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| Objectives: |
- To educate the
community about music and theatre by producing
public performances of staged musical works and
concerts.
- To enrich the
community by giving outreach performances in
schools, community centers, retirement homes and
other venues.
- To produce new works
and new translations of existing works.
- To bring new
audiences to opera by giving dynamic and
accessible productions.
- To commission and
produce new operatic and chamber vocal works.
- To partner with
other arts organizations to produce works on a
larger scale.
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| Board
of Directors: |
Diane
Squires
Gretchen McNeil
Roy Firestone |
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Diane
Squires (Artistic Director) is quickly
earning recognition for her warm lyric voice and
remarkable extension above high C. She has been a
winner in the San Jose Opera Guild competition and her
recent operatic roles include Laetitia (The Old Maid
and the Thief), Lucy (The Telephone), Dorabella (Cosi
fan tutte), Olympia (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), Susanna
(Le nozze di Figaro), Flora (The Turn of the Screw),
Frasquita (Carmen), Blondchen (Abduction from the
Seraglio), and Monica (The Medium), as well as title
roles in Lucia di Lammermoor and Hänsel and Gretel.
Her performance as Lorenza (La Rosa del Azafran) with
the Jarvis Conservatory has been internationally
telecast in the US, South America and Europe. She has
appeared with the New West Symphony, SJSU Symphony,
The West Marin Music Festival, Solo Opera and Festival
Opera of Walnut Creek, Solo Opera, Mission City Opera,
North Bay Opera, Livermore Valley Opera, Golden Gate
Opera and West Bay Opera. Upcoming performances
include her debut with Stockton Opera as The First
Lady (The Magic Flute) and understudying the role of
Gilda (Rigoletto) with Bay Shore Lyric Opera. |
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Gretchen
McNeil (Artistic Director) has spent her
entire life on the stage, first performing
professionally as a tap dancer at age 5, before
finally settling on vocal music. After receiving her
Bachelor of Arts in Vocal Performance from UCLA and a
Master of Music degree from the Maryland Opera Studio
at the University of Maryland, Gretchen returned to
her hometown of San Francisco to begin her
professional career. Operatic roles include Zerbinetta
(Ariadne auf Naxos), Adele (Die Fledermaus), Woglinde
(Das Rheingold), Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel), Greta
Fiorentino (Street Scene), Madame Goldentrill (The
Impresario), The Lady With a Cake Box (Postcard from
Morocco), Serpetta (La finta giardiniera), Servilia
(La clemenza di Tito), Geradline (A Hand of Bridge),
and Helena (Hin und Zurück). In addition to opera,
Gretchen has enjoyed a varied career in musical
theater (Into the Woods, Oklahoma, Grease, Two
Gentlemen of Verona) and oratorio (The Messiah, Mozart’s
Mass in C-minor, The Seven Last Words of Christ).
Gretchen currently resides in Los Angeles where she is
a student of Diane Ketchie. |
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Roy
Firestone (Musical Director) began a passion for
music with piano studies at age eight and violin at
age ten. At age fourteen, he began pipe organ studies
and composed his first piece, an original rondo for
five-part strings. He established his first post as a
parish organist at age fifteen and later was admitted
to James Madison University (Harrisonburg, VA) on the
Ruth B. Spitzer Memorial Organ Scholarship. A term
abroad led to music studies with Mark Stringer of St.
Martin-in-the-Fields, London UK. In 1994, Firestone
performed as organ soloist for the Kennedy Center
Christmas Eve concert in Washington, DC. After
university, Firestone served as organist and
choirmaster at the Church of St. Stephen Martyr,
Washington, DC. While in Washington, Firestone’s
interests in diverse genres led to a stint as
accompanist for a one-man cabaret show. Firestone
received professional training in the Film Scoring
programs of the Berklee College of Music and UCLA
Extension. He is continuing his education at the
Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern
California. His film composition credits include Death
and Texas (2000) and The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life
of Ethan Green (2005). |
| Contact: |
info@californiachamberopera.com |
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