St John’s Episcopal Church “Music on the Corner Series” and Opera Roanoke will present a special performance of Amahl and the Night Visitors, Gian Carlo Menotti’s beloved holiday opera at St. John’s Episcopal Church in downtown Roanoke. The performance will be held at 6:00 pm on January 6, 2012.
Joseph Flummerfelt has been named by Leonard Bernstein “the greatest choral conductor in the world” Maestro Flummerfelt is founder and musical director of the New York Choral Artists, is an artistic director of the Spoleto Festival USA and for 33 years was artistic director of the world renowned Westminster Choir College. He was selected by Menotti as the first maestro del coro forthe Festival dei due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy, a post he held for 23 years.
“Joseph Flummerfelt is one of the greatest musicians alive, and it is a privilege for us to welcome him to Roanoke for this production of an opera by a composer with whom he was closely associated for decades,” said Opera Roanoke General and Artistic Director, Scott Williamson, who will sing the role of Kaspar, one of the three kings in the opera.
Joining him will be acclaimed soprano Amy Cofield Williamson, last heard in Roanoke as the title character of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. Zachary H’doubler, a student at North Cross School and a member of St. John’s Episcopal Church, will make his operatic debut as the title character in Amahl and the Night Visitors. Members of the Opera Roanoke Young Apprentice Program will also perform, these include students from Radford University and other regional colleges. David Charles Campbell, St. John’s Minister of Music, will accompany on the Aeolian-Skinner Quimby pipe organ.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for us to collaborate with Opera Roanoke” said Dr. John R. Wood, chairperson of Music on the Corner. “This joint production will be an extraordinary epiphany gift to the community.”
For more information, contact St. John’s Episcopal Church at 540-343-9341 or Opera Roanoke at 540-982-2742.
