Nassau, Bahamas - The Bizet-Broadway Committee, in association with the Nassau Music Society, is
featuring this special dinner and opera event to raise funds specifically for
voice training/scholarship in The Bahamas.
"Bizet-Broadway Night
at the Opera" at Old Fort Bay Club takes place on Saturday, January 22nd, 2011.
An
enchanting evening of music, in association with The Nassau Music
Society under the distinguished patronage of His Excellency Sir Arthur
D. Foulkes.
We invite you to enjoy a black-tie dinner, followed by a unique performance by well-known Canadian opera singers.
A Message from the Nassau Music Society :
We
do not see a lot of live Opera in Nassau and we feel this is an opportunity
for many to experience this. Old Fort Club is a fantastic setting for
the evening and as well as a beautiful musical experience, those present
will enjoy a lovely dinner along with wine after a champagne reception.
However
from the Nassau Music Society’s point of view, our interest is to
raise funds so that we can promote as well as instrumentalists and pianists
through our College of the Bahamas Scholarship, voice training and there
are a number of good voices in the music community in the Bahamas. Because
of the limited population, it is difficult for them to get quality voice
training and we envisage the funds raised from the evening for the voice
scholarship programme being used to bring to the Bahamas voice trainers,
not only to work with individuals but also with choirs of which there
are a large number in Nassau. We are already in discussion with choirmasters
from Bel Canto and The Highgrove Singers among others and our first
mission would be to train choirmasters how to train a choir. If sufficient
funds are raised we would also provide a programme for individuals voices.
More info at www.nassaumusicsociety.org/programme
Special Corporate sponsors for the event include The Winterbotham Trust Company
Limited, Fab Finds Gift Shop and Tommy Hilfiger, Serenity Point, Abaco Bahamas
and Mr. Frank Crothers.
Beverly McArthur
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Beverly McArthur
Mezzo-Soprano Beverly McArthur has been
praised for her “rich voice” and “excellent” character portrayals.
As a young artist Beverly performed roles with both the Vancouver Opera and Montreal
Opera. These roles included Wowkle (La Fanciulla del West), Berta (Il Barbiere
di Siviglia), Clotilde (Norma), and Zinnia (L’Ètoile). Her other credits include the roles of
Dido (Dido and Aeneas) and Tituba (The Crucible) with the University of British
Columbia, and Marcellina (Le Nozze di Figaro) with Banff Opera Theatre. In
addition to performing opera, Beverly has performed concerts and oratorio works. Beverly is happy to sing again as a part
of Bizet to Broadway.
Keith Klassen
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Tenor, Keith Klassen has emerged to become one of Canada's busiest performers. Since graduating with honours from the Opera Division at the University of Toronto in 2002 he has performed over50 roles from the standard operatic repertoire, as well as over 35 roles in the realm of nevv opera. He has been engaged across Canada, as vvell asin Scotland, Germany, the United States, Ireland and the Czech Republic.The
Star Phoenix described him as having' '... a big ringing voice and great stage presence"; Classical 96.3 added, "Klassen's voice is pure honey with its ease of high notes and the lyrical grace of his phrasing"; Opera Canada raved that his Rodolfo was' '... dramatically convincing, sung with passionate sincerity ensuring the audience's love"; John Terauds of the Toronto Star called him "one of the country's most versatile artists"; and NOW magazine's Jon Kaplan went so far asto rate Keith as one of Toronto's top ten theatre artists.
Macmahon
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Pianist Michael McMahon is
the preferred partner to many of Canada’s finest singers. He
has performed regularly throughout Canada, in Europe, Japan and
the USA with singers such as Catherine Robbin, Karina Gauvin, Measha
Brueggergosman, Dominique Labelle, Wendy Nielsen, Maureen Forester,
Marie-Nicole Lemieux,Annamaria Popescu, Joseph Kaiser, Nathan Berg,
Brett Polegato, Benjamin Butterfield, Daniel Taylor, Michael Schade,
Russell Braun and Richard Margison.
Following his studies at McGill
University in Montreal, he completed his musical education in Vienna
at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst and the Franz Schubert
Institute, and in Salzburg at the Mozarteum. During this time, he studied
with such legendary artists as Erik Werba, Hans Hotter, Elly Ameling,
Jörg Demus, and Kim Borg.
In addition to his active performing
schedule, Michael McMahon is a Professor at the Schulich School of Music
of McGill University in Montreal. He has had long associations with
l'Atelier lyrique de L'Opéra de Montréal, Opera Nuova, the Orford
Arts Centre and the Banff Centre for the Arts, where he has worked
regularly as a vocal coach. He is also often asked to give Masterclasses
for singers and pianists, and recently was resident coach at the Franz
Schubert Institute in Austria and the C.O.S.I. Summer Opera program
in Italy.
He has made numerous broadcast
recordings for the English and French networks of the CBC, as well as
for the BBC, RBTF, Radio Suisse Romande, and Radio France.
His recordings on the Marquis, CBC , and Analekta labels have met with
critical acclaim, including Juno nominations and the Prix Opus. Michael
McMahon was also a judge and vocal coach for the award winning television
series “Bathroom Divas”.
Gianna Corbisiero
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Gianna Corbisiero, soprano
Praised as luminous by
Opera News, Gianna Corbisiero is equally known for her warm vocal
timbre as well as her exceptional presence on stage. Gianna has studied
at McGill University, the young artist program at l’Opéra de Montréal
and at the Juilliard School of Music in New York. She has since then
interpreted lead roles in such operas as
La Bohème, La Traviata, I Pagliacci, Gianni Schicchi, Le Nozze di
Figaro, Don Giovanni, The Magic Flute and
Carmen in Northamerica, Europe and Asia. She has had the privilege
of being invited to sing with Zubin Mehta, Kent Nagano and Charles Dutoit;
as well with the Orchestre Metropolitain conducted by
Yannick Nezet-Seguin, the Sinfonia de Lanaudiere conducted by Stephane
Laforest and with Richard Tucker Foundation. In the past season, she
sang with Bryn Terfel, Rene Fleming and Marcelo Alvarez for the Jacqueline
Desmarais Foundation.
Alexander Dobson
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Alexander Dobson
British-Canadian Alexander
Dobson has been praised for his musicality and dramatic awareness on
both opera and concert stages. Recent highlights include his riveting
portrayal of Wozzek conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Papageno in
Die Zauberflöte with Opera Hamilton, Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette
for l’Opéra de Montréal, Silvio in Opera Quebec’s Pagliacci, Marcello
in both Saskatoon Opera’s production and BRAVO’s TV rendition of
La Bohème, De Retz in Bard Summerscape’s production of Les Huguenots
and made his Royal Opera Covent Garden debut with The Midnight Court.
Upcoming engagements include Marcello in Pacific Opera Victoria’ s
La Bohème. With Calgary Opera he last performed Harlequin in Ariadne
auf Naxos and with L'Orchestre Metropolitain the title role in Don Giovanni.
