[NEohioPAL] Great Lakes Light Opera is BACK!

[Great Lakes Light Opera via NEohioPAL]

PRESS RELEASE



E-mail Address:  GreatLakesLightOpera1 at gmail.com

The Great Lakes Light Opera (GLLO), founded in 2012 by Stephanie Kreutz and
Jacquelyn Mouritsen, has been dedicated to bringing high-quality,
professional-level performances to Cleveland audiences. After going dark
for a season, the Great Lakes Light Opera has a new administration and
mission. Although the company will still be bringing professional-level
opera to Northeast Ohio,  GLLO has revised its mission:

To offer Cleveland an educational and outreach-focused/oriented opera
company that seeks to connect with all audiences, from the seasoned
opera-goer to those with no previous exposure to classical music of any
kind. We will achieve this mission by:

*Reaching out to atypical venues in order to perform "portable" concerts of
opera scenes and other vocal art music.

*Educating audiences of all ages by presenting lecture recitals, which give
the audience/performers an opportunity to connect with the
text/history/theory behind classical music.

*Programming unique operas, concerts, and revues with the aim of piquing
the interest of the community.

*Mining Cleveland's rich community of artists and musicians who are equally
committed to de-mystifying and revitalizing the traditional art music scene.

The Great Lakes Light Opera’s first venture with this new team will be
“Macabaret,” a Halloween-themed revue-style show in October featuring
operatic scenes/arias interspersed with musical theatre scenes and songs.
For more information, to make a donation, or to volunteer your services,
please contact the Great Lakes Light Opera at
GreatLakesLightOpera1 at gmail.com or by calling 352-216-5065.

Megan Thompson Thompson, Executive Director/Artistic Director, holds a
 Master of Music degree in Opera Performance from the Cleveland Institute
of Music and her Bachelor of Music degree from Stetson University, with an
emphasis in Vocal Performance and Psychology. In addition to her musical
background, Ms. Thompson works as a Special Events Coordinator and holds an
Associate of Arts degree in Drama with emphasis in Technical Theatre. After
holding many leadership positions throughout college and her early
professional career, Ms. Thompson was hired to start a girls’ choir for
Fuchs Mizrachi School in Beachwood. Her teaching experience does not end
there. In addition to teaching private voice lessons at Motter’s Music, she
has also served as a drama instructor for the Ocala Civic Theatre and was
hired to begin a drama/musical theatre program for the two of the Cleveland
Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs. With her background in education, management and
event coordination, Ms. Thompson was recently appointed Executive
Director/Artistic Director of the Great Lakes Light Opera with the intent
of developing a company focused on education and outreach in Northeast
Ohio.

Alejandra Martinez, Director of Education/Artistic Director, holds a
Professional Studies Certificate from the Cleveland Institute of Music, a
Master of Music from the University of Miami, and a Bachelor of Arts from
Stanford University. While at Stanford she served as President and
Fundraising Officer on the board of the Stanford Savoyards, a student-run
light opera company dedicated to the works of Gilbert and Sullivan. She has
extensively studied music abroad; under the guidance of Michael Burden,
Dean of New College, Oxford University, she authored a collection of
musicological essays on Handel’s operas. Later, she would focus on
performance and interpretation of German Lieder at the American Institute
of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria. Ms. Martinez was recently honored with
the Elly Ameling Award for Excellence in Recital Performance, for a program
of music from Spain and Latin America. Her latest performance credit is
Nora, from Vaughan Williams’ Riders to the Sea, produced at the Cleveland
Institute of Music. She is also the soprano soloist at Disciples Christian
Church, whose choir placed first at WCLV’s 2014 Jubiliation Choir Festival.
Dedicated to furthering opera outreach, Ms. Martinez intends to get
Cleveland excited about opera with smart, fun, and unique programming
through GLLO.

Lyndsay Moy, Director of Development holds a Master of Music degree in
Voice from The Cleveland Institute of Music, as well as a Bachelor of Music
in Voice and a Bachelor of Arts in Painting from DePauw University. While
at CIM, she received the Frederick B. Prentice Award for Excellence in
Voice, and at DePauw, she received the prestigious Performer’s Certificate.
In 2008 and 2009, Ms. Moy earned four first place awards in the NATS Great
Lakes Region competition. Her roles on the operatic stage have included
Maurya (Vaughn-Williams’ Riders to the Sea), Marcellina (Mozart's Le nozze
di Figaro), Fidalma (Cimarosa’s Il matrimonio segreto), Mère Marie
(Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites), Zita (Puccini's Gianni Schicchi),
L’Architecture (Charpentier’s Les Arts Florissants), L'écureuil (Ravel’s
L’enfant et les sortilèges), and La Badessa (Puccini’s Suor Angelica),
among others.  Ms. Moy is a featured alto soloist with the Fairmount
Presbyterian Church choir and has performed recently with Opera Night
Cleveland.  Ms. Moy also teaches voice at Celebrity School of Music, where
she aims to develop the fundamentals of healthy vocal technique, focusing
on breathing, alignment, and resonance in styles ranging from classical
singing to Broadway.  She currently studies with tenor Clifford Billions
and will start work as CIM's Opera Administrator in August.
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