Meet the Merolini, to appear in Schwabacher summer concerts, "L'Elisir d'Amore"; Finale gala

Twenty five new faces to perform Schwabacher summer concerts and E'liser d'Amore

Meet the Merolini 2010 meant 25 new faces from a rock singer to a medieval historian to a triathlete/ultra marathoner/marathoner made their promising and first appearance together in San Francisco on Friday, presented by the Merola panel in the chandeliered ballroom called the Green Room in the Veterans Building next to the opera house. They seemed to have some 'splainin to do. Sheri Greenawald; Patrick Kelly; and Jane Davis in her gray leopard scarf set up each of the 25 young and diverse San Francisco Opera singers-to-be with questions such as how did they come to change their register from baritone to tenor.

Sheri got in some good one liners of her own and like last year, most Merolini sounded clever and funny or droll and exuded personality and intelligence while keeping tongue in cheek. They remained in alphabetical order even when athlete Robin Flynn came before comedian Thomas Florio in the program.

Former Merolini have started appearing frequently and in numbers on the big stage at San Francisco Opera since the advent of all that is David Gockley. Deborah Voigt and Patricia Racette, Mark Delavan and John Relyea of this summer's season each hail from Meroladom.

Berkeley Opera has been known to take a current Adler Fellow, chosen from Merolini, to headline.

So, in alphabetical order . . .

Colleen Brooks, a ,mezzo, sang rock. The venues were quite different from opera. How about the belting? I don’t do it anymore.

Janai Brugger a soprano heard her first recital at age nine. Kathleen Battle. Battle wore a gorgeous yellow gown. What can I do to wear gowns like that? Janai said to herself. She likes medieval history. She likes priests, the religious aspects from back then as far as subject matter for a new opera goes.

Benjamin Covey, baritone, performed on the Canadian Broadcast Corporation a piece by a Canadian composer which harkens back to 1950s serial opera. It’s a true story like “Saturday Afternoon at the Opera”, the story of a dead baby. And I was the villain, he said.

Rebecca Davis, soprano, helped rebuild New Orleans with Habitat for Humanity. She’s worked with Habitat three times, twice in Nashville and once in NOLA. The Ninth Ward was different in that they took over contract jobs after contractors took the money and abandoned the house. They had to get supplies.

Rebecca’s aunt is a singer and Rebecca sang backup to country fans, 20,000 to 30,000 people. She also wanted to sing jazz and as she said while I chatted with her over the fresh fruit at the catering table, she likes Manhattan Transfer.

Jenna Douglas, apprentice coach, likes dealing with languages and wants to conquer German next. She’s fluent in French and Italian and studied Latin too but it’s pointless to speak it. Her favorite book is The World According to Garp and she’s read all of John Irving.

Valentina Fleer, soprano, said her coach told her to feel more, let her imagination go and not be critical or judgmental. Opera came to her after immigration from Russia to the US at age sixteen, when she lived in the Bronx not Brooklyn.

Robin Flynn, mezzo, garnered enthusiastic applause when she said she just swam to Alcatraz the Sunday before. She’s a triathlete/ultra marathoner/marathoner. Endurance training is like opera in the stamina required, it’s intense. Endurance events are a release for her as opera requires so much intellectual focus. Doing something intensely physical helps process all the music in my head.

Robin would have been in child protective services, a voice for children. She is the oldest of six, the youngest sibling being eight.

Thomas Floyd, bass-baritone, worked the early part of the new millennium at Wolf Trap Opera Studio. He ushered. Would the Virginian compare what he did to Gianni Schicchi? Not in front of people.

“Diplomat!” came the response. He notes that lieder is still story telling it’s just a one man show.

David Hanlon, apprentice coach, likes sitar players. He liked the ethnomusicology program at his school. He too comes from Virginia, but Arlington not Manassas.

Ted Huffman, apprentice stage director, comes from Connecticut and made the transition from singer to director by starting his own company. He started small, using friends.

Natalia Katyukova, apprentice coach, went from concert pianist to collaborative. She just got bored. Actually, being a concert pianist means being in a little room with no windows for eight hours a day but she wanted to be with people, sharing.

Dan Kempson, baritone, tried to come up with a movie that should be an opera. With a baritone lead. It would need a plot reflecting today’s life as historic operas tend to be stately and still. Life today just doesn’t move like that. So, Hitchcock movies like North by Northwest . Anything with Cary Grant.

Dan was a columnist for his town paper and started school as a journalist.

Ryan Kuster, bass baritone, sang Henry the VIII. It’s like being me. His hobby meanwhile is home repair. How did that develop and how will he keep that up in hotel rooms?

Hye Jung Lee, soprano, is a Korean who studied in Dresden to learn German. Her favorite role is Gilda in Rigoletto. Sheri Greenawald quipped, yes, she’s willful and goes behind her father’s back.

Alexander Lewis, tenor, switched from baritone. He toured with Phantom of the Opera.
Alexander likes bungee jumping. It’s like performing, theadrenaline rush. The voice in your head too—why am I here, what am I doing?

Ao Li, a baritone from China, didn’t make it to the event.

Daniel Monegnegro, tenor, says his hobby is making whiskey and vodka. He built a still with his father. He made mash each morning. Barreled whiskey. It’s easy to make but needed money for marketing.

Sidney Outlaw, baritone, loves television. His favorite is the new show Hot in Cleveland with Betty White. He also likes Life on the D List with Kathy Griffin on Bravo.

Renee Rapier, mezzo, is the token Iowa. There’s one each year says Sherri. Renee talked of the floods and how her father had to drive three hours out of the way to get home. Her mother is an ER nurse.

Kevin Ray, tenor, used to sing baritone. The change is not that hard. You take your hand from this position (outstretched) to this (closer to the chest). Sheri asked him if he did it to get the girls. Tenors get the girls but baritones take them home. I like to say I have a flexible range.

Kevin’s Mom was a sergeant major in the US Army for thirty years and just retired. His father played classical saxophone. He started in a play, then began singing. His father figured out then that jobs for classical saxophone players were very few. So he became a singer.

Eleazar Rodriguez, the returning tenor, inspired cheering.

Abigail Santos Villalobos, soprano, started singing gospel at age five. She started lessons to work on some problems and the director gave her Callas recordings. WOW. She imitated Callas then. The wobble too? asks Sheri.

Nadine Sierra, soprano, started vocal training at six. She sang Little Mermaid in the pool, growing up in Florida. At age ten she saw the 1992 production of the Met’s La Boheme. Mimi.

Michael Spassov, apprentice coach, was scared of the basement. One day his Dad took him to Don Giovanni and he was scared out of his wits. Big statue, dry ice . . . he had been scared of the basement before so it was another year. That’s how he got into opera.

Kevin Thompson,a bass from Washington DC, had a teacher who only taught sopranos. He went to somebody else and saw tapes of Jessie Norman in Mon Coeur. All heroines. Sam Ramey . . .

The panel adjourned and dinner was served, provided by Whole Foods and catered by Patina. Grilled meaty mushrooms on skewers; shrimp and chicken; Finger sandwiches on baguette slices with salmon and capers, roasted red pepper, tomatoe; quesadilla triangles; veggies and dip; blackberries and raspberries and honey dew slices; cheeses. Cristallino champagne and Russian Hill wine.

Tickets to the July 16 concert are $25 and $40, in addition to the student price of $15.00. Call the SF Opera box office at (415) 864-3330.

June 30 is the last day for the summer discount of ten percent. http://www.merola.org/publicperformances

For more info: www.Merola.org

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