From left, Conductor and arts educator Oliver Prezant, Soprano Amy Owens and Pianist Nathan Salazar. Courtesy/Ruthanne Greeley/Suzanne Vinnik/Evangeline Hodge
Opus OP News:
SANTA FE – Join conductor Oliver Prezant, soprano Amy Owens, and pianist Nathan Salazar for Discovering the Music of Mozart, an up-close and personal look at two arias from Mozart’s operas.
The program takes place 6-7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 29 at Muñoz Waxman Gallery at CCA in Santa Fe. Tickets are $25, students with ID, $10; available at: www.oliverprezant.com
During the program, conductor and arts educator Prezant will lead an interactive exploration of the music: the exquisite contours of the melodies, the beauty of the language, the meaning of the text, and the relationships between the vocal line and the accompaniment. Soprano Owens and pianist Salazar will provide musical illustrations that will help the listening audience understand the artistic choices that make for expressive singing and artistic interpretation. Along the way, audience members will be invited to share their feelings and impressions of the music with one another and with the musicians.
“What makes Discovering programs so special is the participation of the audience,” Prezant said. “We’re able to share the nuances and the beautiful details of the music with audience members, and they, in turn, have a chance to share how those aspects of the music feel to them. As we explore the music together, the relationship between the audience, the performers, and the music deepens, and that creates a very special intimacy and understanding when we present the arias in their entirety at the end of the program.”
“Amy and Nate are marvelous musicians,” Prezant said. “They work beautifully with one another, and they’re very responsive to the attention of the audience, which is what this program is all about. We presented this program in Albuquerque back in October, and one audience member said: ‘This was an almost magical exposition of what is happening in a musical performance piece and why. It showed me, and taught me in tangible ways, how to not take music performances at face value and rather than just ‘enjoy’ it, to instead experience and participate in it more completely.’”
Artist Biographies:
Conductor and arts educator Oliver Prezant is the executive and artistic director of Opus OP Arts and Education Projects, which provides unique programs for listeners, musicians, and teachers in northern New Mexico. A popular lecturer for The Santa Fe Opera for many years, he has also presented lectures and education programs for arts organizations including the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the National Hispanic Cultural Center, Performance Santa Fe, the Tanglewood Association of Volunteers, Road Scholar, the Guilds of the Santa Fe and San Francisco Opera companies. In addition, he has presented programs on the relationship of art and music for the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, the Albuquerque Museum of Art, the New Mexico Museum of Art, and the Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art. As the music director and conductor of the Santa Fe Community Orchestra for twenty years, he worked with community musicians and choristers, professional soloists, public school music students, composers, creative artists, and community partners from Santa Fe and northern New Mexico to present a wide variety of innovative performances, unique education programs, and community collaborations. His notable compositions include The Butterfly (La Mariposa) for storyteller and orchestra, songs in a variety of genres, and educational pieces for student ensembles. Oliver was one of the founding teaching artists in Partners in Education’s ArtWorks Program, a Lincoln Center-inspired arts education program which provides workshops for Santa Fe Public Schools students and teachers in the areas of music, poetry, visual art, theater, and dance. As the artistic advisor to the program, he trained teaching artists and classroom teachers, and coordinated with area poets, museums, and other arts organizations. He studied at the Mannes College of Music in New York City and the Pierre Monteux School for conductors in Hancock, Maine, and was an Assistant Professor in the Contemporary Music Program at the College of Santa Fe and an instructor at Santa Fe University of Art and Design.
Amy Owens is an award-winning soprano who has been recognized by Opera News for her “high-flying vocals” and “scene-stealing” performances. She has received awards from the Metropolitan Opera National Council, the George London Foundation, and the Jensen Foundation, and she was the recipient of the grand prize from the Sullivan Foundation, and she has performed with Santa Fe Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Dallas Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Utah Opera, and the Virginia Opera. She was the soprano soloist in Carmina Burana with the National Symphony, and has appeared with many other notable orchestras across the U.S. Her operatic and musical theater roles include Cunegonde in Candide, Chrisann Brennan in The Revolution of Steve Jobs, Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance, Emily in Our Town, Phoebe in Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Johanna in Sweeney Todd, and the title role in The Santa Fe Opera’s world premiere of Sweet Potato Kicks the Sun. Owens is a sought-after soprano for developing contemporary works, including the Metropolitan Opera workshop of Eurydice, and multiple workshops with American Opera Projects. As a multi-disciplinary artist, Owens performed at the 50th annual New Orleans Jazz Festival with renowned musician Glen David Andrews, and as an emerging conductor, was selected to participate in the Hart Institute for Women Conductors at Dallas Opera and the International Conducting Workshop Festival in Bulgaria. As an educator, Owens is the director of the Young Voices program and a co-director of the Opera Storytellers Camp at The Santa Fe Opera. She co-founded The Collective Conservatory and developed a unique curriculum to forge new and innovative paths for online musical collaboration during the pandemic in 2020. A sought-after vocal coach, Owens developed a unique online education program for vocalists in 2021 called Vocal Revolution and maintains a robust online studio focusing on technique and vocal freedom. Owens holds a Master of Music degree in vocal performance from Rice University and a Bachelor of Music in vocal performance from Brigham Young University.
Nathan Salazar, pianist, holds a master’s degree in collaborative piano from the University of Michigan, where he studied with Martin Katz. Salazar has performed in England, Scotland, Italy, Russia, and in major performance venues throughout the United States. He performed in the International Festival of Spanish and Latin American Music with renowned mezzo-soprano Teresa Berganza and has been featured at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., Boston’s Symphony Hall, and Carnegie Hall in New York City. In 2014 he was invited to be part of Marilyn Horne’s 80th birthday celebration at Carnegie Hall, where he worked with Ms. Horne, Martin Katz, and the legendary Christa Ludwig. Salazar has worked with such singers as Julia Faulkner, Maria Zifchak, Stephen King, Susanne Mentzer, Luis Ledesma, Wolfgang Brendel, Joyce Castle, Neil Shicoff, Stanford Olsen, George Shirley, Angela Meade, Jennifer Johnson Cano, Cecilia Lopez, Kelly Kaduce, Edward Parks, Stephen Powell, Jonathan Burton, Michael Fabiano, Daniela Mack and Susan Graham. He has worked and performed with Skylark Vocal Ensemble, the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, the Santa Fe Opera, The Handel and Haydn Society, The Boston Symphony, and the Boston Lyric Opera, where he worked on the company’s monumental 2019 production of Poul Ruders’ “The Handmaid’s Tale”. Salazar performed with Mexican-American soprano Cecilia Violetta Lopez in recital for Austin Opera, Opera Idaho, Orlando Opera, Opera Las Vegas, Opera Southwest, Opera America, Madison Opera, and Opera Colorado, where he now serves as Principal Coach. Most recently, Salazar was coach and pianist for the company’s production of Korngold’s “Die tote Stadt”. Up next is Salazar’s company debuts with San Francisco Opera and Los Angeles Opera for Gabriela Lena Frank’s “El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego”.
