Second Prize in Honor of Leslie Mehler Award: Tenor Issachah Savage

Third Prize Dr. James Trefil Award: Soprano Erin Sanzero

First Prize Misbin-Pendergast Award: Mezzo-Soprano Sarah Mesko

Second Prize in Honor of Leslie Mehler Award: Tenor Issachah Savage

Third Prize Dr. James Trefil Award: Soprano Erin Sanzero

Sheryl Shrekengost Encouragement Award: Soprano Jennifer Edwards

Virginia Opera Bravissimo’s Members and Friends,

Don’t miss the Finals of Bravissimo Competition,

Saturday, May 7th at the Lyceum in Alexandria -  3 PM to 6PM

201 South Washington ST., Alexandria,VA 22314

- NO CHARGE -

Several convenient Parking facilities are available in Old Town Alexandria

(Click Vocal Awards Competition in the Upcoming events to see map)

For two days the judges for the preliminarily rounds of the competition, Andrew Chugg, Adam Turner and Dr. Robert Misbin, heard 54 singers. Ten finalists were selected. Their voices are incredible.  What a joy!

Bravissimo’s 10 Finalists are: (click the name)

Melanie Ashkar - mezzo soprano

Patrick Cook – tenor

Jennifer Edwards – soprano

Sarah Mesko – mezzo soprano

Matthew Moore – baritone

Lindsay Russell – soprano

Erin Sanzero – soprano

Issachah Savage – tenor

Monica Soto-Gil – mezzo soprano

Adelaide Trombetta – soprano

The  judges  for the Final Round are:

Robin Thompson, Chair

Consultant for the Classical Performing Arts and Artistic Advisor for Virginia Opera

Nathan Urbach, Guest

Administrative Director of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program

Kim Pensinger Witman, Guest

Director, Wolf Trap Opera at Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts

For those of you who did not yet reply, please do so.  vobravissimo@aol.com.

Come and see the Future Stars of Tomorrow!

A party to remember…Bravissimo!

Bravissimo is commemorating its first year of life and looking forward to having the Vocal Awards Competition on May 7th.  A party was called for this celebration. Faye and Mike Rokni opened the doors of their beautiful residence for Bravissimo Saturday, December 4.  Faye took the day off work Friday to prepare delicious Persian food.  More food, wine and cakes were brought by Bravissimo’s committee. We had a wonderful time thanks to everybody’s generosity and presence.

We were extremely lucky because our own Maestro Joe Walsh was there not only to introduce our singers but also to accompany them.

Russian Soprano Anya Berg and Baritone Chase Peak, both **Spectrum Resident Artists Program, were the stars of the night.

Their beautiful voices filled the whole house impressing our audience.   We had guests literally all over:  Producing Director John Kennelly

VO  Communication   Specialist Katie Schubert,” The Georgetowner” contributor  Mary Bird, guests, Northern Virginia Board of Governors members, and of course,  Bravissimo’s members were present.

Many of us stayed after 11 pm , eating, talking and enjoying ourselves.  We had lots of suggestions for the next year including lectures on how to listen and understand opera from its conception to today.  Thanks for the suggestions, we will consider all of them.

A new year starts in Bravissimo‘s life.  And with it the certainty that we will be part of the lives of many of  the future stars of tomorrow.

** Participants in the Spectrum Resident Artists Program perform small roles and/or cover leading roles in the company’s main stage productions.  Additionally, some young artists perform leading roles in several fully-staged Education and Community Outreach productions that tour schools throughout the state of Virginia. Community concerts and company promotional concerts offer artists the opportunity to perform standard arias and ensembles in concerts with piano. Spectrum artists are regularly re-engaged for main stage productions in future seasons.

September 12: Early Morning.
Emily rehearsed the scores of the zarzuelas on my piano with Max, Aurelio’s adorable Yorkshire terrier. My husband very much enjoyed the music.

Aurelio, now the cook, prepared “arepas”, a traditional dish from Venezuela, for our brunch. Delicious! His wife Alicia was also here with us.

Early afternoon:  Baritone Jose Sasin and Soprano Serena Canino arrived at 2:30 to warm up.  And my home was filled again with delightful music.

HIGHLIGHTS

The guests arrived for the Musicale and we started our program.  Founding Member Felipe Rodriguez did a thorough research and presentation about Zarzuela.  To the 17^th century we went to start our learning experience.  It is important to note that Felipe did the research and made sure that the credit to the editing was given to his lovely daughter!

Baritone Jose Sasin singing: “Amor vida de mi vida” from Torroba’s Maravilla, Soprano Serena Canino singing “No merece ser feliz”

Tenor Aurelio Dominguez singing: “De este apacible rincon de Madrid” from Torroba’s Luisa Fernanda

“Soy mozo y enamorado“  -  with Serena Canino and José Sasin.  Sooo romantic!!!!!!!

After several other arias – we were all mesmerized by the strength and the passion of the Zarzuela world.

Announcing Virginia Opera’s new 2010/2011 season, we heard “La donna è mobile” from Verdi’s Rigoletto with  tenor Aurelio Dominguez – the Duke himself. (October 15 and 17 @ George Mason University Center for the Arts. Don’t miss it. )

SAVE THE DATE: VO Board Member and Bravissimo Founding Member Antonio Monroig has a trip planned for us to attend the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico. We will be leaving March 9 and returning the 13^th . There will be three concerts as follows: Mar 9 Recital with Kiri Te Kanawa, Mar 11 Guitar Recital,Mar 12 Manuel de Falla’s opera – “La Vida Breve”.Tours to the Casals Museum and the Puerto Rico Museum of Art are also planned. Let us know if you are interested. vobravissimo@aol.com

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Location: Falls Church, VA

ADMISSION: $55.00 Deadline: June 10

Make check payable to VO Bravissimo Society ,and send to: PO Box 283 – Falls Church -VA- 22040

Proceeds from this Musicale will be applied to the Bravissimo Vocal Competition Fund to assist in furthering the education ofa gifted and deserving young singer. I do hope you can come, have fun and help us build our funds for the award. Please consider making a donation if you cannot come.

Special thanks to Mark Wessels from Addy Bassin’s MacArthur Beverages for the wine donation!

4877 MacArthur Blvd., N.W.

Washington, DC 20007 (202) 338-1433 Fax: (202) 333-0806

Start Time: 05:00
Date: 2010-06-13
End Time: 07:00

If you attended our first Musicale, held in March, you know: it was Great!  (And if you did not, come to the next one and see for yourself!)  Thank you, Founding Members Isin and George Ludlow, for offering us such terrific hospitality in your beautiful home.  Thank you,  Bravissimo Society’s Committee, for the delicious food. And, thank you, Paul’s Wines and Spirits, for the wine donation.  If it weren’t for all of you , there would not have been a successful musicale.

We were very lucky to have with us accompanist Michael Crabb; George Mason University (GMU) Distinguished Professor Patricia Miller as our MC; soprano Alia Waheed; young artists from GMU’s School of Music including bass Darrick Speller and tenor Hyo Chang An; and our very own baritone, Kevin Moreno, who will sing in Porgy and Bess.

Porgy and Bess may be our last production of this season, but as I said before: we have lots in store for you.  The education committee will meet in April with Maestros Mark and Walsh to finalize the rules of our  Vocal Awards Competition.   Summer will be time for us to work on all aspects of the competition, perhaps while we are poolside, listening to opera, of course!

Thanks to the help of our friend Miriam Silva, we now have a blog.  Visit it, register, and let’s talk at  www.vobravissimo.org.

Another opera friend,  Josh Levin, has recently launched a ten-opera, ten-week screening series of operas filmed at the great houses of Europe, shown in High Definition and digital sound at the Atlas Performing Arts Center in Washington, DC.  He is inviting us to come to some magnificent productions. See the program in our calendar of events on the last page.

Next season is going to be a very strong one, with drama: Rigoletto;  fun: Cosi fan Tutte; strength: Die Walkure; and perhaps a few tears: Madame Butterfly. We will have singers from all over the globe. Don’t miss these fabulous productions.

On June 13 from 5:00-7:00 p.m. we will have our Summer Musicale at the residence of  Founding Members David Johnson and Wendy Frieman.  Save the date! We are lucky to have the support  of Mark Wessels from MacArthur Liquors who will be donating the wine for this event

Thanks to your support and  friendship, the Bravissimo Society will make a difference in the lives of so many young artists. Leilane

We have lots in store for you this year. We will be revising our calendar of events and hope you will attend one, some , or all the events.  Some events will be free of charge and some will be our way of building up our Award Funds.  So, I do hope you can come, have fun and help us fulfill our mission. When I learned during our Audition in New York that a single 50 minute coaching lesson can go for as high as $200, I knew that the Bravissimo Award was the way to go and that we are all on the right track with this award.

Our membership is growing and it is extremely encouraging to know that you agree and support our efforts of assisting the young singers.  But we have a long way to go, so please introduce Bravissimo to  your friends .

Last November and December, I had the pleasure of meeting some of Bravissimo’s members during the two great Embassy Events – at the Colombian and the French Embassies (can’t wait to go the Austrian Embassy event February 24! ).  We  enjoyed the beautiful production of the Daughter of the Regiment and had great fun at the  Meet the Artist Wine Reception, we learned a lot at the Master Class taught by Maestro Walsh and the Auditions in New York with Maestros Mark and Walsh.  Busy and happy two months!

Unfortunately, because of snow, the ”Dear Hearts pre-Valentine Musicale and Reception” had to be postponed to March 7.  So, for those of you who could not attend then, now  is the time for you to come.  Remember, all proceeds from this Musicale will be applied to the Bravissimo Vocal Apprenticeship Competition Fund to assist in furthering the education of  gifted and deserving young singers.  Baritone Kevin Moreno, Tenor Hyo Chang An, Soprano Alia Waheed  and accompanist Michael Crabill  will be part of this  program.  If you cannot come but would like to make a donation  to contribute  to the Award Fund, please consider it.

If you would like to have a Musicale at your home or a  lecture, please let me know.  If you want to volunteer for Virginia Opera or Bravissimo, we welcome your help.  If you have ideas in furthering our commitment with the young singers…you got it : let me know.

Looking forward to hearing from you.  Leilane

Virginia Opera Gala: “The Palette of Paris”

The Virginia Opera’s elegant Gala Dinner was a Huge success!! Held on Saturday, October 17, 2009, the theme was “The Palette of Paris,” revolving around life at the turn of the 20th century in Paris, in keeping with the theme of La Boheme (the opera presented that weekend).

Entertaining the black-tie-and-beret attendees were multiple professional artists (graciously arranged for by Falls Church Arts), who painted in real time at their easels, their wares, and answered questions about their techniques, as well as a strolling violinist and accordion player, who performed French songs during the cocktail hour. Winners of the raffle and auction went home with prizes ranging from lovely custom-designed jewelry to premier reserve wines to dinner for 6 at The Inn at Little Washington! The evening was capped off by a live mini-concert by rising stars of Virginia Opera, introduced by Virginia Opera’s charismatic and knowledgeable Artistic Director Peter Mark.

The Gala’s Honorary Host Committee spanned the spectrum, from six international Ambassadors, to leaders of artistic groups in the metropolitan DC area, to prominent political leaders.

We are grateful to all of our Gala sponsors for making this, our key fundraising event to benefit the opera, so wonderful.

And we hope to see YOU at our next Virginia Opera elegant event!! Check the Bravissimo calendar and watch your emails for details on coming attractions!