Bon Appetit! And Bolling Suite Come to The Cooperstown Summer Music Festival

You can sing in the shower and whistle while you work, but can you perform an opera while baking a cake?

Mezzo-soprano Samantha Malk will attempt that feat when she performs Leo Hoiby's Bon Appétit!, a one-woman opera based on Julia Child's beloved cooking show, at the Otesaga Resort Hotel on Monday August 20 at 7:30pm. While accompanied by woodwind quintet and piano, Ms. Malk will whip up a cake - using real ingredients - right in front of the audience's eyes.

The August 20 concert is part of the Cooperstown Summer Music Festival's 20th anniversary season, and will pair Hoiby's short opera with Claude Bolling's Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano, a lighthearted crossover incorporating two distinct styles of music: baroque and swing-style jazz. The Bolling will be performed by Linda Chesis, flute, Warren Jones, piano, Ron Wasserman, bass, and Jon Di Fiore, drums.

Chesis, who is also the Festival's founder and artistic director, has a personal connection to the Bolling Suite; it was written for her former teacher, flutist Jean Pierre Rampal.

"I came to study with Rampal in France the year after his recording of the Bolling was released," Chesis recalls. "The recording was an immediate hit - so successful that he was able to purchase a gold Jaguar convertible with the royalties! The Bolling remained on the Billboard charts for nearly a decade."

At first glance, the two pieces on the program seem like an unusual pairing. Chesis agrees, but says that was intentional. "Both pieces are unexpected blends with a French twist," says Chesis. "The Hoiby combines opera with popular culture, while the Bolling melds jazz with classical music."

"It's all about surprising combinations," Chesis continues. "That's what makes it fun for both the audience and the performers."

If that doesn't sell you on this concert, maybe this will: chocolate cake will be served at the end.

Tickets are $25 for adults, $15 for students.

Purchase online at www.cooperstownmusicfest.org; by phone through Brown Paper Tickets, (800) 838-3006, or at the door.

There is no service charge for tickets purchased online or by phone.

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