Buy Tickets | Seating Chart War Memorial
May 20 & 22, 2010
War Memorial Auditorium
Thursday-7:30pm | Saturday-8:00pm
Italian Masterpieces
Jennifer Check, soprano
Katherine Ciesinski, mezzo
Rene Barbera, tenor
Leonard Rowe, bass-baritone
Choral Society of Greensboro
Verdi
String Quartet in E Minor
I. Allegro
II. Andantino
III. Prestissimo
IV. Allegro assai mosso
Intermi ssion
Rossini
Stabat Mater
Jennifer Check, soprano
Katherin Ciesinski, mezzo-soprano
Rene Barbera, tenor
Leonard Rose, bass-baritone
Choral Society of Greensboro
I. Stabat Mater Dolorosa
II. Cujus Animam Gementem
III. Quis Est Homo Qui Non Fleret
IV. Pro Peccatis Suae Gentis
V. Eja Mater Fons Amoris
VI. Sancta Mater Istud Agas
VII. Fac Ut Portem Christi Mortem
VIII. Inflammatus Et Accensus
IX. Quando Corpus Morietur
X. Amen
May 2o sponsor May 22 sponsor
Jennifer Check completed the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and made her Met debut during the 2001-2002 season and regularly appears at the MET in a variety of roles under the baton of James Levine. She has performed with the Charlotte Symphony, Tokyo Opera, Opera Orchestra of New York, Verbier Festival, Spoleto Festival and Salzburg Festival.
Her accolades include first place awards from the Loren L. Zachary Competition, the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation, the Oratorio Society of New York Solo Competition, The Liederkranz Foundation and the Mario Lanza Scholarship Auditions. She was awarded a Sara Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation and the Leonie Rysanek memorial prize from the George London Foundation. Her most recent triumph was being awarded the Zarzuela Prize in Placido Domingo’s 2003 Operalia Competition. Ms. Check received a Bachelor of Music Degree in Voice Performance from Westminster Choir College followed by a graduate degree from the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia.
The New York Times has called Katherine Ciesinski “a singer of rare communicative presence, and a musician of discrimination and intelligence.” Major operatic credits include the Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden, Scottish Opera, San Francisco Opera, Dallas Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Santa Fe Opera and many of the major opera houses in Europe.
Ms. Ciesinski has performed with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the Cleveland, Minnesota, and Philadelphia Orchestras, the Symphonies of Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Houston and Toronto; and in Europe, with the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics, L’Orchestre de Paris, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Dresden Staatskapelle, and L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.
Katherine Ciesinski’s opera recordings include the title roles in Ariane et Barbe-Bleue, conducted by Armin Jordan (Erato), Regina, with John Mauceri (London/Decca), Sapho, conducted by Sylvain Cambreling (Radio France), the role of Siegrune in Cleveland Orchestra’s Die Walküre, conducted by Christoph von Dohnanyi (London/Decca), and the role of Sonia in War and Peace, conducted by Msitislav Rostropovich (Erato). She received a Grammy nomination for her Paulina in The Queen of Spades with Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony (BMG).
René Barbera is a recent Graduate of the Florida Grand Opera’s Young Artist Program and currently a member of the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Ryan Opera Center.
Mr. Barbera began singing at the age of 10 as a boy soprano in the San Antonio Boys’ Choir. He was invited to the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria in the summer of 2003, and the Vocal Arts Symposium of Colorado Springs in 2004. In 2004 he won the largest award given to undergraduate vocalists at the North Carolina School of the Arts. In 2006 he won first place in both the Heafner/Williams Vocal Competition and undergraduate division of the Charlotte Opera Guild Vocal Competition. In 2007, he placed 3rd in the UNCG Charles A. Lynam Vocal Competition but received the grand prize of a Gala concert with the Greensboro Symphony and Yefim Bronfman in September 2008.
He was one of five equal winners of the Metropolitan National Council Audition Grand Finals in 2008 and participated in the Merola Opera Program in the summer of 2008.
Leonard Rowe is a graduate of North Carolina School of the Arts. He recently performed with the New York City Opera, the Israel Kibbutz Orchestra in Tel Aviv and the Omaha Symphony. He has performed the title role in Porgy and Bess in Amsterdam, Antwerp, Hamburg, Zurich, Baden-Baden, Cape Town, Michigan, Tel Aviv and many more cities. He recorded the role on the Decca Label in 2006.
He has performed various roles throughout the US with companies including Mobile Opera, Atlanta Opera, Nashville Opera, Grand Rapids Opera, Piedmont Opera, Opera Carolina, Opera Company of North Carolina, Roanoke Opera, Opera Tampa, New Orleans Opera, and Virginia Opera. Symphonic solos to his credit include performances with Augusta Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Harrisburg Symphony, Charleston Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, Nashville Symphony, Greensboro Symphony, and Peter Nero and the Philly Pops, among others. A winner of two competitions, Licia Albanese/Puccini Foundation and the Bellini International Voice Competition, he performed in the winner’s recitals of both competitions at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center.
Preludes
Learn more about the evening’s music with Dr. Welborn Young, Associate Professor of Music at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The Prelude on Thursday, May 20th begins at 7:15 p.m., and the Prelude on Saturday, May 22nd begins at 7:00 p.m. Both Preludes will take place on the Mezzanine level of the War Memorial Auditorium.
Meet the Artists
Join us after the Thursday
evening concert for a brief question and answer
session held at the front of the stage with our
guest artists and Dima.
Radio Broadcast
WFDD will broadcast this
concert in September 2010.
“Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music.”
SERGEI RACHMANINOV
