American Friends of the Donizetti Opera Festival, a nonprofit entity intended to promote in the United States the Donizetti Opera Festival and the work of Gaetano Donizetti, organized a bel canto masterclass with the singer Lawrence Brownlee on 2023 May 24th at the headquarters of the Italian Cultural Institute of New York.
The singers who participated in the masterclass, accompanied on the piano by Ava Linvog, are: the tenor Randy, who performed the aria “Povero Ernesto” from the opera Don Pasquale, the soprano Marieke de Koker who interpreted “Era desso il figlio mio” from the opera Lucrezia Borgia, the soprano Cong Cong Wang who sang the aria “Regnava nel silenzio” from the opera Lucia di Lammermoor, and the tenor Angel Raii Gómez who interpreted the aria “Ah, mes amis” from La fille du regiment.
This Masterclass on bel canto organized by the American Friends of the Donizetti Opera Festival in the United States forms part of a series of educational activities aimed to teach the singers the vocal and interpretative aspects of the operas composed by Gaetano Donizetti.
Tenor Lawrence Brownlee is a member of AFDOF's Board of Artists and supports the activity of AFDOF in the United States.
On January 15th in New York, at the home of art collector and patron Alice Kandell, the American Friends of the Donizetti Opera Festival (AFDOF) organized a Masterclass with the tenor Javier Camarena, members of the AFDOF Artistic Board and engaged with educational activities that AFDOF promotes with US singers and musicians. At the piano was Michael Fennelly, a musician who received a sponsorship from AFDOF for an orchestral improvement internship with Maestro Frizza during the preparation of the opera La favorite, Donizetti Opera Festival 2022.
The singers who participated in the masterclass were: texas tenor Benjamin Ruiz, the tenor of Colombian origin residing in the United States, Pedro Barrera, soprano Avery Boettcher, and the tenor Wooyoung Yoon.
Audience of the masterclass, included: Cesare Bieller, Consul of the Italian Republic in NY, the President of AFDOF, Aranzazu Escudero de Zuloaga, Alice Kandell, who hosted the event, the New Yorker Clara Spatler Miller, Michael De Marco and Christopher Bozydaj of K&L Gates who assist AFDOF in the legal field, and numerous young opera singers.
The professionalism, the vocal technique, the great human quality of the tenor Camarena with the singers undoubtedly contributed to making the masterclass an unforgettable event for both the singers and the public. After the masterclass was finalized, there was a reception.
Riccardo Frizza and Michael Fennelly,
Teatro Donizetti, Bergamo, November 2022
American Friends of the Donizetti Opera Festival Holds First Luncheon
The event marked the first for the organization, which supports artists in their studies on the Donizetti legacy and bel canto and the festival held in November.
The event opened with a cocktail hour in which guests were delighted with Hors d’oeuvres and champagne. That was followed by a lunch that consisted of three courses.
During the meal, the President and Chairman of the AFDOF Aranzazu Escudero de Zuloaga gave a few remarks about the organization and the double mission of the AFDOF.
“Three years ago Maestro Riccardo Frizza thought about the importance of having an organization in the United States of friends of the Donizetti Opera Festival. With the support of the Bergamo Festival, the professionalism of Karen Kriendler (former executive director of the Richard Tucker Foundation), and thanks to the legal activity pro-bono of the K&L Gates law firm in New York, at the end of 2019 the constitution of the ‘American Friends of the Donizetti Opera Festival Inc’ non-profit entity, 501 (C) (3) corporation, was created and has operated ever since,” Escudero de Zuloaga noted.
She added, that “due to the pandemic, the American Friends of the Donizetti Opera Festival decided to postpone its presentation until the member singers of its Artists’ Board, chaired by Sondra Radvanovsky, were performing at the Met Opera in the new production of ‘Lucia di Lammermoor’ under the Maestro Frizza.”
Following Escudero de Zuloaga’s remarks, Music Director Riccardo Frizza spoke about the festival and its 2022 edition, which will see the event present “La Favorite” and two rarely performed works by Donizetti: “L’aio nell’imbarazzo” and “Chiara e Serafina.” Maestro Frizza also showcased two videos, one that summarized the festival and the other that gave guests an overview of the renovations to the famed Teatro Donizetti.
In attendance at the lunch were tenor Javier Camarena, who will perform at the festival in “La Favorite” and soprano Davinia Rodriguez, as well as Cesare Bieller, Italian consul in New York; Irene Asquini, Adjunct consul in New York; and Riccardo Cursi, vice Italian Consul in New York.
Following the lunch, guests were invited to see the “Lucia di Lammermoor” manuscript at the Italian Cultural Institute, which was brought to the United States from the Angelo Mai Library in Bergamo, for the first time on the occasion of the new production of “Lucia di Lammermoor” at the Metropolitan Opera.
Lucia di Lammermoor is undoubtedly, together with L’elisir d’amore, the most famous opera by Gaetano Donizetti and the most performed throughout the world. Thanks to a 1985 donation by the Perolari family, the city of Bergamo was able to acquire the autograph score of this opera, which was first performed at the San Carlo Theatre in Naples in 1835. The score is preserved in the Mai Library. This precious manuscript travelled across the ocean for the first time to be exhibited at the Italian Cultural Institute in New York directed by Fabio Finotti on the occasion of the new production of Lucia di Lammermoor at the Metropolitan Opera House with Riccardo Frizza on the podium.
On 21 April, at the ICI premises on Park Avenue, a round table was organized with the participation of Riccardo Frizza, musical director of the Donizetti Opera Festival, and the contribution of some videos prepared in Bergamo showing Bergamo and the treasures of the “Angelo Mai” Library.
It was also an opportunity to present the critical edition of Lucia di Lammermoor edited by Gabriele Dotto– who will be at the ICI– and Roger Parker, published by Ricordi as part of the National Edition created with the collaboration and contribution of the Municipality of Bergamo and the Fondazione Teatro Donizetti.
The documentation of the exhibition of the manuscript score of Lucia di Lammermoor in New York, as well as the textual contributions that are being prepared, together with some videos and in-depth studies, are also available on the stanzeitaliane.it platform, which has been the virtual museum of the ICI for a year: a way of making the whole documentary work available to scholars and audience who cannot be in New York.
With around 5,000 performances a year, Gaetano Donizetti is one of the most performed composers in the world! Who does not know his “Lucia di Lammermoor”, for example?
Listen to the round table that opened the exhibition “NY Loves Lucy” at the Italian Cultural Institute of New York.
Speakers: director Fabio Finotti, Gabriele Dotto who edited the new critical edition of the opera for Ricordi, Riccardo Frizza and Francesco Micheli, music director and artistic director of the Donizetti Opera in Bergamo and Aranzazu Escudero de Zuloaga, Chairman/President of the American Friends of the Donizetti Opera Festival.
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