American Chamber Ensemble Brings MUSIC, MARVEL AND MYSTICISM to National Opera Center Today

The critically-acclaimed American Chamber Ensemble will perform Music, Marvel and Mysticism, the second concert of its 50th anniversary season today, March 12 - 2:00 PM at Marc A. Scorca Hall of The National Opera Center, 330 Seventh Avenue in Manhattan.

Music by Andre Previn, Ravel, Saint Saens, Joaquin Rodrigo, De Falla and ACE composer-in-residence Jonathan Russ will be performed by flutist Tia Roper, soprano Donna Balson and pianist/ACE co-director Marilyn Lehman.

Tickets for the March 12 event are $20, available at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2506207. For more information, call 516-586-3433 or visit www.operaamerica.org/Applications/Calendar/index2.aspx.

Tia Roper is a distinguished soloist and concert artist, and has held the principal flute positions of the New York String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, the Boston Civic Symphony Orchestra, and the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra in Japan. She also won grand prize in the Artists International Debut Recital Award and received critical acclaim for her Carnegie Hall recital debut. Dr. Roper has performed as a soloist with the Queens Symphony Orchestra and as a substitute player with the New York City Ballet Orchestra, Brooklyn Philharmonic, New England Philharmonic, and Westchester Philharmonic. Her website is at tiaroper.com.

Donna Balson's operatic engagements have included work with European companies such as Oper Frankfurt, Frankfurter Kammeroper, Düsseldorf Opera and the Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart. She traveled to Sri Lanka to appear with Opera Lanka as Violetta in La Traviata and revisited Australia to sing Dorabella in Cosi Fan Tutte and the title role in La Cenerentola with Opera Queensland. As an ensemble member of the Operaworks Company in New York she has performed the roles of the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos and, for the New York premiere in April 2000, Nina in The Seagull by Pasatieri. With New York's Ardamore Chamber Opera she has performed the roles of Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and the title roles in Tosca and Madama Butterfly. Visit her at www.donnabalson.com.

Marilyn Lehman is an active soloist, chamber musician, accompanist and teacher in the N.Y metropolitan area. Described as a pianist of "utmost sensitivity and artistry," Ms. Lehman has given many solo and ensemble concerts, including performances at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Kaufman Concert Hall of the 92nd St. Y, The Beethoven Festival of Long Island and at libraries, museums and universities in the New York area. A N.Y. regional winner of the AMSA International Piano Competition, she has been guest artist on radio station WNYC and WEVD and has participated in chamber music festivals in Europe, California and Florida. She has appeared with Stanley Drucker in North Carolina and at Lincoln Center. Ms. Lehman has been a longtime member of the Usdan Center for the Performing Arts performance, accompanying and teaching faculty. As Co-Director of The American Chamber Ensemble, she has performed at Carnegie Hall's Weill Hall, The National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.

Founded in 1965 by pianist Blanche Abram and clarinetist Naomi Drucker, The American Chamber Ensemble explores the great chamber music literature for clarinet and piano in combination with strings, woodwinds and voice and presents performances featuring world-class artists. ACE consists of the finest freelance musicians in the New York area and has been cited by critics for their superb presentations of chamber masterworks. Their latest CDs on Elysium are American Clarinet Treasures, featuring core members of ACE performing works by George Kleinsinger, Virgil Thomson, Daniel Gregory Mason, Elliott Carter, Douglas Moore and Gary Schocker, with guest artist Stanley Drucker and The American Chamber Ensemble Plays Peter Schickele, which features five of this modern master's most important chamber works.

ACE's concert season is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, along with private donations. It is also supported by grants from The Long Island Music Hall of Fame and The D'Addario Foundation.

For the latest American Chamber Ensemble concert listings, updates and information, log on to americanchamberensemble.com. Follow ACE on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/American-Chamber-Ensemble/150032171984.