Bel Cantanti Opera: Die Fledermaus
$40 ($25 group of ten or more); available online or at the door
- Alina Tamborini, soprano (Adele)
- Margarita Parsamyan, soprano (Rosalinde)
- Aaron McKone, tenor (Eisenstein)
- Hunter Patrick Shaner, countertenor (Prince Orlovsky)
- Tyler Putnam, bass-baritone (Falke)
- James Mancuso, tenor (Alfred)
- Nicholas Carratura, tenor (Blind)
- Andrew Boisvert, bass (Frank)
- Katerina Souvorova, conductor
A brilliant comedy by Johann Strauss II. Performed in English with English supertitles. Fully staged, in costume, with orchestra.
Runs May 11-19.
About Bel Cantanti Opera Company
Bel Cantanti, an opera company under the direction of Dr. Katerina Souvorova, was formed in 2003 with the express purpose of giving performance opportunities to local operatic talent. Its members consist of young opera professionals, whose collective performance experiences include fully staged operatic productions in different venues around the country and abroad.
https://belcantanti.com/index.shtmlAbout Alina Tamborini, soprano (Adele)
Alina Tamborini is a versatile New York City based vocalist, frequently performing both operatic and contemporary classical repertoire.
https://www.alinatamborini.comAbout Margarita Parsamyan, soprano (Rosalinde)
Margarita Parsamyan is a native of Armenia, currently living in Miami, Florida. Ms. Parsamyan has been praised for her "dusky timbre," "dramatic projection," and for "poignantly carrying a great deal of drama" by Opera Wire and South Florida Classical Review.
Ms. Parsamyan joined Sarasota Opera as an Apprentice Artist for the 2023-2024 season. Her previous 2022-2023 engagements included the roles of La Contessa in Frost Opera Theater's Le Nozze di Figaro and Delia in Stone Soup with Florida Grand Opera (outreach). She performed the roles of Micaëla in La Tragédie de Carmen and Maria in La Tempranica in Frost Opera Theater's Scenes Concert. In summer 2022, Ms. Parsamyan was invited to perform in two new operatic works at Virginia Arts Festival/John Duffy Institute for New Opera. She appeared in the leading role of Concetta—together with Metropolitan Opera stars Kim Josephson, Robynne Redmon, and Kevin Short—in the world premiere of The Leopard by Michael Dellaira with Frost Opera Theater, under the baton of Gerard Schwarz. She made her debut at Music on Site as Papagena in Die Zauberflöte by Mozart.
During the 2021-2022 performing season, Ms. Parsamyan appeared as Manon in Massenet's Manon with Frost Opera Theater. She has performed in various opera productions at OU Opera Theater, most notably as La chauve-souris in Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges. She performed the role of Fleta in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe at Cimarron Opera. In summer 2021, she made her debut at Chicago Summer Opera as Sandmann in Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel
In addition to performing operatic repertoire, she had several solo recitals which went beyond the traditional classical repertoire and included Russian Romance and Armenian classical and folk songs. Her goal as an artist is to introduce Armenian cultural and musical heritage to a wider audience.
Her most recent achievements include The Laffont Metropolitan Opera Competition Qualified District, the Finalist Prize in Tampa Bay Symphony Jack Heller Young Artist Competition, the First Prize at Great Composers Competition, the Semi-finalist in CS International Vocal Competition and the Second Prize at TEXOMA NATS Competition. She was awarded the prestigious AGBU Performing Arts Scholarship, AIWA, ASA, Davis and the Zelby Family Endowed merit and performing arts scholarships.
https://margaritaparsamyan.com/About Aaron McKone, tenor (Eisenstein)
Tenor Aaron McKone is a native of Rock Hill, South Carolina. He now lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he studies with renowned helden-tenor Stuart Skelton as an Artist Diploma student at the University of Cincinnati: College – Conservatory of Music. McKone holds a Master of Music degree, also from CCM, and a Bachelor of Music degree from Winthrop University. In Summer 2024, McKone is very excited to be a Studio Artist at Wolf Trap Opera in Virginia, where he will be covering the role of Faust in Gounod's Faust. McKone has had the pleasure of bringing many roles to life on the stage, including Galileo in Philip Glass's Galileo Galilei, Rinuccio in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, Scaramuccio in Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos, Laurie in Mark Adamo's Little Women, Orphée in Gluck’s Orphée et Euridice, and Eisenstein in J. Strauss Jr's Die Fledermaus. He also enjoys performing in large choral works and has been a soloist in Orff's Carmina Burana and Bach's Uns Ist ein Kind Geboren, both with the York County Choral Society. When not singing, McKone enjoys snuggling with his new kitten, Samoa, and playing Dungeons and Dragons with his dedicated group of fellow opera-singing nerds.
About Hunter Patrick Shaner, countertenor (Prince Orlovsky)
Hunter Shaner is a male contralto based in the Washington DC area. He completed his MM in 2020 at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, where he worked with renowned soprano Carol Vaness.
"I always want to see something new." Shaner is driven by a desire to see growth and change of classical music, constantly seeking projects that push the boundaries. "Opera is a living, breathing art form, not a museum. The very nature of music is contemporary and ephemeral, no performance can ever be repeated exactly the same."
He tackles these challenges in his career by performing unconventional roles like Hansel in Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel, octave-transposed roles including Guillot in Massenet's Manon, and new art songs by up-and-coming composers. In the fall of 2022 he portrayed the female Messaggera in The Nightsong of Orpheus, an original collage work by IN Series.
Even his traditional roles are known to subvert expectations in a compelling and exciting way, finding sweetness in the venom of Tolomeo, the villain of Handel's Giulio Cesare, or a simmering rage in the composed fairy king Oberon in Britten's Midsummer Night's Dream.
https://www.huntershaner.com/About Tyler Putnam, bass-baritone (Falke)
About Andrew Boisvert, bass (Frank)
American bass Andrew Boisvert has been hailed as "thundering" (San Diego Story) with a "deep warmth" (The Rutland Herald). He earned his Master of Music degree with the Maryland Opera Studio at the University of Maryland and previously attended the University of Hartford, where he earned his Bachelor's degree in Vocal Performance.
As a bass, Boisvert has the fortune of being cast as villains, anti-heroes, and figures of authority. He has delved into the American opera repertoire with roles such as Frank Maurrant from Street Scene, Olin Blitch from Susannah, Sam from Trouble in Tahiti, and Jason McCormick from the 21st-century opera Town Hall.
He competed in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition Boston District Auditions in 2024; he previously had the honor of competing as a Connecticut District singer in 2021, and then once again in the 2022 auditions in the Florida District.
Recent performance highlights include returning to Sarasota Opera to cover Il Commendatore in Don Giovanni and Lo zio Bonzo in Madama Butterfly, singing Il Re di Scozia in Opera Neo's production of Ariodante (August 2022), covering Sergeant Sulpice in St. Petersburg Opera's production of La fille du Régiment (June 2022), and performing as Sam in Fargo-Moorhead Opera's production of Trouble in Tahiti (March 2022), as well as covering Alidoro in Rossini’s La Cenerentola (April 2022). He later made his Alidoro debut in April 2023 with Bel Cantanti Opera.
In addition to traditional opera, Boisvert enjoys diversifying his repertoire by performing in events such as St. Petersburg Opera's 9-man Holiday Sparkle concert series, containing dancing, holiday choral music, and solo pop numbers.
In Fall 2020, Boisvert created an outdoor concert series in the Berkshires, Music on the Hill. Performances consisted of opera arias, art song, musical theater, and solo piano repertoire and provided a much-needed source of live music, in the midst of the pandemic.
As part of their 2020 Summerfest Series, he performed with Opera North as the High Priest Sarastro in a socially-distanced production of Mozart's The Magic Flute. This was one of the only live opera productions performed in the US in the summer of 2020.
Other past opera engagements include covering Cadmus and Somnus in Semele with St. Petersburg Opera (2022), performing Don Basilio in Opera Theater of Connecticut’s The barber of Seville (2021), and singing Banco in Act I of Verdi’s Macbetto with Opera Avant (2021).
Earlier, in 2020, Boisvert performed with Sarasota Opera, where he covered Il Pedone in Catalani's La Wally, Count Capulet in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, and Il Conte di Ceprano in Verdi's Rigoletto. He performed as Olin Blitch in Floyd's Susannah and covered Count Capulet in Roméo et Juliette at the Brevard Music Festival (2019). With the Maryland Opera Studio, he performed as Frank Maurrant in Weill’s Street Scene (2019) and Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro (2018).
Boisvert is a student of internationally renowned bass-baritone Kevin Short.
https://www.andrewboisvertbass.com/