Schimmel Center Welcomes Anna Christy as Part of VOCE: RISING OPERA STARS Series Today

Today, March 8 at 3pm, Schimmel Center at Pace University will present an afternoon with the powerhouse soprano, Anna Christy accompanied by pianist Ken Noda.

Praised by The New York Times as "nimble of voice, body and spirit", soprano Anna Christy continues to impress and delight audiences with an extraordinary blend of sparkling voice, powerful stage presence and innate musicality. Ms. Christy regularly performs at the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, English National Opera, and at a wide variety of other opera venues around the world.

The afternoon will feature an eclectic program, which will range from Mozart, Schubert and Strauss lieder to Handel arias as well as music from lesser heard Japanese composers.

The program for Voce: Rising Opera Stars in Recital is as follows:

"Endless Pleasure" from Semele

"Angels Ever Bright and Fair" from Theodora

"O Had I Jubal's Lyre" from Joshua

"Das Veilchen"

"Als Luise der Briefe ihres ungetreuen"

"Ruhe sanft, mein holdes Leben" from Zaide

"Die Forelle"

"Heidenröslein"

"Du Bist die Ruh"

"Lied der Delphine"

Intermission

"Amor"

"Waitin'"

Muffin's aria from A Wedding

"Hatsu Koi"

"Hamabe no Uta"

"Kono michi"

"Ständchen"

"Morgen"

"Ich sehe wie in einem Spiegel"

"Cäcilie"

Ticket prices for Voce: Rising Opera Stars in Recital at Schimmel Center at Pace University cost $39. The performance will take place on Sunday, March 8 at 3pm. Tickets can be purchased online at schimmel.pace.edu, by calling (866) 811-4111 or (212) 346-1715, or in person at Schimmel Center Box Office, open Monday-Friday from 1pm-6pm. Schimmel Center is located at 3 Spruce Street in downtown Manhattan.

Praised by The New York Times as "nimble of voice, body and spirit", soprano Anna Christy continues to impress and delight audiences with an extraordinary blend of sparkling voice, powerful stage presence and innate musicality. Selected by New York City Opera, Anna Christy was the recipient of a 2005 Martin E. Segal Award, presented annually to nominees by two of Lincoln Center's twelve resident arts constituents. She was also the recipient of a 2005 Richard Tucker Music Foundation Career Grant, the 2004 ARIA award, a 2002 Sullivan Foundation Grant, a 2002 Richard F. Gold Grant and the 2000 Shouse Debut Artist Award from Wolf Trap Opera. Anna Christy was born in Chicago, Illinois and raised in Pasadena, California. She spent her summers in Tokyo, Japan, at her mother's family home, and is fluent in Japanese. Ms. Christy attended Polytechnic School in Pasadena and was a founding member of the Los Angeles Children's Chorus. She is a graduate of Rice University and the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music. Ms. Christy currently resides with her husband and daughter in Colorado. In recent seasons, Ms. Christy has appeared in many roles at the English National Opera,Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, L'Opera National de Paris, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Teatro alla Scala, Theatre du Chatelet, Central City Opera, Opera National de Bordeaux, San Francisco Opera, the Saito Kinen Festival, Washington Concert Opera, and L'Opera de Lille. On the concert stage, Ms. Christy was a featured soloist in the 2009 New York City Opera Gala "American Voices" which celebrated the opera company's return to the newly renovated David H. Koch Theater and portrayed "Angela" in a semi-staged version of Kurt Weill's The Firebrand of Florence with the Collegiate Chorale at Carnegie Hall. She has sung in concerts of Ravel's L'Enfant et les Sortileges and Stravinsky's Le Rossignol, with Charles Dutoit conducting the NHK Symphony in Tokyo, Japan, and was a featured guest soloist at the annual Ford's Theatre Gala in Washington, DC. She has performed Candide with the Los Angeles Philharmonic; Carmina Burana with the St. Louis Symphony; Mahler's Symphony No. 4, Candide, and Die Entführung aus dem Serail with the Chicago Symphony at the Ravinia Festival. Other concert engagements have included appearances with The Philadelphia Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, New York Festival of Song, and solo recitals in Japan. Ms. Christy made her Metropolitan Opera debut as "Papagena" in Julie Taymor's production of Die Zauberflöte, conducted by James Levine in the 2004/2005 season. Two more debuts followed, with appearances as "Muffin" in the world premiere of William Bolcom's A Wedding at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and with Opera Theatre of St. Louis as "Zemire" in Zemire et Azor. Ms. Christy appeared at the Metropolitan Opera as "Hortense" in the world premiere production of Tobias Picker's An American Tragedy. Other important past engagements for Ms. Christy include her San Francisco debut as "Angel More" in The Mother of Us All; "Marzelline" in a concert version Fidelio with the San Francisco Symphony; "Zerlina" in Don Giovanni with the Los Angeles Opera; "Mrs. Nordstrom" in A Little Night Music and "Annabelle" in The Glass Blowers with New York City Opera; and her Santa Fe Opera debut as "Jiang Ching" in the world premiere of Madame Mao (music by Bright Sheng, libretto by Colin Graham).

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit schimmel.pace.edu or call toll-free (866) 811-4111. All performances take place at Schimmel Center at Pace University located at 3 Spruce Street between Park Row and Gold Street in downtown Manhattan.

Tickets to all events are available for purchase now:

• Online at schimmel.pace.edu
• By phone via the OvationTix Call Center at (866) 811-4111 or by calling the box office at (212) 346-1715
• In person in advance at Schimmel Center Box Office, open Monday-Friday from 1pm-6pm
• Day of show at Schimmel Center starting two hours before curtain

A visit to Schimmel Center offers an opportunity to come marvel at the new Fulton Center's impressive, "sky-reflector-net dome," and catch a glimpse at the new bright future of downtown Manhattan's financial district. A visit to Fulton Center and Schimmel center is as easy as 2, 3, 4, 5, A, C, J, Z and R.

Schimmel Center at Pace University is located within the University's downtown campus, has been an active part of Manhattan's artistic community for 35 years. Located one block east of City Hall and immediately adjacent to the Brooklyn Bridge, Schimmel Center's 672-seat theatre regularly hosts academic and community events in addition to its yearly schedule of the world's finest music, theatre, and dance. Over the past twelve years, Schimmel Center has served as a founding venue for The River-to-River Festival (2002), hosted both The Tribeca Film Festival and The Tribeca Theatre Festival (2001), provided a headquarters for The National Actors Theatre (2002 to 2004), presented the only Democratic Presidential Debate to present all ten candidates for the 2004 election, and actively hosts James Lipton's award-winning Bravo series Inside the Actors Studio, taped on Schimmel Center's stage since 2005. The Schimmel Center is located just blocks away from the latest, majestic city landmark, Fulton Center.

For more than 100 years, Pace University has helped prepare students to become leaders in their fields by providing an education that combines exceptional academics with professional experience. Pace has three campuses in New York City, Westchester, and White Plains. A private metropolitan university, Pace enrolls approximately 13,500 students in bachelor's, master's, and doctoral programs in the Dyson College of Arts and Sciences, via its rapidly growing Performing Arts Department, Lienhard School of Nursing, Lubin School of Business, School of Education, Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems and School of Law.