11:15am | Long Beach mothers will have the chance to spend Mother’s Day listening to the sweet sounds of operatic voice thanks to local nonprofit Community Action Team, which will host its third annual Mother’s Day Opera Concert in Belmont Shore on Sunday, May 8.
The free event to be held at Bay Shore Community Congregational Church from 3 to 4:30 p.m., is open to all who RSVP on a first-come, first-served basis. To reserve a general admission ticket, e-mail CAT founder Justin Rudd at [email protected] with the names of those who plan to attend. All tickets will be held at will call at the event.
Rudd said 500 tickets are available and that a full house is expected.
Doors to the event will open at 2:30 p.m., when a free reception will be held prior to the concert. Ticket holders will also be invited to a post-performance reception in the church’s fellowship hall, where attendees will be able to meet the performers.
Rudd said that he is currently seeking sponsors to provide refreshments during the reception, and anyone intersted in doing so should send an e-mail to the address noted above.
Traditionally, there are four to six performers, Rudd said. While the lineup for this year’s concert has yet to be finalized, confirmed performers so far include soprano Jacquelynne Fontaine, tenor Joshua Guerrero and pianist Steven VanHauwaert.
In a recent review, Fontaine was hailed “elegantissima, piena di passione [full of passion]” for her portrayal of Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, in Viterbo, Italy. Fontaine has recently performed with orchestras ranging from the Orchestra di Roma del Lazio in Italy to numerous symphony orchestras in Southern California, such as the South Coast Symphony and Conejo Pops. In 2006, Fontaine was crowned Miss California, and she placed in the top 10 at the Miss America 2007 competition, where she won the talent award for her performance of Puccini’s “Vissi d’arte”. She recently completed her second year of doctoral studies at the Thornton School of Music and currently studies with David Jones in New York City.
Guerrero has discovered a profound love and respect for the opera and has ventured into classical music. His diversity and natural ability, however, have allowed him to walk in both the classical and pop worlds. Most recently, Guerrero was seen as Le Chevalier in UCLA’s production of The Dialogues of the Carmelites, as a featured tenor in Palm Spring’s yearly event Opera in the Park, and as a regular headliner at Los Angeles hot spot Upstair’s at Vitello’s. He is currently a student of the Herb Albert School of Music at UCLA.
Hailed by the Los Angeles Times for his “impressive clarity, sense of structure and monster technique,” VanHauwaert studied piano in Brussels at the Royal Conservatory with Boyan Vodenitcharov. In 2004 he moved to Los Angeles to continue his studies with Kevin Fitz-Gerald, James Bonn and John Perry at the Thornton School of Music. Apart from classical piano, he also studied jazz and improvisation with Dennis Thurmond. He has appeared in major venues with orchestras such as the Pacific Symphony, the Flemish Symphony, the USC Symphony, Collegium Instrumentale, the Auburn Symphony, the Eastern Sierra Chamber Orchestra and Prima la Musica, among others. In recitals he has appeared in all the major concert halls of Belgium, as well as numerous other prestigious venues in Bulgaria, Hungary, the United States, the Netherlands, France, Canada and Austria, among others.
The church is located at 5100 E. The Toledo at Grenada Avenue.