This report is last minute, but if you haven’t made plans for Friday evening (February 23), might you be interested in having five talented young opera singers sing famous Donizetti, Mozart, Puccini, and Verdi arias for you? The Maryland Lyric Opera’s Young Artist Institute is sponsoring a concert featuring its current class of young artists: tenor Dashaui Chen, baritone Hunter Enoch, soprano Maria Natale, soprano Cong Cong Wang, and mezzo-soprano Chantel Woodard; they will be accompanied on piano by Associate Conductor Rafael Andrade. After competing successfully for the slots, the young artists receive intensive vocal instruction by staff of the Maryland Lyric Opera.
Maryland Lyric Opera poster from Facebook.
Opera singing is hard; a while back I wrote a blog report on why singing opera could be an Olympic event. Young artist programs accept very promising, already accomplished, young singers to provide them additional training and exposure, a further step in becoming fully developed professional soloists. They are literally training opera’s stars of tomorrow.
The concert is free, an excellent cheap date. This is also a good opportunity to sample live opera in a small, cozy venue. Plus, not only is the price excellent, but it’s a relatively short program, so you won’t be investing the usual 2-4 hours for a fully staged opera.
I am not able to attend on Friday and was allowed to sit in on today’s rehearsal. I am very impressed; I enjoyed each performance. You really should have to pay for performances this good.
The Fan Experience: The free concert is at 7 pm at the Lerner Family Theater at the Imagination Stage in Bethesda. There is a parking deck next door to the theater; the slot I parked in did not accept credit cards. There was a number to call or you could download and use an app to pay; I chose to download and use the Parkmobile app, which was straightward and has the advantage you can extend your time using the app on your phone; I think it also accepted coins. It’s a half mile from the Bethesda Metro stop.
If you miss this MDLO young artist concert this time, there will be another on April 20; check the website closer to that date for details.