Some Saucy Ladies!

Here at DragonDiva we love our Saucy Ladies! So we thought we would take a moment to share with you some of the "Saucy Ladies" that will be performing in our Cabaret Around the World.

First we'd like to introduce you to our very own board member Dionne Sellinger:

Mezzo Soprano Dionne Sellinger received her Bachelor and Masters in Opera from the University of British Columbia. Dionne performed a number of leading roles with the U.B.C. ensemble including Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, and the title role in Florence Nightingale: The Lady with the Lamp. Dionne was a member of Calgary Opera’s Inaugural Emerging Young Artists Program and has since returned to perform Maman in Ravels’ L’Enfant et Sortileges, and Rosette in Manon by Massenet. She has performed Rosina in Barber of Seville with Burnaby Lyric Opera, and toured The Barber of Barkerville with V.O.I.S. as Rosie, a role reprised with Edmonton Opera. Dionne has performed Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly and Alisa in Lucia di Lammermoor with Vancouver Opera. She joined DragonDiva Operatic Theatre as Prince Charming in Cendrillon and played the title role in Iolanthe. She performed in Opera on the Avalon’s production of Albert Herring as Nancy and next season will be back in Edmonton as Peep-Bo in The Mikado. Dionne is excited to return to Calgary to join the cast of Gianni Schicchi as La Ciesca.

Our next Saucy Lady is the lovely Miss Margo Lavae:

Soprano Margo Levae hails from the Queen Charlotte Islands in Northern British Columbia and is currently completing her Masters in Opera in the studio of Roelof Oostwoud at the University of British Columbia. Margo is the honored recipient of a University Graduate Fellowship and was also a finalist in the School of Music Concerto Competition (2009). In 2010, Margo was awarded one of three scholarships in the Vancouver Women’s Musical Society voice competition and appeared in recital for the society in November.

Margo has been featured as soprano soloist in J.S Bach’s Magnificat with the UBC Singers and Orchestra as well as Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Vancouver Bach Choir and the Pacific Singers. Performances with the UBC Opera Ensemble include Anna Maurrant in Street Scene (Kurt Weill), Mother in Hansel and Gretel (Humperdinck) and Ciesca in Gianni Schicchi (Puccini). Margo has also traveled to Teplice, Czech Republic with the UBC Opera Ensemble to perform the role of Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni (2008) and the role of Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Cosí fan tutte (2009). Both productions were remounted as part of Vancouver’s Bard on the Beach festival with conductor Leslie Dala and members of The Vancouver Opera Orchestra.

And finally the ever modest Megan Morrison:

A diverse and passionate performer, Megan’s career extends from opera to musical theatre to cabaret. Recent performance highlights include Sarah Brown in Guys and Dolls (Chemainus Theatre), Dorabella in Così fan tutte (Burnaby Lyric Opera), Marlene Dietrich in Marlene Cabaret (Mirateca Arts), Ruth in Pirates of Penzance (DragonDiva), Trommler in Der Kaiser von Atlantis (City Opera), Hansel in Hansel and Gretel (Opera Appassionata), Theresa in Boy Gets Girl (Wicked Awesome Theatre) and and Rapunzel in Into the Woods (Patrick Street Productions).

Megan has also appeared as a concert soloist in repertoire ranging from Handel’s Messiah (Vancouver Bach Choir) to intimate songs of love and heartache with frequent collaborator, pianist and vocalist Karen Lee-Morlang. Also an accomplished actor off of the stage, Megan has several credits in film, tv and radio. She is a proud member of the Vancouver Opera Chorus. For more information, please feel free to visit Megan online at meganmorrison.org

Stay tuned for "More Saucy Ladies" and then "Even More Saucy Ladies"
We will get to the Charming Chaps next week!

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An All Star Cast

We'd like to introduce you first to our emcee for the evening, the lovely Ms. Karen Ydenberg. We are so pleased that she is joining us for this concert and we know that you will not want to miss her charm and beautiful voice.

Soprano Karen Ydenberg has performed roles with several Canadian opera companies, including Vancouver Opera, The Canadian Opera Company, and Edmonton Opera. Roles performed include Echo in Ariadne auf Naxos, First Lady in The Magic Flute, Fifth Maid in Elektra, Paquette in Candide, Peep-Bo in The Mikado, and Frasquita in Carmen . In addition to several main stage roles and understudies with the Canadian Opera Company, Karen performed the role of Gretel over 100 times with the Canadian Opera Company’s Educational Outreach tours of Hansel and Gretel. Karen also performed with The Playhouse Theatre Company as Mrs. Segstrom in Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music. In addition, she sang the title role in Canadian composer Janet Danielson’s opera Mariken of Nimmigen with Vancouver’s Music In the Morning.

Karen is co-creator of the Classical Comedy Duo LEAVE IT TO DIVA, together with Soprano Phoebe MacRae. They have created and performed several staged concerts at the Festival Vancouver, Vancouver Fringe Festival and the Nelson Summer Songfest.

Karen is a former member of the Canadian Opera Company Studio Ensemble and the Vancouver Opera Ensemble. She holds a Bachelor of Music Degree in Voice Performance from the University of British Columbia and has also studied at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Banff, Alberta.

And now we'd like to introduce you to the ever talented and modest Angus Kellett. Angus has been with DragonDiva since the beginning and we know that he will tickle the ivories to your pleasure during this our first annual fund raising benefit.

Angus Kellett has been active in opera and musical theatre in Vancouver for the past
six years. He has worked as a repetiteur on 15 productions for Vancouver Opera, most
recently on La traviata, and has performed in numerous productions for DragonDiva,
including The Pirates of Penzance, The Elixir of Love, Iolanthe, Hansel and Gretel,
and Cendrillon. He has also music directed several shows for Applause! Musicals in
Concert, and was the assistant music director for Gateway Theatre’s recent
production of Annie.

Tickets are available at the Massey Theatre Box Office:
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Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, DragonDiva Operatic Theatre is proud to announce that we are less than one month away from our first annual fundraising concert "Cabaret Around The World." On Saturday May 14th our emcee Karen Ydenberg will take you on a magical journey around the world with fabulous selections from opera, operetta, musical theatre and cabaret. Joining us on stage will be some of your favorite local singers including but not necessarily limited to:

John Arsenault, Angus Bell, Jeanine Fynn, Joel Klein, Melanie Krueger, Margo Levae, Harout Markarian, Riley McMitchell, Gina Morel, Megan Morrison, Dionne Sellinger, Diane Speirs, Szu-Wen Wang, and Janet Zathureczky.

We also have for your viewing and listening pleasure several of what we in the industry like to call "Saucy Sidekicks". They are Carolyn Barker, Christine Dibble and Jessica Wright.

Finally joining us on keys is our very own Angus Kellett accompanied by the lovely and talented Brad Dean on bass.

Tickets are available through the Massey Box Office
http://bit.ly/dSWBqq

Follow us on Facebook Fan page www.facebook.com/DragonDivaOpera  or our Twitter http://twitter.com/DragonDivaOpera for multiple chances to win FREE tickets and to stay on top of all of our upcoming shenanigans and such!

DragonDiva Operatic Theatre is in Opera Canada!

DragonDiva In Review

DragonDiva has been reviewed in Opera Canada! Very exciting news for us... check out what they had to say:

DragonDiva Operatic Theatre, a new company created and nurtured by Artistic Director Jeanine Fynn and Music Director John Arsenault, presented a polished Cendrillon by Massenet (seen Aug. 29). Given in an English translation by Arsenault and Dionne Sellinger, Fynn's staging achieved a delightful counterpoint between the broad humorr of a hen-pecked husband dealing with an imperious wife and two obnoxious Stepdaughters and the anguished romance of the principals.

It played out in the historic, 180 seat Bernie Legge Theatre, originally built in Queen's Park by the federal government in 1909 as a fisheries exhibition space. Arsenault conducted, with piano accompaniment by Angus Kellett.

Cinderella/ Lucette, sung by lyric mezzo Lisa-Dawn Kilthau, projected a resigned optimism in her carefillly shaped phrasing and clear articulation. Her voice warmed as she discovered love, then tumed to anguish with her required midnight escape. Lyric mczzo Dionne Sellinger was a very convincing courtly young man in the trouser role of Prince Charming. She has the dark, dramatic voice Massenet's score demands, and used it to full advantage. Her height and fluid movement, owning her space on stage, further added to a memorable portrayal.

Bass Max van Wyck combined humor and poignancy singing Pandolfe, the harried father. Still studying at the University of British Columbia, he has a strong, resonant bass that belies his years. Contralto Andi Alexander, as Mme. de la Haltiere, maintained a commanding disdain throughout the opera as she attempted to bring her unattractive daughters to the prince's notice. The stepsisters brought a touch of British pantomime to the stage in their exaggerations and awkwardness. The panto theme was emphasized by casting tenor Grant Wardlow as one of the stepsisters. He managed to be very funny without coming off as a drag queen, and played off his sister, Noemie, sung by soprano Dora Brooks, with great panache.

Entering through a picture frame on the wall may not make for a great entrance, but coloratura soprano Szu-Wen Wang made it work with her incandescent intonation and carefully crafted phrasing as the Fairy Godmother. Baritone Nicholas FitzGerald (the King), tenor Kevin Lee (Dean/herald) and Diana Sandberg (maid) contributed to the mix, as did the spirits/elves and ladies of thc court.

- Hilary Clark


Here's to many more successful reviews!
John Arsenault
Music Director

Singer Spotlight: Paul Just

Singer Spotlight Paul Just

Paul Just, tenor, is very pleased to be working with DragonDiva Operatic Theatre once again. He was last seen with Dragon Diva as Lord Tolloller in the 2009 production of Gilbert and Sullivan's Iolanthe and the previous summer's The Elixir of Love by Gaetano Donizetti.  Paul began taking formal lessons at the age of 19 at St. John's University in Minnesota.  After receiving his B.A. in Vocal Performance in 2005, Paul then moved to Vancouver and began his M.Mus in Opera at the University of British Columbia.  After completing his formal education in 2009, Paul began to study privately with baritone Peter Barcza, with whom he is currently studying.  Some of his favorite roles over the near decade that he's been singing include Nemorino in Donizetti's L'Elisir d'amore, Eisenstein in Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus and Edgardo in Donizetti's bel canto masterpiece Lucia di Lammermoor. In 2004, Paul had the great distinction of premiering the title role in the American one-act opera, The King's Tower, by composer Tim Cheesebrow. Paul is proud to join the stage with the alumnae of DragonDiva Operatic Theatre for an evening of operatic projects of the past, present and future!

We caught up with Paul and
asked him a few questions to
whet your appetite for the
show.

(Q) Can you describe one
of your favorite moments
from a DragonDiva Production?


(A) One of my favorite
moments of the DragonDiva Productions that I've been in was during The Elixir of Love, when the mute character, Sasparilla (Carolyn Barker) saw that some wine had been spilled on the stage during the middle of a scene and proceeded to lick it off the floor using her hand.  I was in stitches, the audience was in stitches, and I have rarely seen such dedication to a role as I did that night.

(Q) What is the most obscure/strange opera
that you can think of and what makes it
interesting?

(A) The most obscure opera that I can think
of...hmm.  That is an unfair question
because I live and love obscure opera.
HAHA! I'd have to say one of those that I
consider an  opera rara would have to be
Verdi's Un giorno di regno (otherwise
known as Il finto Stanislao). The world
has long ignored this opera, but I cannot
really see why? Verdi had some great
success with his first opera, Oberto,
conte di San Bonifacio, but his second
(and very nearly last) attempt at opera
and first attempt at comedy fell into
obscurity and oblivion. And that is an incredible shame.  Why I really enjoy this
one so much is two-fold: 1) it's Verdi, so we already know it's genius and
2) it's a comedy (a funny one, at that), something Verdi didn't do again until
the end of his career.  I think it needs to be brough out of obscurity because
all of Verdi's music, no matter what Verdi may have thought of it, needs to
be heard! (As does much obscure music that is ignored!)
 Who knew you were such an opera rara afficionado, well actually we did
know, that's why we come to you with this question.  We knew you would
be able to answer with gusto and penache ;)

Up Next your chance to win tickets to our Cabaret Around the World!