“A NiGhT iN NAPOli” wiTh ChARlES CASTRONOvO, TENOR

Castronovo PB_Layout 1 3/23/2012 11:04 AM Page 1
teaches classical guitar, piano and accordion. At the same
time he continues to work as chamber and studio musician with his a-Quintet that concentrate on the music of
Astor Piazzolla and his Tango Nuevo.
Tyler Kimmel, contrabass
Kimmel was heavily involved in the arts from a very
young age, studying piano, voice, bass, and theater in
Seattle, Washington. In 2007 he began his Bachelor's degree at Pepperdine University where he studied composition with N. Lincoln Hanks, voice with Melanie Emelio,
and bass with John Hester. He graduated in 2012 with a
degree in Music Composition and Music Education and is
currently searching for graduate schools for composition
and conducting. Kimmel works as a freelance composer
and musical director and teaches private piano lessons.
He recently conducted the new opera El Canguro by Cynthia Ferrell and German composer Peter Michael von der
Nahmer at its premier in Los Angeles in September 2011.
He has been performing with Charles Castronovo for the
Italian Songbook project since 2010.
Jake Jamieson, percussion
Jake Jamieson is a freelance performer and educator in
Los Angeles on drum set and percussion. As a performer,
he has been called to play a variety of musical styles ranging from Jazz to Indian Classical to Hip Hop to Opera. He
has had the privilege of teaching World Music Education
at his alma mater, UCLA, where he received his B.A. and
M.A. in Ethnomusicology. During his stay at UCLA, Jake
studied drum set from Bruce Becker and tabla from Abhiman Kausha, in addition to performing in a wide range of
world music ensemblesl. Jake has toured nationally and
internationally and always seeks out new and diverse musical opportunities.
PROGRAM NOTES
Sunday, April 1, 2012, 7pm
Irvine Barclay Theatre
“A NiGhT iN NAPOli” wiTh
ChARlES CASTRONOvO, TENOR
Taso Comanescu, guitar
Austin Grant, guitar/mandolin
Alex lavruk, accordion
Tyler Kimmel, contrabass
Jake Jamieson, percussion
Guapparia
‘Na sera ‘e Maggio
Tammurriata near
Scetate
Pecché
Anema e core
Una furtiva lagrima from
Elixir of Love
Catari
Luna Rossa
Rodolfo FALVO
Giuseppi CIOFFI
E.A. MARIO
Ferdinando RUSSO
Gaetano PENNINO
Salvatore d’ESPOSITO
Gaetano DONIZETTI
Mario COSTA
A. VIAN
- INTERMISSION Com’e gentil from
Don Pasquale
Maria Mari
Io, na chitarro e ‘a luna
Dicitincello vuie
Comme Facette Mammeta
Malafemmena
Canzone appasionata
Core ‘ngrato
Gaetano DONIZETTI
Eduardo di CAPUA
E.A. MARIO
R. FALVO
S. GAMBARDELLA
Antonio de CURTIS
E.A. MARIO
Salvatore CARDILLO
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When I think of my Italian heritage and my family’s history, I see that there is never any separation between the
soul of Southern Italy and its music. They cannot be
considered separately without losing the life force and
the essence of its culture. When I listen to a folk song of
Napoli or Sicily I feel that I have connected to a long
line of tradition that started prior to the great Enrico
Caruso and continues to this day, almost seeming to
never wish to end.
I asked myself how these simple folk songs of fishermen, farmers, and street vendors can still stir emotions
and nostalgia in us, even in people who do not have Italian heritage. Why do we immediately smile when we
hear an accordion and mandolin? Why do we feel the
sorrow and pain of these emotional love songs even
when we do not understand the words being sung? I believe that this music relates to us all because it is music
of people in their most raw state. The focus is on everyday human emotions that we all experience at different
points in our lives.
Besides the desire for me to sing this music, it was the
hunger to be in touch with the most basic and beautiful
forms of singing and emoting that drove me to form this
group. I was fortunate to find a few wonderful musicians
who shared this identical desire to create something new,
yet something traditional. So, off we went to collectively
realize these song arrangements. Within only a few rehearsals we started to find our niche and began to get
into the real feeling of this folk music. The point for us
is that it should be spontaneous, invented on the spot,
natural, and of course heart felt.
I hope you will enjoy this little excursion into Southern
Italian folk song history. For us, it is a pleasure to perform this wonderful music to an open hearted audience.
Enjoy,
Charles Castronovo
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ABOUT ThE ARTiSTS
ChARlES CASTRONOvO, TENOR
Charles Castronovo is recognized internationally as an
important lyric tenor and has appeared with the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera, Covent Garden, Berlin State
Opera, Bavarian State Opera , Hamburg State Opera, Vienna State Opera, Opera National, Paris, Theatre du Capitole, Toulouse Opera, Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova,
Theatre Royale de la Monnaie,Brussels , Los Angeles
Opera, San Francisco Opera, the Salzburg Festival, Santa
Fe Opera and many other theaters in both Europe and the
United States.
In the fall of 2011 Castronovo will return to the Vienna
State Opera for the new production of La Traviata. After
performances of Rigoletto in Budapest, Castronovo will
make his Chicago Lyric Opera debut as Tamino. He will
return to Covent Garden as Ferrando in Cosi Fan Tutte
and makes his debut at the Tetaro Real in Madrid as
Nerone in Motneverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea. He
will also sing Ernesto in Don Pasquale in San Diego.
Other future projects Include The Rake’s Progress and I
Capuleti et I Montecchi in Paris, Die Zauberfloete and
Maria Stuarda at Covent Garden, Don Giovanni at the
Metropolitan Opera and Rigoletto at Aix en Provence.
Castronovo will sing his first Des Grieux in Manon in
Toulouse and returns to Brussels and Munich in Lucrezia
Borgia.
In September of 2010 Castronovo sang the title role in the
world premiere of Daniel Catan’s Il Postino opposite
Placido Domingo for the Los Angeles Opera. These performances were followed by appearances as Don Ottavio
in Don Giovanni for his return to the Bavarian State
Opera, where he was heard later in the season in his debut
as Gennaro in Lucrezia Borgia. He performed on a concert tour with Dmitri Hvorostovsky appearing in Moscow,
St. Petersburg, Ekaterinburg and Perm before making his
debut at Dallas Opera in his first Romeo in Romeo et Juliette. Also during the 2010-2011 season, he sang the role
Nemorino for Opera de Nice as well as Belmonte in Die
Entfuehrung aus dem Serail for his debut at the Teatro
dell’Opera di Roma. In June of 2011 he sang Nemorino
in Vienna and debuted at the Chatelet in the French premiere of Il Postino. He then made his debut at the Festival
Aix-en-Provence as Alfredo in La Traviata opposite Natalie Dessay and performed in concert with the Orchestre
National de Lyon.
Castronovo opened the 2009/2010 season at the Paris
Opera in the new production of Gounod’s rarely heard
Mireille, staged by the General Director of the theater,
Nicolas Joel and conducted by Marc Minkowski. Castronovo also appeared in Paris as Nemorino in L’Elisir
D’Amore opposite Anna Netrebko and subsequently returned to Helsinki for Rigoletto. Castronovo sang two
roles for the Berlin State Opera this season: Rodolfo in La
Boheme and the title role in Faust. He was heard as Fer-
Charles Castronovo
rando in Cosi Fan Tutte at the Royal Opera House, Covent
Garden, at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich as Belmonte in Die Entfuehrung aus dem Serail and made his
debut with the Opera Company of Philadelphia as Alfredo
in La Traviata. In the summer of 2010 he partnered with
his wife, the internationally celebrated soprano, Ekaterina
Siurina, in Die Zauberfloete at the Santa Fe Opera. Other
recent engagements for Charles Castronovo include performances at the Washington Opera as Nadir in Les
Pêcheurs de Perles. He returned to the Hamburg State
Opera for L’Elisir d’Amore, and then made his debut in
Helsinki as the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto for Finnish
Opera. In February of 2009 Castronovo starred in the
Berlin State Opera’s new production of Faust, followed by
in April by his first Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor for
the Theatre Royale de La Monnaie in Brussels. He returned to the San Francisco Opera in La Traviata opposite
Anna Netrebko and also made his Budapest debut in the
same role.
Born in New York, Castronovo completed his musical
studies at California State University and began his career
as resident artist with the Los Angeles Opera. He was invited to join the Metropolitan Opera's Lindermann Young
Artists Development Program and in the autumn of 1999
made his debut at the Metropolitan as Beppe in the opening night performance of I Pagliacci. He subsequently
made his New York Philharmonic debut as Sam in concert
performances of Kurt Weill's Street Scene. Castronovo
appeared at the Santa Fe Opera in 2000 as Pilade in
Rossini's Ermione. He made his debut with the Boston
Lyric Opera in the spring of 2000 singing his first performances of Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni and subsequently added Fenton in Falstaff and Tamino in Die
Zauberflöte to his repertoire in Boston and Pittsburgh respectively. Castronovo has also been heard as Don Ottavio at the Savonlinna Festival. During the 2001/2002
season Castronovo added several roles to his growing
repertoire, appearing as Camille in Die Lustige Witwe in
Los Angeles, as Ferrando in Cosi Fan Tutte in Portland
and as Ernesto in Don Pasquale in Boston. The artist
made his German operatic debut at the Berlin State Opera
as Ottavio under Daniel Barenboim, his French stage
debut followed in Toulouse in Falstaff and his London
debut at the Proms of 2002 in Ravel's L'Heure Espagnole.
In the 2002/2003 season Castronovo returned to the
Berlin State Opera as Don Ottavio, debuted with the
Chicago Symphony under Pierre Boulez in Berlioz's Requiem and made his debut with the Opera-Bastille as Fenton. He added two new roles to his repertoire during the
course of that season; appearing as Nemorino in L’Elisir
d'Amore for Portland Opera and in Berlin, and as Alfredo
in La Traviata with the Minnesota Opera. Castronovo
concluded his season in a new production of Cosi Fan
Tutte at Santa Fe. Charles Castronovo debuted at the San
Francisco Opera in the fall of 2003 as Tamino in Die Zauberflöte and at the Vienna State Opera in December of
2003 as Tamino, a role he also sang in Paris in the spring
of 2004. He debuted with L'Opera de Monte Carlo in
Cosi Fan Tutte and returned to the Berlin State Opera for
L’Elisir d'Amore. The artist also appeared in Athens,
Greece opposite Ruth Ann Swenson in a new production
of La Traviata.
Charles Castronovo made his debut at the Royal Opera,
Covent Garden in September of 2004 as Ferrando in Cosi
Fan Tutte, He made his Italian Stage debut at the Teatro
Carlo Felice in Genoa and at the Berlin State Opera under
Daniel Barenboim as Alfredo in La Traviata. In the summer of 2005 Castronovo sang his first Nadir in Les
Pêcheurs de Perles at the San Francisco Opera. Castronovo returned to Covent Garden in the 2005/2006 season as Alfredo in La Traviata, to the Vienna State opera as
Nemorino in L’Elisir d'Amore and to the Berlin State
Opera as Don Ottavio under Daniel Barenboim. He made
his debut at the Theatre Royale de La Monnaie in Falstaff
and at the Hamburg State Opera in La Traviata. Three
new roles entered the artist’s repertoire during the course
of the season; Rodolfo in La Bohème for the Michigan
Opera Theater, and Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem
Serail for Opera Colorado and the title role in La
Clemenza di Tito for the Bayerische Rundfunk in Munich.
The artist also made his debut with the Orchestra of the
Age of Enlightenment in Rossini’s Stabat Mater under
Mark Elder.
In August of 2006 Charles Castronovo made his debut at
the Salzburg Festival as Belmonte in Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail. He subsequently returned to the
Berlin State Opera for Cosi Fan Tutte, and to the Vienna
State Opera as Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, as well as to
the Opéra National de Paris as Nemorino in L’Elisir
d’Amore. In February 2007 Charles Castronovo sang his
first Duke in Rigoletto in Bordeaux, and subsequently returned to San Francisco Opera for Don Ottavio in Don
Giovanni.
Castronovo began his 2007/2008 season in a revival of
Lalo’s Le Roi D’Ys in Toulouse. After his concert debut
in Japan, he returned to the Los Angeles Opera as Don
Ottavio and to the Vienna State Opera as Tamino. In January 2008, Castronovo appeared at the Royal Opera House
in Covent Garden for his third revival there of La Traviata
and returned later in the season in his first performances
of Tom Rakewell in the new production of Stravinsky’s
The Rake’s Progress. Among his other projects were Mercadante’s Virginia for Opera Rara, Nemorino in L’Elisir
d’Amore at the Berlin State Opera followed by his first
Elvino in La Sonnambula for Michigan Opera Theater
and his debut in San Diego in Les Pecheurs de Perles. He
also made his debut at the Bavarian State Opera in the
2008 Festival as Ferrando in Cosi Fan Tutte followed by
his debut in China in concerts commemorating the 2008
Summer Olympic Games.
Anastasios Comanescu, guitar
A musician of diverse background, Comanescu first studied the piano before switching to guitar. In 2010, he
earned his bachelor’s degree in music at Pepperdine University under the world-renowned guitarist Christopher
Parkening. He has collaborated and toured with guitarist
Austin Grant (Gi-táhr Duo) and more recently with
Slovenian virtuoso Mak Grgíc. In 2011, his debut solo
recording Epitaphios was released. Currently, Comanescu
is pursuing a master’s degree at USC under Scott Tennant.
He also serves on the music faculty at Pepperdine University. Comanescu has been performing with the critically
acclaimed tenor, Charles Castronovo, since 2010.
Austin Grant, guitar/mandolin
A self-taught mandolin player, Grant began playing in his
early teens on an old family guitar. His formal training
began at age 18 through a state-paid program at his local
junior college. After two years of study, Grant received
the college's Most Outstanding Musician award and went
on to study with world-renowned guitarist Christopher
Parkening at Pepperdine University, where he also began
collaborating with fellow guitarist Taso Comanescu,
forming the Gi-táhr Duo, giving many concerts throughout California. In 2010, he received his Bachelor's degree
in music from Pepperdine.
Alex lavruk, accordion
Alexander Lavruk was born in former Soviet Union. By
his 7th birthday he started to beg parents to buy an accordion and started his music studies. By the time he was 10
years old, he was performing in local and state competition as well as talent shows.
In 1975 he received his B.M. in Accordion Performance
& Conducting, at Music College, Leninobad and later his
M.M. in Conducting from California Baptist University
(2009), Riverside, CA. In all that years Mr. Lavruk has
successfully performed as a soloist and chamber musician
with City Folk Orcgestra "Jiguli's Zori" through out the
former Soviet Union and Europe.
His teaching experience started at Togliatti Music Academy, Russia since 1977 through 1994 to the time when he
immigrated to United States of America. At that time he
earned & achieved a professional recognition & fame as a
teacher and a performer.
Mr. Lavruk successfully continues to teach and perform in
this country that becomes his home. Currently he is an adjunct faculty at San Bernardino Valley College, where he