Saturday, January 5, 2019 - 7:00pm
5625 Holy Trinity Drive Melbourne, FL 32940
Amy Cofield, soprano
Mary Anne Kruger, soprano
Shawn Jesseman, baritone
Andrew LeJeune, baritone
Enjoy your favorites from Richard Rodgers, Jerome Kern, Mitch Leigh, Meredith Wilsson, Leonard Bernstein, Cole Porter, Frank Loesser, Frederick Loewe and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Four all-star soloists will join the symphony on stage to perform from your favorite musicals including Guys and Dolls, West Side Story, Phantom of the Opera, South Pacific, Camelot, Man of La Mancha, Jekyll and Hyde, Bridges of Madison County, Showboat, Carousel, Oklahoma, and more! Some highlights from this program include “If I Loved You,” "All I Ask of You," Some Enchanted Evening,” "Impossible Dream," "Oh What a Beautiful Morning," "This is the Moment," "Can't help lovin' dat man," "If I Were a Bell," "Music of the Night," and many more! Don't miss this enchanting program.
Artist Information
American soprano Mary Anne Kruger studied voice with Margaret Harshaw and first went to Germany in 1992 when she completed a Master of Music degree at Indiana University. Since then she has lived in Europe building a repertoire of over 40 major roles and concerts. From 1994-2005 she was a member of the opera ensemble at the Hessische Staatstheater Darmstadt, and she has also guested in over 20 European theaters including the Bayerische Staatsoper- Nationaltheater in Munich, Staatstheater Stuttgart, the Latvian National Opera and Theater Basel.
Her prizes include a nomination in the category “Best Singer” in the 1997 Opernwelt Jahrbuch for her portrayal of Alcina. She was awarded the role of Donna Elvira in the 1996 Don Giovanni production at the Athens Concert Hall directed by Ruggiero Raimondi and conducted by Gustav Kühn. The “Sonderpreis der Wiener Staats-und Volksoper” at the 1993 Belvedere Competition secured for her a performance as Hanna Glawari (Die Lustige Witwe) at the the Wiener Volksoper. She was also awarded a DAAD scholarship (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdient) to study at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich 1992-93.
In addition to her debut as Salome, Ms. Kruger’s 2008 engagements also included the role of Tatyana in Eugene Onegin with the Stadttheater Pforzheim to great audience and critical acclaim. That same month she also sang Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with the Stadttheater Geissen. In April and May of 2008 she sang the role of Cio-Cio-San with Theater Freiburg and Theater der Stadt Trier. In August she joined the Berliner Symphoniker orchestra in a concert aptly entitled “Solo Verdi”, and in October she joined the orchestra again in the opening concert of the Musica Mallorca festival which was billed as a tribute to Maria Callas and featured bel canto repertoire.
The soprano is often praised for her warmth of timbre, the brilliance of her high register, and her great versatility, both musically and theatrically. Of her Tatyana, Orpheus International wrote: “Among the singers one first must name Mary Anne Kruger... who was a Tatjana of the very highest calibre. The singer is not only good-looking, but she has at her disposal a darkly colored, distinctive and precisely focused soprano voice, which in the last act was also capable of beautiful pianissimi. It was right that she received the most applause.”
Of her Madama Butterfly, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wrote: “Mary Anne Kruger in the title role established herself once again as a category sui generis. With an expressive repertory that extends from bright soprano purity to the shadowy depths of the low registers, Krugercommanded (the scene) as an extraordinary actor with great musical and technical substance.”
Soprano, Amy Cofield, is a highly sought after performer and teacher. Praised by the New York Times for her "lovely, rich tone," Ms. Cofield has performed to critical acclaim across the U.S. and in Italy, France, Croatia, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Austria, England, Santo Domingo, Guam, Taiwan and Japan. Highly regarded for her “technical facility,” her “beauty of interpretation” and an “arresting presence,” her operatic roles have included Violetta, a role that marked her debut at Houston Grand Opera where she covered Renee Fleming’s Traviata, Cleopatra, Micaela, and Lucia di Lammermoor with Opera Roanoke, Elcia (cover) in Rossini’s Moses in Egypt at New York City Opera, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with Nevada Opera, Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus with Greensboro Light Opera (Eastern Music Festival), Violetta with Annapolis Chamber Orchestra and Chorale, Mimi, with Pro Cantus Lyric Opera (TX), Cunegonde and Susannah with Fort Worth Opera, Musetta and Pamina with Knoxville Opera, Gilda, Norina and Violetta with Lyric Opera San Antonio, and Konstanze and Violetta with Teatro Lirico D'Europa.
Amy’s busy concert schedule has included performances of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and Brahms’ Requiem with the U.S. Naval Academy, Orff's Carmina Burana with Virginia Symphony, Handel’s Messiah with Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, Einhorn's Voices of Light, Haydn’s Creation and Handel's Messiah with Annapolis Chamber Orchestra and Chorale, Ravel’s Sheherazade with Norfolk Chamber Consort, Mendelssohn's Elijah and St. Paul Oratorio, Haydn's The Seasons, Bach’s St. John Passion, Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus and Beethoven’s Mass in C with Southern Nevada Musical Arts Society and in works from Mozart’s Requiem and Mass in C Minor, to Handel’s Messiah and Brahms’ Requiem with Garden State Philharmonic and Fort Wayne Philharmonic. In addition Amy has appeared with Opera Camerata of Washington, Norfolk Chamber Consort, Virginia Arts Festival, Festival Chamber Music in recital at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall and with The Masterwork Chorus (NJ) in Handel’s Messiah at Carnegie Hall.
Recent engagements included recitals with Asbury Sacred Arts, The Prizery (VA) and at Yamaha Hall in Tokyo, a return to Southern Nevada Musical Arts Society for Mozart's Mass in C minor, Mozart's Requiem with Trinity Ecumenical Parish (VA), Ralph Vaughan Williams' Hodie with Symphonicity (Va Beach Symphony), the role of Violetta in Opera Roanoke's production of Verdi's La Traviata, and a world premiere in NY, performing the role of Belinda in the opera/oratorio, The Rape of the Lock (Alexander Pope), by NY composer Deborah Mason. Upcoming engagements include a return to SNMAS for Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Roanoke Symphony Orchestra for Handel’s Messiah, and to Opera Roanoke for the title role in Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah. In addition, Amy makes her debut with Tulsa Symphony performing the Brahms Requiem.
A native of North Carolina, Andrew attended Appalachian State University, where he studied with Dr. Joseph Amaya and earned a degree in voice. Having performed in 20+ shows across Central Florida, some of his favorite roles include Curly in Oklahoma! (The Athens Theater), Skip Henderson in Life Could Be a Dream (Winter Park Playhouse), Radames in Aida (Cocoa Village Playhouse), Cinderella’s Prince In Into the Woods (Titusville), Enjolras In Les Miserables (Wayne Densch), and Detlef in The Student Prince (Orlando Light Opera), and he also has a recurring role as Elwood in the Blues Brothers at Universal Studios.
Shawn Jesseman returns to perform with the Space Coast Symphony Orchestra. He was last seen as a featured vocalist with the symphony in 2018 as part of the "Best of Broadway" concert series. Jesseman is a singer, actor, songwriter and producer. He has been classified as both a loud lyric tenor and a lyrical baritone. Jesseman was classically trained for seventeen years and has appeared in many musical theatre productions throughout the years. Memorable roles include John Adams in 1776 and Billy Bigelow in Carousel. Noted for his three and a half octave range, Shawn Jesseman exists in two worlds: the world of musical theatre and the world of alternative rock. His 2nd original album, titled Orion, was released in July, 2017.