Side Door Opera – December 15th
7:30pm
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ELIZABETH CLAXTON - BIO |
ELIZABETH TRUITT - BIO |
KEVIN COURTEMANCHE - BIO |
PERRI MONTANÉ - BIO |
JON TRUITT - BIO |
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AUDIO: “Un bel di” Truitt AUDIO: “Nessun Dorma” Courtemanche
Side Door Opera
Palladium Theater, 253 Fifth Avenue N, Saint
Petersburg BUY
TICKETS NOW $20
“Opera’s Amorous Favorites”
December
15th 7:30pm
…featuring
Elizabeth Claxton, soprano; Kevin Courtemanche, tenor; Perri Montané,
mezzo-soprano; Elizabeth Truitt, soprano; Jon Truitt, baritone;
Jack Rain, pianist; and Mark Sforzini,
Artistic Director
~PROGRAM~
…from Die Fledermaus Johann
Strauss
“Turtle-dove who flew
aloft”
Mr. Courtemanche
“This if from my sister Sally”
Ms.
Claxton
Trio: “To part is such
sweet sorrow”
Ms. Truitt, Ms.
Claxton, Mr. Truitt
Duet: “Trinken Liebchen”
Mr. Courtemanche, Ms. Truitt
…from La Boheme Giacomo
Puccini
Musseta’s Waltz: “Quando
men vo”
Ms. Claxton
Act IV Duet: “O Mimi, tu piu non torni”
Mr.
Courtmanche, Mr. Truitt
…from Madama Butterfly Giacomo Puccini
“Un bel di”
Ms.
Truitt
~INTERMISSION~
…from Die Fledermaus Johann Strauss
“From time to time I entertain”
Ms.
Montané
“My Dear Marquis”
Ms.
Claxton
Duet: “How engaging, how capricious”
Ms. Truitt, Mr.
Truitt
…from Don Giovanni W. A. Mozart
“Deh, vieni alla finestra”
Mr.
Truitt
…from Turandot Giacomo
Puccini
“Nessun
Dorma”
Mr. Courtemanche
…from La Boheme Giacomo
Puccini
Act I Duet: “O soave fanciulla”
Ms.
Truitt, Mr. Courtemanche
…from Die Fledermaus Johann
Strauss
“Champagne’s Delicious Bubbles”
Ms. Claxton, Ms.
Montané, Mr. Truitt
ELIZABETH CLAXTON, SOPRANO, was born and raised in Dublin, Georgia and has just recently graduated from the Royal Academy of Music Opera course in London with the prestigious Dip RAM award. Elizabeth received her Bachelors of Music in Vocal Performance from Shorter College in Rome, Georgia with scholastic and musical honours. While at Shorter she studied with Dr. John Ramsaur, and was a member of the internationally acclaimed Shorter Chorale under the direction of Dr. John Ratledge. Elizabeth was a featured soloist with this group, performing Brahms’ Requiem both with the Académie de St. Louise en L’Isle at the prestigious L’église Madeleine in Paris, and at the Real Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial in Madrid with the Orquesta Académica. She also performed Orff’s Carmina Burana at Teatre Fortuny, Reus, Spain. Her most recent concert performances include a Pops Concert with the Rome (GA) Symphony, the Vivaldi Gloria, Handel’s Messiah, a staged lieder recital with music by contemporaries of Freud entitled Dreamlives- Dark Music of Desire, Shostakovich’s Seven Poems of Alexander Blok for Piano Trio and voice Opus 127 at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Elgar’s Coronation Ode, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle, Ralph Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony in Bristol Cathedral, and Verdi’s Requiem.
Elizabeth has won many prizes and scholarships, including the Macon Symphony Orchestra concerto competition, 1996 Joseph Maerz Award with the Morning Music Club, and just recently won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Florida District Auditions. She has also been selected to perform in masterclasses given by Sylvia McNair, William McGraw, Costanza Cuccaro, Robert Tear, Paul Kiesgen, and Dennis O’Neill.
Elizabeth has performed many roles both in opera and musical theatre. Recently she performed the role of Gerhilde in Die Walküre with the Mastersingers, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with Young London Opera’s tour to Holland, and Léna in a concert performance of La Princesse Jaune by Saint-Saëns conducted by Dominic Wheeler. Other roles include Clarice in the Royal Academy Opera’s Il Mondo della Luna by Haydn, Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus with the Brevard Music Festival in Brevard, North Carolina, Fiordiligi in Shorter College’s production of Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte, Zerlina in Mozart’s Don Giovanni with the Rome Festival in Rome, Italy, Nettie Fowler in Carousel, Mother Superior in The Sound of Music, Aldonza in Man of La Mancha, Guenevere in Camelot, and Annie at the age of 8.
Elizabeth has recently been seen entertaining at Ocean Forest, the new Cloister’s Spanish Lounge and Club Room on Sea Island, Georgia with music from Mozart to Johnny Mercer. One of her future engagements includes the Soprano solos in Orff’s Carmina Burana in Athens, Greece 2007.
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KEVIN COURTEMANCHE, TENOR
Native New Englander Kevin Courtemanche makes his Palladium
Theater and Florida début as Alfred in this production of Die Fledermaus.
Mr. Courtemanche has faced two critical junctures in his life. First, he gave
up one career goal when he left law school. Second, while watching the first
Three Tenors concert at the 1990 World Cup Finals, he decided to rekindle his
other dream. With the help of professionals (and the paying down of his college
loans), he has become a professional operatic tenor. Along the way, he has
studied with Will Crutchfield, Stanley Cornett (Peabody Conservatory) and Gary
Glaze (University of Southern California).
At Peabody Mr. Courtemanche obtained a Bachelor of Music in
Vocal Performance and sang in many scenes and outreach programs, culled from
the works of Justin Boyer, Donizetti, Menotti, Humperdinck and Mascagni. He
also prepared the Duke in Rigoletto and the title role in Verdi’s Otello.
On the main stage he sang Arithmétique and the Tree Frog in L’Enfant et les
sortilPges, Bardolfo in Verdi’s Falstaff and three roles in the
World PremiPre of Mark Weiser’s Where Angels Fear to Tread, including,
shockingly, the role of an opera singer; he not only is an opera singer, he has
played one on (well, slightly off, or, rather, back) stage. At USC your humble
tenor has nearly completed a Master of Music in Vocal Arts (expected 2007) and,
while in residence, played the roles of Judge Danforth and Giles Corey in
Ward’s The Crucible, the 1st Armoured Man in The Magic Flute,
Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi and the lovely, misunderstood Witch in Hansel
and Gretel. He also sang in the Rigoletto Quartet and the Lucia Sextet,
the title role in Act III of Werther and Don José in Act IV of Carmen.
Mr. Courtemanche’s professional engagements have included
the New Valley (California) Symphony, the Bakersfield Symphony, Long Beach Opera,
the Hradec Králové (Czech Republic) Philharmonic, Berkeley Opera, The Crucible,
Mission City Opera, Cinnabar Theater, the Handel Society of Baltimore, the
Zachary Competition, the Masterworks Chorale of San Mateo, North Bay Opera and
Golden Gate Opera. He has performed as Canio in Pagliacci, Don José in Carmen,
Rodolfo in La bohPme, Tamino in The Magic Flute, the Mother (!)
in Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins, Macduff and Malcolm in Macbeth,
Gherardo in Gianni Schicchi, the 2nd Notary in La
Périchole and the tenor soloist in Handel’s Messiah. He also covered
the role of the 1st Prisoner in Fidelio for the San Francisco
Opera, where he sang in the chorus in 2004-2006.
In 2007 and 2008 Mr. Courtemanche will return to Berkeley
Opera and Mission City Opera and will join Pocket Opera and West Bay Opera in
San Francisco and Palo Alto, California. He will make his débuts as Hermann in The
Queen of Spades, Baron Zeta in The Merry Widow, RadamPs in AVda
and Col. Chivington in Mollicone’s Gabriel’s Daughter.
Mr. Courtemanche currently studies with Gary Glaze and
Cathy Cook.
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PERRI MONTANÉ, MEZZO-SOPRANO
Perri Montané has been praised by audiences and critics for
her rich mezzo timbre and expressive acting ability.
She has appeared in mainstage roles with Asheville Lyric
Opera, Opera Roanoke, Tacoma Opera, Longwood Opera of Boston, Capitol City
Opera, Hudson Opera Theatre, Atlanta Lyric Theare, and toured with Lyric Opera
of Chicago. Roles performed include the
title role in Carmen, Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte, Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, and Tisbe in La Cenerentola. She has appeared in concert with the Breckenridge
Music Festival Orchestra, Central Florida Symphony Orchestra, and New River
Valley Symphony. She was district winner in the Metropolitan Opera National
Council Auditions, national third prize winner in the National Association of
Teachers of Singing Artists Awards recital competition, and first prize winner
in the Capitol City Opera vocal competition.
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ELIZABETH TRUITT, SOPRANO
Originally from Long Island, New York, soprano Elizabeth Truitt has performed across the United States with companies like Mobile Opera, Pensacola Opera, Waco Lyric Opera, Granbury Opera, Oklahoma Shakespeare Festival and Fort Worth Opera. Her roles have included Cio-Cio San in Madama Butterfly, Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus, Elvira in Don Giovanni, Lady Billows in Albert Herring, Mimi in La Bohème, and Alice Ford in Falstaff. She has also appeared in Carlisle Floyd's one-woman opera Flower and Hawk in the role of Eleanor of Aquitaine. Equally comfortable on the concert stage, Ms. Truitt has appeared with the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra, Acadiana Symphony, Waco Symphony, Baylor Symphony and in numerous solo recitals across the United States. She was also a semi-finalist in the Orpheus National Music Competition and a winner of the Houston Gilbert and Sullivan Society's Opera Career Grant. Ms. Truitt received both her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Baylor University. She currently teaches at the University of Evansville, where she trains both traditional vocal students and members of the University’s internationally recognized theatre program. She has served on the faculty of the University of Mary Hardin Baylor and taught voice at Baylor University. In addition, she has had a large private teaching studio for the last twelve years, working with students of all ages and abilities, many of whom have gone on to professional careers in music and theatre.
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JON TRUITT, BARITONE
A native of Houston, Texas, Jon Truitt has sung with opera companies across the United States, such as New Orleans Opera, Opera Illinois, the Crested Butte Music Festival, Des Moines Metro Opera, Florimezzo Opera, Mobile Opera, Pensacola Opera, Jacksonville Opera, and the Jefferson Performing Arts Society. He as appeared as Figaro in Barber of Seville, Don Giovanni in Don Giovanni, Guglielmo in Cosi fan tutte, Ford in Falstaff, Captain Corcoran in HMS Pinafore, and more than thiry other roles in the lyric baritone repertoire. On the concert stage, he has sung with the Evansville, Jacksonville, Acadiana, Waco, Baylor, and LSU symphonies and in numerous public solo recitals. He is also a two-time apprentice artist with the Des Moines Metro Opera, a Metropolitan Opera Regional Finalist, and a NATSAA Indiana State Winner. Additionally, Dr. Truitt is active as a stage director, having recently directed productions in the South and Midwest. Additionally, Dr. Truitt serves as the director of the Crested Butte Music Festival's Opera Young Artist Program in Paradise in Crested Butte, Colorado.
Currently, Dr. Truitt serves as the Head of the Vocal and Choral Area at the University of Evansville, and is also Director of Opera. In addition to the University of Evansville, Truitt has also taught at Navarro Community College in Corsicana, Texas, the University of Mary Hardin Baylor Conservatory, and at Baylor and LSU. He has received Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Vocal Performance from Baylor University in Texas, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Louisiana State University.
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