Opera, Anchorage Opera, Dayton Opera, Orlando Opera and Palm Beach Opera. He has also performed opera at the Hollywood Bowl under Michael Tilson Thomas, Sir Charles Groves and Leonard Slatkin.
Notable roles for Los Angeles Opera (where he has appeared in forty one productions) include Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Faninal in Der Rosenkavalier, the Sacristan in Tosca, Trinity Moses in The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, Doctor Bartolo in Le Nozze di Figaro and The Barber of Seville, Taddeo in L’Italiana in Algieri, Don Alfonso in Cosí fan tutte, Dulcamara in L’Elisir d’amore, Zuniga in Carmen, Czar Nicholas II in Deborah Drattel’s operatic adaptation of Nicholas and Alexandra, and Alcindoro/Benoit in La Bohéme.
Elsewhere he has performed to great acclaim the roles of Leporello for Michigan Opera Theater, Opera Pacific, Dayton Opera and Utah Opera, Dulcamara, Don Magnifico and Doctor Bartolo for Arizona Opera, Dr. Bartolo in The Barber of Seville for Opera Pacific and Duluth Festival Opera, Dulcamara for the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Pooh-Bah in The Mikado for Utah Opera and Hawaii Opera, Mustafà in L’Italiana in Algieri for the Palm Beach Opera, Faninal for Portland Opera, Alcindoro/Benoit for Dallas Opera, Opera Pacific, and Vancouver Opera, Don Alfonso in Cosí fan tutte and Osmin in The Abduction from the Seraglio for the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival. Last season, he sang Bartolo for Opera Pacific and the Sacristan for Phoenix.
DAVID ADAMS (Almaviva) has performed in a variety of settings throughout the United States and Europe. His work in opera has been described in Opera News as ‘light and flexible, yet fiery and expressive’. Specializing in the music of Handel, Mozart, and Rossini, roles to his credit include the title character in Acis and Galatea, and Jupiter in Semele, both by Handel. In the works of Mozart, Mr. Adams has sung Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Ferrando in Cosí fan tutte, and the title roles in La Clemenza di Tito and Idomeneo. From Rossini’s works, he has been highly sought after in portrayals of Almaviva in The Barber of Seville and Lindoro in L’Italiana in Algeri. Other Rossini roles include Pirro in Ermione, Argirio in Tancredi, as well as both Rodrigo and Otello in Otello. American companies where Mr. Adams has performed include The Metropolitan Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Opera Orchestra of New York, The Caramoor Festival (with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s), New York City Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, The Kansas City Symphony, The Kansas City Chamber Orchestra, Shreveport Opera, Syracuse Opera, Opera Birmingham, Houston’s Orchestra X, Augusta Opera, Opera Southwest, Civic Opera Theater of Kansas City, and Pittsburgh Opera.
On the concert stage, Mr. Adams has performed many of the major works of Bach, including the Evangelist in the St. Matthew Passion (having also performed numerous concerts singing the tenor solo selections), Tenor soloist in St. John’s Passion, Magnificat, and recently a B Minor Mass. Other oratorio credits include performances as soloist in Orff’s Carmina Burana, Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Saint Paul, Haydn’s Creation, Beethoven’s Mass in C, Handel’s Messiah, Esther, and Saul, and the Verdi Requiem. Mr. Adams’ variety of concert performance opportunities includes work in Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and various halls throughout the country and in Europe. Mr. Adams may be heard as the Celebrant in Rachmaninov’s Liturgy of Saint John of Crysostum on a critically acclaimed recording of the work by the Kansas City Chorale for Nimbus Records. Recently Mr. Adams’ work with the Kansas City Chorale, in conjunction with the Phoenix Bach Choir, has garnered many accolades, including involvement in a recording project nominated for Best Choral
Album from the Grammy Awards.
In both operatic and concert settings, Mr. Adams is still very active throughout the United States. Recent and upcoming engagements include performances of Purcell’s The Fairy Queen , Conrad Susa’s Transformations in Dallas and Santa Fe, Verdi’s Requiem, recitals in Kansas City, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni with Teatro Lirico d’Europa, Tenor Soloist in Handel’s Messiah, Tenor Soloist in the Mozart Requiem, Tenor Soloist in the Haydn Lord Nelson Mass and Orff's Carmina Burana in Carnegie Hall, Anthony in Sweeney Todd with Mobile Opera, and a return to Mobile in the title role of Candide in October.
LESTER SENTER (Bertha) has a vocal repertoire extending to over 60 roles and she has appeared with leading opera companies, festivals and symphonies across America and abroad. Among these are Spoleto, Glimmerglass, Des Moines, Dallas, New Orleans, Denver, Milwaukee, Grand Rapids, Birmingham, Mobile, Memphis, Shreveport, Minneapolis, Guadalajara and Dublin.
During the 2004-2005 season, she was guest soloist with the Mississippi, Shreveport and the University of Southern Mississippi Symphonies. Opera engagements included Mama Lucia in Cavalleria Rusticana with Opera Memphis, Zita in the Mississippi Opera production of Gianni Schicchi, and the Mother in Tales of Hoffmann with the New Orleans Opera. She also appeared in a solo Gershwin Review in Charleston, SC. In addition, Miss Senter was a guest artist at Judith Zaimont’s faculty recital (University of Minnesota).
In this same season she produced and starred in a multi-media production of Robinson & Friends to commemorate the Centennial of Mississippi Artist and Writer, Walter Anderson. Robinson & Friends was first produced in Jackson then toured to the Walter Anderson Museum of Art in Ocean Springs. From Mississippi, the production went to the Smithsonian Institution, then to the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC before performances at the Dixon Gallery and Gardens in Memphis, TN and the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC. This spring, Robinson returned to Mississippi with shows in Natchez and Brookhaven, and a week’s residency in El Dorado, Arkansas.
Miss Senter has recorded 11 CDs including, “The Memory is a Living Thing”, based on the writings of Eudora Welty and has just completed music of the Natchez Trace Collection, from the University of Texas Center for American Studies, for presentation by the Natchez Trace Parkway to celebrate the completion of the final stretch of the Parkway in Jackson and Natchez.
2005-2006 brings opera performances of Katisha in The Mikado with the Mississippi Opera, Buryjovka in Jenufa with the New Orleans Opera, Ruth in The Pirates of Penzance with Inland Opera; recitals of French Love songs – Chansons d’Amour, with Copiah-Lincoln Community Art Series and Songs from the Natchez Trace Collection in Texas and Mississippi; and symphony appearances of the Beethoven 9th with the Shreveport Symphony and the Berlioz Nuit d”Ete with the Meridian Symphony.
Miss Senter has a D.M.A. in piano and voice, the first double major presented by the University of Texas in Austin. In 2001 Miss Senter was the recipient of the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, presented by the Mississippi Arts Commission. In August 2004 she received The Mississippi Honored Artist Award from the National Museum of Women in the Arts.
Miss Senter is represented by Anthony George Artist Management of New York.
CHRISTOPHER TEMPORELLI (Basilio) has thrilled audiences across the United States and abroad appearing in a wide repertoire of roles in Opera, Concert, as well as in Recital. Praised for his brilliant voice and consummate stagecraft, Toronto's The Globe and Mail declared him "...clearly one to watch...the total package" for his critically acclaimed Canadian main-stage debut.
Christopher has performed main-stage roles with such renowned companies as Glimmerglass Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Lake George Opera, Virginia Opera, Toronto, Canada's Opera Atelier, and Syracuse Opera; joined the roster of New York City Opera; has won merit in such competitions as the Liederkranz and in the world of Music Television was recognized on a live New York broadcast to the 2007 San Remo Festival in Italy - then programmed internationally on the RAI network.
Performances include at Carnegie, Weil Hall as a winner in the Liederkranz Competition, the Concert Hall of the Kennedy Center as soloist with the Washington Chorus, The Hudson Theater, Symphony Space, the Columbus Citizen's Club, the Liederkranz Foundation and the New World Stages. Recent Recital appearances have taken place throughout New York, Florida and the Caribbean.
Upcoming performances include a return to Syracuse Opera, New Chorale Society, debut with Opera Memphis, as well as with the National Art Centre Orchestra of Canada under the direction of Maestro Pinchas Zukerman.
In Europe performances include at the "Haus zur Lieben Hand" in Freiburg, Germany and as a concert pianist in numerous European cities, including in the palaces of the Tsars in St. Petersburg Russia. Christopher is on the roster of Barrett Vantage Artists.
JEREMIAH JOHNSON (Fiorello) is an Artist in Residence with Opera Memphis. He is currently staring in the world premiere of Michael Ching's Midsummer Nights Dream as Oberon and Theseus. Mr. Johnson has recently sung Il Re in Verdi's Aida as well as John Proctor in The Crucible with University of Memphis.
Jeremiah Johnson is a Texas native who most recently was a student at Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. While at CCM Jeremiah sang Bartolo in Il barbiere di Siviglia as well as singing in the midwest permiere of Miss Lonelyhearts. Mr. Johnson has also performed with Indiana University Opera Theater as Belcore in L'elisir d'amore. In previous seasons at Indiana Universtiy Mr Johnson performed Peter in Hansel and Gretel as well as Graf Waldner in Strauss' Arabella. Mr. Johnson received his bachelor’s degree in 2005 from Texas Tech University where his roles included Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Baron Douphol in La Traviata, and Sgt. Quigly in the world premiere of Belinni’s War. For four years, he performed as a Young Artist with Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre. Mr. Johnson was then invited back as a cover for the role of Sharpless in Madama Butterfly.
STEPHEN CAREY (Conductor), a native of York, Pennsylvania, has worked with opera companies such as Pensacola Opera, Jefferson Performing Arts Center, Bel Canto Opera, AIMS in Graz, Austria, Opera in the Ozarks, Ashlawn Highland Opera Festival, Chautauqua Opera, and the Utah Festival Opera. At Opera Memphis, Mr. Carey is Assistant Artistic Director, Director of the Artist-in-Residence program, Chorus Master, and Principle Pianist/Vocal Coach. Mr. Carey has expanded the Education and Outreach program to include 2 touring school shows, a black history program, and a concert series. These programs tour throughout the mid-south region. Mr. Carey has conducted The Face on the Barroom Floor, The Informer, and the All the Good Stuff programs at Opera Memphis, which feature the Opera Memphis Artist-in-Residence ensemble and the Memphis Symphony. Mr. Carey has also conducted performances of The Barber of Seville and Annie with the Ashlawn Highland Opera Festival. This season Mr. Carey will be conducting performances of A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Opera A Capella and The Barber of Seville.
LARRY MARSHALL (Director) debuted as a director with A Faith Journey, a docu-musical on the life of Martin Luther King at Riverside Theatre in 1990. He was recently the Associate Director and performed the role of "Rum" in the Kennedy Center's presentation of Carmen Jones, with Vanessa Williams and Placido Domingo. He has also been the Associate Director for the New York Harlem Theatre's production of Porgy and Bess since 1993, and has staged productions that have played most of the major opera houses in Europe, among which are "La Fenice" in Venice, Teatra del Opera in Rome, Teatro Bellini in Catannia, The Ronacher Theater in Vienna, and Teatra des Westins in Berlin. Mr. Marshall directed The Atlanta Opera's production ofPorgy and Bess in the fall of 2005, and the Memphis Opera in 2006. He directed Verdi's Macbeth for the Memphis Opera in January 2008. In 1999 he co-directed and starred in the 2nd musical review of This Joint Is Jumpin’ at New York's Supper Club, and in 2000 conceived and directed its “Tribute to the 20th Century”. The two shows ran for a total of 5 years at the Supper Club.
Notary, Ed Dacus
Lighting Designer/TD, Bill Kickbush
Sets by Stivanello Costume Co., Inc.
Costumes by Sona Amroyan
Wigs/Make-up, Blake Galtelli
Rehearsal Accompanist/Continuo, Tyson Deaton
Chorus Master, Ed Dacus
Chorus Manager, Merina Dillard
Chorus: Larry Blackman, Neal Buckley, Frank Fillingham, Hosea Griffith, Eric Hambrick, Vic Hartung, Mario Henderson, Jerry Morgan, Chuck Runyan, and Derrick Truss
