Opera performance in Sparta
SPARTA — A live opera performance comes to Sparta with "A Night at the Opera" at the Sparta Avenue Stage featuring professional artists, soprano Chelsea Bonagura, tenor Matthew Arnold and piano accompanist Krista Sweer.
The program is designed for opera enthusiasts and newcomers alike and will feature operatic arias and a couple of Broadway duets from "Phantom of the Opera" and "Carousel."
Chelsea BonaguraSoprano Chelsea Bonagura is a professional opera singer. She lives in Sparta and teaches voice locally.
According to Diane Garsetti, proprietor of the Sparta Avenue Stage, Bonagura has been the force behind bringing the Opera to the area. She has been inspired to share her love of the opera with the local community.
Bonagura's voice has been described as beautifully warm and rich. She has performed with regional companies including Opera Roanoke and Greensboro Opera Company. She placed 2nd in the Rosen-Schaffel Competition and in the Opera Guild of Charlotte Voice Competition.
Bonagura received her Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from the Eastman School of Music and her Master's Degree in Voice Performance from UNC-Greensboro in the studio of Dr. Carla LeFevre.
In 2013, Bonagura participated in acclaimed soprano Martina Arroyo's Prelude to Performance program in New York City. She has received additional music and language training at the International Vocal Arts Institute (Tel Aviv), Oberlin in Italy, L Universit Paris Sorbonne- Paris IV, and the Goethe Institute in Berlin.
Matthew ArnoldTenor Matthew Arnold is a professional opera singer and will be joining the Chautauqua Opera Institution in New York this summer. Matthew Arnold is a Sparta High graduate and has a Bachelor of Music degree in Voice with a Minor in Sacred Music from the University of Delaware. He has earned the Master of Music degree in Voice from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro under the tutelage of Proffesor Clara O'Brien.
In April 2014, he won the Verdi Award from the Orpheus National Vocal Competition in Tennessee.
Arnold recently made his professional debut with the Castleton Festival as Prince Yamadori in Madame Butterfly under the baton of Maestro Lorin Maazel. His operatic credits include most recently: Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus with the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institue, Il Conte in Le Nozze di Figaro with UNCG, Papageno (cover) in Die Zauberfl te with Opera Roanoke, Amonasro (cover) in Aida with North Carolina Opera, Mercutio (Rom o et Juliette), Vicar Gedge (Albert Herring), and the title role in Gianni Schicchi.
Arnold is currently a Fellow at the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts where he studies with Dr. Marilyn Taylor.
Krista SweerKrista Sweer will be accompanying Chelsea Bonagura and Matthew Arnold on piano. Krista Sweer is a collaborative pianist, vocal coach, and teacher based out of the New York metropolitan area. She was a recipient of the Daniel Vollmer Music Scholarship at Messiah College where she received her Bachelor's of Science in Music Education. While there, Krista studied piano with Ya-Ting Chang and earned the prestigious Presser Foundation Undergraduate Scholar Award.
She earned her Master's degree in Collaborative Piano as a graduate assistant at Florida State University. While studying at the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria she was awarded the Harold Heiberg Award for Excellence in Collaborative Piano. Currently, Krista is a staff pianist at Drew University and maintains a private piano and coaching studio.
Performances are Friday, June 5 and Saturday, June 6 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students/seniors. Tickets can be reserved by calling/texting 973-769-2893 or purchased on-line at www.spartastage.com.