Four young singers hoping to make it big on the international opera scene will deliver their first professional show under the Vancouver Opera banner.
And the quartet will stage their debut this month in a lush, fairytale concert that was tailor-made for Tri-City audiences.
Soprano Eden Tremayne and Francesca Corrado, a mezzo-soprano — both graduates of the UBC opera program — along with tenor Rocco Rupolo and baritone Zachary Read perform in Opera Tales at Coquitlam’s Evergreen Cultural Centre from Aug. 28 to 30.
They will be accompanied by pianist Kimberley-Ann Bartczak.
The five members part of the Yulanda M. Faris Young Artists Program, an initiative started four years ago by arts philanthropists Moh and Yulanda Faris (she was on the Vancouver Opera board of directors before she passed away this spring).
Adrianne Wurz, Vancouver Opera’s associate director of artistic planning who manages the Young Artists Program, told The Tri-City News her organization got a call last year from David Mann of the Evergreen Cultural Centre to fill in the August slot previously held by DragonDiva Operatic Theatre, which has since folded.
Stage director Brenna Corner, an Albertan native who is in her second year with the Young Artists Program, came up with the idea to weave together a series of operatic and musical theatre pieces — with a love theme — for the Evergreen event.
There will be music by Mozart, Verdi and Dvorak based on traditional fairy tales like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Hansel and Gretel.
“We didn’t want singers on stage one after another with a bunch of arias in between,” Wurz said. “We wanted to somehow bring it all together to create a story out of the stories.”
Wurz said the show is suitable for all ages — especially “little girls who love costumes, we find the kids really respond to the story that’s being told through music” — and will likely tour around Metro Vancouver afterward.
• Tickets for Opera Tales are $25 at the Evergreen Cultural Centre (1205 Pinetree Way) or by calling 604-927-6555.
