Lied with LOLA
Join us for Lied with LOLA - on November 30th from 6-8:30 (cocktails and hors d'oeuvres from 6-7, concert 7-8:30) at Draylen Mason Music Studio at KMFA 89.5 41 Navasota Street Austin, TX 78702 - a musical journey exploring the depths of a watery realm centered on telling the story of Undina, our favorite ill-fated water spirit. The program features timeless classics along with modern gems and the new cantata, "Undina Speaks" by composer Keith Allegretti and librettist Amy Herman. Performances by a dazzling array of artists based in central Texas: Jill Grove, Icy Monroe, Julia Taylor, Scott Clark, Brad Baker, Jordan Walsh, Andrei Zimbalist, Chrissy Whitford, and Anthony Basini.
Amy Herman
Amy, an exciting new librettist and composer, has been fascinated with language, translation, and music since she was in grade school. She currently resides in Austin, TX where she teaches Piano at the Armstrong Community Music School. Her recent composition "I speak with many voices" (an Old English riddle poem that Amy also translated) was premiered at the KMFA Draylen Mason studio earlier this month. Amy studied German language and literature at Middlebury Language Schools and did her undergraduate studies at Sarah Lawrence College.
Andrei Zimbalist
Andrei Zimbalist (Tcymbalistenko) is a talented virtuoso pianist who began studying music professionally at the age of 6 and received his Master's degree from legendary Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory (University) in 2013. His teacher was a Prof. Zinaida Ignatieva, a prizewinner of the very prestigious International Frédéric Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw (1960) and a student of the outstanding Russian pianist and composer Samuil Feinberg.
Anthony Basini
Anthony is a guitarist, singer, composer and educator who has been professionally performing since 2009. Basini spent his college career at a multitude of institutions including the world-renowned Berklee College of Music, where he studied under the likes of Walter Beasley, Don Lappin, Omar Thomas, and Thaddeus Hogarth, among others.
Icy Monroe
Ms. Monroe has been hailed as a passionate singer whose love for music flows through everyone that hears her. Ms. Monroe’s grace and talent has been conveyed through many roles including Gretel in Hansel and Gretel, Despina in Così fan Tutte, and Catherine in A View from the Bridge. By 2011, Ms. Monroe had won multiple awards, including winner of the State and Regional National Association of Teachers of Singing Competitions (NATs), District Metropolitan Opera Auditions, and the People’s Choice Award in the Dallas Opera Guild Competition, among numerous other awards.
J. Bradley Baker
A 2020 National Finalist for the American Prize in Solo Piano, J. Bradley Baker’s performances have been heard in concert halls throughout the United States, France, Italy, and Canada. He has been recorded by the Navona Records and Centaur Records labels and broadcast on public radio stations throughout the United States and United Kingdom.
Jill Grove
Praised by the Chicago Tribune for her “firmly knit tone from top to bottom of an imposingly wide range,” in the 2023/24 season, American mezzo-soprano Jill Grove returns to the role of Klytaemnestra in Elektra with Dallas Opera, sings Fricka in Das Rheingold with Calgary Opera, Mamma Lucia in Cavalleria rusticana with Kansas City Opera, and Gertrude in Romeo et Juliette with Washington National Opera. Last season, she returned to the Lyric Opera of Chicago as the Witch in Hansel und Gretel, and made her Portland Opera debut as Ježibaba in Rusalka.
Jordan Walsh
Jordan is a percussionist, audio engineer, and educator based in Austin, Texas. A proponent of electronics and theater in music, he strives to perform the most absurd music with the most genuine fervor. Jordan frequently commissions and performs new works in both chamber and solo settings, including recent collaborations with composers including Elainie Lillios, Akshaya Avril Tucker, Kitty Xiao, and José Martinez. Frequently engaged as a solo performer, Jordan has appeared as a performer at the SEAMUS conference, the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, and the University of Alabama, with an upcoming residency at Purdue University.
Julia Taylor
Soprano, Julia Taylor, has previously performed as a soloist with the Austin Symphony Orchestra in Bruckner's Te deum and Handel's Messiah, with Chorus Austin in Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass and Mozart's Exultate Jubilate and with the Austin Chamber Music Festival in Philip Glass' Songs of Longing. Operatic roles include Curley's Wife in Floyd's Of Mice and Men and Frasquita in Bizet's Carmen with Austin Opera, Mimi in LOLA Opera's production of La femme boheme and the Queen of the Night in the University of Texas Butler Opera Center's Die Zauberfloete.
Keith Allegretti
A native of Santa Fe, New Mexico, Keith is a composer and pianist who enjoys working comfortably in many genres, including chamber, orchestral, vocal, and electronic music. Recently, his music has been performed at several concert series including Chicago Lyric Opera's Beyond the Aria, Latitude 49's Bagatelles Project, and Tetractys New Music's Here be Monsters. His opera Good Country, a chamber Western based on a libretto by Cecelia Raker about Charley Parkhurst, a trans stagecoach driver in the California Gold Rush, received its workshop performance at the University of Texas thanks to a grant from UT's College of Fine Arts Diversity Committee in 2019. It has since been performed by Local Opera Local Artists (LOLA) and Portland State University.
Kris Dani
Kris is a passionate musician, singer/songwriter, and teacher. She has a Master of Music in voice from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. Her classical training has provided the tools to respect musical theory and form, whereas her varied performance experiences and influences in many genres including opera, jazz, pop, soul, and folk have strengthened her unique voice and musical versatility. You can enjoy her EP, "Fire" on all streaming platforms including ITunes/Apple Music, Spotify etc.
Lisa Goering
Lisa’s stage management credits include: Middletown, A Midsummer Night's Dream, A Flea in Her Ear (St. Edward's University); Hedda Gabler, As You Like It, A Streetcar Named Desire (Austin Shakespeare); The Who's Tommy, Ragtime, The Drowsy Chaperone, RENT, Hairspray (ZACH Theatre); Little Shop of Horrors (Zilker Theatre Productions); and It's A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play (Penfold Theatre Company). Lisa has also worked as an ASM for Austin Opera, and as the Production Manager for Jarrott Productions and ZTP. In addition, Lisa works as a costume technician locally and regionally.
Liz Cass
Liz is a producer, educator, arts leader, and active operatic performer based in Austin, Texas. She is the founder and executive producer of the award-winning opera company LOLA (Local Opera Local Artists), and executive director of the Armstrong Community Music School.
A passionate advocate for the arts, Liz is president of the Seagle Festival Alumni Association, secretary of Austin Classical Guitar and a member of the community advisory board of KMFA 89.5, Austin’s classical music radio station.
Rebecca Herman
Rebecca, the Artistic Producer of Local Opera Local Artists (LOLA) in Austin, TX & opera stage director, is a storyteller who thrives on surprising, exciting, & moving audiences large & small. She is the Associate Director for Tomer Zvulun’s production of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, recently seen at Calgary Opera and Utah Opera. In the 23-24 season, she is excited to be joining Colorado Opera as assistant director for Don Giovani, Opera Omaha as assistant director for La Traviata, and returning to Austin Opera to direct Carmen.
Scott Clark
American Baritone, Scott Clark, feels right at home as an interpreter of new work. He created the role of F. Scott Fitzgerald in the new opera The Ghosts of Gatsby by Evan Mack and Joshua McGuire. He also starred as Homecoming Soldier in Seagle Music Festival’s production The Falling and the Rising by Zach Redler and Jerre Dye. Scott was a Resident Artist with the Opera Columbus and Capital University joint program, where he performed the role of Marco in Gianni Schicchi. Clark was an emerging artist at Seagle Music Festival for two summers; there, he performed the roles of Belcore in L’elisir d’amore and Papageno in Die Zauberflöte. He has been a young artist with Houston Grand Opera’s “Opera to Go” program singing the role of Belcore in The Elixir of Love.