San Diego Opera's THE FALLING AND THE RISING To Feature Active Military In Singing Roles

San Diego Opera's 2022-2023 season comes to a close with Zach Redler's opera about military spirit with The Falling and the Rising. The Falling and the Rising opens May 12, 2022 at 7:30 PM at the Balboa Theatre as part of the dētour Series. Additional performances are May 13 at 7:30 PM and May 14 at 1 PM.

The Falling and the Rising is a co-commission between San Diego Opera, the US Army Field Band and Soldier's Chorus, Seattle Opera, Arizona Opera, Opera Memphis, TCU, and Seagle Music Colony. The Falling and the Rising centers around an unnamed female Soldier who is severely wounded by a roadside IED. Placed in an induced coma to help minimize the extensive trauma to her brain, the soldier must now make a journey towards both healing and home. With a libretto taken from dozens of interviews with active duty soldiers and veterans at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, The Old Guard at Fort Myer, and Fort Meade, Maryland, The Falling and the Rising tells a story of family, service, and sacrifice inside a period of great uncertainty. The opera stars Master Sergeant Teresa Alzadon (soprano) as the Soldier. She is joined by Gabriela Flores as Toledo/Doctor 1, Benjamin Hilgert as Jumper/Doctor 2, LaMarcus Miller as Homecoming Solider/Doctor 3, and Walter DuMelle Colonel/Doctor 4. Alan E. Hicks, who directs Tosca this season, returns to stage the action. Bruce

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Stasyna, Resident Conductor and Chorus Master, whose recent works as the Company's resident conductor includes 2023's Ghosts and last season's Così fan tutte, returns to lead these performances. These are the first San Diego performances of The Falling and the Rising. The opera received its world premiere in 2018 at Texas Christian University. The Falling and the Rising will be performed in English with English and Spanish text above the stage.

San Diego Opera debut. Soprano Teresa Alzadon has performed with Opera in the Ozarks, New York Opera Studio, Knoxville Opera, Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, Sacred Winds Ensemble, Jenny Wiley Theatre, and Seattle Bach Festival. Opera roles include Violetta in La traviata, Anna Maurrant in Street Scene, the Governess in The Turn of the Screw, Despina in Così fan tutte, and title roles in The Merry Widow, and Dido and Aeneas. Professional theatre credits include Marian in The Music Man and Rosa Bud in The Mystery of Edwin Drood. She was the recipient of a Mary Levine Career Performance Grant, an Encouragement Award from the Metropolitan Opera National Council, and a Lori Mayer Fellowship. As a soprano in the Soldiers' Chorus of the United States Army Field Band, Sergeant First Class Alzadon is a frequent soloist in such venues as the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and in collaboration with such esteemed musical organizations as the National Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Pops, and Columbus Pops. She was the recipient of the 2015 Finley R. Hamilton Outstanding Military Musician Award. Originally from the Seattle area, Ms. Alzadon holds a Bachelor of Arts in music and theatre arts from the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. She earned a Master of Music in voice performance from the University of Tennessee as a Knoxville Opera Studio Artist.

Gabriela Flores, Toledo/Doctor 1

San Diego Opera debut. Mezzo-soprano Gabriela Flores joined the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program for the seasons 19-20, 20-21 and 21-22. With Los Angeles Opera she performed the roles of Aurora and Calliope in The Death of Orpheus, Jeannette in The Anonymous Lover, Tisbe in Cinderella, and Love in The three women of Jerusalem. She was a recent finalist at the International

Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition. She sang the title role in Carmen with Universidad de Xalapa and Armando Mora Producciones in Xalapa, Veracruz. She studied at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia where she made her debut as Azucena in Il Trovatore. At AVA she performed Erda in Das Rheingold, Dryad in Ariadne auf Naxos, Annina in La traviata, the Mistress of Novices in Suor Angelica, the Third Wood Sprite in Rusalka, Dorabella in Così fan tutte and Stéphano in Roméo and Juliette. Prior to her performances in Philadelphia, she performed in renowned theaters in Mexico including the Palacio de Bellas Artes, where she sang Giannetta in The Elixir of Love, Maddalena in Il Viaggio a Reims, and Alisa in Lucia di Lammermoor. Other roles she has performed include Amastre in Xerses with Oberlin in Italy, Lola in Cavalleria Rusticana, Carmelita in Misa de seis, Baucis in Haydn's Philemon und Bausis, and Rosita in La Creciente in its world premiere at the Festival Internacional Cervantino. Concert appearances include Handel's Messiah with the Politecnico Nacional Symphony Orchestra, Mozart's Requiem with Celaya Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with Yucatan Symphony Orchestra, Haydn's Die sieben letzten worte unseres Erlösers am Kreuze with Mexico's National Symphony Orchestra, and the opera gala

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"Voces del Siglo XXI" conducted by Srba Dinic at the Palacio de Bellas Artes. She was a finalist in the renowned Mexican competition "Concurso Nacional de Canto Carlo Morelli", she is an encouragement award winner in the Middle Atlantic Regional Auditions of the Metropolitan Opera National Council, also she won first prize at the "Meistersinger Competitions AIMS in Graz."

San Diego Opera debut. Before joining the Soldiers' Chorus in 2010, tenor Ben Hilgert performed principal operatic roles with Theater Goerlitz, Lyric Opera Kansas City, Central City Opera, Cedar Rapids Opera, and the Aspen Music Festival. He earned his Master of Music degree from Chicago College of Performing Arts and his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Indianapolis.

San Diego Opera debut. Notable appearances by American Bass-Baritone LaMarcus Miller include Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center (alongside Wynton Marsalis), The Famed Dolby Theatre, home of the Oscars and TEDMED in Washington D.C. His operatic credits include Lance Corporal Philip Houston in Fallujah, for New York City Opera, Long Beach Opera, and the Kennedy Center; Freddie Stowers (Cover) in Los Angeles Opera's acclaimed concert production of Matthew Aucoin's Crossing; Alidoro in Cinderella for Skylight Music Theatre in Milwaukee; Count Des Grieux in Manon; both Il Commendatore and the title role in Don Giovanni for New York Lyric Opera; Montano in Otello for Utah Festival Opera; both Albert and Johann in Werther for Martha Cardona Opera; Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus for Sugar Creek Opera; Palemon in Thaïs and Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor for MSM Opera (Manhattan School of Music); and Barone di Trombonok in Il Viaggio a Reims for Mannes Opera. His oratorio credits include bass solo's in Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, Handel's Messiah, Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass, Jenkins Armed Man Mass for Peace, Xinghai's Yellow River Cantata and an appearance with the Eorzean Symphony as guest soloist for Final Fantasy XIV (music by Masayoshi Soken) performed at Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

San Diego Opera appearances for bass Walter DuMelle include Pinellino in Gianni Schicchi earlier this season, Baron Douphol, La traviata (2017); All Is Calm (2018), The Conquistador, Carmen (1997), and Maria de Buenos Aires (2018). Local engagements include performances with Lyric Opera SD, and Opera de Tijuana. In 2012 he co-founded with his wife Diana DuMelle Bodhi Tree Concerts, with whom he has performed numerous roles and concerts. In 2017 he performed the title role in BTC's production of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies' 8 Songs for a Mad King, winning "Best in Fest" and "Best Actor in a Musical/Opera" at the San Diego International Fringe Festival. In 2018 he was seen as Benjamin Stone in Coronado Playhouse's production of Follies, and as the Boatman in ion theatre's 2016 production of

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