The Musicians Club of New York proudly presents the Third Prize Winner of our 2016 Serge and Olga Koussevitzky Young Artist Awards, Mezzo-Soprano Virginie Verrez, in her Winner's Recital. We are grateful to the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program for giving her the time to do this concert, which will be held Sunday, December 18, 2016, at 4:00 PM, at the Liederkranz Hall, 6 East 87th Street, New York City. This concert is free and open to the public, but RSVPs are required. To RSVP, email RSVP@musiciansclubofny.org – include your name and the number of seats requested. You should receive a Reservation Confirmation Number within 48 hours. If you have any questions, you can leave a message at 212-333-7844 and we'll return your call.
In addition, this Sunday afternoon concert will be followed by holiday punch - all in attendance are welcome.
VIRGINIE VERREZ, MEZZO-SOPRANO
2016 Serge & Olga Koussevitzky Young Artist Award Winner's Recital
Sunday, December 18, 2016, 4:00 PM
Liederkranz Concert Hall
6 East 87th Street
New York City
Program
Schumann:
- Lied der Suleika
- Lied der Braut I
- Lied der Braut II
- Hochländisches Wiegendlied
- Hochländer Witwe
Schumann:
- Maria Stuarda
Schumann:
- Die Sennin
- Soldatenbraut
- Singet nicht
- Die Kartenlegerin
Intermission
Duparc:
- L’invitation au voyage
- Au pays ou se fait la guerre
- La vie antérieure
Poulenc:
- La dame de Monte Carlo
French mezzo-soprano Virginie Verrez is a recent graduate of New York's Julliard School. In addition to being a winner of the Musicians Club of New York's 2016 Serge and Olga Koussevitzky Young Artist Awards and the 2015 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, she is the winner of the 2016 Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition. She joined the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program in the 2015-16 season. Click here to link to her page at the Met's website.
Highlights in her 2016/17 season include Stéphano Roméo et Juliette and Enrichetta I Puritani at the Metropolitan Opera and Mercédès Carmen at the Festival d'Aix-en Provence. Her concert engagements include Berlioz' Roméo et Juliette and Schumann's Das Paradies und die Peri with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Daniel Harding and Duruflé’s Requiem with the Netherlands Radio Choir and Ed Spanjaard.
Recent appearances have include Erika in Barber's Vanessa for Santa Fe Opera, Madrigal Singer Manon Lescaut at the Metropolitan Opera, Béatrice Béatrice et Bénédict at the Saito Kinen Festival and Fenena Nabucco at the Oberammergau Festival.
Miss Verrez has also given recitals in Dallas, Paris, Baden bei Wien and in Vienna and, as a participant at the Schubert Institute, she has worked with renowned artists such as Roger Vignoles and Robert Holl.
She is the winner of both the 2014 Gerda Lissner Foundation International Vocal Competition and the 2014 Mary Trueman Vocal Competition and was also awarded Le Prix Jeune Espoir and Le Prix Spécial du Jury at the 2014 Festival Nuits Lyriques en Marmandais. She is also the recipient of a Lucrezia Bori Grant and won the Lissner Charitable Fund in the 2013 Opera Index Competition.
& & &
Giuseppe Mentuccia, from Bassano Romano, Italy, is in his second year of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. This season he will be the Italian diction coach for the Met’s production of L’Italiana in Algeri, conducted by James Levine.
This past summer, Mr. Mentuccia was resident coach and conductor at Music Academy of the West, conducting the 2016 Voice Fellows in a gala program of opera scenes.
He previously served as Assistant Conductor for the MET+Juilliard performances of Bellini’s La Sonnambula in the spring of 2016. He has given solo recitals and concerto performances throughout Europe and the USA, including at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Accademia Musicale Chigiana, Alice Tully Hall, The Greene Space at WQXR, Valencia International Piano Festival. He has served on the faculty of both the Music Academy of the West and Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, and was recently on the faculty at the Juilliard School.
After working with Robert Kettelson, specializing in Italian operatic repertoire, he was appointed collaborative pianist at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. He participated in numerous conducting workshops in America and Europe, with conductors such as Martin Åkervall, Frans Rasmussen, John Keenan and Simeone Tartaglione.
Mr. Mentuccia has won the Premio Vittoria, as best graduate of the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia, first prize at the Rotary Club International Music Competition, and first prize at the Juilliard Stravinsky Piano Concerto Competition.
Giuseppe Mentuccia received his Artist Diploma in Piano Performance at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and his Master of Music at The Juilliard School. He is currently a third-year CV Starr Doctoral Fellow at Juilliard.
