The Metropolitan Opera Summer Recital Series July 12, 2010

The Metropolitan Opera’s free Summer Recital Series, presented in collaboration with City Parks Foundation and the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, returns for a second season with six concerts in all five boroughs from July 12 through July 29, 2010.

The Summer Recital Series kicks off on June 12 at Central Park’s SummerStage. The opening concert will feature Met favorite Nathan Gunn (baritone) joined by rising stars Susanna Phillips (soprano) and Michael Fabiano (tenor), accompanied by pianists Julie Gunn and Jonathan Kelly. Five recitals follow in Crotona Park (the Bronx), Brooklyn Bridge Park (Brooklyn), Tappan Park (Staten Island), Queens Bridge Park (Queens), and Jackie Robinson Park (Manhattan). The series runs through July 29.

Met star Nathan Gunn made his Met debut in 1995 and has performed in nearly a dozen operas at the Met, including An American Tragedy, Roméo et Juliette, Così fan tutte, Ariadne auf Naxos, and La Bohème. In 2006, the American baritone became the first winner of the Met’s prestigious Beverly Sills Artist Award. Last season, Gunn reprised his acclaimed performance as Papageno in Die Zauberflöte. Next season, he returns to Papageno and will also sing Guglielmo in the revival of Così fan tutte.

Rising American soprano Susanna Phillips made her Met debut in the 2008-09 season as Musetta in La Bohème and returned as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, a role she reprises in the coming season. A graduate of the Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Phillips has won four of the world’s leading vocal competitions: the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the MacAllister Awards, the George London Foundation, and Plácido Domingo’s Operalia. In April, Phillips was named the recipient of the fifth annual Beverly Sills Artist Award.

Michael Fabiano made his Met debut last season as Raffaele in Stiffelio. A winner of the 2007 National Council Auditions, this exciting young tenor recently made his London debut at English National Opera as the Duke in Rigoletto. His other recent engagements include Alfredo in La Traviata for the Teatro San Carlo in Naples and Nemorino in L'Elisir d'Amore with the Fort Worth Opera. In 2008, Fabiano made his debut at La Scala as Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi. He has upcoming engagements at the Paris Opera, Dresden State Opera, and the Limoges Opera.

Jonathan Kelly has served as an official accompanist for the San Francisco Opera Center, Lyric Opera Center for American Artists, and Chicago Opera Theatre. Kelly has performed with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra at Kirk in the Hills, the National Chorale at Avery Fisher Hall, and for the Marilyn Horne Foundation at Zankel Hall. Julie Gunn teaches at the University of Illinois School of Music, and has served on the music staff of the Met’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. Gunn and her husband, Nathan Gunn, made their joint recital debut in 1998 at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and have since performed recitals worldwide.

Under the leadership of General Manager Peter Gelb and Music Director James Levine, the Met is revitalizing its repertory and broadening its audience. The 2010-11 season will feature seven new productions and 21 repertory productions. The Met: Live in HD, the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning series of live performance transmissions reaching 1,200 movie theaters in 45 countries around the world, will return for its fifth season. Other ways to access the Met’s vast catalogue of performances include the online streaming service Met Player; Metropolitan Opera Radio on SIRIUS XM; the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network; the Met on Rhapsody; and free live audio streaming during the opera season on the Met’s website with support from RealNetworks®. Additional audience development initiatives include free Open House dress rehearsals and a popular rush ticket program.

Official Website: http://www.nycgovparks.org/events/2010/07/12/the-metropolitan-opera-summer-recital-series