The Cast of Don Giovanni is:

Don Giovanni: Jeremy Moore made his European debut singing La finta giardiniera (Nardo) and Die Zauberflöte (Papageno) in Salzburg, Austria in 2003.  In the past few years Mr. Moore has twice been invited to sing for and to work with Mr. Hans Nieuwenhuis at the Opera Studio Nederland in Amsterdam. For more information see below.

Leporello:       Eric Barsness (Bass) appeared with DVO last year as Don Andres in Offenbach’s “La Périchole.” He has sung the premieres of works by composers David Behrman, Jill Kroesen, Joe Hannan, and David Tcimpidisat venues including Roulette in New York City and the Delaware Valley Chamber Orchestra’s “Music of Our Time” series.  For more information, see below.    

Donna Anna:  Julie Ziavras - appeared most recently in the Hudson Valley in the roles of Rosalinda (Fledermaus), Julie (Show Boat) and the Countess (Marriage of Figaro). Some appearances in New York City include Weill Recital Hall, Lincoln Center’s Bruno Walter Hall, Symphony Space Theater, World Music Institute, Guggenheim Museum, and many others.  For more information, see below. 

Donna Elvira:  Jeanne-Marie Lowell is a frequent soloist with churches in New York and New Jersey and has performed several times at Lincoln Center in Manhattan. She has appeared as principal or soloist with the Ridgewood Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company, Bergen Youth Orchestra, North Jersey Symphony, and the New Jersey Choral Society.  For more information, see below.

Don Ottavio:  Eric Sparks

Zerlina:          Sibongile Boyd is currently a Resident Artist with Tri-Cities Opera, where she recently sang the role of Beauty in Giannini’s Beauty and the Beast.  She is a first-year graduate student in the Masters of Music in Opera program at Binghamton University, where she recently sang the roles of Gabriel and Eve in Haydn’s The Creation.  For more information, see below.

Masetto:        Jeffrey Seppala (Massetto), graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree from Biola University, and a Masters of Music degree from the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute at the North Carolina School of the Arts.  He recently was a member of the Tri-Cities Resident Artist Training Program where he performed Masetto in Don Giovanni, the Father in Beauty and the Beast, Fiorello in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and Moralés and Le Dancaïro in Carmen.  For more information, see below.

Commendatore: Thomas Caltabellota 

 

The Cast of Don Pasquale is:

Don Pasquale: Steven Utzig

Norina:            Szilvia Schranz

Ernesto:          Anthony Daino

Dr. Malatesta: David Trombley

Lawyer:           Joseph Bickhardt 

 

DON GIOVANNI

Jeremy J. Moore (Don Giovannni title role) A native of a tiny mountain town in the heart of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, Jeremy J. Moore began studying voice with Jeanne Kostelic in 1989.  He made his operatic debut in the title role of Amahl and the Night Visitors at age ten.  His performance experience continued to grow with the addition of numerous lead roles in children’s operas with the Aspen Opera Theatre Center, under the direction of Edward Berkeley, Carol Castel and Lawrence Foster, to name a few.  Since then he has performed extensively in Opera, Oratorio, solo recitals and ensemble concerts throughout the United States and abroad.

Recent opera engagements include staged productions of Pagliacci (Silvio), Orpheus in the Underworld (John Styx) and Carmen (Morales) with the Bronx Opera Company and La Boheme (Schaunard), Amahl and the Night Visitors (Melchior), La fille du Regiment (Corporal) and upcoming Madama Butterfly (Prince Yamadori) with Opera Company of the Highlands.  Concert performances include L’elisir d’amore (Sgt. Belcore), and Il barbiere di Siviglia (Figaro) with the Northern Dutchess Symphony Orchestra, Little Women (John Brooke) and upcoming Midsummer Night’s Dream (Demetrius) with the dell’Arte Opera Ensemble. Mr. Moore made his European debut singing La finta giardiniera (Nardo) and Die Zauberflöte (Papageno) in Salzburg, Austria in 2003.  In the past few years Mr. Moore has twice been invited to sing for and to work with Mr. Hans Nieuwenhuis at the Opera Studio Nederland in Amsterdam.  He continues to perform in concerts and recitals around the country and is currently studying with Mr. John Cheek.

 Eric Barsness (Leporello in Don Giovanni) appeared with DVO last year as Don Andres in Offenbach’s “La Périchole.” He has sung the premieres of works by composers David Behrman, Jill Kroesen, Joe Hannan, and David Tcimpidisat venues including Roulette in New York City and the Delaware Valley Chamber Orchestra’s “Music of Our Time” series.  His recital repertory ranges from Henry Purcell and Franz Schubert to Charles Ives and Noel Coward. He can be heard on CD in David Behrman’s “My Dear Siegfried” (XI Records) and on DVD in Frankie Mann’s “Island.” Career highlights include creating the role of God in Joe Hannan and Mary Griffin’sopera “Christina the Astonishing” (DVCO, 2000) and portraying Jesus in Terri Hanlon’s video “Inversion of Solitude,” which premiered at the New York Film Festival. Eric sang in choirs at Riverside Church and trained as a pianist with Ellen Rust in New York and with Lydia Frumkin at Oberlin Conservatory before he began dancing at Oberlin College and embarked on an extensive career as a dancer an choreographer. A recipient of three NEA choreography fellowships, he was a founding member of ODC/San Francisco, then performed with his own company in regular seasons at Dance Theater Workshop and The Kitchen in New York and on tour throughout the US and Italy.  

 

Erik Sparks (Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni) was born in Amarillo, Texas.  After graduating from Amarillo High School he attended Arizona State University, where he received Bachelors and Masters degrees in music.  While in college he performed in the ASU’s Lyric Opera Theater productions of Albert Herring as Albert, and in Dialouges of the Carmelites as Le Chevalier de la Force.  Erik’s singing engagements after college include performing in Arizona Opera’s productions of Otello as Cassio,   La Fanciulla del West as Harry, La Traviata as Gastone, part of the Jew’s Chorus in Salome, and Beadle Bamford in Sweeny Todd.  Erik has performed Lucia di Lammermoor three times; twice as Arturo with Arizona Opera and El Paso Opera, and once as Normanno with Opera Santa Barbara. Most recently he was with Opera in the Heights in Houston, TX singing Pedrillo in Mozart’s Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, and Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni.  On the “lighter” side, he was Frederick in Desert Foothills Theatre’s production of Pirates of Penzance.  Erik also sang the National Anthem to kick off an Arizona Diamondbacks game.

 

 Soprano Julie Ziavras (Donna Anna in Don Giovanni) has won critical acclaim for her vocal beauty, musicianship and dramatic stage persona in the US and abroad. Her diverse repertory includes opera, art song, contemporary music, folk and international ballads and ethnic Greek music. Described as “an estimable vocalist“ (New York Times) who “…masters the most difficult instrument, wowing her listeners with her warm and compelling voice, appealing presence and wide range of repertoire… pour(ing) her full energy into each number with virtuosity and verve” (Times Herald Record), her most recent performance as La Perichole (DVO) was hailed as a “tour-de-force performance… a commanding voice and an energetic presence on stage” (River Reporter). She has performed in concert, radio and television in the US and abroad, most recently in the Hudson Valley in the roles of Rosalinda (Fledermaus), Julie (Show Boat) and the Countess (Marriage of Figaro). Some appearances in NY area venues include Weill Recital Hall, Lincoln Center’s Bruno Walter Hall, Opera Company of the Highlands, Festival Theatre, Symphony Space Theater, World Music Institute, Guggenheim Museum, Alternative Museum, Grand Montgomery Chamber Music Series, Warwick Master Arts Series, Puffin Cultural Forum. She has toured extensively abroad as a specially invited soloist, with appearances at international music festivals, concert halls, radio and television. She has toured, recorded and concertized with prominent Greek composers including Notis Mavroudis and Manos Hadjidakis, who invited her to appear in concerts and live broadcasts on Greek National Radio. As “Ken and Julie”, she performs traditional, international folk and original songs by her husband Ken DeAngelis. She holds a BM and MM from the Manhattan School of Music. Visit her at www.kenandjulie.com.

 

Soprano Sibongile Boyd, singing Zerlina in Don Giovanni, graduated cum laude from Harvard University and made her operatic debut with Harvard’s Dunster House Opera as Yvette in Puccini’s La Rondine. Two seasons later, she appeared with Dunster House Opera as Barbarina in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro and in the same year made her solo recital debut at Harvard, performing the works of Handel, Fauré and Schubert. Ms. Boyd made her post-collegiate operatic debut in the Shaker Mountain Performing Arts Festival’s production of Dido & Aeneas and covered the role of Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi. In 2002, Ms. Boyd was a finalist in the Urban Philharmonic’s Paul Robeson Vocal Competition and a semi-finalist in the 12th Annual Friedrich Schorr Memorial vocal competition sponsored by the Hat City Music Theater. Ms. Boyd has since performed in Twilight of Magic, Samuel Barber’s Dover Beach, and sang the role of Blonde in Opera Company of Brooklyn’s production of Die Entführung aus dem Serail after making her company debut as Monica in The Medium in October 2006. Ms. Boyd is currently a Resident Artist with Tri-Cities Opera, where she recently sang the role of Beauty in Giannini’s Beauty and the Beast, and a first-year graduate student in the Masters of Music in Opera program at Binghamton University, where she recently sang the roles of Gabriel and Eve in Haydn’s The Creation.

Jeanne-Marie Lowell (Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni) is a frequent soloist with churches in New York and New Jersey and has performed several times at Lincoln Center in Manhattan. She has appeared as principal or soloist with the Ridgewood Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company, Bergen Youth Orchestra, North Jersey Symphony, and the New Jersey Choral Society. Ms. Lowell is an active recitalist, most recently performing “On Wings of Song,” a solo recital program mixing varied styles of classical, contemporary and popular music for the Festival of the Arts concert series in Rockland County. She is a soloist in numerous churches, including having sung for the Mass celebrated in Central Park by Pope John Paul II in 1995. Ms. Lowell is currently leader of song at St. Mary’s Church in Closter, NJ and soloist at the Reformed Church of the Tarrytowns. CD recordings are available on the Newport Classics label (in Cherubini’s opera “Medee” at Lincoln Center) and her “Come to the Cabaret” CD featuring songs of varied musical styles. Her voice is also frequently heard in commercials and voice-overs on television and radio in the Hudson Valley.

 

Jeffrey Seppala (Massetto in Don Giovanni), graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree from Biola University, and a Masters of Music degree from the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute at the North Carolina School of the Arts.  He recently was a member of the Tri-Cities Resident Artist Training Program where he performed Masetto in Don Giovanni, the Father in Beauty and the Beast, Fiorello in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and Moralés and Le Dancaïro in Carmen.  Other stage credits include the title role in Don Giovanni, Tiridate in Radamisto, Mr. Webb in Our Town, Jupiter in Orpheus in the Underworld, Mr. Wickham in Pride and Prejudice, Billy Bigalow in Carousel, and the Second Priest in Die Zauberflöte.  Significant concert performances include Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem and Mozart’s Coronation Mass performed on tour throughout Europe. 

 

Jody Weatherstone, soprano (The Wizard of Verse), performs to enthusiastic reviews in a wide range of venues throughout the NY region, from musical theater to oratorio. She is a frequent guest soloist with Classic Choral Society under the direction of Janiece Kohler, recently performing Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem. Also with Classic Choral Society, in the spring of 2008, Jody will be soprano soloist in Brahms’ A German Requiem. Recently, she appeared as the soprano soloist in the Messiah at the West Point Cadet Chapel. Jody has appeared as a soloist in many choral works including the Magnificats of Bach and Rutter, the Requiems of Faure and Rutter, Haydn’s Theresienmesse and Kleine Orgelmesse, Beethoven’sMass in C, Handel’s Messiah and Vivaldi’s Gloria. Last summer she appeared in Naughty Operetta: the music of Romberg and Herbert with the Delaware Valley Opera under the direction of Jim Blanton, a show currently scheduled in several upcoming regional concert series. Jody’s musical theatre credits include the first national tour of Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods, directed by James Lapine, in which she performed both Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood. She has also toured Europe as Christine in Ken Hill’s operatic adaptation of Phantom of the Opera. A graduate of New York University with a degree in Voice and Theatre, is the soprano soloist at St. Mary’s church in Tuxedo Park, NY, and maintains a private voice studio in Warwick, NY.