News from the Wagner Society

 

For more information:

                                                                               

                                                               Thomas Arthur (press)

                                                                                  Aurelius Fernandez at 301.907.2600 (general)

 

WASHINGTON, D.C., MARCH 31, 2005 ––––– The Wagner Society of Washington, D.C. is pleased to announce

 

The Tenth Evelyn Lear and Thomas Stewart Emerging Singers Concert

Friday, May 27, 2005 at German Embassy

 

Under the honorary patronage of His Excellency, Wolfgang Ischinger, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Wagner Society of Washington, D.C. will present the Tenth Evelyn Lear

and Thomas Stewart Emerging Singers Concert in the auditorium of the Embassy of Germany, 4645 Reservoir Road, N.W., Washington, D.C., on Friday, May 27th, 2005, at 7:30 P.M.  An artists’ reception will follow immediately after the concert in the Embassy.

 

The concert will consist of an all-Wagner program of selections from Tannhäuser, Die Walküre, Siegfried, Das Rheingold, Lohengrin, Tristan und Isolde, and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.  The solos and scenes will be performed by six American singers with the potential for distinguished careers singing Wagner’s music.  The singers have been selected and coached by the world-famous opera stars and teachers Evelyn Lear and Thomas Stewart, together with John Edward Niles, a member of the Board of Directors of the Wagner Society and Director of the Opera Theater of Northern Virginia.

 

Featured are soprano Dianne Barton; tenors Daniel Brenna and Joshua Saxon; bass Pavel Izdebsky; and returning baritones Nate Bahney and Charles Robert Austin, who sang the part of King Marke in this year’s Virginia Opera production of Tristan und Isolde.  The noted Washington teacher and pianist, Betty Bullock, will accompany the six singers.  The complete concert program will be posted at the Wagner Society’s web site at www.wagner-dc.org. 

 

The Emerging Singers Program is a partnership of the Wagner Society with Evelyn Lear and Thomas Stewart.  Its concerts are intended to provide enjoyment of Wagner’s music by the public and to provide the singers with experience singing the Wagner repertoire.  While this is not a contest, participating singers may receive further support from the Program to help advance their careers.

 

Evelyn Lear and Thomas Stewart are two of the greatest singers of our times.  Their distinguished singing careers took them to all of the world’s important opera houses and festivals.  Both won prestigious awards, including a number of Grammy awards for their recordings.  They are now in constant demand for master classes and coaching.  They are devoted to helping develop American singers.  In this way, they pass on to the next generation of world class opera singers the high artistic standards they set in their own brilliant careers.  A number of participants in the recent Emerging Singers Program have gone on to promising engagements, both in the United States and in Europe.  For more information about them, see “The Wagner Singer” at the web site of the Wagner Society.

 

Admission to the concert and reception is $25 for Wagner Society members and $35 for others.  Society membership information and reservation for the concert and reception are available by calling the Society at 301.907.2600 and on the Society’s web page.  Plenty of street parking is available outside the Embassy on Reservoir Road. 

 

 

 

The Wagner Society of Washington, D.C.

P.O. Box 33051Washington, D.C. 20033 ■ Telephone 301.907.2600 ■ Facsimile 301.907.8671

www.wagner-dc.org