MCLA to Present Gilbert & Sullivan: A Revue12:00AM / Friday, October 26, 2001
The Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts Smith House Concert Series will welcome Beavertail Opera Productions presenting "Gilbert & Sullivan: A Revue" on Saturday, November 3. The performance, beginning at 8 P.M., will be held at the First Baptist Church, 131 Main Street in downtown North Adams. It is free and open to the public. The production is set in a Victorian drawing room, where five friends gather for an evening soiree. One assumes the character of Sir William Gilbert, another that of Sir Arthur Sullivan and a third the character of Richard D'Oyly Carte. The collaboration is traced through a series of readings from correspondence, press and biographies, together with the performance of excerpts from all of the operas -- including H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado, and Princess Ida. The cast includes director Thomas Lawlor, bass-baritone; Jill Rogers, mezzo-soprano; Claire Stadtmueller, soprano; Fred Scheff, tenor; and Dale Munschy, piano.
Thomas Lawlor is a graduate of University College Dublin and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. He was the principal bass-baritone with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company for nine years, following which he pursued a career in grand opera and sang more than 65 major roles.
Since earning her master's degree from the University of Rhode Island, Jill Rogers has appeared throughout the United States. Her solo performances include Respighi's Laud to the Nativity, Haydn's Paukemesse, Handel's Messiah, Poulenc's Gloria, Beethoven's Mass in C, and Bach's Magnificat and Cantata No. 34.
Claire Stadtmueller made her Carnegie Hall debut in Beethoven's Missa Solemnis and has returned to sing Mozart's Mass in C Minor and Requiem, Handel's Israel in Egypt and Mendelssohn's Second Symphony. This season she will sing Bach's Christmas Oratorio. An active recitalist, Stadtmueller has performed at New York City's Trinity Church and at numerous colleges and arts venues on the East Coast, in addition to Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall Fred Scheff, a freelance singer/actor who has appeared in operas and musicals across the country, has performed on two previous Smith House Concert Series programs. Most recently, he appeared as Tony in Trinity Repertory Company's production of Master Class and as Ubaldo Piangi in the Second National Company's production of The Phantom of the Opera. He holds his first degree from Rhode Island College and a Master and Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Kansas. This past spring he joined the faculty of Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island.
Dale Munschy attended the Boston Conservatory of Music. From the earliest stages of his career, he has had extensive experience serving as accompanist, soloist and musical director and performs a wide variety of musical styles. Today he is frequently engaged as a freelance pianist and harpsichordist. Munschy also maintains an extensive private teaching practice in his Providence, Rhode Island home studio. For more information about "Gilbert & Sullivan: A Revue," call 413-662-5204.
|
|