Anne Kraley & Friends! A Night of Opera and Song at the Dogwood!
Soprano Anne Kraley returns to the Dogwood, after her debut performance in 2009, to thrill audiences with even more opera, musical theater, and art song. And this time she brings friends and top performers from Chicago to perform solos and duets from Mozart, Puccini, Donizetti, Delibes, Rogers & Hammerstein, and many more. Don’t miss this concert of favorites!
Program features Jacob Christopher (tenor), Christine Hawkins (mezzo), James Kryshak (tenor), and Sara Salas (dramatic coloratura).
Click here to buy your tickets! $12.50. Black Box. 7:30 p.m.
Box Office hours are Tuesday – Friday 10:00 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. and two hours prior to an event. For information, phone 231.924.8885.
NCCA-Artsplace hours are Monday – Friday 9:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., Thursdays 9:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m., and Saturdays 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. For information, phone 231.924.4022.
Artist Biographies
Anne M. Kraley is a classically trained soprano and is passionate about performing. Anne has experience as a concert soloist, stage performer and as an ensemble singer. She has recently moved to Chicago where she is performing with Chicago Master Singers, Elgin Opera, and is working to create a collaborative cabaret series. Anne has performed internationally as a soloist with the Czech National Symphony and as a participant in Operafestival di Roma. In the United States, she as performed with the American Singers Opera Project as well as concert engagements across the West Michigan region. Anne has been fortunate to perform the title role in the 2009 West Michigan Savoyard’s production of Gilbert & Sullivan’s Patience. Other theatre credits include Leila in Gilbert & Sullivan’s Iolanthe, Fiametta in Gilbert & Sullivan’s Gondoliers, and Edith in Pirates of Penzance and Suor Cercatrice in Puccini’s Suor Angelica.
James Kryshak, tenor, made his professional opera debut in 2008 as Don Ottavio in Raylynmor Opera’s production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Other leading opera roles include: Ernesto in Don Pasquale, Nanki-Poo in The Mikado, Camille in The Merry Widow, Frederik in Pirates of Penzance, and Pelleas in Pelleas et Melisande. Most recently James completed two seasons with the Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. During the 2011-2012 Lyric Opera Season was seen as Scaramuccio in Ariadne auf Naxos, the 1st Priest in Die Zuberflote, the Herald in Rinaldo, as well as Monostatos in the Student Matinee performances of Die Zauberflote. During the Summer Season, Mr. Kryshak will be singing the role of Sellem, the Auctioneer, in The Rake’s Progress with the Wolf Trap Opera as a Filene Young Artist. James will also be singing the role of Scaramuccio in a new production of Ariadne with Glyndebourne Festival 2013.
Christine Hawkins is a mezzo soprano who recently received her Master of Music degree at the University of Minnesota Duluth. During her time at UMD, she obtained a full graduate assistantship through the Voyageur program while studying voice with Dr. Regina Zona. Recently she performed the role of Pricipessa in Puccini’s Suor Anglica and was the mezzo soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra. Other opera roles include: Amahl and the Night Visitors (Amahl), Falstaff (Quickly), The Magic Flute (Third Witch), Gianni Schicci (Zita), Die Fledermaus (Prince Orlofsky understudy), Roman Fever (Grace), and The Gondoliers (Duchess). Miss Hawkins has performed internationally while singing many different musical genres. While most of her training is in Classical music, she has sung vocal jazz in France, Ireland, and at the 2010 International Music Conference in Beijing, China. Miss Hawkins has recently relocated back to the United States after living in Paris, France.
Sara Salas possesses a uniquely robust yet flexible voice. The soprano has charmed and impressed audiences throughout North America with her engaging dramatic presence and captivating performances. In her recent Chicago-area debut as the Queen of the Night (The Magic Flute) with Oak Park’s Verismo Opera Theatre, Sara was hailed as a “standout….who hit her high notes effortlessly by the Oak Park Pioneer Press. A recent graduate of the University of Nebraska, Sara performed and studied the roles of Musetta (La Boheme), Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor), Contessa di Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), and Fiordiligi (Cosi fan tutte). While a student in Nebraska, Sara was selected to sing as soprano soloist for UNL’s performance of Haydn’s Harmonienmesse at Carnegie Hall in New York. Recent engagements include soloist performances in Bach’s Magnificat with Grande Prairie Choral Arts and Saint-Saens’s Oratorio de Noel at the Madonna della Strada Chapel at Loyola University in Chicago. This summer, Ms. Salas will be joining Opera Theatre Pittsburgh’s summer festival as the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute.
Jacob Christopher, tenor, is currently in his second season as a chorister with the Lyric Opera of Chicago. During his undergraduate career at Luther College, he was a part of the world renown Nordic Choir under the direction of both Weston Noble and Craig Arnold. His recent love for opera has seen him take on roles such as Beppe in I Pagliacci, Slender in The Merry Wives of Windsor, and The Mayor in Albert Herring. He as been a featured soloist at Disney Hall in Los Angeles, toured Norway as the guest tenor soloist for the Norwegian Singer’s Association of America, and has performed back up vocals for Ben Folds and The Judd’s. In the past year, he has had the honor of premiere many New American Art Songs by Chicago composers such as Eric Malmquist, Sara Ritch, and Randall West in conjunction with Singers On New Ground (SONG). In his spare time he is a member of the Wicker Park Choral Singers and has been known to sing for good Italian food.