HEYWARD CONDUCTS MAHLER( EARTH | SONGS)
Knife of Dawn. He has also conducted Kurt Weill’ s Lost in the Stars with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and the world premiere of Giorgio Battistelli’ s opera, Wake for the Birmingham Opera Company.
Born in Charleston, South Carolina, Jonathon studied conducting at the Boston Conservatory of Music and London’ s Royal Academy of Music. In 2023, he was named a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music; an honour reserved for Academy alumni.
Sasha Cooke
Sasha Cooke
Praised by Opéra Magazine for her“ agile, glamorous presence,” two-time GRAMMY Award-winning mezzosoprano Sasha Cooke has been called a“ luminous standout” by The New York Times and“ equal parts poise, radiance and elegant directness” by Opera News. Ms. Cooke has sung at the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, English National Opera, Seattle Opera, Opéra National de Bordeaux, and Gran Teatre del Liceu, among others, and with over 80 symphony orchestras worldwide, frequently in the works of Mahler. This season, she returns to Houston as Hänsel in Houston Grand Opera’ s Hänsel und Gretel opposite Mané Galoyan, making her directorial debut leading the company’ s family day presentation of the opera. She later joins Seattle Opera for her role debut in the title role of Bizet’ s Carmen. In recital, Ms. Cooke
Stephanie Girard tours her program Of Thee I Sing with pianist Myra Huang, appearing at the Kennedy Center presented by the Vocal Arts Society of D. C., Baylor University’ s Distinguished Artists Series, Park Avenue Armory, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. On the concert stage, she sings Mahler’ s Symphony No. 2 at the Ravinia Festival with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Marin Alsop, followed by the world premiere of Alex Turley’ s the ocean’ s dream of itself at the Grand Teton Music Festival, conducted by Sir Donald Runnicles. She joins Yannick Nézet-Séguin and The Philadelphia Orchestra for Verdi’ s Requiem at Saratoga Performing Arts Center, and appears with Baltimore Symphony, Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, and the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra in Mahler’ s Das Lied von der Erde, a signature piece of hers. She sings Handel’ s Messiah with Music of the Baroque and Jane Glover, and with the Cincinnati Symphony, also conducted by Glover. She returns to the San Francisco Symphony for Mozart’ s Requiem conducted by Manfred Honeck, and joins the Wiener Symphoniker in Mahler’ s Symphony No. 3 conducted by Petr Popelka. Additional concert appearances include Elgar’ s Sea Pictures with the Sydney Symphony and Sir Donald Runnicles and Verdi’ s Requiem with Detroit Symphony. She joins the Boston Symphony Orchestra Chamber Players for Mahler’ s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, which she also sings with Bilbao Orkestra Sinfonika.
Russell Thomas
With a“ heroically shining tone of exceptional clarity and precision”( Opera Magazine) and“ gorgeously burnished power”( The New York Times), American tenor Russell Thomas uses his signature elegance
and intensity to create vivid character portrayals on the world’ s most important stages.
This season, Mr. Thomas returns to the Lyric Opera of Chicago for Canio in Pagliacci, to the Opéra National de Paris as Don José in Carmen and to the Canadia Opera Company in an exciting new role, Massenet’ s Werther. In concert, he will appear in Beethoven’ s Symphony No. 9 with the Milwaukee Symphony and in Mahler’ s Das Lied von der Erde with the Baltimore Symphony. Future engagements include returns to the Metropolitan Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Royal Ballet and Opera and the Washington National Opera, as well as to The Philadelphia Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra.
Last season, Mr. Thomas returned to the Lyric Opera of Chicago for Florestan in Fidelio, to the Metropolitan Opera for his first Kaiser in Die Frau ohne Schatten and to the Houston Grand Opera for his first Tannhäuser. In concert, he sang his first Enée in Les Troyens à Carthage at the Seattle Opera, appeared as Don José in Carmen for the Detroit Symphony and as Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana for the Canadian Opera Company. Further concert and recital appearances included Beethoven’ s Symphony No. 9. with the San Francisco Opera, Mahler’ s Das klagende Lied with the BBC Proms, and a solo recital at La Sierra University.
Russell Thomas
Fay Fox
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