Kahilu Theatre presents OperAloha — an evening of genre-busting opera performances by some of the most exciting emerging voices in opera today — next month.
The 7 p.m. Jan. 14, 2023, performance features Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, a countertenor (countertenors are the falsetto singers of opera) fresh from his Metropolitan Opera debut. He is joined by San Francisco Opera favorite, Mexican-American baritone Efrain Solis and Korean-American mezzo-soprano Alice Chung, a recent principal artist at Hawaii Opera Theatre. The singers are accompanied by talented collaborative pianist Ronny Michael Greenberg.
Acclaimed as a “young star” and “complete artist” by The New York Times and “extravagantly gifted … poised to redefine what’s possible for singers of this distinctive voice type” by the San Francisco Chronicle, countertenor Cohen has been recognized with awards from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Operalia, Richard Tucker Music Foundation, Sullivan Foundation, and others. In recent seasons, Cohen has performed at The Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Opernhaus Zürich, Houston Grand Opera, and many others. His broad repertoire spans from pillars of the Baroque — Bach, Cavalli, Handel, Monteverdi, and Vivaldi — to leading modern composers — including Britten, Dean, Dove, and Glass. A New York City native, Cohen’s first commercial recording: “Fuchs’ Poems of Life” with the London Symphony Orchestra won a 2019 Grammy Award.
The San Francisco Chronicle exclaims, for “theatrical charisma and musical bravado, it would be hard to top the performance of baritone Solis.” The former Adler Fellow makes his role and company debut as Dulcamara in L’elisir d’amore with Hawaii Opera Theater.
Chung is rapidly being recognized for her “operatic tonal glamour” (Parterre). A few credits include performances with Hawaii Opera Theatre, Naples Philharmonic, Tulsa Opera, Merola Opera Program, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Kansas City Symphony, and San Francisco Opera. Declared a 2021 winner of the William Matheus Sullivan Foundation auditions, Chung has also received awards from the Shoshana Foundation, the Cooper-Bing Competition, Gerda Lissner Foundation, and the Metropolitan National Council Auditions.
Greenberg is a leading innovator in the world of performing arts. A native of Montreal, Canada, he has toured internationally performing in venues including the Vienna Konzerthaus, Carnegie Hall, Montreal’s Place des Arts Theater, the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco, and across Italy, New Zealand, and Hawaii. Greenberg has worked with San Francisco Opera, Hawaii Opera Theater, the Merola Opera Program, Chicago Collaborative Arts Institute, and the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival.
The Jan. 14, 2023, performance at Kahilu Theatre in Waimea will feature popular opera arias by Handel, Bizet, and Rossini as well as selections from Spanish opera, Mexican canciones, and songs from The Queen’s Songbook, compositions by Hawaii’s beloved Queen Liliuokalani. The concert includes special appearances by guest artists and young rising local talents, baritone Solomon Shumate and soprano Stacee Firestone.
In-person tickets are $35 to $65 and can be purchased online at KahiluTheatre.org. The performance can also be streamed via Kahilu.TV.