Office of Public Affairs
(315) 312-2265
Sept. 26, 2003
CONTACT: Julie Pretzat, 312-2130
GROUPS JOIN VOICES FOR 'GREAT OPERA CHORUSES'
OSWEGO -- The Oswego Opera Theatre and Oswego
Festival Chorus will join forces to present "Great Opera Choruses," a
concert with arias, at 8 p.m. Oct. 11 at Oswego High School's Ralph M.
Faust Theatre for the Performing Arts. Julie Pretzat, professor and
chair of music at SUNY Oswego, directs the chorus, which will be joined
by three soloists.
Oswego Festival Chorus selections will include "The
Bridal Chorus" from Wagner's "Lohengrin," "The Bell Chorus" from
Leoncavallo's "I Pagliacci," "The Anvil Chorus" from Verdi's "Il
Trovatore," and additional choruses from Donizetti's "Don Pasquale,"
Smetana's "The Bartered Bride" and Bizet's "Carmen."
Three soloists well known around Central New York --
RoseMarie Cerklewich, Carol Ansell Spradling and Bill Black -- will
join the chorus for arias.
Cerklewich, a soprano, has performed with Oswego
Opera Theatre as Mabel in "Pirates of Penzance" and Berta in "The
Barber of Seville." She has also sung as a guest artist with the
Syracuse Symphony Orchestra and performed in last year's semi-staged
version of Mozart's "Die Zauberflote" with the Buffalo Philharmonic.
While Spradling, a mezzo-soprano, may be new to the
Oswego stage, she is familiar to Syracuse audiences through
performances with such companies as the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra,
Civic Morning Musicals, Society for New Music and Masterworks Chorale.
The music director at St. Augustine's in Baldwinsville, Spradling
serves on the Diocese of Syracuse music committee where she presents
cantor training workshops. She has performed at the Diocese of Syracuse
convention and the Society of Composers International convention.
Black's many operatic and musical theatre leads
around Central New York include Oswego Opera Theatre appearances as
Noah in "Noye's Fludde" and the Pirate King in "Pirates of Penzance."
He is an active oratorio soloist, having performed major works by
Handel, Bach, Mozart, Mendelssohn and Orff. Black also has sung with
the Syracuse Opera as well as that organization's education and
outreach division, the Syracuse Opera Ensemble.
New SUNY Oswego music faculty member Robert Auler
will accompany the chorus and soloists on piano. He has performed
extensively as a soloist, chamber musician and accompanist, recently
completing a tour of Venezuela where he performed the works of American
and Venezuelan composers as well as 20th century European works.
Auler has toured Europe performing Gershwin's
"Concerto in F for Piano and Orchestra" and played with the University
of Michigan Men's Glee Club for concerts in New York's Avery Fisher
Hall, Boston's Faneuil Hall and Washington's Kennedy Center.
Tickets for the "Great Opera Choruses" concert are
available in advance from the Tyler Hall box office by calling
312-2141, or at the door. Tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for students
and senior citizens. Persons with disabilities seeking accommodations
to attend this event should contact the SUNY Oswego department at
312-2130 in advance.
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