Music Director: Danielle Orlando
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
See AVA’s Resident Artists compete against each other for judged and audience prizes by singing a single aria accompanied by Music Director Danielle Orlando.
James Parkinson Opera Foundation First Prize: Vanessa Vasquez, soprano
Cecile K. Dalton Second Prize: Anthony Schneider, bass
Walter and Alice Strine, Esqs. Audience Prize: Vanessa Vasquez, soprano
WRTI Audience Prize: Vanessa Vasquez, soprano
Richard Gaddes
The former General Director of Santa Fe Opera began his career by forming a series of lunchtime concerts at London’s famed recital hall, Wigmore Hall and soon afterwards created his own arts management company. Mr. Gaddes then joined Artists International Management, a company that represents musicians worldwide. Following his arrangement of various operatic world premieres, Mr. Gaddes established and co-founded the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Mr. Gaddes is currently on the Board of Directors of the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts and is frequent judge at national and international voice competitions including the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
Andrew Jorgensen
Andrew Jorgensen is the Director of Artistic Planning and Operations at Washington National Opera at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He joined the company in October 2012 at the invitation of Artistic Director, Francesca Zambello. He is responsible for managing all Washington National Opera artistic operations and personnel, and oversees the planning and casting of future seasons. He began his career with two seasons as an Assistant Artist Manager at Columbia Artists Management followed by five seasons as an Associate on the Artistic Staff at the Metropolitan Opera. Born in the Philadelphia suburbs, he holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard College and an MBA from the Stern School of Business at NYU.
William G. Guerri
William Guerri is a Vice President and Artist Manager at Columbia Artists Management Inc. During his career, he has represented many renowned artists including Ben Heppner, Denyce Graves,Marcus Haddock, Michael Fabiano, Mariusz Kwiecien, Julius Rudel, John Copley and Colin Graham. Mr. Guerri was graduated from the University of Illinois with a Bachelor of Music degree. He has conducted classes for aspiring singers at Yale University and Rutgers University, and the young artist programs of the Canadian Opera Company, Palm Beach Opera and Washington National Opera.
Previous Giargiari winners include international opera stars: James Valenti · Stephen Costello · Joyce El-Khoury · Angela Meade · Latonia Moore · Burak Bilgili · Richard Troxell.