San Francisco Opera and Merola Opera's 'Schwabacher Debut Recitals' Series to Launch 2/8

San Francisco Opera Center and the Merola Opera Program present the 33rd season of the Schwabacher Debut Recitals, beginning February 8, 2015 with soprano Erin Johnson (pictured, left) and pianist Sun Ha Yoon at Temple Emanu-El's Martin Meyer Sanctuary in San Francisco.

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 5:30 p.m. Sunday recital series continues on March 15 (Martin Katz with Adler Fellows Jacqueline Piccolino, Zanda Šv?de, Chong Wang and Matthew Stump); March 29 (soprano Julie Adams and pianist John Churchwell); and May 3 (soprano Talya Lieberman, baritone Edward Nelson and pianist Allen Perriello).

Since 1983, the Schwabacher Debut Recitals have introduced rising opera stars and provided significant opportunities for these artists to explore the art song repertoire. 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 2015 Schwabacher Debut Recital Series opens February 8 with soprano Erin Johnson and pianist Sun Ha Yoon. As an Adler Fellow (2013-14), Erin Johnson has appeared with the Company in numerous productions including the world premiere of The Secret Garden (Mrs. Medlock), Mefistofele (Marta), and Susannah (Mrs. Gleaton). Accompanied by Sun Ha Yoon, she performs works by Gabriel Fauré and esteemed American composer Dominick Argento's Six Elizabethan Songs. Among Argento's earliest compositions, the cycle remains one of his most popular. The Pulitzer Prize-winning composer has said of the work: "The songs are called 'Elizabethan' because the lyrics are drawn from that rich period in literature, while the music is in the spirit (if not the manner) of the great English composer singer-lutenist, John Dowland. The main concern is the paramount importance of the poetry and the primacy of the vocal line over a relatively simple and supportive accompaniment."

The series continues on March 15 with pianist and conductor Martin Katz joined by four current Adler Fellows: soprano Jacqueline Piccolino, mezzo-soprano Zanda Šv?de, tenor Chong Wang and bass-baritone Matthew Stump. Widely considered the dean of collaborative pianists and "the gold standard of accompanying" (New York Times), Katz has been in constant demand by the world's most celebrated vocal soloists for four decades. Their program features Brahms' Zigeunerlieder, Ravel's Five Greek Folksongs, selections from Canteloube's Chants d'Auvergne, Ginastera's Cinco Canciones populares argentinas, Three Duets by Celius Dougherty, and the gambling songs of American folksinger, folklorist, and composer John Jacob Niles.

On March 29, the Schwabacher Debut Recital series presents soprano Julie Adams accompanied by San Francisco Opera Head of Music Staff John Churchwell. 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 much critical acclaim as Blanche DuBois in André Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire. Adams and Churchwell will present a program of works by Alfred Bachelet, Lee Hoiby, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Edvard Grieg and Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

The final recital of the series on May 3 features soprano Talya Lieberman and baritone Edward Nelson with pianist Allen Perriello. As a member of the 2014 Merola Opera Program, Lieberman was featured in the Schwabacher Summer Concert singing the title role in scenes from Handel's Semele. Nelson is a first-year Adler Fellow and 2014 Merola Opera Program alumnus, where he sang the title role of Don Giovanni. The program includes the west coast premiere of Nico Muhly's Four Folksongs, works by Benjamin Britten and Francis Poulenc, and popular German lieder.

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. The Schwabacher Debut Recitals have introduced the artistry of many acclaimed international artists including Anna Netrebko, Deborah Voigt, Susan Graham, Brian Asawa and Thomas Hampson. The recitals provide an opportunity to hear a wealth of song literature ranging from Baroque masterpieces and Romantic-era classics to newly commissioned works performed by up-and-coming young artists.

All performances take place at Temple Emanu-El's Martin Meyer Sanctuary (Two Lake Street, at Arguello, in San Francisco). Single tickets for the Schwabacher Debut Recitals are $30; a four-recital subscription is $80. 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 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.

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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, February 8, 5:30 p.m.

Erin Johnson, soprano

Sun Ha Yoon, piano

PROGRAM:

Program includes Dominick Argento's Six Elizabethan Songs and works by Gabriel Fauré.

Sunday, March 15, 5:30 p.m.

Martin Katz, piano

Jacqueline Piccolino, soprano

Zanda Šv?de, mezzo-soprano

Chong Wang, tenor

Matthew Stump, bass-baritone

PROGRAM:

Johannes Brahms / Zigeunerlieder

Maurice Ravel / Five Greek Folksongs

Celius Dougherty / Three Duets

Joseph Canteloube / From Chants d'Auvergne ("Lo fiolaire"; "Brezairola"; "Malhourous qu'o uno fenno"; "La delaïsádo"; "Lo coucut")

John Jacob Niles / Gambling Songs ("The Rovin' Gambler"; "Gambler's Lament"; "The Gambler's Wife"; "Gambler, Don't You Lose Your Place")

Alberto Ginastera / Cinco canciones populares argentinas

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

Julie Adams, soprano

John Churchwell, piano

PROGRAM:

Works by Alfred Bachelet, Lee Hoiby, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Edvard Grieg and Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

Sunday, May 3, 5:30 p.m.

Talya Lieberman, soprano

Edward Nelson, baritone

Allen Perriello, piano

PROGRAM:

Program includes the West Coast premiere of Nico Muhly's Four Folksongs, works by Benjamin Britten and Francis Poulenc, and German lieder.

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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 holds 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.

Soprano Erin Johnson is a former San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow (2013-14) who made her Company debut in 2013 as Mrs. Medlock in the world premiere of The Secret Garden at UC Berkeley's Zellerbach Hall and appeared in various roles at the War Memorial Opera House in the world premiere of The Gospel of Mary Magdalene; also as Marta (Mefistofele), Mary (Der Fliegende Holländer), Annina (La Traviata) and Mrs. Gleaton (Susannah). A native of Washington, New Jersey, she holds degrees from Cairn University and Rice University and is an alumna of the 2012 Merola Opera Program and the 2009 Santa Fe Opera Program. While at Rice, Johnson was also awarded a grant to study in Florence through the Margaret Pack Italian Language Study Program in 2012.

As one of the world's busiest collaborators, Martin Katz has been in constant demand by the most celebrated vocal soloists for four decades. He has appeared and recorded regularly with Marilyn Horne, Frederica von Stade, Samuel Ramey, Karita Mattila, José Carreras, Cecilia Bartoli, Kiri Te Kanawa, Soile Isokoski, Kathleen Battle and Lawrence Brownlee, among others. In recent years, conducting has played a more significant role in Katz's career-he has partnered several of his soloists on the podium for orchestras of the B.B.C., Houston, Washington D.C., Tokyo, New Haven and Miami, and has conducted staged productions of more than 15 operas for the Merola Opera Program, the Pacific Music Festival and the University Opera Theatre in Ann Arbor. He is a regular guest at Santa Fe Opera, Songfest Institute, Canadian Operatic Arts Academy, Chicago College of Performing Arts and the New National Theatre of Tokyo. His editions of Handel and Rossini operas have been presented by the Met, Houston Grand Opera and the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. For three decades, the University of Michigan has been his home, where he has been chair for the School of Music's program in collaborative piano and was appointed the first Arthur Schnabel Professor of Music. He has been a pivotal figure in the training of countless young artists, both singers and pianists, who are working all over the world. Katz is the author of a comprehensive guide to accompanying, The Complete Collaborator (Oxford University Press), which is widely regarded as the standard for texts on this specialized subject. Katz attended the University of Southern California and studied the field of accompanying with its pioneer teacher, Gwendolyn Koldofsky. While a student, he was given the unique opportunity of accompanying the master classes and lessons of such luminaries as Lotte Lehmann, Jascha Heifetz, Pierre Bernac and Gregor Piatigorsky.

Talya Lieberman is a 2014 alumna of the Merola Opera Program, where she sang the title role in scenes from Handel's Semele. The soprano will be joining Wolf Trap Opera as a Filene Young Artist singing the role of Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro this coming summer and was most recently seen performing Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel) at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Highlights from her 2013-14 season included performing selections from Canteloube's Chants D'Auverge with the CCM Philharmonia, as well as David del Tredici's Haddock's Eyes with the Café MoMus ensemble. She is a winner of the Irma M. Cooper Vocal Competition and Alida Vane International Voice Competition in Latvia, where she studied on a Fulbright Scholarship. Lieberman began singing after receiving her master's degree in trumpet performance from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. She completed her bachelor's degree at Duke University with highest distinction in linguistics (Phi Beta Kappa, Magna Cum Laude) and is currently pursuing an artist diploma as a student of Bill McGraw at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

A first-year San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow, baritone Edward Nelson is a graduate of the 2014 Merola Opera Program, where he sang the title role of Don Giovanni. Other recent and upcoming engagements include the Ferryman (Britten's Curlew River) with the Tanglewood Music Festival and Montreal's Ballet-Opéra-Pantomime, covering Miller in Montsalvatge's El Gato con Botas with Gotham Chamber Opera, as well as the title role of Britten's Owen Wingrave, Dandini (La Cenerentola) and Le Podestat (Bizet's Le Docteur Miracle) with the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where he holds undergraduate and graduate degrees. On the concert stage, he has been a soloist with the American Choral Directors Association and the Reno Philharmonic. A national semi-finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, he is a winner of the 2013 Opera Columbus International Vocal Competition.

Allen Perriello is in his third season at Arizona Opera as head of music staff and director of the Marion Roose Pullin Opera Studio; he is also on the music staff at Des Moines Metro Opera. An alumnus of the Merola Opera Program (2008) and former San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow (2009-10), he has also been a member of the music staff at Seattle Opera and Boston Lyric Opera. Other previous engagements include being a member of the Seattle Opera Young Artists Program faculty, Opera Santa Barbara, Opera Cleveland and Ash Lawn Opera. As a collaborative pianist, he has been featured in the Schwabacher Debut Recital Series, and recently appeared in recital with Zach Borichevsky, Angela Fout, David Portillo and Corinne Winters. Perriello was awarded the "best collaborative pianist" in the 2008 Lotte Lehmann Foundation Competition. He can be heard on the recording Living American Composers with baritone Randal Turner. Perriello holds a master's degree in collaborative piano from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and a bachelor's degree in piano performance and music education from Ithaca College.

Jacqueline Piccolino is a second-year Adler Fellow who made her San Francisco Opera debut in June 2013 as Stella (Les Contes d'Hoffmann) and has returned as a maid in the world premiere of Dolores Claiborne, Kate Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly), Clotilde (Norma) and as Mrs. Hayes (Susannah). As a participant in the 2012 and 2013 Merola Opera Program, the soprano appeared as Countess Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro) and as Arminda (La Finta Giardiniera). As a studio artist with Wolf Trap Opera Company, she appeared in that company's productions of The Inquisitive Women, Sweeney Todd, and Les Contes d'Hoffmann. Other career highlights include appearing in the Napa Festival del Sole's Bouchaine Young Artist Concert Series and participating in the Houston Grand Opera Young Artist Vocal Academy. Piccolino is a recipient of the Richard F. Gold Career Grant from the Shoshana Foundation and winner of the New York Lyric Opera Theatre Competition and the Bel Canto Competition.

Bass-baritone Matthew Stump is a first-year San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow and graduate of the 2014 Merola Opera Program, where he was featured in scenes from Luisa Miller (Count Walter), La Cenerentola (Don Magnifico) and Mignon (Jarno) in the Schwabacher Summer Concert. He has appeared in the title role of Sweeney Todd, the Prime Minister (Cendrillon), the Pirate King (The Pirates of Penzance), and Capulet (Roméo et Juliette) at the University of North Texas as well as the title role of Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Alfonso (Così fan tutte), and Frank (Street Scene) at Luther College, where he holds a bachelor's degree. He holds awards from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and the Dallas Opera Guild.

Latvian mezzo-soprano Zanda Šv?de is a second-year San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow and an alumna of the 2013 Merola Opera Program. She made her Company debut in 2014 as Flora Bervoix in La Traviata and returned this fall as Tisbe (La Cenerentola). Roles in her repertoire include the title role of Piazzolla's María de Buenos Aires, Endimione (Cavalli's La Calisto), and the title role of Massenet's Cléopâtre. On the concert stage she has appeared as a soloist in Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, Vivaldi's Gloria, and Liszt's Missa Coronationalis. Šv?de has studied at the Latvian Academy of Music in Riga; the Manhattan Summer Voice Festival in New York; Scuola Italiana in Urbania, Italy; and the Tyrolean Opera Program in Austria.

An alumnus of the 2014 Merola Opera Program, tenor Chong Wang is a first-year San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow. His repertory with the Merola Opera Program included Goro (Madama Butterfly), Don José (Carmen), and the Duke of Mantua (Rigoletto). He has performed a number of roles at Beijing's National Centre for the Performing Arts, including the Steersman (Der Fliegende Holländer), the Messenger (Aida), Dr. Caius (Falstaff), Ruiz (Il Trovatore), and Rodolfo (Guglielmo Tell). Wang is a graduate of the Conservatory of the People's Liberation Army in China.

Former San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow (2013-14) Sun Ha Yoon served as a member of the Company's music staff for Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Così fan tutte, The Secret Garden, La Cenerentola, and Tosca. In the summer of 2013 she was member of the music staff at Italy's Siena Music Festival. A 2012 alumna of the Merola Opera Program, she coached and performed in the orchestra for Argento's Postcard from Morocco. She is a former vocal piano fellow at the Music Academy of the West. Recent concert appearances include the Schwabacher Debut Recital series and a duo recital at Carnegie Hall as part of the Marilyn Horne's The Song Continues... series. Yoon completed her master's degree at the Juilliard School and recently graduated with a doctoral degree in collaborative piano performance from the University of Maryland, where she studied with Rita Sloan. She also served as a coach for the Maryland Opera Studio and prepared singers in two world premiere performances: Later the Same Evening by John Musto and Shadowboxer by Frank Proto.

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, 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, Daniella 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.