Popular Opera Showcase on July 18 & 20
For Immediate Release July 7, 2009
Contact:
Tim Dougherty
805.695.7908
Santa Barbara, CA – Music Academy of the West Voice Fellows will bring to life best-loved scenes from Mozart's Così fan tutte, Samuel Barber's Vanessa, Donizetti's Don Pasquale, and four other operas in a pair of much-anticipated Opera Showcase performances at Hahn Hall. Directed this year by Chuck Hudson and Music Academy alumna Carrie-Ann Matheson, the performances will take place at 2 pm on Saturday, July 18, and (repeat at) 7:30 pm on Monday, July 20. Opera Showcase performances have long been among the most popular events of the Summer Festival season at the Music Academy.
Based in New York City, Mr. Hudson has directed opera productions with major international companies, including Minnesota Opera, Cape Town Opera (South Africa), Florida Grand Opera, Seattle Opera, San Francisco Opera Center, Wolf Trap Opera, Santa Fe Opera, and Opera Santa Barbara. He also has directed award-winning theatre productions in New York and elsewhere. In addition to directing, Mr. Hudson continues to focus on his work with young professional artists. He is a co-creator of Seattle Opera's Young Artist Program, a national post-conservatory-level training program, where he directed productions and created and instructed specialized classes on acting and movement for singers. Formerly a professor at the University of Houston School of Theatre and at Cornish College of the Arts, he is an adjunct faculty artist in the North Carolina School of the Arts Theatre Department and at Fletcher Opera Institute. Mr. Hudson also leads masterclasses and private coaching sessions at various professional artist training programs for singers and actors, and has directed opera productions at several universities and conservatories.
Ms. Matheson is an assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera. Appointed to the MET's select full-time regular music staff in August 2007, she serves as a pianist, prompter, and coach. Particularly interested in the development of emerging artists, she was staff coach of the Metropolitan Opera's prestigious Lindemann Young Artist Development Program for six years, a position created for her after she served as apprentice coach/pianist for two years. Ms. Matheson is a featured pianist and vocal coach in the Metropolitan Opera's documentary film The Audition, which had its theatrical release in the spring, and made a cameo appearance, as herself, in the MET's HD release of Bellini's La Sonnambula. Ms. Matheson has collaborated in recital with some of the world's most prominent artists, including Marilyn Horne, Diana Damrau, Barbara Bonney, and Ruth Ann Swenson. A longstanding Marilyn Horne Foundation artist, she most recently took part in a star-studded gala concert celebrating Ms. Horne's 75th birthday at Carnegie Hall.
Hahn Hall is located on the Music Academy campus at 1070 Fairway Road in Santa Barbara. Tickets to each opera showcase performance cost $37. Free parking is available on campus, though space is limited.
As part of its 62nd Summer Festival, the Music Academy also will present an ambitious production of Ambroise Thomas' charming French Romantic opera Mignon, as well as performances by conductor Leonard Slatkin and the Takács Quartet. The Academy is presenting more than 190 events over the course of this year's Summer School and Festival, which began June 22 and concludes on August 15. Additional highlights will include a performance by Canadian Brass and conducting turns by George Manahan, Nicholas McGegan, and Alexander Mickelthwate. Featuring the Academy's exceptionally talented Fellows, together with illustrious guest performers and faculty, the events are being presented at the Academy's scenic Miraflores campus and in venues throughout Santa Barbara.
For information, call 969-8787. Information is also available online at www.musicacademy.org.
Founded in 1947, the Music Academy of the West is among the nation's preeminent summer schools and festivals for gifted young classical musicians. The Academy provides these promising musicians with the opportunity for advanced study and frequent performance under the guidance of internationally renowned faculty artists, guest conductors, and soloists. Admission to the Academy is strictly merit based, and Fellows receive full scholarships (tuition, room, and board). Academy alumni are members of major symphony orchestras, chamber orchestras, ensembles, opera companies, and university and conservatory faculties throughout the world. Many enjoy careers as prominent solo artists. Based in Santa Barbara, the Music Academy of the West presents more than 200 public events annually, including performances by faculty, visiting artists, and Fellows; masterclasses; orchestra and chamber music concerts; and fully staged opera. The Music Academy began broadcasting live performances by the world-renowned Metropolitan Opera at Hahn Hall in October 2008. For more information, visit www.musicacademy.org.
