Meet the Artists: The Spirits
This is a special “Meet the Artist” blog post. We don’t often have the opportunity to highlight the achievements and talents of very young singers. Today, we bring you four members of the Metropolitan Boys Choir of Minneapolis/Saint Paul who sing the roles of the Spirits in our February 22 and 24, 2013 production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute.
The four boys and Boys Choir Director, Bea Hasselmann, will be in Omaha during the first two weekend in February and then take up temporary residence for two weeks as they rehearse to perform their roles. We are thrilled to have Camilo, Joseph, Matt, and Riley join us and be part of this professional opera production! Welcome to Omaha!
The photo above is from the San Francisco production of The Magic Flute and appears here courtesy of photographer Takashi Hatakeyama. This same Jun Kaneko-designed production, including costumes, is what you will see on the beautiful Orpheum Theater stage when you Opera Omaha presents the opera on February 22 and 24, 2013. The photo illustrates the positioning of the Spirits as they “fly” over the stage.
Don’t miss this beautiful production of Mozart’s classic opera. It has humor, drama, and flying children. That’s entertainment! Tickets are still available for both dates by calling 402-345-0606 or online through Ticket Omaha.
More information about the Metropolitan Boys Choir of Minneapolis/Saint Paul is available on the organization’s website.
Director Bea Hasselmann’s biography from our program is below.
Bea Hasselmann is the founder/Music Director of the Metropolitan Boys Choir, a successful program for boys’ voices that has been in existence for forty-two years. She has taught music in schools to students in grade, junior, senior high schools and college. She has received numerous awards from music fraternities/organizations and the State of Minnesota. She served as a chairperson of state and national committees for the American Choral Directors Association and has been a choral clinician/speaker for music conventions and festivals in numerous states and at an International Choral Symposium at Yale University in 2012. In 2000 she created a music program at the Minnesota Correctional Facility of Red Wing for men, a program that has generated national and international interest.