Rainbow’s Razzle-Dazzling 18th Annual Celebration Concert!

In Memory of Wonderful Friends

This year the world said good-bye to tenors Luciano Pavarotti and Jerry Hadley. Their passing was a great loss to music lovers everywhere. Mr. Hadley performed at early CELEBRATION concerts. In both song and the spoken word, he graciously gave voice to the men and women Rainbow serves. Mr. Hadley’s generosity, as well as his talent, were well-known by his peers and deeply appreciated by Rainbow.

Nancy Gustafson, while singing with Luciano Pavarotti on “Pavarotti & Friends 2,” told him about Rainbow’s mission. He was deeply moved because his own family was experiencing the challenge of caring for a loved one with physical disabilities.

May these two amazing men rest in peace.

Tenor Vale Rideout, making his first CELEBRATION appearance, has won acclaim from The New York Times for his performance in The Tender Land. He sings across the US and Europe, in roles ranging from Tamino in Die Zauberflöte to the title role in Albert Herring, Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus, and Frederick in The Pirates of Penzance. His repertoire also includes Cendrillon, Roméo et Juliette, Fidelio and more. During 2007–08, he appears in Cosi fan tutte with Boston Baroque, Elmer Gantry at Nashville Opera, and War Requiem with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Mr. Rideout has sung with the San Francisco Opera, Los Angeles Opera, and other major companies. He performed the roles of Tony in West Side Story with Opera Grand Rapids; Peter Quint in The Turn of the Screw produced by Lorin Maazel; and George Gibbs in Our Town with Lake George Opera. After making his Carnegie Hall debut singing Bach’s Magnificat, he returned to sing Mozart’s Requiem. His experience in musical theater includes The Phantom of the Opera (Hamburg, Germany), Master Class, Closer Than Ever, and the national tour of Cabaret.

In concert, Mr. Rideout has won applause at the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Honolulu Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Naples Philharmonic and more. He has collaborated with Lorin Maazel in The Rape of Lucretia at the maestro’s Virginia estate, and performed with the ENCORES! Series at City Center in New York.

The Dallas Morning News hailed Matthew Worth for his dashing, fine bright baritone,” and The New York Times for a voice that is “fully powered and persuasively expressive.” Rainbow welcomes him to CELEBRATION.

Mr. Worth excels in both opera and concert, in styles ranging from the Renaissance through 21st century. Performances include Papageno in Die Zauberflöte with Opera Theater of Kansas City, Carmina Burana with the symphonies of Baton Rouge and Lansing, A Fork in Love’s Path with the New York Festival of Song, and performances with American Opera Projects.

He sang in The Rape of Lucretia with Lorin Maazel; Cosí fan tutte with James Levine at Tanglewood; Island Journeys with the New York Festival of Song; and Béatrice et Bénédict with Chicago Opera Theater.

Mr. Worth sang the lead role with the Juilliard Opera Center (JOC) in Miss Lonelyhearts; with Glimmerglass Opera in Il barbiere di Siviglia and in The Greater Good, or the Passion of Boule de Suif; and with JOC in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He joined the New York Festival of Song in 100 Years of Juilliard Composers in Song; made his Carnegie Hall debut in Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem; and performed at Alice Tully Hall in the Juilliard Honors Recital with pianist Carol Wong.

The recipient of numerous awards and grants, Mr. Worth holds degrees from the Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, and the University of Richmond.

“. . . terrific, deeply musical . . . elegant . . . singing with freedom and passion . . .” The Washington Post was glowing in its praise of Denyce Graves, who returns after four years to CELEBRATION.

The exciting vocalist and actress performs in the world’s great opera and concert halls. In Carmen and Samson et Dalila, Ms. Graves has thrilled audiences at the Metropolitan Opera, Vienna Staatsoper, Royal Opera-Covent Garden, San Francisco Opera, Opéra National de Paris, The Washington Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Opernhaus Zürich, Teatro Real in Madrid, and well beyond.

She has collaborated with Placido Domingo and is a favorite season-opener for major opera companies. In Chicago, Ms. Graves has performed with the Lyric Opera, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Ravinia Festival. She created the title role in Danielpour’s Margaret Garner in world premiere performances at Michigan Opera Theatre, with further performances at Cincinnati Opera and the Opera Company of Philadelphia. The Cincinnati Enquirer wrote “. . . Graves’ journey was a tour de force . . . her performance was riveting . . . culminating in a scene beyond powerful.”

Ms. Graves also works with leading symphony orchestras, is a sought-after recitalist, and is skilled in popular Broadway musicals, crossover, jazz, and American spirituals. Following September 11, she participated in the National Prayer Service in Washington’s National Cathedral singing “America, the Beautiful” and “The Lord’s Prayer.” She has appeared on radio and television as a performer, celebrity guest, and the subject of documentaries.

Current season engagements include performances at the University of Nevada, Mesa Arts Center, University of California/Santa Barbara, San Francisco Opera, University of Notre Dame, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Kentucky Opera, and Opera Hong Kong.

CELEBRATION audiences know soprano Sylvia McNair from extraordinary past performances. Now she returns, having segued from opera and oratorio to the Great American Songbook. And the critics are raving. “Her phrasing is exemplary. Her modulations are inspired. Her timing is enviable. I could get used to this kind ecstasy,” wrote Rex Reed in the New York Observer. “. . . her joy in performing this music was practically palpable,” wrote Brian Kellow in Opera News.

Ms. McNair, instead of singing “V’adoro pupille” as Cleopatra to Julius Caesar at the Metropolitan Opera these days, is singing Embraceable You.”

Since 1982, Ms. McNair has performed with almost every major American and European orchestra and opera company, including The Metropolitan Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, the Salzburg Festival, the New York Philharmonic, the San Francisco Opera, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the Philharmonics of Vienna and Berlin. She has worked with the world’s most prominent conductors, including Masur, Ozawa, Slatkin, Marriner, Previn, and the late Robert Shaw. Career highlights include singing for Pope John Paul II, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and the US Supreme Court.

Ms. McNair has received honorary doctorates from Westminster College and Indiana University and the Ohio Governor’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in Arts and Entertainment. A cancer survivor, she continued her non-stop performance schedule during a recent period of recuperation and also joined the faculty of the prestigious Jacobs School of Music.

Those who call Nancy Gustafson a friend—and largely because of her 18-year commitment to Rainbow’s annual CELEBRATION, there are legions among us—always take pride in reading the critical acclaim about this amazing soprano.

Allan Kozinn of The New York Times wrote of her 2006 performance with conductor Lorin Maazel at the New York Philharmonic, “And no sooner had he reclaimed the spotlight than he surrendered part of it to Nancy Gustafson, the soprano, for a searing performance of the final scene from Strauss’s Salome.” And Time Out-Chicago in May 2007 wrote: “. . . what a find she is. This dramatic soprano fearlessly climbs the emotional peaks Schoenberg wrote and can launch triumphant Straussian lyricism while maintaining superb diction. Her rich voice and dramatic conviction are what people hope to see at the opera.”

Ms. Gustafson’s 2007–08 season includes 1984 with maestro Maazel at Milan’s La Scala and in Valencia, Spain; Britten’s War Requiem with the Los Angeles Philharmonic; Lohengrin in Spain; and Die Fledermaus in Tokyo.

Recent performances include Lohengrin in Dallas; Erwartung in Chicago; Salome at La Scala; Arabella and Elekra in Dresden; concerts at the New York Philharmonic and in Portugal; and a tour with maestro Maazel and the Symphonica Toscanini in Italy, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janiero, Sao Paolo, and throughout Japan. Ms. Gustafson is an artist in residence at Northwestern University, her alma mater.

Young baritone Jonathan Beyer has performed with the Chicago Opera Theater, Fort Worth Opera, Opera Santa Barbara, The Chautauqua Institution, Accademia Verdiana, and Teatro di Verdi. He was one of nine, among 19,000 applicants, to sing in the National Grand Finals Concert of the Metropolitan Opera.

Mr. Beyer’s repertoire includes Marcello in La Boheme, Germont in La Traviata, Musiklehrer in Ariadne auf Naxos, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro, and Richard Nixon in Nixon in China. He has also appeared with the Indianapolis Symphony and Lorin Maazel’s Châteauville Foundation.

Other honors: top prize at the Marian Anderson Competition; winner of the American Opera Society Competition; and winner of the Union League Civic and Arts Foundation Competition. He was the grand prize winner of the Bel Canto Foundation and has received prizes through the Anna Sosenko Foundation, Mario Lanza Foundation, Irma M. Cooper, Chicago NATS, Palm Beach Opera, and Neue Stimmen competitions.

An avid recitalist, Mr. Beyer has performed with Craig Rutenberg, Mikael Eliasen, and Brian Zeger. He has given recitals through the Chicago Cultural Center, Judith Raskin Foundation, and the Marian Anderson Foundation.

Notable engagements include the Mozart Festival at Aix-en-Provence, The Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh Opera.

He received bachelor and master degrees at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University.

Baritone Paul LaRosa is a native of Union, New Jersey and a member of the renowned Juilliard Opera Center in New York City. And he is now gaining notice on the national musical scene. Mr. LaRosa spent last summer in California singing the role Dandini in Rossini’s La Cenerentola with the San Francisco Merola Opera Program, before returning to New York.

His operatic repertoire includes the roles of Agamemnon in Gluck’s Iphigenie en Aulide, Guglielmo in Cosi fan tutte, Nick Shadow in The Rake’s Progress, Marcello La Boheme, Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni in Don Giovanni, Silvio in I Pagliacci, Balthazar in Amahl and the Night Visitors, the Black Cat in L’enfant et les Sortileges, and Der Musiklehrer in Ariadne auf Naxos, which has performed with the Juilliard Opera Center, the Juilliard Opera Theatre, the Juilliard Opera Workshop, the Chautauqua Institute of Music, Weston Opera Theatre, and the New Opera Company.

In 2006 and 2007, Mr. LaRosa performed with Steven Blier two concerts for the New York Festival of Song. He has also performed at Castleton Farms, Virginia, where he sang the role Junius in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia under the baton of famed conductor Lorin Maazel. He is a student of Marlena Malas.

Mr. LaRosa is making his first appearance on Rainbow’s CELEBRATION stage.

Accompanist Kristin Okerlund

Kristin Okerlund has performed in the US, USSR, Japan, Europe and beyond. For nearly 15 years, she has been a solo coach/accompanist at the Vienna State Opera and taught at the Vienna Conservatory of Music. She also conducts an opera coaching class. Ms. Okerlund has won many competitions and played as a soloist with orchestras, as a chamber musician, and as an accompanist. She has accompanied William Warfield, Samuel Ramey, Nancy Gustafson, Johan Botha, Giuseppe Sabbatini, Bo Skovhus, and many other stars and is heard on several new CDs. She also has collaborated with renowned conductors Sir Georg Solti, Zubin Mehta, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Christoph von Dohnany, Seiji Ozawa, Mstislav Rostropovich, Marcello Viotti, and Bertrand de Billy.