Opening Concert: Night at the Opera November 13, 2009

Oakland East Bay Symphony today announced the addition of soloists to their opening concert of the season on Friday, November 13 at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland. Joining previously announced soprano Hope Briggs and tenor Kalil Wilson are soprano Heidi Moss, mezzo-soprano Lori Willis, tenor AJ Glueckert, baritone Zachary Gordin, baritone Brian Leerhuber, and bass-baritone Joshua Bloom. Music Director Michael Morgan will conduct the concert, with Assistant Conductor Bryan Nies taking the podium for "Siegfried's Funeral Music" by Wagner.

Morgan says "It is a great pleasure to open the season with this array of singers, from Hope Briggs and Brian Leerhuber with whom I'm worked many times, to Joshua Bloom whom I'll be working with for the first time. The talent that lives in the Bay Area makes it very easy to make a world class evening using local talent. I am also happy to show off both my orchestra and my assistant conductor Bryan Nies."

A Night at the Opera celebrates the season's opening with musical highlights from some of the world's grandest operas, and brings together the OEBS, Oakland Symphony Chorus, under the direction of Lynne Morrow, and Oakland-East Bay Gay Men's Chorus under the direction of Michael Robert Patch.

The opening night program includes well-known orchestral and vocal selections from well-loved operas including Giuseppe Verdi's Aida (1871), La Forza del Destino (1862), and Nabucco (1842); Lucia di Lammermoor by Gaetano Donizetti (1835); Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni (1890), The Ring Cycle by Richard Wagner (1869-1874), Herodiade by Jules Massenet (1881) and Candide by Leonard Berntstein (1956).

Official Website: http://www.oebs.org