Hard to Handel
Premier December 20, 2009
UUCB, Kensington CA

Click HERE to see YouTube Clip

. . . . Sort of looks like the Nutcracker?!

. . . . . . Sounds like the Messiah!?

Hard to Handel  is an artistic confection -- a surprising blend of music and movement that showcases the playful side of George Frideric Handel.  Using music from a chamber duet -- written within months of the Messiah and sharing the DNA for two of its great choruses -- Opera Frontier’s performance embraces the tension between the text (a melancholy Italian love poem) and the effervescence of this music.  We think he would love it. 

*Gail Simpson *Maria Mikheyenko *
*Dalyte Kodzis * Cass Mann *  
Zachary Gordin (Harpsichord) * Jennifer Butler (Cello)

*Choreography by Jamie Ray Wright *
(www.DanceWright.com)
Assisted by Mayra Swatt

*Musical direction by Zachary Gordin *
(www.ZacharyGordin.com)

 
Music by G. F. Handel, No, di voi non vo’fidarmi
Text attributed to Abbate Mauro Ortensio

Jennifer Butler  (Cello)

Zachary Gordin (Harpsichord and Musical Advisor)  Achieving international acclaim for his intense stage personality and a voice noted for its versatility, Zachary is a noted interpreter of the 18th century coloratura bass repertoire, Bel Canto works of Bellini and Donizetti, as well as works of contemporary composers. Formerly one of the leading operatic countertenors of his generation, he has sung in concert and opera in the United States and Europe, performing the roles of Cesare, Oberon, Orfeo, Rinaldo, Serse, Sesto, Tancredi, The Sorceress in Dido and Aeneas, and many others.  Recently focusing his career on the baritone repertoire, Zachary’s praise from the press and public has been unanimously outstanding.  Among his many awards and accolades are: Winner of the 2006 Pacific Musical Society Competition, Winner of the 2005 East Bay Opera League Vocal Competition, Winner of the 1999 Bellini International Voice Competition, Winner of the 1999 Ibla Grand Prize Baroque Music Competition, Recipient of the Irene Patti Swartz Encouragement Award for the 2001 Florida Grand Opera National Voice Competition, and Grantee of the Vocal Arts Foundation in San Francisco in 2002. He was also World Finalist for the Academia at Teatro alla Scala in 1999, Regional Finalist for the 2001 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and the youngest candidate selected for the ORFEO 2000 World Competition of International Finalists hosted by Hannover Staatsoper. 

Dalyte Kodzis (Mezzo-soprano) received her Bachelor’s of Music in 2006 from UC Santa Cruz. At UCSC, she was given the opportunity to perform in some of the most beloved scenes and full-scale productions in the operatic repertoire. Roles there have included the Prioress in Dialogues Des Carmelites, the title role in Carmen, Mustardseed in A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Mrs. Jones in Street Scene. She also has performed in musicals, such as 42nd Street, The Wiz, and The Music Man. Her rendition of Gussie Carnegie in the UCSC Theatre's production of Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along won her critical acclaim from the Santa Cruz press. She also performed the title role in a UCSC Opera Outreach production called Carmenella, which aimed to introduce the art of opera to school children. Recent roles include Jadwiga in The Haunted Manor with Pocket Opera, Alla in Solidarity with Goat Hall Productions, and Leona in La Belle Helene with Pocket Opera. Awards include first place in the Orinda Arts Council scholarship competition.

Cass Mann  (Soprano) is a local classical singer and teacher, and she is passionate about sharing beautiful music.  Her favorite performed roles include Miss Silverpeal in The Impresario, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Laurie in Copland's The Tender Land, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, the Bergère and Screech Owl in Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges.  Ms. Mann earned her Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance at Colorado State University.  She currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she has enjoyed performing with Berkeley Opera, Pocket Opera, Festival Opera Chorus, and East Bay Aria Club.   She is very much enjoying her first collaboration with Opera Frontier. 

Maria Mikheyenko (Soprano)  A native of St. Petersburg, Russia, Maria Mikheyenko has sung with the Russian Chamber Orchestra, is a guest artist at the San Francisco Russian Festival, and presents recitals of Russian Romances throughout the Bay Area.  Ms. Mikheyenko’s opera credits include Berkeley Opera, Pocket Opera, Capitol Opera Sacramento, Bay Shore Lyric Opera, Opera Lafayette, Oakland Opera Theater, and the Austrian American Mozart Academy of Salzburg. In the world of contemporary music, Ms. Mikheyenko is a frequent collaborator with Bay Area composers. She has performed in three world premieres by Lisa Scola Prosek, in several of Mark Alburger’s operas with San Francisco Cabaret Opera, as well as John Bilotta’s award-winning Quantum Mechanic, and she recently premiered Night and Trees by Gerhard Samuel with the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra.  Ms. Mikheyenko is a founding member of the innovative song and dance troupe, Opera Frontier. (See www.MariaMikheyenko.com.)

Gail Simpson (Soprano) is the Founder, Producer and  Artistic Director of Opera Frontier.  People who know her are not surprised to find her exploring the frontier of opera.  Prior explorations have put an eclectic array of bullet points on her resume, such as working two years in Ethiopia on a UN drought relief project, getting a PhD in economics, founding an Inc 500 company, serving as a hospital chaplain, and running a non-profit that supports socially responsible investing.  But her soul always pulls her toward song and dance.  She is grateful to her teacher/mentor, Lillian Loran, who encouraged her as she added these performance credits to her resume:  Gail won critical acclaim in her local debut -- a Jerome Kern review called A Fine Romance at the late, great Valencia Rose Theater;   at the Edinburg International Festival Fringe she was Katie in Joseph Lilis’ Cole Porter review Some Like It Cole;  locally she perform Magnolia in Showboat, Cunegonde in Candide and the Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors, and as soprano soloist sang Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, and Bach’s Hunting Cantata.  In addition to performing, she has produced her own critically acclaimed cabaret show at the Plush Room, and two operettas with Bay Area director Ross Halper.  Opera Frontier was hatched in Gail’s mind while daydreaming in Roger Dilahunty’s dance class instead of concentrating on the jazz-blues routines he so ardently wanted her to master.   She currently studies with Zachary Gordin, whose talent and passion for fabulous singing make opera a truly fascinating frontier.

Mayra Swatt (Assistant Choreographer, Understudy)

Jamie Ray Wright (Choreographer) came to dance later than most. He was a drummer, punk rock musician, and music arranger, while still a student at Stanford University. He further continued his creative impulses as an advertising copywriter and marketing executive for almost 20 years — all the while, harboring an intense love of dance. After more than 20 years of watching dance from afar, he could stand it no longer and entered the studio for the first time. After intensively taking class seven days a week, a minimum of 3 hours per day, he evolved into a performer and then a maker of dances.  Since 2000, Jamie has been creating dances for a variety of settings and in a variety of styles. He is the Artistic Director of  The DanceWright Project, a contemporary ballet company.  His work has been seen at the ODC Theater, the Cowell Theater, and Dance Mission in San Francisco.