February 2013

Dear Friends of VeraMusica,

I wanted to write you a few lines to thank you for supporting our musical activities of the last two years and to give you a preview of our plans for the Winter/Spring 2013.

As we all know, money is not easy to come by these days, but thanks to the support you continue giving us with the purchase of the tickets for these concerts, these young singers have been growing artistically as they polish their craft with each of these musical activities.

For this I thank you on their behalf, as well as mine.

This year we have an interesting season ahead which will include concerts of operatic highlights, at least two operatic titles, and some other works .

It is an ambitious Winter/Spring 2013 for VeraMusica Productions, but there is no way I can keep these kids under wraps! Some of them are even catching the ears of Maestros and Producers from the big times, both in the USA and abroad.

I hope my words have whetted your appetite for good music and good singing: Our season will kick off in the month of March. 

Below please find a calendar of the upcoming performances by VeraMusica Productions.

Have a very prosperous 2013, the Year of the Snake, and we hope you continue your support in the coming year, as you did the previous two.

Sincerely,

Francisco Chahin-Casanova

President

VeraMusica Ltd 

VeraMusica productions: 

Winter / Spring performances calendar.

For more information or to receive our mailings, please write to 

VM productions at: info@veramusicaltd.com

Visit our website, www.veramusicaltd.com or subscribe to our blog, 

Una Parola by Francisco Casanova

SAVE THESE DATES

Giuseppe Verdi’s Il Trovatore (Highlights) 

- Saturday March 16th 

Sandra Mercado - Leonora

Sara Murphy - Azucena

Ubaldo Feliciano - Manrico

Gustavo Ahualli - Conte di Luna

- Thursday March 21st

Sandra Mercado - Leonora

Sara Murphy - Azucena

Byron Singleton - Manrico

Ricardo Rosas - Conte di Luna

Mo. Brian Holman, conductor

Recital of operatic scenes and arias

Francisco Casanova, Sandra Mercado, soprano 

and Sara Murphy, mezzo-soprano
Ihn Kyu Lee, baritone

Mo. Brian Holman, accompanist

- Saturday, April 13th

VM’s Young Singers recital: 

Jennifer Furst, soprano

Tara Kavanagh, soprano

Daniel Byerly, tenor

Accompanist TBA

- Sunday April 28th

Giuseppe Verdi’s Giovanna d’Arco

Sandra Mercado - Giovanna d’Arco

Joseph Mayon - Dauphin, Re Carlo

Ricardo Rosas - Giacomo

Ming Kwong, conductor

- Friday May 24th

Gustav Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde

Sara Murphy, mezzo-soprano

Emanuel Mora - tenor

accompanist TBA

- Saturday June 1st

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Two celebrated Metropolitan Opera Stars 

join to support the New Rochelle Opera

Come hear 

Aprile Millo and Francisco Casanova* 

and friends in a Benefit concert in support of 

The New Rochelle Opera.

Guests include soprano Mary-Lou Vetere, mezzo-soprano Sara Murphy, tenor Edgar Jaramillo and baritone Gustavo Ahualli, who will sing arias and ensembles from operas by Puccini, Verdi, Boito, Giordano and Mascagni, plus romantic songs by various composers.

Maestro Brian Holman will accompany at the piano.

This concert will take place on Sunday, the 11th of November at 3 PM, in the Auditorium Christopher J. Murphy of the Iona College of New Rochelle (NY).

General admission is $30.00, Seniors $28.00.

For reservations mail your check made to The New Rochelle Opera, Inc. to The New Rochelle Opera, PO Box 55, New Rochelle, NY 10804. Your reservation will be held at the door.

For further information call (914) 576-1617 or (914) 576-0365.

All proceeds will benefit New Rochelle Opera’s production of I Pagliacci, plus highlights of Cavalleria Rusticana of June 2013.

*Francisco Casanova appears by a courtesy of VeraMusica Ltd.

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VeraMusica Productions, presents

An evening of operatic arias and duets

with two golden voices

Sar Murphy, mezzo-soprano

Sandra Mercado, soprano

Accompanied at the piano by                                                                                                                                                                       

Mo. Brian Holman


Thursday, November 15th 2012, at 8 PM
at the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd
240 East 31st Street, New York, NY

Music by Verdi, Puccini, Delibes, Bellini.

For ticket purchase go to operaticduets.eventbrite.com
$20.00 on line or $25.00 at the door, cash only.



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Tutto Verdi... successful program

Francisco Casanova speaks to the young singers at the end of the program.

Risking to sound like a proud father, I am going to say what I am going to say: the program that my kids presented the other afternoon at the Church of and St. Stephen's of Manhattan was a resounding success.

Francisco Casanova speaks to the audience
that filled the Church of Christ and St. Stephen's
on October 7th for the program Tutto Verdi

They all managed, at the different levels of development at which they are, to deliver a memorable performance. Each was at the top of his/her mastery of the craft, and the enthusiastic applause of the audience that filled the church -at the end of the ensembles as well as at the end of the performance- corroborates my words.

Maestro Brian Holman accompanies Francisco Casanova

Sandra, Sara, Jennifer, Byron, Joseph, Ubaldo, Benjamin, Stefanos  Maestro Holman, Yumi, Tara, Elizabeth and Amine I am a fortunate man because I know people of your caliber, who are on their way to become as well excellent professionals in the Music field.

Thank you for being in my life.

Francisco

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See Mezzo-soprano Sara Murphy

in concert next week

Mezzo-soprano Sara Murphy

Program

My Soul Rejoices

Bach Magnificat and Brandenburg Concerto No. 3

Mozart Solemn Vespers and Church Sonata No. 16

7 PM, Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Sacred Music in a Sacred Space
Choir and Orchestra of St. Ignatius Loyola

Church of St. Ignatius Loyola
980 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10028

Tickets:
$50 Preferred Seating
$40 General Seating
$20 Seniors and Students same-day rush

Info and tickets at www.smssconcerts.org

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www.veramusicaltd.com dedicated to excellence

Tenor Francisco Casanova 

to Herald Start of Verdi Bicentennial

On October 7, 2012 at 2:45 in the afternoon at Christ and St. Stephen’s Church (NY, NY), 

VeraMusica, Ltd. will present Tutto Verdi, great ensemble scenes of the celebrated Italian composer and father of modern Italian opera.

Soprano Jennifer Furst

Tutto Verdi will feature tenor Francisco Casanova, an internationally renowned artist and specialist in the music of Verdi. Jumpstarting the celebration of the Verdi bicentennial year with him will be sopranos Jennifer Furst and Sandra Mercado; mezzo-soprano Sara Murphy; tenors Benjamin Clark, Ubaldo Feliciano-Hernández, and Byron Singleton and baritone Stefanos Koroneos. Maestro Brian Holman will accompany the cast at the piano.

Tickets may be purchased in   advance for $20 (http://tuttoverdi.eventbrite.com) and at the door for $25 (cash only). 

Having sung more than 50 operatic leading roles, ranging from Haydn to Montemezzi⎯22 from the pen of Giuseppe Verdi⎯Dominican tenor Francisco Casanova is a frequent guest artist of the major opera houses of the world.

Casanova began his career in Bilbao, Spain⎯with ABAO in Verdi’s Nabucco as Ismaele⎯after having won the First Grand Prize for Male Voices and the Special Prize La Traviata at the XXVIII edition of the Francesc Viñas International Singing Competition of Barcelona, November 1990 and the Second Prize for Male Voices of the III International Singing Competition of Bilbao, December 1990.

Soprano Sandra Mercado

Casanova’s interpretations have been hailed around the world in tones of praise. Worthy of mentioning are the review in the German magazine ORPHEUS (February 2000) of his interpretation of the Jew Eleazar, as well as Il Corriere della Sera’s review (May 2003) of his debut at Milan’s La Scala in Verdi’s I Due Foscari. 

Mezzo-soprano Sara Murphy

Spain also praised him generously for his interpretations of Riccardo in Un Ballo in Maschera (San Sebastian, 2004), as well as for his Carlo Moor in I Masnadieri (Bilbao, 2004), both operas by Giuseppe Verdi.

For the greater part of his vocal development, Maestro Pier Miranda Ferraro took Casanova under his wing and prepared him to start his career. Maestro Ferraro was Casanova’s mentor until the moment of his death in January of 2008.

Mo. Brian Holman

Shortly before Ferraro’s death, he extracted a promise from Casanovato pass on his vocal, musical and dramatic technique for operatic singing. Combining Ferraro's method with the accumulated knowledge of his own experience, Casanova opened Vera Musica, Ltd., his vocal studio and production company based in the United States. The young artists who will appear with Casanova on the October 7 Tutto Verdi program represent the beginning of this project.

For tickets and complete information on the Tutto Verdi concert, visit http://tuttoverdi.eventbrite.com.

For further information, contact

VeraMusica Ltdinfo@veramusicaltd.com
Phone: 917-769-6820
facebook.com/vera.musica.902.

FRANCISCO CASANOVA as Arrigo in Verdi's La Battaglia di Legnano. Piacenza, April 2005.

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