Richton Park , IL–(ENEWSPF)– The Grande Prairie Choral Arts continues its 32nd season of quality choral music in the Chicago Southland with A Night at the Opera, Sunday, March 1, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. in the auditorium at Rich South High School in Richton Park, conveniently located just east of the Sauk Trail exit #339 of I-57. Artistic Director, Dr. James Kallembach, has programmed breathtaking arias and choruses from the operas of Verdi, Donizetti, Mozart and others, featuring soloists from the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center in concert with the Grande Prairie Singers.
A native of New Orleans, Soprano Angela Mannino is a first year member of Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center. This season at Lyric Opera she debuted in performances of Manon (Maid) and Lulu (15 Year Old Girl). Before beginning at Lyric, Mannino received a Bachelor of Music from Loyola University New Orleans and a Master of Music from Indiana University.She has completed Apprenticeships with Santa Fe Opera and Central City Opera. Mannino has also performed with New Orleans Opera, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Missoula Symphony (Montana) and the Bloomington Pops Orchestra (Indiana).She will make her debut this summer with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra in performances of Mozart’s Don Giovanni (Zerlina).
Born and raised in San Diego , CA , Tenor Edward Mout began his career at a very young age, performing as a supernumerary with the San Diego Opera, soon moving to children’s chorus, as well as performing the occasional boy solo. Edward became the youngest chorister to sing with the adult chorus of the San Diego Opera at the age of 19, when he also began his undergraduate studies at UC- San Diego. After completing a B.A. in Applied Mathematics, Magna sum laude, Edward began voice study at Indiana University where he performed the roles of Fenton in Falstaff in 2003 and Lensky in Eugene Onegin in 2004. He also participated in his first young artist program in 2004 as a Gerdine Young Artist with Opera Theatre of St. Louis and as a Bonfils-Stanton Apprentice Artist with Central City Opera in 2005. Edward began his first of two seasons as a Resident Artist with Minnesota Opera in 2005, and was a Young Artist with Santa Fe Opera the summer of 2006. For his first season with the Ryan Opera Center , Edward was seen on the Lyric Opera stage as Giuseppe in La Traviata and Parpignol in La Boheme. The highlight of the season came, however, when Edward was called to step in for one performance as Conte Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia. For his second season with the Ryan Opera Center , Edward will be seen in Manon and as Beppe in student matinees performances of I Pagliacci.
As a special treat for music lovers, Philip Gosset, Ph.D., Princeton, 1970, author of two books on Donizetti and of Divas and Scholars: Performing Italian Opera (2006, Chicago), which won the Otto Kinkeldey Award of the American Musicological Society as the best book on music of the year, will present a “guided tour from the keyboard” for this concert. Professor Gosset has special interests in 19th-century Italian opera. He serves as General Editor of The Works of Giuseppe Verdi (The University of Chicago Press and Casa Ricordi of Milan) and of The Works of Gioachino Rossini (Baerenreiter-Verlag, Kassel). One of the world’s foremost experts on Italian opera, Gossett is the first musicologist to be awarded the Mellon Distinguished Achievement Award; he also holds the Cavaliered did Gran Croce, the Italian government’s highest civilian honor. Professor Gossett has served as President of the American Musicological Society and of the Society for Textual Scholarship, as Dean of Humanities at Chicago, and as lecturer and consultant at opera houses and festivals in America and Italy. He was the musicological consultant to the Verdi Festival in Parma during the Verdi centennial year (2001; at Chicago since 1968.)
Tickets for A Night at the Opera, as well as the Grande Prairie Singers’ spring concert Musical Families: The Music of the Mozarts and Haydns are available now by calling the GPCA office (708) 481-8684 or by visiting the GPCA web site www.grandeprairiechoral.org. In addition to their main stage concert season, the Singers are pleased to offer outreach performances from their extensive repertoire to area organizations and communities. Groups interested in inviting the GPCA outreach singers to perform for a meeting or social event may schedule performing ensembles of various sizes throughout the year. The Grande Prairie Singers concert prices are kept affordable by GPCA fundraising activities. Be sure to “save the date” for “Way off Broadway,” June 5, 2009, when the GPCA will crown its season with an elegant fundraising gala. This Grande Evening will feature fine dining, a spirited musical revue and a live auction.
The Grande Prairie Choral Arts is a not for profit organization supported by its own development projects, state and local grants and by the generosity of its patrons. The Grande Prairie Singers have been making beautiful choral music available in the Chicago Southland for over a quarter of a century. Beginning in 1977 as the Park Forest Singers, they have grown to include the finest voices from 28 suburbs and villages. Members come from all walks of life and range in age from 17 to 80! Auditions for this premier chorus may be arranged by appointment. Interested singers should contact the office (708) 481-8684 or visit the GPCA web site www.grandeprairiechoral.org for more information.
