Michael Spyres. Photo: Shervin Lainez
Michael Spyres & Bel Canto Boot Camp
with Resident Artists Teresa Castillo and Samual Keeler
Rachelle Jonck and Derrick Goff, pianists
Michael Spyres joins Bel Canto Boot Camp in a recital of arias and songs of Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, and Verdi. As a tenor with an extraordinary range (traditionally called a baritenor), the program explores the diverse characters and roles within Bel Canto Opera, encompassing repertoire normally assigned to both tenors and baritones.
Joining Mr. Spyres in performance will be Guild Hall & Bel Canto Boot Camp Resident Artists, Teresa Castillo and Samual Keeler. Castillo and Keeler will spend a week in-residence with Bel Canto Boot Camp coaches/co-founders, Rachelle Jonck and Derrick Goff, where they will study new repertoire and coach alongside Michael Spyres amid his performances of Idomeneo at The Metropolitan Opera.
A reception with the artists will follow the recital. All attendees are welcome.
ABOUT GUILD HALL & BEL CANTO BOOT CAMP RESIDENT ARTIST SERIES
The Guild Hall & Bel Canto Boot Camp Resident Artist Series is a collaboration between the Learning + Public Engagement department at Guild Hall of East Hampton and Bel Canto Boot Camp. With the shared values of creative authenticity, artistic development, and community engagement, the Series supports an emerging generation of opera singers. By providing individualized training from Bel Canto Boot Camp mentors and masterclasses with international artists, the series aims to support a new generation of emerging opera singers and to increase awareness and appreciation of the unamplified voice.
The 2022 Season has included intimate recitals with tenor Jack Swanson, a program of scenes and arias in collaboration with Cape Town Opera South Africa, and baritenor Michael Spyres closes it out with a concert featuring his favorite bel canto arias and songs. He invites Resident Artists who will be in training at Guild Hall to join him in operatic ensembles giving our audiences the opportunity to see the stars of today and tomorrow in performance together.
COVID-19 Protocol: All guests over the age of 12 must provide proof of full vaccination.
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Michael Spyres
Michael Spyres was born and raised in the Ozarks and grew up in an extremely musical family. Mr. Spyres is one of the most sought-after tenors of his generation with 8 DVD’s and 25 cd’s to his name. He has been celebrated at the world’s most prestigious international opera houses, festivals, and concert halls. Accomplished and acclaimed in the widest range of repertoire, his unique career has taken him from every genre from Baroque to Classical to 20th century, while firmly establishing himself as an expert within the Bel Canto repertoire, and French Grand Opera.
The 2021/2022 season saw Michael’s solo album debut, BariTenor, for Warners/Erato with the Strasbourg Philharmonie under the baton of Marko Letonja as well as his return to the stage in an incredibly wide range of repertoire from Lieder to Bel Canto and Wagner to French Grand Opera and Verismo. This exciting season will see his return as Florestan in Fidelio with Raphael Pichon and Ensemble Pygmalion at Opera Comique de Paris, his role debut as Wagner’s Tristan in a concert version of Act 2 with Opera de Lyon, his role debut as Canio in Leoncavalli’s Pagliacci with the OLOpera, his return as Romeo to the Houston Grand Opera, as well as his anticipated debut in the title role of Mozart’s Idomeneo at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden. He also returns to the Houston Grand Opera as Gounod's Roméo, as well as to the Aix-en-Provence Festival in the title role of Idomeneo and as Pollione in Norma. In addition to the opera stage he made his recital debut with Mathieu Pordoy in Atelier Lyrique de Tourcoing, appeared at the Theatre du Capital Toulouse, Festival Les Volques, and sang two separate recitals in Paris. On the concert stage Michael will star with the Ravello Festival, Opera Philadelphia, Strasbourg Philharmonie, Warsaw Philharmonia, Liceu Barcelona, Theater an der Wien, Theatre des Champs Elysees, and Teatro alla Scala.
In his meteoric rise Michael has quickly established himself as one of the greatest singers of his generation and has sung at many of the world's most prestigious opera houses, concert halls and festivals such as the Teatro alla Scala, Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera Covent Garden, Paris Opéra National, Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, Teatro Real Madrid, Liceu Barcelona, Lyric Opera Chicago, La Monnaie Brussels, Dutch National Opera, Semperoper Dresden, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées of Paris, Carnegie Hall , Gewandhaus Leipzig, Bunka Kaikan Hall Tokyo, Salzburg Festival, Aix-en-Provence Festival, Rossini Opera Festival Pesaro, the Edinburgh Festival and the BBC Proms.
Since 2015 Michael has had the honor to be not just a performer but also an impresario. Mr. Spyres has been the Artistic Director of his hometown opera company, the Ozarks Lyric Opera and has been involved in every aspect of the renaissance of his regional company. In addition to being the active Artistic Director he has translated libretti and actively teaches masterclasses while guiding young artists careers. The last years have seen him produce numerous events as well as 5 operas and gala concerts. For the 2019/2020 season Michael wrote/produced the 40th anniversary gala as well as an original pastiche on the life of Handel.
Michael has worked with some of the world's most renowned conductors such as Davis, Elder, Gardiner, Gardner, Gergiev, Haïm, Luisi, Mariotti, Muti, Nézet-Séguin, Petrenko, Pidò, Rousset,Young and Zedda.
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Teresa Castillo
Costa Rican-American soprano Teresa Castillo has been hailed by the San Francisco Gate as a “standout, bringing [vocal] power and florid elegance,” and by Opera News for exhibiting “a clean, concentrated sound, and a lovely, intelligent musicianship.” Ms. Castillo’s operatic repertoire includes Juliette (Roméo et Juliette), Madame Mao (Nixon in China), the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor, Tytania (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Creusa (Medea in Corinto), #1(Transformations), Rosina (Barber of Seville), Königin der Nacht (Die Zauberflöte), Amina (La sonnambula), Drusilla (L’incoronazione di Poppea), Maria (West Side Story), Ms. Wordsworth (Albert Herring) and Adele (Die Fledermaus). She has sung with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Knoxville Opera, The Princeton Festival, Opera Theatre St. Louis, Bel Canto at Caramoor, Teatro Nuovo, Opera San Jose, White Snake Projects, Virginia Opera, Central City Opera, Merola Opera Program and will be making debuts with Opera Lafayette and Chicago Opera Theatre. Recent competition prizes include the George London Competition, the Cooper-Bing Competition, Opera Index Competition, The Jensen Foundation Vocal Competition, and the Altamura/Caruso International Voice Competition, The Anita Cerquetti International Competition, Lois Alba Aria Competition, Denver Lyric Opera Guild Competition, Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and has received grants from Career Bridges, The Allied Arts (CO), The Anna Sosenko Trust, and the Bel Canto Vocal Scholarship Foundation (RI).
Photo: Bill Wadman
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Samual Keeler
Samual Keeler, tenor, has been hailed for his “rich tenor” (Culpepper Times) and “strong vocals and crisp, clear delivery” (DC Theatre Scene). His most recent performances include Alfredo in Verdi’s La traviata, Frederic in Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance, Sam Kaplan in Kurt Weill’s Street Scene, Don Curzio & Don Basilio in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, and Lurcanio in Handel’s Ariodante. He keeps a regular performance schedule as a soloist in the greater Philadelphia region. Keeler is a graduate of the Maryland Opera Studio at University of Maryland, College Park.
Photo: Patricia Westley
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Rachelle Jonck
Rachelle Jonck received her musical training at the Conservatory of the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. In her native country she was awarded a FNB/Vita award for her contribution to opera in South Africa and the Nederburg Opera Prize – South Africa’s premier opera award.
Rachelle moved to New York City as Head Vocal Coach and Assistant Conductor of Bel Canto at Caramoor. Her private coaching studio includes established professionals whose careers take them to the largest opera houses of the world, and younger singers still on the verge of a professional career. Her master class topics, while related to her main study field of bel canto, explore the wider application of the bel canto way of singing. rachellejonck.com
Photo: Lisa-Marie Mazzucco
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Derrick Goff
Derrick Goff is an alumnus of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and has returned as member of the MET music staff. He has enjoyed many years of collaboration at Teatro Nuovo, a continuation of the young artist program of Bel Canto at Caramoor, where he is resident as a coach, chorusmaster, and Italian teacher. In addition to his work as a pianist, coach, and conductor, Derrick holds degrees in organ and voice from Westminster Choir College, and is on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music.
Photo: Jiyang Chen
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Bel Canto Boot Camp
BEL CANTO BOOT CAMP
Bel Canto Boot Camp was born during the pandemic when we reached out to singers around the world – singers who had no place and seemingly no reason to sing. To be honest, we needed to find a way to feed our own souls as well while we were cut off from music making – something we never even considered could possibly happen. We created The Vaccai Project – a unique online training course for singers. Just short of two thousand singers from America to South Africa, from Columbia to Russia practiced together for the day when stages would be open to them again and theaters would be filled with audiences. We discovered a beautiful new way to support singers – beautiful in its inclusivity, its expansion of the richness of the New York opera community to artists all over the world, the breaking of often prohibitive barriers of distance, cost, time and audition-only programs.
Now, as the world continues to emerge from Covid-19, Bel Canto Boot Camp strives to support artists in the physical world as we did (and continue to do) virtually. Our ability to work in person with singers is now supported by an online platform allowing us to stay in contact when we cannot be there physically. Additionally BCBC allows singers, teachers, and presenters to network effectively with each other in the ever growing BCBC community. belcantobootcamp.com
Sponsors
Principal Sponsor: V. Atkins Foundation
Additional support is provided by Dr. Ralph Gibson, in memory of Andy Jacobyansky, who generously shared his passion, knowledge, and support for the opera; and by Dan Langley and Nick Taylor.
Learning & Public Engagement programming is supported by The Patti Kenner Arts Education Fellowship, The Hearthland Foundation, Stephen Meringoff, Susan and Stephen Scherr, and funding from the Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Endowment Fund, and The Melville Straus Family Endowment.
Theater Programming supported in part by The Schaffner Family Foundation and funding from The Melville Straus Family Endowment. Music Programming is supported in part by The Ellen and James S. Marcus Endowment for Musical Programming.