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 JAMIE
CHAMBERLIN, SOPRANO
Greek-American soprano Jamie Chamberlin is fast rising as one of the
premiere singing actresses of her generation. Most recently, she received
Third Place in the Inaugural Jose Iturbi International Music Competition
in Los Angeles, and in Novemeber of 2007 she participates in the Seoul
International Music Competition in South Korea as one of 46 young singers
from around the world. As an artist in the prestigious Merola Opera
Program in San Francisco, she received critical praise for her portrayal
of Anne Sexton in Susa’s Transformations, and for her sparkling Merola
Grand Finale performance on the stage of the War Memorial Opera House in
2006. Ms. Chamberlin made her professional debut with the Los Angeles
Philharmonic in 2004 singing the soprano solo in the world premiere of Esa-
Pekka Salonen’s monumental orchestral work Wing on Wing. The following
season, she made her solo debut with Los Angeles Opera as the High
Priestess in Aida and the Cretan Woman in Idomeneo, with Placido Domingo.
Miss Chamberlin holds Bachelor of Arts and Master of Music
degrees from UCLA where she studied under Juliana Gondek. Roles at UCLA
include Contessa di Folleville in Il Viaggio A Reims, Lady Billows in
Albert Herring, Concepcion in L’heure Espagnole, La Chatte in L’enfant et
les Sortileges, Arminda in La Finta Giardiniera, Anita in West Side Story,
and Hesione in the West Coast Premiere of Triumph of Love.
In addition to her growing operatic career, Chamberlin is
also making strides as a concert artist. In 2006, she sang the rarely
performed Chansons de Ronsard by Milhaud with the Pasadena Symphony under
the baton of Jorge Mester. She returned the following season to sing
Poulenc’s Gloria and John Adams’ Grand Pianola Music and in 2008 she will
sing the Soprano I solo in Mozart’s C Minor Mass. In January 2007 she
debuted with the Fort Collins Symphony singing Mahler’s Fourth symphony
and Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasilieras No. 5. Ms. Chamberlin has also
been a guest artist with the Occidental College Chorale, The Nimbus
Ensemble and The Indian Wells Desert Symphony.
Miss Chamberlin has also been honored to perform with some
of the most acclaimed Music Outreach programs in California. She toured
Los Angeles County in 2006 as a cast member of the Los Angeles Opera
Education and Community Outreach Program’s production of The Prospector.
She also appeared at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Saturday Mornings at
the Opera productions of Figaro’s American Adventure, Journey to Cordoba
and Opera Tales: Mozart. In her outreach work with the LA Philharmonic,
she was invited to sing Salonen’s Wing on Wing once again, and later the
Queen of the Night in the Toyota Symphonies for Youth celebration of
Mozart’s 250th birthday at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Currently, she
performs with Opera Santa Barbara’s up and coming outreach program,
sharing her love of music with sixth graders in her hometown of Santa
Barbara, CA.
In October 2005 Chamberlin was a Western Regional Finalist
in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She has worked with
many distinguished conductors, directors and artists, including Placido
Domingo, Kent Nagano, Jorge Mester, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Martin Katz, Sheri
Greenawald, Joe Goode, Sara Jobin, Stephen Blier, Jane Eaglen, Richard
Buckley, Vera Calabria, and Vladimir Chernov, among many others.
BACK TO TOP
 Shana
Blake Hill, soprano
Shana Blake Hill continues to excite audiences and critics
alike this as she proves herself a multifaceted performer in both the
operatic and orchestral repertoires. Of her recent debut singing composer
Bright Sheng’s “The Phoenix” with The Philadelphia Orchestra under Charles
Dutoit, The Saratogan exclaimed, “Shana Blake Hill was amazing in this
very difficult soprano role…her richly colored tone lent dignity and a
sense of awe to the tale…she was a mesmerizing presence”. Profiled in the
Los Angeles Times as "an intense young soprano...a standout,” and by The
Forum as “a future opera superstar…” Shana Blake Hill is a powerful young
artist embarking on an exciting career. Ms. Hill has appeared as a
principal artist with such opera companies as: The Los Angeles Opera,
Savonlinna Festival Opera (Finland), Dayton Opera, Long Beach Opera, Santa
Barbara Opera, Durham Triangle Opera, Fargo Moorhead Opera, San Luis
Obispo Mozart Festival Opera, Stockton Opera, West Bay Opera, and Opera
Nova. She has also been featured as a solo artist with orchestras such as;
The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Seattle Symphony, The Los Angeles
Philharmonic, The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, The Pacific Symphony, Berkeley
Symphony, The New West Symphony, Pacific Chorale, The Florida
Philharmonic, The Naples Philharmonic, The Pasadena Symphony, and the
California Philharmonic.
Especially at home with contemporary music, some of Ms. Hill's World
Premiers and projects include: Sakagawea in Michael Ching’s opera Corps of
Discovery on the Louis and Clark expedition, Bright Sheng’s The Phoenix,
Sally Hemings in Glenn Paxton's opera Monticello on the controversial
personal life of Thomas Jefferson, Ticie in On Gold Mountain, an opera by
Nathan Wang commissioned by Los Angeles Opera on the novel by best selling
author Lisa See, Sara's Diary: 9/11, a dramatic song cycle on prose by
Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Leroy Aarons for live radio broadcast,
Grammy award winning composer Peter Boyer's On Music's Wings for soprano,
orchestra and 300 children and both the roles of Rosalba and Florencia
Grimaldi in Daniel Catan’s acclaimed opera Florencia en el Amazonas.
In the genre of film Ms. Hill was chosen by legendary film composer Jerry
Goldsmith to record the title track "The Mission" which opens Paramount's
Blockbuster film The Sum of All Fears, starring Ben Affleck and Morgan
Freeman. Amazon.com remarks in their review of the soundtrack CD, "what
sets it apart is the operatic performance of Shana Blake Hill...a stirring
opening which proves to be the highpoint of the score." Ms. Hill’s
performance of “The Mission” was recently chosen to be part of Paramount
Studio’s newly released 90th Anniversary Favorite Soundtrack Compilation
CD. Other media credits include solos on the soundtracks of the feature
film “Red Dirt” and the Sci-Fi Series “Seven Days to Midnight”.
Highlights of Ms. Hill’s recent engagements and notable upcoming events
include: recording Bright Sheng’s “The Phoenix” with The Seattle Symphony
and Gerald Schwartz for Naxos, Berlioz Romeo and Juliet with Louisville
Symphony, Bruckner Te Deum with The New West Symphony, “Der Hirt auf dem
Felsen” with The Pasadena Symphony Chamber Series, Mahler 4 and
Canteloube’s “Chants D’Auvergne” with Jorge Mester and the Pasadena
Symphony (also with The Naples Philharmonic), Mozart’s Mass in C with
Pasadena Symphony, opera arias with the Durham Symphony, Sakagawea in
Michael Ching’s Corps of Discovery with Fargo Moorhead Opera, Countess in
Le nozze di Figaro with Opera Southwest, and Cio cio san in Madama
Butterfly with the Bryan Symphony. Ms. Hill also appears in recital, in
Shanghai, North Carolina, Maine, Pennsylvania and Vermont, with The
Jacaranda Series in Los Angeles, and as a Coca Cola Artist in Residence at
Emory University in Atlanta.
Born in North Carolina and raised in the Philadelphia area, Ms. Hill
received her Bachelor of Music degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of
Music, her Master of Music from The University of Southern California
Thornton School of Music, and is an Alumna of The Los Angeles Opera’s
Resident Artist program.
BACK TO TOP
 RANDALL BILLS, TENOR
Hailed by the Wall Street
Journal as a voice of “lyrical beauty and intensity,” young American tenor
Randall Bills is quickly becoming a rising star of the operatic and
concert stage.
Mr. Bills’ operatic repertoire
includes the standard Mozart heroes of Tamino in
Die Zauberflöte, Ferrando in
Cosí fan tutte, and the
title role in Idomeneo,
bel canto staples like
Rossini’s Prince Ramiro in
La Cenerentola, the youthful
verisimo of
Puccini’s Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi, and Prince
Charmant in Massenet’s
Cendrillon, and 20th century
roles such as Tom Rakewell in Stravinksy’s The Rake’s Progress, the
Reverend Parris in Robert Ward’s The Crucible,
as well as Lysander in Benjamin Britten’s
A Midsummer Night’s
Dream.
Described by the
Boston Globe as “a romantic tenor-in-the-making,” Mr. Bills is equally at
home on the operatic as well as the concert stage. Mr. Bills has performed
Beethoven’s
Symphony No. 9 with the Fresno Philharmonic, Pasadena Symphony and Naples
Philharmonic, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the Los Angeles Master
Chorale, and Ariel Ramierz’ Missa Criolla with Opus 7 at the Hollywood
Bowl. Other oratorio works include Mozart’s Requiem with the Long Beach
Mozart Festival Orchestra, the Paulist Choristers, and USC Thornton
Symphony under Maestro Carl St. Claire, and Uriel in Haydn’s The Creation
with the La Sierra Sinfonia.
Mr. Bills has been the tenor
soloist for Handel’s Messiah
with the Los Angeles Master Chorale and Maestro Grant
Gershon, as well as soloist for performances of the work at the grand
re-opening of the Ambassador Auditorium with Maestro Jorge Mester and the
Pasadena Symphony.
A consummate
recitalist, praised by the Los Angeles Times for “crystal-clear diction,”
Mr. Bills has given performances internationally including his “Young
Artist of the Year” Debut Recital under the auspices of the National
Association of Teachers of Singing, Los Angeles Chapter as well as a
recital at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in China. Mr. Bills has also
had the privilege of participating with internationally recognized
collaborative pianist Alan Smith in the Gwendolyn Koldofsky Memorial
Recital at the University of Southern California.
Mr. Bills was the
winner of the 2004 National Association of Teachers of Singing Artist
Auditions Western Region, the 2006 Mu Phi Epsilon Competition, Los Angeles
Chapter and the 2006 Pasadena Opera Guild Competition. He placed 2nd
in the 2005 Metropolitan
Opera National Council Auditions Western Region and was a National
Finalist for the 2006 Loren L. Zachary National Vocal Competition. A
member of the 2006 Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program for Young Singers,
Mr. Bills is spending the 2006-2007 season as a Young Artist with
Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Germany.
BACK TO TOP
 JINYOUNG JANG, BASS
Korean-American Bass-Baritone Jinyoung Jang’s
musicality and vocal ability has allowed him to excel in the standard
repertory, especially works of Mozart and Puccini. Mr. Jang is a recent
graduate of the Los Angeles Opera’s Artist in Residence program. During
his tenure with LA Opera he has performed several roles including Zuniga
in Carmen, Colline in La Boheme (student matinee) and Frere Jean in Romeo
et Juliette and he been responsible for most of the bass roles including
Ramphis and Il Re in Aida, Doctor in Vanessa, Neptune in Idomeneo,
Ferrando in Il Trovatore, and Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor. He has
also made guest appearances with the Bakersfeild Symphony singing Figaro
in Le Nozze di Figaro, Rocco in Fidelio, and Don Alfonso in Cosi fan tutte
and singing the Helmsman in Tristan und Isolda with the Los Angeles
Philharmonic.
On the
concert stage Mr. Jang has recently returned to the Bakersfeild Symphony
singing the baritone solo in Faure Requiem, where he has frequently been
heard in concerts and recitals. He has also sung the Mozart Requiem with
the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the
Santa Monica Symphony, and Elijah with Concordia University.
Jinyoung has
won awards from the Pasadena Opera Guild, Opera Buffs, Nunzio Crisci Opera
Scholarship, Marilyn Horne Scholarship (USC), the NATS Competition in Los
Angeles and Houston, and was a regional finalist with the Metropolitan
National Council Auditions (Mid-South).
Mr. Jang is
a alumni of the Los Angeles Opera Artist in Residence Program and the
Knoxville Opera Studio. He was a Bass soloist with Los Angeles Master
Chorale from 2000 - 2003 and was part of the Concord Music Ensemble from
2002 - 2003. He holds degrees and certificates from University of
Southern California, University of Tennessee, Southern Methodist
University, and Seoul National University of Korea.
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