Shana Farr, John Carelli et al. Set for Enrico Caruso Room Opera Nights, 5/8 & 5/15

The headline performers for the next two Opera Nights at the Enrico Caruso Room at Grotta Azzurra Ristorante in Little Italy have been announced: Cabaret star Shana Farr and tenor John Carelli will share the bill on Tuesday, May 8, and Dan Singer and Jacqueline Thompson will headline on Tuesday, May 15.

There is a $20 cover charge and no minimum. The Enrico Caruso Room opens at 7 PM for those who wish to dine. The performance begins at 8:00 PM. Ms. Kim and Caranza will be supported on the keyboard by David Schaefer. Reservations are suggested by calling Grotta Azzurra at 212-925-8775. Grotta Azzurra is located at 177 Mulberry Street at the corner of Broome Street in historic Little Italy.

Shana Farr (May 8) is a singer/actress who has performed leading roles in operetta and musical theater on New York stages and has also brought her talents to the intimate world of cabaret. Everything she sings from operetta and great American standards to contemporary musical theater and jazz is sung with a lush voice that shows off her different colors of musical sounds. She has received rave reviews in The New York Post, Wall Street Journal, New Jersey Star Ledger, Cabaret Scenes, Back Stage, and numerous other publications for her performances at New York City Center, Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, Feinstein's at the Regency, and elsewhere. She has been recognized for her work with symphony orchestras, including the Missouri Symphony Orchestra and South Shore Symphony. She also is a multi-talented jewelry designer whose new company, Shana Farr Designs (www.shanfarrdesigns.com) was recently launched. She and tenor Vincent Ricciardi opened the Enrico Caruso Room on April 17, 2012.

John Carelli (May 8) was born in Brooklyn, NY and presently resides in Allentown, PA. He is an Italian-American tenor who enjoys singing traditional Italian songs and arias as well as American standards. He has performed in a variety of venues, including several in Little Italy where he has sung at restaurants, parades, and for “Opera Night” during New York’s annual Feast of San Gennaro. He has appeared on The 10 Show, which airs on NBC TV in Philadelphia, and sings at Italian themed events regularly. Other credits include performances in musical theatre, and a stint as a vocalist for a swing-style big band. Mr. Carelli is also a winner of the Philadelphia Eagles National Anthem Competition and can often be found singing the Anthem at sporting events.

Dan Singer, Bass-Baritone, is known to many Upper West Siders in New York City as the senior cantor at Stephen Wise Free Synagogue. What many of the members of his congregation may not know is that he is also an award-winning internationally recognized vocal artist with a very broad range of rare vocal talent. His operatic repertoire includes Bartolo and Figaro in Nozze diFigaro, Basilio in Barbiere di Siviglia, Sarastro in Die Zauberflote, the title role in Don Pasquale, Banco in Macbeth, Don Ruy Gomez de Silva in Ernani, Sir John Falstaff in Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor and Mephistopheles in Faust.

Also, Marullo and Sparafucile in Rigoletto, Jacopo Fiesco in Simon Boccanegra, Prince Gremin in Eugene Onegin, Colline in La Boheme, King Balthazar in Amahl and the Night Visitors, and others. He also sings musical theater, light opera, and oratorio. His musical theater repertoire includes Emile de Becque in South Pacific, The Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance, and other bass-baritone classic repertoire. With an affinity for singing the bass classics in spirituals, Showboat, and Porgy and Bess, he was a national finalist in the Paul Robeson Vocal Competition and the MTNA-Wurlitzer Vocal Competition, among other recognized singing competitions. He has been selected to sing in master classes and has performed in opera programs with Licia Albanese, Joan Dornemann, Martin Katz, Justino Diaz, and others. He holds a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Michigan and is now pursuing an M.A. in Performing Arts Administration at NYU. In addition to his singing talent, Dan is also a working voice actor and has vocal credits (singing and speaking) for commercials, documentaries and corporate videos, consumer electronics, video games, and animated films. Dan Singer lives in New York City with his wife Lauren Singer and his newborn baby boy, Aiden Singer.

Jacqueline Thompson is following in the footsteps of the American singers of the Golden Age. A versatile performer, she has succeeded in a broad range of styles including opera, operetta, concert, and musical theater. She was a winner of the Emerging Artists Business Committee for the Arts in New York City and has performed in a gala concert for Bohème Opera of New Jersey and in a concert at the Lincoln Center Library. As a member of Encores in NYC, she has performed in the Kerns and Hammerstein’s Music in the Air. In May she performs as soloist in Mozart’s Mass in C minor and Mendelssohn’s Psalm 42 with the Fairfield County Chorale and the Westchester Choral Society. At Opera in the Heights in Texas, MS. Thompson has sung the title role in Massenet’s Manon and has performed as Leïla in Les pêcheurs de perles. After her successful portrayal of Musetta in La Bohème under the baton of Maestro Anton Coppola with Metro Lyric Opera of New Jersey, Jacqueline made her Treasure Coast Opera debut in the same role and later returned for Adina in L'Elisir d'Amore. She was featured in a series of composer's concerts at both Queens College and Grace Church in Brooklyn, singing the music of Martin Halpern and Frank Retzel, performed in the opening gala for Opera at Florham in New Jersey and sang a solo concert for the Rochester Choral Society. She performed Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with Hunter Symphony in New York and returned to the Encores Series for performances of Irving Berlins Face the Music; in which, she also appears on the cast album for DRG. She won second place in the Little Italy Vocal Competition in New York City and has returned there often to perform at the Christmas Tree Lighting event and as a featured soloist for the San Gennaro Festival.

The Enrico Caruso Room also features a weekly Thursday Open Mic Opera Night where singers perform two musical pieces each. The Thursday Open Mic Opera Nights are open to up to 10 singers who must sign up in advance to guarantee a slot. There will be a waiting list at the door in the event some singers fail to show up. At the end of each month, one male and one female Open Mic singer will be engaged to sing at a future Tuesday Night Opera performance where they each will be paid $200/night. The music performances at the Enrico Caruso Room are being presented by Mort and Ray Productions and LS Communications.

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