Julie Adams and John Churchwell Up Next in 'Schwabacher Debut Recitals' Series, 3/29

The 32nd season of the Schwabacher Debut Recitals continues on Sunday, March 29 at Temple Emanu-El's Martin Meyer Sanctuary with soprano Julie Adams and pianist John Churchwell. Adams and Churchwell will present a program of works by Alfred Bachelet, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Edvard Grieg, Sergei Rachmaninov and Lee Hoiby.

A winner of the 2014 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Julie Adams is a first-year San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow and alumna of the 2014 Merola Opera Program, where she garnered critical acclaim as Blanche DuBois in André Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire. Last month, the Burbank, California native was one of the six singers selected as winners of the prestigious George London Foundation Awards Competition in New York City. Ms. Adams received the George London-Kirsten Flagstad Award, which recognizes potential Wagnerian singers.

Since 1983, the Schwabacher Debut Recitals have introduced the artistry of many acclaimed international singers including Anna Netrebko, Deborah Voigt, Susan Graham, Brian Asawa and Thomas Hampson. The annual series showcases exemplary artists who have participated in the prestigious training programs of the San Francisco Opera Center and Merola Opera Program, whose residencies offer intensive individual coaching and performance opportunities to young professional international artists. The recitals allow Bay Area audiences to experience exciting young talent perform a wide-ranging and eclectic repertoire of song literature in the intimate setting of the Martin Meyer Sanctuary.

The Schwabacher Debut Recitals are endowed in perpetuity by the generosity of the late James Schwabacher and sponsored by the Jack H. Lund Charitable Trust. A celebrated Bay Area singer, recitalist, scholar and teacher, James Schwabacher was a co-founder of the Merola Opera Program.

Schwabacher Debut Recitals take place at Temple Emanu-El's Martin Meyer Sanctuary (Two Lake Street, at Arguello, in San Francisco). Tickets are $30 and may be purchased at the San Francisco Opera Box Office in person or by phone at (415) 864-3330 or online at sfopera.com. Student Rush tickets are available for $15 at Temple Emanu-El 30 minutes prior to each recital (limit of two tickets per person; valid ID is required; subject to availability). Casting, programs, schedules and ticket prices are subject to change.

2015 SCHWABACHER DEBUT RECITALS:

Presented by San Francisco Opera Center and Merola Opera Program

Temple Emanu-El's Martin Meyer Sanctuary (Two Lake Street, at Arguello, in San Francisco)

Sunday, March 29, 5:30 p.m.

Julie Adams, soprano

John Churchwell, piano

PROGRAM:

Alfred Bachelet -

Chère nuit

Erich Wolfgang Korngold -

Liebesbriefchen Op. 9, No. 4

Was Du mir Bist Op. 22, No. 1

Glückwunsch Op. 38, No. 1

Edvard Grieg -

Sechs Lieder Op. 48

Gruss, No. 1

Dereinst Gedanke mein, No. 2

Lauf der Welt, No. 3

Die verschwiegene, No. 4

Zur Rosenzeit, No. 5

Ein Traum, No. 6

Sergei Rachmaninov -

Zdes' khorosho Op. 21, No. 7

Uzh ty, niva moja! Op. 4, No. 5

Son Op. 38, No. 5

Davno-l', moj drug Op. 4, No. 6

Lee Hoiby -

The Lamb

She Tells Her Love

Goodbye, Goodbye, World

There Came a Wind Like a Bugle

About the Artists:

A winner of the 2014 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, soprano Julie Adams is a first-year San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow and alumna of the 2014 Merola Opera Program, where she performed the role of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire. This past fall, she sang the role of Mimì in San Francisco Opera's presentation of La Bohème for Families. During her studies with César Ulloa at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she received bachelor's and master's degrees, she performed the roles of Blanche in Les Dialogues des Carmélites, Mimì in La Bohème, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte and Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi. Other credits include Lia (Debussy's L'Enfant Prodigue) at the International Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv; Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara; and Magnolia Hawks (Show Boat) and Rose (Street Scene) with the Oakland East Bay Symphony. Adams is a former studio artist with Opera Santa Barbara.

John Churchwell has served as head of music staff for San Francisco Opera since August 2011. Previously, he was an assistant conductor for both the Metropolitan Opera and San Francisco Opera for 14 years. Churchwell has worked on more than 100 productions with conductors including James Levine, Nicola Luisotti, Donald Runnicles, Nello Santi and Sir Charles Mackerras. A champion of American music, he has participated in the world premieres of John Harbison's The Great Gatsby, Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking, Stewart Wallace/Amy Tan's The Bonesetter's Daughter, Philip Glass' Appomattox, Christopher Theofanidis' Heart of a Soldier and Tobias Picker's Dolores Claiborne. On the recital stage, he has partnered with some of today's most sought-after vocalists, including recent appearances at the Hollywood Bowl with Ellie Dehn, San Francisco Symphony with Michael Fabiano and recitals with Joyce DiDonato and Frederica von Stade. He has also appeared frequently in chamber music concerts with members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. An alumnus of the Merola Opera Program (1996), Churchwell earned his doctorate from the University of Minnesota and holds a bachelor's degree in piano from the New England Conservatory, a bachelor's degree in French from Tufts University and a master's degree in accompanying from the University of Minnesota.

About San Francisco Opera Center and Merola Opera Program - San Francisco Opera Center was created in 1982 by then-General Director Terence A. McEwen to oversee the operation and administration of the education and training programs initiated by Kurt Herbert Adler in 1954. Providing a coordinated sequence of performance and study opportunities for young artists, San Francisco Opera Center represents a new era in which young artists of major operatic potential can develop through intensive training and performance, under the aegis of a major international opera company. Now under the guidance of its fourth director, Sheri Greenawald, and San Francisco Opera General Director David Gockley, the Opera Center has trained and introduced many young stars from around the world to the international opera stage through its resident artist programs.

Initially founded as the San Francisco Opera/Affiliate Artists program in 1977, the Adler Fellowship Program is one of the nation's most prestigious performance-oriented residencies for the most advanced young singers and coach/accompanists. Each year, San Francisco Adler Fellows are sponsored by individual donors to help cover the cost of their fellowship, and sponsors affiliated with the Adler Program have the opportunity to attend private studio classes with the Fellows and develop nurturing relationships with them. Alumni from the Adler Fellowship Program include sopranos Jane Archibald, Leah Crocetto, Heidi Melton, Patricia Racette, Nadine Sierra, Ruth Ann Swenson, Elza van den Heever and Deborah Voigt; mezzo-sopranos Kendall Gladen, Daveda Karanas, Daniela Mack and Dolora Zajick; countertenors Brian Asawa and Gerald Thompson; tenors Brian Jagde, Sean Panikkar, Alek Shrader and Noah Stewart; baritones Mark Delavan and Lucas Meachem; and bass-baritone John Relyea.

One of the oldest and most acclaimed training programs of its kind, the Merola Opera Program for aspiring opera professionals offers up-and-coming singers, coach-accompanists and stage directors the opportunity of intense study and performance during an eleven-week summer program. Named for San Francisco Opera's first general director, Gaetano Merola, the program began during the 1954-55 Season and established its full training program in 1957. Alumni of the program include Joyce DiDonato, Sylvia McNair, Anna Netrebko, Patricia Racette, Ruth Ann Swenson, Carol Vaness, Deborah Voigt, Susan Graham, Dolora Zajick, Brian Asawa, Thomas Hampson, Rolando Villazón and Patrick Summers. An independent non-profit organization, the Merola Opera Program operates in collaboration with San Francisco Opera Center and San Francisco Opera.

For more information on the San Francisco Opera Center and Merola Opera Program, visit sfopera.com and merola.org.

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