Boston Singers' Resource News Bulletin, May 10, 2006

Celebrating local upcoming talent, the Boston Lyric Opera presents the Stephen Shrestinian Award for Excellence to an ensemble member each April. The winner this year is Andrea Coleman, mezzo soprano. http://www.blo.org

PIn April, Boston Lyric Opera presented the Stephen Shrestinian Award for Excellence to mezzo-soprano Andrea Coleman. This award is presented annually to a member of the BLO’s ensemble who has demonstrated exceptional artistic growth and shown great promise for continued professional achievement.

The Stephen Shrestinian Award for Excellence, a cash award, was created to assist young artists with further professional development and training. The recipient may use the award for BLO-approved advancement activities such as coaching a new role, taking a movement, dance or acting class, or paying a portion of graduate school tuition. The Award was established in the 1998/1999 Season by Boston Lyric Opera in memory of long-time BLO ensemble member Stephen Shrestinian following his sudden death in 1996 at the age of 29. A gifted young tenor, Mr. Shrestinian was a regular member of the BLO ensemble, and sang comprimario and supporting roles with the Company. The award is funded by the relatives, friends, colleagues, members of the BLO ensemble, audience members, and others who knew and admired him.
Andrea Coleman, who is originally from Lincoln, Nebraska, earned her Bachelors of Music in Voice Performance from the University of Kansas. She came to Boston to study at the New England Conservatory where she received her Masters of Music in Voice Performance in May 2004, under the direction of voice teacher Pat Misslin. At NEC, Ms. Coleman was seen in various roles including Madame de la Haltière in Massenet's Cendrillon; Mrs. Grose in Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw; and Third Lady in Mozart's The Magic Flute.

Ms. Coleman first appeared with BLO during the 2004-2005 Season in the ensemble of Eugene Onegin, and this season has appeared in the ensemble of Lucie de Lammermoor and with Opera New England, BLO’s Education and Community Programs Division, as the Marquise in The Daughter of the Regiment. She spent the summer of 2005 as a member of Glimmerglass Opera’s Young American Artists Program, and returns there this summer to perform the role of Karolka in Jenufa. During the 2006-2007 Season, Ms. Coleman joins Minnesota Opera as a Resident Artist, where her roles will include the Mother in Les contes d’Hoffmann, Mallika in Lakmé, and Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro.

BLO photos at: http://www.blo.org/photos_daughter.html

Recent past winners of the Stephen Shrestinian Award for Excellence include:
Laura Choi Stuart*, soprano, in 2005
Stephanie Chigas, mezzo-soprano, in 2004
Heidi Stober, soprano, in 2003
Alan Schneider,* tenor, in 2002

Soprano, Laura Choi Stuart*, made her professional debut with the BLO in 2004 as Elvira in L’Italiana in Algeri. Her engagements this year included a debut with Intermezzo Chamber Opera as Miriam in Hoiby’s The Scarf, and as The Rose in the East Coast Premiere of Rachel Portman’s The Little Prince with the BLO. Laura made her debut with Opera Boston in 2005 in the role of Anna Gomez in Menotti’s The Consul. A 2004 graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston she performed such roles as Pamina, Calisto, and Gretel. She has also performed extensively on outreach tours throughout New England with both Opera North and Opera New England. Laura grew up in Carlisle, Pennsylvania after spending her early childhood in Germany and Italy.

Stephanie Chigas, mezzo-soprano, is originally from the Chicago area and studied at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and at Boston University’s Opera Institute. Her opera credits include lead roles in La Tragédie de Carmen, La Finta Giardiniera, The Rape of Lucretia, Bizet’s Carmen, Les Contes d’Hoffmann and Così fan tutte, and Hansel and Gretel. She has sung with the Santa Fe Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Boston Lyric Opera and the Olney Theatre. Last season Ms. Chigas covered the role of Leda in The Mines of Sulphur for the New York City Opera and sang the role of La Sphinge in the American Premiere of George Enecu’s opera Oedipe for Sinfonia da Camera. In November, she reprised the role of Lucretia in The Rape of Lucretia at the Olney Theatre. This year Ms. Chigas returned to Boston to sing Flora Bervoix in La Traviata and Albine in Thaïs both with the Boston Lyric Opera.

Soprano, Heidi Stober, received her Bachelor of Music from Lawrence University and her Master of Music from New England Conservatory. Her roles include Laetitia in The Old Maid and the Thief, Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, Laurie in The Tender Land, Lisa in La Sonnambula with Milwaukee Opera Theatre, Yvette in La Rondine and Sally in Die Fledermaus both with Boston Lyric Opera. Ms. Stober spent the summers of 2002 and 2003 at Central City Opera as a Studio Artist. In 2002, she covered the role of Nellie in Summer and Smoke, and in 2003 she performed the roles of First Wife and First Gossip in the world Premiere of Gabriel’s Daughter. She is the 2002 recipient of the John Moriarty Presidential Scholarship and, in 2004, she won the Houston Grand Opera's Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers.

Tenor, Alan Schneider*, is an alumnus of The University of Massachusetts at Amherst and received his Master's Degree from Boston University where he appeared as Acis in Acis and Galatea, Reverend Pollard in Stephen Paulus' The Village Singer, the Mayor in Albert Herring, Harlekin in Ullmann's Der Kaiser von Atlantis, Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus, and Ferrando in Così fan tutte. A native of Westfield, MA, Mr. Schneider made his BLO debut in 2001 as the Second Jew in Richard Strauss’ Salome. In Boston, in has appeared as Borsa in Rigoletto, and as Remendado in Carmen on the Common, and as Comte de Lerme in Don Carlos with the BLO. Elsewhere, he has sung the roles of Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni with Sarasota Opera; Pong in Turandot with OperaDelaware; Pang in Turandot with Florida Grand Opera and; the title role in Idomeneo with Boston University Opera Institute.

BLO continues to raise funds for the Stephen Shrestinian Award for Excellence. For further information, or to contribute to the fund, contact Jennifer Carli at (617) 542-4912, ext. 230.

The Boston Lyric Opera website is: http://www.blo.org

* denotes BSR subscriber