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Sunset Music|Arts – Opera Gala & Reception | Episcopal Church of the Incarnation

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Date/Time
Date(s) - 08/13/2016
7:30 PM - 9:00 PM

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The Episcopal Church of the Incarnation

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Sunset Music | Arts, invites you to celebrate its third anniversary in a gala concert featuring soloists from the San Francisco Opera Chorus: Aimée Puentes, soprano; Sally Porter Munro, mezzo-soprano; Colby Roberts, tenor; Frederick Matthews, baritone. Dr. Bryan Baker accompanies on the piano. This popular annual event will feature songs and arias from opera and musical theater. A festive reception follows the concert.

The Featured Artists

Aimée Puentes, soprano, has sung leading opera roles including, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Despina in Così fan tutte, Micäela in Carmen, Sister Constance in Dialogues des Carmélites, Pamina in The Magic Flute, Musetta in La Boheme, Nannetta in Falstaff, Valencienne in The Merry Widow, Paquette in Candide, and Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro. She has performed with the San Francisco Opera, Arizona Opera, Pensacola Opera, New Orleans Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Opera San Jose, Opera Southwest, West Bay Opera and Sacramento Opera. Her upcoming operatic engagements include Zerlina in Don Giovanni with Pacific Repertory Opera, and Oscar in Ballo in Maschera with Festival Opera.

Sally Porter Munro, mezzo-soprano, is a native of London, England and a graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, England. While living in England she sang with the English National Opera, Royal Opera de la Monnaie in Brussels, and as an oratorio soloist in Europe. She also performed with the BBC Singers on radio and television. She relocated to New York City to continue her studies. Since moving to San Francisco, Ms. Munro has sung as a soloist with Pocket Opera, Berkeley Opera, North Bay Opera, San Francisco Lyric Opera, and Lake Tahoe Festival. Ms. Munro has performed as a soloist with the Oakland East Bay Symphony Orchestra, the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Russian Chamber Orchestra, Master Works Chorale, the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra and the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra. She is a full time member of The San Francisco Opera Chorus and has covered and sung a number of small roles. She enjoys collaborating with contemporary composers and has performed premiers by Thomas Ades, Ian Venables, Allen Shearer, David Irving, Marge Wheeler, and Peter Dyson. Ms. Munro teaches singing and the Alexander Technique and was a faculty member of the San Francisco Girls’ Chorus for twenty years. Since two years, she has been a faculty member of The Young Women’s Choral Project.

Colby Roberts, tenor, has sung with opera companies throughout the country, including Orlando Opera, National Grand Opera, Connecticut Grand Opera, New York Grand Opera and New Jersey State Opera and has been part of the chorus with San Francisco Opera for over 30 years. His concert performances have taken him across the United States, and to Europe and Israel. Bay Area credits include performances with San Francisco Lyric Opera where he sang Alfredo in La Traviata, the title roles in Werther and Andrea Chenier, Rodolfo in La Boheme, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly and Cavaradossi in Tosca. With Berkeley Opera he sang the role of Rodolfo in Luisa Miller, with Livermore Valley Opera he has sung the title roles in The Tales of Hoffmann and Faust and Rodolfo in La Boheme, and with the UC Berkeley Chorus and Orchestra he performed the role of Arbace in a concert performance of Idomeneo. He was soloist for Verdi’s Requiem at the Mendocino Music Festival, and has performed several roles with San Francisco Opera, including of Sam in The Ballad of Baby Doe and Parpignol in La Boheme. Recent engagements include Bach’s St. John Passion (Evangelista and tenor soloist) at First Lutheran Church in Palo Alto.

Frederick Matthews, baritone, has been praised by audiences and critics alike for his appearances on the operatic and concert stages. International recognition came while on tour singing the role of “Jake” in Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, when it was reported that he “projected evenly balanced singing and left an exquisite stage impression.” (Neue Presse – Augsburg, Germany) Now residing in the Bay Area, he has been seen in a variety of solo and bit parts with the San Francisco Opera. During the San Francisco Opera’s presentation of Wagner’s Ring Cycle, he covered the role of “Fasolt” in Das Rheingold. He also sang the role of “The Corporal” opposite Kathleen Battle and Frank Lopardo in Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment. Of this performance a reviewer wrote, “Frederick Matthews magnetized attention…and was particularly affable as The Corporal.” He has also appeared in a variety of roles with the Las Vegas Opera, Marin Opera, and the Sacramento Opera. With Opera Pacific in Costa Mesa, California, he sang the role of “Fiorello” in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville opposite Judith Forst and Pablo Elvira. The Los Angeles Times described his performance as “strikingly mellifluous.” During the 1998 San Francisco Opera Season, he sang the role of “Ein Diener” in Berg’s LULU, and “The Official Registrar” in Madama Butterfly by Puccini. He was also heard as the “Fifth Inmate” in the World Premiere of Dead Man Walking by Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally, as well as a “Marschallin Lackey” in Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss. Mr. Matthews is also featured in the Oscar-winning documentary entitled: In the Shadow of the Stars, produced by Light-Saraf Films and now available on videocassette. Mr. Matthews is also the music teacher for kindergarten through fifth grades at Coleman Elementary School in San Rafael, California.

Bryan Baker, conductor and pianist, is in his eleventh season as Artistic Director and Conductor of Masterworks Chorale. He also holds the positions of Director of Music at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, Assistant Conductor of the San Francisco Choral Society, and Director of Serenade Chamber Choir. He often leads instrumental ensembles, and has conducted the Solaris Chamber Orchestra, Masterworks Orchestra, Peninsula Symphonic Winds, New Millennium Strings, and the Kensington Symphony. Some highlights include performances of Carmina Burana, (wth Peninsula Cantare and Ragazzi Boys Chorus), Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings, Mozart’s Requiem and Grand Mass, Rossini’s Stabat Mater, and Lauridsen’s Lux Aeterna. He has judged and led choral clinics and frequently appeared as guest conductor in the Bay Area. Dr. Baker most recently conducted American choirs in Hungary, Romania, and Brazil.

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