Season Opener Blends Traditional
with Contemporary for Today’s Audiences
Asheville
Lyric Opera’s 2014 Season opener, Don
Giovanni, will fuse together a diverse cast of local and internationally
acclaimed singers under the guiding leadership of world-renowned opera director
David Malis. Among the returning likes
of Galen Scott Bowers, Kathy Pyaett, Dominic Michael Aquilino, and local
professor Jonathon Ross, the cast will be comprised of up and coming national
singer Grant Knox and international singers Kristen Vogel and Randa
Rouweyha. This fresh, unique production
of Mozart’s Don Giovanni promises to
bring an invigorating depth of traditional and contemporary experiences to
audiences of Western North Carolina.
With
roots at Mars Hill College, David Malis’s seasoned career has taken him around
the world to perform at many major opera venues including The Metropolitan
Opera and the Thêàtre des Champs-Elysée.
He began his operatic career with the San Francisco Opera and had the
prestigious opportunity to become a student of the legendary Italian bass Italo
Tajo. Employing his traditional
training, he has been delighting audiences with his singing and directorial
performances for over thirty years. His
voice coaching, directing, and teaching at universities have impacted the
careers of many budding singers.
Returning to ALO after 5 years, he will have the chance to lead a
contemporary group of singers who bring their own experiences to this
production.
Audiences
will be pleased to see the familiar faces of Galen Scott Bowers and Kathy
Pyaett returning after their 2013 performances in Tosca, as well as Dominic Alquinio.
Jonathon Ross, professor of digital media at A-B Technical Community
College, will also be rejoining ALO. A third professor, and brand-new cast member
will be Furman University’s Director of Lyric Theatre, Grant Knox. His varied career in opera, musical theater,
concert and recital has taken him to the edge of today’s contemporary American
music while premiering in the pilot season of the Fall Island Vocal Arts
Festival and Nico Muhly’s The Unknown
Room. Two more fresh faces joining
the cast of Don Giovanni are Kristen
Vogel and Randa Rouweyha. While Vogel
has performed all over the country, she has recently won the prize for Acting
and Interpretation at the International Competition “Cappuccilli – Patané –
Respighi” in Italy, and second place in the Michael Ballam Concorso Lirico
International Opera Competition. She is
currently completing her doctorate at the University of Washington. Rouweyha, making her home in Washington D.
C., has also won an award for her singing in the Vocal Arts Society’s art song
competition. She can be seen frequently
performing in the area, especially with The In Series, one of D.C.’s most
creative and original theatrical companies.
Her talents have taken her across the globe for a middle-east recital
debut at Al Bustan International Music Festival in Lebanon.
These
devoted singers have been carefully selected by Asheville Lyric Opera to
perform in the opening production for our 15th Anniversary
Season. Our fresh approach to the timeless
Don Giovanni will blend the
traditional with the contemporary giving modern audiences yet another unique
production of Mozart’s 226 year-old masterpiece. ALO proudly continues our support of local
talents by giving them a stage to perform for the public, as well as bringing
accomplished opera singers from around the world to Western North Carolina
audiences.
PERFOMANCE
DATES WITH ADDED SUNDAY MATINEE
Friday, April 4, 2014, 8pm
Sunday, April 6, 2014 Matinee at
3pm
Diana Wortham Theater, Asheville,
NC
Tickets are on sale now at the
theater box office: 828-257-4530, or
online at www.ashevillelyric.org.
For school groups, tickets to the Don
Giovanni April 2, 2014 Preview Dress Rehearsal at 7pm are available
only through the Asheville Lyric Opera office.
Call ALO at 828-236-0670 to make your reservations.
For more information visit www.ashevillelyric.org.
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