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The selections in each program are chosen to best display the singers' skills, whether they are students or veterans of the Metropolitan Opera. The audience is entertained with arias, art songs, show tunes, folk songs and sacred music. And because the concerts are held at the height of summer, lemonade is always served.
This year's series will open with the beginners. "Voices of the Future" will feature young students of Jean Bradel, a master voice teacher at Millersville University, as well as a world-class lyric spinto soprano.
Olivia Sallavanti, Anja Homberger, Diane Huber, Jill Wiley, Karen Doughty, Sarah Martz, Leann Hart, Georgia Katsourides and Derek Martin will sing pieces by Handel, De Falla, Kurt Weill, Stephen Sondheim, Richard Rodgers, Paisiello, Cyril Scott, Harvey Schmidt, Jerry Bock, Benny Andersson and P.D.Q. Bach.
Bradel will close the first half of the program with the aria "Vissi d'arte" from Puccini's "Tosca." The evening's accompanist will be Maria Thompson Corley, an international concert pianist who is also a staff accompanist at Millersville University.
Advanced students of Metropolitan Opera retiree John Darrenkamp will perform June 26 in "Love & Marriage."
Opera scenes from Donizetti's "Elixir of Love," Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro" and Moore's "Ballad of Baby Doe" will be sung by Tara Montgomery as Baby Doe, Michael Popovsky as Horace Tabor and Figaro, Sherrill Wesolowski as Augusta, Kristin Sims as Susanna and Adina and Derek Martin as Nemorino. Darrenkamp will narrate and Simon Andrews will accompany, assisted by Susan Fry-Wickard.
On July 10, Sherrill Wesolowski, Kent Flinchbaugh, Kristen Sims and Elliot Sterenfield will join their master teacher in "Duets with Darrenkamp." Some of the selections are duets from Verdi's "La Forza del Destino" and "Rigoletto," Jerome Kern's "Make Believe" and Lerner/Loewe's "I Could Have Danced All Night." Susan Fry-Wickard will accompany.
"Solos and Duets for Soprano," on July 17, will feature Elissa Quinn and Barbara Denlinger and piano accompanist Joan Allen. Their program will consist of groupings of songs, either by the same composer or in similar style, written for one or two soprano voices. The composers are Handel, Gounod, Mozart, Faure, Bellini, Rossini and Quilter. The styles include Baroque arias, French art songs, Italian bel canto and English and Irish folk songs.Lovers of Christmas carols will enjoy "Christmas in July" on July 24.
"So much beautiful Christmas music is heard for only a short time, then it's gone," Sound Reflections member Elizabeth Trostle said. "That's the reason we're doing it in July."
The group also includes Lorraine Beck, Joe Lively and Tony Murse. Formed in 1992 with Don Trostle as director and accompanist, Sound Reflections performs extensively for state conventions, music festivals and concerts. Joe Wells of radio station WDAC will narrate Christmas memories as the group sings selections from the Christmas program it performed in the White House in 1994 and 2000. Trostle and Tom Cozzoli will sing solos and duets.
"Bellaroca and Other Tasty Treats," on July 31, will mark the debut in Lancaster of "Bellaroca," a contemporary one-act opera by American composer James Legg. Tenor Konrad Fritz as the baker and soprano Ellen Kuzdro-Fritz as the girlfriend of Bellaroca (a fictional opera singer loosely based on Pavarotti) will present the work in concert form, "or we are possibly going to be semi-staging it if we can memorize it in time," Fritz said.
The opera refers many times to food and Italian baked goodies, hence the word "tasty" in the program's title.
"The other tasty treats besides 'Bellaroca' are the other arias and songs in the first half of the program," Fritz said. Soprano Monna Hastings, mezzo-soprano Patricia Foltz, bass-baritone Larry Gessler, sopranos Lisa Moore and Sharon Potts and Fritz will sing Puccini, Handel and Mozart arias, art songs and Broadway tunes. The accompanist is Mark Cole.
On Aug. 14, OperaLancaster regulars Kristin Sims, Emily Riggs, Saralee Riggs, Doug Rowland and Jim Riggs will present "Perfect Summer Fare." They will sing spirituals, Neapolitan songs, arias and the jazz- and pop-influenced music of Kurt Weill and Richard Pearson Thomas.
Five friends who "all love to have fun, carry on and do music," as Leslie Stauffer describes her group of trained singers and musicians, will close the season on Aug. 21 with "Boy Meets Girl." Stauffer said they chose the title to allow them to choose from "a wide range of music, from music theater to opera. As we know, almost all songs are about love — either falling in or falling out of it." Amy Yovanovich, Susan Fry-Wickard, Bob Hahn, Mike Anderson and Stauffer will sing solos, duets and some quartets.
(677) (650) (435) (164) (12) (10) (6) (5) (4) (4) (3) (3) (3) (3) (3) (3) (3) (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) (2)Barbara Monyer and Jean Bobb co-founded the Summer Lemonade Concert Series in the late 1960s as a way to promote opera in Lancaster.
Monyer said the first series of concerts were held at Hamilton Park Church and included non-singing performances by other groups, such as the Actors Company.
By the time the concerts moved to Highland Presbyterian Church, they were exclusively a Lancaster Opera Company affair.
This summer, the concerts will be held at Apostles UCC Church. In keeping with tradition, no tickets will be sold, but a free-will offering will be taken during intermission to keep alive opera in Lancaster. The suggested donation is $5.
"Voices of the Future," opens OperaLancaster's 2008 Summer Lemonade Concert Series, Thu., 7:30 p.m., Church of the Apostles, 1850 Marietta Ave., offering.
