El Milagro del Recuerdo (The Miracle of Remembering)

Mexican Mezzo-soprano, Sishel Claverie, enjoys a versatile career in opera, concert works, new music and multidisciplinary collaborations.

Recent engagements include her debut with the National Symphony Orchestra in Leonard Bernstein’s MASS; a concert of French baroque music with Opera Lafayette; and her appearance as Carmen/Lola in the short film Chinese Laundry. This Spring, Sishel performed as one of the Weird Sisters in Heartbeat Opera’s adaptation of Verdi’s Macbeth, Lady M, experimenting with electronic sound design.

A champion of new operatic works, Ms. Claverie has been involved in a number of world premieres, including singing the role of Carmelita in Ted Rosenthal’s Dear Erich, with the New York City Opera; Fia in Jake Landau’s latest opera Pietá; and as Gloria in the video opera series Everything for Dawn by Experiments in Opera.

Other performance highlights include the title role in Piazzolla’s tango-opera Maria de Buenos Aires, Daniela in the musical In The Heights, with Skylight Music Theatre; and Carmen with Heartbeat Opera, which was praised by The New York Times as “Riveting”.

Sishel holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Music from the University of Houston and a Master’s Degree in Music from Rice University.
She currently resides in New York City.

Company debut. Recent appearances by Argentinian bass-baritone Federico De Michelis includes Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona as Colline in La bohème as well as at Seattle Opera.. Concert appearances include Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 both with the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra and at the Curtis M. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Gainesville, Florida. Other recent appearances include the role and house debut as Leporello in Don Giovanni at Florida Grand Opera and returned to Houston Grand Opera as Balthazar in Donizetti’s La Favorite, New Generation Festival in Florence, Italy, as Don Magnifico in Cinderella, Handel’s Messiah with the North Carolina Symphony, Houston Grand Opera as Colline, Achilla in Giulio Cesare, Dr. Dulcamara in The Elixir of Love, and Nourabad in The Pearl Fishers, a role he reprised in his debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu. He also reprised the role of Mr. Flint in Billy Budd with Central City Opera, made his house debut at Palm Beach Opera in the title role of The Marriage of Figaro, sang Brander in La damnation de Faust at the Aspen Music Festival, and sang Mr. Flint and Timur in Turandot at Des Moines Metro Opera. On the concert stage, Mr. De Michelis debuted with the Philadelphia Orchestra as Sciarrone in Tosca under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, sang Mozart’s Mass in C minor in his debut with the North Carolina Symphony, and presented a series of concerts in Key West, Florida, as part of the Florida Keys Concert Association. Internationally, he performed in a tour of Spain organized by the Fundación Albéniz, in a Christmas concert for the Royal Family of Spain at the Palacio Real de Madrid, and in concerts with the Nürnberger Symphoniker in Nürnberg and Zindorf, Germany. He received 3^rd prize in the Eleanor McCollum Competition at Houston Grand Opera, and was named “Outstanding Student” by Her Majesty Queen Sofía of Spain.

Vanessa Alonzo made her Company debut as Lupita in 2013’s Cruzar la Cara de la Luna (To Cross the Face of the Moon) and Juana in 2015’s El Pasado Nunca Se Termina (The Past is Never Finished). Alonzo originated the role of Lupita in the premiere of Houston Grand Opera’s El Milagro del Recuerdo by Leonard Foglia and Javier Martínez in 2019. In 2021, she reprised the role with Arizona Opera and again with Houston Grand Opera in 2022. She is an original cast member since 2010 for Jose ‘Pepe’ Martínez and Leonard Foglia’s Cruzar La Cara de La Luna/To Cross the Face of the Moo, and reprised the role nationally at Houston Grand Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Arizona Opera, and Fort Worth Opera sharing the stage with world-renown, Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan. Alonzo reprised the role of Lupita accompanied by multiple Grammy award-winning Mariachi Los Camperos in 2018 for New York City Opera and El Paso Opera. Internationally Alonzo has performed Lupita in Paris, France at the Théâtre du Châtelet and in Quito Ecuador at Teatro Nacional Sucre. She also created the role of Juana for the second mariachi opera, El Pasado Nunca Se Termina/The Past is Never Finished also by Foglia and Martínez. She was part of the tri-city premiere tour with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, and San Diego with Mariachi Vargas De Tecalitlan. Alonzo reprised the role as part of the Fort Worth Opera Festival in 2019 with Mariachi Nuevo Tecalitlán. Alonzo’s mariachi style has welcomed opportunities to sing for different prestigious events such as Houston Grand Opera Ball in 2019 with Mariachi Los Camperos and Minnesota Opera’s Ópera Afuera at Allianz Field in the Fall of 2021. She was also accompanied by Trío Chapultepec for Austin Opera’s Concerts at the Consulate series. Then she performed for Southbend Symphony Orchestra for their Día De Los Muertos 2022 festivities, also joined by Trío Chapultepec. Vanessa is the lead female vocalist in the Houston-based Latin-fusion group Los Guerreros de La Musica. Together they have won the Best Latin Band in the East Texas Music Awards. Vanessa was awarded the International Leadership Award by the Texas Women’s Empowerment Foundation in 2014 for her outstanding career. In 1999, she won the Best in the US Vocalist in the Mariachi Vargas Extravaganza vocal competition. A competition judged by the world-renowned Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan. Her notable credits include tours to Ireland, Mexico, Norway, and Vietnam with MECA Mariachi. In 2002, she performed for the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City with MECA Mariachi. Television credits include El Show de Cristina on Univision as a participant in Festival de Rancheras and a finalist on Estrella TV’s Tengo Talento, Mucho Talento in 2011. She was a participant of the 1999 and 2000 Encuentro Internacional del Mariachi y Charrería in Guadalajara, Jalisco.

Company appearances by tenor Bernardo Bermudez includes a soloist in One Amazing Night: When I see Your Face Again (2021), The Messenger, Aida (2020), Dancairo, Carmen (2019), Soloist/Ensemble, All Is Calm (2018 and 2020), Soloist/Ensemble, Maria de Buenos Aires (2018), Crippled Sailor, Florencia en el Amazonas (2018), and Prince Yamadori, Madama Butterfly (2016). His repertoire and roles include Pleasure in the world premiere of The Romance of The Rose by Kate Soper, as well as both the roles of Laurentino and Mark in Cruzar la Cara De La Luna, and Don Jose in Carmen. He has had the opportunity to perform in a variety of productions and concerts with esteemed companies such as Los Angeles Opera, Long Beach Opera, Anchorage Opera, Portland Opera, Opera Santa Barbara, El Paso Opera, Pacific Opera Project, Opera North, Union Avenue Opera, The San Diego Symphony, La Jolla Symphony, and Livermore Valley Opera. Bermudez’s notable roles include Diego Rivera in Frida, Figaro in The Barber of Seville, Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire, Danilo in The Merry Widow, the title role in Don Giovanni, Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, and Vidal in Luisa Fernanda. He has also participated in several Summer Festivals, including Opera North, Opera NEO, and The Music Academy of the West. He has been recognized with several notable awards and grants including, The Opera Buffs grant, semifinalist in the Loren L. Zachary Competition, and most recently he received the Music Academy of the West Alumni Enterprise Award in 2019 and 2020. Apart from his accomplishments as an opera singer, Bermudez is a co-founder of Opera4Kids, a non-profit organization that aims to inspire young minds through live vocal and classical music performances, as well as digital programming. This organization seeks to make Classical music and Opera accessible to all, regardless of their socio-economic background.

Mezzo-soprano Claudia Chapa made her Company debut as La Badessa/Zita in 2022’s The Puccini Duo.  She made her Houston Grand Opera debut originating the role of Josefina in the world premiere of El Milagro del Recuerdo–a role which she has reprised at Arizona Opera in 2021 and again in encore performances at Houston Grand Opera in 2022. Recently, she debuted Fricka and Waltraute in Virginia Opera’s production of Wagner’s The Valkyrie, returned to the role of Berta (The Barber of Seville)) at Austin Opera, and Gertrude (Roméo et Juliette) with Opera San Antonio. In addition to her active performing career, Claudia is an in-demand concert curator specializing in Hispanic/Latinx programming. She was recently appointed as the inaugural curator of Hispanic and Latinx programming for the Austin Opera. This program is incredibly important to her personal artistic mission and she’s proud to curate Concerts at the Consulate/Conciertos en el Consulado in the new partnership between Austin Opera and the Mexican Consulate. She will be featured as soloist and curator of the upcoming Bella Noche de Música at Austin Opera. Last season, Ms. Chapa made company and role debuts as Filipyevna in Eugene Onegin with The Dallas Symphony, as alto soloist for Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the National Philharmonic. She participated and co-curated in the concert Entre Amigos which opened Fort Worth Opera’s historic 75th Season. She debuted Mother Superior in Charlottesville Opera’s The Sound of Music, sang Alisa in Opera San Antonio’s Lucia di Lammermoor, and returned to Opera Delaware as Marcellina in The Marriage of Figaro.  In 2020-2021, she performed the Title Role in Douglas Pew’s Penny in her debut with Opera Grand Rapids. Other recent highlights include recording Handel’s Messiah with the Royal Philharmonic at the famed Abbey Roads Studios, a return to Alabama Symphony as featured soloist in El amor brujo (de Falla) and Neruda Songs (Lieberson), house and role debuts as Fenena (Nabucco) with West Bay Opera, Azucena (Il trovatore) with St. Petersburg Opera Company, Winter Opera St. Louis, Ortrud (Lohengrin) and Hedwige (William Tell) with Opera Southwest, Mary (The Flying Dutchman) and Dryade (Ariadne auf Naxos) with Austin Opera, the Fairy Godmother in the US premiere of Alma Deutscher’s Cinderella with Opera San Jose, Berta (The Barber of Sevile) with San Antonio Opera, Zita (Gianni Schicchi) and Zia Principessa (Suor Angelica) with St. Petersburg Opera, Zita with Opera Delaware and Baltimore Concert Opera, Marcellina (The Marriage of Figaro) with Charlottesville Opera, Ulrica (A Masked Ball), Madame Flora (The Medium) and The Witch (Hänsel und Gretel) with Opera in the Heights, Bloody Mary (South Pacific) with Gulf Coast Symphony, Dame Quickly (Falstaff) with Winter Opera St. Louis and Opera in the Heights, Marthe (Faust) with Indianapolis Opera, Third Lady (The Magic Flute) with The Glimmerglass Festival and Austin Lyric Opera; and Alisa (Lucia di Lammermoor) with Winter Opera St. Louis.

Baritone Héctor Vásquez made his Company debut as Capitán in 2018’s Florencia en la Amazonas. He created the role Aba in the 2019 world premiere for Houston Grand Opera where has also been seen as Emperor Altoum in Turandot and Benoît/Alcindoro in La bohème, George Benton in Dead Man Walking, Scarpia in Tosca, the title role in Rigoletto, Forester in The Cunning Little Vixen, Alvaro in Florencia en el Amazonas for the world premiere, and Schaunard in La bohème. He has appeared with major opera companies, orchestras, and festivals including the Metropolitan Opera; San Francisco Opera; Utah Opera; Seattle Opera; Opera Colorado; LA Opera; the Los Angeles Philharmonic; the San Francisco Symphony; the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival; and the Ojai Festival. Vásquez is on the faculty of the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston and is a voice faculty member of Houston Grand Opera’s Community and Learning’s Bauer Family High School Voice Studio. He is also the co-director of the High School Voice Program at the Brevard Music Center.

Mezzo-soprano Guadalupe Paz made her Company debut as Mercedes in Carmen in 2019, created the role of Frida Kahlo in the world premiere of El ultimó sueño de Frida y Diego in 2022, and was last heard as La Maestra Dele Novizie in Suor Angelica.  Notable appearances include Melibea in Il Viaggio a Reims and Hansel in Hansel and Gretel with Bellas Artes National Opera, Rosina in The Barber of Seville and Angelina in Cinderella with Teatro del Bicentenario and Bellas Artes National Opera, Isolier in Le Comte Ory with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Jalisco, and Maddalena in Il Viaggio a Reims at the Rossini Opera Festival. Her concert repertory includes Glagolitic Mass at the International Cervantino Festival, Ode to Common Things with La Jolla Symphony and Chorus, Tres Canciones para Orquestra y Mezzosoprano at International Festival Instrumenta, and Seven Deadly Sins at the Aspen Music Festival.

Leonard Foglia is a theater and opera director and librettist. His work has been seen at San Diego Opera in 2012’s Moby-Dick (director), 2013’s Cruzar la Cara de la Luna (director/librettist), and 2015’s El Pasado Nunca Se Termina (director/librettist). Original Broadway productions include Master Class with Zoe Caldwell and Audra McDonald (also West End with Patti LuPone, National tour with Faye Dunaway), Thurgood with Laurence Fishburne (filmed for HBO), and The People in the Picture with Donna Murphy. Broadway revivals include The Gin Game with James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson, On Golden Pond with Mr. Jones, and Wait Until Dark with Quentin Tarantino and Marisa Tomei. Off-Broadway work includes Anna Deavere Smith’s Let Me Down Easy (filmed for PBS), The Stendhal Syndrome with Isabella Rossellini, One Touch of Venus (Encores!), and If Memory Serves, Lonely Planet. Regional work includes Unusual Acts of Devotion, Distracted, Paper Doll, The Secret Letters of Jackie and Marilyn, The Subject Was Roses, A Coffin in Egypt, and God’s Man in Texas. Opera work includes the world premieres of Moby-Dick (filmed for PBS), Dallas Opera, San Francisco Opera, Everest (Dallas Opera); Cold Mountain (Santa Fe Opera); The End of the Affair (Houston Grand Opera, etc.); Three Decembers (Houston Grand Opera). His production of Dead Man Walking has been seen across the country. As a librettist, he wrote (and directed) El Pasado Nunca Se Termina/The Past Is Never Finished, with composer José “Pepe” Martínez, commissioned by and premiered at Lyric Opera of Chicago. A Coffin in Egypt, with composer Ricky Ian Gordon was commissioned by and premiered at Houston Grand Opera and has played, Opera Philadelphia, Chicago Opera Theater, LA and The American Songbook at Lincoln Center. Cruzar la Cara de la Luna/To Cross the Face of the Moon with composer Martínez was commissioned by and premiered at Houston Grand Opera and has played, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Arizona Opera and Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.

Grammy nominated conductor, arranger, orchestrator and composer James Lowe continues to garner praise for “beautifully sculpted” (Opera News) performances. He appears regularly with major opera houses in the US and abroad, as well as on Broadway. This season he will make debuts at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, Atlanta Opera, and Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and will return to Lyric Opera of Chicago and Arizona Opera. He recently conducted the world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon and Michael Korie’s The Garden of the Finzi-Continis with New York City Opera at the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene. He arranged, orchestrated and conducted Songbird, a new adaptation of Offenbach’s La Périchole in the style of 1920’s New Orleans jazz for the Glimmerglass Festival. Songbird will also be produced this season by Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center, starring Isabel Leonard and Ramin Karimloo, as well as at Milwaukee’s Florentine Opera. He has also appeared at San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse and Opéra National de Bordeaux.

Mr. Lowe has had a long relationship with Houston Grand Opera, where he has led La bohéme, Carmen, Le nozze di Figaro, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Sweeney Todd, Jake Heggie’s The End of the Affair (world premiere production), as well as the HGO Studio production of Copland’s The Tender Land. At HGO he also conducted the world premiere production of Rachel Portman’s The Little Prince. He led Jonathan Dove’s Flight at the Pittsburgh Opera Center, as well as Mark Adamo’s Little Women at Lyric Opera Cleveland in a production directed by the composer. He conducts regularly at Utah Opera, and has appeared with the Houston Symphony, Memphis Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, Wolf Trap Opera, and the American Composers Orchestra, as well as The Nutcracker with the Houston Ballet.

On Broadway, James Lowe was the Music Director and Conductor of the recent revival of Les Misérables, as well as the Tony Award-winning revival of Cole Porter’s Anything Goes, starring Sutton Foster and Joel Grey. He also served as the Music Supervisor for the First National Tour of this production. Mr. Lowe made his Broadway debut conducting performances of Gypsy, starring Patti LuPone.

Mr. Lowe was nominated for a Grammy Award for his work on the Anything Goes cast album released on Ghostlight Records, which he conducted and co-produced. With members of the cast he has appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman, the CBS Early Show and A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor. He toured North America as Music Director and Conductor of the acclaimed Cameron Mackintosh/National Theatre production of My Fair Lady, and conducted the First National Tour of Adam Guettel’s The Light in the Piazza. He served as US Music Supervisor of the recent North American Tour of The Phantom of the Opera.

Mr. Lowe has appeared in concert with Sir Elton John, conducting his own orchestrations and choral arrangements of Elton’s classic songs, as well as with singer-songwriter Randy Newman and the legendary Booker T. Jones. His arrangements have been performed by Joyce DiDonato (Lincoln Center and Wigmore Hall), Isabel Leonard, Ailyn Pérez and Nadine Sierra (Metropolitan Opera’s “Three Divas at Versailles” concert), Glimmerglass Festival and Utah Opera, among others. His opera, Poppea, a new work based on themes of Monteverdi reimagined with electric guitars and industrial electronics will premiere at Fort Worth Opera in 2021 (postponed due to covid).

As Associate Conductor at Houston Grand Opera for several seasons he served as cover conductor, principal pianist and coach on many productions, including the world premiere of Mark Adamo’s Lysistrata. Mr. Lowe assisted on the world premieres of Carlisle Floyd’s Cold Sassy Tree and Tod Machover’s Resurrection, playing keyboards on the recordings of those operas. He can also be heard as keyboardist on HGO’s popular recording of Adamo’s Little Women. He has been on the music staff of New York City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Virginia Opera and the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, and served as Resident Conductor and Chorus Master at the Ash Lawn Opera Festival. He has been the Music Director of the Butler Opera Center at the University of Texas, and he appeared onstage as the Tavern Pianist in Santa Fe Opera’s 2001 production of Wozzeck.

Mr. Lowe has played in several rock, jazz, blues and country bands. He was the keyboardist, rhythm guitarist, lead singer and songwriter for the rock band Backwash for five years, recording and touring the Eastern United States. He co-produced the band’s compact disc, Goin’ to the Mall, released in 1995 on Transit Records.

As a pianist, Mr. Lowe performed as soloist with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and has given recitals, including several world premieres, at such venues as the Aspen Music Festival, the Chautauqua Institute, the University of Texas San Antonio New Music Festival, and the University of Colorado Artsweek Festival in Boulder. He taught Keyboard Literature and piano at Syracuse University, and he served on the piano and musical theater faculty at the Hochstein Music School in Rochester. He holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the University of Michigan, with additional studies at the Aspen Music School and the Aspen Opera Theater Center.

http://jameslowemusic.com/