Apprentices from The Lake George Opera to Perform at The Marcella Sembrich Opera Museum June 21
Apprentices from The Lake George Opera will pay musical tribute to the “Year of Sembrich” in a concert on Saturday June 21 at 7:30 p.m. at The Marcella Sembrich Opera Museum, 4800 Lake Shore Drive. Admission to the concert is $20.
In homage to Marcella Sembrich’s career as a world-renowned opera singer, the concert is titled: “The Met’s First Diva: Marcella Sembrich.” Performers are: sopranos Emily Newton and Ashlyn Rust; mezzo-sopranos Karin Mushegain and Hilerie Klein Rensi; tenors Jonathan Tuzo and Gregory Zavracky; and baritones John Dooley and Brian Shircliffe.
Program director is John Douglas and pianist is Jin-Hyun Park. Curtis Tucker, the general director of The Lake George Opera, said the repertoire will be selected from operas once sung by Madame Sembrich.
The Lake George Opera’s summer season will include “The Pirates of Penzance” on July 3, 6, 9, and 12; “La Traviata” on July 5, 8, 11, and 13; and “Gianni Schicchi with Buoso’s Ghost” on July 10 and 12. For more information, visit www.lakegeorgeopera.org .
“The Year of Sembrich” began February 15 on the 150th anniversary of Marcella Sembrich’s birthday and continues through Feb. 6, 2009, the centennial of Madame Sembrich’s farewell performance at The Metropolitan Opera.
“We’re delighted that The Lake George Opera is incorporating the theme of the “Year of Sembrich” into their own repertoire to come up with such a special program for our season,” said the Sembrich’s Artistic Director Richard Wargo.
A special highlight of the museum’s season of performances includes a Chopin Festival from July 23-27 that celebrates the life and works of Frederic Chopin through concerts, film, lecture, and a play. Highlights of the week will include the July 26 Gala Concert with acclaimed pianist Christopher Johnson; an all-Chopin concert at The Hyde Collection in Glens Falls with pianist Diana Fanning and cellist Dieuke Davydov; and the play and fundraiser “Chopin and The Nightingale,” which benefits the Icons of Europe TB/HIV Fund.
An array of other concerts and studio talks are scheduled throughout the summer, including the London-born pianist Simon Mulligan on Saturday July 12; soprano Jacqueline Noparstak and tenor Eric Fennell, the award-winning singers who will perform in the Aug. 1 “Opera Showstoppers” at the Charles R. Wood Theater in Glens Falls; the distinguished Liebesfreud Quartet featuring Samuel Caviezel, associate clarinetist with The Philadelphia Orchestra, performing a program of Puccini, Rachmaninoff and Brahms on Sunday, Aug. 17; and “The Fascination of Form,” a three-part music enrichment course conducted by Hugh Allen Wilson.
The museum is open daily June 15th through September 15. Hours are 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and from 2 to 5:30 p.m. Admission is by donation.
The Marcella Sembrich Memorial Association, Inc., a not-for-profit organization founded in 1940, dedicates its existence and purpose to honor the life and career of internationally renowned soprano, Marcella Sembrich. The MSMA maintains Sembrich’s former teaching studio as a museum displaying Sembrich’s personal effects that reflect on her daily life of teaching and her career. The MSMA also carries on the fine tradition of music through a summer concert series presenting renowned international musicians in concert at the studio.
Media Sponsor for the museum’s 2008 season is The Lake George Mirror. “The 2008 Year of Sembrich Summer Series” is made possible, in part, with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts Decentralization Program and Warren County, administered locally by the Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Council, the New York Council for the Humanities, the Warren County Occupancy Tax, and the Town of Bolton.”
For more information about the Marcella Sembrich Memorial Association, the Opera Museum or for a calendar of the MSMA's 2008 summer program please go to www.operamuseum.org or contact the MSMA at (518) 644-2431 (office) or (518) 644-9839 (museum).
