Serenades and Concerts

Dramatic coloratura soprano Mary Johnston Letellier (she/her/hers) brings her warm, expressive voice and strong artistic instincts to a wide variety of repertoire. This spring, Ms. Letellier and Alexandra Dietrich debut their recital, Deep Magic of the Earth and Songs to the Moon at the University of Southern Maine with Scott Wheatley and Thomas Smoker on the piano. She is excited to collaborate with Opera Maine and Bowdoin College for a recital in May, and serve as the chorus vocal coach for Opera Maine’s summer production of Verdi’s Aida. This past fall, she performed Le Petit Prince: A Musical Journey; the recital featured works that represent characters from the novel. Ms. Letellier sang the soprano soloist of Handel’s Messiah with the Messiah Community Chorus in Southborough, Massachusetts. She had the honor of workshopping the role of Harpy with Mark Adamo for his Sarah in the Theater for NEC and Odyssey Opera this past fall. This past year, Ms. Letellier enjoyed a role premiere as the Queen of the Night in New England Conservatory’s production of Die Zauberflöte. With Opera in the Pines, she made her debut as Musetta in Bar Crawl Bohème. With Snowlion Repertory, she portrayed Grace in The Christmas Bride in Concert. Last year, she had the honor of singing the soprano soloist at the Assabet Valley Mastersinger’s concert of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem. In addition, Ms. Letellier premiered the role of Conrad/ Conradine in Snowlion Repertory’s The Secret Princess and made her debut as soprano soloist of Haydn’s The Seasons with the Assabet Valley Mastersingers. Recently, Ms. Letellier appeared as Violetta in Mass Opera’s unique production of La Traviata and covered the role of First Lady in Die Zauberflöte with Opera Maine, where she appears regularly as a member of the company’s professional ensemble. She originated the role of the Narrator in the premiere of Mesmerized at Snowlion Repertory Theater. Other recent engagements on the musical theater stage include Julie/Carrie/Nettie/Louise in Carousel at Tophat Toy Theater, Franca Naccarelli in The Light in the Piazza and The Ghost of Christmas past in The Christmas Carol: The Musical, both at Biddeford City Theater. Broadwayworld.com called her performance as Franca “one of the highlights of the show.”
Also a sought after concert performer, Ms. Letellier has recently been a featured soloist in programs with Lyric Music Theater, Opera Maine, Port City Blue, Biddeford City Theater, and others. She was particularly proud to lend her voice to the concert Still Dreaming: A Tribute to MLK at Milton Community Concerts, and to the Black Lives Matter Faculty Concert at University of Southern Maine. She is an active performing member of Opera on Tap: Maine (where she is also the Founder and Co-Manager), The Portland Rossini Club, and the MarstonKotzschmar Music Club. In 2021, she won the New England Regional NATS Artist Award and the Anne Marie Gertz Award at the National NATS Artist Competition in 2022.
Ms. Letellier is currently working on her Doctorate of Musical Arts in Vocal Performance at New England Conservatory. She received her Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in Opera Performance from The Boston Conservatory at Berklee where she appeared as Magda in La Rondine, Peep Bo in The Mikado, Miss Pinkerton in The Old Maid and the Thief, The Sandman in Hansel and Gretel, Belinda in Dido and Aeneas and many others. She was a member of the Young Artist Program at Seagle Music Colony and has also studied at Flagstaff in Fidenza (Italy). She is currently on faculty at the University of Southern Maine, 317 Main Community Music Center and the Portland Conservatory of Music, in addition to maintaining a busy private vocal studio.

The Robert Beckwith Artist-in-Residence at Bowdoin College, George Lopez, pianist and conductor, has been a dynamic performer, sought-after pedagogue, and engaging lecturer for over 30 years. Known for his “…kaleidoscopic colors and clarity of conception…” (Los Angeles Times) in the standard repertoire as well as being a champion of newly written works, Mr. Lopez gave a highly acclaimed solo recital debut at the renowned Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and was lauded as “… authentic and memorable …” by the Nederlands Dagblad for his interpretation of Bach’s Goldberg Variations along with all Twenty-Four Preludes of Chopin. He performed the complete sonatas of Mozart, all five Piano Concertos of Beethoven, the complete Etude-Tableaux of Rachmaninoff, all 27 Etudes and the Four Ballades of Chopin, and recently did the entire 4-volume set of Bach’s Klavierubungen, which he performed on organ, harpsichord, and piano.

Mr. Lopez performs worldwide as a soloist in major cities throughout Europe, Australia, Japan, Mexico, Central and South America. His extensive performances cover most major U.S. cities, including New York’s Lincoln Center, Merkin Hall, and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie, Paul Hall at the Juilliard School, Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Ambassador Hall in Los Angeles, the Shao Lin Arts Center in Rockport, Massachusetts, The Cleveland Art Museum, Harvard University, and Tanglewood. After his performance at Lincoln Center, the composer Lowell Liebermann described the performance of his work as “… exciting and decisive!”

A featured soloist at many international music festivals throughout America, Europe, and other continents, Mr. Lopez performed at the renowned Salle Pleyel in Paris, the Girona Internacional Festival de Musica in Spain, the Kowmung Festival just outside Sydney, Australia, Festivale d’Internazionale Solisti e Musica da Camera in Umbria, Italy, and the Latin-American music festival Cubadisco in Havana, Cuba. He performed as guest soloist with the National Symphony of São Paolo in Brazil, Rose Hall in Osaka, Asahi Hall in Tokyo, and appeared as guest soloist and conductor with the New Hampshire Symphony in J. S. Bach’s Keyboard Concerto in D minor. Mr. Lopez has been a regular guest artist with renowned chamber ensembles, including the Emerson, Carpe Diem, Rainier, Skyros, and Ying Quartets. He collaborates in recording and outreach projects with members of major symphony orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, The Met Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Seattle Symphony, and The New World Symphony. Mr. Lopez recorded Italian composer Romeo Melloni’s Piano Concerto No. 1 dedicated to him with the acclaimed Prague Chamber Orchestra in the former Czech Republic and premiered a new Piano Concerto by the Indo-American composer Dr. Vineet Shende. Mr. Lopez has given radio performances and interviews on Cuban Salon music, the Music of Sherlock Holmes, and all 27 Etudes of Chopin. His interdisciplinary and multi-cultural “Music in the Museum” series at Bowdoin College consistently sells out to audiences who enjoy his creative and engaging lecture-recitals on the relationship of music, art, and its cultural history.

As part of the dynamic DUO MUNDI GEORGE & GULI with his partner in life and music, Gulimina Mahamuti, Mr. Lopez performs two piano and four hand one piano works throughout the globe, focusing on immigrant and underrepresented composers from Asia, Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East.

Mr. Lopez is an acclaimed public speaker at regional, national, and international conferences throughout the United States and Europe, including the MTNA, NCKP, and EPTA conferences in recent years. He frequently gives masterclasses throughout North America, Latin America, and Europe at prestigious institutions, such as the Manhattan School in New York, Berkeley University, Boston University, the Faber Institute, the International Keyboard Odyssiad Festival, The Music Institute of Chicago, and Steinway Hall. Mr. Lopez received First Prize for the Diplome Superieure at the renowned Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris and the distinguished Uitvorend Musicus degree from the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam. As the artistic director and conductor of the Bowdoin College Symphony Orchestra, he leads one of the most dynamic all-student symphonic programs in the New England region.

Serenade
Sunday, May 19
4:00 – 6:00 p.m.

Abigail Rethwisch, soprano
Noriko Yasuda, pianist

Kennebunkport Land Trust

Special thanks to hosts David & Kathy Hardwick

Adult Ticket

$65.00Add to cart

To reserve a free ticket for Age 25 and under please contact [email protected]

Please RSVP by Monday, May 13

Your name and the number of tickets will be reserved at the door of the event. Please check in upon arrival. Name and the number of tickets purchased are documented with Opera Maine at the time of purchase. Please note that neither electronic nor paper tickets are issued for this event.

Abigail Rethwisch is appearing courtesy of The Metropolitan Opera.

Soprano Abigail Rethwisch stepped in on less than two hours’ notice in March 2017 to sing the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor for the entire run of Utah Opera’s production, thrilling audiences with “her command of bel canto technique and riveting dramatic talent” (Opera News).

In the 2021-22 season, Ms. Rethwisch returned to the Columbus Symphony for her role debut as Musetta in La bohème, returned to Dallas Opera and Utah Opera as the Controller in Flight, made her debut with Cape Symphony in a special anniversary concert and returned for their performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and joined the roster of The Metropolitan Opera to cover Meretaten in Akhnaten. During the 2022-23 season, Ms. Rethwisch returns to the Metropolitan Opera as the Papagena cover in their new production of Die Zauberflöte, performs operatic highlights in a concert with Cedar Rapids Opera and returns to Columbus Symphony as the soprano soloist in Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass.

In 2020-2021, Ms. Rethwisch was scheduled to sing as the soprano soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra (canceled due to COVID19). In the winter of 2021, Ms. Rethwisch returned to Utah Opera to perform in Light on the Horizon, an evening of opera excerpts after being slated to perform the Controller in their production of Flight (COVID19) and in the spring of 2021, she was set to join the Columbus Symphony as Violetta for their performance of Act II of La traviata. (COVID19).

During the 2019-2020 season, Ms. Rethwisch made her Dallas Opera debut singing Papagena and covering Der Königin der Nacht in Die Zauberflöte and returned to Utah Opera in the role of Anna Sørensen in the Pulitzer Prize winning Silent Night. She also rejoined the Columbus Symphony as the soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah, made her Washington Concert Opera debut singing excerpts from Offenbach operas, joined Fort Worth Opera performing the roles of Drusilla/Valetto in a workshop of Jim Lowe’s arrangement of The Coronation of Poppea, and was engaged to cover the roles of Musetta in La bohème and Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus (COVID19).

During the 2018-2019 season, Ms. Rethwisch made her company and role debut with Intermountain Opera Bozeman as Mabel in Pirates of Penzance. She also joined Opera Southwest as a guest soloist in their New Year’s Eve Gala and returned to Utah Opera to sing First Lady in Die Zauberflöte. In the 2017-18 season she sang Adele in Die Fledermaus, and Nella in Gianni Schicchi, both with Utah Opera, and joined the Utah Symphony as a soloist on their Great American Road Trip. Past Utah Opera appearances include Carmen, The Long Walk, Man of La Mancha, and Handel’s Messiah. In the 2017-2018 season Ms. Rethwisch also sang Der Königin der Nacht with CoOperative in Princeton, NJ and joined the Columbus Symphony for Brahms’ Requiem and Saariaho’s Leino Songs.

Ms. Rethwisch was a member of the prestigious Santa Fe Opera’s Apprentice Artist program in 2017 and 2018 where she covered Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos and performed scenes from La rondine and L’elisir d’amore (Adina). Ms. Rethwisch has spent previous summers as an apprentice with Chautauqua Opera where she sang the role of Annina and covered Violetta in La traviata, Des Moines Metro Opera covering Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, and the CoOperative Program. During the 2015-2016 season, she was a Resident Artist with Tri-Cities Opera where she appeared in performances of Iolanta, The Telephone, and Sweeney Todd.

Gaining significant recognition in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Ms. Rethwisch has been chosen as a regional finalist three times, most recently winning the Iowa district auditions in 2019. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from Simpson College and a Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance from Florida State University.

Noriko Yasuda began her career in Osaka Japan as an accompanist with the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra and Osaka College of Music Opera House. In that capacity she worked with Seiji Ozawa, Toru Takemitsu, Luciano Pavarotti, Kiri Te Kanawa, and Alfred Kraus, among others.

Since she moved to the U.S. in 1993, she has worked with Grant Llewellyn, Harry Christophers, John Nelson, Stephen Lord, John Finney, Jeffrey Rink, F. John Adams, Martin Pearlman, and Louis Burkot. She has been invited as a guest accompanist for master classes with Jose Van Dam, Mignon Dunn, Jerry Hadley, Shirley Verret, Joseph Colaneri, Betty Buckley, Sharon Daniels, Donna Roll, and Louise Toppin.

An active vocal coach and accompanist in the Boston area, she has worked with Boston Lyric Opera, Boston Baroque, Handel and Haydn Society, Chorus Pro Musica, New England String Ensemble, and La Donna Musicale. Her credits as opera continuo are “Le Nozze di Figaro”, “Don Giovanni”, “Cosi Fan Tutte”, “L’Elisir D’Amore”, “Il Barbiere di Siviglia”, “La Cenerentola” , “Orontea”,“Alcina”, “Xerxes”, and “Dido and Aeneas”.

Currently, she is the principal coach at Longy Opera Workshop and Opera North and staff accompanist/coach at the Boston University Opera Program. In 2009 she received the George Seaman Excellence in Teaching Awards from Longy School of Music of Bard College. She and her husband baritone Robert Honeysucker regularly travel to Japan to give master classes. They had been invited by Osaka College of Music, Kobe Women’s College, Doshisha Women’s College, and Osaka University of Fine Arts where she is on the visiting faculty.

Teaching Philosophy

“Operatic singing is probably the most direct way to express human emotions, yet is one of the most complicated and refined forms in classical music. To engage in singing, alone and with other voices, projecting over a full orchestra, in costume and acting in a believable, yet stylized manner, usually in a language in which you have little or no fluency, requires an enormous amount of focus and concentration. My philosophy is to simplify the work and help the singer focus on what is significant at any given moment and anticipate accordingly.”

Special thanks to HeadInvest for the 2022/2023
Don Head Memorial Artist Sponsorship

Photos from our Serenade on Sunday, March 8

Soprano Kelly Singer &
accompanist Scott Wheatley.

Hosted by David and Kathy Hardwick
at Portland’s historic Cumberland Club

Hearing operatic voices in intimate spaces is a special experience! Four times a year, Opera Maine supporters graciously host a “Serenade” in their homes or other special venues. Opera lovers enjoy short concerts by Opera Maine singers, socialize with other attendees, and partake of delicious food and drink. Serenades are also a wonderful way to be introduced to opera for the first time!

Opera Maine is grateful for the enduring support of HeadInvest. By providing funds to underwrite the fees and travel expenses of our Serenade artists, HeadInvest demonstrates its belief in Opera Maine and our commitment to offer unique opportunities to Maine audiences to experience the beauty of the operatic voice. Thank you, HeadInvest!

We are always extremely grateful to our generous Serenade hosts who open their homes or provide other venues as well as all food and drink.  Because of these wonderful gifts, the Serenade ticket price will directly support Opera Maine’s productions and programs.

Please let us know if you would be interested in hosting a future Serenade.