Presented by ePOP
Thursday, August 1, 2024
6:00 – 7:00 PM
Dilworth Park
1 S 15th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19102
East Passyunk Opera Project returns this year to The Arts on Center Stage at Dilworth Park for an evening of the greatest hits from opera and musical theater in the impressive shadow of Philadelphia's City Hall!
The concert stars vocalists who perform all over the world who have made Philadelphia their home! Artists include mezzo-soprano Lauren Cook, baritone Brian James Myer, soprano Olivia Prendergast, and pianist Aurelien Eulert.
Performance from 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. | Free and open to the public
Bring-your-own blanket or chair encouraged. Seating in the Greenfield Lawn is limited.
Supported by PNC Bank
The Arts on Center Stage is generously supported with funds
from the Center City District Foundation (CCDF).
Programs are weather permitting and subject to change.
Event Photos by Victoria Wilcox
PROGRAM
Aurelien Eulert,
Pianist
Champagne Trio
from Die Fledermaus
Johann Strauss II
— Olivia Prendergast, Lauren Cook, & Brian James Myer
Some Enchanted Evening
from South Pacific
Rodgers & Hammerstein
— Brian James Myer
Tornami a vagheggiar
from Alcina
George Frideric Handel
— Olivia Prendergast
Voi che sapete
from Le nozze di Figaro
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
— Lauren Cook
Papageno, Papagena
from Die Zauberflöte
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
— Olivia Prendergast & Brian James Myer
Va! Laissez couler mes larmes
from Werther
Jules Massenet
— Lauren Cook
Pierrot's Tanzlied
from Die tote Stadt
Erich Wolfgang Korngold
— Brian James Myer
Part of Your World
from The Little Mermaid
Menken & Ashman
— Olivia Prendergast
For Good
from Wicked
Stephen Schwartz
— Olivia Prendergast & Lauren Cook
Come un' ape ne' giorni d'Aprile
from La Cenerentola
Gioachino Rossini
— Brian James Myer
Una voce poco fa
from Il barbiere di Siviglia
Gioachino Rossini
— Lauren Cook
Je veux vivre
from Roméo et Juliette
Charles Gounod
— Olivia Prendergast
Soave sia il vento
from Così fan tutte
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
— Olivia Prendergast, Lauren Cook, & Brian James Myer
*program subject to change without notice
Artist Biographies
Lauren Cook, mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano Lauren Cook continues to garner acclaim for her captivating stage presence, “full bodied" (Indie Opera), and "nuanced voice” (Boston Musical Intelligencer). In 2023, Cook returned to Arizona Opera to perform Sister Berthe in Francesca Zambello’s The Sound of Music as well as Zweite Dame in Die Zauberflöte. Following, Cook made her company and role debuts performing Ava in Rocking Horse Winner with Opera Maine. She then made her Academy of Music debut stepping in as Ancella in Simon Boccanegra with Opera Philadelphia. While there, she also covered the roles of Nurse/Matron in the World Premiere of Rene Orth’s 10 Days in a Madhouse. Cook closed out 2023 with a return to Virginia Opera for her role debut of Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, followed by a concert at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2024, Cook returns to Arizona Opera to debut Berta in Josh Borth's production of Il barbiere di Siviglia, as well as Stéphano in Patricia Racette’s Roméo et Juliette. She will continue the season as a featured soloist with the Philadelphia Ballet in their upcoming production of The Dream. Afterwards, Cook will head to Omaha to perform as a soloist in the recital series It's About Time with Salt Creek Song Festival.
Aurelien Eulert, pianist
Hailing from Alsace, France, Aurelien Eulert made his U.S. house debut in 2014 with Palm Beach Opera as diction coach for their production of Les Contes d’Hoffmann and head coach for the Young Artist Program. Since then, he has been on the music staff of Charlottesville Opera, Opera Memphis, Opera Roanoke, Palm Beach Opera, Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, USC Thornton Opera, UCLA Alpert School of Music, Pacific Opera Project and the Los Angeles Opera Education department. Aurelien has played for acclaimed singers such as Marilyn Horne, Phyllis Curtin, Dawn Upshaw, Frederica von Stade and Rod Gilfry. He has assisted and performed under conductors such as James Conlon, Robert Spano and John Williams. In 2019, Aurelien was named Head of Music Staff at OperaDelaware, and was instrumental in launching the company’s Young Artist Program. He had previously held the position of Chorus Master and Principal Pianist since 2017. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, he was instrumental in OperaDelaware’s switch to digital and outdoor performances and continues to manage the acclaimed Pop-Up Opera program with outdoor presentations on the company’s mobile stage. Aurelien’s 2021/22 season included a return to the theatre stage with OperaDelaware’s productions of Don Pasquale, The Barber of Seville and The Marriage of Figaro, and a debut with Opera Southwest for Pelléas et Mélisande. His 2022/23 season includes debuts with Opera Philadelphia, Opera Baltimore and Intermountain Opera Bozeman. Aurelien holds degrees from the Conservatoire National de Strasbourg, Syracuse University and the University of Southern California, and attended the Tanglewood Music Center in the summer of 2010.
Brian James Myer, baritone
Baritone Brian James Myer has been praised as an artist of "both voice and character to make him stand out in the crowd" (Sarasota Observer). In the spring of 2021, Mr. Myer returned to New York City Opera as Alberto in their workshop of The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (Gordon/Korie) and in the 2021-2022 season, he reprised the role in the opera's world premiere (a recording of the opera will also take place in 2023), joined the roster of The Metropolitan Opera as the cover of Marcellus/Player 4 in Brett Dean's Hamlet, made his Opera Delaware and Baltimore Concert Opera debuts as the title character in I barbiere di Siviglia and joined the Bard Symphony Orchestra as Second Nazarene in Salome, and made his Berkshire Opera Festival debut as Masetto in Don Giovanni. In 2022-23, he covers Morbio in Strauss' Die Schweigsame Frau with Bard Summerscape, returns to Opera San Jose as Minister in Alma Deutscher's Cinderella, joins Brooklyn Art Song Society for selections by Ivor Gurney and Gerald Finzi, returns to Opera Orlando as Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, rejoins Opera Las Vegas as David Miller in Approaching Ali, joins Symphony San Jose as the baritone soloist in Carmina Burana, and debuts the role of Count Almaviva with Tri-Cities Opera and Syracuse Opera.
Olivia Prendergast, soprano
In the 23/24 season, Olivia joins Opera Theatre of St. Louis covering Cleopatra (Julius Caesar) and Marie de’Medici (Galileo Galilei). She also made her debut with Livermore Valley Opera Company as Pamina in their outreach production of The Magic Flute. Equally comfortable as a choral artist, she substitutes regularly with The Crossing, premiering David Lang’s new major work, “poor hymnal” in December, and Harold Meltzer’s “You Are Who I Love” with Sandbox Percussion in March. Olivia performs with the East Passyunk Opera Project (ePOP for short!) in their Italian opera extravaganza at Reading Terminal, singing selections from La Traviata as Violetta, Rigoletto as Gilda, and Lakmé as Lakmé.
In her second season with the Merola Opera Program, she performed as Lucia in The Rape of Lucretia by Benjamin Britten. For the Merola Grand Finale, she sang a flirtatious zarzuela duet as Carolina (Louisa Fernanda), and in the Act 1 sextet as Zerlina (Don Giovanni). She previously sang with Merola in 2022 as First Spirit and covered Papagena in their full production of Die Zauberflöte. Olivia also crooned oldies with Craig Terry, and joyfully explored the French repertoire in Merola’s Grand Finale as Juliette (Roméo et Juliette) and Frasquita (Carmen) with “outstanding projection” (The Classical Voice, San Francisco) on the stage of the San Francisco Opera.
© by East Passyunk Opera Project 2020