Salon Series
Resident Artist Showcase
Marielle Leiboff, soprano
Rachel Nelson, soprano
Phoebe Dinga, mezzo-soprano
Spencer Greene, tenor
Liam Daley, baritone
Daniel Lockert, pianist
Sunday, September 27, 2026 - 7:30 PM
- please note: evening start time -
Piedmont Center for the Arts
801 Magnolia Avenue, Piedmont, CA
Celebrate the launch of Festival Opera's new Resident Artist Program with a concert of arias and scenes featuring the exceptional talents of our inaugural class of resident artists, followed by a reception where you can meet the artists.
PROGRAM
"Libiamo" from La traviata - Verdi
"Tornami a vagheggiar" from Alcina - Handel
"Parto, ma tu ben mio" from La clemenza di Tito - Mozart
"Der Vogelfänger" from Die Zauberflöte - Mozart
"Il mio tesoro" from Don Giovanni - Mozart
"Come scoglio" from Cosí fan tutte - Mozart
"Bella figlia dell’amore" quartet from Rigoletto - Verdi
INTERMISSION
"Nedda! Silvio! A quest’ora" duet from Pagliacci - Leoncavallo
"Es gibt ein Reich" from Ariadne auf Naxos - Strauss
"Seguidilla" from Carmen - Bizet
"Aleko’s Cavatina" from Aleko - Rachmaninoff
"Dein ist mein ganzes Herz" from Das Land des Lächelns - F. Lehar
"Adieu, notre petite table" from Manon - Massenet
"Tacea la notte placida" from Il trovatore - Verdi
"The Blue" from Grounded - J. Tesori
"Make Our Garden Grow" from Candide - Bernstein
Lila Khazoum
soprano
Aura Veruni
soprano
Daniel Lockert
pianist
Mad Scenes
Lila Khazoum, soprano
Aura Veruni, soprano
Daniel Lockert, pianist
Sunday, October 25, 2026 - 4:00 PM
Piedmont Center for the Arts
801 Magnolia Avenue, Piedmont, CA
Acclaimed sopranos Aura Veruni and Lila Khazoum are joined by pianist Daniel Lockert to perform diabolical scenes from Idomeneo, Macbeth, The Magic Flute, Anna Bolena, Hamlet, and Lucia di Lammermoor; with costumes by designer Marina Polakoff and props to help with the storytelling. This concert will lean into the macabre and unhinged elements of opera, just in time for Halloween.
Come in costume if you like, and witness all of opera’s great mad scenes in one performance!
Efraín Solís
baritone
Juan Sebastián Cardona Ospina
composer
Marika Yasuda
pianist
Michael Colbruno
librettist
Andry's Story
Efraín Solís, baritone
Marika Yasuda, pianist
Juan Sebastián Cardona Ospina, composer
Michael Colbruno, librettist
Sunday, November 22, 2026 - 4:00 PM
Piedmont Center for the Arts
801 Magnolia Avenue, Piedmont, CA
An afternoon of music with baritone Efraín Solís and pianist Marika Yasuda, featuring a new commission by composer Juan Sebastián Cardona Ospina highlighting the story of Andry Hernández Romero.
Praised for his "theatrical charisma and musical bravado," baritone Efraín Solís recently made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Salvador Dalí in the world premiere of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. graduate of San Francisco Opera's Merola Program and Adler Fellowship, he is joined by San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow alumna, pianist Marika Yasuda, for a special performance of favorites from the opera and art song repertoire. The centerpiece of this program will be the premiere of Festival Opera’s new commission of a song cycle by Juan Sebastián Cardona Ospina with text by Michael Colbruno, lifting up the voice of Andry Hernández Romero, the gay makeup artist wrongfully deported to the notorious CECOT prison in El Salvador. Information on Andry’s case and story can be found online at https://www.freeandry.org/
Full program to be announced soon.