Bastille Day Celebration: An Evening of Dinner and Music with Melissa Wimbish

What: An Evening of Dinner and Music
When: Sunday 15 July 2018 at 5pm
Where: the home of Paul Cassedy in Baltimore Maryland.
Who: Melissa Wimbish and James Harp
Dress: For comfort
RSVP: 1 July 2018
Cost: $20
Performer Bios: Melissa Wimbish and James Harp

Dear Friends,

Our next Evening of Dinner and Music” on 15 July 2018. We will once again be conducting our celebration of our nation’s first and best national friend and ally, France. Although one day late, the 15th fits with our usual Sunday evening schedule pretty well.

Bastille Day has become something of an annual tradition as part of our little series and this year, we have something particularly special in store.

I hope that you will join me in an evening of opera. Yup, that’s right. Opera. Not at all our usual art song fare…. But this very exciting opportunity was too good to pass up!

Many of you will already be familiar with the wonderful Melissa Wimbish from other venues in town as well as recitals at my house; most recently she sang a beautiful one-woman Opera: “Josephine” by Tom Cipullo. She's gotten rave reviews for both her Opera performances and her band "Outcalls."

This time, Melissa will perform another one-woman opera, “La Voix Humaine” by Francis Poulenc. Although it IS a complete opera, it is also quite short and will certainly fit our usual format. Although perhaps a bit grim for a celebration, the French text is wonderful and Poulenc’s music is simply spectacular.

As usual for our Bastille Day celebrations, we will have a little tutorial in singing the French national Anthem, "La Marseilles." Then, after a dinner of French culinary treats we will have a sing along of French songs and American songs about France. I do hope that you can join us!

Timing: disciplined
As usual, we will gather at 5pm. Melissa is singing in Camelot that afternoon in DC, so we will likely start our lesson in La Marsellaise first, to buy her a little time. However, the goal remains to end the evening, both the recital and the dinner, in plenty of time for the DC folk to travel home and be snug in bed by about 9:30pm on a "school night."

Menu: French
As usual for me, our dinner will be coordinated with the music. So this will be an evening of fairly simple dishes inspired by French cuisine and based on what is fresh in the Baltimore Farmers’ Market that morning. I especially enjoy researching and preparing these coordinated meals; it will be quite a fun challenge! A more detailed menu will be announced as we get closer (and I have done more research as to what is likely to be fresh and good that morning).

Dress: informal
As many of you know, my place is 'teeny tiny' and our seating space is limited. Sometimes we may even get a little crowded. So your dress should be informal and comfortable. Although it has been a cold spring, it will almost certainly be downright hot by 15 July, so feel free to wear shorts if the weather calls for it.

RSVPs: by 1 July
Please let me know if you can join me for this wonderful evening of dinner and music by 1 July; that is when I will begin making final preparations for our menu and seating; If you need the address, directions, or parking suggestions, please let me know in your response. Significant others (or just others you think might be interested) are always warmly welcome. Just let me know the names of anyone you plan to bring so that I can keep track of our numbers.

This program is likely to be very popular, so I really must be disciplined about our numbers. An early response assures you a seat. When my guest limit is reached, I will continue accepting RSVPs, but will begin keeping a waiting list for those who respond after the cut-off number; If the seats are all full, I will ask you if you want a place on the waiting list.

If, on the other hand, you RSVP and then find that you are not able to attend after all, it is courteous to those on the waiting list (and me!) to let me know as soon as possible. I would hate for seats to go empty when there are people who want to join us for this wonderful opportunity.

Performer Bios

Performer Bios

In the world-premiere of Josephine with Urban Arias, The Washington Post gushed, “... the afternoon belonged to Melissa Wimbish, who was creating the role of Josephine Baker in this world-premiere of ‘Josephine.’ Beautifully prepared, vocally stunning, and theatrically riveting, Wimbish effortlessly held the audience in her hand throughout this one-woman show.” She earned the following remarks from The New York Times in On Site Opera’s North American premiere of The Marriage of Figaro by Marcos Portugal: “The wonderful cast includes ... the soprano Melissa Wimbish in a show-stealing turn as the hormonal pageboy Cherubino”. The young soprano could not even go unnoticed as Barbarina in Lyric Opera Baltimore’s Le nozze di Figaro with Opera News noting her “promising soprano” and The Baltimore Sun praising her “bright voice” and “knack for animating phrases”. The Boulder Daily Camera described her Cunegonde as “simply incredible…the highlight of the entire evening.”

In October, Melissa made her Carnegie Hall solo recital debut with a program of works by Jake Heggie, Tom Cipullo, André Previn, and the world-premiere of Space in Chains by Jessica Meyer set to poetry of Jessica Kasischke. She made her Baltimore Symphony solo debut as a featured soloist, performing Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre on the BSO Pulse Series with Lower Dens. At the Kennedy Center Opera House she was the soprano soloist for Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Washington Ballet. Past season highlights include the soprano soloist in Carmina Burana at the Kennedy Center with Washington Ballet, Mysteries of the Macabre with Baltimore’s The Occasional Symphony and Concert Artists of Baltimore, the Sheep in Candide with Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony, and soprano soloist in Mozart’s Requiem with Richmond Symphony.

Melissa Wimbish was the Grand Prize Winner of the 2014 NATSAA Competition along with the Franco-American Award for best interpretation of French repertoire. She was a 2012 winner of the Vocal Arts Society Discovery Series and made her Kennedy Center recital debut as a result. Melissa has also received awards from the Dante Alighieri Music Scholarship Competition, Denver Lyric Opera Guild Scholarship Competition, Denver Philharmonic Concerto Competition, and Kennett Square Symphony Competition.

Melissa fronts the indie pop, female-fronted duo Outcalls who were recently awarded a Baker Artist Award for Best Overall Set by 89.7 WTMD. She lives in Baltimore with her mute cat, Billy. Learn more at www.melissawimbish.com.

JAMES HARP

James Harp is well known in the Baltimore area as a pianist, organist, stage director, singer, composer, lecturer, writer and conductor. He began his musical career at age 7 as a church soloist, and has concertized in Italy, France, Greece, Israel, the Bahamas, and extensively throughout his native Southern United States. Among his more unusual musical experiences include singing “My Old Kentucky Home” as a soloist on National Television at the 1981 Kentucky Derby, coaching Lily Tomlin in arias from AIDA for an Emmy-nominated “Homicide” segment, and nearly drowning after falling backwards into the Sea of Galilee while conducting madrigals.

James Harp is the Artistic and Managing Director of Maryland Opera, the Mid-Atlantic’s newest opera company and arts organization, where he is building a comprehensive and innovative opera and opera education/outreach program to serve the entire state of Maryland. He is also heavily involved in pursuing and nurturing partnerships and collaborations with arts organizations both locally and nationally in order to sustain the art forms of opera and music for perpetuity. He is also a judge for the regional and district Metropolitan Opera auditions.

He holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Peabody Conservatory of Music. He was the Artistic Administrator of the Baltimore Opera Company beginning in 1989 and was the Chorus Master since 1993. Since 1983 he has served as organist for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and since 1987 has been the Cantor (Organist/Choirmaster) for Baltimore’s historic St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, where he also serves as Artistic Director of the St. Cecilia Society Concert Series. He formerly served as Music Director of the Baltimore Men’s Chorus from 1989-1995 and was the accompanist for the Baltimore Symphony Chorus from 1982-1999. He is the Principal Accompanist and Chorus Master for Baltimore Concert Opera since spring of 2009. He also is a coach/accompanist with the Wagner Society of Washington, DC. He is on the opera faculty at the Peabody Conservatory and has additionally taught at the University of Maryland Opera Studio.

Knowledgeable in many areas of music, he has lectured extensively on opera in many venues, including the Towson Arts Festival, the Maryland Opera Society, the Biblical Archaeology Society, and the Joy of Opera Series. He is on the faculty of the Johns Hopkins School of Continuing Education where he lectures on the repertoire of the Lyric Opera Baltimore. Successful as a writer of operatic children’s programs, he and his work PUPPETS & PAGLIACCI were featured on a PBS documentary. His reworking and staging of Puccini's GIANNI SCHICCHI, changed from Florence, Italy in 1299 to Florence, Alabama, in 1929 and retitled THE TALE OF JOHNNIE S. KICKEY, has been well received and performed in several regional opera companies and universities. He has served on several national advisory boards as a consultant and advocate for arts agencies.

He made his LOB mainstage stage director debut in 2013 in TOSCA, receiving significant critical and audience appreciation, continued with an outstanding production of MADAMA BUTTERFLY in fall of 2014. As a stage director he has directed many operas for Artscape, Baltimore’s summer festival of the arts, including THE MEDIUM, TOO MANY SOPRANOS, SLOW DUSK, and BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. He has directed THE SORCERER, HMS PINAFORE, THE GONDOLIERS, IOLANTHE, THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE, THE YEOMEN OF THE GUARD, and THE MIKADO with the Young Victorian Opera Company. He has also staged operas at Anne Arundel Community College, where his version of THE ELIXIR OF LOVE, transplanted to Tennessee during Prohibition, was well received, as well as his productions of THE MAGIC FLUTE, DON GIOVANNI, LA TRAVIATA and DIE FLEDERMAUS.

Sought after as an orchestral musician and accompanist, he has been featured as soloist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in works ranging from Saint-Saens ORGAN SYMPHONY to Lloyd Webber’s THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. He has appeared as continuo (harpsichord/organ) soloist with many local orchestral and choral groups, where his informed and histrionic realizations of baroque figured bass have won acclaim. Accompanist to many local singers, many of whom feature his own compositions, he has also accompanied such artists as Elizabeth Futral, Stephen Costello, Leontyne Price, Marilyn Horne, Sherrill Milnes, Licia Albanese, Anna Moffo, Chris Merritt, Lucine Amara, and Paul Plishka. His appearance with Miss Futral and Mr. Costello was part of the noted Vocal Arts Society of Washington DC series and took place at the Kennedy Center.

An aficionado of gardening, theology, genealogy and all things Victorian, he lives in the Bolton Hill neighborhood of Baltimore with his three gregarious pugs, Vera, Minnie Lee and Otto.

What's the music?

Melissa Wimbish

Attendees

Gisell P.