 Valerie
Girard, soprano,
was born in New York and began her vocal studies at
an early age with Felix Knight, former leading tenor
of the Metropolitan Opera. She began her young career
as a recitalist and concert soloist affiliated with
the Concert Artist Guild of New York and completed her
studies in New York with a full-scholarship to the American
Opera Center of the Juilliard School, where she had
the rare opportunity to work with such great musicians
as Leonard Bernstein and Jennie Tourel. Honored with
many prizes from notable American competitions, she
came to Europe: first to the International Opera Studio
of the Zurich Opera, then as leading lyric-coloratura
soprano to the National Theater Mannheim where she sang
over 22 major roles. Later she joined the ensemble of
the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar, this time as lirico-spinto
soprano with roles including the title role in Strauß’s
“Arabella,” Lisa in Tchaikovsky’s
“Queen of Spades,” and Antonia in “The
Tales of Hoffmann.” She was also featured as soloist
with the Staatskapelle Weimar in Verdi's "Requiem"
and Richard Strauss' "Four Last Songs."
As guest artist, Ms. Girard was also featured in leading
roles with the Semperoper in Dresden, the Aalto Theater
in Essen, the Frankfurt Opera and the Stuttgart Opera,
Théâre du Chatelet, Paris, the Marseille
Opera and in the United States with the Wolf Trap Festival,
the Michigan Opera Theater and the New York City Opera.
As concert soloist, she sang with symphony orchestras
in major European cities including Amsterdam, Berlin,
Cologne, the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, the
Ottorino Respighi Music Festival in Assisi, the Festival
for Early Music in Innsbruck and with the Konzertverein
in Vienna, Austria. Valerie Girard was also chosen as
featured Mozart soprano for the International Mozart
Festival in Prague and for the most important Mozart
Gala of the year in the country of Guatemala in 2006.
She has given solo recitals in New York, Boston, Chicago,
Detroit, Florence, Italy and in most of the large cultural
centers in Germany. In the United States, she sang concerts
in Chicago with the Ravinia Festival, in New York's
Lincoln Center as soloist with the New York Choral Society,
the St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble, and with the Lincoln
Center Chamber Ensemble. She is the creator and artistic
director of a new music festival called "Camerata
Colombaia" located in the beautiful Casentino mountains
near Florence, Italy.
She has been featured in radio broadcasts in both Europe
and the United States and can also be heard on CD recordings
including "Mozart Concert Arias" and Ravel's
"Schéhérazade."
Listen to
Valerie: 
valeriegirard.com
 Rosanna
Perch, soprano,
is a young aspiring singer currently completing her
bachelor's degree at the University of Hawai'i. She
has been a member of the Hawai'i Vocal Arts Ensemble
and the Hawai'i Opera Theatre Studio. Ms. Perch's former
festival appearances have included soprano solos in
both the Haydn Mass in time of War and Dona nobis pacem
by Vaughan Williams. Her most recent performances include
an appearance in the cast of Hawai'i Opera Theatre's
Suor Angelica as la sorella infermiera and as a featured
soloist HVAE's 2005-2006 concert season. Ms. Perch hopes
to continue her music education and further develop
a career in the musical field.
 Jennifer
Lane, mezzo-soprano
is a singer whose dark, bottomless voice is matched
by her expressiveness and intelligence. The press has
described her singing as clear, rich, plangent, compelling
and dramatic, and possessing agility and charisma. She
has been featured by many of the most prestigious institutions
and orchestras in the US and abroad. These include the
Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, San Francisco
Opera, Opra Monte Carlo, and the San Francisco Symphony,
as well as with orchestras and period instrument ensembles
in the US, Europe, South America, and the Middle East.
In
addition to her position as Associate Professor of Voice,
Opera, and Early Music at the University of Kentucky-Lexington,
she teaches regularly at the Amherst, SFEMS, Lake Placid,
Longy, and Madison summer workshops, among others. For
nine years, she taught at Stanford University, where
she produced and directed seven fully staged operas
and instituted an early music vocal and instrumental
Collegium which, in its third year, performed Shadwell
& Dryden's The Tempest.
Ms. Lane has over forty CD recordings to her name as
well as two films: Dido & Aeneas (with the
Mark Morris Dance Group and Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra)
and The Opera Lover. Recent CDs include Jocasta
in Sravinsky's Oedipus Rex, Waldtaube in Schoenberg's
Gurrelieder, Schoenberg's Das Buch der
Hœngenden Gœrten (Naxos),
The Pleasures & Follies of Love, Villancicos
y Cantadas (Koch),
and 17th Century French Airs de Cour (Magnatune).
In
June, 2005, she was the vocal soloist for the marriage
ceremony of Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown, former Governor
of California. Later this season, she will perform the
contralto solos in Brahms' Alto Rhapsody (Lexington
Philharmonic) and Mahler's Song of the Earth
(Vancouver). In November, 2006, Ms. Lane will premiere
the lead female role of Charmian London opposite baritone
Rodney Gilfrey in Everyman Jack, in a newly
commissioned opera by Phillip Littell and Libby Larson
for Sonoma City Opera, about the life of author and
adventurer, Jack London.
Visit
Jennifer Lane's website at www.stanford.edu/~jlane.
 Everett
McCorvey,
tenor,
is a native of Montgomery, Alabama. He received his
degrees from the University of Alabama, including a
Doctorate of Musical Arts. He has performed in many
cities around the world and theaters across the country,
including the Metropolitan Opera, the Kennedy Center,
Aspen Music Festival, Blossom Music Festival, Whitewater
Opera Company, Radio City Music hall, Birmingham Opera
Theater, Teatro Comunale in Florence, Italy, Queen Elizabeth
Hall in London, England, as well as performances throughout
Spain, the Czech and Slovac Republics, Austria, Japan,
China, Brazil, Poland, Portugal and Hungary. He is tenor
soloist on two CD recordings conducted by Maestro Julius
Williams, one entitled Symphonic Brotherhood
featuring the Bohuslave Martinu Philharmonic Orchestra
performing the symphonic works of African-American Composers
released in the fall of 1994, and one entitled The
American Soloist featuring the Dvorak Symphony in
Praue, Czech Rebuplic released the fall of 2004 highlighting
new American works. He has returned to the Czech Repbulic
to perform with the Bohuslave Martinu Philharmonic under
the baton of Maestro Kirk Trevor as well as to the Slovac
Republic. He has also appeared in television movies
and feature films including The Long Walk Home.
Mr.
McCorveyÕs operatic roles include Don Jose in Carmen,
Ferrando in Cosi Fan Tutte, Don Ottavio in Don
Giovanni, Fenton in Falstaff, Eisenstein
in Die Fledermaus, Puck in La Grande Duchess
de Gerolstein, and many others. Orchestra and Oratorio
works include the Beethoven Symphony #9, MendelssohnÕs
Elijah, MozartÕs Requiem, VerdiÕs Requiem,
Handel's Messiah, BachÕs Mass in B Minor
and the St. Matthew Passion, among others.
As
a recitalist, Mr. McCorvey has given concerts, masterclasses
and workshops throughout the United States, Europe and
Asia as a soloist and with his wife, soprano Alicia
Helm. Mr. McCorvey presented a recital and Master Classes
in Beijing, China and recently returned from Warsaw,
Poland where he performed with the Warsaw Symphony Orchestra
as a part of a commemoration concert for the events
of September 11th. Mr. McCorvey is the founder and Music
Director of the American Spiritual Ensemble,
a group of 16 professional singers performing spirituals
and other compositions of African-American composers.
In the short 11 year history of the group, the group
has presented over 100 concerts including six tours
of the United States and 10 tours of Spain. The American
Spiritual Ensemble has released three CDÕs, On My
Journey Now – The American Spiritual Ensemble
on Tour, Ol' Time Religion, and the recently released
Lilly of the Valley CD. In March of 2004, The American Spiritual Ensemble was
invited to Madrid by the city of Madrid to present a
commemoration concert dedicated to the victims of the
March 11th bombing in Madrid. In February
of 2007, PBS will present a nationwide special on the
American Spiritual Ensemble.
Mr.
McCorvey toured the United States, Europe and the Far
East with the Sherwin Goldman Production of Porgy and
Bess. In 1992 he played the role of Peter in the Asian
debut of Porgy and Bess, in Tokyo, Japan. Mr.
McCorvey has served on the faculty of the New York State
Summer School of the Arts in Saratoga Springs, New York
where he was Artist-in-Residence and Associate Conductor
and is also a frequent advisory panelist and on-site
reviewer for the National Endowment for the Arts Opera/Musical
Theatre program in Washington, D.C.
Mr.
McCorvey is also a teacher and vocal advisor to many
students in the profession. In 1998, Mr. McCorvey was
chosen by the Kentucky Advocates for Higher Education
as the Recipient of 1998 Acorn Award given by the Kentucky
Advocates. This prestigious Award goes to only one Professor
in the state of Kentucky who exemplifies excellence,
innovation and creativity in teaching and research.
Mr. McCorvey was also the recipient of an outstanding
faculty award from the University of Kentucky Lyman
T. Johnson Alumni Association for 1998 and was selected
to receive the Outstanding Alumni Award in the Arts
from the Society for the Fine Arts at the University
of Alabama, his Alma Mater, in February of 1999. Mr.
McCorvey recently produced only the second full-length
recording of The Tender Land by Aaron Copland
with the University of Kentucky Opera Theatre recorded
in Zlin, Czech Republic and released January 2002, featuring
singers from the University of Kentucky Opera Program
with Kirk Trevor conducting the Boshuslave Martinu Philharmonic
Orchestra
Mr.
McCorvey has served as guest Master Clinician at the
Opera Theatre of St. Louis Artist in their Artist-In-Training
Program and in the summers, Mr. McCorvey serves on the
faculty of the American Institute of Musical Studies
(AIMS) in Gratz, Austria. He was recently selected to
give a masterclass at the Voice Symposium held by renown
professor of Otolaryngologist Rober Thayer Sataloff
in Philadelphia.
This
fall of 2004 Mr. McCorvey produced a CD for Metropolitan
Opera Soprano Angela Brown which was released by Albany
Records in October, 2004. The CD entitled Mosaic
has received rave reviews. Ms. Brown, whose Metropolitan
Opera Debut in the title role of Aida was called
the most exciting debut since Leontyne Price, is a prot„g„e
of Mr. McCorveyÕs. The CD release coincided with her
MET debut.
Mr.
McCorvey is also Vice-Chairman of the Kentucky Arts
Council for the Commonwealth of Kentucky. He holds the
rank of Professor of Voice and the Lexington Opera Society
Endowed Chair in Opera Studies at the University of
Kentucky. He is married to soprano Alicia Helm. They
have three children.
 Douglas
Hall, tenor,
has
been a member of Hawai‘i Vocal Arts Ensemble for
ten years. Originally from Tennessee, he earned
a bachelor's degree in Vocal Performance from Belmont
University in Nashville. He earned a master's
in Counseling Psychology from Chaminade University of
Honolulu, and is currently a doctoral candidate in psychology
at Saybrook Graduate School in San Francisco. He has
been a featured soloist and section leader with HVAE
and at St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church in Kailua,
as well as performing in local musical theater productions.
He is an instructor of music and psychology at Chaminade
University and Hawaii Pacific University.
 Leslie
“Buz” Tennent,
is internationally recognized as a versatile performing
artist, equally at home in opera, oratorio, concerts,
recitals as well as musical theater. He has performed
leading roles with New York City Opera, Santa Fe Opera,
the Hannover Staatsoper, Hawaii Opera Theatre and in
Palma di Mallorca, Spain. As principal baritone with
the Hannover Staatsoper, Mr. Tennent’s diverse
roles included Don Carlo in La Forza del Destino, Michel
in Il Tabarro, Stankar in Stiffelio, Germont in La Traviata,
the Count in Le Nozze di Figaro, Marcello in La Boheme,
Moses in Mahagonny and Amfortas in Parsifal.
An alumnus of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Mr.
Tennent earned his Master’s in Voice at the Manhattan
School of Music, working with notable baritones Sherrill
Milnes and Thomas Stewart. Following his Carnegie Recital
debut, Mr. Tennent became a finalist in both the Metropolitan
Opera Auditions as well as the Oratorio Society of New
York Competition. He made his European concert debut
as a soloist in Carmina Burana. A frequent guest artist
with the Honolulu Symphony Mr. Tennent has appeared
in Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Creation, the
title role in Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Beethoven’s
Ninth, Verdi’s Requiem, Hermann Suter’s
Le Laudi and the Faure Requiem. In 2004, Mr. Tennent
was soloist in Haydn’s Mass in Time of War at
the first annual Hawaii Vocal Masterworks Festival and
in Vaughan William’s Dona Nobis Pacem in the summer
of 2005.
Leading roles in musical theatre include Emile De Beque
on the national tour of South Pacific, Curley in Oklahoma!
with the Alaska Light Opera Theater, as well as leads
in Kiss Me Kate,The Fantasticks and Kismet. Recent oratorio
and operatic engagements include appearances with the
Honolulu Symphony as baritone soloist in Beethoven’s
Ninth, Mozart Requiem with the Kona Chamber Orchestra
and roles in Rigoletto and Gianni Schicci with HOT.
The baritone looks forward to a debut this summer with
the Maine Grand Opera as Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha.
Currently Mr. Tennent is a professor of voice at Chaminade,
and teaches privately at St. Christopher’s in
Kailua where he is baritone soloist.
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