Thursday July 29, 2010 7:00PM

SummerStage
Jackie Robinson Park
Bradhurst & Edgecombe Avenues, West 145 to West 155 Street
New York, NY

The Summer Recital Series closes on July 29 in Jackie Robinson Park, Manhattan, with an evening of favorite arias and duets performed by soprano Monica Yunus, tenor Matthew Plenk, and bass-baritone Donovan Singletary, accompanied by pianist Jonathan Kelly.

Monica Yunus made her Met debut in 2003 as Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro and has since performed in six operas at the Met, most recently as Papagena in Julie Taymor’s celebrated production of Die Zauberflöte. Yunus’s other recent engagements include performances as Adina in L’Elisir d’Amore at Opera East Texas and, last September, as Oscar in Un Ballo in Maschera at Washington National Opera.

Matthew Plenk, currently in his third year in the Met’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, made his Met debut in 2008 as the sailor’s voice in Tristan und Isolde, conducted by James Levine, and has since performed the role of the Song Seller in Il Tabarro. Most recently at the Met, Plenk performed the role of Marcellus in Hamlet, seen around the world live in HD. Next season at the Met, he takes on the role of Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor and makes his debut at the Atlanta Opera as Ferrando in Così fan tutte.

Donovan Singletary, winner of the 2006 National Council Auditions and member of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, made his Met debut in 2008 as a Nazarene in Salome. That same season, Singletary made his Carnegie Hall debut in Mark Hayes’s Te Deum. The American bass-baritone returned to the Met in 2009 as Pinellino in Gianni Schicchi. Singletary is the first prize winner in the 2009 Giulio Gari International Vocal Competition, the Mount Dora Festival Competition, and the Heinz Rehfuss Singing Actors’ Competition.

Jonathan Kelly has served as an official accompanist for the San Francisco Opera Center, Lyric Opera Center for American Artists, and Chicago Opera Theatre. Kelly has performed with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra at Kirk in the Hills, the National Chorale at Avery Fisher Hall, and for the Marilyn Horne Foundation at Zankel Hall.

FREE!

The Met’s annual concerts in New York City parks are one of the most beloved summer traditions in the city. This year, the Summer Recital Series, first presented in 2009, returns with six performances in the parks of all five boroughs. The series kicks off with a concert at Central Park SummerStage on July 12, featuring acclaimed baritone Nathan Gunn. Gunn will be joined by two rising opera stars, soprano Susanna Phillips, recently named the 2010 winner of the Met’s Beverly Sills Artist Award, and tenor Michael Fabiano, a 2007 winner of the Met’s National Council Auditions, with accompaniment by pianists Jonathan Kelly and Julie Gunn.

The 2010 Summer Recital Series

Monday, July 12, 2010, 8pm
Central Park SummerStage
Nathan Gunn, baritone
Susanna Phillips, soprano
Michael Fabiano, tenor
Jonathan Kelly/Julie Gunn, pianists

Thursday, July 15, 2010, 7pm
Crotona Park, Bronx
Monica Yunus, soprano
Matthew Plenk, tenor
Donovan Singletary, bass-baritone
Jonathan Kelly, pianist

Tuesday, July 20, 2010, 7pm
Brooklyn Bridge Park, Brooklyn
Susanna Phillips, soprano
Michael Fabiano, tenor
Jonathan Kelly, pianist

Thursday, July 22, 2010, 7pm
Tappen Park, Staten Island
Monica Yunus, soprano
Matthew Plenk, tenor
Donovan Singletary, bass-baritone
Jonathan Kelly, pianist

Tuesday, July 27, 2010, 7pm
Queens Bridge Park, Queens
Monica Yunus, soprano
Matthew Plenk, tenor
Donovan Singletary, bass-baritone
Jonathan Kelly, pianist

Thursday, July 29, 2010, 7pm
Jackie Robinson Park, Manhattan
Monica Yunus, soprano
Matthew Plenk, tenor
Donovan Singletary, bass-baritone
Jonathan Kelly, pianist

Coffey Park, Brooklyn

The Metropolitan Opera is taking it outdoors for a final performance of the Summer.

Tonight’s performers:

Joyce El-Khoury, soprano
Keith Miller, bass
Vlad Iftinca, pianist
Damon Gupton, host

FREE!

Friday August 7 7:00 PM

Tappen Park, Staten Island

The Met’s annual concerts in New York City parks are one of the most beloved summer traditions in the city. This year, the company will present a six-performance series of recitals in the parks of all five boroughs. All performances in the Summer Recital Series are free and no tickets are required, except for the concert at Central Park. For information on how to obtain free SummerStage tickets, please visit metopera.org/parks beginning June 1. For additional information, please call (212) 362-6000. There will be no rain dates for these performances.

Tonight’s performers:
Joyce El-Khoury, soprano
Keith Miller, bass
Vlad Iftinca, pianist
Damon Gupton, host

FREE!

Friday July 31 7:00 PM

East River Park Amphitheatre
New York, NY

The Met Opera’s Summer Recital Series

Tonight’s scheduled performers:
Joyce El-Khoury, soprano
Keith Miller, bass
Vlad Iftinca, pianist

FREE!

Friday July 24 7:00 PM

Queensbridge Park
Queens, NY

Scheduled Program:
John Moore, baritone
Ashley Emerson, soprano
Vlad Iftinca, pianist
Damon Gupton, host

Met Opera’s Summer Recital Series

FREE!

Friday July 17 7:00 PM

The Met Opera’s Summer Recital Series
Crotona Park, Bronx

John Moore, baritone
Ashley Emerson, soprano
Vlad Iftinca, pianist
Damon Gupton, host

FREE!

Monday July 13 8:00 PM

Central Park SummerStage
New York, NY

Free tickets are required for entry. Tickets will be available at the Met Opera box office from July 6-10. For more information on how to obtain free tickets for this event, please visit metopera.org/parks beginning June 1 or call 212-362-6000. There will be no rain dates for these performances. No one will be admitted without a ticket.

The Metropolitan Opera launches its free Summer Recital Series with a special performance of opera arias and popular songs headlined by the Tony Award-winning baritone Paulo Szot and featuring Lisette Oropesa (soprano), Alek Shrader (tenor), and Vlad Iftinca (piano).

Baritone Paulo Szot won a 2008 Tony Award for his performance as Emile de Becque in the Broadway revival of South Pacific. He has appeared with major American and European opera companies, including New York City Opera, where he was heard in Carmen, L’Elisir d’Amore, and Le Nozze di Figaro. He recently made his Met debut in the leading role of William Kentridge’s new production of Shostakovich’s The Nose, conducted by Valery Gergiev.

Soprano Lisette Oropesa is a graduate of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. At the Met she has appeared in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, Wagner’s Ring, and Puccini’s La Rondine, which was shown live in HD in movie theaters around the world. She won the Zarzuela Award at Plácido Domingo’s Operalia Competition in 2007 and is the recipient of a 2008 Sullivan Foundation Award. This summer she makes her debut as Lucia di Lammermoor with Opera New Jersey.

A 2007 winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, tenor Alek Shrader is currently an Adler Fellow with the San Francisco Opera, where he made his debut this season as Nemorino in L’Elisir d’Amore and appeared in Korngold’s Die Tote Stadt and Mozart’s Idomeneo. Future engagements include his European debut as Tamino in Die Zauberflöte in Bordeaux and appearances at Munich’s Bavarian State Opera and with the Cleveland Orchestra.

Romanian-born pianist Vlad Iftinca is a member of the Met’s music staff and the Staff Music Coach for the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. He has collaborated with artists such as Thomas Hampson, Leon Fleisher, José Luis García Asensio, and Gérard Caussé, and has appeared at the Spoleto Festival USA, the Ravinia Festival, and the Marilyn Horne Foundation Annual Gala at Carnegie Hall, among others.

NY1 is the official media sponsor for the Metropolitan Opera’s Summer Recital Series.

FREE!