A Night At The Opera

Ms. Burns has conducted oratorio with prominent Metropolitan Opera soloists such as Ben Heppner, Heidi Grant Murphy, Angela Brown, Mark Delavan, Mark Oswald and others, is committed to the furthering of musical education of all generations. She is currently on the conducting roster of Broadway Pops International, Inc. through which she recently guest conducted Broadway stars Austin Miller, Leah Hocking and Elvis Impersonator Shawn Klush in two performances with the Memphis Symphony during Elvis Week.

Increasingly in demand as a guest conductor throughout the United States and abroad, Ms. Burns’ international debut occurred with the Bournemouth Symphony in 1999, in three concerts throughout the south of England. Her debut in Germany in 2003 involved conducting at the Stadthalle in Wuppertal, the First Ladies Symphony Orchestra of Poland, and in 2006, Ms. Burns conducted performances with the YinQi Symphony Orchestra as well as the Shih-Chien University Orchestra of Taiwan. Highlights of guest conducting within the US include appearances with orchestras such as the Memphis Symphony, Virginia Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Syracuse Symphony, South Carolina Philharmonic, Mansfield Symphony, Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, Woodstock Chamber Orchestra, Billings Youth Orchestra, MasterWorks Festival, Sewanee Summer Music Festival, C.W. Post Summer Music Festival, Skaneateles Festival and the All-State Orchestras of New York, Florida, Tennessee and Ohio.

Ms. Burns has received conducting awards from the Aspen Music Festival, studying with Paul Vermel, and the Conductors Guild, where she was unanimously presented in 1989 with their prestigious biennial prize, the Robinson Scholarship. In addition to her professional affiliations, she completed the Artist Diploma Fellowship in Yale University’s eminent Conductor Apprentice Program upon special invitation of Yale faculty. In this capacity, she regularly worked with noted mentor conductors such as Gunther Herbig, Lawrence Leighton Smith and Eleazar de Carvallho. She also participated in master classes under the tutelage of prominent guests such as Kurt Masur, Leopold Hager and Zdenek Macal. Ms. Burns completed her Masters degree and Professional Studies in Orchestral Conducting on full scholarship at the Mannes College of Music (NY), where she studied with Yakov Kreizberg and Michael Charry. Previously active as a violinist, she holds both Bachelors and Masters degrees in violin performance from Mannes, during which time she began preliminary conducting studies with Semyon Bychkov. Ms. Burns is an alumna of both the New York String Orchestra Seminar under Alexander Schneider and The Quartet Program. An avid chamber musician, Ms. Burns was an original member of what is now the Chester String Quartet.

Last season, Ms. Jennings appeared as Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus, in St. Augustine, Florida, with Jacksonville Lyric Opera, soon after she debuted in the role of Rosalinda with Belleayre Festival Opera. She returned as guest soloist for KDNY Dance Company’s Treading Puddles at the Alvin Ailley Citigroup Theatre in New York City, and she also sang the title role in Pasatieri’s La Divina, in Miami. A member of the comedic opera duo Divas Unleashed, Ms. Jennings was Pamela Hamilton Ford in their 2008 workshop performance of The Benefit, in New York City, which prompted invitations to perform The Benefit in Missouri and Oklahoma in 2009 and 2010. Other notable performances were as Nellie Forbush in Hawaii Opera Theatre’s production of South Pacific, and Yum-Yum in Light Opera Oklahoma’s production of The Mikado, which opened the OK Mozart International Festival to critical acclaim. She was also seen as Nellie Forbush in South Pacific, Estrella in the zarzuela El Barberillo de Lavapies (Barbieri), Just Jeanette in Too Many Sopranos (Penhorwood), and Aline in The Sorcerer, with Light Opera Oklahoma. Other engagements include Fiordiligi in Così fan Tutte, with Asheville Lyric Opera (NC), where she has also sung the role of Musetta in La Bohème; Forester’s Wife and Owl in The Cunning Little Vixen, with Tulsa Opera; Katrina in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (John David Earnest), with Virginia Opera’s Spectrum Resident Artist Program; Adina in L’Elisir d’Amore with Springfield Regional Opera (MO), where she later returned to sing the role of Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro; and Olympia in Opera in the Ozarks’ production of Les Contes d’Hoffmann. In additional performances of operetta, she has been seen both on the New York City stage and on national tours as she portrayed the roles of Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance, Yum-Yum in The Mikado, and the Spirit in Bah, Humbug! with New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players and New England Lyric Operetta.

Cultivating an interest in contemporary music, she performed with American Opera Projects in their Composers and the Voice series, where she sang in Jack Perla’s new opera in development, Love/Hate. She also sang the title role in the premier performance of the one-act opera, Ophelia, by Joel Weiss, in New York City, and she was Carla in The Theory of Everything, with Encompass New Opera Theatre in New York City Opera’s VOX / On the Edge series.

At home in a variety of genres on the concert stage and on recordings, Ms. Jennings was recently heard as a soloist for Mardi Gras and All That Jazz, a big band and musical theater review in North Carolina, with Broadway star Tina Fabrique, directed by Broadway star George Merritt. She sang the role of Gilda in a concert version of Rigoletto, in New York City, opposite Mark Delavan in the title role. She appeared with KDNY in Flowers, which was featured at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in Massachusetts. She is heard on the CDs Christmas of Peace and Christmas of Hope, she has recorded for the television show, Star Search, and for the film, The Afterlight, produced by North Lake Films. She has also recorded for the musicals, Girl, Boy, Girl, Boy, and Peter Rabbit. A native of Virginia, Ms. Jennings has been presented in concerts of jazz, cabaret, and musical theater throughout the U.S. and Japan.

During his Italian recital debut in 1992 at the Villa D’Este in Como, Italy, he was invited to study with the late great post-war Italian Tenor Franco Corelli in his home in Milan where Maestro Corelli compared the young Giuliano to the late American tenor Mario Lanza. Recent vocal recitals include: Brunswick Community College Recital Series South Port, NC, Renwick Gallery at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., Steinway Series at the American Art Museum Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., Gordon College of Music Recital Series, Western Kentucky University Recital Series and Master Class, Anderson House Concert Series and the Church of The Epiphany Noon Recital Series in Washington D.C.

Past orchestral engagements include: Verdi’s Messa da Requiem and Puccini’s Messa di Gloria with the New Dominion Chorale, Petite Messe Solennelle by Rossini with Opera Bel Canto of Washington, Händel’s Messiah and Bach’s Cantata BWV 140, “Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme,” with the McLean Symphony, SHYLOCK, OP. 57 by Fauré for Orchestra and Tenor with The National Gallery of Arts Orchestra, Orff’s Carmina Burana and An Evening of Italian Arias and Love Songs with the Alexandria Symphony, Verdi’s Messa da Requiem with the National Cathedral Choral Society and in December 2009 he was the featured tenor soloist in the Kennedy Center Messiah Sing-Along.

MSG Giuliano has sung the tenor lead in many operas such as Rodolfo in La Bohème, Il Duca di Mantova in Rigoletto, Manrico in Il Trovatore, Alfred in Die Fledermaus, Nemorino in Donizetti’s L’elisir D’amore, Alfredo in Verdi’s La Traviata, Elvino in Bellini’s La Sonnambula and Fernando in Donizetti’s La Favorita. In 2004 The Washington Post praised the “fluid, clarion voice” of Antonio Giuliano in Opera Bel Canto of Washington’s production of La Favorita. In New York with the National Lyric Opera, he sang the role of Il Conte D’Almaviva in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia in an East-Coast Tour of the USA. He sang the lead role of Giovanni La contessa dei vampiri by American composer David Clenny, in Rome, Italy and later at the Kennedy Center and in Puerto Rico at the Conservatorio De Musica.

On the concert stage, MSG Giuliano has performed recitals with piano and orchestra throughout the United States including Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, and with the Paul Madore Chorale and Orchestra in Salem, Massachusetts. In the Washington Metropolitan area he has appeared as guest soloist with the Fairfax Symphony, Arlington Symphony, McLean Symphony, Alexandria Symphony and the National Symphony Orchestra. His international operatic debut includes the Romanian National Opera, Bucharest where he was invited by famed Romanian Tenor Ludovic Spiess to sing Edgardo in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor in 2002.

In addition to his musical talent, MSG Giuliano has been and continues to be a competitive natural drug-free bodybuilder since his early 20s, winning several titles and he recently competed in November 2010 in Woodbridge, VA in the Mt. Rogers Drug-Free Bodybuilding Championships. MSG Giuliano continues his voice studies with Dr. Donald G. Wiggins of New York, a partnership he has maintained since 1990. He resides in Northern Virginia with his lovely bride, Isabella, and their German Shepherd Dog, Gucci. His official website is: www.antoniogiuliano.com.