SAVANNAH VOICE FESTIVAL AND SAVANNAH MUSIC FESTIVAL ANNOUNCE MARCH 2015 PUCCINI OPERA
On opening weekend of the 2015 Savannah Music Festival, the Savannah VOICE Festival (SVF) and Savannah Music Festival (SMF) will co-produce a full-scale opera – a first in the SMF’s 26-year history. Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and Suor Angelica will be presented on Friday March 20th and
Sunday March 22nd 2015 at the Lucas Theatre for the Arts, featuring the Savannah Philharmonic.
Known across the globe for its rich history and vibrant arts scene, Savannah is now the hostess city for a wide
range of musical arts. This new operatic collaboration between the SVF and SMF featuring two of Puccini’s three
part series of one act operas will be conducted by Eugene Kohn, with baritone Mark Delavan and soprano
Veronica Villaroel in the title roles, directed by Joachim Schamberger.
The 2015 opera will be a highlight of Sherrill Milnes’ 80th birthday year celebration. Milnes is America’s most
recorded opera singer and three-time GRAMMY award-winning baritone who founded VOICExperience with
his wife, soprano Maria Zouves. Together they launched the first Savannah VOICE Festival in 2013 with the
help of city leaders. Now in its second season (August 1 – 17, 2014), SVF brings more than 60 singers to the city,
offering performances and community outreach in and around Savannah. The Festival events range from a
production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, concerts of sacred music, Broadway, arias and popular song to master
classes led by Milnes and other Faculty members. For information on remaining VOICE Festival 2014 events,
visit www.savannahvoicefestival.org. “As the city’s musical offerings expand,” says Milnes, “we hope our work
gives music lovers one more reason to visit Savannah.”
Though it has a history of presenting recitals by the world’s great vocalists, this is the Savannah Music
Festival’s first full opera production. In addition to year-round broadcast, outreach and education programs, SMF
produces a pioneering cross-genre music festival with more than 100 concerts over 17 days. Of SMF, Financial
Times wrote, “the diverse modes of musical expression co-exist with utter equanimity in this beguiling port city.”
Opera tickets go on sale with the complete SMF 2015 schedule on November 6, 2014, and can be purchased
online at www.savannahmusicfestival.org, by phone at 912.525.5050 or in person at the Savannah Box Office at
216 E. Broughton Street.