  Susan Gundunas began singing, dancing, and acting on the stage of her parents’ Greek restaurant in Los Altos, California as a child. She began her acting career with San Jose Repertory Theatre and after having caught the eye of Irene Dalis began her career as a Principal Resident Artist at Opera San Jose where she sang over 20 leading roles including Adina, Lucia, Violetta, Cio-Cio San, Mimi and Donna Anna followed by a year in Germany where she sang the operatic role of Carlotta in Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Phantom of the Opera. Since returning to the States, Susan has performed across the country in a variety of roles with Nevada Opera, Opera Memphis, Opera Idaho, Rimrock Opera, Pacific Repertory Opera, and others. During this time she worked intensively with composer Alva Henderson and librettist Dana Gioia as they developed their new opera Nosferatu, writing the part of Ellen expressly for Susan. As a concert artist she has sung works by Vaughan Williams, Dvorak, Mozart, Handel and Busoni with the Peninsula, San Bernadino, Santa Cruz, Las Vegas, San Jose Chamber Orchestra, Schola Cantorum, and Berkeley Symphonies, in addition to the Erie Philharmonic and NDR Symphony, Hamburg. Sonoma City Opera audiences have heard Miss Gundunas as Adina in Donizetti’s Elixir of Love and Marie in Daughter of the Regiment as well as Constanze in Mozart’s Abduction From the Seraglio. Last April Susan debuted her solo recital “All the World’s a Stage” to critical acclaim with Seventh Avenue Performances in San Francisco. Her solo recital “Life, Love and Motherhood” and the live performance of “All the World’s A Stage “ are available on CD through her website. When not singing, Susan teaches voice at University of California, Berkeley and runs a busy vocal studio in San Francisco, where she lives with her husband and two sons. For more
information, sound clips, photos and reviews you can visit her website
at  |
SONOMA CITY OPERA IS EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE TWO FALL/WINTER CONCERTS IN SONOMA: “AUTUMN MAGIC” (Opera Concert) First Congregational Church of Sonoma 252 West Spain Street Sonoma, California Sunday October 4, 2009 at 3:00 PM Enjoy a delightful program of arias, duets, trios, and quartettes from many operas/operettas by the likes of Verdi, Mozart, Strauss, Donizetti, and Jerome Kern. Performing are a wonderful group of Northern California artists, all of whom have graced the stage (or orchestra pit) in Sonoma City Opera operas over the years: pianist/conductor Mary Chun; soprano Susan Gundunas; mezzo-soprano Bonnie Brooks; tenor Ross Halper; baritone Jason Sarten and trumpeter Daniel Gianola-Norris. This promises to be an unforgettable autumn musical experience in beautiful Sonoma. Concert tickets at $25 Adults; $20 Seniors; $15 Youth 18 and under, can be purchased in advance by calling the opera number at 707-939-8288. Sonoma City Opera takes VISA and Mastercard. Tickets will also be available at the door. Doors open at 2:30 PM. “JOY TO THE WORLD” (2009 Family Christmas Concert) Sunday December 20, 2009 at 3:00 PM First Congregational Church of Sonoma – Sanctuary 252 West Spain Street, Sonoma, California JOIN OUR ARTISTS FOR WONDERFUL SONGS OF THE SEASON! Tickets are on sale after October 4th . Call 707-939-8288. $20 Adults; $18 Seniors; $10 Youth 18 and under 
|
|
Mezzo-soprano Bonnie Brooks has been performing in Sonoma County and the San Francisco Bay Area for over twenty years. She has performed extensively in opera and oratorio. She has performed principal roles with Pocket Opera, Cinnabar Opera Company, Northbay Opera, Sonoma City Opera, and Redwood Lyric Theater. She has performed in contemporary operas by Gian Carlo Menotti: Amahl and the Night Visitors (as the Mother), The Medium (as Mrs. Nolan), and most recently The Consul (as the Mother) and in Benjamin Brittain’s The Turn of the Screw (Miss Jessel). Other favorite roles has been Venus in Offenbach’s Orpheus and the Underworld, Dorabella and Marcellina in Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte and Le Nozze Di Figaro, Carmen in Bizet’s Carmen and most recently The Old Lady in Bernstein's Candide. Bonnie was also a member of the San Francisco Opera Chorus for 12 years singing in such operas as Puccini’s Turandot, Bizet’s Carmen, Messien’s St. Francis of Assisi, Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Verdi’s Don Carlos and Aida, Saint-Saens’s Samson et Dalila, Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust, Boito’s Mefistofele, Beethoven’s Fidelio, and many others. She has also been the alto soloist with the Sonoma County Bach Choir, the Santa Rosa Symphonic Chorus, the St Helena Chamber Singers, the College of Marin Community Chorus, and the St. Cecelia’s Choir and Incarnation Orchestra in such works as Bach’s Mass in B Minor, St John’s Passion and the Magnificat in D Major, Handel’s Messiah and Dixit Dominus, Hadyn’s Lord Nelson Mass, Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, and Mendelssohn’s Elijah. Bonnie has also appeared as a soloist with symphony orchestras such as The Sacramento Metropolitan Orchestra (Handel’s Messiah), The North State Symphony (Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony), and most recently The Santa Rosa Symphony (Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass) as well as numerous chamber and solo recitals in churches and concert halls. Bonnie is considered to be a true “cross-over” singer with a vocal versatility that enables her to move from a dazzling operatic aria to a gutsy rhythm and blues song or to a smooth jazz ballad with equal finesse. Her musical theater credits include roles in Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd and Into the Woods, the title role in Kander & Ebb’s Kiss of the Spider Woman, and various musical reviews like Rogers and Hammerstein’s Some Enchanted Evening and Gershwin’s Fascinating Rhythms. She also appeared with the Santa Rosa Symphony in the Green Music Festival’s July 4th Pops Concert singing songs from South Pacific. In the late 1980’s she performed at the Russian River Jazz Festival and the Cotati Jazz Festival with the vocal jazz trio “Savvy” and over the years has been a jazz vocalist in local clubs and coffee shops. She is currently working on a CD of jazz standards. Bonnie received her Bachelor of Arts in Music from Kenyon College in Ohio and studied voice at the Mozarteum Conservatory of Music in Salzburg, Austria. She is a well-know and respected vocal instructor and coach, with her private studio located in Sebastopol and is also an adjunct faculty member teaching voice at Sonoma State University. She is co-founder, former board member, and current member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing.
Having recently made his debut with Los Angeles Opera as Kromov in THE MERRY WIDOW, versatile tenor/actor Ross Halper has been called "Opera's mad genius" by conductor Kent Nagano, "Opera's man for all seasons" by famed heldentenor Jess Thomas and "Our modern Schikaneder" by the great lyric tenor Leopold Simoneau. With a repertoire of 200 roles, he has sung under solo contracts with San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Symphony, San Jose Symphony, Long Beach Opera, San Jose Opera, Carmel Bach Festival, Eugene Opera, Festival Opera, Sacramento Opera, Berkeley Symphony and many, many others. Among his favorite roles are both the RHEINGOLD and SIEGFRIED Mime, Mr. Owen in POSTCARD FROM MOROCCO, the Witch in HANSEL, Vasek in BARTERED BRIDE, Albert Herring, Szupan in GYPSY BARON, Herod in SALOME, Basilio, Jacquino in FIDELIO, the Steersman in FLYING DUTCHMAN and the Magician in THE CONSUL. Having sung virtually all the standard character roles and many unusual ones, he has summed up these experiences in a unique staged recital, GODS AND GOBLINS, presented by Columbia Artists' Community Concerts. Ross' comic acting creations in television commercials have been seen internationally. He headlined in Las Vegas and toured the world in PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, as the funny tenor, naturally. His many opera translations have been conducted by the likes of Kent Nagano (a frequent collaborator) and Nicholas McGegan, while his English MAGIC FLUTE has been sung around the nation. Ross' first opera libretto, THE HOT IRON, based upon a play by the historical minnesinger Hans Sachs, was premiered at Cinnabar Opera, with music by Michael Kimbell. Besides serving 15 years as director in residence at North Bay Opera in Fairfield CA, he has served as stage director with Eugene Opera, Opera Idaho and just returned from directing DON GIOVANNI at Pacific Repertoire Opera in San Luis Obispo. Ross has also trained singers at UC Berkeley, at San Francisco's BASOTI summer opera program, Cal Poly Univ. and at Mannes College of Music, NY. Recent projects include singing the Scribe in KHOVANSHCHINA with Kent Nagano, directing ABDUCTION, HANSEL, DIDO and translating Mozart's ABDUCTION (Lyric Opera Cleveland) and Oscar Straus' MERRY NIBELUNGS (Dicapo Opera, NY). |
Daniel Gianola-Norris
is a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory of Music (M.M., 2005) and
California State University, East Bay (B.A., 2001).
He is active as an orchestral musician, performing with such orchestras as the Santa Rosa Symphony, Modesto Symphony,Napa Valley Symphony, Santa Cruz County Symphony, and the Sonoma City Opera. He is formerly principal trumpet of the West Bay Opera. He has appeared as soloist with the American Philharmonic of Sonoma County, CSUH Symphony Orchestra, SRJC Orchestra, Baroque Sinfonia, New Millennium Strings, and the Peabody Camerata. The Baltimore Sun noted that his solo playing with the Peabody Symphony Orchestra was "especially poised and communicative." Daniel's teachers include Jay Rizzetto, Mark Inouye and Wayne Cameron, and he has performed in master classes with Karen Donnelly, Andrew Balio, and Susan Slaughter. He has performed a number of full-length solo recitals, often with a special emphasis on contemporary music for trumpet composed by women. Daniel is the trumpet instructor at Santa Rosa Junior College and at “Music to My Ears,” a music education center located in Cotati
“…One cannot resist the charm, energy and allégresse that was displayed on the podium by Mary Chun.” Le Figaro, Paris, France. In demand as a conductor of traditional grand opera repertoire as well as a fierce advocate of new work, Mary Chun has worked with many composers such as John Adams, Olivier Messiaen, Libby Larsen and Tan Dun, to name a few, to help shape the new classical repertoire of the 21st century. Invited by the composer John Adams, she conducted the Canadian, French and German premiere performances of his chamber opera I was Looking at the Ceiling and then I saw the Sky with the Finnish chamber orchestra Avanti! in Montreal, Paris and Hamburg to critical acclaim. Passionate about new lyric collaborations, she is the choice of composers to help create the new lyric canon. She has created many world premieres including Libby Larsen’s most recent opera, Everyman Jack, based on the alcohol-driven life of American writer Jack London; Mexican-Amerian composer Guillermo Galindo’s Decreation: Fight Cherries, a multi-media experimental portrait of the brief life of the brilliant French philosopher, Simone Weil; and Carlo Lucero’s Wuornos, the tragic true tale of one of only a few convicted female serial killers in the world. European engagements include conducting several popular European tours of Bizet’s Carmen with the Slovakian State Opera Company in Germany, Switzerland and Austria in addition to concerts in Belgium. Her opera/stage work in the United States includes music directing at the Hawaii Opera Theater, the Lyric Opera of Cleveland, Opera Idaho, the Texas Shakespeare Festival, the Ballet San Joaquin and the Pacific Repertory Opera, to name but a few. She has also conducted the San Francisco Contemporary Players, the Empyrean Ensemble, SF Sound, and has toured with both the San Francisco Contemporary Players (Monday Evening Concerts at LACMA) and Earplay (Central Valley, CA).
Jason Sarten
has graced stages through out the United States. Noted for his flexibility as a
performer, Jason has been seen in multiple roles from
La
Bohème
(Marcello, Schaunard and Benoit/Alcindoro),
Le
Nozze di Figaro
(Figaro,Count) as well as leading baritone roles in Faust,
Die Zauberflöte,
Die Fledermaus,
Romeo et Juliette, Madama Butterfly, and Carmen with
companies including Opera San Jose, Sacramento Opera, Pacific Repertory Opera,
West Bay Opera, Berkeley Opera, Lamplighters Music Theatre, Opera Ft. Collins
(CO), Long Leaf Opera (NC), Abilene Opera Association, Cinnabar Opera and
Livermore Valley Opera.
|
|
|
|
