L'ANIMA NAPOLETANA to Open Merola Opera Program's Summer Festival
This recital will be sung in Italian and Neapolitan dialect, with English supertitles, and feature 23 works.
San Francisco’s Merola Opera Program will kick off its 2026 season with L’Anima Napoletana, a Neapolitan-inspired vocal/piano recital celebrating Southern Italy.
Widely recognized as the premier training ground for emerging opera singers, pianists, and stage directors, this summer’s program features 28 artists selected by Merola from over 1,500 international applicants. The 2026 cohort reflects a global community, with participants from Europe, Asia, Australia, and North America. Curated by Merola faculty member Mario Antonio Marra, L’Anima Napoletana, draws on the late 19thand early 20th centuries, offering up an array of songs ranging from folk-inspired melodies to refined romantic harmonies that explore themes of love, longing, joy, and nostalgia. This recital will resonate with warmth and passion, bringing to life the spirited rhythms of the region and offering an intimate portrait of a musical tradition that bridges popular song and classical music.
The program will showcase the extraordinary talent of 12 Merola artists, seven singers and five pianists, performing works that illuminate the essence of Southern Italy. L’Anima Napoletana will be presented at 7:00pm, Thursday, June 25, 2026, at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall, 50 Oak St., San Francisco.
The Merola artists featured in L’Anima Napoletana include soprano Shannon Crowley (Virginia Beach, Virginia), mezzo-soprano Stella FitzGerald (Austin, Texas), tenor Chester Seungyup Han (Seoul, South Korea), bass Theo Harrah (Louisville, Kentucky), soprano Charlotte Kelso (Adelaide, Australia), tenor Cole McIlquham, (Osseo, Wisconsin), tenor Logan Wagner (Villa Hills, Kentucky), and pianists Sakurako Jayne Abe (Hokkaido, Japan), Eric Head (Fairmont, Minnesota), Deven Shah (Erie, Pennsylvania), Tony Stauffer (Montreal, Québec, Canada) and Yue Qi Zhang (Nanjing, Jiangsu, China).
This recital will be sung in Italian and Neapolitan dialect, with English supertitles, and feature 23 works that take audiences on an emotional journey through powerful stories told with expressive music and text. L’Anima Napoletanashowcases pieces by more recent composers such as Bixio’s “Parlami d’amore Mariu” and Cioffi’s “‘Na sera ‘e maggio.” These will be presented alongside beloved classics from earlier eras, including Rossini’s “La Danza,”“Marechiare” by Tosti, “Pecché?” by Pennino, “‘O marenariello” by Gambardella, and “Mattinata” by Leoncavallo.
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