November-December 2021

Giving Thanks for Brilliant Artistry:

Athlone Artists November-December 2021

Opera from Purcell to the 21^st Century plus Messiahs throughout North America from Toronto to Tampa and Costa Mesa to Cleveland

This Fall, we at Athlone Artists are feeling grateful! Our singers, conductors, producers and directors have been off to a beautiful start to the season, and things are continuing to heat up as the weather cools down. Highlights for November and December are below (click on the links to listen and learn more).

This past week, Baritone David McFerrin was seen in the role of the Traveller in Curlew River with Enigma Chamber Opera, about which the Boston Globe wrote, “The music was superbly played by the seven-person ensemble, with [fellow Athlone Artist] Edward Elwyn Jones giving understated direction from the organ.” McFerrin, whose baritone has been called “ample” and “darkly authoritative and impassioned” by Opera News, performs various programs with the Handel and Haydn Society and Blue Heron vocal ensemble throughout November and December. He plays the title character in Cimarosa’s monodrama Il Maestro di Capella with Boston Baroque on New Year’s Eve and Day.

Maestro Allan R. Scott conducts concerts in November with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Symphony Orchestra and Helena Symphony, two thriving orchestras for which he serves as Music Director. On November 6, Southeastern Pennsylvania Symphony presents a live concert featuring Bizet’s Symphony No. 1 and Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with acclaimed soloist Amy Oshiro-Morales; On November 13, Helena performs Mozart by Candlelight, showcasing renowned Russian pianist Anna Kislitsyna.

Gabriel Preisser will appear with Opera Las Vegas for the west coast premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon’s The House without a Christmas Tree on November 19-21, 2021. The heartwarming, family-friendly tale, with a libretto by Royce Vavrek, is based on Gail Rok’s popular story and the beloved 1972 movie of the same name.

John Tibbetts, who performs the role of Adam in Edwin Huizinga’s film Angel – available online beginning October 28 – performs in “Art Song plus,” a German Lieder Concert on November 2 and Holiday Harmony Concerts with Gulfshore Opera throughout the month of December.

Tenor Bruce Sledge, who is presently covering cover the role of Walther in Wagner’s Die Meistersinger at the Metropolitan Opera, will carry his “great singing, easy and stylish” (The Guardian) to the role of Paolo Erisso in Rossini’s Maometto II for Washington Concert Opera, opening November 21, 2021. Brian Kontes returns to the Metropolitan Opera in December to cover the Second Armed Man in The Magic Flute.

Opera San José has offered return Artist-in-Residence posts to Athlone Artists Christopher James Ray, conductor, and Nathan Stark, bass-baritone. There, Ray will conduct performances of Carmen, West Side Story and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. Stark will join Ray in San José’s production of Dido and Aeneas (November 13-28) in the role of the Sorcerer, along with Countertenor Logan Tanner who will play the Spirit. Christopher Ray also makes his debut conducting the Lima Symphony Orchestra in December, and Logan Tanner will follow the Opera San Jose Engagement with Bach’s Magnificat at Market Square Presbyterian and performances of Handel’s Messiah with Pacific Symphony and also with Pacific MusicWorks on December 5.

Countertenor Daniel Moody makes his Atlanta Opera debut as the cunning Tolomeo in Handel’s Julius Caesar, playing November 6-14. Called by the San Francisco Chronicle “a gifted young artist who boasts a clarion falsetto sound and the ability to put it to deeply expressive use,” Moody also performs as a soloist in Handel’s Messiah with Cleveland’s Baroque orchestra Apollo’s Fire (December 8-12) and the San Antonio Symphony (December 22-23).

Still can’t get enough of Handel’s Messiah? Bass-baritone Jonathan Woody is just one of the Athlone Artists who will lend his voice to the masterpiece this holiday season, making his debut with the Oregon Symphony and also performing the work with the Spire Chamber Ensemble in Kansas City. Gene Stenger performs with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and the New Haven Symphony, Logan Tanner sing with Pacific Symphony, Susan Hellman Spatafora sings with Tampa Oratorio Singers, Emily Misch performs with the Naples Philharmonic, and Nola Richardson will be heard with both the Kansas City Symphony and the American Bach Soloists. Tenor Spencer Britten – whose opening recitative “Comfort Ye” in Against the Grain Theatre’s acclaimed 2020 Messiah/Complex was called “luminous” by Ludwig Van Toronto – will be singing Messiah with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in December.

On November 20-21, you can even hear an all-Athlone Artist Messiah cast as Santa Fe Symphony hosts soloists baritone Evan Bravos, soprano Mary-Hollis Hundley, mezzo-soprano Ann McMahon Quintero and tenor Alex Richardson.

And as a bonus this holiday season, you can see the internationally acclaimed Marianne Cornetti when she brings her “formidable stage persona with voice to match” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) to Orchestra Miami in December as the mezzo-soprano soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth. You won’t want to miss it!

Wishing you all continued health, joy, and an abundance of #BrilliantArtistry!

Miguel A. Rodríguez

Founder and President

Athlone Artists

p.s. Looking for Halloween fun? Don’t forget that this weekend you can catch performances of Mozart’s Don Giovanni conducted by Maria Sensi Sellner at Fargo Moorhead Opera, Mozart's The Impresario with Emily Misch in the role of Madame Goldentrill at Syracuse Opera,and Benjamin Britten’s creepy The Turn of the Screw with soprano Michelle Trainor playing Mrs. Grose with IlluminArts in Miami (Athlone’s Amanda Crider is Artistic Director)!

About Athlone Artists

Athlone Artists is a boutique agency committed to cultivating brilliant artistry offering international representation for singers, conductors and stage directors. Founded by longtime music industry leader Miguel A. Rodriguez and entrepreneur Barry Hume, Athlone boasts a diverse roster of 47 artists from all levels of the profession. A champion for individuality, Athlone Artists’ core values include a pledge to integrity, mentorship, diversity and inclusiveness of all levels of the profession, creativity, innovation and passion. For a survey of the entire roster visit www.athloneartists.com.

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