San Francisco Opera And Merola Opera Present 2017 SCHWABACHER DEBUT RECITAL SERIES, 3/26-4/30

San Francisco Opera Center and the Merola Opera Program present the 34th season of the Schwabacher Debut Recitals, opening on March 26 and continuing through April 30. The four-recital series offers music lovers an opportunity to hear opera's next generation of stars in the intimate and state-of-the-art Taube Atrium Theater in San Francisco.

The 5:30 p.m. Sunday recital series opens on March 26 with mezzo-soprano Taylor Raven, bass-baritone Cody Quattlebaum, and pianist Mark Morash presenting a program of "Expressionism, Icons and the Exotic." The series continues on April 2 with baritone Sol Jin, a winner of the 2016 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and pianist Kirill Kuzmin. Mezzo-soprano Renée Rapier, 2017 Adler Fellow bass Anthony Reed, and pianist John Churchwell are featured on April 9 in "An American Pastiche," an original narrative created through a compilation of songs by American composers [Ms. Rapier replaces the originally scheduled artist, soprano Toni Marie Palmertree, for this recital]. On April 30, renowned collaborative pianist Warren Jones will be joined by 2017 Adler Fellows Amina Edris, Amitai Pati, and Andrew Manea for a romantic recital of songs and duets in Italian and French.

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 annual series showcases exemplary artists who have participated in the prestigious training programs of 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 San Francisco Chronicle said of the recitals: "Ever since Sheri Greenawald took the reins at the San Francisco Opera Center ... the Schwabacher Debut Recital Series has taken on a different-and more venturesome-cast. More and more often, you come to get acquainted with a promising young singer, and you wind up getting to know a fascinating new corner of the vocal repertoire in the bargain."

The series opens on March 26 with mezzo-soprano Taylor Raven and bass-baritone Cody Quattlebaum with pianist and San Francisco Opera Center Director of Musical Studies Mark Morash. Their program of "Expressionism, Icons and the Exotic" includes works by Alban Berg (Vier Lieder, Op. 2), Jacques Ibert (Quatre chansons de Don Quichotte), Claude Debussy (Trois chansons de Bilitis), Antón G. Abril (Cuatros canciones sobre textos gallegos), Xavier Montsalvatge (Cinco canciones negras) and Erich Wolfgang Korngold (Unvergänglichkeit). Taylor Raven, a participant of the 2016 Merola Opera Program, recently made her debut as Hannah After in Kaminsky's As One with Seattle Opera, and this season joinEd Pittsburgh Opera as a Resident Artist. Cody Quattlebaum is currently earning an M.M. in Voice Performance at The Juilliard School and is a semifinalist in the 2017 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. As part of the 2016 Merola Opera Program, he was seen as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte.

On April 2, the 2017 Schwabacher Debut Recital Series presents Korean baritone Sol Jin and pianist Kirill Kuzmin. Recently named by Opera News as one of their "25 rising stars," Sol Jin is a 2016 grand prize winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and was a participant of the 2015 Merola Opera Program. Jin Has been praised for his "singing of mature refinement, buoyed by such commanding amplitude and projection that a visible jolt went through the audience each time he sang" (New York Times), "incisive performance, evenly and beautifully sung" (Opera News), and "resonant, powerfully projected voice" (San Francisco Classical Voice). Accompanied by Kirill Kuzmin, a 2014/2015 Merola Opera Program apprentice coach and currently a pianist and vocal coach in the Houston Grand Opera Studio, Jin will perform works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Francis Poulenc, Maurice Ravel and Paolo Tosti.

The series continues on April 9 with mezzo-soprano Renée Rapier, bass Anthony Reed, and pianist and San Francisco Opera Head of Music Staff John Churchwell. They will present "An American Pastiche"-an original narrative created through a compilation of songs by American composers including Ned Rorem, Thomas Pasatieri, William Bolcom, Virgil Thomson, George Gershwin, Dominick Argento, Cy Coleman, Cole Porter, John Jacob Niles, Esther Cooper and Stephen Sondheim. Ms. Rapier (2010/2011 Merola Opera Program; 2012/2013 San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow) recently appeared with Opera Parallèle as the Minskwoman in Jonathan Dove's Flight. This season she debuted with the LA Philharmonic in John Adams' Nixon in China conducted by the composer, and later this year makes her role debut as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly at Opera Theatre of St. Louis and Seattle Opera. Anthony Reed (2014 Merola Opera Program) is currently a third-year Adler Fellow who has been seen in numerous roles with San Francisco Opera, including The Speaker/Second Armored Man (The Magic Flute), Hans Schwartz (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) and Doctor Primus in Getty's Usher House. This summer he appears as Count Ceprano (Rigoletto) and next season as Tutor of Orest (Elektra) and Doctor Grenville (La Traviata).

Warren Jones, collaborative pianist to the stars, and a trio of 2017 San Francisco Opera Adler Fellows-soprano Amina Edris (2015 Merola Opera Program), tenor Amitai Pati (2016 Merola Opera Program) and baritone Andrew Manea (2016 Merola Opera Program)-bring the Schwabacher Debut Recital Series to a close on April 30 with a romantic recital of songs and duets including works by Gioachino Rossini, Giuseppe Verdi, Francesco Santoliquido, Georges Bizet, Reynaldo Hahn and Gabriel Fauré. Jones, recently named Artist in Residence at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, performs with some of today's best-known artists including Stephanie Blythe, Bo Skovhus and Eric Owens, and has partnered performers such as Marilyn Horne, Kathleen Battle, Samuel Ramey, Barbara Bonney, Thomas Hampson and James Morris. Amina Edris, who made her San Francisco Opera debut as Frasquita in 2016's Carmen, recently appeared as Tina in Jonathan Dove's Flight with Opera Parallèle. Amitai Pati will appear as Matteo Borsa in Rigoletto this summer, alongside his sister-in-law Ms. Edris (Countess Ceprano) and brother and fellow Adler Pene Pati (The Duke of Mantua). Andrew Manea, a 2016 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions semi-finalist, also joins the Rigoletto cast as Marullo.

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.

Tickets & Information

All recitals take place at the Dianne and Tad Taube Atrium Theater, a state-of-the-art performance venue utilizing the Constellation® acoustic system from Berkeley-based Meyer Sound. The Taube Atrium Theater is part of San Francisco Opera's Diane B. Wilsey Center for Opera, located on the fourth floor of the Veterans Building (401 Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco).

Tickets (general seating) for the Schwabacher Debut Recitals are $30; a four-recital subscription is $100. 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 Taube Atrium Theater 30 minutes prior to each recital (limit of two tickets per person; valid ID is required). Artists, programs, schedules and ticket prices are subject to change.

For artist biographies and more information about the 2017 Schwabacher Debut Recital Series, visit sfopera.com/schwabacher.

2017 SCHWABACHER DEBUT RECITALS

Presented by San Francisco Opera Center and Merola Opera Program

Recitals take place at the Taube Atrium Theater

(Veterans Building, 401 Van Ness Avenue (Fourth Floor), in San Francisco)

All programs subject to change.

Sunday, March 26 at 5:30 p.m.

Taylor Raven, mezzo-soprano

Cody Quattlebaum, bass-baritone

Mark Morash, piano

PROGRAM:

Antón G. Abril / Cuatros canciones sobre textos gallegos

Xavier Montsalvatge / Cinco canciones negras

Claude Debussy / Trois chansons de Bilitis

Jacques Ibert / Quatre chansons de Don Quichotte

Erich Wolfgang Korngold / Unvergänglichkeit

Alban Berg / Vier Lieder, Op. 2

Sunday, April 2 at 5:30 p.m.

Sol Jin, baritone

Kirill Kuzmin, piano

PROGRAM:

Ludwig van Beethoven / Gellert-Lieder

Johannes Brahms / Vier ernst Gesänge

Francis Poulenc / Chansons gaillardes

Maurice Ravel / Don Quichotte à Dulcinée

Paolo Tosti / Sogno; Ideale; L'alba separa dalla luce l'ombra

Sunday, April 9 at 5:30 p.m.

Renée Rapier, mezzo-soprano

Anthony Reed, bass

John Churchwell, piano

PROGRAM:

"An American Pastiche" - An original narrative created through a compilation of songs by American composers including Ned Rorem, Thomas Pasatieri, William Bolcom, Virgil Thomson, George Gershwin, Dominick Argento, Cy Coleman, Cole Porter, John Jacob Niles, Esther Cooper and Stephen Sondheim.

Sunday, April 30 at 5:30 p.m.

Pianist Warren Jones with 2017 Adler Fellows Amina Edris, Amitai Pati and Andrew Manea

Warren Jones, piano

Amina Edris, soprano

Amitai Pati, tenor

Andrew Manea, baritone

PROGRAM:

A romantic recital of songs and duets in Italian and French including music by Gioachino Rossini, Giuseppe Verdi, Francesco Santoliquido, Georges Bizet, Reynaldo Hahn and Gabriel Fauré.

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. Under the guidance of San Francisco Opera Center Director Sheri Greenawald and San Francisco Opera General Director Matthew Shilvock, 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 1975, the Adler Fellowship Program is one of the nation's most renowned performance-oriented residencies for the most advanced young singers and pianists. Each year, Adler Fellows are sponsored by individual donors and institutional funders 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, Susannah Biller, Leah Crocetto, Heidi Melton, Melody Moore, Patricia Racette, Nadine Sierra, Ruth Ann Swenson, Elza van den Heever and Deborah Voigt; mezzo-sopranos Zheng Cao, Kendall Gladen, Daveda Karanas, Maya Lahyani, Daniela Mack, Renée Tatum and Dolora Zajick; countertenors Brian Asawa, Ryan Belongie and Gerald Thompson; tenors Andrew Bidlack, Brian Jagde, Daniel Montenegro, Matthew O'Neill, Sean Panikkar, Alek Shrader and Noah Stewart; baritones Eugene Brancoveanu, Alfredo Daza, Mark Delavan, Austin Kness, Lucas Meachem and James Westman; bass-baritones Joshua Bloom, Ryan Kuster, John Relyea, Philip Skinner, Daniel Sumegi and Dale Travis; and basses John Ames and Kenneth Kellogg.

Led artistically by Sheri Greenawald, the Merola Opera Program is an independent nonprofit organization that operates in collaboration with San Francisco Opera. Founded in 1957 and named for San Francisco Opera's founder, Gaetano Merola, the program celebrates its 60th Anniversary in 2017 and is recognized as one of the most prestigious operatic training programs in the world. The Merola Opera Program typically receives more than 800 applications for approximately 29 positions. Throughout the summer, the Merola artists-which include singers, apprentice coaches, and an apprentice stage director-receive training and participate in master classes and private coachings with opera's most accomplished singers and performers. The Merola Opera Program Summer Festival includes two staged operas, a scenes program, and a concert. Offered free of charge for all participants, the Merola Opera Program is unique in the industry in many ways. Merola is the only young artist program to provide financial support to developing artists for five years following participation. In addition, only Merola graduates are considered for participation in the San Francisco Opera's Adler Fellowship program. Since 2015, Merola Opera Program has been the sole sponsor of three of the four annual Schwabacher Debut Recitals through the generosity of the Jack H. Lund Charitable Trust.

For more information on the San Francisco Opera Center, Adler Fellowship and Merola Opera Program, visitsfopera.com and merola.org.

(Photo Credit: SFO)