*This Concert will be hosted by The Schubert Club’s new Executive Director Kathleen van Bergen*
Leeza Ali, piano
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Sonata in F major, K332
Adagio • Allegro assai
Frederic Chopin (1810-1849)
Ballade No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 23
Andrea Coleman, Mezzo-soprano
Bryan Lemke, piano
Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904)
Gypsy Songs, Op. 55
Má písen zas mi láskou zní
Aj! Kterak trojhranec můj přerozkošně...
Když mne stará matka zpívat, zpívat...
Dejte klec jestřábu ze zlata ryzého
Darius Milhaud (1892-1974)
Catalogue de Fleurs Op. 60
La violette
Le bégonia
Les fritillaries
Les jacinthes
Les crocus
Le brachycome
L’eremurus
John Kander (b. 1927)
A Letter from Sullivan Balou
ARTIST BIOS:
Leeza Ali is 14 years old and in 9th grade at South St. Paul High School. She started playing piano at the age of three. She made her solo debut at the age of nine with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. At age 10, Leeza played 7 Chopin pieces for the St. Paul City Ballet’s production of Les Sylphides, and at age 11, she played piano for their production of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite. At age 12, she performed at New York’s Carnegie Hall for the national TV program, “From the Top.” She has also performed for the “From the Top” national radio show. Also at age 12, Leeza won the Minnesota Idol competition and subsequently performed Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Minnesota Orchestra. Leeza and her two sisters performed Mozart’s Triple Piano Concerto with the Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra in 2005 and with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra in 2007. Leeza has also performed as a soloist with numerous other orchestras. Leeza taped two shows for the nationally-aired public television program “Music da Camera” and has been featured in news stories on KARE-11 (NBC), WCCO (CBS), and on national TV (PBS). She has been giving benefit concerts for various causes and has been invited as a featured entertainer for major league baseball games. Leeza has won numerous state-wide and national music competitions including the Schubert Club, Thursday Musical and the National Lee Piano competitions.
Mezzo-soprano Andrea Coleman, a native of Nebraska, joined The Minnesota Opera as a Resident Artist last year as Antonia’s Mother in The Tales of Hoffmann, Mallika in Lakmé and Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro. This season with Minnesota, she sang the roles of Zulma in L’italiana in Algieri, Trigesta in the American premiere of the German Baroque opera, The Fortunes of King Croesus, and is performing this week at the Ordway as a Wood Sprite in Rusalka. She finished her Master of Music degree at the New England Conservatory, where she sang the roles of Dorabella in Cosí fan tutte, Jo in Mark Adamo’s Little Women, Madame de la Haltière in Cendrillon and Mrs. Grose in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw. At her undergraduate alma mater, the University of Kansas, Ms. Coleman was featured as the Third Lady in The Magic Flute, Katisha in The Mikado and Edith in The Pirates of Penzance. Other credits include Berta in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Duluth Festival Opera, the Marquise of Berkenfield in The Daughter of the Regiment with Boston Lyric Opera/Opera New England, and Mrs. Noye in Britten’s Noye’s Fludde with the Lawrence Chamber Orchestra. She has also spent two summers as a Glimmerglass Opera Young American Artist, most recently featured in the role of Karolka in Janacek’s Jenufa.
As a concert artist, Ms. Coleman has appeared in Honeggar’s Le Roi David with the Back Bay Chorale, Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder with the New England Conservatory, Augusta Read Thomas’s Sun Songs, Ligeti’s Sippal, dobbal with the NEC Percussion Ensemble, Vivaldi’s Gloria, RV 589 with the Grace Chapel of Lexington, Handel’s Messiah, the Duruflé Requiem with the University of Kansas and the Mozart Requiem with the Kaw Valley Community Chorus.
In 2007, Ms. Coleman received First Place in the Nebraska District Metropolitan Opera Competition as well as Second Place in the Graduate Voice Division of the International Schubert Club Scholarship Competition. She also received the Stephen Shrestinian Award for Excellence from the Boston Lyric Opera in 2006.
