ORCHESTRATED APPEAL
New Year’s Eve Gala at NHCC caters to opera, classical music fans
When an opera organization puts on a gala, you’d expect the music would come from the world of opera.
Opera Southwest’s New Year’s Eve Gala at the National Hispanic Cultural Center will meet — and exceed — that expectation.
Yes, there will be operatic arias, but there will also be music from the operetta “The Merry Widow” and from Broadway shows.
“Each of the singers will do two arias, one operatic and one more popular. There will also be a number of ensemble pieces and two instrumental pieces,” said OSW artistic director/principal conductor Tony Barrese.
The four singers are soprano Sarah Asmar, mezzo-soprano Alissa Anderson, tenor Matthew Vickers and bass Jeff Beruan.
Also performing at the event will be a chamber orchestra, with Guillermo Figueroa as concertmaster.
“Guillermo is a wonderful musician, and we’re delighted to have him and to showcase him,” Barrese said.
Figueroa is the former music director of the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra.
The orchestra will open the evening with the overture to Giovanni Bottesini’s “Ali Baba,” an opera not performed since 1870 and long thought lost.
Several of the singers will sample arias from “William Tell” and “Norma,” both of which the Opera Southwest will present next season. This is the third year of the gala. “We saw an opening in the arts market a couple of years ago. Nothing was happening on New Year’s Eve; no event that appealed to people with classical music and opera interest,” said OSW Executive Director Tony Zancanella.
Four vocalists have been part of each year’s gala.
Asmar has sung in OSW’s productions of “Otello” and “La boheme.”
Anderson also sang in the “Otello” production.
Vickers will be singing in OSW’s “William Tell.”
Beruan was in “Amleto” (Hamlet).