Festival Opera will present a Gala Tribute to
the legendary MARIO LANZA
on the 40th anniversary of his death
Commemorating the 40th anniversary of
his untimely death in 1959 at age 37, Mario Lanza, acclaimed by many as America’s
premier tenor, will be remembered in a special evening of music and song by Festival
Opera at 8 p.m. Friday, March 26 in the Dean Lesher Regional Center
for the Arts in Walnut Creek.
The event -- billed as “Be My Love,” after one of Lanza’s biggest hits -- is the
Festival Opera’s annual fund raiser. It will include a gala reception, featuring
an array of tempting desserts, in the Bedford Gallery at the center. With
the Festival Opera singers, chorus and orchestra, the concert will feature film
music and opera arias that were part of Lanza’s vast repertoire. Damon Lanza,
son of the late singer, will attend the performance and greet guests and answer
questions about his father’s career. The son is currently working on a book about
the singer. It is expected to be published in the fall of 1999.
“This will be a stunning and nostalgic evening of beautiful music for the legions
people who have admired Lanza’s voice and music for at least five decades,” said
Olivia Stapp, Festival Opera artistic director, who is producing
the event. “We are delighted to have wonderful singers and musicians to help make
this a night to remember for opera devotees and Lanza fans throughout the Bay
Area.”
Among the singers scheduled to perform is tenor Michael Sommese, who is
the recent receipient of a first-prize scholarship awarded to promising young
singers by the Mario Lanza Institute in Philadelphia. He made his debut
with Festival Opera in 1997 in “Paglicacci” and will be joining the Chicago
Lyric Opera this year. Sommese will be joined by tenors Richard Nickol,
a graduate of the San Francisco Opera Merola Program who won critical and
audience acclaim in Festival Opera productions of “Pagliacci,” “Tosca,” and “La
Traviata,” and Arthur Chen, who is currently studying at New York’s Julliard
School. He will be making his debut with Festival Opera in “The Marriage of
Figaro” in July. Arrangements are nearing completion for the appearance of several
female singers who have become favorites of Festival Opera audiences. Stapp noted
that many tributes are planned for the legendary tenor in 1999 but that Festival
Opera’s salute is believed to be the first in the Bay Area.
In addition to soloists, plans for the gala include the screening of clips from
some of Lanza’s famous movies, such as “That Midnight Kiss,” in which he sang
“They Didn’t Believe Me,” and “The Great Caruso,” which gave him his biggest screen
role. His death came at a time when he was widely recognized as the world’s best-known
operatic tenor. Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Jerry Hadley
and Dmitri Hvorsostovsky are among the singers who have acknowledged that Lanza
was a major inspiration in their careers.
TICKETS: $55 and $35, plus optional $30 for post-concert reception:
Available at ticket office of Dean Lesher Regional Center for the Arts (925) 943-SHOW