CONTACT: Beth L. Lorow
Assistant Director of Public Relations
Office: (717) 691-6027
E-mail: blorow@messiah.edu

Messiah College to present an "Evening of Opera" this holiday season

	Damian Savarino Click on image to download print-quality version

GRANTHAM, Pa. (Nov. 11, 2005) – This December, the music department at Messiah College will present “An Evening of Opera” with Damian Savarino, bass-baritone, and Tara Savarino, soporano, with accompaniment by Richard Roberson, piano. The free recital will be held on Dec. 10 at 8 p.m. in Poorman Recital Hall in the Climenhaga Fine Arts Center on the college’s Grantham campus and will be open to the public. Damian Savarino is a lecturer in music at Messiah College and Roberson is the dean of the School of Arts as well as a professor of music at the college. For more information about the recital, call the music department at (717) 766-2511, extension 3310.

The recital program will include two opera duets from the Mozart masterpieces “Don Giovanni” and “Die Zauberflöte,” as well as arias from Carlisle Floyd’s “Susannah” and Antonin Dvorak’s “Rusalka.” The Savarinos will also sing art songs by Schumann, Mahler, Loewe, Brahms and Ibert as well as some musical theatre selections. A small reception will follow the recital.

Damian Savarino is a talented and versatile performer in opera, oratorio and musical theater. He has appeared throughout the country with many companies and orchestras, including Central City Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Ohio Light Opera, Light Opera Oklahoma, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, and the Handel and Haydn Society. Currently a voice teacher at Messiah College, he lives in Mechanicsburg with his wife, Tara, and son, Dominic.

Tara Savarino is an accomplished singer who recently made her Lincoln Center solo debut in a new musical, “The Central Park Jogger.” She has sung with organizations throughout the country, including the Harrisburg Opera, the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, Janus Opera, Ohio Light Opera and Commonwealth Opera in Massachusetts. She currently gives private voice lessons in Mechanicsburg and New Cumberland and spends time raising her son, Dominic.

Richard Roberson has pursued a wide range of musical activities, both as a teacher and performer. As a pianist he continues to perform as a soloist and collaborative artist. Also a composer and conductor, he has conducted many musical theatre productions and his recent works include the song-cycle “Triptych” and “The Clarinet Suite.” He is a graduate of the schools of music at Indiana University and the University of North Texas, where his principal teachers were Hans Graf, Walter Robert, Larry Walz and Bernhard Heiden.

Messiah College, a private Christian college of the liberal and applied arts and sciences, enrolls more than 2,900 undergraduate students in 50 majors. Established in 1909, the primary campus is located in Grantham, Pa., near the state capital of Harrisburg. A satellite campus affiliated with Temple University is located in Philadelphia.

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ARTICLE DATE: FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2005
ARTICLE NUMBER: MC-117-05