Opera Orchestra of New York Presents Meagan Miller in Recital at Merkin Hall 2/9

The Opera Orchestra of New York will present its annual Vidda Award Recital featuring soprano Meagan Miller at Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Center on Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at 8:00 p.m. Joined by pianist Brian Zeger, Ms. Miller will present a program including Debussy's Proses Lyriques, arias from Dvo?ák's Rusalka and Beethoven's Fidelio, and selected art songs by Hugo Wolf and Samuel Barber.

Tickets priced at $50 for the recital and $75 for a VIP Package which includes access to a post-concert reception, are available at www.operaorchestrany.org or by calling (212) 906-9137.

Meagan Miller has performed on opera, recital and concert stages all over the world and has been hailed by The New York Times for her "gorgeous and lively tone" and "considerable communicative powers." In December 2010, Ms. Miller made her Italian debut at Palermo's Teatro Massimo singing the role of Minnie in a new production of Puccini's La Fanciulla del West. Other highlights of her 2010-11 season include appearing as Eva in new production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at Oper Leipzig, Contessa di Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro at Hamburg State Opera, Nyssia in Zemlinsky's Der König Kandaules at the Vienna Volksoper, and the title role in Richard Strauss's Die Liebe der Danae at the Bard Festival.
In June 2009, Ms. Miller made her European operatic debut as Ariadne in the Vienna Volksoper's new production of Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos, and has performed with esteemed opera companies such as New York City Opera, Minnesota Opera, L'Opéra de Montréal, Wolf Trap Opera, and with San Francisco Opera's Merola program. She made her Opera Orchestra of New York debut in October 2008 singing the role of Saburova in Rimsky-Korsakov's The Tsar's Bride. She is also an accomplished recitalist and noted interpreter of new music and has appeared in more than thirty professional recitals. Ms. Miller is the recipient of the George London/Kirsten Flagstad Award and a Richard Tucker Music Foundation Study Grant. She also won first prize in the Liederkranz Foundation Competition and was a grand finalist in the 1999 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.

Brian Zeger has built an important career as a pianist, radio broadcaster, artistic administrator and educator. He has performed at distinguished concert venues throughout the U.S. and Europe and has collaborated with many of the world's top artists including Marilyn Horne, René Pape, Deborah Voigt, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Frederica von Stade, Susan Graham, Bryn Terfel, Thomas Hampson and Joyce DiDonato, among others and An die Musik and the New York Philharmonic Chamber Ensembles. He is a regular guest at summer festivals including Aspen, Ravinia, Caramoor, Aldeburgh, and Santa Fe, and has also made concerto appearances with the Boston Pops. Mr. Zeger serves as Artistic Director of the Vocal Arts Department at The Juilliard School and as the director of the vocal program at the Steans Institute at the Ravinia Festival and has recently taken on the role of Executive Director of the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artists Development Program in partnership with The Juilliard School. Mr. Zeger's essays and writings have appeared in Opera News, The Yale Review and Chamber Music magazine and he has appeared frequently on the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts both on the opera quiz and as intermission host and performer.

The Vidda Award Recital series was established in 1992 to provide young gifted singers the opportunity to perform a solo recital under the aegis of The Vidda Foundation and the Opera Orchestra of New York. Eve Queler, in consultation with the Vidda Foundation, oversees the selection process of the recipient, and award winners receive an honorarium in addition to an all-expenses paid recital at a major venue in New York City. Past winners of the Vidda Award include sopranos Olga Borodina, Eglise Gutiérrez, Olga Makarina, Latonia Moore and Krassimira Stoyanova; mezzo-sopranos Kate Aldrich, Barbara Conrad, Petra Lang and Vivica Genaux; and tenors Francisco Casanova, Stewart Neil and Gaston Rivero.

The Vidda Award Recital is made possible by a generous grant from The Vidda Foundation, a private, non-operating foundation interested in supporting programs that will have lasting impact in the areas of conservation, education, healthcare, human services, and the arts.

The Opera Orchestra of New York continues its 40th anniversary season with a performance of Meyerbeer's L'Africaine at Avery Fisher Hall on March 2, 2011. The production, which features tenor Marcello Giordani and sopranos Chiara Taigi and Ellie Dehn, will be conducted by Music Director Eve Queler. Effective in the 2011-12 season, current Music Director Designate Alberto Veronesi will succeed Ms. Queler, who will become Conductor Laureate.

The Opera Orchestra of New York was established by Eve Queler in 1971 to present rarely-heard operas and provide the public with an opportunity to hear them performed in major concert venues. Among Opera Orchestra's numerous U.S. premieres are Puccini's Edgar with Carlo Bergonzi and Renata Scotto; Boito's Nerone with James Morris and Pablo Elvira; and Smetana's Libuse with Gabriela Benacková and Paul Plishka. The company also performed the New York premiere of Tchaikovsky's The Maid of Orleans, with Dolora Zajick and Jorma Hynninen, which was also the American premiere of the Russian language version. The ensemble has also presented works long neglected in New York, such as Wagner's Rienzi, Verdi's I Lombardi, Bizet's Les pêcheurs de perles, and Catalani's La Wally. These pioneering efforts have led national opera companies such as the Metropolitan Opera, Chicago Lyric and Houston Grand Opera to add to their permanent repertoires works that received their first major modern hearing by The Opera Orchestra of New York including I lombardi, Donizetti's La Favorita, Zandonai's Francesca da Rimini, Dvo?ák's Rusalka and Mussorgsky's Khovanshchina.

Since 1978 Opera Orchestra's Young Artists Program has identified and fostered young operatic talent, and provides young singers with an opportunity to rehearse and perform with full orchestra and chorus. The program has nurtured the talents of Renée Fleming, Aprile Millo, Vivica Genaux, Deborah Voigt, Latonia Moore, Stephen Costello, Michael Fabiano, Bryan Hymel and Eglise Gutiérrez. Other singers who have worked with Opera Orchestra very early in their careers include José Carreras, Barbara Hendricks, DWayne Croft, Samuel Ramey and James Morris. Singers who made their U.S. or New York debuts with Opera Orchestra include Gabriela Benacková, Stephanie Blythe, Olga Borodina, Ghena Dimitrova, Jane Eaglen, Carlo Guelfi, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Vesselina Kasarova, Paul Plishka, Rosalind Plowright and Krassimira Stoyanova and Dolora Zajick.