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Event
Annual Spring Gala Honoring Francisco Casanova
Francisco Casanova first appeared on NRO's stage in our 1987 production of Madama Butterfly. He has had an illustrious opera career performing on stages throughout the world, including the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Theatre dell'Opera di Roma, and many more.
The Gala will include a short presentation by Mr. Casanova's voice students.
Praised for his expressive bel canto style, in the tradition of Aureliano Pertile and Pier Miranda Ferraro, Francisco Casanova sang for 25 years in the great theaters of the world, performing an extensive repertory comprising a total of 56 leading tenor roles--twenty two by Giuseppe Verdi alone. His interpretations of the Jew Eleazar, Mario Cavaradossi, Manrico, Arrigo (both in I Vespri Siciliani and La Battaglia di Legnano), Henri (Les Vepres Siciliennes), Riccardo (Un Ballo in Maschera), Enzo Grimaldo (La Gioconda) and Didier (Marion Delorme, both by Amilcare Ponchielli); the tenor of Verdi`s Messa da Requiem, Jacopo Foscari (I due Foscari) and Avito (LAmore dei Tre Re, Italo Montemezzi) have elicited enthusiastic applause from audiences as well as positive commentaries from the press.
Francisco hails from the town of Santa Cruz del Seybo in the Dominican Republic. He started his music studies with his mother, Barbara Casanova de Chahin, at the age of six, and at seven he started studying solfege and music theory with Maestro Cuto Estevez at the Municipal Music Academy of his hometown. He belongs to a family of musicians: his father, Alfredo Chahin, was a tenor and also played the violin and his siblings all had good voices and sang in the local musical affairs of his hometown.
At the age of 16, he started his singing studies at the National Conservatory of Music of Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic)with tenor Maestro Rafael Sanchez Cestero, learning a large amount of repertory, while at the same time completing his degree of Teacher of Solfege and Music Theory and Harmony.
At the age of twenty, Francisco moved to New York City, where he studied for several years with Italian baritone Luigi Veccia. Mr. Casanova went on to study singing with late Italian tenor Maestro Pier Miranda Ferraro who was his mentor for 20 years, until Maestro Ferraros death in 2008. Maestro Ferraro took him under his under his tutelage and taught him the bel canto method.
Francisco has been honored with many awards worldwide, amongst them the Beniamino Gigli dOro in 2004 and 2007--the first non-Italian singer ever to receive this particular award. Awards also include: Berlin Opera Singer of the Year (2002), The First Grand Prize for Male Voices of the La Traviata (Barcelona, Spain 1990), the Second Prize for Male Voices of the Bilbao III Singing Competition(Bilbao, Spain 1990). In 2000, Mr. Casanova was made honorary member of the Board of Directors of the International Institute of Verdi Studies. He was a National Finalist of the Metropolitan Opera Guild Singing Competition in 1989. In 2001, he recorded live for Radio France Amilcare Ponchiellis last opera, Marion Delorme; the recording of which won the Prix du Disc in 2002 in France.
In 2009, Mr. Casanova opened his singing school in New York City, called Singing Academy Maestro Pier Miranda Ferraro. In his studio, he has worked with dozens of singers from many parts of the world, many of which are currently appearing in leading roles in important houses around the world, such as Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall of New York City, the Rome Opera House, the theaters of Bari, Cagliari, Arena di Verona, RAI of Torino, Los Angeles, Chicago and many other notable venues.
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LocationThe Fountainhead (View)
55 Quaker Ridge Road
New Rochelle, NY 10804
United States
Categories
| Minimum Age: 16 |
| Kid Friendly: Yes! |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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