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Aram
Barsamian Baritone
Aram Barsamian, originally from Plovdiv, Bulgaria, made his San
Francisco Opera debut in Britten’s Death in Venice
following his participation in the Merola Opera Program, in which
he sang the role of Dandini in Rossini’s La Cenerentola,
a role he reprised last November at Sacramento Opera, where he has
performed in 11 productions since his debut in 1996. He has also
performed at the Nevada Opera, Opera Santa Barbara, and the Pacific
Repertory Opera. He has performed at the Ventura Chamber Musica
Festival and the Carmel Bach Festival, as well as several times
here in Corona del Mar.
Barsamian is a two-time district winner of the Metropolitan Opera
National Council Auditions, and was a U.S. finalist in the Veronica
Dunne International Singing Competition. He is currently on the
voice faculty of Pasadena City College and Cypress College, and
is the opera director at La Sierra University. We welcome his return
to our Festival.
Christopher Lindbloom
Baritone
Christopher
Lindbloom completed undergraduate studies at Boston University,
received his doctorate in vocal performance at the University of
Southern California, and served for some years on the music faculties
of Point Loma College in San Diego and North Texas State University
in Denton. He has been active in Orange County as a musical editor,
church musician and voice teacher. He has appeared as a soloist
with the San Diego Symphony and the Santa Monica Symphony and in
many recitals throughout the country.
Now residing in Richmond, Virginia, Lindbloom is a financial advisor
with Legg Mason, a Baltimore-based investment brokerage firm. He
remains active as a singer — most recently in the James River
Singers, a new chamber music group based at the University of Richmond
— and performs often throughout the mid-Atlantic states. He
has been a baritone soloist regularly in our Festivals since our
first season in 1981.
Jonathan
Mack Tenor
Jonathan Mack earned degrees in both French horn and vocal performance
at the University of Southern California. His recital, opera and
concert career as a lyric tenor has taken him throughout the United
States, Germany, France and Australia. American opera engagements
have included Kentucky Opera, Opera Columbus, Opera Utah, Vancouver
Opera, Portland Opera, and 17 seasons with the Los Angeles Opera,
where he has performed more than 50 roles. His concert work includes
engagements with Chautauqua Festivals, Carmel Bach Festival, Ojai
Festival, Hollywood Bowl, London Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic
and Minnesota Orchestra under conductors Giulini, Mehta, Previn,
Boulez, Rattle, Hogwood and Tilson Thomas. He more recently appeared
with Festival Miami and toured the Province of Quebec with the Montreal
Metropolitan.
In demand as a studio singer, he has sung in more than 100 films,
radio and television productions. He is on the voice faculty of
the University of Southern California and Chapman University. This
is his seventh season in Corona del Mar.
Susan
Montgomery Soprano
Susan Montgomery earned her Bachelor of Music degree at Chapman
University and Master of Music at California State University,
Fullerton. While still a student she was a first-place winner
in the Metropolitan Regional Auditions in Orange County. She has
gone on to a very busy and successful solo career, both locally
and in New York. In the summer of 2007 she appeared in China with
the Beijing Symphony in Carmina Burana under the baton of William
Hall. She has recently soloed in the Mozart Requiem with the Los
Angeles Master Chorale, and the Brahms German Requiem and Bach
Mass in B Minor with the Palisades Symphony.
A member of the Screen Actors Guild, Montgomery has performed in
recordings and movie soundtracks, including Galaxy Quest
and Snow Falling on Cedars. She was the principal soloist
with the London Symphony in a new work entitled Orfeo: Opera
for a New Age. She also recorded for the album “The Birthday
of the World: A Compendium of High Holy Day Music,” narrated
by Leonard Nimoy, and the enchanting “Hotel Luna,” a
new-age jazz album composed and performed by pianist Suzanne Ciani.
Daniel
Roihl Countertenor
Daniel Roihl, a native of south Florida, has been active in the
New England musical scene as a singer, conductor, and composer since
1990. As an undergraduate at Harvard, he studied choral and orchestral
conducting, composition, and voice, graduating with highest honors
in music. He founded and spent two years directing the Concordia
Society, a chamber choir of 24 voices specializing in challenging
a cappella repertoire in a variety of styles. He received his master’s
degree in choral conducting from the Yale School of Music, where
he was awarded a full merit scholarship by Yale’s Institute
of Sacred Music.
As a singer he has performed extensively in opera, oratorio, and
musical theater as both a baritone and a countertenor. He has been
featured as a soloist with the Harvard University Choir, the Harvard
Glee Club, the Yale Camerata, the Yale Pro Musica, and the Yale
Collegium Musicum, and was selected as a finalist in auditions for
the professional vocal ensemble Chanticleer. His current appointments
include music director of the United Methodist Church in Lexington,
Massachusetts, co-conductor of the Elm City Girls’ Choirs
in New Haven, and Choral Conducting Intern for Chorus Angelicus
in Torrington, Connecticut.
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