The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage
The Academy of Vocal Arts
La fiamma
2008 Grantee
$65,000
The Academy of Vocal Arts (AVA) was awarded $65,000 to produce the Philadelphia area premiere of Ottorino Respighi’s rarely performed 1934 opera La fiamma. Two concert performances with full orchestra will be offered at the Perelman Theater of the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia. The opera will feature AVA resident artists, including Angela Meade (soprano), Christopher Bolduc (baritone), Bryan Hymel (tenor), Ben Wager (bass), and Taylor Stayton (tenor), with the AVA Opera Orchestra conducted by Maestro Christofer Macatsoris. The project’s educational component includes a workshop and open dress rehearsal.
The Academy of Vocal Arts (founded in 1934) provides tuition-free vocal training and opera experience to talented young singers who have the potential for international stature. AVA graduates include winners of prestigious vocal competitions, such as the Richard Tucker Foundation Award and the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and frequently perform on the major opera stages of the world. Each year AVA presents its resident artists in fully staged opera performances; recent productions have included Lucrezia Borgia, L’amico Fritz, Puccini’s Edgar and Le villi, Massanet’s La Navarraise, and the world premiere of Margaret Garwood’s The Scarlet Letter. http://www.avaopera.org/
Christopher Bolduc and Taylor Stayton, photo by Paul Sirochman