A Sunday Afternoon at the Opera, St. John the Evangelist Church

Marcello Giordani

Since his debut in 1986, Marcello Giordani has emerged as one of the most prominent and sought-after opera singers on the stage today. In a recent article which appeared on the magazine “Opera News” under the title of “Man of the Hour”, he was hailed as “… arguably, the greatest leading tenor of his generation.” In demand by the world's major opera houses, Giordani has sung over 175 performance at the Metropolitan Opera of New York, and has appeared repeatedly at the Teatro alla Scala of Milan, the Royal Opera House of London, the Vienna Staatsoper, the Opéra National of Paris, the Arena of Verona, the Teatro Real of Madrid, the Gran Teatre del Liceu of Barcelona, and many others. His exceptional versatility and vocal talent has allowed him to encompass a vast repertory, running the gamut from the Bel Canto operas of Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini and the lyricism of the French operatic repertoire, to the more dramatic roles of Verdi and Puccini and, more recently, the great vocal works of Berlioz, such as La damnation de Faust and Les Troyens.

Marcello Giordani's schedule for the current opera season includes Puccini's Turandot, Verdi's Simon Boccanegra and Puccini's Tosca at the Metropolitan Opera; Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera at the Vienna State Opera; La Bohème at the Teatro Massimo of Palermo; Gounod's Faust at the Teatro alla Scala of Milan; Simon Boccanegra at the Teatro Real of Madrid, and Bellini's Norma at the Salzburg Music Festival. Among his engagements for the next opera season are Verdi's Aida at the San Francisco Opera; Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur at the Teatro dell'Opera of Rome; Puccini's La Fanciulla del West at the Metropolitan Opera and at he Lyric Opera of Chicago. During the current season, he will also appear in concerts at the Vero Beach Opera and at Opera Tampa in Florida.

A major event in Marcello Giordani's career took place on the occasion of the visit to New York of Pope Benedict XVI, when he appeared before the Pope to sing “Panis Angelicus” by César Frank in front of a crowd of 60,000 people in Yankee Stadium. Singing for the Pope was for Giordani the fulfillment of a life-long dream and one of the most significant moments of his professional and personal life. In his words: “It was a day I will always remember.”

Other significant highlights of Giordani's professional career are his debuts at Teatro alla Scala of Milan in La Bohème in 1988 and at the Metropolitan Opera of New York in L'Elisir d'Amore in 1993; his debut in Simon Boccanegra at the Royal Opera of London under the direction of Sir Georg Solti in1997; and his debut with the Munich Philharmonic in La Damnation de Faust in 1999, under the direction of Maestro Levine. In the Fall of 2006, Giordani opened for the first time the new season at the Metropolitan Opera in the company's new production of Madama Butterfly by the renowned movie director Anthony Minghella. He opened the Met season again the following year in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, in a new production by Tony Award-winning director Mary Zimmerman.

In addition to his career on the opera and concert stage, Marcello Giordani has lent his artistry and professional experience to the training and development of young opera singers by creating a scholarship in memory of his father, Michele Guagliardo, offering Master Classes in the U.S. and in Europe, and participating as a member of the teaching faculty in the newly established “Academy of Advanced Specialization for Opera Singers”, created under the patronage of the Teatro Massimo Bellni of Catania in Marcello's native Sicily. The recent establishment of the “Marcello Giordani Foundation” is one more demonstration of Marcello's commitment and dedication to the development of a new generation of singers who possess the vocal capability and the temperament to present the Italian opera repertory on the world's stages.

Marcello Giordani is a native of Augusta, Sicily, where he resides with his wife Wilma, and their two boys, Michele and GerardAndré.

Web Site: http://www.marcellogiordani.com/

Katherine M. Olsen

Katherine M. Olsen, founder of Encompass Arts Management, LLC, whose roster includes, Cheryl Studer, Wolfgang Brendel, Harolyn Blackwell and Marcello Giordani, is also one of the most sought-after coach accompanists. With her stellar musicianship and foreign language skills, she works with Broadway and film artists, and renowned opera singers such as, Ben Heppner, Sherrill Milnes, Gary Lakes, and Martina Arroyo, among many others. Ms. Olsen held the title of Artistic Administrator for the Music Department of Baz Lurhmann’s Tony Award winning Broadway production of La Boheme.

A frequent pianist for prestigious music competitions, Katherine Olsen has played for the Richard Tucker Foundation, The George London Foundation, Voci Verdiane in Busseto, Italy, The Heinz Refuss Competition, The Belvedere Competition, The Singer’s Development Foundation and the Deutsche Oper Berlin Foundation.

In addition to her opera affiliations, Ms. Olsen has conducted an original musical called Buster Drumright, starring two time Tony- award- winner, John Cullum. Katherine Olsen has also worked and coached the film personality, Faye Dunaway.

Katherine Olsen holds a Bachelor and Masters Degree in Piano Performance from the University of Tennessee. She met and studied under Ubaldo Gardini while she was a coach at the Juilliard School of Music, subsequently she was engaged by the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Web Site: http://www.encompassarts.com/

Liliane Montevecchi

Born in Paris to a French mother and an Italian father, Miss Montevecchi began studying ballet at the age of 9, and became a prima ballerina with Roland Petit by 18. She danced with Leonide Massine at Prince Ranier's Coronation, and at Bal de la Croix Rouge for Princess Grace.

Upon catching the eye of Hollywood, MGM signed her to a seven year contract, where her films included Fritz Lang's Moonfleet, Daddy Longlegs with Fred Astaire, Sad Sack with Jerry Lewis and Peter Loire, The Young Lions with Marion Brando and King Creole with Elvis Presley; and where she met her closest friend, the late Norma Shearer.

Over the years Miss Montevecchi has frequently guest starred on television. She was Emmy-nominated for her performance in Playhouse 90's "Child of Our Time" and appeared four times on The Hollywood Palace. She starred in the Folies Bergere for 9 years, (5 in Paris, 2 in Las Vegas, and 6 months at the Broadway Theater), Her stage credits include, in France:

Feydeau's Je Vais Faire La Cocotte, Robert Dhery's La Grosse Valse, a recent tour starring in Hello, Dolly!; and in London: Cole Porter's Nymph Errant. Her extensive U.S. stage credits include Marcel Achard's Come Play With Me; Irma La Douce', David Merrick's La Plume de ma Tante (and national tour) and Got To Get Away at Radio City Music Hall. She created the role of LiIiane La Fleur in Tommy Tune's "Nine" (for which she received Tony and Drama Desk Awards) and appeared in Nicholas Hytner's concert version at London's Festival Hall; was in the acclaimed Sondheim's Follies concert; and was Tony nominated as a Russian ballerina in Grand Hotel on Broadway and in London.

She has played to cabaret crowds at the Oak Room at the Algonquin, The Russian Tea Room and Rainbow and Stars. Her one woman show took her all over the world, including Sicily, and she just finished an SRO engagement in London, receiving unanimous great reviews.

Active in a number of humanitarian causes, Miss Montevecchi was Knighted by the Knights of Malta, and was named the Columbus Citizen Foundation's 1995 Woman of the Year Award.

Web Site: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Liliane-Montevecchi/45083682669

Olga Makarina

Born in Archangel, Russia, Metropolitan Opera soprano Olga Makarina, made her first New York appearances at New York City Opera as Lucia di Lammermoor and has performed there as Gilda in Rigoletto, Konstanze in Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio and Olympia in Les Contes d’Hoffmann. Other roles in Ms Makarina’s repertoire include Ilia in Idomeneo (Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival), Violetta in La Traviata (Kirov Opera) and Eudoxie in La Juive (Opera Orchestra of New York). Ms Makarina has also appeared as Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos with the Minnesota Orchestra and in Orff’s Carmina Burana as well.

Olga Makarina appeared twice at the Bard Festival’s Franz Liszt Commemoration in an opera gala singing scenes from Meyerbeer’s Robert le Diable and Les Huguenots as well as the final scene of Norma and then as soloist in the Grand Messe of Franz Liszt. In the fall of 2006, she took on the demanding role of Elettra in Mozart’s Idomeneo at the Metropolitan Opera with James Levine conducting. She sang the role of Gilda in both the Met in the Parks and during the house season and Elvira in I puritani. At Opera Pacific she was Adina in the Jonathan Miller production of Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore. In November 2007 she sang Bellini’s Norma in a new production at the National Theater Prague, the title role in Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia at the Slovak National Opera in Bratislava, Adina in Palm Beach, Lucia in Warsaw and performed in recital with Yefim Bronfman. She sings Marfa in Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tsar’s Bride with Olga Borodina with Opera Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall in October 2008 and returns to the Metropolitan covering Gilda, Manon, Thais and Lucia in the 2008-09 season and sings Leonora in Trovatore in Warsaw.

In 1997, Olga Makarina returned to Russia to debut at the Kirov Opera as Lyudmila in Glinka’s Ruslan and Lyudmila. In October 1999, she sang her first Pamina in Mozart’s Die Zauberflote in a series of special gala performances conducted by Eve Queler and the Opera Orchestra of New York at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Temple of Dendur. Her repertoire at the Metropolitan Opera during recent seasons has included Gilda, Violetta, Eudoxie, Elvira, Rossignol and Lucia. She also performed concerts and solo recitals in Tokyo and Nagoya, Japan and sang the opening night gala of the Cesky Krumlov Festival with the Brno Philharmonic in Czech Republic that was televised in Eurovision.

In recent seasons Olga Makarina added to her repertory the roles of Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello with the National Symphony of Mexico, at the Macau Festival in the production from Covent Garden and with the Bejing Philharmonic, Marguerite de Valois in Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots with the Opera Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall and Micaela in Carmen with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. Her 2001-02 season included her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in Ravel’s L’Enfant et les sortileges, the title role of Norma with Palm Beach Opera, Violetta in La Traviata in Mexico, Gilda in Rigoletto in Las Palmas and an all Bellini Concert at the Teatro Liceu in Barcelona. She began her 2002-03 season singing Imogene in the new production of Il Pirata at the Met to glowing critical and public acclaim. A concert of arias by Spontini and Pacini at the Teatro Liceu was met with ecstatic praise by the Barcelona public and music critics. At Rome’s Euro Festival Mediterraneo she sang a concert of bel canto arias and scenes with Eve Queler and the Malta Symphony at the site of Hadrian’s Villa in July 2003 which was telecast in Italy.

Ms Makarina added the role of Lucia di Lammermoor to her Met roles with the Metropolitan Opera’s Parks Season in June and August 2003. During the 2003-04 Met season she was heard as Eudoxie in the new production of Halevy’s La Juive, Gilda in Rigoletto and the title role in Stravinsky’s Rossignol, she made her Canadian Opera debut as Gilda and made her Italian debut in Cagliari as Violetta in La Traviata. At Carnegie Hall she sang a solo recital for the VIDDA Foundation under the auspices of the Opera Orchestra of New York. In April 2005, she sang the world premiere of Puccini Songs, a new ballet by choreographer, Nilas Martins based on nine songs by Puccini.

In recent seasons Ms Makarina returned to Palm Beach Opera as Elvira in Puritani, a role she also sang in Spain at La Coruna. She was the Princess in Respighi’s Bella Dormente at Spoleto USA repeated with exquisite success at the Lincoln Center Festival in 2005, and opened the Rome Opera’s 2005-06 season in November as Amina in La Sonnambula, returned there in February 2006 as Gilda in Rigoletto. Rome’s Messaggero praised her ‘pure and beautiful phrasing’ and “melancholy expression,’. A successful debut at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires as Mimi in La boheme came in April 2006; Mimi was also the role of her debut at Mexico City’s Teatro Bellas Artes opposite tenor Fernando de la Mora.

A compact disc of Italian Opera Arias featuring Ms Makarina was released recently by Romeo Records and was cited by Opera News as ‘exquisite’ and Fanfare magazine as ‘a revelation of bel canto style.’ A second CD dedicated to Mozart’s motet ‘Esultate Jubilate’, a concert aria and operatic arias from Don Giovanni, Abduction from the Seraglio, Die Zauberflote and Le nozze di Figaro was released in spring 2003 and a recital of songs by Liszt, Tchiakovsky, and Rachmaninov was released in May 2004.

A graduate of the Mannes School of Music, Ms Makarina also has her Masters in piano and voice from the St Petersburg Conservatory. She has won a number of important prizes and awards including the Metropolitan Opera Auditions, the Musicians Emergency Fund and the Liederkranz Competition.