Acrpost: A Project of the Pacific Association of Artist Run Centres

Event Description

Join us for Valentine’s Serenade featuring the Neue Liebeslieder op. 65 by Johannes Brahms, as well as the shimmering romantic duets of Puccini, Gershwin, Bernstein, and others. Selections include the Flower duet from Madama Butterfly, duet from I Pagliacci, excerpts from La Bohème, Porgy and Bess, well-loved Puccini arias from Tosca, Gianni Schicchi, and Bohème, and some favourites from Carmen, Lakmé, with some favourites from the musical theatre repertoire.
The Artists
The singers include soprano, Elizabeth Lewis Celeste; mezzo, Megan Latham; tenor, Matt Chittick; and baritone. Andrew Greenwood: with pianists, Nikolai Maloff, and Roger Parton.
All four singers share a UBC connection. Elizabeth Lewis Celeste spent a year at UBC as an exchange student and is a graduate of McGill and Indiana University and performed in a Masterclass series with Dame Joan Sutherland at Britten-Pears. She has performed with the Handel Society, the Toledo Symphony, the North Czech Philharmonic, as well as opera companies in London, UK. She is a recent Semi-Finalist at the New York Oratorio Competition, and won “Most Promising Young Artist” at the Eastern Washington MET Auditions.
Megan Latham is a graduate of UBC (B. Mus.) and University of Toronto (M. Opera) and performs regularly with many of Canada’s leading opera companies such as the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto and Pacific Opera in Victoria. Her voice has been described as “clear and honey colored” (Opera Canada). She made her Carnegie Hall Debut with the Marilyn Horne Foundation and currently enjoys a busy concert career across North America.
Andrew Greenwood is also a UBC graduate and enjoys a busy life as an in demand soloist across BC internationally. He has performed with the Vancouver Opera, Pacific Opera Victoria, City Opera Vancouver, and the Stadt Theatre Hildesheim, Germany, among others. He has a large repertoire of over 20 roles, and is also an active concert singer and on his off days works as a fireman in Vancouver.
Matt Chittick is the youngest singer in the concert and is also a UBC (M.Mus.) and McGill (B.Mus.) graduate. He has performed leading roles with the Vancouver Island Opera, Burnaby Lyric, Opera Mariposa, and recently performed La Bohème in Lucca, Italy.
Rounding out the program are the two excellent pianists for the evening Nikolai Maloff (I) and Roger Parton (II). Nikolai holds a PhD from UBC, and works with the Vancouver Island Opera, has won several prestigious piano competitions such as the Virginia Waring, Franz Liszt (Italy), Eckhardt-Gramatté and Canadian Music Competition in addition to being an active recitalist and teacher. Roger Parton is an active composer, an in-demand recitalist, in addition to performing regularly as an opera pianist. He has also performed with the Welsh Men’s Chorus and the Welsh Society’s gala evenings.