2001-11-09 A Celebrationg of Richard Cox Falstaff [recital programs]

              Airline Sponsor
presents
A Celebration
of
Richard Cox
FALSTAFF
by Giuseppe Verdi
Friday, November 9, 2001
Sunday, November 11, 2001
Aycock Auditorium
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UNCG School of Music
PO Box 26167
Greensboro, NC 27402-6167
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
School of Music
Presents
Falstaff
(in concert version)
Music by Giuseppi Verdi
Libretto by Arrigo Boito
First performed at Teatro all Scala, Milan, Italy
February 9, 1893
Musical Director/ Conductor Richard Cox
Producer David Holley
Musical Assistant/Rehearsal Pianist Andrew Mock
Cast
(in order of vocal appearance)
DR. CAJUS Wilson Jeffreys
BARDOLPH John Cary
SIR JOHN FALSTAFF Phillip Stovall
PISTOL David Mellnik
MRS. MEG PAGE Alexa Jackson Schlimmer
MRS. ALICE FORD Joan Metelli
DAME QUICKLY Sandra Walker
NANETTA Polly Butler Cornelius
FENTON Jeffrey Price
FORD W. Dwight Coleman
Chorus
Jill Amidon Mary Anne Bolick Tami Fields
Ben Brafford Davetta Florance-Bristow Jane Girardi
Jolynda Bowers Elizabeth Haile Mike Caruso
Sally Carmichael Jody Henley David Florance
Nancy Caruso Lynda Hord Paul Gould
Anne Coltrane Valerie Lepko Jeff Ishee
Laurie Daughtrey Mandy Ryan Wendell Putney
Joan Decker Jean Taylor Randy Price
Lane Ridenhour David Stewart
Eve-Anne Eichhorn Scott Whitesell
Cover Cast
DR. CAJUS Jeffery Maggs
BARDOLPH Todd DeBra
SIR JOHN FALSTAFF Bryan Franklin
PISTOL D. Paul Strickland
MRS. MEG PAGE Rebecca Putland
MRS. ALICE FORD Hilary Webb
DAME QUICKLY Renée Janette Sokol
NANETTA Deborah Thacker
FENTON Jay Rollins
FORD Warren Coker
All proceeds from this weekend’s performances of
Falstaff and the Tribute to Richard Cox will be applied to the
Richard Cox Vocal Arts Scholarship. If you are interested in contributing to
this endowment, plase use the form below.
Chorus
Jill Amidon
Mary Anne Bolick
Sally Carmichael
Nancy Caruso
Anne Coltrane
Laurie Daughtrey
Joan Decker
Eve-Anne Eichhorn
Tami Fields
Davetta Florance-Bristow
Jane Girardi
Elizabeth Haile
Jody Henley
Lynda Hord
Valerie Lepko
Mandy Ryan
Jean Taylor
Ben Brafford
Mike Caruso
David Florance
Paul Gould
Jeff Ishee
Randy Price
Wendell Putney
David Stewart
Scott Whitsell
Orchestra Personnel
Synopsis
ACT I
At the Garter Inn, Dr. Cajus accuses Sir John Falstaff of brutalizing his servants
and complains that Falstaff’s retainers, Bardolph and Pistol, have robbed him.
Falstaff laughs it off and announces to his men that he intends to seduce the
wives of Ford and Page. He commands Bardolph and Pistol to carry letters to
the women but they refuse, claiming the action is dishonorable. Passing the
notes to a page, Falstaff lectures them on the subject of honor. In Ford’s garden,
with Nanetta (Ford’s daughter) and Mistress Quickly listening on, Alice Ford
and Meg Page read identical letters from Falstaff, and determine to teach him a
lesson.
ACT II
Back at the Garter, Mistress Quickly arrives with an answer to Falstaff’s letters.
He has won both women’s hearts, but only Alice can see him - between two and
three any afternoon, when her husband is away. Meanwhile, Ford (disguised as
“Fontana”) introduces himself as a wealthy man who has fallen in love with
Ford’s wife. He has tried to seduce her, but to no avail, and offers Falstaff gold
if he will help his cause. Since Sir John is to meet her that very day, he willingly
agrees. While Falstaff leaves to dress for the assignation, Ford fumes with
jealousy. In Ford’s house, Falstaff arrives and begins wooing Alice. When Ford
storms in looking for the intruder, Falstaff hides in a laundry basket, while
Nanetta and Fenton hide (in each other’s arms) behind a screen. While Ford
searches the house, Falstaff - in his laundry basket - is dragged to the window
and dumped in the river.
ACT III
Outside the Garter, Falstaff is licking his wounds when Mistress Quickly arrives
with news of another assignation with Alice, this time in Windsor Forest at
midnight. However, this time he must go disguised as the “Black Huntsman.”
Their conversation is overheard by Ford, Cajus, Fenton, and the other wives
who plan the evening’s fun. Later that night, with Sir John standing by Herne’s
Oak, Nanetta invokes the forest spirits (the local children) to prick and pinch Sir
John as they stage the Masque of the Fairy Queen, during of which Nanetta and
Fenton are married. Ford is philosophical when he realizes his daughter has
thwarted his wishes through trickery, and Sir John leads the company in a
chorus - “Jesting is man’s vocation. Wise is he who is jolly."
Violin I
Dan Skidmore *
Travis Newton **
Shanna Swaringen
Kwanghee Park
Melissa Ellis
Ralph Wayne Reich, Jr.
Amy Blackwood
Erin Abernethy
Tim Kim
C. Christopher
Kimberly Farlow
Violin II
Katie Costello †
Brooke Mahanes
Julia Barefoot
Will Freeman
Corrie Haskins
Rachel Holmes
Stacey Smith
Makeda Saggau-Sackey
Jason Caldwell
Emily Blacklin
Emily Arnold
Becky Averill
James Esterline
Viola
Logan Strawn †
Sally Barton
Morgan Smith
Matthew Troy
Patrick Scully
Frances Schaeffer
Jamaal Jones
Morgan Caffey
Katie Hayden
Magdalen Stanley
Katherine Harris
Sarah Mitchell
Violoncello
J. W. Turner †
Jennifer Self
Erin Klimstra
Megan Miller
Eric Aikins
Sarah Dorsey
Bass
Will Postlethwait †
Emily Manansala
Andy Hawks
Gary Rives
Jonathan Gunter
Flute and Piccolo
Bethany Snyder †
Caroline Kernahan
Christi Wilson,
piccolo
Oboe and English Horn
Melanie Hoffner †
Amanda Woolman
Amanda English,
English horn
Clarinet
John Cipolla, †
Kevin Erixson
Bassoon
Elaine Peterson †
Caitlin Teter
Horn
Andy Downing †
Tara Cates ††
Michael Hrivnak
Mary Pritchett
Kelly Higgs
Trumpet
Mike Hengst †
Justin Stamps
Ben Twyeffort
Trombone
Darin Achilles †
Sean Devlin
Phil Shands
Simon Evans
Timpani
Arthur J. Chenail †
Percussion
Eric Corwin
Michael Woods
* Concertmaster
** Assistant Concertmaster
† Principal
†† Assistant Principal
Greensboro
Opera Company
Presents
Die Fledermaus
By Johann Strauss
A frothy concoction of lilting dance melodies and
vengeful deception with a cast of comical characters
Friday, February 22, 2002
Sunday, February 24, 2002
War Memorial Auditorium
Greensboro Coliseum Complex
Sung in English
For Tickets: (336) 273.9472
Richard Cox
Richard Cox arrived at the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina in 1960, after
teaching five years at High Point College (now High Point University). A native North Carolinian
with degrees from UNC Chapel Hill and a Diploma in Voice from the Paris Conservatory, he
completed the PhD from Northwestern University in 1963, about the same time that WC-UNC
became UNCG. At UNCG Cox has conducted five vocal ensembles and created a number of
courses in the Division of Vocal Studies, including undergraduate and graduate courses in Singers'
Diction, Song Repertory; and seminars in vocal and choral repertory. For the Division of
Composition, History, and Theory, he created courses in vocal and choral literature, as well as
undergraduate and graduate classes in Choral Conducting for the Division of Music Education. He
has also taught private lessons in Voice and Choral Conducting. As conductor of the University
Chorale and Women's Choir, Cox directed a number of tours in the Eastern United States, including
convention appearances for the American Choral Directors Association and the Music Educators
National Conference, and performances at the Washington Cathedral and the Kennedy Center. In
1998 he received the UNC Board of Governors' Award for Distinguished Teaching.
Cox has been involved with UNCG opera during most of his years here. During some of the early
years of coeducation, when student tenors were scarce, he filled in as a singer. After performing
totally unsuitable roles like the deaf and elderly Wise Man, the gossipy and elderly Music Teacher,
the lecherous Moor, and the sinister Ghost, he finally was type-cast as the ardent teen-ager Fenton in
a 1969 performance of Falstaff, in which this weekend's Mistress Quickly, Sandra Walker, appeared
in that role. Having conducted several major productions earlier, he conducted all the major spring
productions between 1979 and 1988, including the 1979 Falstaff, whose cast included Wilson
Jeffreys, David Mellnik, Joan Metelli, Phil Stovall, and Jeffrey Price who are with us again this
weekend.
Richard Cox's additional involvement at UNCG has included chairing the Curriculum Committee,
the Graduate Committee, and several Search Committees in the School of Music. In 1989-91 he was
Vice Chairman of the Faculty Council in the final years before the new Faculty Constitution
instituted the Faculty Senate.
Cox has also been very active in the American Choral Directors Association, having served as
President of the North Carolina chapter and of the Southern Division. He is currently a member of
the National Committee on Research & Publication and chairs its subcommittee on Monographs. He
is the author of the Singers' Manual of German and French Diction published by Schirmer Books in
1970 and of Singing in English published by ACDA in 1990. In addition, he has contributed
numerous reviews and other articles to the Choral Journal. He is also editor of several editions of
choral music published by Hinshaw Music, including an edition of a Monteverdi madrigal cycle
published last February. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, and in
May, 2000, became a member of Sigma Alpha Iota.
Locally, Cox has served as choral director for the Eastern Music Festival, for the Greensboro Opera
Company and has prepared choruses for a number of Greensboro Symphony performances. He was
the founding director of the Bel Canto Company, which he conducted for its first five years. Since
1967 he has been Choirmaster at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church.
In all these activities he has enjoyed the support of his family. His wife Mary Alicia teaches piano at
Holy Trinity Music School. His son David and his daughter-in law Monica Listokin live in
Minneapolis, where he practices law and she is a county social worker. His son John and his
daughter-in-law Marty Michaels live in Carrboro, where he is a PhD candidate in History at UNC-CH
and she edits for the Chronicle of Philanthropy. His daughter Anna Lange teaches music K-5 in
an Atlanta suburb and her husband Carl works in an Atlanta bank.
Sandra Walker has appeared frequently in telecasts of “Live from Lincoln Center,” and
she is featured on video recordings of Orlando Furioso with the San Francisco Opera,
Eugene Onegin with the Chicago Lyric Opera, and The Saint of Bleeker Street and
Manon with the New York City Opera. Miss Walker is a graduate of the University of
North Carolina at Greensboro, where she now serves on the Artistic Advisory Board.
Since 1980, she has appeared annually in “Who’s Who in America” and “Who’s Who in
Opera.” She is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing and the
Music Teacher’s National Association.
A baroque vocal music specialist, Jeffrey performed the tenor roles in all of the major
vocal and orchestral works of J.S. Bach during the 1996-97 musical season. His
performances as the Evangelist in the Bach St. John Passion and tenor soloist in the
Handel’s Messiah have been broadcast on National Public Radio, and his compact disc
recording of the songs of Vittorio Giannini titled Hopelessly Romantic was distributed
nationally and received reviews in American Record Guide, Fanfare, and The Journal of
Singing. After completing graduate school at UNCG and Florida State University, Price
received post-doctoral vocal instruction at Yale University.
Dr. Price has been a guest artist and teacher in China for an International Music Festival
in collaboration with the Chinese Ministry of Culture and members of the American Lizst
Society. Accompanied by Nelita True of the Eastman School of Music, he concertized in
Beijing, Xi’an, Chendu and Wuhan. He was the tenor soloist for three performances of
Handel’s Messiah at the Washington National Cathedral in December 2000, and will be
the vocal music specialist and cantor for the Presbyterian Association of Musicians
National Conferences on Worship and Music in 2002. He is a professor of music at UNC
Charlotte, and a roster artist of Dispeker Artists Management.
Sandra Walker (Dame Quickly) has appeared in major roles on many of the world’s
leading stages, including nine seasons at the Metropolitan Opera, where she most recently
sang The Hostess of the Inn in Boris Goudonov and Mrs. Sedley in Peter Grimes in the
1998-1999 season. She has sung with the New York City Opera, the Chicago Lyric
Opera, the San Francisco Opera, the Dallas Opera, the Houston Grand Opera, the Opera
Society of Washington D.C. and the Washington (DC) Concert Opera.
Miss Walker made her Met debut in 1986 as Micah in Handel’s Samson, a role she had
previously performed at the Chicago Lyric Opera and at the Teatro Comunale in
Florence, Italy. Other Met roles include Olga in Eugene Onegin, Maddalena in Rigoletto,
and appearances in The Magic Flute, The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny and
The Makropoulos Case. Highlights of recent seasons include her Paris Opera debut in
Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman, her Rome debut in Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky (with
the Academia di Santa Cecilia, conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich), performances in
Paris of Berlioz’ Roméo et Juliette with the Orchestre de Paris, Olga in Eugene Onegin at
the Theatre du Capitale in Toulouse, France, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Lisbon,
Portugal.
Miss Walker’s European debut was made at the Spoleto Festival in Italy in the title role
of Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia. She has also sung with the Zurich Opera, the Grand
Opera of Toulouse, France, the Hague Opera, the Teatro Comunale in Florence, Italy, the
Amsterdam Opera and Academia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, the Frankfurt Opera and
many other German opera companies. Miss Walker has been featured artist at the
summer festivals of Tanglewood, Blossom, Caramoor, Glimmerglass and the Santa Fe
Opera. In the premiere season of the Spoleto USA Festival in Charleston, South
Carolina, she appeared as the Secretary in Menotti’s The Consul, a production directed by
the composer.
The Artists
Polly Butler Cornelius (Nanetta) is a frequent performer of opera and oratorio
throughout the United States. She was the recent recipient of the 2000 North Carolina
Artist Award sponsored by the National Association of Teachers of Singing, and was the
alternate winner at the regional level. She received the G.F. Handel Award in the
National Orpheus Vocal Artist Competition in 2000, and has previously won awards and
recognition from the Metropolitan Opera Auditions and the Fort Worth Opera Company.
She has performed leading opera roles with The Opera Company of North Carolina, the
Piedmont Opera Company, the Greensboro Opera Company and the Brevard Music
Festival, receiving praise and acclaim from public and press alike, particularly for her
Nanetta, which she reprises this weekend.
She has been a soloist with the North Carolina Symphony, the American Institute of
Musical Studies Orchestra in Graz, Austria, the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra, the Bel
Canto Company and the Eastern Music Festival. She will be singing the role of Adele in
Die Fledermaus with the Greensboro Opera Company in February, 2002.
She holds degrees from UNC Greensboro and Converse College, and studied at the
Goethe Institute in Rothenburg, Germany and the American Institute of Musical Studies
in Graz, Austria. She studies voice in New York City with Doris Yarick-Cross, and
coaches with Elizabeth Colson, Arlene Shrut, Sylvia Plyler, Benton Hess, and Nico
Castel. She has performed with distinguished conductors such as Gerhardt Zimmermann,
Joseph Colaneri, Benton Hess, Valery Ryvkin, and the late Norman Johnson.
John Cary (Bardolph) is an active soloist who has performed with the Greensboro, N.C.
and Charlottesville, VA Symphonies, Choral Masterworks Society of D.C., the
Greensboro Opera Company and both the Greensboro and Raleigh Oratorio Societies.
Among his many credits are Ninth Symphony and Missa Solemnis (Beethoven), Te Deum
(Bruckner), St. Matthew Passion, St. John Passion, Mass in B minor as well as numerous
Cantatas (J.S. Bach), Elijah (Mendelssohn), Messiah (Handel), and The Creation
(Haydn). He performed the Southeastern Premiere of Requiem for the Unbeliever by
Roger Ames, and in 1992 premiered the role of Giovanni in Beatrice by Winston-Salem
composer Doug Borwick. He is also a frequent recitalist, performing the works of 20th
century British and American composers.
Mr. Cary earned a Bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from the University of North
Carolina at Greensboro, where he performed in L’Heure espagnole (Ravel), The Tales of
Hoffmann (Offenbach), and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Britten). He is the tenor
section leader of both the Gloria Deo and Celebration choirs at Holy Trinity Episcopal
Church in Greensboro, a frequent guest at Centenary Methodist Church, and a long time
member of the Bel Canto Company. When he is not performing, Mr. Cary works in the
Systems and Networks Department of the Office of Information Technology at the
University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
W. Dwight Coleman (Ford), lyric baritone, is currently Coordinator of Voice and Opera
at Georgia State University in Atlanta, and the Artistic Director of the nationally
recognized Harrower Summer Opera Workshop. Prior to Georgia State, he was Artist
Teacher of Voice and Director of Opera at the University of Mississippi where his
production of The Saint of Bleecker Street won the 1987 Opera Production Competition
of the National Opera Association.
Maintaining an active performing career in opera, recital and oratorio, Mr. Coleman has
performed leading and secondary baritone roles with the Atlanta Opera, Pensacola Opera,
New Orleans Opera, Teatro di Verdi in Busseto, Italy, Skylite Opera, Shreveport Opera,
Mississippi Opera, North Carolina Symphony and Milwaukee Symphony. His roles
include: Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus, Silvio in I
Pagliacci, Valentin in Faust, Germont in La Traviata, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor,
Ping in Turandot, Peter in Hansel and Gretel and others. He made his Carnegie Hall in
1992 in Ein Deutches Requiem by Brahms with Haberlen conducting. Two years later,
he was featured as baritone soloist in Five Mystical Songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams at
Avery Fischer Hall in Lincoln Center. Recent performances include Chanson
Madecasses by Ravel with the Musica da Camera in Atlanta, Carmina Burana with the
Choral Society of Pensacola, Fauré Requiem with the Atlanta Community Orchestra and
eight songs by Ned Rorem (on a text by Walt Whitman), with the composer in
attendance. Mr. Coleman also has many professional credits as stage director.
His awards include: Regional Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera Auditions in Chicago,
1989 Shreveport Opera Singer of the Year, Finalist in the Bel Canto Foundation
competition in Italian Opera, 1996 Pro Mozart Society competition to study at the
Mozarteum in Salzburg Austria with Grace Brumby and Kerstin Meyer, and a Bel Canto
grant to study in Busseto, Italy with Carlo Bergonzi and Renata Tebaldi. He received the
2000 Torch of Peace Award for promotion of racial harmony at Georgia State University,
where he has been nominated for the Outstanding Faculty Scholarship Award for the
College of Arts and Sciences.
Wilson Jeffreys (Dr. Cajus) is a native of Melbane, N.C. who has enjoyed a diverse
musical career since completing studies at the University of North Carolina at
Greensboro, where he earned both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees. At UNCG he
studied voice with Arvid Knusten, Charles Lynam, and the late Norman Farrow. He has
distinguished himself in competitions, including the North Carolina Symphony Young
Artist Competition (finalist), Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Artist Program (First Alternate),
and the Fulbright Scholarship Program (Finalist).
A former resident of Philadelphia, Wilson attended the Curtis Institute of Music
(studying with Boris Goldovsky) and performed with the Philadelphia Singers (directed
by the late Michael Korn), the Philly Pops (with Peter Nero), the Pennsylvania Pro
Musica, and the chorus of the Opera Company of Philadelphia in several nationally-broadcast
performances with world-renowned tenor, Luciano Pavarotti. While in
Philadelphia, he appeared as tenor soloist at the First Presbyterian Church, St. Paul’s
Episcopal Church (Chestnut Hill), St. Martin’s-in-the-Field (also in Chestnut Hill),
Central Moravian Church (Bethlehem), and the Ursinus College and the University of
Pennsylvania Choruses. In addition, Wilson worked for six years in various capacities
with Chorus America, the national nonprofit service organization for professional and
volunteer choruses, and in 1991 traveled to Europe with Vox, a Philadelphia-based
renaissance vocal ensemble, performing concerts in Vienna, Innsbruck, Salzburg, Venice,
and Marburg, Germany.
Lyric’s Lee Schaenen. Dr. Schlimmer was one of two singers chosen from nationwide
auditions to present a solo recital at the Spoleto Festival, U.S.A., and she has appeared in
concert at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center. A winner of numerous vocal competitions,
including the Metropolitan Opera Auditions and the National Association of Teachers of
Singing Artist’s competition, she was a recipient of two fellowships to study abroad.
A native of South Carolina, Dr. Schlimmer studied at the College Conservatory of Music
at the University of Cincinnati, The American Institute of Musical Studies (Graz,
Austria), and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Most recently she
performed the soprano roles in the Poulenc Gloria with the Charleston Symphony, and
she returned to Spoleto USA’s Piccolo Spoleto to sing the soprano solos in the Mozart
Coronation Mass and Regina Coeli.
Phil Stovall (Falstaff), bass-baritone, is a native of Sylva, N.C. currently residing in
Owensboro, KY, where he is a voice instructor at Kentucy Wesleyan College. Mr.
Stovall received his B.A. from Lenoir-Rhyne College in 1978 and his MM from UNCG
in 1980, where he studied with Norman Farrow. He returned to UNCG for further
graduate study from 1984-1987, studying with William Mcver and Charles Lynam. He
has coached with Joan Dornemann and Fabrizio Melano of the Metropolitan Opera,
conductors Peter Paul Fuchs and Kurt Klippstater, as well as Mignon Dunn, Janet
Bookspan, Andrew White, and Martin Katz. In 1987, Mr. Stovall joined the North
Carolina Visiting Artist program sponsored by the North Carolina Arts Council and
Department of Community Colleges serving as Artist-in-Residence until 1991. He has
appeared as soloist with the Western Piedmont Symphony Orchestra, the Greensboro
Symphony, the Winston-Salem Symphony, and the Asheville Symphony Orchestra. His
many operatic roles include the title role in Verdi's Falstaff, Escamillo in Carmen, the
title role in Gianni Schicchi, Marcello and Colline in La Bohème, Count Almaviva and
Figaro in Le Nozze d Figaro, Sulpice in La Fille du Regiment, and the Pirate King in The
Pirates of Penzance. Equally at home in musical theatre, he has been seen as Emile de
Becque in South Pacific, Lazar Wolf in Fiddler on the Roof, and Miles Gloriosus in A
Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum. He has sung the title role in
Mendelssohn's Elijah with the Evansville (Indiana) Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus,
sharing the stage with mezzo-soprano Jennifer Larmore. More recently, he sang the
Brahms Requiem with the Asheville Symphony Orchestra and the Western Carolina
Community Chorus. Mr. Stovall currently sings bass with the critically acclaimed pop a-capella
group O-Capella in Owensboro. Besides enjoying a successful singing career,
Mr. Stovall is the Chief Financial Officer for Stovall Lumber Company, Inc., and a full-time
father of three children all of whom are promising young musicians.
Jeffrey Price (Fenton) has appeared as a guest soloist with professional symphony
orchestras and choral organizations throughout the eastern United States, including the
Louisville Bach Society, Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, Canton Symphony Orchestra,
Nashua Symphony Orchestra, Greensboro Symphony, Williamsport Symphony, and the
West Virginia Symphony. Twice an Artist Fellow at the Bach Aria Festival and Institute
at Stony Brook, Price has also been a district winner of the Metropolitan Opera National
Council Auditions and has appeared as a recitalist in Jordan Hall in Boston. He
frequently conducts Master Classes and vocal clinics in colleges, universities, public
schools and churches.
Since returning to North Carolina in 1993, Wilson has sung with Greensboro’s Bel Canto
Company (as soloist on Dan Locklair:Holy Canticles recorded on the Gasparo label),
First Presbyterian Church of Burlington, and has appeared as guest soloist with the
Greensboro Choral Society, the Raleigh Oratorio Society, the Tar River Chorus and the
Hickory Choral Society. Wilson is currently Stewardship Coordinator at the University
of North Carolina at Greensboro.
David Mellnik (Pistol) had an auspicious beginning to his singing career: as a singing
dishwasher at the Farm House Restaurant in Blowing Rock, N.C. The waiter’s positions
were filled when David auditioned in the spring of 1976, and so he because the Farm
House’s first singing dishwasher.
David’s musical training began as a child growing up in his father’s choirs at church. He
received the Bachelor of Music Degree in vocal performance from the University of
North Carolina at Greensboro, attended the Manhattan School of Music (on full
scholarship) where he studied with Margaret Hoswell, and earned the Master of Church
Music with a Minor in Vocal Performance from the Southern Baptist Theological
Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He remains the only Master’s level student to have
been awarded both Honors Award Certificate in Vocal Studies and the Performer’s
Certificate in Voice from Southern Seminary. Rev. Mellnik is a four-time Regional
Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Auditions, a regional winner of the National
Association of Teachers of Singing audition, and won the North Carolina Federation of
Music Clubs auditions three times.
David has appeared with symphony orchestras and opera companies in Vermont,
Kentucky, New York, North Carolina and Florida. His opera roles include Gianni
Schicchi, Silvio in I Pagliacci, Ford in Falstaff, the Father in Amelia Goes to the Ball,
and Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro. He has performed the bass roles in Elijah,
St. John Passion, and Requiem masses by Verdi, Brahms, and Fauré. He was featured at
the 1986 Southern Baptist Church Music Conference as one of the Musicians of the
Future, and has been published in Overtones: The Official Bimonthly Journal of the
American Guild of English Handbell Ringers, Inc.
David currently serves Greenwood Forest Baptist as Minister of Music, where he directs
and administers a program of 18 choirs. He is married to Revina “Vanna Fox” Mellnik,
and has two children, Margaret and Sarah.
Joan Metelli (Alice Ford), soprano, has performed leading operatic and oratorios roles in
the United States and Germany and has appeared with such orchestras as the Baltimore
Symphony, Stuttgart Philharmonic, Boise Symphony Orchestra, Reutlingen Symphony
Orchestra and the Eastern Music Festival Philharmonic. Her recital, oratorio, opera and
master class appearances span Europe, Thailand, Korea, Japan, Mexico, Canada, Central
America, Israel and the United States. Recent roles and concerts include the Vier letzte
Lieder of Strauss, the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier (Strauss), Poulenc’s La Voix
humaine, Dominick Argento’s Miss Havisham’s Wedding Night, Cio-Cio San in Madama
Butterfly, Magda in The Consul, Madame Altina in La Divina (Pasatieri), and the title
role in Suor Angelica.
She has received awards and honors from such institutions as the Metropolitan Opera
National Council, the Russian and Eastern European Institute and International Center,
Indiana University-Bloomington, Arts America, the United States Information Agency,
the International Institute of Education, the Wagner Gesellschaft, Mu Phi Epsilon
International Fraternity of Music, the Instituto Technologico y de Estudios Superiore de
Monterrey, Mexico, and faculty development grants from Indiana University-South
Bend. Vocal Composition dedications include David Barton’s P.S. Don’t Forget,
Ernesto Pellegrini’s Lasciatemi divertire, Kevin March’s Four Haiku, and Jody Nagel’s
A Christmas Letter from Joan. A Fulbright scholar to Germany, Metelli holds degrees in
vocal performance, opera performance, music education, and an associate degree in piano
performance from the Staatliche Hochschule fur Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart,
Florida State University, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and Wingate
University.
Dr. Metelli is currently Associate Professor and Head of Vocal and Opera Performance at
Indiana University-South Bend and maintains private studios in New York and Chicago.
She has served as Artist Faculty of the Pacific Rim Summer Festival, British Columbia,
the Altenburg International Music Festival, and the East-West International Music
Academy in Altenburg, Germany. She recently returned from Israel where she
performed three solo recitals for the Israel Society for Chamber Music. Last summer she
returned to Altenburg, Germany to teach and perform in the East-West International
Music Academy.
Andrew Mock (Musical Assistant/Rehearsal Pianist) is a member of the music faculty at
High Point University, and has served on the faculty of The University of North Carolina
at Greensboro School of Music, where he received his BM in Piano performance in 1980
and Master in Piano performance in 1983. While at UNCG, Andy was an important part
of the opera program, serving as rehearsal pianist for I Pagliacci, Gianni Schicchi, Così
fan tutte, The Medium, L'Heure espagnole, Faust, La Traviata, The Magic Flute, A
Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tales of Hoffmann, and La Bohème, appearing on stage
in the latter two operas. He also was in the cast of the American premiere of Frank
Bridge's Fanny Robin.
Professional credits include work with The Ohio Light Opera, Parkway Playhouse,
Broadway Center Stage, Wildwood Music Festival and Greensboro Opera. Directing
credits include Working, You're a Good Man Charlie Brown, and Into the Woods. He is
very honored to be part of this very special production of Falstaff.
Alexa Jackson Schlimmer (Meg Page) made her professional debut at the age of 19 as
soloist with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra. Since then, her opera and oratorio roles
have been numerous, including the role of the Erste Blume in Wagner’s Parsifal with
James Levine conducting. She has also appeared in productions featuring opera greats
Renata Scotto, Sherrill Milnes, James Morris, Jessye Norman and Kathleen Battle. Dr.
Schlimmer’s artistry in the operatic genre is evidenced by her more then 30 roles ranging
from Rosina in The Barber of Seville, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte to Mimi in La Bohème
and the title role in Suor Angelica. Praised in Opera News for a production of Mozart’s
Don Giovanni, her singing was called “the most stunningly brilliant of the evening.”
Not only has Dr. Schlimmer appeared with numerous opera companies and symphony
orchestras in the United States, but she has performed extensively in eight foreign
countries. She made her London debut as Susanna in the Marriage of Figaro with the
prestigious Mayer-Lissman Opera Company at the Royal College of Music. She has
performed many times on radio and television including a performance of Gazzaniga’s
Don Giovanni under the direction of Convent Garden’s Ande Andersen and the Chicago
Since returning to North Carolina in 1993, Wilson has sung with Greensboro’s Bel Canto
Company (as soloist on Dan Locklair:Holy Canticles recorded on the Gasparo label),
First Presbyterian Church of Burlington, and has appeared as guest soloist with the
Greensboro Choral Society, the Raleigh Oratorio Society, the Tar River Chorus and the
Hickory Choral Society. Wilson is currently Stewardship Coordinator at the University
of North Carolina at Greensboro.
David Mellnik (Pistol) had an auspicious beginning to his singing career: as a singing
dishwasher at the Farm House Restaurant in Blowing Rock, N.C. The waiter’s positions
were filled when David auditioned in the spring of 1976, and so he because the Farm
House’s first singing dishwasher.
David’s musical training began as a child growing up in his father’s choirs at church. He
received the Bachelor of Music Degree in vocal performance from the University of
North Carolina at Greensboro, attended the Manhattan School of Music (on full
scholarship) where he studied with Margaret Hoswell, and earned the Master of Church
Music with a Minor in Vocal Performance from the Southern Baptist Theological
Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He remains the only Master’s level student to have
been awarded both Honors Award Certificate in Vocal Studies and the Performer’s
Certificate in Voice from Southern Seminary. Rev. Mellnik is a four-time Regional
Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Auditions, a regional winner of the National
Association of Teachers of Singing audition, and won the North Carolina Federation of
Music Clubs auditions three times.
David has appeared with symphony orchestras and opera companies in Vermont,
Kentucky, New York, North Carolina and Florida. His opera roles include Gianni
Schicchi, Silvio in Pagliacci, Ford in Falstaff, the Father in Amelia Goes to the Ball, and
Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro. He has performed the bass roles in Elijah, St.
John Passion, and Requiem masses by Verdi, Brahms, and Fauré. He was featured at the
1986 Southern Baptist Church Music Conference as one of the Musicians of the Future,
and has been published in Overtones: The Official Bimonthly Journal of the American
Guild of English Handbell Ringers, Inc.
David currently serves Greenwood Forest Baptist as Minister of Music, where he directs
and administers a program of 18 choirs. He is married to Revina “Vanna Fox” Mellnik,
and has two children, Margaret and Sarah.
Joan Metelli (Alice Ford), soprano, has performed leading operatic and oratorios roles in
the United States and Germany and has appeared with such orchestras as the Baltimore
Symphony, Stuttgart Philharmonic, Boise Symphony Orchestra, Reutlingen Symphony
Orchestra and the Eastern Music Festival Philharmonic. Her recital, oratorio, opera and
master class appearances span Europe, Thailand, Korea, Japan, Mexico, Canada, Central
America, Israel and the United States. Recent roles and concerts include the Vier letzte
Lieder of Strauss, the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier (Strauss), Poulenc’s La Voix
humaine, Dominick Argento’s Miss Havisham’s Wedding Night, Cio-Cio San in Madama
Butterfly, Magda in The Consul, Madame Altina in La Divina (Pasatieri), and the title
role in Suor Angelica.
She has received awards and honors from such institutions as the Metropolitan Opera
National Council, the Russian and Eastern European Institute and International Center,
Indiana University-Bloomington, Arts America, the United States Information Agency,
the International Institute of Education, the Wagner Gesellschaft, Mu Phi Epsilon
International Fraternity of Music, the Instituto Technologico y de Estudios Superiore de
Monterrey, Mexico, and faculty development grants from Indiana University-South
Bend. Vocal Composition dedications include David Barton’s P.S. Don’t Forget,
Ernesto Pellegrini’s Lasciatemi divertire, Kevin March’s Four Haiku, and Jody Nagel’s
A Christmas Letter from Joan. A Fulbright scholar to Germany, Metelli holds degrees in
vocal performance, opera performance, music education, and an associate degree in piano
performance from the Staatliche Hochschule fur Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart,
Florida State University, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and Wingate
University.
Dr. Metelli is currently Associate Professor and Head of Vocal and Opera Performance at
Indiana University-South Bend and maintains private studios in New York and Chicago.
She has served as Artist Faculty of the Pacific Rim Summer Festival, British Columbia,
the Altenburg International Music Festival and East-West International Music Academy
in Altenburg, Germany. She recently returned from Israel where she performed three
solo recitals for the Israel Society for Chamber Music. Last summer she returned to
Altenburg, Germany to teach and perform in the East-West International Music
Academy.
Andrew Mock (Musical Assistant/Rehearsal Pianist) is a member of the music faculty at
High Point University, and has served on the faculty of The University of North Carolina
at Greensboro School of Music, where he received his BM in Piano performance in 1980
and Master in Piano performance in 1983. While at UNCG, Andy was an important part
of the opera program, serving as rehearsal pianist for Pagliacci, Gianni Schicchi, Così fan
tutte, The Medium, L'Heure espagnole, Faust, La Traviata, The Magic Flute, A
Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tales of Hoffmann, and La Bohème, appearing on stage
in the latter two opera. He also was in the cast of the American premiere of Frank
Bridge's Fanny Robin.
Professional credits include The Ohio Light Opera, Parkway Playhouse, Broadway
Center Stage, Wildwood Music Festival and Greensboro Opera. Directing credits include
Working, You're a Good Man Charlie Brown, and Into the Woods. He is very honored to
be part of this very special production of Falstaff.
Alexa Jackson Schlimmer (Meg Page) made her professional debut at the age of 19 as
soloist with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra. Since then, her opera and oratorio roles
have been numerous, including the role of the Erste Blume in Wagner’s Parsifal with
James Levine conducting. She has also appeared in productions featuring opera greats
Renata Scotto, Sherrill Milnes, James Morris, Jessye Norman and Kathleen Battle. Dr.
Schlimmer’s artistry in the operatic genre is evidenced by her more then 30 roles ranging
from Rosina in The Barber of Seville, Fiordiligi in Cosi fan tutte to Mimi in La Bohème
and the title role in Suor Angelica. Praised in Opera News for a production of Mozart’s
Don Giovanni, her singing was called “the most stunningly brilliant of the evening.”
Not only has Dr. Schlimmer appeared with numerous opera companies and symphony
orchestras in the United States, but she has performed extensively in eight foreign
countries. She made her London debut as Susanna in the Marriage of Figaro with the
prestigious Mayer-Lissman Opera Company at the Royal College of Music. She has
performed many times on radio and television including a performance of Gazzaniga’s
Don Giovanni under the direction of Convent Garden’s Ande Andersen and the Chicago