WAGNER’S 1ST ALBANIAN BIRTHDAY CONCERT! A Free Concert

Roy Stevens, Tenor; Annalisa Winberg, soprano; Carolina Stevens, soprano; Richard Goodman, baritone all accompanied by Jonathan Khuner.

This free concert will feature music from Tannhäuser, Die Walküre and an aria from Verdi’s Falstaff and as a special surprise Roy Stevens will sing an aria from Jakova’s opera Skanderbeg sung in Albanian.

Roy Stevens and Jonathan Khuner are embarking on a project to bring Wagner’s Tannhäuser to Tirana, Albania – this would be the first time any of Wagner’s operas will be performed in Albania. This concert is free of charge and Roy and Jonathan will talk about their project. Those who are inclined to do so can make a free-will contribution to a fund to help them reach their goal.

Roy Stevens, Annalisa Winberg and Jonathan Khuner are all grant recipients of  the Wagner Society of Northern California William O. Cord Memorial Grant Fund.

About the National Theater of Albania (TKOB)
2013 is the 200th anniversary of Wagner’s birth and the 60th anniversary of the National Theater of Albania, where for the first decades of the theater’s existence, most foreign culture and music was forbidden.  In the years since the Hoxha Regime fell, the General Director of TKOB, Maestro Zhani Ciko, has diligently introduced most of the world’s great composers to Albania, but has left Wagner to the last, due to the extra resources and skills required to mount Wagner’s great operas.  The TKOB has adequate internal funding and resources for the basic production needs; costumes, sets, normal chorus and orchestra, Albanian soloists.  However, the hard currency for outside experts and their travel/lodging is very difficult to come by, in addition to the extra funds needed for hiring extra chorus & instrumentalists and a special commemorative program book for the audience.

-Free-will contributions are tax deductible
-The fund will be used to help the National Opera of Albania (TKOB) with the extra costs of mounting the first-ever Wagner opera in the history of the country.  These extra costs include: extra chorus, extra instrumentalists, commemorative program for the audience, travel and lodging costs for the artists who are helping to mount, direct, conduct and star in the opera, as well as training the Albanian artists, orchestra and chorus to enable future Wagner productions.

Piedmont Piano has relocated to a spacious new location in Oakland’s trendy Uptown District at 18th and San Pablo Avenue. Piedmont Piano is just around the corner from Oakland’s famed Fox Theater and 2 blocks from the 19th Street BART Station. There is ample street parking and also a large adjacent parking lot which charges a small fee.

Piedmont Piano has a fantastic high-ceiling salon with a raised stage for the piano, ideal for intimate music programs. The Callahan Family has a noted music program at Piedmont Piano. They host over 100 concerts per year at their store, primarily jazz music but they are moving into the classical music genre. Piedmont Piano has a showroom filled with beautiful Yamaha, Steinway, Fazoli, Mason & Hamlin and Bluthner pianos.

http://www.piedmontpiano.com/

The photo is of Roy Stevens performing in the Albanian opera Skanderbeg.