Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 2, 1991 TAG: 9102020089
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jeff DeBell
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Featuring soloists from the Virginia Opera Association in Norfolk, the program will include selections from "Cosi Fan Tutte," "The Magic Flute," "The Marriage of Figaro" and "Don Giovanni."
The program will begin at 8 p.m., conducted by Victoria Bond, artistic director of Southwest Virginia Opera.
With the all-Mozart gala, the organization launches what will be an annual concert event. It will join the fall and spring operas as the SVO's three regular annual productions.
In 1992, the mid-winter event will be a concert version of George Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess" with soloists, orchestra and community choirs.
Virginia Opera soloists on Feb. 4 will be soprano Deborah Golembiski, mezzo-soprano Karie Brown, tenor Tracey Welborn and bass-baritone Gardner Rhea.
Golembiski, who has bachelor and master's degrees in music from Temple University, is in Virginia Opera's 1991 production of "Cosi Fan Tutte." Brown is an apprentice with the company, where she is appearing in "Cosi Fan Tutte" and "Romeo and Juliet." She is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.
Welborn is a master's student in opera performance at Curtis. His credits include appearances with the Richmond Symphony and Roanoke's Mill Mountain Theatre. Rhea is appearing in Virginia Opera productions of "Romeo and Juliet" and "Cosi Fan Tutte" this season.
The Virginia Opera singers will be joined by baritone Craig Fields and soprano Nancy McDuffie. Fields is founder-director of the Blacksburg Master Chorale and resident director of Southwest Virginia Opera. He is assistant professor of music at Virginia Tech, where McDuffie teaches part time. She a featured soloist with Tech's University Chamber Music Series and has appeared in a number of SVO productions.
Tickets are $19, $16 and $9. The Roanoke Civic Center box office number is 981-1201.
by CNB