The Opera Guild assists local voice students, both undergraduate and graduate, with scholarships, grants, competitive prizes, and opportunities to perform for the community.

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Quest Winners to Sing at Free Member Party

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This year’s free member party will feature the first prize winners of last month’s Quest for the Best. Baritone Octavio Moreno (graduate division) and soprano Emily Garcia (undergraduate) will be accompanied by pianist Kyungsun Choi. Refreshments will be served, courtesy of our Board and Hospitality Committee.

Here are the particulars:
Date: Sunday, May 6, 2018
Time: 2:00 p.m.
Place: The home of Philippe Bodin, 5631 N. Campbell Avenue, 520-603-2869

 

Meet the Performers

Soprano Emily Garcia is a 21- year-old junior at the University of Arizona studying vocal performance with Prof. Andrew Stuckey. She hopes to one day make a career singing on stages throughout the world. Emily placed as the second alternate in the 2018 President’s Competition which allowed her the honor of a solo performance with the Arizona Symphony in the Presidents Concert this past February. Last year she won first place at NATS, and this year she won both the Amelia Reiman Competition and Quest for the Best. She has also placed first in the Schmidt Youth Vocal Competition, placed in the top 3 of at the Classical Singer Vocal Competition and placed as a finalist in the Hal Leonard Vocal Competition. Emily has also appeared in several operas with the U of A Opera including, Dialogues of the Carmelites, L’enfant et les sortileges, and The Elixir of Love. She has also performed many other times throughout the Tucson community with groups such as Sons of Orpheus as their soprano soloist.

Baritone Octavio Moreno participated in the Artist Program at the Academy of Vocal Arts (AVA) in Philadelphia. He is currently working on his doctorate of music at the University of Arizona. His repertoire includes Figaro in The Barber of Seville, Zurga in The Pearl Fishers, Don Alfonso in Cosi fan tutte, Lopez Ibanez in Arizona Lady, Laurentino in Cruzar la cara de la luna, Germont in La Traviata, Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor, the title role in Rigoletto, Belcore in The Elixir of Love, and more. He has performed with Chicago Lyric Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Théâtre du Châtelet (Paris), Palacio de Bellas Artes (Mexico City), and Arizona Opera, among others. Future engagements include Laurentino in Cruzar la cara de la luna with both Houston Grand Opera and Ecuador Opera.

Pianist Kyungsun Choi, a native of Seoul, South Korea, graduated from Yonsei University in Seoul, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance. He attended the University of Northern Iowa on a full tuition scholarship, receiving a Masters of Music degree under Professor Sean Botkin and serving as a graduate teaching assistant. He received a doctoral degree (D.M.A) in Piano Performance at the University of Arizona, studying under Dr. Paula Fan and again serving as a graduate teaching assistant. Dr. Choi has enjoyed a varied career as a soloist, chamber musician, accompanist and teacher, and has given many solo and chamber recitals locally and internationally. He has appeared twice as a soloist with Tucson Repertory Orchestra, playing the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 “Emperor”. He has served as a rehearsal pianist/coach for many operas, including works of Mozart, Puccini, Verdi, Bizet, Mascagni, Offenbach, Sondheim, Mechem, Menotti, Argento, Britten and Bernstein.

Stokes Tolbert Honored
at 2018 Quest for the Best

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Stokes M. Tolbert

We are pleased to announce that the Opera Guild’s honoree at this year’s Quest for the Best is our board member and finance committee chair, Stokes M. Tolbert. His wit and wisdom have long graced not only OGSA functions, but those of all the cultural institutions on whose boards he has served. His active life at age 94 and his continuing dedication to the Tucson community are inspirational models to all.
 
Stokes enjoyed a long career as an international development economist, including several years with the U.S. Agency for International Development and almost 30 years with the World Bank. He and his family lived for ten years in Asia—in India (where two of his children were born), Thailand and Indonesia. 
 
Upon retiring from the World Bank in 1988, Stokes followed his daughter Leslie and her husband, Paul St. John, to Tucson, where they joined the UA faculty, and where he enjoys the company of not only grandchildren but two great-grandchildren. Stokes also served in leadership roles at the Nature Conservancy of Arizona, the Tucson Committee on Foreign Relations, the United Nations Association of Southern Arizona, and the Yale Club of Southern Arizona. He somehow found time to serve on the advisory boards of the Tucson Museum of Art, the UA School of Music and the UA Press. He has been a board member of the Opera Guild of Southern Arizona since 2006.
 
Please join us on March 24 at 1:00 p.m. in Holsclaw Hall as we present the top graduate student prize in his honor.

Love in Seville a Hit—See Photos

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A sunny afternoon at the home of member Carmen Dolny provided the setting for great singing by Asleif Willmer and delicious Spanish cuisine by Maria Teresa Limón, as OGSA threw a pre-Valentine’s Day party. Thanks also to Leslie Clark, who produced a slide show of the festivities. (When you’re on the page, click the right-pointing arrow to the right of the headline to start the show.)

Asleif, who won the Guild’s Quest for the Best in 2011 as an undergraduate, enchanted the gathering with two arias from Don Giovanni, in the role of Zerlina, and two from The Marriage of Figaro, as Susanna. Her lyric coloratura soared as she brought these characters to life. Then, audience members bid to hear two additional arias, the Silver Song from The Ballad of Baby Doe, and “Je veux vivre” from Romeo and Juliet.

With her DMA at Arizona State University completed, Asleif has already been hired by Saratoga Opera for this summer. She will also be Juliette in a cabaret production of Romeo and Juliet in Manhattan. Asleif is marked for stardom, and those at Quest in 2011 saw and heard her here first! Discover more future stars and enjoy a reception at this year’s Quest for the Best, on March 24 at Holsclaw Hall.

2017 Quest for the Best Awards

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On March 11, 2017, the Opera Guild of Southern Arizona handed out checks totaling $11,050 to 17 student singers from the University of Arizona and Pima Community College. We had committed to award $10,000, but raised more, which was lucky, because the votes for first place among undergraduates and third place for graduates were too close to call. When that happens, we dig into our pockets and award the higher prize to both contenders.

Thanks to Judi Hasbrouck and her committee for a wonderful afternoon of singing and refreshments, and to our Board, membership and friends for supporting our efforts to help these young singers further their careers. Thanks also to Joseph Specter, President of Arizona Opera, for the generous donation of four orchestra seats to Rossini’s Cinderella which were raffled off at Quest.

Graduate winners from left: Ariana Iniguez, Michelle Perrier, Mark Hockenberry, Kristen Lucas

See, hear, and download all the graduate arias.

 

Undergraduate winners, from left: Antonio Cruz, Taylor Trolia-Giron, Clare Demer, Joseph Gouge

See, hear, and download all the undergraduate arias.

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