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BFO Headliner Main 890x353 June 23

Kalb Conducts Mendelssohn, Ravel, & Sibelius

June 23 @ 8:00 pm

TICKETS: $49 Premium Reserved | $39 Standard Reserved | $34 Adult Lawn | $15 Child (1-12) & Student Lawn (with valid ID)

GATES OPEN: @ 5:45 PM Early Entry | 6:00 PM General Public | 7:00 PM Pre-Concert Talks

ALCOHOL: A selection of beer and wine will be available for purchase. Customers will also be permitted to bring in outside alcohol for this performance.

Info

With music of unbridled energy and shimmering orchestral color, five composers take you on a sweeping journey around the globe — from the windswept landscapes of Finland and Britain’s stormy North Sea to the hazy heat of Texas bayous and the bazaars of 19th-century Persia.

PROGRAM

Felix Mendelssohn
The Hebrides, Op. 26 (Fingal’s Cave)

Tobias Picker
Old and Lost Rivers

Maurice Ravel
Shéhérazade
     Sun-Ly Pierce, mezzo-soprano

Jean Sibelius
Symphony No. 7 in C Major

Benjamin Britten
Peter Grimes: Four Sea Interludes, Op. 33a

 

Learn more about the music and the artists by coming early for our 30-minute Pre-Concert Talk (excludes concerts with film and/or non-classical events).

Note: Schedule, programs, and artists subject to change. Visit Brittfest.org for the most current information. Standard BFO programs run 90 minutes with intermission.

 

Sponsors & Grantors:
Sponsors: Cutler Investment Group, LLC, Rogue Valley Manor, Diamond Medical Maintenance, Inc, and Kubli Haus
Grantor: The Carpenter Foundation

About Roberto Kalb

Mexican-born conductor Roberto Kalb is currently the Music Director of Detroit Opera. In 2024-2025, he will lead performances of West Side Story for his house debut with the Houston Grand Opera, Siegfried with the Atlanta Opera, and La Traviata and Rinaldo with the Detroit Opera. He will conduct the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería in concerts alongside Sir Bryn Terfel in Mexico City. He will also debut with the Orquesta Sinfónica del Estado de México conducting Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5.
Recent highlights include debuts with the Santa Fe Opera where he conducted L’elisir d’amore, Atlanta Opera conducting Rigoletto, as well as with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. Kalb made his inaugural debut as Music
Director of Detroit Opera conducting Yuval Sharon’s production of The Cunning Little Vixen. In Detroit, he also conducted an Arias and Overtures Gala, as well as launching the “Beyond the Pit” series featuring the Detroit Opera Orchestra. Kalb returned to Lyric Opera of Kansas City to conduct a double bill of Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci. Kalb’s 2022-2023 season included performances at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, San Diego Opera, and San Francisco Opera. In 2019, Kalb concluded his five-season tenure as resident conductor and head of music at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis with a critically acclaimed run of Rigoletto in collaboration with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra.
He has an impressive repertoire of performances with various renowned opera companies and symphonies. These include the Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier, Florida Grand Opera, Kentucky Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Michigan Opera Theatre, Wolf Trap Opera, Opera Maine, and Tulsa Opera. Additionally, he has conducted performances with the Orquesta Carlos Chavez in Mexico City and the Orquestra Sinfonica da USP in São Paulo. He has collaborated with some of the lead orchestras in the United States, including the National Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, San Diego Symphony, and Louisville Orchestra.
In 2021, Roberto was awarded the prestigious Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award. He holds degrees from the University of Michigan and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He is married to soprano, Mane Galoyan.

About Sun-Ly Pierce

Chinese-American mezzo-soprano Sun-Ly Pierce, Third Prize Winner of the 2024 Operalia competition, is rapidly establishing herself as a versatile and dynamic artist in both traditional and contemporary repertoire.

During the 24/25 season, Sun-Ly will return to several notable theaters for exciting role debuts, including Opera Philadelphia in L’amant anonyme (Dorothée), Detroit Opera in Così fan tutte (Dorabella) in a new production by Yuval Sharon, and Des Moines Metro Opera in The Cunning Little Vixen (Fox). On the concert stage, she will debut with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra in Messiah, the Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra in excerpts from Carmen, the Britt Festival Orchestra for Ravel’s Shéhérazade, and the Colorado Springs Philharmonic in Madama Butterfly (Suzuki). She will also return to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in Die Walküre (Siegrune) under the baton of Music Director Fabio Luisi. Future seasons include a debut with The Santa Fe Opera and returns to The Metropolitan Opera and Houston Grand Opera.

In the 23/24 season, Ms. Pierce made several high-profile debuts, including The Metropolitan Opera in La Rondine (Suzy), Hudson Opera House in Rodelinda (Bertarido), New Orleans Opera in Le nozze di Figaro (Cherubino), and Berkshire Opera Festival in Faust (Siébel). Additionally, she returned to Houston Grand Opera in Madama Butterfly (Suzuki) and for the world premiere of The Big Swim (Snake/Sheep) by Meilina Tsui and Melisa Tien, to Des Moines Metro Opera in Il barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina), and debuted with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in Die Walküre (Siegrune) under Fabio Luisi.

In the 22/23 season, Sun-Ly made role and house debuts at Calgary Opera in The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs (Laurene Powell), Opera Philadelphia in Otello (Emilia), and Detroit Opera in Xerxes (Arsamene). She also returned to Houston Grand Opera in The Wreckers (Jack and Thirza cover) and Des Moines Metro Opera in The Love of Three Oranges (Smeraldina) and The Falling and the Rising (Toledo). On the concert stage, she performed Mozart’s Requiem with the Houston Symphony conducted by Itzhak Perlman, Szymanowski’s Songs of the Infatuated Muezzin with The Orchestra Now at Carnegie Hall, recitals for Lyric Fest in Philadelphia, and various programs at Bard Music Festival.

Ms. Pierce is a first-place winner of the Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers and a graduate of the prestigious Butler Studio at Houston Grand Opera. Her assignments while in the studio included Roméo et Juliette (Stéphano), Die Zauberflöte (Second Lady) in the Kosky production, Dialogues des Carmélites (Sister Mathilde and Blanche de la Force cover), Carmen (Mercédès), and Hänsel und Gretel (Hänsel). Additional engagements during this period included debuts with San Francisco Opera in Sheng’s Dream of the Red Chamber (Bao Chai), Des Moines Metro Opera in Die Zauberflöte (Second Lady) in the Kosky production, and Aspen Music Festival in Don Giovanni (Donna Elvira).

She has won top prizes in the Marilyn Horne Song Competition, Dallas Opera National Vocal Competition, and Butler Opera International Voice Competition. She was a semi-finalist in the Kurt Weill Foundation’s Lotte Lenya Competition and a Vocal Fellow at the Music Academy of the West. She was also an Encouragement Winner in the New England Region of The Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition. A native of Clinton, New York, she holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and Bard College Conservatory of Music.

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