Con Gioia has featured such internationally renowned musicians as violinists Eduard Melkus, Monica Huggett, Daniel Stepner, Elizabeth Blumenstock and Greg Maldonado; flutists John Solum and Stephen Schultz; recorder player Mathias Maute; viola da gambists, Wieland Kuijken, Laura Jeppesen, and Mark Chatfield; oboist Gonzalo X. Ruiz; sopranos Julianne Baird and Sharon Baker; glass harmonicist Dennis James and others. Suzanna Giordano Gignac, (Baroque viola) Co-Director of Angeles Consort is a NY native. She studied violin at the Hartt School of Music with Renato Bonacini and then CSUN with Kathleen Lenski and Manuel Compinsky earning a Bachelor of Music degree cum laud. She later continued her studies on viola with Alan de Veritch. As a soloist, Suzanna has appeared with the Santa Monica; Calabasas; and Saddleback Chamber Orchestras. Her love for early music brought her to study with Elizabeth Blumenstock, Manfredo Kraemer and Simon Standage and play under the directorship of Rachel Podger and Andrew Manze. Suzanna performs with Musica Angelica, Los Angeles Baroque Orch., Bach Collegium San Diego, Los Angeles Bach Society, Vox Profundis and Santa Fe Pro Musica (all as Principal Viola); has soloed with Musica Angelica and has appeared with Camerata Pacifica, Texas Early Music Project, Concerto Pacifica and the San Francisco Bach Choir Orch. She has performed in many early music festivals including Germany’s Tage Alter Musik Regensberg, England’s Brighton Early Music Festival , CA’s Corona del Mar Bach Festival; San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival and Texas’ Victoria Bach Festival. Ms. Gignac is married to chef Jean-Luc Gignac and mom to 6 year old son Luca! Ms. Gignac performs on a 1784 Leopold Widhalm viola. Puerto Rican baritone, Abdiel González, has been praised for his “rich, lush baritone” and for having a “superb voice, which commanded the stage.” Most recently Mr. Gonzalez was excited to make his debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic this March as a soloist in Stravinsky’s Renard under the baton of Esa-Pekka Salonen. Roles performed include Mercutio in Roméo et Julliette, Shrike in the West Coast Premiere of Miss Lonelyhearts, Athanaël in Thaïs, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor, Pandolfe in Cendrillon, Morales in Carmen, Guglielmo in Cosí fan Tutte, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, King Melchior in Amahl and the Night Visitors, Ko-Ko in The Mikado, The Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance, and Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha. Mr. Gonzalez is proud to have performed lead roles in three Zarzuelas, an art form which he loves dearly. These include the title role in Luis Alonso, Paquiro in Goyescas and Don Pedro in El Barberillo de Lavapies. The concert stage has seen him as a soloist in Händel’s Messiah, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Fauré's Requiem, Stravinsky’s Pulcinella, Haydn’s Creation, Mozart’s Requiem and Mass in c minor, Bach's St. Matthew Passion and St. John Passion, Vaughn William’s Fantasia on Christmas Carols and Five Mystical Songs, Lizst’s Via Crucis, Brahms’ Requiem, and Britten’s War Requiem. He was a first place winner in the San Diego District of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions as well as in the Opera 100 Competition. He recently created the role of Frank Shabata in the World Premiere of a new Opera, Marie’s Orchard this past June with Center Stage Opera. Upcoming engagements include singing the role of Arman Fleuri in the world premiere of Shostakovich’s newly discovered unfinished opera Orango with the Los Angeles Philarmonic under the baton of Esa-Pekka Salonen as well as being the Bass soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Los Angeles Master Chorale last December. Janet Worsley-Strauss enjoys an active career as a baroque violinist. Her performances have been called “virtuoso”, “pristine and crystalline, while fully infused with 18th century accents of passion”. As a leading violinist in Los Angeles, she has appeared with the Los Angeles Opera, and Los Angeles Master Chorale; and is a principal member of Los Angeles-based Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra. She often appears with American Bach Soloists, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Bach Collegium San Diego, and San Francisco Bach Choir where she has worked with Monica Huggett, Eric Milnes, Reinhard Goebel, Paul Goodwin, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Alex Weimann, and Richard Egarr. Ms. Strauss has performed with Trinity Consort (Portland, OR), Musica Pacifica, Magnificat, Camerata Pacifica, and Galanterie. She has performed at the Indianapolis Early Music Festival, Tage Alte Musik Regensberg, Brighton Early Music Festival, Renaissance and Baroque Society Pittsburgh, and Corona del Mar Bach Festival. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree in performance from the University of Southern California. She is co-founder of the Los Angeles-based chamber ensemble Angeles Consort, and teaches privately in the Los Angeles area. Ms. Strauss has recorded for Koch, Centaur, and Loft Recordings. Acclaimed as "one of the greatest singers of his generation" (Toronto Globe and Mail), Michael Maniaci has been praised for hisrare, thrilling voice and sensational stage presence. Mr. Maniaci "possesses a remarkable voice, that marries trumpeting high notes with a warm and supple middle voice and secure bottom" (Washington Post). He is lauded for "his natural male soprano [that] is probably the closest thing on earth to the sound of the castrati of long ago, and he uses it with a finesse that’s rare among singers so young." (Toronto Globe and Mail). Following his overwhelming success as Tirinto in Chistopher Alden's staging of Handel's Imeneo for Glimmerglass Opera, Anthony Tomossini stated in the New York Times, "The amazing male soprano Michael Maniaci [is] headed for a major career." In January 2010, he released his first solo album of Mozart Arias for Telarc, which included Mozart’s Exsultate, jubilate and arias from Lucio Silla, La clemenza di Tito, and Idomeneo with Boston Baroque, and debuted at # 13 on the US Billboard Charts. Future engagements include Unsuk Chin's Cantatrix Sopranica with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and tours of Madame Whitesnake to Beijing International Music Festival and Singapore. Based in London, Rohan de Saram was, for over twenty years, the 'cellist of the Arditti Quartet, renowned as Europe's leading champions of contemporary music for string quartet. In 2005, Mr. de Saram resumed his solo career, in order once more to perform repertoire from the baroque, classical, romantic, and contemporary periods. Although he has been more recently known as an outstanding performer of contemporary music, it was as a classical artist that Rohan de Saram earlier gained recognition. Having studied 'cello from the age of 11 with Gaspar Cassado in Italy in Siena and Florence, he was awarded, at the age of 17, the coveted Suggia award to study in the UK with Sir John Barbirolli and in Puerto Rico with Pablo Casals--the most renowned 'cellist of the twentieth century. In 1957 Rohan de Saram was invited to give his Carnegie Hall debut with the New York Philharmonic, playing Khatchaturian's Cello Concerto.
Appearing on more than twenty-nine recordings for Harmonia Mundi USA, New Albion, Amon Ra, Koch International Classics, RGB, XDot25, Heru, and the Musical Heritage Society, Schultz enters his multi-year recording contract on the Naxos label with a wealth of experience. Innovative playing styles and experimentation with world music groups such as D'CuCKOO and Haunted By Waters have given Schultz a perspective on the music world unparalleled by his peers. Schultz's unique processed baroque flute sounds characterize a new genre of alternative music that offers listeners of early music a new platform to enjoy formerly traditional instruments. |
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