Bel Canto Trio

The great singer Mario Lanza became a star when he toured in 1947-1948 with George London and Frances Yeend as the Bel Canto Trio. For 10 months, the group toured the United States, Canada and Mexico, bringing some of opera’s greatest works to their audiences. To honor the 70^th anniversary of that tour, the Bel Canto Trio, now made up of soprano Julie Adams, tenor Joshua Guerrero and bass-baritone Nicholas Brownlee, will perform the original program of that historic tour, featuring some of the greatest arias, duets and trios from Rigoletto, La Boheme, The Barber of Seville and others.

The artists chosen for this concert are among the most talented of rising stars.

Julie Adams was a winner of the 2014 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the 2015 George London Award, the 2015 Elizabeth Connell Prize for aspiring dramatic sopranos and the 2015 Sara Tucker study grant. She holds Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. In the 2017-2018 season, she performed at the San Francisco Opera in Francesca Zambello’s production of Wagner’s Ring cycle. She has also performed with the opera as Mimi in La Boheme, and Kate Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly. In 2018-2019, she debuted with the Arizona Opera in Silent Night by Kevin Puts and as Mimi in La Boheme with the Des Moines Metro Opera. She has performed Beethoven’s Symphony Number 9 with the Phoenix Symphony and a concert version of West Side Story with the Oakland Symphony. On the recital stage, Ms. Adams was featured as part of the Schwabacher Debut recital series with John Churchwell.

Joshua Guerrero was the second prize winner at Placido Domingo’s Operalia Competition in 2014 and was the recipient of the 2016 Richard Tucker Grant. He is a Grammy winner for the Los Angeles Opera’s recording of John Corigliano’s Ghosts of Versailles. He has performed at the Washington National Opera in a new production of La Traviata, at the Houston Grand Opera in Catan’s Floriencia en el Amazonas and at the Canadian Opera Company in La Boheme. He has performed at the famed Glydebourne Festival in England and toured Europe in concert with Gustavo Dudamel and the Simon Bolivar Orchestra singing Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.He was a featured soloist at the Richard Tucker Music Foundation Gala at Carnegie Hall and appeared at a special gala honoring Placido Domingo at the Salzburg Festival.

Bass-baritone Nicholas Brownlee received a Master of Music degree from Rice University. The singer, whom The New York Times described as “charismatic and charming,” is a first prize winner of the Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition, winner of the Zarzuela Prize at Operalia and the grand prize winner of the Metropolitan Opera’s National Council Auditions. He recently made his Metropolitan Opera debut as the First Soldier in Salome. He has performed as Colline in La Boheme at the LA Opera, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel and in the same role at the Atlanta Opera. He has an extensive concert background, performing with the Houston Symphony Orchestra in Dvorak’s Te Deum, and with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, under Gustavo Dudamel, in Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy. He also performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Pelleas et Melisande, under the direction of Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Bel Canto literally means beautiful singing. This is an opportunity to hear some of the world’s most beautiful music, sung by some of opera’s rising stars.

Sponsored by Gloria Whittle