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He's still a student, but one of the featured soloists in the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus' "Tribute to Opera" concert on Saturday is a veteran performer here.
Luther Lewis III, a 23-year-old senior in the University of Kentucky Opera Theatre, was a Signature School junior when he performed in the chorus of the philharmonic concert version "Carmen," and a senior when he sang the role of Crab Man in the philharmonic's "Porgy and Bess."
Lewis also performed the title role in an Evansville production of "Brundibar," a children's opera that premiered in World War II in a concentration camp in occupied Czechoslovakia.
He's performed in two Three Tenors concerts presented by vocal teacher Jerry Hoover, and he returns each year to sing in Christmas programs at Trinity United Methodist Church, where Hoover is music director.
Since leaving Evansville, Luther has sung numerous roles, including the part of Jesus in "Godspell" and Nanki Poo in "The Mikado" at Oberlin Conservatory of Music and Parpignol in "La Boheme" and Normanno in "Lucia di Lammermoor" at the University of Kentucky.
Saturday, Lewis will sing "It Ain't Necessarily So," one of two selections from George and Ira Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess" on the program.
The concert will feature an overture, 16 soloists and the Philharmonic Chorus in selections from nine operas staged by the philharmonic over 75 years. They include Gioacchino Rossini's "The Barber of Seville," Giuseppe Verdi's "La Traviata" and "Rigoletto," Giacomo Puccini's "Madama Butterfly" and "La Boheme," Modest Mussorgsky's "Boris Godunov," Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro" and Georges Bizet's "Carmen."
All will be "completely staged" presentations, says the orchestra's music director, Alfred Savia, with the guest artists' appearances underwritten by the William E. Schmidt Foundation, which brings up another connection for Lewis. He competed for three years in a scholarship competition presented in Evansville by the Schmidt Foundation, he said, winning "a big encouragement award my third year."
If you go
What: Soloists, including Luther Lewis III right, from the University of Kentucky Opera Theatre will join the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus for "Tribute to Opera."
When: Box office opens 5:30 p.m. Pre-concert talk begins at 6:45 p.m., performance at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
Where: The Victory
Tickets: $15 to $61 for adults, $5 to $61 for children 12 and younger, $10.50 at the door for students after 6:30 p.m.
Information: Call (812) 425-5050 for reservations or information or go to www.evansvillephilharmonic.org
Broadcast: A digital recording of the concert will air at 7 p.m., Dec. 6, on WNIN 88.3 FM
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2009/nov/19/philharmonics-opera-tribute-will-include-local/
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