Opera Edwardsville at Edwardsville City Park

For information: www.operaedwardsville.org

 

Guest Artists:
Vanessa Becerra, soprano
Alexandra LoBianco, soprano
Key’mon Murrah, countertenor
Lauren Decker, contralto
Martin Luther Clark, tenor
Eric Ferring, tenor
Evan Bravos, baritone

 

Student spotlight:
Lucy Schapman, soprano

 

With accompaniment by:
Joseph Welch, pianist and OE Artist-in-Residence

 

With emcee:
Chase Hopkins, OE Founder & Artistic Director

 

CONCERT INFORMATION:
For the first time, Opera Edwardsville will present its annual outdoor spectacle at Edwardsville City Park in late summer. High notes and high drama will celebrate high summer with selections from grand opera and the golden era of musical theater. Join Opera Edwardsville on August 23, 2024 at 8pm for this free community concert at Edwardsville City Park!

 

Guest artists include sopranos Vanessa Becerra and Alexandra LoBianco, contralto Lauren Decker, countertenor Key’mon Murrah, tenors Martin Luther Clark and Eric Ferring, baritone Evan Bravos, and pianist Joseph Welch. Founder and artistic director Chase Hopkins will emcee the concert, and Opera Edwardsville is proud to feature a student spotlight performance from Lucy Schapman, a senior at Edwardsville High School and the star of OE’s recent opera for kids, Little Red Riding Hood.

 

This all-English music program features highlights of the mid-20th century–when America began blending opera and musical theater. Blending broadway and the opera stage, the musical program will feature boundary-pushing composers like Igor Stravinsky, Leonard Bernstein, Kurt Weil, Carlisle Floyd, George Gershwin, Samuel Barber, and Rogers & Hammerstein.

 

Audiences are encouraged to bring their picnics and lawn chairs to enjoy this outdoor concert at Edwardsville City Park.

 

Before the show, OE has partnered with the chef at Cleveland Heath for a special pre-performance menu just a minute’s walk from City Park and the performance. Cleveland Heath is located at 106 N Main St, Edwardsville, IL 62025.

 

Donors will be treated to a pre-performance reception hosted by Carrollton Bank and a post-performance champagne toast and artist meet-and-greet on the outdoor patio of the Edwardsville Public Library.

 

This event will feature state-of-the-art amplification provided by Chicago’s Aphorism Studios, led by audio engineer Dan Nichols, named Person of the Year in Classical Music by the Chicago Tribune in 2021 for digital collaborations with arts organizations throughout the pandemic.

 

Lead season sponsorship comes from Stifel, the City of Edwardsville, and an anonymous donor. Presenting sponsorship comes from Lewis Rice, the Rotary Club of Edwardsville, and the Schmidt and Barton Family Fund. Patron sponsorship comes from Carrollton Bank and Irwin Chapel. Additional support comes from the Bank of Madison County, Miller and Maack General Contractors, Southern Illinois Young Artist Organization, and Tessitura Music. Special thanks to Cleveland Heath, Edwardsville Public Library, First Presbyterian Church of Edwardsville, Great Rivers and Routes Tourism Bureau, Scott Evers Photography, SIUE School of Music, and the Urban Collective Hotel.