Cast

MARIA ALEJANDRES – LUCIA (2/23 & 3/25)
Born in Mexico City, the young soprano Maria Alejandres is already proving herself to be an important artist of the new generation by winning First Prize and the Zarzuela Prize at the 2008 Placido Domingo Operalia Competition, as well as the Carlo Bergonzi Prize at the Francisco Viñas International Competition.  In the 2010-2011 season, Alejandres made her debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as Juliette in Roméo et Juliette conducted by Daniel Oren. As Juliette she also made her debut at Teatro alla Scala and Opera de Lausanne. In the 2011-2012 season she performed at San Antonio Opera in Roméo et Juliette. She then performed Beethoven’s 9^th Symphony in recital with San Antonio Symphony and then will perform the role of Juliette in Romeo et Juliette with Florida Grand Opera.  Her future engagements also include Teatro alla Scala’s Japan Tour where she will be Gilda in Rigoletto.  Maria Alejandres’ appearance is generously sponsored by Mrs. Ari Rifkin.

VALENTINA FARCAS – LUCIA (3/24)
Soprano Valentina Farcas was last seen in Palm Beach Opera’s production of L’elisir d’Amore. Since, she has made a Salzburg Festival debut as Blonde in Die Entführung aus dem Serail and was met with wide critical acclaim and was released on DVD on the Decca label. Recent engagements include her first Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos, a radiant success as Gilda in Rigoletto, Adele in Die Fledermaus, Musetta in La Boheme at Dallas Opera, Haydn’s Il Ritorno di Tobia, Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro at Florida Grand Opera, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Adele in Die Fledermaus, Pamina in Die, Liu in Turandot, Princess/Nightingale in L’enfant et les Sortileges, Jenny in Der Aufsteig und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, Donna Farinella in Mozart’s pasticcio L’Ape Musicale, Queen Schemaha in Rimsky-Kosakov’s Le Coq d’Or, Hermione in Handel’s Oreste and Giulietta in I Capuleti e i Montecchi. A prize winner in several international vocal competitions, she graduated with honors from the Folkwang Hochschule Essen, and also studied for a degree in piano performance from the Academy of Music in Bukarest.

FERNANDO PORTARI – EDGARDO (3/23 & 3/25)
Born in Rio de Janeiro, tenor Fernando Portari opened the 2010/11 season performing La Traviata as Alfredo, followed by Verdi’s Messa da Requiem, Nabucco, La bohème, Roméo in Roméo et Juliette, and Les vêpres siciliennes as Henri. Among his future plans are the title role in Faust, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni and Madama Butterfly as Pinkerton. The last seasons has brought him to perform Werther, La bohème, La Traviata, Rigoletto, La rondine, Anna Bolena, Gianni Schicchi, Don Giovanni, Il crociato in Egitto, and Manon . He took part in several operatic productions in São Paulo including Haydn’s L´infedelta delusa, L’elisir d´amore, Lo schiavo, Il barbiere di Siviglia, La Cenerentola, Les pêcheurs de perles, Don Pasquale, L’elisir d´amore, Idomeneo, and Cosi fan tutte. Professor of the Faculty of Music of the University Ribeirão Preto, he recorded the complete works for voice and piano of Gilberto Mendes. He won several prizes including the prize as “Best Opera Singer of the Year” (APCA) and the “Carlos Gomes Prize”.

GEORGY VASILIEV – EDGARDO (3/24)
Georgy Vasiliev graduated from the Choral Academy (department of choral conducting); at the same time he studied singing. In 2002 he completed his post-graduate studies at the Choral Academy. There he teaches ensemble singing. Since 2008, the singer has been polishing his vocal skills with Professor Vdovin. Georgy Vasiliev performs in Moscow as a choral soloist and conductor, and as a singer and director of a singing group. As a choirmaster he collaborates with Mosfilm Film Studios. He joined Moscow’s Novaya Opera in 2009; there he has taken part in the Opera@Jazz New Year show. His repertoire includes Ismaele in Verdi’s Nabucco, Cavaradossi in Puccini’s Tosca, Canio in Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci and other roles.

ROMAN BURDENKO – ENRICO
Roman Burdenko studied at the conservatories in Novosibirsk and St. Petersburg, Russia and is a post graduate of the St. Petersburg State conservatory at present. He made his debut at Novosibirsk Opera and was fixed engaged there for 2 seasons. At present he is a member of the soloists’ ensemble of Mikhailovsky Theatre, St. Petersburg. Roman Burdenko has performed Escamillo in Carmen, Belcore in L’elisir d’amore, both Tonio and Silvio in I Pagliacci, Alfio in Cavaleria Rusticana, Shelkalov in Boris Godunov, the title part in Eugene Onegin, Ibn-Hakia in Iolanta, Yeletsky in The Queen of Spades, Germont in La Traviata, and Egist in Orestea. More recently he made his debut as Paolo Albiani in Simon Boccanegra in Strasbourg and was cover of Yeletsky in The Queen of Spades at the Metropolitan Opera, New York. Past engagements include Paolo Albiani in Simon Boccanegra and Rangoni in Boris Godunov in Santiago de Chile, Germont in La Traviata, Robert in Iolanta, and Tomsky in The Queen of Spades all atMikhailovsky Theatre, St. Petersburg.

ALFRED WALKER – RAIMONDO
Gaining rapid international and national acclaim for his commanding performances, Alfred Walker just completed his first performances of Amfortas in Parsifal, Amonasro in Aida, soloist in Verdi’s Requiem, and Porgy in Porgy and Bess. Last season, he debuted the roles of Creonte in Medea and the title role of Don Quichotte in addition to singing Colline in La bohème and Rossini’s Stabat Mater. The bass-baritone recently triumphed as the title role in Der fliegende Holländer, Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde, and Il Prologo in Gnecchi’s Cassandra. His celebrated characterization of Orest in Elektra has been seen at Teatro alla Scala, Seattle Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and Spain’s San Sebastián Festival and he received great acclaim for performances of Allazim in the Peter Sellars’ production of Zaide. A graduate of Dillard University, Loyola University, and the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Program, the New Orleans native is the recipient of awards from the George London Foundation, Palm Beach Opera Competition, and Houston Opera Studio’s Eleanor McCollum Competition.

MASSIMO GASPARON – STAGE DIRECTOR
Born in Venice in 1969, Massimo Gasparon graduated in Architecture in his native city. He spent his last year of schooling in London at University College of London. In 1989 he started collaborating with Pier Luigi Pizzi as assistant director and set designer, working in many prestigious productions as: Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier in Genoa Warsaw and Palermo Gluck’s Armide in Milan; Rota’s Il cappello di paglia di Firenze in Nancy and Milan; Donizetti’s Les Martyres in Nancy and Reggio Emilia; Rossini’s Guillaume Tell and Tancredi in Pesaro  and in London; Rossini’s Il Turco in Italia, Cenerentola and Mosè in Egitto in Monte Carlo; Verdi’s Attila in Ravenna , Bologna and Genoa; Verdi’s Un giorno di regno in Parma, Verdi’s Macbeth and Aida in Verona; Monteverdi’s Orfeo in Atene, Vivaldi’s Bajazet (Tamerlano) in Istanbul; Donizetti’s Dom Sebastien in Bologna and Bergamo; Bellini’s I Puritani in Genova; Verdi’s Il Trovatore in Florence, in Bilbao, in Lisbon and in Palermo; Verdi’s Aida in Athens; Verdi’s I due Foscari in Rome; Bellini’s I Capuleti ed i Montecchi in Tokyo, Massenet’s Thais in Venice. As an architect he projected the Dovizi Theatre in Bibbiena, which project was presented in 1997 to the President of Italian Republic Scalfaro, and designed the 1997 International Exhibition of Cinema’s main front in Venice. With Pier Luigi Pizzi he projected many art exhibitions in Parma (Gotha dell’Antiquariato), Florence (Palazzo Pitti, La Magnificenza alla Corte dei Medici) (Palazzo Corsini, Biennale degli Antiquari), Naples (Museo di Capodimonte, Arte a Corte. Dai Borbone ai Savoia).