LA BOHEME - GIACOMO PUCCINI

MAY 13, 15, AND 17, 2009

Puccini’s gorgeous music has defined young love for all time as it carries us into the lives of Rodolfo, Mimi, Marcello, Musetta, and their friends in Paris c. 1830. Last presented by IOA in 1995, this is one of the most beloved operas in the world and established Puccini’s reputation.

	Christopher Bengochea (Tenor, Rodolfo) sang Arturo in our 2004 production of Lucia di Lammermoor. He began his opera career as a member of the IOA chorus for La Traviata in 1998 while a student at MSU. He has blossomed into a young man very much in demand around the opera world. Recent engagements have been with Atlanta Opera, Opera Idaho, and Opera Saskatoon. From 2005 to 2008 Chris was a resident artist with Opera San Jose where he performed a variety of starring roles. On the concert stage, Chris has been a featured soloist with the New York City Chorale Society, the San Juan Symphony and the Great Falls Symphony among others. He has also performed with Opera Company Brooklyn, Rimrock Opera, several California companies and in Italy with Teatro Felice, Caramoor Opera, and the Tigulio Festival Opera. Chris was a regional finalist in the Metropolitan Opera Auditions and an award and prize winner of the Henri and Marie Holte and Teatro Felice vocal competitions. He was the third prize winner of the Internationale Societa Concertistica di Voce competition in Porto Fino, Italy.
	Ariya Lynchee Sawadivong (Soprano, Mimi), is a recent graduate of the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia where she performed many leading roles including the title roles in Janacek’s Kat’a Kabanova and Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta, as well as leads in Eugene Onegin, L’amico Fritz, Das Rheingold, Cosi fan tutte, and Rigoletto. She earned her bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from the University of North Carolina. She has sung with Opera New Jersey and the High Note Opera. In addition to operatic roles, Ariya has performed with the Greensboro Choral Society, the Asheville Choral Society, New Jersey Master Chorale and the Concert Operetta Theater of Philadelphia. In 2004 she placed second in the Palm Beach Opera Vocal Competition and won an encouragement award at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
	Sean Anderson (Baritone, Marcello) returns to Bozeman after his triumphant IOA debut last fall as Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus. Sean’s notable achievements to date include singing the title role in the Italian premier of Argento’s opera Casanova and performing Marcello in the Baz Luhrmann production of La Bohème. (he was in the cast while it was on Broadway!) He made his New York City Opera debut in the fall of 2007 and has also sung with Sarasota Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Indianapolis Opera and New Jersey Opera. He earned his Master’s Degree in Opera in 2002 from the University of Cincinnati Conservatory of Music.
	Sandra Rubalcava (Soprano, Musetta) made her IOA debut in 2007 as Pamina in The Magic Flute. The Mexican soprano has earned rave reviews for her spirited interpretations of the lyric-coloratura repertoire, performing over thirty operatic roles ranging from the comic to the dramatic with companies including Opera San Jose, Bayshore Lyric Opera, Israeli Vocal Arts Institute, Bangkok Opera, Opera Idaho and the Rimrock Opera. Sandra performed with the Midsummer Mozart Orchestra at Villamontalvo where she appeared as a last minute replacement for Frederica Von Stade.
	Levi Hernandez (Baritone, Schaunard) is making his IOA debut this spring. He has sung several roles with Lyric Opera of Chicago and with El Paso Opera in his hometown. He has also sung principal roles with the Los Angeles Opera, the San Antonio Opera and Opera Colorado. On the concert stage he has been a soloist with the Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra, the Pennsylvania Ballet and the Kalamazoo Symphony. He will make his debut with the San Francisco Opera this year in the title role in Gianni Schicchi and will sing Sharpless in Madama Butterfly with the Houston Grand Opera in 2010.
	Branch Fields (Bass, Colline) recently was understudy for the role of Emile de Becque in South Pacific at the Lincoln Center while also performing with the New York City Opera, singing the roles of Angelotti in Tosca, Major Domo in Vanessa and Zuniga in Carmen. He has also performed recently with the Boston Lyric Opera, Asheville Lyric Opera, the Opera Company of North Carolina and at Opera on the James. Prior to his New York debut he was an apprentice artist at Santa Fe Opera. His training was at Indiana University and the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia and in Italy.
	David Ward (Bass, Benoit and Alcindoro) was last seen in Bozeman in 2006 as Geronte in Manon Lescaut. He has sung with the New York City Opera, New Jersey Opera Theatre, San Antonio Opera, Dallas Opera, and many other companies around the nation, from Anchorage, Alaska to Mobile, Alabama. He is well known as a basso buffo, specializing in Donizetti’s and Rossini’s comic characters but also sings such serious roles as the Commendatore in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. He comes to Bozeman from Omaha where he provided his comic touch to their production of La Bohème last month.
	Benjamin Wayne Smith, Director, brings a balance of practical experience and creative storytelling to his productions. His work has been hailed by Opera News as “full of comic inventiveness.” Currently the resident assistant director at Seattle Opera, Ben has directed for the Opera Theatre of Pittsburgh, the Young Artist Program at Pittsburgh Opera, the University of Cincinnati/CCM, Baldwin-Wallace College and the Opera Theater of Lucca, in Lucca, Italy. He has worked as an assistant director for Washington National Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Michigan Opera Theater, Pittsburgh Opera and the Opera Theatre of Pittsburgh. Ben holds an MFA in Opera Stage Directing from the University of Cincinnati. He began his career in opera as a singer, performing twenty-one leading roles in opera, operetta and musical theater. He has logged over 250 performances in the U.S. and Italy. This is his first production with Intermountain Opera.
	Julian Dawson, Conductor, is Musical Director of the Intermountain Opera Association. Il Trovatore will be his eighth production with IOA having conducted Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado, The Magic Flute, Carmen, Die Fledermaus, La Bohème and The Ballad of Baby Doe. Born in Dublin, Ireland, Dawson was associate conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Scottish Opera. While still in the United Kingdom he was also coach and associate conductor at Glyndebourn Opera in England. He moved to the US in 1975 and was Director of Orchestras and Opera at Illinois State University for 26 years and opera conductor for nine seasons at the Brevard Music Center as well as being principal coach of the Chicago Opera Theatre. He recently spent five summers as conductor for the Oberlin in Italy opera program in Urbania, Italy and is currently an adjunct member of the music faculty at Northwestern University. He has also enjoyed a career as a pianist and has appeared frequently in recitals and concerts in Europe and the U.S.