Friday, April 4, 2008, 7pm – Davis Concert Hall
Sunday, April 6, 2008, 4pm – Davis Concert Hall
Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra and Opera Fairbanks
Eduard Zilberkant, conductor

Concert performance of Puccini's Madama Butterfly
April Evans as Cio-Cio San
Joshua Shaw as US Navy Lt. Pinkerton
Leneida Crawford as Suzuki
Kevin Kees as Sharpless
David Cangelosi as Goro

Program Notes

April Evans

Spinto Soprano, April Evans, joined the Metropolitan Opera in 1995. She has performed in opera and concert in the major halls of Europe and America. She’s garnered critical acclaim for her performance of Irene in Eve Queler's Opera Orchestra of New York's performance of Wagner's Rienzi at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall and Washington's Kennedy Center. Opera News singled out her interpretation of Tosca for both its "theatricality and poignancy" (Vissi d'arte became a turning point rather than just a definition of her character) -- at the same time praising her "splendid voice". Ms. Evans has appeared at Carnegie Hall in the Verdi Requiem, at the English National Opera as Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus, at Theater Kiel in Germany as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, and as Antonia in Tales of Hoffman and numerous times as soloist in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Her repertoire includes all of the major Verdi and Puccini heroines as well as many important roles from the German and Russian repertoire. She is an award winner of the Luciano Pavarotti Competition among many others.