The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) opens its 2013-14 season of Eastern Shore concerts on October 4 featuring the Best of Broadway. The BSO, known mainly for presenting the finest in classical music, changes pace with a program of some of the best music of Broadway from Gershwin to Claude-Michel Schonberg. Soloists, soprano Michele Ragusa and baritone John Cudia, will give voice to the beautiful lyrics that have made Broadway songs so memorable. Stuart Chafetz will be the orchestra’s guest conductor.
The concert begins at 8:00PM at Chesapeake College Todd Performing Arts Center. A preconcert discussion with conductor Stuart Chafetz and BSO vice president of artistic operations Mathew Spivey will be at 7:00PM.
Stuart Chafetz is known for his ability to engage audiences with innovative concerts. He has appeared as guest conductor with many of America’s leading orchestras and was the resident conductor for four years with the Milwaukee Symphony. Chafetz spends his summers at the Chautauqua Institution where he conducts the annual July 4th concert. He is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and the University of Cincinnati–College Conservatory of Music. This will be his first appearance with the BSO.
Michele Ragusa is becoming the next Broadway “diva,” where she has performed to acclaim in numerous new musicals as well as Broadway revivals, national tours and regional theaters. In a recent revival of Cole Porter’s “Kiss Me Kate,” the New York Times reported that “it can’t get much better than when Michele Ragusa, as Lilli Vanessi the leading lady, pours out her heart in “So in Love.” The Buffalo, New York native also has a list of credits in film and television.
The Chicago Sun Times, in its recent review of the Lyric Opera of Chicago production of Oklahoma, said, “The easily graceful John Cudia brings a golden voice to the role of Curley.” The North Carolina born and New Jersey bred Cudia, earned a BA from Fordham University. He is a musical theater actor who has played many of the biggest roles in musical theater. He has the distinct honor to have sung the lead in both Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables. Cudiahas also played in Evita and recently in Oklahoma and is emerging as a classical crossover artist. He was featured as Alfredo this summer in La Traviata at the Lyric Opera of the North in Duluth, Minnesota. Cudia also has a very active concert schedule.
Series of three concerts -$105. Single performance tickets – $40 and $10 for students, and they can be purchased at the door or by calling 410 827 5867. Visit us at: Baltimore SymphonyontheShore.com and Facebook.com/BSOChesapeake College.
Baltimore Symphony concerts at Chesapeake College are presented by the Mid-Shore Symphony Society and supported in part by the Maryland
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