By Gina Malone
Celebrated opera singer Isabel Leonard will join the Asheville Symphony Monday, March 16, through Monday, March 23, for A Celebration of Voice, the Symphony’s second Artist Residency. A three-time GRAMMY Award winner, Leonard’s first time performing in Asheville will include multiple appearances and opportunities for engaging with the community. “This is a very rare chance for our community to hear an exceptional, truly world-class opera singer,” says Darko Butorac, the Asheville Symphony’s music director. “She is a star at the world’s most prestigious opera houses—including the Metropolitan Opera. Her performances feature a combination of grace, elegance and vocal mastery that is deeply captivating and inspiring.”
The Asheville Symphony offers this week-long Artist Residency every two years as a way for Western North Carolina’s community to benefit from an immersive experience with an artist through concerts, lectures, educational activities and community gatherings at various venues. The Symphony plans its programs during Residencies around the artists and what they are passionate about sharing with audiences and community members.
Isabel Leonard. Photo by Michael Thomas
“Isabel Leonard’s residency will be especially multifaceted,” says Daniel Crupi, the Symphony’s executive director. “She will appear with the Asheville Symphony in a full orchestral performance of operatic, art song and musical theatre favorites; present an intimate recital with Juilliard pianist John Arida; work directly with student musicians from the Asheville Symphony Youth Orchestra’s upper ensemble; and connect with patrons and community members at our Residency Kickoff and Benefit events. The week will also include a lecture on the history of the voice with Dr. Dean Southern, voice professor and Dean at the Cleveland Institute of Music in collaboration with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.”
On Saturday, March 21, Leonard joins the Asheville Symphony for Masterworks 5: Nightingale. Performances will be held from 2–4 p.m. and 8–10 p.m. at the First Baptist Church of Asheville. Included in the performance will be a selection of her signature roles and iconic works, including Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915; Leonard Bernstein’s “Somewhere” from West Side Story and Georges Bizet’s “Habañera” from Carmen.
“We have now become accustomed to bringing the world’s best artists to our city, and the Artist Residence program helps us to make that possible,” Butorac says.
Having an artist of Leonard’s international standing as a Resident Artist demonstrates the continued artistic growth of the Asheville Symphony. The Symphony has not hosted such a prominent operatic artist since Leontyne Price appeared with the Symphony in 1991, according to Crupi. “For the Asheville Symphony to have the opportunity to engage an artist of this stature, not just for a single performance but across an entire week in orchestral, recital, education and community settings, is incredibly meaningful and, honestly, quite rare,” Crupi says. “To bring to life a residency of this scope and caliber is a powerful statement about the ambition and artistic standards of our orchestra and our region.”
Learn more, find a complete schedule of events and purchase tickets at AshevilleSymphony.org. The First Baptist Church of Asheville is located at 5 Oak Street, Asheville.
