Season Finale Concert 5: "Ode to Joy"

Beethoven's 9th Symphony, which includes the Choral, "Ode to Joy," contains no less than one of Mankind's supreme epiphanies of love and goodwill, yet it is the journey toward this utopian summit that makes this Symphony conceivably the greatest of all.

Contemporary Composer-Conductor, Esa-Pekka Salonen's, "NYX" spins an intoxicating web of associative colors and textures, while describing a proto-god of Greek Mythology.

This concert features vocal soloists from the Metropolitan Opera, as well as the Cabrillo Symphonic Chorus under the direction of Cheryl Anderson.

SALONEN NYX
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9
with Guest Soloists:
Michelle Bradley, Soprano
Avery Amereau, Mezzo Soprano
Kang Wang, Tenor
Shenyang, Bass-Baritone
and the Cabrillo Symphonic Chorus
with Cheryl Anderson, Director

GUEST SOLOIST BIOGRAPHIES

Michelle Bradley, Soprano

A native of Houston, Texas, Soprano Michelle Bradley is in her first year of the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program.

She was the 2014 grand prize winner of The Music Academy of the West’s Marilyn Horne Song Competition and completed a nationwide recital tour in May 2015. She has participated in master classes with Stephanie Blythe, Anne Sofie von Otter, Marilyn Horne, Deborah Voigt and James Morris. In October 2014, she performed the role of Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte with Opera Ebony. Ms. Bradley recently performed in Carnegie Hall’s Neighborhood Recital Series in honor of Marilyn Horne, and is the 2016 recipient of the Hildegard Behrens Foundation Award.

She received her Masters of Music in Vocal Performance from Bowling Green State University.

Avery Amereau, Mezzo Soprano

Mezzo-soprano Avery Amereau has garnered much attention for the unique quality of her voice and sensitivity to interpretation. She has been praised by The New York Times as “sensual and achingly perfect" and "particularly excellent,” and by Opera Today as possessing “an effortlessly rich mezzo-soprano voice worthy of any professional stage in the industry, with charisma to match.”

Recent highlights include Olga in Eugene Onegin, and Mme. de la Haltière in Cendrillon at The Juilliard School, a role that she covered at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera in Fiona Shaw’s acclaimed production. She also saw her role debut as Carmen the New York Opera Exchange. Recent concert engagements include the Duruflé Requiem with Voices of Ascension, an evening of Bach Cantatas with the Toledo Symphony, and Martin’s Golgotha with the New Amsterdam Singers.

The Boston Musical Intelligencer wrote, “mezzo-soprano Avery Amereau drew the drama from someplace deep within herself, the lowest notes a rich, enveloping curtain of clarity and undulating vibrato. Her sotto voce da capo was a moment of easy musical magic.” An avid recitalist, Ms. Amereau has performed recitals in New York, Florida, and Germany, which were broadcast on Bavarian Radio.

A native of Jupiter, Florida, Ms. Amereau received her Bachelor of Music degree at Mannes College, and her Master of Music degree at The Juilliard School studying under Edith Wiens. During the summers of 2011-2014, she studied at the Internationale Meistersinger Akademie, under the tutelage of Malcolm Martineau, Ann Murray, and John Fisher, among others. She is currently pursuing an Artist Diploma in Opera Studies at Juilliard, where she is a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship.

Kang Wang, Tenor

Australian-Chinese tenor, Kang Wang, is the son of two renowned opera singers. Originally from Harbin, China, he has recently finished the International Artist Diploma (Opera) at Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, UK. Kang also finished his Master of Music Studies (Opera) program at Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University in Australia under Mr. Joseph Ward, OBE.

Kang won the People's Choice Award in the Dame Joan Sutherland National Vocal Award. He performed in the final concert of the Australian Singing Competition at the Sydney Opera House as one of the five finalists. He was a semi-finalist of the 2011 Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition in Vienna, Austria, finalist in the McDonald Operatic Aria Competition 2011 and Italian Opera Foundation Australia Scholarship. Kang is also the winner of the 2014 Clonter Opera Prize in the UK.

Since 2010, Kang has appeared as a guest soloist in over 20 concerts with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and was a special guest soloist in Lisa Gasteen's return to the stage concert in 2011. Kang has also been a guest soloist in operatic concerts by Opera Queensland in 2013 and 2014. In September 2011, Kang made his operatic debut as "Rinuccio" in Queensland Conservatorium's production of "Gianni Schicchi" and he has performed the title role, "Tom Rakewell," in Queensland Conservatorium's production of Stravinsky's "The Rake's Progress" in September 2012.

Kang has been a member of the opera studio “OperAvenir” at Theater Basel in Switzerland from August 2014 to July 2015 and the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program of the Metropolitan Opera New York since September 2015.

Shenyang, Bass-Baritone

Bass-baritone Shenyang is recognized as the 2007 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World as well as 2010 winner of the Montblanc New Voices at Stars of the White Nights Festival and as 2008 winner of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award.
A frequent collaborator with the Metropolitan Opera, Shenyang has most recently returned to the house for Julie Taymor’s beloved production of The Magic Flute, conducted by Jane Glover, and for La cenerentola under the baton of the Met’s Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi. At the Met, Shenyang previously has been heard as Masetto in a new production of Don Giovanni, directed by Michael Grandage and conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, as Garibaldo in Rodelinda directed by Stephen Wadsworth and conducted by Harry Bicket, and as Colline in La bohème in the beloved Franco Zefferili production conducted by Marco Armiliato.

Shenyang embodies a 21st century bridge between the cultures of East and West. His celebration of the human voice was spotlighted as Artist in Residence of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra in 2011-12 in numerous programs conducted by Long Yu with repertoire ranging from Bach and Mozart to Rachmaninov and Mahler. He joined Daniel Harding and the China Philharmonic for selections from Mahler’s Des knaben Wunderhorn at the opening weekend of the Beijing Music Festival and was presented in solo recital at the Festival in a program of Schubert, Loewe, and Mahler.

Born in Tianjin, China, Shenyang studied with Professor Ping Gu at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. He is an alumnus of the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and of The Julliard School Opera Center. He has received master classes with James Levine, José Van Dam, John Fisher, Carlo Bergonzi, Renata Scotto, Sir Thomas Allen, Håkan Hagegård, Christa Ludwig, Barbara Bonney, Malcolm Martineau, Stephen Wadsworth, and Renée Fleming.
(Photo credit: Jerry Liu)