a music-theatre production about growing up in this world
Ann Baltz, guest artist and director
Eric Dudley, music director and piano
Jordan Bell Souza, assistant director and stage manager
Friday, October 25 | 7:30 pm
Saturday, October 26 | 2:30 pm and 7:30 pm
Sunday, October 27 | 2:30 pm
Alex and Jeri Vereschagin Alumni House
Photo by Alex Potemkin
Musical selections are listed in alphabetical order by the performer’s last name, and will be performed in a different order during the show. The final number features the full ensemble. The performance includes some content about drugs and alcohol.
When I Have Sung My Songs (1934)
Magdalena Bowen, soprano
If I Can’t Love [Him] from Beauty and the Beast (1994)
Daniel Campbell, bass
Proud of Your Boy from Aladdin (2011)
Jordan Reece Guitang, baritone
Freeze Your Brain from Heathers (2010)
Leo Hearl, tenor
Lament from Into the Woods (1986)
Stay with Me from Into the Woods
Jordan Hendrickson, mezzo-soprano
Ernest Charles (1895–1984)
Alan Menken (b. 1949)
Tim Rice (b. 1944)
Alan Menken (b. 1949)
Tim Rice (b. 1944)
Kevin Murphy (b. 1956)
Laurence O’Keefe (b. 1969)
Stephen Sondheim (1930–2021)
OCTOBER 25–27, 2024
I Am What I Am from La Cage aux Folles (1983)
Landon Horstman, baritone
Not a Day Goes By from Merrily We Roll Along (1981)
Rose Krueger, soprano
Jerry Herman (1931–2019)
Stephen Sondheim (1930–2021)
Song Without Words (1974)
Shazza Lyons, soprano
Somewhere from West Side Story (1957)
Charles Samuel Brown (1940–2021)
Amber Medlen, mezzo-soprano
Corner of the Sky from Pippin (1972)
Michael Megenney, tenor
Vocalise, op. 34, No. 14 (1915)
Michelle Miracle, soprano
Lullaby from The Consul (1950)
Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990)
Stephen Schwartz (b. 1948)
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873–1943)
Gian Carlo Menotti (1911–2007)
Elizabeth Neumeyer, mezzo-soprano
Anybody Have a Map? from Dear Evan Hansen (2015)
Ian Orejana, tenor
Shannon Shepherd, soprano
Fair Robin I Love from Tartuffe (1980)
Ria Patel, soprano
She Used to Be Mine from Waitress (2015)
Katie Pelletier, soprano
A Change in Me from Beauty and the Beast (1994)
Charlize Price, soprano
Canción de cuna (Cradle Song) (1945)
Berrell Slaughter, baritone
Make Our Garden Grow from Candide (1956)
Benj Pasek (b. 1985)
Justin Paul (b. 1985)
Kirke Mechem (b. 1925)
Sara Bareilles (b. 1979)
Alan Menken (b. 1949)
Tim Rice (b. 1944)
Xavier Montsalvatge (1912-2002)
Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990)
The Company (Pacific Opera Theatre Ensemble)
PROGRAM NOTES
From Director Ann Baltz
Pacific Opera Theatre normally presents Opera Follies in the fall. This year’s presentation will be a bit different ... actually, a lot different. The students, Dr. Eric Dudley and I have created a "pastiche" (a musical composition made up of selections from different works) called lost and found.
The story you will see is about at-risk teens and the adults who are helping them navigate this critical period of their lives. It was created by integrating opera, musical theatre, and art song repertoire, as well as improvised dialogue. I chose this topic because I wanted the performers to try to understand this issue beyond scrolling through headlines on social media. This story is not based on the performers’ lives, but it offers them an opportunity to learn about a part of our society with which they may not be familiar.
In everything I do, I strive to address current social issues in ways that will help performers and audience members to see the many sides of the complex problems facing our society today. We hope you will find relevance, reflection, and inspiration in what we have to offer.
If you or someone you know is experiencing emotional distress, or is at risk of hurting themselves or being hurt, please call the San Joaquin County 24-hour Crisis Intervention Clinic response line at 209-468-8686, or dial 988 for the national Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Trained professional mental health workers are there to help you feel better.
Ann Baltz, director and visiting artist, is recognized as one of the leading opera educators in America, providing workshops and residencies that address the musical, dramatic, vocal, physical, psychological, and entrepreneurial aspects of performers. Her desire to create a holistic approach to performance training culminated in the foundation of OperaWorksTM, a nonprofit that has changed the landscape of performance training and education for over 30 years. The success of these methods is documented in a twoyear study published in the International Journal of Music Education. Ann has been recognized and engaged by leading educational institutions such as San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Boston Conservatory at Berklee, industry organizations including NOA, Opera America, and NATS, and artist development programs at San Francisco Opera (Merola), Fort Worth Opera, Orlando Opera, and Portland Opera, among others. Passionate about social awareness and change, Ann has created groundbreaking pastiche operas on issues such as immigration, homelessness, and disinformation for educational institutions including Peabody Conservatory, Ithaca College, and University of the Pacific. She was nominated by the NAACP as Best Music Director for her production of The Discord Altar addressing homelessness, and is the recipient of the Red Carpet Award from Women In Theatre recognizing her outstanding achievements in theater in Los Angeles.
Eric Dudley, music director and pianist, joined University of the Pacific's faculty in 2019. He leads a multi-faceted career as a conductor, composer, vocalist and pianist immersed in the creation of music both past and present, and as an original member of the two-time Grammy Award-winning vocal octet Roomful of Teeth, he toured worldwide with the group and appears extensively on their acclaimed recordings.
Dudley came to the Bay Area from New York in 2016 as interim music director of the orchestra program at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Shortly after, he was appointed as artistic director and conductor of the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, the largest and most longstanding ensemble dedicated to the performance of new music on the West Coast, where he is currently in his seventh season of leadership.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES
While in New York, Dudley performed and conducted with organizations as diverse as Ekmeles and Tenet vocal ensembles, the Choir of Trinity Wall Street Church, Ensemble Signal, Bard Summerscape Opera, the American Symphony Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic. Prior to that, he was assistant conductor for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under Paavo Järvi for four years. His guest conducting engagements have included the Ojai Festival in California, Ensemble L'Instant Donné in France, the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra in Australia.
Jordan Bell Souza, stage manager and assistant director, is in her fifth year at University of the Pacific’s Conservatory of Music where she received a bachelor’s degree in music education in May 2024. She is currently pursuing her master's degree in music education at Pacific.
Souza's primary instrument is voice which she has studied under Daniel Ebbers for the past four years. Choir is her favorite performing ensemble and she has been a member of Pacific Singers throughout her time at Pacific.
Souza has served as music director of multiple groups including the Unitarian Universalist Stockton choir and Sigma Alpha Iota Eta Omega chapter. In 2022, Souza assisted in stage managing Weill’s The Threepenny Opera, and stagemanaged for Pacific Opera theatre's production of Handel’s Alcina in spring 2024. She is excited to be working with Ann Baltz this semester, as well as stage managing the 2025 spring production of Carousel.
Souza plans to teach choir and theater at the high school level in the future.
PACIFIC OPERA THEATRE
Soprano
Magdalena Bowen
Rose Krueger
Shazza Lyons
Michelle Miracle
Ria Patel
Katie Pelletier
Charlize Price
Mezzo-Soprano
Jordan Hendrickson
Amber Medlen
Elizabeth Neumeyer
Tenor
Leo Hearl
Michael Megenney
Ian Orejana
Baritone/Bass
Daniel Campbell
Jordan Reece Guitang
Landon Horstman
Berrell Slaughter
A very special thanks to the members of Pacific voice faculty and staff for their guidance and support:
Daniel Ebbers
Heidi Moss Erickson
James Haffner
Emma Wade, visiting professor of acting
Andrew Mell, production supervisor
Jordan Bell Souza, assistant director and stage manager
Linda Vasquez and the Vereschagin Alumni House staff
Special thanks to David Aks
Julia Aks
Dr. Paula Thomson
Thank you always to our audience, for joining our cast on each of our musical and theatrical journeys.
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