May 6, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
On Sunday, June 1, 2008 at 3 pm, Chorus pro Musica, led by Artistic Director Jeffrey Rink, concludes its 2007–2008 season at NEC’s Jordan Hall, 30 Gainsborough Street, Boston, with a concert opera performance of Georges Bizet’s Carmen, featuring Metropolitan Opera star Victoria Livengood in her signature role as Carmen. The performance also highlights Metropolitan Opera tenor Adam Klein as Don José, Boston baritone Robert Honeysucker as Escamilllo, and soprano Nouné Karapetian as Micaela, as well as the New England Conservatory Children’s Chorus, Jean Meltaus, Director. At 2 pm in the hall, Concert Opera Boston artistic advisor Michael Sims will discuss the origins and unexpected rise to stardom of Bizet’s opera. The lecture and performance are sponsored by Concert Opera Boston. Ê
One of the most popular operas ever written, Carmen is famous for its smoldering sensuality and its magnificent score, including such favorites as the Toréador Song and the Habanera. Victoria Livengood has been acclaimed around the world for her “sizzling” portrayal of the gypsy fortune-teller. Critics have called her “a quintessential Carmen…vivacious and full-blooded.” Boston audiences last heard her in Chorus pro Musica’s 2005 performance of Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalila, of which the Boston Phoenix’s Lloyd Schwartz wrote: “Livengood’s Dalila was the sine qua non. She has the vocal chops, from ringing high notes to a baritonal growl. …The incomparable phrasing and warmth you hear on Maria Callas’s recordings make any resistance impossible.” A North Carolina native known as the “Dixie Diva,” Victoria Livengood was bestowed the Distinguished Alumni Award in 2005 from the Boston Conservatory of Music, where she received her Master’s Degree in Opera performance.
The June performance continues Chorus pro Musica’s long tradition of concert opera performances under Artistic Director Jeffrey Rink, which began in 1992 with performances of Carmen at Symphony Hall and at Worcester’s Mechanics Hall. In 2007 the chorus won acclaim for its joint performance of Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci, and in 2006 they gave the premiere Boston performance of Verdi’s Attila. Earlier successes with Othello, Macbeth, Nabucco, and La traviata led to Rink’s being hailed as “Boston’s pre-eminent Verdi conductor” by the Boston Phoenix. Now in his 18th year directing Chorus pro Musica, Jeffrey Rink is the 2005 recipient of the New England Opera Club’s Jacopo Peri Award for outstanding contributions in the art of opera. In 2007, he was named Music Director of the Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra in Niceville, Florida, where he also holds the Mattie Kelly Distinguished Chair in Music at Okaloosa-Walton College.
Concert tickets are $30, $50 and $65, with discounts available on selected seats for groups, students, seniors and WGBH members. A limited number of $15 student rush seats (with ID) will be available an hour and a half before the performance. Reserved seats may be selected and tickets purchased at www.choruspromusica.org or by phone (24 hours a day, 7 days a week) at 800-658-4CPM (800-658-4276). For wheelchair-accessible seats, call 617-267-7442.
Now in its 59th season, Chorus pro Musica is a distinguished, independent Boston-based chorus, recognized for versatility and excellence in performing traditional, adventurous and seldom-heard works. The Chorus was founded in 1949 by the late Alfred Nash Patterson and has built a superb reputation for professional-level musical standards and innovative programming.
See the Chorus pro Musica online press kit at:Êhttp://www.choruspromusica.org/press.shtml
For more information or interview requests, please contact: Toni Ballard, 508-633-8583, toniballard@townisp.com