Micaele Sparacino General Director and Conductor

After Ms. Palmieri’s performance in the Opera Camerata of Washington production of Maria di Rohan, Judy Gruber wrote in The Washington Post: “She acted as well as she sang, which was very well indeed.”

Ms. Sevier appeared this summer at the Ashlawn Summer Festival as the Second Lady in Die Zauberflöte and Bloody Mary in South Pacific. She also debuted “Remembering Him,” a song cycle for contralto and viola, composed for her by Mark Adamo.

In 2002, she made her Baltimore operatic debut with the Peabody Opera as Maurya in Ralph Vaughn-Williams' Riders to the Sea and Third Lady in Mozart’s Die Zauberflote. She was seen in Peabody’s production of Britten’s Albert Herring.

Other recent roles include Zita in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and La Zia Principessa in Puccini’s Suor Angelica, as well as Flosshilde in Wagner’s Götterdämmerung at the Shaker Mountain Music Festival with the Albany Symphony Orchestra in 2002.

She received good reviews for her performances under the baton of Maestro Sparacino in the Opera Camerata of Washington’s series Masters of the Bel Canto. She performed in the company's production of Adriana Lecourvreur and its Washington premiere of Rossini's original scoring of the Petite Messe Solennelle.

European appearances include Litanie, K.195, with the Mozarteum Orchestra in Salzburg, Austria; an all-Bellini recital hosted by the Rubini Society's Stage International de Bel Canto in Crouttes, France; an all-Rossini recital hosted by the Rubini Society at the Festival de L'Orne, Planches, France; and concerts in Munich, Germany.

Ms. Sevier is a student in the Graduate Performance Diploma program at the Peabody Institute, in the studio of Marianna Busching.

Abigail B. Endicott
Soprano
Annina

Variety is the joy of Ms. Endicott's musical life. She is twice winner of American Women Composers Song Contest, as composer and performer, with pianist Michael Terence (currently at Opus 88). She appears frequently in oratorio, opera, sacred music, lieder, musical comedy and cabaret.

She has performed the operatic roles Pamina in Mozart's The Magic Flute, Vitelia in Mozart's La Clemenza Di Tito and the soprano leads in Barber’s A Hand Of Bridge and Hindemith’s Hin Und Zuruch and selections from Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, Strauss' Die Fledermaus and Bizet's Carmen.

Ms. Endicott has performed in Europe and South America as well as around the United States. Ms. Endicott has sung jazz at Don’t Tell Mama's in New York, sung and danced in 40 performances of Interact Theatre Company’s Iolanthe by Gilbert & Sullivan, recorded her original “River Songs” on CD. She has also tap danced in musical comedies as a sheep and a pig, performed for the Ambassador of Finland and other diplomats, and written and sung the anthem heard at International Canoe Federation championship races.

She has had engagements in the Washington area at the Kennedy Center and the Lincoln, Folger and Lansburgh theaters and sung with Opera Camerata of Washington, the Maytime Light Opera Company, Opera, Encore! and Hesperus.

Ms. Endicott began performing at age 11. She first studied voice with the Metropolitan Opera's Gertrude Repp and with Adrienne Auerswald at Smith College, where she earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music. She has studied with the Richard Crittenden Opera Workshops, Alma Thomas, John Bullock and Michael Warren and now studies with Ryan Edwards. She teaches voice at the National Cathedral schools.

She is wife of political author/speaker William T. Endicott and mother of Sam Endicott, who is himself a musician.

U.S. Army Sgt. First Class Giuliano has performed in opera, concerts and recitals throughout the United States and Europe.

A member of the Army Chorus since 1988, he regards himself a musical ambassador of the American combat soldier, who seeks to instill pride in the troops and promote patriotism and a vision of peace and freedom.

Mr. Giuliano has sung lead tenor roles such as Rodolfo in La Bohème, Il Duca di Mantova in Rigoletto, Alfredo in La Traviata, Manrico in Il Trovatore, Alfred in Die Fledermaus and Nemorino in L’Elisir d’Amore. In New York he has sung Il Barbiere di Siviglia with the National Lyric Opera, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor with the New York Repertory Opera and Rodolfo in Verdi’s Luisa Miller with Opera Nova.

In 1995 Mr. Giuliano sang the lead tenor role in the European operatic premiere of La Contessa Dei Vampiri by American composer David Clenny and under the musical direction of Maestro Stephen Simon, founder of the Washington Chamber Symphony.

On the concert stage, Mr. Giuliano has performed recitals at Carnegie Hall, in Atlanta, in Sale, Mass. and elsewhere. In the Washington area he has appeared with the Fairfax Symphony, the Arlington Symphony, the McLean Symphony, the McLean Orchestra, the National Gallery of Arts Orchestra and the Alexandria Symphony.

In 1999, CBS Evening News featured Sgt. 1st Class Giuliano in a feature story about an opera singer in the Army.

He sang the national anthem for the rededication of the National Archives display of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence and has also performed the national anthem for Washington Redskins games and the U.S. Open tennis championships

SFC Giuliano has sung private recitals for the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, guests of state including Moroccan King Mohammed VI, and a USO gathering including Hollywood legends such as Bob Hope, Mickey Rooney, Kirk and Michael Douglas and Steven Spielberg.

In 2001-02, he performed a Mario Lanza concert tour in Florida and Virginia and has sung recitals of Italian arias and love songs on many occasions.

In November 2003 Mr. Giuliano will sing in Puccini’s La Messa Di Gloria with the New Dominion Chorale and Orchestra at Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center, Alexandria, Va. The U.S. Army Band Recital Series will feature SFC Giuliano in an evening of love duets and arias with Mary McCarthy, soprano, on Tuesday November 25, 2003 at the Post Chapel, Ft. Myer, Va.

Mr. Giuliano takes private voice lessons with Dr. Donald G. Wiggins in New York City. He resides in the Washington area with his lovely wife Isabella and their German Shepherd dogs Nino and Gucci.

Mr. Giuliano received his musical education from the College of Music at PJC in Pensacola, Fla., and the School of Music at Loyola University in New Orleans.

[A more complete biography of Mr. Giuliano]

Mr. Stearns has performed to great acclaim as a soloist and is now in his third season as a member of the Metropolitan Opera company.

He is delighted to work again with Maestro Sparacino, who conducted his performances with Opera Camerata of Washington in Donizetti's Maria di Rohan, Lucrezia Borgia, Poliuto and Marin Faliero, Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur and Arrieta's Marina.

Mr. Stearns has appeared with the Washington Opera, alongside Placido Domingo, as the King in Massenet's Le Cid and sang roles in Otello, Sly, and I Puritani.

The baritone recently appeared in leading roles in Lucia di Lammermoor, Madama Butterfly, Otello and Tosca with the Gold Coast Opera, Mississippi Opera, Cleveland Opera and Di Capo Opera.

Well known to Washington music enthusiasts, Mr. Stearns has been featured soloist in concert works and oratorios with the National Symphony Orchestra, the Fairfax Choral Society, Cathedral Choral Society, Washington Bach Consort and the Reston Chorale, to name only a few companies. His appearances at the highly esteemed National Gallery of Art Concert Series have won him enthusiastic praise on several occasions.

His baritone solos in John Corliano's 1st Symphony with the National Symphony Orchestra can be heard on a Grammy Award-winning compact disc.
After a highly successful performance as Verdi's Macbeth, Mr. Stearns returned to the Boston Concert Opera's Chorus Pro Musica as Giorgio Germont in its La Traviata under conductor Jeffrey Rink. He sang Baron Scarpia in Tosca with the New Jersey Versimo Opera.

Mr. Stearns will appear with the Annapolis Opera in November in its gala "It's a Grand Night for Opera" and later this season will sing in the New York City premiere of Robert Ward's opera Claudia LeGare.

A native of Washington, D.C., Mr. Stearns is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. He and his wife, Suzanne, and son, Aaron, reside in Annapolis, Md.

Mr. Stearns is a student of Caspar Vecchione of Baltimore.

Mr. Brown is a versatile musician. As a tenor, his roles include Monastatos in Die Zauberflöte and Goro in Madama Butterfly.

A member of the piano faculty at George Washington University, he has coached and accompanied singers in the Washington area for years. For three summers he has served as coach for the Washington Opera’s Institute for Young Singers. He has appeared as a soloist with the McLean Symphony, Washington Pro Musica and the Orchestra of the New Opera Festival di Roma.

Mr. Brown as served as accompanist and assistant conductor for many musical companies in the region, including the Eldbrooke Opera, the Richard Crittenden Opera Studio, Opera Camerata of Washington and the Capital City Opera.

He performed this year in Agamemnon, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Gianni Schicchi and Die Zauberflöte at the university and its Summer Opera Company.

He has undertaken roles as varied as Don Alfonso in Cosi Fan Tutte, Gunther in Götterdämmerung, Wolf in Little Red Riding Hood and the title role in The Mikado.

Mr. Petryk has also performed with Shaker Mountain Music, Intermountain Opera, Truro Performing Arts Theatre in the United Kingdom, the University of Washington, Meydenbauer Center for the Performing Arts, J. Allan Productions and Northwest Montana Music.

The Washington Post, reviewing his performance as Juan Peron in Evita this year, said “Nansel dominates the performances, displaying impressive dramatic range and a magnificent voice.” The Arlington Sun Gazette said that Mr. Nansel, as Fred Graham in Kiss Me Kate, “can control the stage with his personality.”

Last year Mr. Nansel made his New York City debut at the National Arts Club as soloist with the Washington Vocal Artists. He has performed on the National Mall and at the National Press Club. He will be heard in recital next March as part of the Potomac Community Concert Series.

Mr. Nansel thanks his voice coach, Rosemary Dyer, for setting him on this journey.

Eugene Galvin
Bass
Doctor Grenvil

He sang Sarastro in The Magic Flute under the baton of Victor Borge at Constitution Hall, and as the title character in The Marriage of Figaro with the New York Grand Opera. His roles also include Basilio, Don Giovanni, Colline, Dulcamara and Alidoro.

Mr. Galvin also has sung and directed his own translations of Donizetti’s Rita and Viardot’s Cendrillon.

He is a well know specialist in the bass roles of Donizetti and Rossini. Under Maestro Sparacino's baton he has sung in the American premieres of Poliuto, Marin Faliero and Mose in Egitto.

On the concert stage, Mr. Galvin has performed as soloist in the Kennedy Center’s Messiah Sing-Along in Washington, in Kurt Weill's Seven Deadly Sins with Ute Lemper and the National Symphony, and with the Arlington Symphony and Williamsburg Symphonia. He is also a regular featured performer in WMAL Radio’s annual live Christmas concert from the Kennedy Center.

Upcoming engagements include the inaugural concert of the Vocal Chamber Soloists of Washington and the world premiere of John Musto’s Volpone with the Wolf Trap Opera Company.

Mr. Galvin holds a D.M.A. in Opera Performance from the University of Maryland, an M.M. degree from the Catholic University of America and a B.A. from Frostburg State University. He teaches voice at the Catholic University of America and at the University of Maryland, where he also directs the Opera Workshop.

He appeared with the Washington Concert Opera; Opera Camerata of Washington, Annapolis Opera, Opera International, Maryland Lyric Opera, National Lyric Opera, Summer Opera of Washington, Tri-cities Opera, Opera IV and the Washington Civic Opera.

Mr. Soranno is a frequent performer in the Washington-Baltimore area, and is the Director and a soloist with the Cantanti ensemble. He studies voice with Dr. Harry Dunstan.

Dr. Souvorova is an assistant professor of vocal coaching at the Shenandoah Conservatory of Music. She is an accomplished pianist and professional opera vocal coach, educated at the Conservatory of Belarus. For more than 10 years Dr. Souvorova served as a principal coach for the State Academy of the Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theatre of Belarus.

She has worked extensively with internationally known conductors, producers and singers. Dr. Souvorova's coaching repertoire includes such operas as Puccini's Tosca and Madama Butterfly; Verdi's Aida, Rigoletto, La Traviata, Un Ballo di Maschera and Don Carlo; Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro and Die Zauberflote; Rossini's Il Barbiere di Seville; Bizet's Carmen; Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin and The Queen of Spades; Rimsky-Korsakov's The Tsar’s Bride; Shostakovich's Katerina Izmailova; Menotti's Medium and many others.

Dr. Souvorova has performed throughout Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Poland as a piano soloist with the Philharmonic Society of Belarus and worked as an accompanist for Svetlana Daniluk, who held the former Soviet Union’s highest artistic rank, People’s Artist of the USSR.

Born in Moscow, she grew up in Minsk near the Polish border and began her musical career at age 5.

Dr. Souvorova has been living in the United States since 1996. She first settled in Charlotte, N.C., where she was a founder and music director of the Central Piedmont Community College Opera Theater. Under her music direction, the company performed several operas, including Mozart's Die Zauberflote and Le Nozze di Figaro, Bizet's Carmen, Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti, Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Rossini's The Barber of Seville, Kalman's Die Chardasfurstin and Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel.

She has recorded compact discs as a soloist and a collaborative artist, including Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, Chopin’s Concerto No. 1 in E-minor for Piano and Orchestra, Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, Rachmaninoff’s Eight Preludes, Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibitions; and art songs by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff.

After moving to the Washington area in 2001, Dr. Souvorova was appointed assistant professor of vocal coaching at George Mason University, Fairfax, Va. She has also served as principal accompanist for Baltimore Opera productions of Puccini's Madama Butterfly and Verdi’s Il Trovatore this year. This fall she joined the faculty of the Shenandoah Conservatory of Music.

Cora E. Alter
Chorus Master

Ms. Alter, contralto, has been a professional musician for more than 40 years. As a performer, she has appeared with the Washington Opera, the professional chorus of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Opera Camerata of Washington, the Shir Chadash Chorale and other groups. She also has been a church and synagogue soloist.

Ms. Alter has played cello in various orchestras and has conducted choral and orchestral groups. She was Chorus Master for the Shir Chadash Chorale and for Opera Camerata of Washington, and has been Musical Director for productions by Montgomery Playhouse and Rockville Musical Theater.

She has produced and sung at the Kennedy Center and performed with the Washington Opera at the White House during the administration of President Kennedy, likely the only time there has been a staged opera production there.

Ms. Alter began her formal music training at the Dalcroze School of Music, continuing at the High School of Music & Art, both in New York City. She earned a bachelor's degree in music education at Queens College, City University of New York, and has done graduate study in voice at the Douglas College of Music, Rutgers University, and the Chicago Conservatory of Music, Roosevelt University, and has studied with several private teachers.

A strong advocate of musical experiences for children, Ms. Alter for many years was a music specialist and then director for the Arts Day Program of the Roundhouse Theater, Montgomery County, Md.. This program provides creative arts experiences for children of elementary school age.

She also teaches classes about opera and operetta for the Institute for Learning in Retirement at Frederick Community College.

Web page updated Nov. 10, 2003