Pacific Opera Project to Present TOSCA

To kick off their Fall 2014 Season, Pacific Opera Project will present 6 performances of a daring new production of Puccini's Tosca in Pasadena. Made possible by funding from over 150 backers through a successful Kickstarter campaign, this will be POP's most ambitious production to datewith a stellar cast and a twenty-two piece orchestra.

Tosca will be the 13th fully staged opera produced by POP and will incorporate a staging device rarely seen in theatre (much less in an opera with a full orchestra): that of moving the entire production from one location to another throughout the performance. This Tosca will take place in three separate venues, all within St. James Church that each represent another location within the opera. Pacific Opera Project prides itself on the ability to entertain everyone from the opera aficionado to the opera neophyte with their innovative productions. But this "Moving Production" will be unlike anything even their regular audience members have seen.

This production of Tosca will feature a phenomenal cast of performers including Daria Somers, who has been featured in five POP productions (most recently as Giunone in La Calisto earning her praise for her "extraordinary vocal maturity and richness of texture"). Sharing the title role is Samantha Guevrekian- a newcomer to POP and someone who has already established a fine reputation for her "pure, sweet-sounding soprano." She recently performed the roles of Musetta in La Bohème, Violetta in La Traviata, and Frasquita in Carmen, all in New York City. POP also welcomes Patrick Blackwell, who will sing the role of Baron Scarpia, and Brian Cheney, who will sing Cavaradossi. Both men have incredible credentials; Blackwell recently sang Ratcliffe in LA Opera's Billy Budd, and Cheney has frequently been engaged as a tenor soloist at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center.

Pacific Opera Project is dedicated to presenting energetic, high-quality, and accessible performances of a broad variety of operatic repertoire; to benefiting the larger artistic community of Southern California by providing a fully professional environment for our artists; and to cultivating and enriching a wide audience in venues both conventional and unconventional throughout the region with innovative performances that enliven and preserve the art form. Co-founders Josh Shaw (stage direction and production design) and Stephen Karr (music director and conductor) are teaming up yet again for this POP production. Shaw has appeared as a singer throughout Southern California, and as a director has recently worked with New Fangled Opera, Opera NEO, Redlands Opera Theater and the Southern Illinois Music Festival. Karr has conducted all of POP's productions, and has also worked with Des Moines Metro Opera, the Glimmerglass Festival, Opera New Jersey and Palm Beach Opera, in addition to his work for Opera UCLA.

Cast:

Daria Somers, Floria Tosca (9/19, 9/21, 9/27)

Samantha Guevrekian, Floria Tosca (9/20, 9/26, 9/28)

Brian Cheney, Mario Cavaradossi

Patrick Blackwell, Baron Scarpia

E. Scott Levin, Sacristan

Phil Meyer, Sacristan (9/20 only)

Ryan Thorn, Angelotti (Scarpia cover)

Robert Norman, Spoletta

Dylan Gentile, Sciarrone

Bryan Dahl, Jailer

Kelci Hahn, Shepherdess

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