Opera Colorado - New Heights in Grand Opera

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The Artists

Conductor: Timothy Long (Opera Colorado debut)
A native Oklahoman, Maestro Long is a conductor and pianist who is enjoying a flourishing career in the US and abroad. He has been praised for his “sharp conducting” (Washington Post), and his orchestras have triumphed with displays of “breadth, depth and color” (Riverfront Times) and “brilliant playing” (Rocky Mountain News). Recent and upcoming engagements include debuts at Shreveport Opera and Orlando Opera, return engagements at Wolf Trap Opera and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and the Companion Star Ensemble in Sweden. During the 2007-08 season his operatic conducting engagements included Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Madame Butterfly at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and Ariadne auf Naxos at Wolf Trap Opera.

Director: Greg Fortner (Opera Colorado debut)
Mr. Fortner’s recent directing engagements include Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Opera Carolina, restaging Jean-Pierre Ponnelle’s production of La Cenerentola for the New National Theater (Tokyo), and assisting Robert LaPage on The Damnation of Faust, as well as Thais at the Metropolitan Opera. (Mr. Fortner joined the Metropolitan Opera staging staff in 2006.) During the 2009-2010 season, he assisted David Hockney on Tristan and Isolde in Barcelona, and assisted on the Met’s productions of Hamlet and Les Contes d’Hoffmann. For the theater, Mr. Fortner collaborated with Playwright Matei Visniec on a new play to be presented at Arad Underground Theater festival in Romania. Other recent engagements include a four-city tour of Romania for his critically acclaimed production of Matei Visniec’s play Old Clown Wanted, as well as acting workshops for the young artist programs at Opera North and The Palm Beach Opera, at which he also helped conceive and direct an interactive children’s show.

Associate Director: Grischa Asagaroff (Opera Colorado debut)
German director Grischa Asagaroff began his career at Munich’s Bavarian State Opera where he worked as an assistant director and stage manager on over 70 different operas, working with directors such as Günther Rennert, Otto Schenk, August Everding, Nikolaus Lehnhoff and Jean-Pierre Ponnelle. He eventually went on to serve as principal stage director at the Zurich Opera, as well as principal stage director and artistic administrator at the Vienna State Opera. His debut with San Francisco Opera was assisting Ponnelle on the 1977 production of Idomeneo. He has a long career collaborating with Ponnelle as well as establishing his own directing career. Now artistic director of the Zurich Opera, Asagaroff has also staged productions in New York (Metropolitan Opera), London (Royal Opera), Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Buenos Aires, Sofia, Saarbrücken, Brussels and Cologne, among others.

Daniela Mack as Angelina (Opera Colorado debut)
Ms. Mack has been acclaimed for her “caramel timbre, flickering vibrato, and crisp articulation” (Opernwelt) as she “hurls fast notes like a Teresa Berganza or a Frederica von Stade”. (San Francisco Chronicle) She opens 2010-2011 season with Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia) at Pittsburgh Opera. She will make her role and house debuts as Isabella (L’italiana in Algeri) at Opéra National de Bordeaux and Florentine Opera. Concert performances include Handel’s Messiah with the Calgary Philharmonic, Falla’s El amor brujo with the Boca Raton Philharmonic, and Ravel’s Shéhérazade with the Hong Kong Philharmonic. Future seasons will see Ms. Mack at the San Francisco Opera and English National Opera. Ms. Mack was most recently an Adler Fellow at the San Francisco Opera, where she was seen as Siebel (Faust).


Michele Angelini as Don Ramiro (Opera Colorado debut)
Mr. Angelini made his European debut in 2006 as Conte di Liebenskoff in Rossini’s Il Viaggio a Reims at the prestigious Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, Italy. During the 2009-2010 season he debuted with the Metropolitan Opera covering Juan Diego Florez as Tonio and the role of Rinaldo in the Met’s new production of Rossini’s Armida. Other recent and upcoming engagements include Genoa’s Teatro Carlo Felice as Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Firenze’s Teatro del Maggio Musicale as Il Viaggio a Reims, Don Narciso in Turco in Italia with Deutsche Opera am Rhein, Mozart’s Requiem at Carnegie Hall with the NY Choral Society, Tonio with the San Antonio Opera, and his debut as Fenton at the Toledo Opera in Ohio. Other recent roles include Rodrigo in Rossini’s Otello, Lindoro in L’Italiana in Algeri, Ferrando in Così fan tutte, and Handel’s Judas Maccabeus with the LA Opera under the baton of James Conlon.


Philip Cokorinos as Don Magnifico
Bass-baritone Philip Cokorinos has performed over 70 leading roles in his career with eminent companies throughout North America. Recent performances include Amantio di Nicolao in Gianni Schicchi at the Los Angeles Opera with Director Woody Allen and James Conlon, Basilio in Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Calgary Opera, Baron Duphol in La Traviata with the Los Angeles Opera, and Adriana Lecouvreur and La Rondine at the Metropolitan Opera, where he has performed in over 30 productions over numerous seasons. Additional credits include a return to the Los Angeles Opera as Bartolo in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and Tosca, La Bohème and The Nose at the Met.

Daniel Belcher as Dandini (Opera Colorado debut)
Last season, Daniel Belcher appeared as Captain Corcoran in HMS Pinafore with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Taddeo in L’Italiana in Algeri with Utah Symphony & Opera, and Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Portland Opera. He recently recorded Kaija Saariaho’s L’Amour de Loin with Harmonia Mundi, conducted by Kent Nagano. The critically acclaimed recording received the Diapason d'Or award from Diapason Magazine for October 2009. Other recent engagements include Marcello in La Bohème with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Taddeo in L’Italiana in Algeri with Opera Company of Philadelphia, and Ned Keene in Peter Grimes in Geneva. In concert he performed with Kansas City Chamber Orchestra and the baritone soloist in Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem with New York Choral Society at Carnegie Hall. Mr. Belcher created this role of John Brooke in Adamo’s Little Women at the Houston Grand Opera, and has sung it at several companies since then, including Central City Opera.

Dale Travis as Alidoro
Dale Travis is a frequent guest at the most important opera companies and opera festivals in the United States and abroad including the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Washington Opera, Dallas Opera, Opera Colorado, Spoleto Festival USA, Seiji Ozawa’s Saito Kinen Festival (Japan), the Teatro Regio (Torino), Teatro Carlo Felice (Genoa), and the Berlin Komische Oper, among others. Dale Travis’ vast repertoire encompasses almost 100 roles in a wide variety of styles, ranging from Stravinsky and Blitzstein to Berlioz, Mozart, and Rossini. A versatile artist, Mr. Travis is recognized not only as one of the premiere buffo artists of the day, but his work in the highly dramatic repertoire is widely praised as well.