A Night of Opulence

Opera Opulenza presents A Night of Opulence, a concert of favourite opera duets and solos featuring soprano Tamar Simon, baritone Geoff Schellenberg, and pianist Roger Parton. They'll be performing selections from Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers, Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, and Donizetti’s Don Pasquale.

• Admission is free - to reserve seats, email: operaopulenza@gmail.com
• Thursday, November 7th
• 8pm (doors open at 7:45pm)
• Moberly Arts & Cultural Centre
• All are welcome
• Sponsored by the Vancouver Park Board, and Emily Carr University of Art & Design

Opera Opulenza is a Vancouver-based opera company founded in 2014 by artistic director Trudy Chalmers. Together, with music director Roger Parton, Trudy has created a company that is dedicated to providing singers with opportunities to sing in concerts, fully-staged operas, and opera scenes.

In January 2019, Opera Opulenza joined chART: Public Art and Emily Carr University of Art + Design in the fieldhouse at Oak Park – an initiative made possible by the Vancouver Parks Board. This opportunity has given Opera Opulenza the ability to broaden their programming to include a wide range of community engagement events and activities for the communities of Marpole, Oakridge, Emily Carr, and beyond. We are bringing opera to the community by way of free concerts, workshops, opera screenings, masterclasses, a community opera chorus, and more!

Tamar Simon, soprano

Heralded for her “clear vibrant tone” (Opera Canada), Tamar Simon is an emerging Armenian-Canadian soprano embarking on a promising opera career. Based in Vancouver, Canada, Tamar was recently engaged with the Vancouver Opera Festival as the soprano soloist for their New Works Project. She also has sung with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra as Valencienne in their Look of Love concert and with White Rock Concerts as Musetta in their production of La Bohème. In 2018, she also performed the role of Rosina in Burnaby Lyric Opera’s mainstage production of Il barbiere di Siviglia.
Tamar has also performed internationally, most recently as Zerlina in Hawaii Performing Arts Festival’s 2017 production of Don Giovanni. In 2016, Tamar continued her vocal and art song studies in Austria after receiving the Johann Strauss Foundation Scholarship, which sponsored study at the Internationale Sommerakademie Mozarteum under soprano Helen Donath and baritone Wolfgang Holzmair. Earlier that year, she traveled to Pilzen, Czech Republic and Nürnberg, Germany performing excerpts from La Bohème and Die Fledermaus.
Tamar was a District Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 2016. She is a graduate of University of British Columbia’s Master of Music program in opera performance, studying under Patrick Raftery and Nancy Hermiston. At UBC, she performed many leading roles, most notably the role of Susanna in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro where she was described as “believable and engaging Susanna, passing from innocence to subtlety to assertion, always in control and always the unrecognized protagonist” (Opera Canada). She was also seen as Tytania in Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Ciboletta in Eine Nacht in Venedig, and The Foreign Woman in The Consul.

Geoff Schellenberg, baritone

Praised for his “clarion tone” (Musical Toronto) and “impressive vocal colour” (Opera Canada),
Canadian-American baritone Geoffrey Schellenberg is currently a Resident Artist with Portland
Opera. In the 2018-19 season, he performed the roles of Marchese D’Obigny in La traviata, Fiorello in Il barbiere di Siviglia, and Nardo in La finta giardiniera with Portland Opera, as well as Schaunard in La bohème with Vancouver Opera. He was engaged with Calgary Opera for their 2017-18 season as part of their Emerging Artist Development Program, performing as the Sergeant in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Captain in Eugene Onegin, and Sciarrone in Tosca in their mainstage productions. He also recently sang Morales in Carmen (Opera Kelowna), Marcello in La bohème (White Rock Concerts), and Belcore in L’elisir d’amore (Music Academy of the West). In the 2019-20 season, he will perform as Harlekin in Highland Opera Studio’s production of Ariadne auf Naxos, Amantio in Pacific Opera Victoria’s production of Il trittico, and will return to Portland Opera to perform as Ben, David, and Doctor Gregg in An American Quartet and as Charlie in Three Decembers.
Geoffrey has become a frequent performer around Vancouver, British Columbia. He has sung as a soloist with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, both as Captain in a concert performance of Candide and as Danilo in selections from The Merry Widow in their The Look of Love concert, and was the baritone soloist in the New Works Project for the inaugural Vancouver Opera Festival. He is regularly engaged with Burnaby Lyric Opera, having sung Sharpless in their mainstage production of Madama Butterfly as well as Belcore and Peter in their concert performances of L’elisir d’amore and Hansel and Gretel. Additionally, he has sung as a soloist in several oratorio concerts, including the Vancouver Bach Choir’s performances of A Sea Symphony (Vaughn Williams) and Requiem (Fauré), as well as Requiem (Duruflé) with St. Philips Choir and Wenceslas (Chilcott) with Jubilate Vocal Ensemble.
Geoffrey was the platinum prize winner in the first annual Vancouver International Music Competition, a prize winner in the 2016 Canadian Opera Company Centre Stage Competition, and a winner of the 2015 Western Canada District in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. He completed his Masters in Opera Performance at the University of British Columbia under the tutelage of Peter Barcza, performing many roles during his studies including Eugene Onegin in Eugene Onegin, Lescaut in Manon, Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro. Geoffrey has also participated in multiple productions overseas including Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro with Accademia Europea dell’Opera in Lucca, Italy and Papageno in Die Zauberflöte with the European Music Academy in Teplice, Czech Republic.

Roger Parton, music director and pianist for Opera Opulenza

Roger Parton studied composition under Wolfgang Bottenberg (Concordia University) and piano with Laurie Altman (Concordia University) and Alice Enns (UBC). He has extensive experience across the Lower Mainland as a répétiteur, and works as a principal coach and music arranger with City Opera Vancouver. Roger worked as rehearsal pianist and orchestral musician for the world premiere of Brian Current's "Missing". When not coaching singers, he composes.