Erin Neff
Described as ‘Arresting’ by the San Francisco Chronicle in her most recent operatic appearance, Erin Neff never fails to engage and rivet her audience dramatically and vocally. Ms. Neff made her solo debut with the San Francisco Opera as Blanche in their 2000 production of Louise and since then has returned to make several appearances with the company, including productions of Rigoletto, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and in 2008 The Bonesetter’s Daughter and Simon Boccanegra .
She has also sung with Berkeley Opera, the San Francisco Symphony singing the Alto Solo in Beethoven’s Choral Fantasia; Livermore Valley Opera, North Bay Opera, San Francisco Lyric Opera, The Worn Chamber Ensemble, The Gilmore international Keyboard Festival, The Jewish Music Festival, the Mendocino Music Festival and others.
Upcoming Performances include a concert with the 2009 Jewish Music Festival, Alto Soloist in Mozart’s Requiem with the Santa Rosa Symphony, Flora in Sacramento Opera’s 2010 production of Traviata and a concert appearance at the 2010 Telluride Music Festival singing the cabaret music of the Weimar-era Berlin.
A multi-faceted artist, Ms. Neff also collaborates with other artists to create multi-media installations. Most recently in collaboration with Lewis de Soto, a sound installation commissioned by the San Jose Institute for Contemporary Art for the 30 year retrospective of artist Lewis de Soto. She is presently developing an installation for the new Culver Arts Center in Riverside, California for April 2010.
Ms. Neff is also fascinated by the process of teaching and runs a private voice studio in San Francisco.
Michael Fontaine
As a singer and actor, Michael has appeared in dozens of regional theater roles and concerts with numerous organizations in the Bay Area and beyond, in addition to serving many years as a weekly soloist at several area churches.
His directing credits include staging musicals, dramas and opera productions for a variety of companies and educational institutions, including Sonoma City Opera (The Elixir of Love, Daughter of the Regiment, Abduction from the Seraglio, and Don Pasquale), Cinnabar Opera, Actors Theater, The First Stage Company, Pacific Alliance Theater Company, Santa Rosa Junior College, Sonoma State University, Summer Repertory Theatre, The Clarence Brown Theater at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and Lao American College in Vientiane, Laos.
He
holds a Master of Fine Arts in Stage Directing as well as a Doctor of
Education degree in Organization and Leadership from the
John Minagro
Versatile John Minagro is
frequently seen in many genre of vocal music including Opera, Oratorio,
Concert and Musical Theater.
Theater credits include the roles of Bill in Applause, Abner in Li'l
Abner, the Ghost in The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Guido in Nine,
and Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha. Both the Bay Area Theater Critics
Circle and the Sacramento Regional Theater Alliance nominated John for
Best Actor in a Musical.
A NATS First Place division winner, he has performed the title roles in
Gianni Schicchi, Aleko, Ruslan and Ludmila, Noyes
Fludde, and the Mephistopheles in Faust, Scarpia in
Tosca, Amonasro in Aïda, Alfio in Cavelleria
Rusticana, Sarastro in The Magic Flute, and two of the Kings in Amahl
and the Night Visitors (along with his son Jeremy as Amahl)
with various companies.
John has performed chorus or solo work in locations from Lincoln Center
in New York,
to the Salt Lake Mormon Tabernacle, and locally at the Concord/Chronicle
Pavilion. He
was a featured soloist on a 1993 PBS children's special performing his
own composition
called The Piano. He played the laced and coifed figure Don Attilio in
the San Francisco
tour of The Phantom of the Opera, which played for 5 years at the Curran
Theater from
December 1993 to 1998.
He has also been the guest soloist with the San Francisco Symphony at
their Summer
Broadway Pops Concert, and can be heard singing “You're A Mean One, Mr.
Grinch!”
on the Christmas CD Christmas Center Stage, an album featuring the San
Francisco cast
of The Phantom of the Opera. He can also be heard on the world premiere
album of the
new opera Corpus Evita singing the role of Juan Peron. This CD was
nominated for a
Grammy in 2005 for Best New Classical Recording. For the past few years
he has
traveled to Osaka, Japan performing at the Ritz Carleton Hotel.
In the fall of 2004 he covered several roles with San Francisco Opera,
including that of
Astrodamors in Ligeti's U.S. premier of Le
Grand Macabre. Just recently he had the
privilege of working with Philip Glass and Christopher Hampton in the
world premiere
production of Appomattox, originating the role of Confederate General
Howell Cobb.
TO ANNOUNCE OUR WINTER CONCERT
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
Make the Christmas season a joyful experience by attending Sonoma
City Opera's second annual Christmas concert, "Joy to the World".
Our artists will spread warmth and light on the shortest day of the
year through wonderful songs of the season. Performing are
pianist/conductor,
Mary Chun; soprano,
Antoinette Kuhry; mezzo soprano,
Erin Neff, tenor,
Michael Fontaine; bass baritone,
John Minagro; and violinist,
David Ryther.
Bring
the whole family, and join in a sing-a-long of carols with our
artists at the end. Tickets
can be purchased by calling
707-939-8288.
$20
Adults; $18 Seniors; $10 Youth 18 and under.
Mary Chun
“…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).
Antoinette Kuhry
Originally from Omaha, Nebraska, Ms. Kuhry received her BA degree there from
Creighton University and her MA in Dramatic Art from the University of
California at Davis. She studied voice and opera with Demetri
Onofrei and Jess Thomas. Ms. Kuhry formed Sonoma City Opera with
associates in 1984 and was its Artistic Director from 1984 until 1998.
In 2001 she returned as Artistic Director. Included in the 32
productions presented under her leadership were two world premieres,
The Dreamers
in 1996 and
Every Man Jack
in 2006. Roles she performed with the company include The Queen of
the Night in
The Magic Flute,
Lucy in
The Telephone,
and the Cheshire Cat, White Rabbit and Mock Turtle in
Alice in Wonderland.
In 1996, Ms. Kuhry was honored as Sonoma Treasure Artist of the Year for
the City of Sonoma.
David Ryther
Violinist David Ryther has brought his interpretive powers as a soloist to such festivals as the Darmstadt Summer Festival of New Music, the Banff center, and the Green Umbrella Series at the Bing theater in Los Angeles. He has been featured playing new music with adventurous ensembles sf sound group, Earplay, San Francisco Contemporary Players, the Berkeley New Music Ensemble, Sonor, and Octagon.
He is a founding member of the Presidio String Quartet, a group that specializes in contemporary music. A composer and improvisor in his own right, he is composer and core member with the modern dance troupe, Dandelion Dance Theater and was chosen to be resident composer for a Magge Allsee residency at the University of Florida, Tallahasee with the New York based dance troupe Kate Weare and Company. His string orchestra piece "Scenes from Costa Rica" was commissioned by the Villa Sinfonia and was performed on their recent tour of Scotland and England. David Ryther graduated with highest honors in music from UC Santa Cruz and recently received his doctorate in contemporary violin performance at UC San Diego.
Important mentors of his have included Janos Negyesy, Roy Malan, Roy
Oakley, Ravi Shankar, and George Lewis. David Ryther can also be found
playing in the Berkeley Symphony, the San Francisco Ballet orchestra and
teaching violin at the Crowden School for Music and with the Villa
Sinfonia.