The Metropolitan Pre-Summer Lawn Concert – Editia a III-a
The Metropolitan Pre-Summer Lawn Concert
Third Edition, 2018 (last Sunday of the Spring)
Sun 27th of May 2018, 17:30h
American Opera Night in the Garden of Clubul Diplomatic
Lucas Meachem – baritone
Irina Iordachescu – soprano
Irina Meachem – pianist
Program:
- „Ching-a-ring chaw”, „At the River”, „I Bought Me a Cat” by Aaron Copland – Old American Songs
- „They Wish They Could Kill Me” by John Corigliano from Ghosts of Versailles
(Lucas Meachem)
- “Summertime” by George Gershwin from Porgy & Bess
(Irina Iordachescu)
- “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’ ” by Rodgers and Hammerstein from Oklahoma!
- “This Nearly Was Mine” by Rodgers and Hammerstein from South Pacific
(Lucas Meachem)
- “I Love You So” duet by Franz Lehar from The Merry Widow
(Irina Iordachescu and Lucas Meachem)
PAUSE (15 minutes)
- “I Feel Pretty” by Leonard Bernstein from West Side Story
- “I Could Have Danced All Night” by Frederick Loewe from My Fair Lady
(Irina Iordachescu)
- “My Name is John Wellington Wells” by Gilbert and Sullivan from The Sorcerer
- “Me” by Alan Menken from Beauty and The Beast
(Lucas Meachem)
- “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” by Harold Arlen from Wizard of Oz
(Irina Iordachescu)
- “You’ll Never Walk Alone” duet by Rodgers and Hammerstein from Carousel
(Lucas Meachem)
- “Tonight” duet by Leonard Bernstein from West Side Story
(Irina Iordachescu and Lucas Meachem)
FIN
Grammy-Award winner Lucas Meachem (www.lucasmeachem.com) is considered one of the greatest baritones in the world today. Hailed by critics as “vocally faultless and a natural actor” (Classical Chicago Review) with “a clear baritone whose fragments can pierce the soul” (Forum Opera), and “a rock star of opera” (Opera Pulse), his 2017-18 season brings both new and signature repertoire to theaters across the United States and Europe.
Following his sensational return to the Metropolitan Opera as Marcello in La Bohème alongside Sonya Yoncheva and Michael Fabiano with a “winning, smooth baritone [that] was at once refined and robust” (Parterre), Meachem made his house debut at the Houston Grand Opera as the title role of Il Barbiere di Siviglia where “[he] gave the audience evidence of why this has become his signature role” (Houstonia).
Meachem then debuted his 50th operatic role as Athanaël in Thaïs at the Minnesota Opera. He will next return to the Semperoper Dresden in the title role of Don Giovanni, followed by a performance of Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder with the Prague Philharmonia under the baton of Emmanuel Villaume. This summer he will tour with conductor Kent Nagano and the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal the concert work by Penderecki, St. Luke’s Passion, including his house debut at the Salzburg Festival. Meachem will conclude the summer with another European debut at the Grafenegg Music Festival with Britten’s War Requiem, which will be broadcast on Austrian Television.
Named the winner of San Francisco Opera’s inaugural “Emerging Star of the Year” Award in 2016, Lucas Meachem enjoys a busy career at the most important opera houses across the United States and Europe. Notable performances in Meachem’s American career include Chorèbe in Les Troyens, Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Valentin in Faust at Chicago Lyric Opera; Eugene Onegin, Don Giovanni, and Il barbiere di Siviglia, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, and Fritz/Frank in Korngold’s Die Tote Stadt at San Francisco Opera; Silvio in Pagliacciand Mercutio in Roméo and Juliette at the Metropolitan Opera; Don Giovanni with Santa Fe Opera, New Orleans Opera, and Cincinnati Opera; Zurga in Les pêcheurs de perles at the Florida Grand Opera; Il barbiere di Siviglia at San Diego Opera, Opera Colorado and Los Angeles Opera where he gave his Grammy award-winning performance of Figaro in The Ghosts of Versailles.
A regular performer across Europe, Meachem has performed the title role in Il barbiere di Siviglia with the Vienna Staatsoper, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Den Norske Opera; Glyndebourne Festival and Semperoper Dresden as the title role in Don Giovanni; Opéra National de Paris as the title role in Britten’s Billy Budd; Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich and Royal Opera House as Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro; Wolfram von Eschenbach in Tannhäuser at the Saito Kinen Festival in Japan under the baton of Seiji Ozawa; the title role in Eugene Onegin with Opéra national de Montpellier; with the Teatro Real de Madrid in the world premier of El Viaje a Simorgh as well as Oreste in Iphigénie en Tauride and a European tour with Anna Netrebko as Robert in Iolanta with 11 performances Europe’s most important musical centers and venues including Vienna, Munich, Paris, Berlin, and Amsterdam.
Meachem made his Hollywood Bowl debut in 2014 as Silvio in Pagliacci with Gustavo Dudamel. He has sung with the New York Philharmonic in Bach’s Saint Matthew Passion under Kurt Masur; the Saint Louis Symphony in Carmina Burana and Zemlinsky’s Lyric Symphony; the San Francisco Symphony in concert performances of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe; the American Symphony Orchestra in the United States premiere of Ferdinand Hiller’s oratorio The Destruction of Jerusalem at Avery Fisher Hall; with the Saint Louis, Pittsburgh, and Seattle Symphonies in performances of Carmina Burana; and with soprano Hei-Kyung Hong for a duet concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Born in North Carolina, Lucas Meachem studied music at Appalachian State University, the Eastman School of Music, and Yale University before becoming an Adler Fellow with the San Francisco Opera.
Blogul lui Lucas Meachem: www.thebaritoneblog.com
First-generation First-generation Romanian-American pianist, Irina Meachem coaches and accompanies as a freelance artist for many opera singers, opera companies and classical music festivals.
Mrs. Meachem served as a staff pianist/coach at companies such Palm Beach Opera, Sarasota Opera, Opera Birmingham, Amarillo Opera, Nashville Opera, Shreveport Opera, OperaWorks, Chicago Summer Opera, Mill City Summer Opera, Opera in the Ozarks, Bay View Music Festival, The Banff Centre, and the Interlochen Summer Arts Academy.
As a soloist, Ms. Meachem performed Rhapsody in Blue with the Augsburg Symphonic Band in a Romanian tour in 2009.
She earned a Master’s of Music degree from Florida State University and a Bachelor’s of Music from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. Additionally, she attended the George Enescu High School of Music in Bucuresti, Romania and received an Artist Diploma Award during her training at the MacPhail Center of Music in Minneapolis.
Irina performed with her husband, baritone Lucas Meachem, in recitals at the Athanaeum in Bucuresti, Romania, Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, and Hamline University in Minnesota. She will perform next season with the North Carolina Performing Arts.
IRINA IORDACHESCU – soprano
Soprano Irina Iordachescu was born in Bucharest, in a family of musicians, her father being the Romanian baritone Dan Iordachescu and her mother the Romanian actress Irina Bora.
Irina Iordachescu is a graduate of the National Academy of Music in Bucharest, and a laureate of international singing competitions such as „G.B. Viotti” – (Italia) – „Cesare Bardelli ” Prize; „Silvia Geszty” (Spain) – Third Prize; „Maria Callas” (Greece) – Third Prize; „Vincenzo Bellini ” (Italia) – Second Prize; „IVC s’Hertogenbosch” (Holland) –Third Prize & Prize of the Public, ‘’Alfredo Giacomotti ‘’ – Second Prize (Italia).
Since 2000 she is a permanent collaborateur of the National Philharmonics in Romania and since 2005 one of the main soloists at the Bucharest National Opera.
Her repertoire includes the main roles Irene – Il ritorno di Don Calandrino by D.Cimarosa, Lucia – Lucia di Lammermoor by G. Donizetti, Gilda – Rigoletto by G. Verdi, Giulietta – I Capuletti e i Montecchi by V.Bellini, Norina – Don Pasquale by G. Donizetti, Adina – L’elisir d’amore by G. Donizetti, Domizia – Decebalo by L. Leo, Fiordiligi – Cosi fan tutte, Pamina – Die Zauberflote, Susanna – Le nozze di Figaro by W.A. Mozart, Musetta – La Boheme by G. Puccini, Valencienne – Die Lustige Witwe by F.Lehar, Liu – Turandot by G. Puccini, Violetta Valery – La Traviata by G. Verdi, Mimi – La Boheme by G.Puccini, Cio-Cio San – Madama Butterfly by G.Puccini, Micaela – Carmen by G.Bizet, and preparing the roles of Desdemona (Otello), Marguerite (Faust), Contessa ( Le nozze di Figaro).
The year 2000 has brought the debut of soprano Irina Iordachescu on the stage of the Bucharest National Opera, in the role of Pamina from W.A. Mozart’s „Die Zauberflote„, and in 2001 she made her international debut on the stage of „Dante Alighieri” Opera Theatre in Ravenna, in the role of Giulietta from „I Capuleti e I Montecchi ” by Vincenzo Bellini, with Mrs Cristina Muti as stage director, in the International Music Festival of Ravenna, Italy.
In 2001 she was invited to sing in two vocal-symphonic concerts on the stage of the „Teatro alla Scala” from Milan, Italy, under the musical direction of Maestro RICCARDO MUTI, with the Orchestra and the Choir ‘’ of Teatro alla Scala’’.
In 2007 Irina Iordachescu has made her opera debut on the stage of „TEATRO ALLA SCALA” from Milan, in the main role of Zeyno Kari from „Teneke” by Fabio Vacchi, an opera written by the Italian composer specifically to be represented on the stage of Teatro alla Scala. The international premiere, with a magnificent staging achieved by director Ermanno Olmi and scenographer Arnaldo Pomodoro, was conducted by Maestro Roberto Abbado.
In November 2007, in Teatro ” Perez Galdos ” from Las Palmas, Teatro ” Dante Alighieri ” from Ravenna and Teatro Comunale di Piacenza from Italy, soprano Irina Iordachescu sang the role of Irene from ” Il ritorno di Don Calandrino ” by Domenico Cimarosa, an opera recently discovered by Maestro Riccardo Muti. The opera has seen its international premiere in 2007, in Salzburg.
In June and July 2012, she was invited to sing the role of Musetta in all the performances of the revival of David McVicar‘s production of „La Boheme” by G. Puccini, in the „GLYNDEBOURNE OPERA FESTIVAL ” – United Kingdom.
In 2012 she took part in a concert tour in Russia, singing in Moscow and Sankt Petersburg, with Maestro Mihail Tatarnikov conducting, at the ”P.I. Ceaikovski” Concert Hall in Moscow and the Great Concert Hall of the ”Sankt Petersburg Philharmonic”, then in 2013 she was invited to sing at the Abay Academic National State Opera in Kazakhstan in a wonderful performance of La Traviata by G. Verdi and a Verdi Opera Gala Concert .
Soprano Irina Iordachescu has performed main roles in different opera productions and concerts in theaters, concert halls and festivals such as : Italy Teatro alla Scala – Milano, Teatro “Dante Alighieri” – Ravenna, Teatro Municipale di Piacenza, Teatro Massimo “Vincenzo Bellini“ Catania; “Glyndebourne Opera Festival” and Coventry Cathedral in Birmingham (United Kingdom); “Sankt Margarethen Opernfestspiele” in Austria, “Isaac Stern” Carnegie Hall – New York (USA), Teatro “ Perez Galdos “ – Las Palmas & Auditorium Concert Hall in Barcelona (Spain), Bucharest National Opera & Romanian “George Enescu” Philharmonic (Romania), State Operas in Sofia, Russe, Plovdiv & Varna (Bulgaria), Bergen Opera (Norway), Vaasa City Concert Hall (Finland), Thessaloniki Great Concert Hall (Greece), “P.I. Ceaikovski “ Concert Hall in Moscow & Philharmonic Great Concert Hall in Sankt Petersburg (Russia), Philharmonic Concert Hall in Mulhouse (France), Salle Flagey-Bruxelles & Theater Capitole Gent & SB–Vlaamse Opera Theater Antwerpen (Belgium), State Opera House – Almaty and ‘’River Sound Music Festival’’ – Astana (Kazakhstan), Belgrade National Radio (Serbia), “Infinity International Music Festival” in Sarajevo (Bosnia&Herzegovina), Kioi Concert Hall – Tokyo, Japan. Her debut in the main role of Madama Butterfly by G. Puccini in 2015 took her in a tour in Belgium (Opera Theaters of Gent & Antwerpen), with maestro Borislav Ivanov conducting.
Outside Romania in Opera and Oratorio repertoire she has performed under the musical direction of great musical directors such as : Riccardo Muti, Sir Neville Marriner, Roberto Abbado, Kirill Karabits, Paul Nadler, Mihail Tatarnikov, Marco Boemi, Bojan Sudjic, Julian Kovatchef, Cyril Diederich, Jin Wang, Borislav Ivanov, Koen Schoots, Michele Santorsola, Claire Gibault, Ivan Anguelov, Christoph Adt, Nayden Todorov, with great stage directors such as Cristina Muti, Ermanno Olmi, Plamen Kartaloff, Renzo Giacchieri, Ruggero Cappuccio,Paolo Bosisio and famous opera singers like Marcello Giordani, Giuseppe Giacomini, Eduard Tumagian, Boiko Svetanov, Vittorio Grigolo, Boris Statsenko, Andrei Bondarenko.
In Romania she has performed under the musical direction of great musical directors as Cristian Mandeal, Christian Badea, Horia Andreescu, Gheorghe Costin, Camil Marinescu, Tiberiu Soare, Florentin Mihaescu, Iurie Florea, Valentin Doni, Vlad Conta, Adrian Morar, Cristian Sandu, Ciprian Teodorascu, Gian Luca Zampieri, Cornel Trailescu.
Soprano Irina Iordachescu has sung in two modern music works that were represented as world premieres: ‘’Cjante’’ for soprano and orchestra, composed by Fabio Vacchi and included in the International Festival in Udine, ‘’Mittelfest’’, conducted by Maestro Claire Gibault, and ‘’Lamento for the Holocaust’’ composed by George Foca-Rodi and conducted by Maestro Paul Nadler on the stage of the Romanian Atheneum, together with the ‘’George Enescu’’ Philharmonic Orchestra.
One of her most important projects for the next year is to establish the Dan Iordachescu International Singing Competition in the memory of her father, the great Romanian baritone Dan Iordachescu, and a scholarship for young opera singers.
