I could have danced all night! The New Haven Symphony Orchestra (NHSO) will perform its first musical, Lerner & Lowe’s My Fair Lady, in concert Saturday, March 18 at 2:30pm at Hamden Middle School and Sunday, March 19 at 3:00pm at Shelton High School.
NHSO Principal Pops Conductor Chelsea Tipton will conduct these “concertized” performances directed by Wendy Morgan-Hunter with the orchestra live on stage. The performances will feature Lisa Williamson as Eliza Doolittle; Gary Harger as Henry Higgins; George McTyre as Colonel Pickering & Alfred Doolittle; Charlie Widmer as Freddy Eynsford-Hill; and Michael Constantino as the Narrator and Harry.
Described by the Washington Post as “silvery of voice” and “a showstopper,” soprano Lisa Williamson has forged a diverse career that has taken her around the world from Carnegie Hall to the Indianapolis Brickyard. Ms. Williamson holds degrees from the Yale School of Music, the University of Connecticut, and the Peabody Conservatory of Music. She has been a young artist at The Glimmerglass Festival, Chautauqua Opera, and Connecticut Opera and has been an award winner in competitions with The Metropolitan Opera National Council, Connecticut Opera Guild, and Annapolis Opera. From 2005-2010, Ms. Williamson was the vocal soloist with The United States Coast Guard Band. In this high-profile position she sang over 200 performances in 34 states, throughout Japan, and performed the National Anthem at the Indianapolis 500.
Versatile singer/actor Gary Harger has appeared on Broadway, (Shenandoah – The Corporal) National Tours, (Les Miserables – Enjolras, West Side Story – Tony) and has starred in dozens of musicals, plays, and operettas in regional theatres across the country. He has also appeared with the San Francisco Opera, Dallas Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Florida Grand Opera, Virginia Opera, and the Wexford Festival in Ireland. His NYC concert appearances include Handel’s Israel in Egypt at Lincoln Center and Schubert’s Mass in G at Carnegie Hall. A resident of Orange, CT, Gary is the Cantor, organist/pianist, and Music Director at Saint Lawrence Church in Huntington, CT, and teaches at Neighborhood Music School in New Haven.
George McTyre has previously performed with the National Opera Company, Ohio Light Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Waco Summer Musicals, North Carolina Theatre, American Baroque Orchestra, North Carolina Symphony, Waco Lyric Opera, Dallas Light Opera, and Long Wharf Theatre. George will appear in the upcoming movies Michael Lawrence (2017) and Silenced (2018). He appeared most recently with the NHSO in their Family Concert Series as “Dr. Beat.”
Charles Widmer is a young, up-and-coming tenor from Oxford, CT. A recent graduate from Western Connecticut State University, he received the James Sommers Opera Scholarship, placed first in the 2015 NATS Regional Competition, and won the James Furman Honors Recital three consecutive years (2014, 2015, 2016). His most recent performing credit was in a world premier as Utamaro in Samurai by Elsa Respighi (wife of Ottorino Respighi) with the Hartford Opera Theater.
A well-known bass-baritone in Connecticut, Michael Costantino’s singing spans a wide range of styles and roles. Costantino also arranges, conducts, composes, acts, directs, teaches, does voice-overs, and is a digital recording engineer, all the while holding down a career as a User Experience Architect for Warner Music Group. His undergraduate degrees are in Music and Astrophysics from Williams College, and his graduate degrees are in Voice and Conducting from the University of Michigan.
Program: Selections from Lerner & Lowe’s My Fair Lady, including Why Can’t the English?; Wouldn’t it be Loverly?; With A Little Bit of Luck; I’m an Ordinary Man; Just You Wait; The Rain in Spain; I Could Have Danced All Night; On The Street Where You Live; You Did It; Show Me; Get Me to the Church on Time; Without You; and I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face
Tickets: Single tickets are $35 – $49. Student tickets are $10 with ID. KidTix (children ages 7-17) are free with the purchase of an adult ticket. Blue Star Tickets for active military personnel and their immediate families are free. To purchase tickets or for more information contact the NHSO Box Office at 203.865.0831 x20 or visit www.NewHavenSymphony.org.
The 2016 – 2017 Hamden Pops Series is sponsored by The Whitney Center. The 2016 – 2017 Shelton Pops Series is sponsored by RD Scinto, Inc. The guest artist co-sponsor is the Jewish Foundation of Greater New Haven. The Hamden Pops Series media sponsor is WQUN. KidTix and Blue Star Tickets are sponsored by Frontier Communications.
