On Saturday, February 2, the Canton Symphony Orchestra will set the stage for opera. Tenor Gran Wilson and baritone Daniel Narducci will join the musicians and Music Director Gerhardt Zimmermann to perform some of the greatest operatic duos ever written for tenor and baritone.
The concert, beginning at 8:00 p.m. in Umstattd Hall and featuring several selections by different composers, will be co-sponsored by Stark Industrial, Inc. and by Rachel R. Schneider, and also marks an important part of Canton Symphony Orchestra history.
A night of opera
The entire concert will be dedicated to some of the most prolific opera duets for tenor and baritone voices, including works by Rossini, Verdi and Gounod.
Gran Wilson, tenor
A native of Bessemer, AL, tenor Gran Wilson brings to the Canton Symphony stage a career spanning three decades, thirty-five states, and four continents. He has distinguished himself on some of the most important stages in the world as a leading interpreter of the "bel canto" and French operatic repertoire.
He has performed leading roles with the New York City Opera, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Australian Opera, Netherlands Opera, Opera Frankfurt, Opera de Nice, and Teatro di San Carlo Lisboa to name but a few. Equally accomplished on the concert stage, Mr. Wilson has appeared with the Boston Symphony, Seattle Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Symphony, National Symphony, Trondheim Symphony, Richmond Symphony, and many others.
He has appeared with the Edinburgh Festival, Lincoln Center Festival, Spoletto USA Festival, and Mostly Mozart Festival. He was chosen by Ned Rorem for the world premiere of the famed composer's "Swords and Plowshares" with the Boston Symphony on NPR, the Miami Opera's NPR broadcast of Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia, PBS's "Live From Lincoln Center" in Donizetti's Anna Bolena with Dame Joan Sutherland, and as Tamino with Richard Bonynge conducting the national television broadcast of the Australian Opera's production of Mozart's The Magic Flute, nominated for an Australian "Emmy." Mr. Wilson has also been heard worldwide on the American Armed Forces Network.
Ohio audiences have heard him in the title role of Gounod's Faust, and Tonio in Donizetti's La Fille du Regiment with Opera Columbus, as Fenton in Verdi's Falstaff with the Dayton Opera, and most recently as Romeo in Cleveland Opera's production of Gounod's Romeo et Juliette, a production shared with Mr. Narducci and Maestro Zimmermann. In the near future Mr. Wilson returns home to Baltimore to sing in Opera Vivente's Tobias and the Angel, and his teaching duties on the faculties of the University of Maryland, College Park, and Towson University. Mr. Wilson will end his thirtieth operatic season in May singing the title role of Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffman for the Indianapolis Opera.
Daniel Narducci, bartione
Daniel Narducci, a graduate of the Indiana University School of Music, has appeared with many of the world's most prestigious orchestras, including the Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Pops, Naples Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Houston Symphony, and the Detroit Symphony.
Narducci's television appearances have reached audiences worldwide. His historic performance with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing was filmed for nationwide broadcast in China. Narducci's other television appearances include co-starring with Frederica von Stade and the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra in a program broadcast internationally by PBS entitled Pops at the Phil: A Century of Broadway. He also appeared with Judy Kaye in the BBC television documentary Kurt Weill in America: I'm a Stranger Here Myself.
Narducci's recent appearances include Mercutio in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette with the Cleveland Opera, and Escamillo in Carmen with the Indianapolis Opera. He has portrayed Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro, Marcello in La Bohème, Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, and Belcore in L'Elisir d'amore with the opera companies of Washington, New Orleans, Central City, Palm Beach, Kentucky, Nashville, Fresno, and Hawaii.
Daniel Narducci's combined talents have been seen on opera and musical theatre stages throughout North America and Europe. He recently made his New York City debut at Alice Tully Hall with the Collegiate Chorale under the direction of Robert Bass in An Evening of American Operetta. He played the role of Lancelot during two national tours of Camelot, most notably opposite Robert Goulet's King Arthur, and portrayed Old Deuteronomy in the 10th anniversary production of Cats in Hamburg, Germany. In Cleveland Opera's production of Sweeney Todd, he appeared as Anthony Hope. Mr. Narducci's additional operetta credits include Jim Kenyon in Rose Marie with the Central City Opera, Count Danilo in The Merry Widow with the Chautauqua Opera and Cincinnati Symphony, and Strephon in Cleveland Opera's production of Iolanthe.
An increasingly active recording artist, Narducci recently created the role of Captain Hook on the world premiere recording of Leonard Bernstein's Peter Pan. This complete version of the musical co-stars Linda Eder, and was released by Koch International Records. Mr. Narducci's debut recording, Timeless Broadway, appears on the Archaeus Records label, and a solo Christmas CD entitled Christmas Once More, a collection of classical and traditional songs, is set for release this holiday season. -- www.cantonsymphony.org
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