What boy, who is a woman, wears the pants in Count Almaviva's household?

Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro has five main roles  for singers which are developed as fully rounded characters. In my third blog, you met two of the singers in these main roles, Susanna and Figaro .  We will now look at the The Count and Countess Almaviva, and the trouser role of Cherubino. Singing the Count is  baritone Brian Bonin who completed the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Vocal Performance at Louisiana State University in 2009 and is currently an instructor of voice at Georgia Perimeter College.  In performance, Dr. Bonin recently presented the role of the Sprecher (Speaker) in Peach State Opera’s production of Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute).  He also performed two recital programs in the 2010-11 season: a recital of Wolf and Brahms lieder at Louisiana State University, Holy Innocents’ Episcopal Church (Atlanta) and University of North Alabama, as well as a recital honoring the birth year anniversaries of composers Hugo Wolf (150th) and Samuel Barber (100th) at Auburn University and Georgia Perimeter College.  Upcoming engagements include King Melchior in Amahl and the Night Visitors with Opéra Louisiane, as well as a soprano/baritone duet program featuring Menotti’s The Telephone at Georgia College and State University.
An avid art song interpreter, Brian has worked with pianist collaborators Martin Katz and John Keene, American art song interpreter Paul Sperry, spiritual arranger Moses Hogan and singers Christòpheren Nomura and Jennifer Larmore.  He has sung a variety of recital programs ranging from Schubert’s bleak, monumental song cycle Winterreise to an evening of humorous songs about animals.  In opera, he has sung with Peach State Opera, New Orleans Opera, Opera in the Ozarks, the Aspen Opera Theater Center, the Baisley Powell Elebash Opera Theater and LSU Opera Theater in roles such as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, Schaunard in La bohème, Count Ceprano in Rigoletto, Junius in The Rape of Lucretia, Voltaire/Pangloss/Cacambo/Martin in Candide and Johann in Werther.  In the summer of 2009, he performed Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro with the Lyric Opera Studio of Weimer in Weimar, Germany.

The long suffering Countess Rosina who was ardently pursued by the Count in The Barber of Seville, only to be ignored in The Marriage of Figaro, is sung by soprano Amy Little. She is one of the most sought-after and versatile artists in the metro-Atlanta region, with repertoire ranging from opera and oratorio to pops and contemporary Christian concerts. This summer, she will sing the role of Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro with Peach State Opera.  In 2011 she sang the role of Mimi in the Atlanta Opera's studio tour of La Boheme. With a busy concert career she was also featured in Handel’s Messiah and solo concerts of sacred songs and popular standard repertoire.  

Ms. Little’s previous engagements have included the First Lady in Die Zauberflöte, the Priestess in Aida, Inez in Il Trovatore, Lula in Cold Sassy Tree, all with the Atlanta Opera, and Love Simpson in the Atlanta Opera Studio Outreach Tour of Cold Sassy Tree.  Other credits include, Vivaldi’s Gloria with the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, Handel’s Messiah, Dubois’ The Seven Last Words of Christ, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, and Saint-Säens' Christmas Oratorio.

Originally from Augusta, Georgia, Ms. Little received her Bachelor of Music from Shorter College in Rome, Georgia where she studied with John Ramsaur.  She currently resides in Atlanta, where she studies with Sharon Stephenson.  In addition to performing, she also maintains a private voice studio. 

Now to our Cherubino , a young teenage boy who is traditionally played by a mezzo soprano in what is referred to as a pants role. It will be sung by Reverie Mott Berger, a native of Southern California . She moved to the Atlanta area five years ago and has since performed as Sister Berthe in The Sound of Music with Atlanta Lyric Theatre, La Ciesca in Gianni Schicchi with Capitol City Opera, and Samantha in the premier performance of Sorrel Hays' Toowhopera at the GMTA Convention.  Other roles performed include the Third Secretary in Nixon in China with the Chicago Opera Theater, Elmire in Tartuffe, Dinah in Trouble in Tahiti, Valetto in L’Incoronazione di Poppea, and Annina in La Traviata.  Concert soloist performances include mezzo roles in L’Enfant et les Sortilèges with the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, and those in Handel's Messiah, Bach’s Magnificat, and the Saint-Saëns Christmas Oratorio.  Reverie has taught at Reinhardt University since the fall of 2009, and was formerly a faculty member at the University of West Georgia and Spring Arbor University in Michigan.  She earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Michigan and her Master’s degree from Manhattan School of Music.   She also attended the summer programs of the Opera Theater of Lucca and Brevard Music Center, and was a Young Artist with Chicago Opera Theater.  Reverie recently won the Southeast Regional NATS Artist Awards and was a national semi-finalist in the competition.  She currently resides in Marietta with her husband and two little boys.

As you can see, Peach State Opera’s singers in the main roles are award winning , highly sought after artists who are on the cusp of important careers .   When you attend a performance of The Marriage of Figaro , you can tell your friends you saw Bonin, Little, and Berger when they were just beginning. Look for our ad in the AJC’s magazine insert for the Decatur Book Festival ,and go to our website http://www.peachstateopera.org/ to get your tickets.  Please listen to the attached videos for exerpts of arias sung by the main characters featured in this fourth installment of Operaddict. Also, I would love to read your comments, especially if you tell me you have bought tickets to a performance.

In my next blog entry ,  you  will meet : some of the singers who have secondary roles, Tamara Harper the director, Evelyn Hughes the artistic director, and Sandra Lutters, our pianist extraordinaire. As Peach State nears performance time, readers will get a sneak peek behind the scenes of their dress and technical rehearsals.  Building an audience for an art’s organization, in the words of one of my colleagues, consists of  “getting the message out to the people over and over again day by day,” and I might add  blog by blog.