Opera Tampa announces 2009 ’Äì 2010 apprentices

Tampa, FL ’îÄ Opera Tampa has announced the apprentices who will be working with the company throughout the 2009 ’Äì 2010 season. Selected from students who participated in this years V.O.I.C.Experience program at TBPAC, the apprentices will represent Opera Tampa in various outreaches in the community, while receiving training and career development opportunities. The 2009 ’Äì 2010 apprentices are as follows:

MARCELO FERREIRA, baritone

A native of Brazil, Ferreira started his musical studies at age 7 at the Music Conservatory of Pernambuco and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Music in voice and opera at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. He is a first place winner of the Aldo Baldin International singing competition and the post advanced division of NATS and a finalist of the Bidu Sayao International Singing Competition. He is a student in the studio of Andreas Poulimenos and will sing the role of Taddeo in Indiana University Opera Theatre’Äôs upcoming production of Rossini’Äôs L’ÄôItaliana in Algeri.

ALEXANDRA RAFALO, soprano

As a 2008-2009 Opera Tampa apprentice, Rafalo covered the role of Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi and sang in several concerts and master classes. In 2009, she received an encouragement award from the Metropolitan Opera National Council and has also received the grand prize of the Elgin Opera Competition and the Bravo award from the Bel Canto Foundation. Rafalo was an apprentice artist for Sarasota Opera and received the Leo M. Rogers Award from the Sarasota Opera Guild. She has performed several roles including Servilia in La Clemenza di Tito and La Contessa Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro.

JACQUELINE SHODA-IWASAKI, soprano

Shoda-Iwasaki received her bachelor’Äôs degree in music from Portland State University. Her major operatic roles include Lauretta in Puccini’Äôs Gianni Schicchi and Fiordiligi in Mozart’Äôs Cosi fan Tutte directed by Tito Capobianco. Shoda-Iwasaki has been the recipient of an Oregon Laurel’Äôs Music Scholarship, and received special awards and recognition from the National Association of Teachers of Singing, Monday Musical Club, Beaux Arts Society and Louis and Violet Lang Opera Memorial Scholarship.

GUEDYE ST. JEAN, mezzo-soprano

Born in Haiti and raised in Miami, St. Jean attended the Boston Conservatory, where she studied with German soprano Elizabeth Phinney, before receiving her Master of Music in voice performance at the Chicago College of the Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. She has performed several roles, including Mastrilla in La Perichole, La Baronne de Gondremarck in La vie Parisienne, Meg Page in Falstaff and she covered the role of Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro.

ALEXANDER TYINK, baritone

Tyink is a recent graduate of Northwestern University and has been performing in the Chicago area for five years. At Northwestern, he studied voice under the direction of Karen Brunssen and coach Alan Darling. While there he sang the roles of Dr. Dulcamara in The Elixir of Love, Starveling in A Midsummer Nights Dream and Thierry in a production of Dialogue of the Carmelites directed by Fabrizio Melano. Tyink is also an advocate of new operatic works and has sung the roles of Michael Reagan in Reagan’Äôs Children and Mago in Goldsmith of the Kingdom through Chicago Opera Vanguard.

With the 2009-2010 season, the Opera Tampa Apprentice Program will continue its mission to serve the Tampa Bay community by educating audiences and communicating the beauty of opera. This third year of the program again features emerging opera artists serving as ambassadors of opera and song for the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. Maestro Anton Coppola, Opera Tampa’Äôs Vice President/Associate General Director Maria Zouves, Musical Co-Director Dan Gettinger and world-renowned baritone and Opera Tampa Artistic Advisor Sherrill Milnes, along with other internationally acclaimed artists, will help the apprentices with career development, while educating the community and providing musical workshops, master classes and performances.

For more information about Opera Tampa and its upcoming events, please visit WWW.OPERATAMPA.ORG.