"Tosca" under a Microscope: Intimate Opera presents Puccini's classic and beloved opera
Jenine Baines
March 20, 2010
PASADENA, Calif. Intimate Opera Company is called intimate for good reason; its mission, according to founder Wendy Kikkert is to "share the splendor of opera in intimate settings. " Nevertheless when Stage Director Stephanie Vlahos was asked to direct the company´s upcoming productions of Puccini´s Tosca – which will take place on Saturday, April 10 at 2 p.m. at Packard Hall at Packard Hall at Westminster Gardens in Duarte; Friday, April 16 at 8 p.m. in the Piazza Ballroom at the Sheraton Hotel in Pasadena; and again on Sunday, April 18 at 2 p.m. at the Sheraton Hotel – she found the challenge of working within smaller parameters both daunting and intriguing.
"When I was approached, I was more than delighted for the obvious reason any director would be. For Heaven´s sake, it´s Tosca! " recalls Vlahos, a professional singer who is perhaps best known in Los Angeles for her work as an opera singer at Los Angeles Opera and whose cabaret, The Gangster Hour, was hailed by Variety as the "Cotton Club meets the Maltese Falcon."
"Then came the mind-blowing realization: it´s Tosca under a microscope," the mezzo-soprano continues. "My decision was to attempt to find the grandeur in this grand opera without the scale, the numbers, the lavish mise en scene. I began to explore the sensibility of using the entire house as a stage, to immerse the audience in the world of Tosca with its powerful, passionate and sometimes chilling acoustic."
Joining Vlahos for Tosca are soprano Tracy Saliefendic as Tosca; tenor Scott Priest as Cavaradossi; and baritone Sang Wook Kwon as Scarpia. In addition, former assistant conductor of Opera Pacific, Kristof Van Gryspeer, will once again join the cast as Music Director and conductor of the production´s chamber orchestra.
The production will be performed in English, with the translation provided by Tom Boyd and orchestra arrangements by James Werner. "The lion´s share of Puccini operas deal with strong women faced with impossible situations, often compromised by their culture and their sex," Vlahos explains. "What is truly wonderful and modern about Puccini is that all of his women manage their tragic circumstances with courage and dignity that rival any of the great heroes in classical literature."
Tickets for Tosca are available by calling SC Tickets at 800.888.7287. Prices for the production at Westminster Gardens are $25; $20 for seniors; $15 for students. Tickets for the two performances at the Sheraton Hotel in Pasadena are $35; $30 for seniors; $25 for students.
Packard Hall, Westminster Gardens is located at 1420 Santo Domingo Avenue in Duarte. The Sheraton Hotel is located at 303 East Cordova Street in Pasadena. Intimate Opera Company would especially like to thank the following organizations for their support of the student production on Thursday, April 8: The Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts; The Wells Fargo Foundation; Performance Nissan (Duarte); and The Gas Company.
For more information about the Intimate Opera Company, visit www.intimateopera.net.
ABOUT THE PERFORMERS
Tracy Saliefendic (Floria Tosca) has attracted attention from her appearances at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City as Lady Macbeth (Macbeth), with Santa Barbara Opera as Santuzza (Cavalleria Rusticana), with Opera South (Ireland) as Leonora (Il Trovatore), with Glimmerglass Opera as Gertrude Stein (The Mother of Us All), with West Bay Opera as Tosca, and with Bel Canto Opera as Amelia (Un Ballo in Maschera). Ms. Saliefendic has also appeared with the Florida Grand Opera, Virginia Opera, and Utah Festival Opera. Ms.Saliefendic was also soprano soloist in the Verdi Requiem and Beethoven´s Missa Solemnis with the Los Robles Master Chorale and the Ventura Master Chorale and has appeared in concert with the San Bernardino Symphony. She was a member of Glimmerglass Opera's Young American Artist Program and Utah Festival Opera's Young Artist Program. Ms. Saliefendic is a MacAllister Awards Regional Winner, a Metropolitan National Council Auditions District Winner and a recipient of a Richard F. Gold Career Grant.
Scott Priest's (Mario Cavaradossi) operatic debut in the Washington DC area as Ricardo in Oberto received critical acclaim. Priest has performed leading roles in La Traviata, La Boheme, Madama Butterfly, Turandot, Jenufa, Otello, L´Elisir D´Amore, Pomme d´api, La Princesse Jaune, Gianni Schicchi with the opera companies of Washington, Baltimore, Annapolis, Virginia and Northern Virginia. Equally at home in solo concerts and oratorio as well as opera, Priest is in demand in the United States and internationally. In addition to his singing career, Scott Priest serves as the Pastor of Restored Life Fellowship in Monrovia California.
Sang Wook Kwon (Baron Scarpia) graduated from Kyung Hee University, South Korea, with a bachelors degree in Voice. He also has a masters degree in opera studies from Korea National University of Arts. Mr. Kwon was a member of Incheon City Choral in Korea for five years. He moved to the United States 4 years ago, where he obtained his second masters of music degree at the World Mission University in Los Angeles, where he studied with Kathleen Roland, Robert MacNeil and Im Sang Yoon, and is currently studying for another advanced degree in theology. Sang Wook has sung leading roles in La Traviata, Cosi fan Tutte, Die Zauberflöte, The Old Maid and The Thief, as well as soloist for Beethoven´s Symphony No.9, Carmina Burana, and The Messiah. He has been an assistant conductor of World Mission University Chamber Choir for the past three years. Mr. Kwon is a section leader for The Verdi Chorus in Los Angeles. He is also choir conductor and worship leader of World Vision Church.
ABOUT STEPHANIE VLAHOS
A graduate of Yale University and the Juilliard School with degrees in music and theater, Stephanie comes to the directing professions with the experience of a former career as a professional singer. Having worked in solo performance in diverging musical arenas with such luminaries as Pierre Boulez, Andre Previn, Van Dyke Parks, and Ry Cooder , Stephanie´s voice has been featured in film and commercials.
A recipient of the Chanel Diva Award, Stephanie is best known in Los Angeles for her work as an opera singer at L.A. Opera where audiences delighted in her performances as Nicklausse in Tales of Hoffmann with Placido Domingo, as Hermia in Gordon Davidson's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, as Suzuki in Madame Butterfly with Maria Ewing in the title role. She has appeared internationally in a number of operas and concert performances and has performed a number of works for broadcast on NPR syndicated and local radio.
In addition to her classical engagements, Stephanie has garnered renown in Los Angeles and oversees as, according to the Associated Press, the "moonlighting Diva" and is an established Weill interpreter. Her cabaret, The Gangster Hour, was hailed by Variety as a "Cotton Club meets the Maltese Falcon...but what really sells is Vlahos and her incredible voice..."
Stephanie is currently directing opera, musicals, and theater and is the theater and stage director for the Domingo-Thornton Young Artist´s Program at LA Opera as well as Director in residence at the Cole Conservatory Opera Institute at Cal State Long Beach. She is artistic director for the Full Circle Opera Project, a project dedicated to the outreach of opera through teenagers that has received a number of commendations from the community and is a grant recipient from the Thornton Foundation.
Her recent work in directing has already been recognized by the community at large as she was among 30 other artists, nationwide, to be nominated for the prestigious United States Artists Grant in directing in 2007. Directorial events this season include Tristan and Isolde – at the Broad Theater with the YMF Alumni orchestra, Othalie Graham, Jeffrey Springer singing, January 2010; Club Carmen – featured in a series of clubs in Los Angeles late 2010; The Magic Flute – at the Charles Luckman Theater, March 2010; Tosca – Intimate Opera Company April 2010; Tales of Hoffmann – Cal State University at the Carpenter Center, April 2010; Zarzuela! – a staged concert performance of Zarzuela music at the Broad Theater and conducted by Placido Domingo, May 2010; Bring Them Back Live! – a festival of screenplays from early television rendered for live theater. Westport Country Playhouse forecast for Fall/Winter 2010
ABOUT KRISTOF VAN GRYSPEER
Kristof Van Gryspeer (Music Director) Kristof Van Gryspeer is a native of Belgium. With a strong vocal background and a repertoire of over forty operas Van Gryspeer is music director and conductor of several operatic organizations, such as SongFest´s Young Artist opera program and the Intimate Opera Company, where he most recently conducted La Tragédie de Carmen, La Traviata, The Mikado and Die Fledermaus. The Orange County Register hailed him as "gifted and stylistically impeccable." As a pianist Van Gryspeer appeared in recitals with artists such as Maria Newman, Ollie Watts Davis and Juliana Gondek. He recorded for the René Gailly and Phaedra labels and for the Flemish and Suisse Radio and Television. As a vocal coach, he established a flourishing studio in Pasadena.Van Gryspeer served as assistant conductor at Opera Pacific in productions such as La Boheme, The Magic Flute, Susannah and Il Barbiere di Siviglia. In 2005, the Baltimore Opera appointed Van Gryspeer as Music Director for their Young Artist program, where he conducted L' Elisir d' Amore. The Bakersfield Symphony engaged him as music director for their operatic concerts. In 2003, named acting Music Director of the USC Opera, he prepared and conducted The Magic Flute, The Impresario, Gianni Schicchi and Così fan Tutte.
"When I was approached, I was more than delighted for the obvious reason any director would be. For Heaven´s sake, it´s Tosca! " recalls Vlahos, a professional singer who is perhaps best known in Los Angeles for her work as an opera singer at Los Angeles Opera and whose cabaret, The Gangster Hour, was hailed by Variety as the "Cotton Club meets the Maltese Falcon."
"Then came the mind-blowing realization: it´s Tosca under a microscope," the mezzo-soprano continues. "My decision was to attempt to find the grandeur in this grand opera without the scale, the numbers, the lavish mise en scene. I began to explore the sensibility of using the entire house as a stage, to immerse the audience in the world of Tosca with its powerful, passionate and sometimes chilling acoustic."
Joining Vlahos for Tosca are soprano Tracy Saliefendic as Tosca; tenor Scott Priest as Cavaradossi; and baritone Sang Wook Kwon as Scarpia. In addition, former assistant conductor of Opera Pacific, Kristof Van Gryspeer, will once again join the cast as Music Director and conductor of the production´s chamber orchestra.
The production will be performed in English, with the translation provided by Tom Boyd and orchestra arrangements by James Werner. "The lion´s share of Puccini operas deal with strong women faced with impossible situations, often compromised by their culture and their sex," Vlahos explains. "What is truly wonderful and modern about Puccini is that all of his women manage their tragic circumstances with courage and dignity that rival any of the great heroes in classical literature."
Tickets for Tosca are available by calling SC Tickets at 800.888.7287. Prices for the production at Westminster Gardens are $25; $20 for seniors; $15 for students. Tickets for the two performances at the Sheraton Hotel in Pasadena are $35; $30 for seniors; $25 for students.
Packard Hall, Westminster Gardens is located at 1420 Santo Domingo Avenue in Duarte. The Sheraton Hotel is located at 303 East Cordova Street in Pasadena. Intimate Opera Company would especially like to thank the following organizations for their support of the student production on Thursday, April 8: The Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts; The Wells Fargo Foundation; Performance Nissan (Duarte); and The Gas Company.
For more information about the Intimate Opera Company, visit www.intimateopera.net.
ABOUT THE PERFORMERS
Tracy Saliefendic (Floria Tosca) has attracted attention from her appearances at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City as Lady Macbeth (Macbeth), with Santa Barbara Opera as Santuzza (Cavalleria Rusticana), with Opera South (Ireland) as Leonora (Il Trovatore), with Glimmerglass Opera as Gertrude Stein (The Mother of Us All), with West Bay Opera as Tosca, and with Bel Canto Opera as Amelia (Un Ballo in Maschera). Ms. Saliefendic has also appeared with the Florida Grand Opera, Virginia Opera, and Utah Festival Opera. Ms.Saliefendic was also soprano soloist in the Verdi Requiem and Beethoven´s Missa Solemnis with the Los Robles Master Chorale and the Ventura Master Chorale and has appeared in concert with the San Bernardino Symphony. She was a member of Glimmerglass Opera's Young American Artist Program and Utah Festival Opera's Young Artist Program. Ms. Saliefendic is a MacAllister Awards Regional Winner, a Metropolitan National Council Auditions District Winner and a recipient of a Richard F. Gold Career Grant.
Scott Priest's (Mario Cavaradossi) operatic debut in the Washington DC area as Ricardo in Oberto received critical acclaim. Priest has performed leading roles in La Traviata, La Boheme, Madama Butterfly, Turandot, Jenufa, Otello, L´Elisir D´Amore, Pomme d´api, La Princesse Jaune, Gianni Schicchi with the opera companies of Washington, Baltimore, Annapolis, Virginia and Northern Virginia. Equally at home in solo concerts and oratorio as well as opera, Priest is in demand in the United States and internationally. In addition to his singing career, Scott Priest serves as the Pastor of Restored Life Fellowship in Monrovia California.
Sang Wook Kwon (Baron Scarpia) graduated from Kyung Hee University, South Korea, with a bachelors degree in Voice. He also has a masters degree in opera studies from Korea National University of Arts. Mr. Kwon was a member of Incheon City Choral in Korea for five years. He moved to the United States 4 years ago, where he obtained his second masters of music degree at the World Mission University in Los Angeles, where he studied with Kathleen Roland, Robert MacNeil and Im Sang Yoon, and is currently studying for another advanced degree in theology. Sang Wook has sung leading roles in La Traviata, Cosi fan Tutte, Die Zauberflöte, The Old Maid and The Thief, as well as soloist for Beethoven´s Symphony No.9, Carmina Burana, and The Messiah. He has been an assistant conductor of World Mission University Chamber Choir for the past three years. Mr. Kwon is a section leader for The Verdi Chorus in Los Angeles. He is also choir conductor and worship leader of World Vision Church.
ABOUT STEPHANIE VLAHOS
A graduate of Yale University and the Juilliard School with degrees in music and theater, Stephanie comes to the directing professions with the experience of a former career as a professional singer. Having worked in solo performance in diverging musical arenas with such luminaries as Pierre Boulez, Andre Previn, Van Dyke Parks, and Ry Cooder , Stephanie´s voice has been featured in film and commercials.
A recipient of the Chanel Diva Award, Stephanie is best known in Los Angeles for her work as an opera singer at L.A. Opera where audiences delighted in her performances as Nicklausse in Tales of Hoffmann with Placido Domingo, as Hermia in Gordon Davidson's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, as Suzuki in Madame Butterfly with Maria Ewing in the title role. She has appeared internationally in a number of operas and concert performances and has performed a number of works for broadcast on NPR syndicated and local radio.
In addition to her classical engagements, Stephanie has garnered renown in Los Angeles and oversees as, according to the Associated Press, the "moonlighting Diva" and is an established Weill interpreter. Her cabaret, The Gangster Hour, was hailed by Variety as a "Cotton Club meets the Maltese Falcon...but what really sells is Vlahos and her incredible voice..."
Stephanie is currently directing opera, musicals, and theater and is the theater and stage director for the Domingo-Thornton Young Artist´s Program at LA Opera as well as Director in residence at the Cole Conservatory Opera Institute at Cal State Long Beach. She is artistic director for the Full Circle Opera Project, a project dedicated to the outreach of opera through teenagers that has received a number of commendations from the community and is a grant recipient from the Thornton Foundation.
Her recent work in directing has already been recognized by the community at large as she was among 30 other artists, nationwide, to be nominated for the prestigious United States Artists Grant in directing in 2007. Directorial events this season include Tristan and Isolde – at the Broad Theater with the YMF Alumni orchestra, Othalie Graham, Jeffrey Springer singing, January 2010; Club Carmen – featured in a series of clubs in Los Angeles late 2010; The Magic Flute – at the Charles Luckman Theater, March 2010; Tosca – Intimate Opera Company April 2010; Tales of Hoffmann – Cal State University at the Carpenter Center, April 2010; Zarzuela! – a staged concert performance of Zarzuela music at the Broad Theater and conducted by Placido Domingo, May 2010; Bring Them Back Live! – a festival of screenplays from early television rendered for live theater. Westport Country Playhouse forecast for Fall/Winter 2010
ABOUT KRISTOF VAN GRYSPEER
Kristof Van Gryspeer (Music Director) Kristof Van Gryspeer is a native of Belgium. With a strong vocal background and a repertoire of over forty operas Van Gryspeer is music director and conductor of several operatic organizations, such as SongFest´s Young Artist opera program and the Intimate Opera Company, where he most recently conducted La Tragédie de Carmen, La Traviata, The Mikado and Die Fledermaus. The Orange County Register hailed him as "gifted and stylistically impeccable." As a pianist Van Gryspeer appeared in recitals with artists such as Maria Newman, Ollie Watts Davis and Juliana Gondek. He recorded for the René Gailly and Phaedra labels and for the Flemish and Suisse Radio and Television. As a vocal coach, he established a flourishing studio in Pasadena.Van Gryspeer served as assistant conductor at Opera Pacific in productions such as La Boheme, The Magic Flute, Susannah and Il Barbiere di Siviglia. In 2005, the Baltimore Opera appointed Van Gryspeer as Music Director for their Young Artist program, where he conducted L' Elisir d' Amore. The Bakersfield Symphony engaged him as music director for their operatic concerts. In 2003, named acting Music Director of the USC Opera, he prepared and conducted The Magic Flute, The Impresario, Gianni Schicchi and Così fan Tutte.
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