Schwabacher Debut Recital Series to Continue in March with Daniel Okulitch and John Churchwell

The 33rd season of the Schwabacher Debut Recitals continues on Sunday, March 6 at the new Dianne and Tad Taube Atrium Theater with bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch and pianist John Churchwell.

The concert marks the second public performance in the Taube Atrium Theater, which boasts the innovative Meyer Sound Constellation acoustic system.

Recipient of First Prize from the prestigious George London Foundation and praised as "flat-out brilliant" by Opera News, Canadian bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch has excelled in Mozart leading roles such as Don Giovanni and Figaro and in creating new roles, notably Ennis del Mar in Brokeback Mountain at Teatro Real and Seth Brundle in Howard Shore's The Fly at Paris' Théâtre du Châtelet. The New York Times hailed, "He sings with richness, vigor and subtle lyricism."

The all-American program features works by Ricky Ian Gordon, Glen Roven and Evan Mack, including song cycles by Gordon and Roven featuring songs based on poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay, Dorothy Parker and Walt Whitman, among others.

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 performance-oriented 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 Taube Atrium Theater.

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 the Dianne and Tad Taube Atrium Theater at the new Diane B. Wilsey Center for Opera, located on the fourth floor of the Veterans Building (401 Van Ness Avenue, at McAllister, in San Francisco). Single tickets are $30; general seating. Tickets may be purchased at the San Francisco Opera Box Office in person or by phone at (415) 864-3330 or online at sfopera.com (four-recital subscriptions available only in-person or by phone). Student rush tickets, subject to availability, are available for $15 at the Atrium Theater 30 minutes prior to each recital (limit of two tickets per person; valid ID is required; subject to availability). Artists, programs, schedules and ticket prices are subject to change.

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2016 SCHWABACHER DEBUT RECITALS:

Presented by San Francisco Opera Center and Merola Opera Program

All recitals take place at the Dianne and Tad Taube Atrium Theater at the Diane B. Wilsey Center for Opera, Veterans Building, Fourth Floor, 401 Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco.

Sunday, March 6 at 5:30 p.m.

Daniel Okulitch, bass-baritone

John Churchwell, piano

PROGRAM:

Ricky Ian Gordon - cycle

Poems include:

"Souvenir" (St. Vincent Millay)

"My mistress' eyes" (Shakespeare)

"Lullaby" (Parker)

"Interior" (Parker)

"Virginia Woolf" (Schuyler)

"Lullaby" (Rilke)

"Autumn Valentine" (Parker)

et al.

Glen Roven - selections from Songs from the Underground

Poems include:

"He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven" (Yeats)

"The Expulsion from Eden" (Milton)

"Composed upon Westminster Bridge" (Wordsworth)

"What Am I After All" (Whitman)

"Song" (Auden)

"In My Craft or Sullen Art" (Thomas)

et al.

Evan Mack - various works

Many of the pieces are featured on the Daniel Okulitch album The New American Art Song (Roven Records). Information at danieloku litch.com and rovenrecords.com.

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Canadian bass-baritone DANIEL OKULITCH has become a leading interpreter of Mozart roles, most notably, Don Giovanni, Count Almaviva and Figaro, which have been seen in New York, Buenos Aires, Los Angeles, Santa Fe, Palm Beach, Warsaw, Vancouver, Dallas, Portland, Detroit, Hawaii, Winnipeg, Kansas City and Milwaukee. In contemporary opera, Okulitch has excelled in creating leading roles, most notably Ennis del Mar in Brokeback Mountain at Teatro Real, Seth Brundle in Howard Shore's The Fly at the Châtelet and Los Angeles Opera, Willy Wonka in Peter Ash's The Golden Ticket in St Louis and Atlanta, and Herman Broder in Enemies, A Love Story in Palm Beach. His career first garnered national attention as Schaunard in the original cast of Baz Luhrmann's Tony Award-winning Broadway production of La Bohème. Other roles have included his Teatro alla Scala debut as Theseus in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Swallow in Peter Grimes for his debut at Washington National Opera and La Scala and Creonte in Medée with Grand Théâtre de Genève. Okulitch was a participant of the 2012 Merola Opera Program. Future engagements include the title role of a new production of Don Giovanni at Santa Fe Opera, Lyndon B. Johnson in the world premiere of JFK with Fort Worth Opera, his debut in the role of Leporello (Don Giovanni) with Opéra de Montréal, his return to Vancouver Opera as Joseph de Rocher in Dead Man Walking and his debut with New Orleans Opera as Don Giovanni. He will sing Handel's Messiah with the Edmonton Symphony and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in December 2016.

One of the leading collaborative pianists of his generation, JOHN CHURCHWELL enjoys a career on the concert stage as well as in the nation's leading opera houses. In August 2011, Mr. Churchwell was named Head of Music for San Francisco Opera. Previously, Churchwell served as an assistant conductor for both the Metropolitan Opera and the San Francisco Opera for 14 years. In that time, he assisted on more than 100 productions and has collaborated with some of the world's leading conductors including James Levine, Nello Santi, Nicola Luisotti, James Conlon, Donald Runnicles, Sir Charles Mackerras, Marco Armilliato, Fabio Luisi and Sir Mark Elder. On the recital stage, Churchwell has partnered with some of today's most sought-after vocalists, including Joyce DiDonato, Susan Graham, Michael Fabiano, Diana Damrau, Frederica von Stade, Leah Crocetto, Dawn Upshaw and Carol Vaness. This season, appearances include New York recitals with Lisette Oropesa, a recital with Lawrence Brownlee in Sonoma, California and San Francisco concerts with James Westman and Daniel Okulitch. In addition to song recitals, Churchwell is an active chamber musician and has appeared regularly with members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and the San Francisco Opera Orchestra. A native of Knoxville, Tennessee, Churchwell spends his summers at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California, where he has been a member of the voice and piano faculty since 2000. He is a graduate of the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and the 1996 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, 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.