Award-winning female singers centerstage for Bellissima Opera’s International Women’s Day Concert #IWD2022 theme #BreaktheBias
Headlining event are award-winning sopranos Michelle Areyzaga, Jonita Lattimore and Christine Steyer, along with contralto Corinne Wallace-Crane. Accompanied by collaborative pianists Dana Brown and Jennifer McCabe.
“This extravaganza of female talent is designed to delight listeners with arias of opera’s favorite heroines, songs by local women composers, and more,” said Steyer, Artistic Director of Bellissima Opera. “We will ‘Break the Bias’ of beliefs that women have not made equal contributions as composers/lyricists, by shining a spotlight on rarely performed gems.”
Local composers are Lita Grier, Lena J. McLin, Patrice Michaels & Elizabeth Rudolph. The event will also showcase music from "Future Perfect*–a modern fairytale,” set to the lyrics of young women from Lane Tech College Prep & Senn High Schools.
Guest artists are M.G. Bertulfo, emcee and author, who will read from her novel-in-progress about a young Filipino girl, and Kumu Hula June Kaililani Tanoue with a performance by Halau I Ka Pono. Images by Japanese artist Mimei Sakamoto will serve as magnificent backdrops. Claudia Hommel, Working In Concert’s Executive Director, will open the event.
Concert is 75 minutes - no intermission. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Attendees arrive by 6:45 p.m. and show proof of vaccination and ID. VIP reception with artists follows, on-site. Tickets: $25, $40 with VIP reception. $10 students. Brown Paper Tickets: iwd2022oakpark.bpt.me or at door if not sold out.
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church is accessible. Free street parking is available.
Bellissima Opera presents innovative classical concert experiences. It is an initiative of Working in Concert which educates, advocates for, and mobilizes a global community of singers who use the art of song to empower lives and build community.
*World premiere of David Shenton's Future Perfect, commissioned by Bellissima Opera/Working In Concert, at the Kehrein Center for the Arts in Chicago this June.