OPERA ACADEMY of CALIFORNIA (OAC) is pleased to announce "Gems of Russian Opera" - a PERFORMANCE of FAVORITE SCENES and ARIAS from FAMOUS RUSSIAN OPERAS: Mussorgsky - BORIS GODUNOV Rachmaninov - ALEKO Rimsky-Korsakov - TSAR’s BRIDE Tchaikovsky - MAID of ORLEANS & EUGENE ONEGIN The program will be directed and narrated by YEFIM MAIZEL, the internationally renowned stage director from the METROPOLITAN OPERA. Singers-performers will bring this music alive and relevant for a San Francisco audience. Mr. Maizel studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, now renamed in honor of great Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov who was the conservatory’s director from 1871 until 1905. Yefim Maizel has directed and assisted in the former Soviet Union, in Europe, and in the U.S. at the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Washington Opera, Kirov Opera, Wexford Opera Festival, Santa Fe Opera, Opera Pacific, Michigan Opera Theater and Opera Santa Barbara. In 2004, he directed Madama Butterfly (Puccini) at the Metropolitan Opera with Placido Domingo conducting. In 2005-06 he directed productions of Eugene Onegin (Tchaikovsky), Something New For The Zoo (Hoiby), Tales of Hoffmann (Offenbach), Spooky Times: Witchcraft & Supernatural in Opera, The Impresario (Mozart), Happy Birthday, Mr. Mozart! and Dialogues des Carmelites (Poulenc). Mr.Maizel just finished production of Un Ballo in Maschera (Verdi) at the Opera Santa Barbara. Upcoming productions of the 2007-2008 season will include The Merry Widow (Lehar), Lucio Silla (Handel), La Boheme (Puccini), Spooky Times Strikes Again and Les Bavards (Offenbach). Since 1999 he has worked at the Metropolitan Opera as a Guest Stage Director, where he directed Madama Butterfly (Puccini) and has assisted on productions of Mazeppa (Tchaikovsky), Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (Shostakovich), Il Trovatore (Verdi), Manon (Massenet), The Gambler (Prokofiev), Idomeneo (Mozart), Don Carlo (Verdi), Elektra (Strauss), Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Mozart), Otello (Verdi), The Queen of Spades (Tchaikovsky) and Das Rheingold (Wagner). Mr. Maizel is a member of the faculty of the Bay Area Summer Opera Theater Institute (BASOTI) since 1998, where he directed Riders to the Sea (Vaughan Williams), Suor Angelica (Puccini), La Calisto (Cavalli), The Impresario (Mozart), Little Women (Adamo), and numerous scenes from different operas. Yefim regularly leads workshops and masterclasses for singers with the audience invited and also teaches opera appreciation classes for anybody who would like to enhance their knowledge and enjoyment of opera. OAC Upcoming Productions: October 2007 - SPOOKY TIMES STRIKES AGAIN - a Halloween program. February 2008 - LES BAVARDS - Offenbach’s operetta masterpiece (“Chatterboxes”) OAC is currently developing, also, a series of Opera Appreciation Classes based on the season of the SF Opera and Opera Companies around the Bay Area.

MOST HOLY REDEEMER Church
100 Diamond Street (@ 18th St.)
San Francisco, CA 94114

Saturday, March 31, 2007 from 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM (PT)

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Opera Academy of California

Opera Academy of California (OAC) is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit charitable and educational organization. The mission of OAC is to: 1. Develop and educate new audiences for greater appreciation of opera and musical theater 2. Develop and educate singers in the art of opera and musical theater performance 3. Bring new audiences and new quality performers together in the context of opera and musical theater performance