Opera Buffs Presents Fall Performers Showcase October 25
Jenine Baines
September 24, 2009
LOS ANGELES, Calif. Opera lovers looking to get a head start on celebrating the Halloween season may especially enjoy the Opera Buffs´ Fall Performers Showcase –"Kings, Lovers and the Devil" – on Sunday, October 25 at 2:30 p.m. at the new Thayer Hall at the Colburn School of Performing Arts. "As our Fall Performers Showcase reveals, many of our greatest operas take place in worlds that are every bit as magical, mysterious and spooky as Halloween," says David Alan Gibb, President of the Opera Buffs´ Board of Directors. "We promise a bewitching afternoon of opera scenes, with an array of musical ´treats´ to please all tastes."
"Kings, Lovers and the Devil" will include staged excerpts from two operas that lend themselves particularly well to the Halloween season – A Masked Ball by Verdi and Gounod´s Faust. Also on the program are selections from Hamlet by Amboise Thomas; Donizetti´s Don Pasquale; Don Carlo by Verdi; Rossini´s Barber of Seville; The Bartered Bride by Smetana; Puccini´s Tosca; and Donizetti´s Lucia di Lammermoor. Pianist Mona Lands, a member of the UCLA Music Department, serves as Music Director while actor, director and playwright Michael Van Duzer, who has taken part in Opera Buffs Showcase productions since 1991, returns as Stage Director.
"This event is also an excellent opportunity, regardless of how you feel about Halloween, to support young singers just embarking upon their careers," adds Gibb. "It´s so important for young singers to have the experience of performing before a live audience. We´re hoping as many members of the community as possible – whether they´re longtime opera devotees or sampling opera for the first time – join us in supporting our singers."
Singers appearing in the 2009 Fall Performers Showcase include soprano Narine Ojakhyan, tenors Hak Soo Kim and Liam McLachlan, baritone Timothy Campbell, and bass Gabriel Vamvulescu. Soprano Erin Wood, who earned rave reviews and the notice of opera aficionados worldwide when she replaced Deborah Voigt on short notice as Sieglinde in Die Walküre at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, will appear as special guest artist.
Wood will perform the role of Amelia in a scene from A Masked Ball. "It´s one of my favorite roles to perform. I´ve appeared in three productions in the last five years," says the soprano, whose performance as Amelia with Opera Colorado was hailed by the Rocky Mountain News as "intense" and "soaring." Added the Daily Camera, "Erin Wood…is a sensitive and feminine Amelia with an immense voice full of grit at the bottom and transcendent radiance at the top."
Meanwhile, Wood praises the Opera Buffs for the crucial help it provided during the early years of her career. "The Opera Buffs is such a caring supportive group. They really love their singers," says Wood, who first became involved with the Opera Buffs as a graduate student at UCLA and subsequently appeared in two Performers Showcases as well as at a concert honoring the Opera Buffs´ co founder Rena Cohen at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. "They not only provide wonderful performance opportunities but financial support for the things singers really need – be it lessons and coaching, travel, or even wardrobe."
Each year, the Opera Buffs raises from $40,000 to $60,000, primarily from membership dues. These funds are then distributed either as grants or as honoraria for participants in the Fall and Spring Performer´s Showcases. Since 1983, the Opera Buffs has distributed more than $600,000 to more than 600 young singers. The organization also supports regional competitions, such as the Loren L. Zachary Society Vocal Competition and the Metropolitan Opera Western Region Auditions, as well as organizations like USC, UCLA and LA Opera that utilize young singers in their productions.
"We place as much money as possible into the needy hands of talented young singers—that´s our calling," adds Gibb.
Reservations for "Kings, Lovers and The Devil" are required. Simply call 818.348.3391 or email barbaramrkl@yahoo.com. A $15 donation for non-members is suggested. The Colburn School is located at 200 South Grand Avenue in Los Angeles.
The Opera Buffs Inc. plays a leading role in nurturing and supporting talented young Southern California opera singers and in furthering their careers. For more information about membership, upcoming events or the Opera Buffs´ current roster of singers, visit www.operabuffs.org.
ABOUT THE SINGERS:
Featured singer Erin Wood, soprano, has been praised for her recent portrayals of Verdi and Wagner heroines, signaled for her "soaring soprano," "immense voice full of grit at the bottom and transcendent radiance at the top," and "volcanic outpouring of sound." Wood has replaced Deborah Voigt as Sieglinde in Wagner's Die Walküre with Lyric Opera of Chicago and as Amelia in Un Ballo in Maschera with San Francisco Oper a. With Lyric, Ms. Wood has also been seen as Lisa in The Queen of Spades, Gutrune and the Third Norn in Götterdämmerung, Ortlinde in Die Walküre, and supporting roles in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Street Scene, Susannah and Macbeth. She has been featured with the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, Opera Colorado, Opera Pacific, Opera Grand Rapids, Toledo Opera, Music Academy of the West, the Angeles Chorale, the Grant Park and Ravinia Music Festivals, as well as the Milwaukee, Pacifi c and Lake Forest Symphonies. Recent engagements include the Verdi Requiem with the London Symphony Chorus, Ballo for Opera Colorado, Die Zauberflöte for Opera Pacific, and concert performances of Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder, Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen and Aida. Wood is an alumna of the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists. She received her B.A. and Masters degrees from UCLA, where she sang mezzo leads in many UCLA Opera productions. Awards include the George London Foundation's Kirsten Flagstad Award, and awards from the Union League Civic and Arts Foundation, Chicago's Musician's Club of Women, Met National Council Central and Western Regions, Palm Springs Opera Guild, and the Lee Schaenen and Liberace Foundations.
Tim Campbell, baritone, a native of Seattle, attended Pepperdine University on a theater and music scholarship and traveled with the Pepperdine Theater Program to the Fringe Festival 2004 in Edinburgh with its production of The Grapes of Wrath. In 2006, In Heidelberg with the Pepperdine Opera Program , he sang Marcello in the first act of La Bohème, as well as several other roles. His roles at Pepperdine included Conte Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro, Joe Hardy in Damn Yankees, Guglielmo in Così fan tutte and John Proctor in The Crucible. In 2007 he received the John Raitt Award as an outstanding graduate of the Fine Arts Department of Pepperdine University, as well as the "Outstanding Graduate and Service Award" from the Music Department. Accepted on a full tuition scholarship and teaching stipend to the USC Thornton School of Music in 2007, Campbell performed the role of John Buchanan Jr. in Hoiby´s Summer and Smoke, Collatinus in The Rape of Lucretia and the title role in Don Giovanni. Last summer at Wolf Trap he performed the roles of Junius and Billy Budd in The Britten Project scenes program, as well as in chorus and ensemble roles in the main stage productions. Campbell graduated with his M.M. this May and returns to USC this fall to begin a Graduate Certificate in Performance, after singing the role of Schaunard in the Aspen Opera Theater Center´s production of La Bohème and covering the role of Collatinus in The Rape of Lucretia in Aspen this summer.
Hak Soo Kim, tenor, successfully completed a weeklong workshop with Sherrill Milnes in Orlando, Florida this summer and was invited to the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, where he made his debut as Matteo Borsa in Rigoletto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra led by James Conlon. This summer trip was made possible by a grant from The Opera Buffs Inc.
Kim is currently preparing for L´Elisir d´amore and Il Barbiere di Siviglia with LA Opera and is in his second year with the Domingo-Thornton Young Artist Program. He made his program debut last season as El Remendado in Carmen and returned as Gastone and covered the role of Alfredo in La Traviata. Kim graduated from Northwestern University with a B.A. in German and wrote his thesis on German post-unification literature at Eberhard Karls Universität in Tübingen, Germany. At Northwestern, he performed Fenton in Falstaff and Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi. As a member of Opera Colorado´s Outreach Ensemble, he performed in Don Pasquale, La Cenerentola and in Rodríguez´s La Curandera. Recently he appeared in apprentice performances at Santa Fe Opera in Arabella and A Midsummer Night´s Dream. In the 2008 Metropolit an Opera National Council Auditions, Kim was the second place winner of the Rocky Mountain Region.
Liam McClachlan, tenor, has a Diploma of Music in Voice from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music and a Bachelor of Music from the Central Queensland Conservatorium of Music in his native Australia. He has performed roles in The Threepenny Opera, L´Orfeo, The Bartered Bride, and as Tobias in Opera Queensland´s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. McClachlan moved to the United States after six years of touring with the Australian singing group, The Ten Tenors, performing hundreds of shows a year in over 32 countries. He is now based in Los Angeles and has been singing extensively throughout Southern California. He has performed in recital for the Opera Guild of Southern California, in a preview performance of Aïda and in Opera in the Park in Palm Springs, in a concert for Opera 100 in Orange County, in showcase concerts presented by the Opera Buffs, and as Cavaradossi in Tosca with Center Stage Opera, where he will soon be seen in the title role in Faust.
Narine Ojakhyan, soprano, was born in Yerevan, Armenia. In 2005 she was awarded a scholarship to attend the Royal Academy of Music where she received a postgraduate diploma in performance, after which she joined the Royal Academy Opera program (2006-2008), studying with Joy Mammen and Jonathan Papp. While there Ojakhyan won the Opera Rara Patric Schmid Bel Canto Prize and the Ludmilla Andrew Russian song prize. Her operatic roles for Royal Academy Opera include Susanna (Le nozze di figaro, conducted by Sir Colin Davis and directed by John Copley), Nella (Gianni Schicchi), Lusya (Paradise Moskow) and Brigitta (Iolanta). She also sang Lucia with Opera Della Luna) and Rosina at the Armenia Opera Studio. In 2008 she participated in the Solti Academia di Bel Canto in Italy and received master classes from Kiri Te Kanawa and Frederica Von Stade. In 2008 she was a Los Angeles District finalist in the Metropolitan National Council Auditions. Recently she received an Opera Buffs grant and a Solti Foundation award. Earlier in her career, Ojakhyan completed five years of vocal studies and a year´s PGDip20program at Yerevan State Conservatoire, during which time she received the Sayan award, and the K.Orbelyan award. She is a winner of the "Avetik Isahakyan" Armenian National Vocal Co mpetition 2000. A soloist at the Opera Studio of Yerevan State Conservatoire, she also sang with the Armenian "Tagharan" Ancient Music Ensemble and Armenian Radio & Television Chamber Choir. Future plans include a masterclass week and a concert with Kiri Te Kanawa in Honk Kong and Samling masterclass week in England led by Sir Thomas Allen.
Gabriel Vamvulescu, bass, began his musical training while studying theology and Byzantine music at Saint Nicholas Theological Seminary in Romania. Upon graduation, he enrolled in the George Enescu National Conservatory in Bucharest (Romania), where he studied voice with professor Julian Baiasu. In 1997 he was awarded First Place in the Ionel Perlea German Lied Competition and the following year he was accepted into the Romanian National Opera Apprentice Program with the role of Sarastro in The Magic Flute. In 1999 he received a full scholarship from the Uni versity of Maryland School of Music where he studied with Professor Francois Loup. He went on to sing with opera companies in Europe and in the U.S. in La Bohème, The Marriage of Figaro, The Rake´s Progress, The Bartered Bride, Rigoletto, Die Zauberflöte and Fidelio. He has sung in Opera in the Park in Palm Springs and in recital for the Opera Guild of Southern California. Vamvulescu is soon to be seen in the role of Méphistofélès in Faust with Center Stage Opera.
ABOUT THE ARTISTIC STAFF:
Mona Lands, accompanist and music director for the Opera Buffs, is a graduate of Mills College and received her Masters degree in accompanying at USC. She has been an accompanist and coach at California State Northridge, California State L.A., the Aspen Opera Theater Center, Opera Pacific´s Overture Company, the Ezio Pinza Council (EPCASO) summer program, Guild Opera and for the Metropolitan Opera Palm Springs Showcase Concerts. Currently Lands is the accompanist for the Angeles Chorale and the Loren L. Zachary National Vocal Competition. She is also the accompanist and music director for the Palm Springs Opera Guild and artistic director for the José Iturbi International Music Competition. As a member of the UCLA Music Department, she works as an accompanist and coach for Opera UCLA and is the staff accompanist and Coordinator of Accompanying.
Michael Van Duzer, stage director, has staged Opera Buffs Showcases since 1991, including a complete production of Amahl and Night Visitors and his own adaptation of Gilbert & Sullivan´s The Gondoliers. Local directing credits include The Collection, As You Like It, What the Butler Saw, Edward II, The Double Dealer (Drama- Logue Award, Best Director), Halsted Street: Chicago and the Lisbon Traviata. Van Duzer has helmed the local premiers of his own works including Hopeful Romantic (Drama-Logue Award, Best Playwright), Recalled to Life and Tawdry Tales. His latest play, Totally Gay! An Utterly Subjective History of Theatre, enjoyed a popular success recently at Theatre Out in Orange County.
"Kings, Lovers and the Devil" will include staged excerpts from two operas that lend themselves particularly well to the Halloween season – A Masked Ball by Verdi and Gounod´s Faust. Also on the program are selections from Hamlet by Amboise Thomas; Donizetti´s Don Pasquale; Don Carlo by Verdi; Rossini´s Barber of Seville; The Bartered Bride by Smetana; Puccini´s Tosca; and Donizetti´s Lucia di Lammermoor. Pianist Mona Lands, a member of the UCLA Music Department, serves as Music Director while actor, director and playwright Michael Van Duzer, who has taken part in Opera Buffs Showcase productions since 1991, returns as Stage Director.
"This event is also an excellent opportunity, regardless of how you feel about Halloween, to support young singers just embarking upon their careers," adds Gibb. "It´s so important for young singers to have the experience of performing before a live audience. We´re hoping as many members of the community as possible – whether they´re longtime opera devotees or sampling opera for the first time – join us in supporting our singers."
Singers appearing in the 2009 Fall Performers Showcase include soprano Narine Ojakhyan, tenors Hak Soo Kim and Liam McLachlan, baritone Timothy Campbell, and bass Gabriel Vamvulescu. Soprano Erin Wood, who earned rave reviews and the notice of opera aficionados worldwide when she replaced Deborah Voigt on short notice as Sieglinde in Die Walküre at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, will appear as special guest artist.
Wood will perform the role of Amelia in a scene from A Masked Ball. "It´s one of my favorite roles to perform. I´ve appeared in three productions in the last five years," says the soprano, whose performance as Amelia with Opera Colorado was hailed by the Rocky Mountain News as "intense" and "soaring." Added the Daily Camera, "Erin Wood…is a sensitive and feminine Amelia with an immense voice full of grit at the bottom and transcendent radiance at the top."
Meanwhile, Wood praises the Opera Buffs for the crucial help it provided during the early years of her career. "The Opera Buffs is such a caring supportive group. They really love their singers," says Wood, who first became involved with the Opera Buffs as a graduate student at UCLA and subsequently appeared in two Performers Showcases as well as at a concert honoring the Opera Buffs´ co founder Rena Cohen at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. "They not only provide wonderful performance opportunities but financial support for the things singers really need – be it lessons and coaching, travel, or even wardrobe."
Each year, the Opera Buffs raises from $40,000 to $60,000, primarily from membership dues. These funds are then distributed either as grants or as honoraria for participants in the Fall and Spring Performer´s Showcases. Since 1983, the Opera Buffs has distributed more than $600,000 to more than 600 young singers. The organization also supports regional competitions, such as the Loren L. Zachary Society Vocal Competition and the Metropolitan Opera Western Region Auditions, as well as organizations like USC, UCLA and LA Opera that utilize young singers in their productions.
"We place as much money as possible into the needy hands of talented young singers—that´s our calling," adds Gibb.
Reservations for "Kings, Lovers and The Devil" are required. Simply call 818.348.3391 or email barbaramrkl@yahoo.com. A $15 donation for non-members is suggested. The Colburn School is located at 200 South Grand Avenue in Los Angeles.
The Opera Buffs Inc. plays a leading role in nurturing and supporting talented young Southern California opera singers and in furthering their careers. For more information about membership, upcoming events or the Opera Buffs´ current roster of singers, visit www.operabuffs.org.
ABOUT THE SINGERS:
Featured singer Erin Wood, soprano, has been praised for her recent portrayals of Verdi and Wagner heroines, signaled for her "soaring soprano," "immense voice full of grit at the bottom and transcendent radiance at the top," and "volcanic outpouring of sound." Wood has replaced Deborah Voigt as Sieglinde in Wagner's Die Walküre with Lyric Opera of Chicago and as Amelia in Un Ballo in Maschera with San Francisco Oper a. With Lyric, Ms. Wood has also been seen as Lisa in The Queen of Spades, Gutrune and the Third Norn in Götterdämmerung, Ortlinde in Die Walküre, and supporting roles in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Street Scene, Susannah and Macbeth. She has been featured with the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, Opera Colorado, Opera Pacific, Opera Grand Rapids, Toledo Opera, Music Academy of the West, the Angeles Chorale, the Grant Park and Ravinia Music Festivals, as well as the Milwaukee, Pacifi c and Lake Forest Symphonies. Recent engagements include the Verdi Requiem with the London Symphony Chorus, Ballo for Opera Colorado, Die Zauberflöte for Opera Pacific, and concert performances of Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder, Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen and Aida. Wood is an alumna of the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists. She received her B.A. and Masters degrees from UCLA, where she sang mezzo leads in many UCLA Opera productions. Awards include the George London Foundation's Kirsten Flagstad Award, and awards from the Union League Civic and Arts Foundation, Chicago's Musician's Club of Women, Met National Council Central and Western Regions, Palm Springs Opera Guild, and the Lee Schaenen and Liberace Foundations.
Tim Campbell, baritone, a native of Seattle, attended Pepperdine University on a theater and music scholarship and traveled with the Pepperdine Theater Program to the Fringe Festival 2004 in Edinburgh with its production of The Grapes of Wrath. In 2006, In Heidelberg with the Pepperdine Opera Program , he sang Marcello in the first act of La Bohème, as well as several other roles. His roles at Pepperdine included Conte Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro, Joe Hardy in Damn Yankees, Guglielmo in Così fan tutte and John Proctor in The Crucible. In 2007 he received the John Raitt Award as an outstanding graduate of the Fine Arts Department of Pepperdine University, as well as the "Outstanding Graduate and Service Award" from the Music Department. Accepted on a full tuition scholarship and teaching stipend to the USC Thornton School of Music in 2007, Campbell performed the role of John Buchanan Jr. in Hoiby´s Summer and Smoke, Collatinus in The Rape of Lucretia and the title role in Don Giovanni. Last summer at Wolf Trap he performed the roles of Junius and Billy Budd in The Britten Project scenes program, as well as in chorus and ensemble roles in the main stage productions. Campbell graduated with his M.M. this May and returns to USC this fall to begin a Graduate Certificate in Performance, after singing the role of Schaunard in the Aspen Opera Theater Center´s production of La Bohème and covering the role of Collatinus in The Rape of Lucretia in Aspen this summer.
Hak Soo Kim, tenor, successfully completed a weeklong workshop with Sherrill Milnes in Orlando, Florida this summer and was invited to the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, where he made his debut as Matteo Borsa in Rigoletto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra led by James Conlon. This summer trip was made possible by a grant from The Opera Buffs Inc.
Kim is currently preparing for L´Elisir d´amore and Il Barbiere di Siviglia with LA Opera and is in his second year with the Domingo-Thornton Young Artist Program. He made his program debut last season as El Remendado in Carmen and returned as Gastone and covered the role of Alfredo in La Traviata. Kim graduated from Northwestern University with a B.A. in German and wrote his thesis on German post-unification literature at Eberhard Karls Universität in Tübingen, Germany. At Northwestern, he performed Fenton in Falstaff and Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi. As a member of Opera Colorado´s Outreach Ensemble, he performed in Don Pasquale, La Cenerentola and in Rodríguez´s La Curandera. Recently he appeared in apprentice performances at Santa Fe Opera in Arabella and A Midsummer Night´s Dream. In the 2008 Metropolit an Opera National Council Auditions, Kim was the second place winner of the Rocky Mountain Region.
Liam McClachlan, tenor, has a Diploma of Music in Voice from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music and a Bachelor of Music from the Central Queensland Conservatorium of Music in his native Australia. He has performed roles in The Threepenny Opera, L´Orfeo, The Bartered Bride, and as Tobias in Opera Queensland´s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. McClachlan moved to the United States after six years of touring with the Australian singing group, The Ten Tenors, performing hundreds of shows a year in over 32 countries. He is now based in Los Angeles and has been singing extensively throughout Southern California. He has performed in recital for the Opera Guild of Southern California, in a preview performance of Aïda and in Opera in the Park in Palm Springs, in a concert for Opera 100 in Orange County, in showcase concerts presented by the Opera Buffs, and as Cavaradossi in Tosca with Center Stage Opera, where he will soon be seen in the title role in Faust.
Narine Ojakhyan, soprano, was born in Yerevan, Armenia. In 2005 she was awarded a scholarship to attend the Royal Academy of Music where she received a postgraduate diploma in performance, after which she joined the Royal Academy Opera program (2006-2008), studying with Joy Mammen and Jonathan Papp. While there Ojakhyan won the Opera Rara Patric Schmid Bel Canto Prize and the Ludmilla Andrew Russian song prize. Her operatic roles for Royal Academy Opera include Susanna (Le nozze di figaro, conducted by Sir Colin Davis and directed by John Copley), Nella (Gianni Schicchi), Lusya (Paradise Moskow) and Brigitta (Iolanta). She also sang Lucia with Opera Della Luna) and Rosina at the Armenia Opera Studio. In 2008 she participated in the Solti Academia di Bel Canto in Italy and received master classes from Kiri Te Kanawa and Frederica Von Stade. In 2008 she was a Los Angeles District finalist in the Metropolitan National Council Auditions. Recently she received an Opera Buffs grant and a Solti Foundation award. Earlier in her career, Ojakhyan completed five years of vocal studies and a year´s PGDip20program at Yerevan State Conservatoire, during which time she received the Sayan award, and the K.Orbelyan award. She is a winner of the "Avetik Isahakyan" Armenian National Vocal Co mpetition 2000. A soloist at the Opera Studio of Yerevan State Conservatoire, she also sang with the Armenian "Tagharan" Ancient Music Ensemble and Armenian Radio & Television Chamber Choir. Future plans include a masterclass week and a concert with Kiri Te Kanawa in Honk Kong and Samling masterclass week in England led by Sir Thomas Allen.
Gabriel Vamvulescu, bass, began his musical training while studying theology and Byzantine music at Saint Nicholas Theological Seminary in Romania. Upon graduation, he enrolled in the George Enescu National Conservatory in Bucharest (Romania), where he studied voice with professor Julian Baiasu. In 1997 he was awarded First Place in the Ionel Perlea German Lied Competition and the following year he was accepted into the Romanian National Opera Apprentice Program with the role of Sarastro in The Magic Flute. In 1999 he received a full scholarship from the Uni versity of Maryland School of Music where he studied with Professor Francois Loup. He went on to sing with opera companies in Europe and in the U.S. in La Bohème, The Marriage of Figaro, The Rake´s Progress, The Bartered Bride, Rigoletto, Die Zauberflöte and Fidelio. He has sung in Opera in the Park in Palm Springs and in recital for the Opera Guild of Southern California. Vamvulescu is soon to be seen in the role of Méphistofélès in Faust with Center Stage Opera.
ABOUT THE ARTISTIC STAFF:
Mona Lands, accompanist and music director for the Opera Buffs, is a graduate of Mills College and received her Masters degree in accompanying at USC. She has been an accompanist and coach at California State Northridge, California State L.A., the Aspen Opera Theater Center, Opera Pacific´s Overture Company, the Ezio Pinza Council (EPCASO) summer program, Guild Opera and for the Metropolitan Opera Palm Springs Showcase Concerts. Currently Lands is the accompanist for the Angeles Chorale and the Loren L. Zachary National Vocal Competition. She is also the accompanist and music director for the Palm Springs Opera Guild and artistic director for the José Iturbi International Music Competition. As a member of the UCLA Music Department, she works as an accompanist and coach for Opera UCLA and is the staff accompanist and Coordinator of Accompanying.
Michael Van Duzer, stage director, has staged Opera Buffs Showcases since 1991, including a complete production of Amahl and Night Visitors and his own adaptation of Gilbert & Sullivan´s The Gondoliers. Local directing credits include The Collection, As You Like It, What the Butler Saw, Edward II, The Double Dealer (Drama- Logue Award, Best Director), Halsted Street: Chicago and the Lisbon Traviata. Van Duzer has helmed the local premiers of his own works including Hopeful Romantic (Drama-Logue Award, Best Playwright), Recalled to Life and Tawdry Tales. His latest play, Totally Gay! An Utterly Subjective History of Theatre, enjoyed a popular success recently at Theatre Out in Orange County.