Date: Thursday, June 1, 2023
Location: William Paca House & Garden, 186 Prince George Street
Time: 6:30 pm (EDT)
Join us for an evening of elegance at the William Paca Garden with mezzo-soprano Natalie Lewis, accompanied by acclaimed pianist Francesco Barfoed. Enjoy a glass of bubbly in our serene setting and be captured by the velvety voice of Ms. Lewis as she presents a program of arias and art song reflective of the season, featuring works by Saint Saens, Gershwin, and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.
Advance registration recommended; space is limited.
Doors open at 6 pm; rosé bubbly cash bar will be available.
Cost: $25 General Admission; $20 for Students, HA Members & Military
About Our Performers:
Natalie Lewis, Mezzo-Soprano: Distinguished by her “velvet mezzo-soprano sonic cushion” (San Diego Story) and “sly lyricism” (Opera News), Natalie Lewis is a capturing presence on stage. Natalie has dazzled audiences with her portrayal as The Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte, Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro, and most recently Mistress Quickly in Falstaff. Natalie has participated in numerous summer young artist programs including Aspen Music Festival, Houston Grand Opera’s Young Artists’ Vocal Academy, Opera Neo, and the American Institute for Music Studies in Graz, Austria. A competitive singer, Natalie placed first in Houston Grand Opera’s Concert of Arias in 2023 as well as the New England Region NATS competition. Natalie graduated with a BM in Vocal Performance from the University of Massachusetts: Amherst under the tutelage of William Hite.
Currently Natalie is finishing her MM at The Juilliard School studying with Kevin Short and is a proud Kovner Fellow. Upcoming performances include Zita/La Zia Principessa in Juilliard Opera Theater’s Puccini double bill of Suor Angelica & Gianni Schicchi, her Carnegie Hall debut with the Cecelia Chorus of New York conducted by Mark Shapiro, and Lucretia in Merola’s production of The Rape of Lucretia. For the 2023/2024 season Natalie will be joining the opera studio at the Bayerische Staatsoper, sponsored by the Opera Foundation.
Francesco Barfoed, Pianist: Currently based in New York City, Francesco Barfoed (b. 1996) is a Danish pianist, born and raised in Copenhagen. A young artist on the rise, he frequently collaborates with singers and has twice won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions; with mezzo-soprano Megan Moore (2020) and baritone Joseph Parrish (2022). Megan and Francesco also won 1st prize in the Copenhagen Lied-Duo Competition and 2nd prize at the Naumberg Foundation International Vocal Competition. In the 21-22 season they toured with their recital, I SEE LIGHT, and performed at the Alys Stephens Center in Birmingham, Alabama, the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., and Merkin Hall at Lincoln Center, among others.
In his already extensive career, Francesco has been on the coaching faculty at Saluzzo Opera Academy in Italy in 2021 and was an Opera Coaching Fellow at Aspen Music Festival in 2022. He has performed Rachmaninoff’s 1st Piano Concerto, as well as on the national Danish Radio (DR P2), in Italy and in Austria, and at various chamber music festivals across Denmark, including the Hindsgavl Festival.
Francesco is currently pursuing the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at The Juilliard School, where he also completed a master’s degree as a Kovner Fellow. He also holds degrees from The Royal Danish Academy of Music and Rutgers University, where he won the concerto competition in 2018.