Concert | Venue | Soloists | Preview

Handel's Messiah     Saturday, December 17, 2005, 8:00 p.m. Bel Air Presbyterian Church With UCLA Chorale and the American Youth Symphony

Soprano Hhori Dastoor earned her M.M. from the University of California Los Angeles this past spring where she was the recipient of the Dean’s Award for the School of Arts and Architecture. A native of Pasadena, Ms. Dastoor retuned to Southern California after graduating with honors from the New England Conservatory of Music. A student of Vladimir Chernov, Ms. Dastoor has been performing throughout Los Angeles in such venues as the Cerritos Performing Arts Center, Pasadena Civic Auditorium, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Beckman Auditorium, Zipper Hall at the Colburn School, the Los Angeles Theatre Center, Royce Hall, and the Ambassador Auditorium. In 1990 at the age of 19, Ms. Dastoor made her professional debut in a major rôle with Boston’s Publick Theatre, performing as Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance, and made her international debut last Christmas, performing as the featured soloist with the Presidential Philharmonic Orchestra in Ankara, Turkey. Khori has performed leading rôles for the Community Programs division of the Los Angeles Opera for three seasons, and recently performed the rôle of “Sophie de Palma” in the critically acclaimed revival of Master Class for both the Fountain Theatre and the Odyssey Theatre. While at UCLA, Dastoor performed the rôles of Fiordiligi in Cosí fan Tutte, La Novia in the world premiere of Lorca: Child of the Moon, the title rôle in Lakmé, Miss Wordsworth in Britten’s Albert Herring, and Maria in West Side Story. Ms. Dastoor frequently appears is recital with Suzanna Guzmàn, and will soon appear with the famed mezzo-soprano once again, performing the role of Gretel in an upcoming production of Humperdinck’s masterpiece with the California Philharmonic. The duo recently performed a concert of Mozart arias and duets with the Los Angeles Mozart Orchestra Chamber Series, as well as performing Don’t Be Afraid, It’s Just Opera! in the Grand Hall at the Dorothy Chandler for local children. Additional upcoming engagements include a performance of Handel’s Messiah with the Angeles Chorale and the American Youth Symphony, as well as her radio debut on KMOZART”S “Sundays Live” Chamber Series. Khori was a district winner at this season’s MONC Auditions, and has won the Glendale Symphony Orchestra Young Artists competition, the Pasadena Fine Arts Club competition, and the Carol Burnett Awards, and is a recipient of merit awards from Aspen Opera Theatre, the Opera Buffs of Los Angeles, the Royal Academy of Music in London, the National Association of Teachers of Singing, the Elaine Krown Klein Scholars Foundation, and the Gluck Foundation. When not making music, Khori enjoys working at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and taking her dog to the park. “Everyone in the cast sang well: Dastoor superlatively. I stopped breathing when she launched her cadenzas, afraid to miss a nanosecond of her liquid silver sound.” -Aisle Say Boston, 2000

Mezzo Soprano Kelly O'Conner has received international critical acclaim portraying Federico Garcia Lorca in Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar. She created the role for the world premiere at Tanglewood under the baton of Robert Spano and has subsequently joined Miguel Harth-Bedoya for performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Walt Disney Hall. This past summer she reprised her potrayal of Lorca in the world premiere of the revised edition of Ainadamar at Santa Fe Opera in a new staging by Peter Sellars, which is to be presented at Lincoln Center in January 2006. For her debut with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, also in Ainadamar, she joined Mr. Spano for performances and a Deutsche Grammophon recording. Ms. O’Connor’s recent engagements have included performances with the Cleveland Orchestra of Stravinsky’s Requiem Canticles with Franz Welser-Most conducting and with the American Youth Symphony in Mahler’s Symphony #2 under the baton of Alexander Treger. Last spring she appeared with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in performances of Berio’s Laborintus II and Dvorak’s Moravian Duets with conductors Esa-Pekka Salonen and Iván Fischer respectively. Kelley O’Connor holds a bachelor of music degree from the University of Southern California and a master’s degree from the University of California at Los Angeles. Her teacher is Nina Hinson.

Lyric Tenor Timothy Gonzales is pleased to be making his debut with the Angeles Chorale. Mr. Gonzales has sung with such conductors as Maestro Donald Neuen, John Debney, H. Vincent Mizzelfelt, and Dr. William Denning. He has toured Europe and China as a tenor soloist with the Camarata of Los Angeles and the Cal-Zona Chorale.

As a concert singer, Mr. Gonzales has performed in over 20 oratorios and masses including Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s Magnificat, The Passion St. Matthew and St. John, and Mendelssohn‘s Elijah. Mr. Gonzales is a professional singer with the famed Hour of Power Choir of the Crystal Cathedral of Garden Grove under the direction of Maestro Donald Neuen. He attends USC’s Flora L. Thornton School of Music where he pursues a Bachelor’s of Music in the Vocal Performing Arts. He studies with the noted mezzo-soprano of Metropolitan opera fame, Ms. Cynthia Munzer.

Baritone In Joon Jang, a native of Korea, received a Bachelor of Music in piano performance at Kye-Myung University in Korea. He earned his Master of Music in voice degree in 1999 at UCLA, where he is currently completing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree.

With Opera UCLA he has sung the roles of Mr. Director and Presto in Poulenc's Les Mamelles de Tiresias, Simone in Gianni Schicchi, Olin Blitch in Carlisle Floyd's Susannah, Nardo in Mozart's La Finta Giardiniera and the title role of Don Giovanni at Royce Hall. He has also heard as Bonzo in Puccini's Madama Butterfly with Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl and Schaunard in the student matinee performance of La Boheme with Los Angeles Opera where he has appeared in numerous productions. He sang the role of Yamadori in Madama Butterfly, Le Bret in Cyrano de Bergerac, Sciarrone in Tosca and Ping in Turandot with Opera Pacific.

Winner of first place in the Loren L. Zachary Society National Vocal Competition 2002, the Metropolitan Opera National Council Western Regional Auditions 2002, Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation International Vocal Competetion, he joined San Francisco Opera's Merola Program in 2002. In April 2003, he won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Grand Final Audition.

His oratorio credits include Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Bach's Magnificat, Beethoven's Missa Solemnis and 9th Symphony, Haydn's Third Mass (The Imperial) and Creation, Mozart's Requiem, Handel's Messiah, Verdi’s Requiem and Puccini's Messa di Gloria and and Orff's Carmina Burana.

He has sung with numerous orchestra and choir such as Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pacific Symphony, California Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, San Francisco Opera Orchestra, Angeles Chorale, Verdi Chorus, Muncie Symphony and Master Chorale, Sacramento Choral Society and Orchestra, Ventura Master Chorale, San Louis Obispo Master Chorale and Paulister Choir.