Feb. 20 will mark the Hawthorne Symphony Orchestra’s 10th anniversary performance at the Berrie Center’s Sharp Theater at Ramapo College, Mahwah. Aresident of Jackson will be front and center during the 3 p.m. performance.
Presenting Beethoven’s only opera, “Fidelio,” the Hawthorne Symphony Orchestra has secured the metropolitan area’s finest professional musicians and internationally recognized stars of opera.
Tickets to “Fidelio” are available through the box office, 201-684-7844, or at the website www.ramapo.edu/berriecenter. Ticket prices are $15 to $20; children under 17 are $12. The Hawthorne Symphony Orchestra is conducted and directed by John Minkoff of Englewood, who studied composition and conducting with faculty from the Hochschule fur Musik in Berlin, Germany, and at Columbia University, while earning a Ph.D. in electrical engineering.
Singing the part of Florestan, tenor Adam Klein, a resident of Jackson, began his opera career as a child at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He returned to the Met as an adult in lead roles in several operas. This year he made his debut as Tristan in “Tristan und Isolde” with the Seattle Opera to rave reviews.
A composer and songwriter, Klein has written two operas in the classical vein: “Leithian,” based on a story by J.R.R. Tolkien, which had its concert premieres in 2006 and 2007 in New York City; and “Goldie Locks and the Three Bears,” a short children’s opera.
Dramatic soprano Alison Bolshoi, of Bloomfield, sings the leading role of Leonore, who, disguised as Fidelio, rescues her husband from death in a political prison.
Michael Blake O’Hearn, of New York, performs the part of Rocco.
Singing the role of Pizarro is baritone José Andrade, of Fort Lee.