I Hear America Singing
August 15, 16, 17

From our earliest days as a nation we’ve told our stories, proclaimed our love for one another and for our country in a unique American voice. Join The POPS and performers Eric Owens, David Gagnon, Douglas Masek, The Lula Washington Dance Theatre and Khori Dastoor for a grand musical celebration of our land in all its variety and beauty with the help of Gershwin, Ellington, Copland, John Williams and of course John Philip Sousa!
	Eric Owens Acclaimed for his commanding stage presence and inventive artistry, American bass-baritone Eric Owens has carved a unique place in the contemporary opera world as both a troubadour of new music and a powerful interpreter of classic works. Called “consistently charismatic, theatrically and vocally” by New York Magazine and “absolutely remarkable” by The Philadelphia Inquirer, Owens is equally at home in concert, recital and opera performances, bringing his powerful poise, expansive voice and instinctive acting faculties to stages around the globe. The 2007-08 season sees Owens in top dramatic roles at the world’s most celebrated opera houses and in concert with America’s leading orchestras and conductors. Opera engagements include Owens’ debut with Lyric Opera of Chicago as General Leslie Groves – a role he originated – in John Adams’ Doctor Atomic, conducted by Robert Spano. Additionally, Owens returns to the San Francisco Opera as the King of Scotland in Handel’s Ariodante, conducted by Patrick Summers, and portrays Oroveso in Bellini’s Norma with the Opera Company of Philadelphia. His 2007-08 concert season began with a performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas. Owens then returned to Barbican Hall with the London Symphony Orchestra for concert performances of Adams’ most recent opera, A Flowering Tree. Directed by Peter Sellars and conducted by the composer, these performances have been recorded for release on the Nonesuch label. Additional concert performances this season include Owens’ debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Mozart’s Mass in C minor under Esa-Pekka Salonen, Beethoven’s Ninth with Andreas Delfs and the Honolulu Symphony, and a performance of Verdi’s Requiem with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, Owens returns to the Boston Symphony Orchestra under James Levine for concert performances of Berlioz’s Les Troyens, and to the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest in Amsterdam to sing A Flowering Tree. Owens’ career operatic highlights include his San Francisco Opera debut as Lodovico in Otello conducted by Runnicles; his Royal Opera, Covent Garden debut as Oroveso in Norma; Ramfis in Aida at Houston Grand Opera; Sparafucile in Rigoletto, Ferrando in Il Trovatore and Colline in La Bohème at Los Angeles Opera; the Speaker in Die Zauberflöte for his Paris Opera (Bastille) debut; Fiesco in Simon Boccanegra and Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte with the Washington Opera; Rodolfo in La Sonnambula at the Bordeaux Opera; the King of Scotland in Ariodante and Seneca in L’Incoronazione di Poppea at the English National Opera; Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor and Alidoro at Pittsburgh Opera; Leporello in Don Giovanni at Florida Grand Opera; Sparafucile in a new production at the Oper der Stadt Köln and at Minnesota Opera; Banquo with Opera Pacific and Sarastro and Banquo with the Opera Company of Philadelphia. He sang Collatinus in a highly acclaimed Christopher Alden production of Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia at Glimmerglass Opera. A former member of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, Owens has sung Sarastro, Mephistopheles in Faust, Frère Laurent, Angelotti in Tosca, and Aristotle Onassis in the world premiere of Jackie O (available on the Argo label) with that company. Owens is a regular guest of the major American and European orchestras. His appearances have included performances with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, Seattle Symphony, National Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Toronto Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony and Detroit Symphony among others. He has worked with today’s leading conductors including Wolfgang Sawallisch, Lorin Maazel, Michael Tilson Thomas, Yuri Temirkanov, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Franz Welser-Möst, John Nelson and Robert Spano. Owens is featured on a Telarc recording of Mozart’s Requiem with Donald Runnicles and the Atlanta Symphony. Eric Owens has created an uncommon niche for himself in the ever-growing body of contemporary opera works through his determined tackling of new and challenging roles. He received great critical acclaim for portraying the title role in the world premiere of Elliot Goldenthal’s Grendel with the Los Angeles Opera and again at the Lincoln Center Festival, in a production directed and designed by Julie Taymor. Of Owens’ performance, The New Yorker’s Alex Ross raved, “His hefty, tonally focused, richly colored voice cut through the tumult of Goldenthal's score, and his vital, naturalistic acting gave heart to a high-tech spectacle.” Eric Owens also enjoys a close association with John Adams, for whom he created the role of General Leslie Groves in the world premiere of Doctor Atomic at the San Francisco Opera, and of the Storyteller in the world premiere of A Flowering Tree at Peter Sellers’ New Crowned Hope Festival in Vienna. Adams has also conducted the American bass-baritone in his setting of Whitman’s The Wound Dresser in a live broadcast with the BBC Proms at Royal Albert Hall, and with the American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. Owens made his Boston Symphony Orchestra debut under the baton of David Robertson in Adams’ Nativity oratorio El Niño. In addition to great popular and critical acclaim, Eric Owens has been recognized with multiple awards, including the 2003 Marian Anderson Award, a 1999 ARIA award, and first prize in the Plácido Domingo Operalia Competition, the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and the Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition. Other awards include first prize in the MacAllister Awards Voice Competition, first prize in New York’s Opera Index Career Grant Auditions, first prize in the Palm Beach Opera National Voice Competition, and first prize in the Mario Lanza Voice Competition. Owens was also an ARTS Award recipient in The National Foundation for Advancement in Arts' 1988 Arts Recognition and Talent Search. A native of Philadelphia, Owens began his music training as a pianist at the age of six, followed by formal oboe study at age eleven under Lloyd Shorter of the Delaware Symphony and Louis Rosenblatt of the Philadelphia Orchestra. He later studied voice while an undergraduate at Temple University and then as a graduate student at the Curtis Institute of Music, and currently studies with Armen Boyajian. He serves on the Board of Trustees of both The National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts and Astral Artistic Services. For additional information, please visit www.eric-owens.com.
	David Gagnon Tenor David Gagnon holds audiences spellbound with his dynamic performances and charismatic singing, acting and good looks.  The 2007-08 season included his return to Skylight Opera Theatre as John Lorimond in Midnight Angel (David Carlson/ Peter S. Beagle), a concert tour with Gold Coast Opera in Florida, and his first Alfredo in La Traviata adapted and directed by Dimitri Toscas at Skylight Opera. He portrayed J. E. B. Stuart in the world premiere of Kirke Mecham’s new opera John Brown at Lyric Opera Kansas. In addition to performing with The Pasadena POPS this summer, Gagnon will also perform at the Bear Valley Festival in California. He will begin the fall season as Paris in Ward’s Crucible with Dicapo Opera Theatre. Last season included Les Folies de L´Opérette with Opéra Français, Camille in The Merry Widow with Opera Columbus, Schubert’s Mass #4 in C and Gloria from Haydn’s St. Cecelia Mass with the Rochester Oratorio Society, and his debut as Nemorino in L’Elisir d’Amore with Cedar Rapids Opera Theater.  David performed a Broadway Night with the Opera Columbus and a Bernstein Tribute in his debut with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.   A versatile artist, he sang the role of Grendel Shadow in Elliot Goldenthal’s new opera Grendel with Lincoln Center Festival and Los Angeles Opera and appeared as Ferrando in Giorgio Strehler’s production of Cosi fan tutte in Athens, Moscow, and Recacati, Italy. He was acclaimed for his appearance of Lysander in John de Lancie’s innovative  production of Midsummer Night’s Dream as well as his performances of Berlioz’s L’Enfance du Christ and Brahms’ Liebeslieder Waltzes with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.  On the operatic stage he sang Filch in The Beggar’s Opera with Teatri di Bari, Belmonte in The Abduction from the Seraglio at Skylight Opera Theatre, the Prince in The Student Prince with Opera Columbus, and Frederic in Pirates of Penzance at Michigan Opera Theater. Other highlights include the soloist in Laud to the Nativity with The Festival Choir of Madison, Fascinatin’ Rhythm with the Westfield Symphony Orchestra,  soloist/Abbott in Schumann’s Manfred with the American Symphony Orchestra and performed  the world premiere of Shining Brow, an opera about the life of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, with Madison Opera.    Mr. Gagnon performed Lesgles and Enjolras in Les Miserables on Broadway for several seasons.  Other credits include Ragtime (First National Tour), H.M.S. Pinafore, Utopia Limited, The Sorcerer, and Jinx in Forever Plaid (Chicago and Milwaukee).  In New York, David participated in the development of new musicals/operas with NYU’s Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program (Don Imbroglio, Dreamland) and American Opera Projects (To scratch an angel, Before Night Falls).
	The Lula Washington Dance Theatre Lula Washington, Co-Founder/Artistic Director, is the oldest of eight children, and grew up in the Nickerson Gardens Housing Projects in Watts. She enrolled in Harbor Junior College where she fell in love with modern dance after a teacher took her to see the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. Lula switched her major from nursing to dance and applied to the UCLA dance program. She was denied admission because teachers at UCLA felt it was too late for Lula to start dance training at her point in life. She was 22, married, and a young mother. But Lula appealed her rejection and was admitted to UCLA. She went on to earn a Masters degree in dance from UCLA; and to become one of the most successful graduates of the UCLA Dance Program. Lula now heads one of the most acclaimed dance companies and schools in California. Lula won the inaugural Minerva Award, given by California First Lady Maria Shriver for women who make a significant contribution to families. She has also won the “Educator of the Year Award from the American Association of Dance on Film,” the “Woman of the Year Award” from the California State Legislature, the “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Professional Artists In Schools Association, and scores of other accolades. Lula danced in the Academy Awards and the films “Funny Lady” and “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.”  She choreographed the “Little Mermaid Movie” and scores of dance works, which have earned her a reputation as an artist with a unique choreographic voice. The Lula Washington Dance Theatre has performed at major theaters around the United States, including the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
	Khori Dastoor, Soprano Fast-rising soprano Khori Dastoor has delighted audiences in venues throughout the country and abroad. Her recent debut as the title role in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor was described by Opera News as “moving, increasingly distraught portrayal that offered agile acting and gripping fragility and anguish that was the stuff of art” and hailed by the San José Mercury News as “one of the most exciting performances I've seen, on any stage, in the past several years.” Ms. Dastoor returns to California after graduating with honors from the New England Conservatory of Music. She recently appeared as Miss Wordsworth in Albert Herring at the Aspen Music Festival under the baton of Maestro Robert Spano and in the role of Gabrielle in Offenbach's La Vie Parisienne with Lake George Opera. Khori has frequently appeared with the community programs division of the Los Angeles Opera, and has performed the role of “Sophie de Palma” in the critically acclaimed revival of Terrence McNally's Master Class at the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara. Other favorite roles include the title role in Lakmé, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Gretel in Hansel and Gretel, Gilda in Rigoletto, and Maria in West Side Story. Deeply committed to new music, Ms. Dastoor created the role of La Novia in the world premiere of Lorca: Child of the Moon at the Freud Playhouse and also recently originated the title role in the world premiere of The Tree at the Los Angeles Theatre Center. She also appeared as Mary in the world premiere of Paul Chihara's Magnificat with the Angeles Chorale and Debut Orchestra this past year. A native of Pasadena, Ms. Dastoor is currently a principal artist in residence with Opera San José whilst concluding doctoral studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she is the recipient of the Dean's Award for the School of Arts and Architecture. Upcoming engagements include a performance as the soprano soloist in the Brahms' Requiem with the Angeles Chorale, the roles of Despina (Cosi Fan Tutte), Adina (L'elisir d'Amore), and Micaela (Carmen) with Opera San José, and a return to the Lake George Opera Festival as Mabel (The Pirates of Penzance) and Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi and Buoso's Ghost).
	Douglas Masek, Saxophonist Internationally renowned saxophonist DOUGLAS MASEK is recognized as one of today’s foremost exponents of contemporary saxophone music.  His performances, which have emphasized versatility in a wide range of musical styles, from classical and contemporary to jazz, have consistently garnered critical acclaim.  The Los Angeles Times stated that Masek’s playing is “smooth, sinuous, stunning, stylish, dazzling, and glowing with the requisite rich color.”  The Daily Review in Oakland, California, wrote that “Masek plays with dazzling virtuosity”, while The Outlook in Santa Monica, California, declared that “Masek’s performance was marvelous...his control was almost uncanny...extraordinary musicianship”.  Pamina Concerts in Barcelona, Spain, adds that “Masek’s playing is always exquisite and full of feeling and musicality”.  In South Africa, The Argus wrote “Masek”s tone: beautiful and pure” and the Cape Times added “dynamic and magical”. Having received his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, and his MM degree from Ohio State University, Dr. Masek completed his academic education with a Doctorate in Musical Arts from the University of Southern California.  In much demand as a master teacher, Douglas is also a Vandoren Elite Artist, performing and lecturing internationally at schools, colleges, and universities.  He is currently Professor of Saxophone at UCLA. With extensive concert touring in the United States, Europe, Asia, South Africa, and South America, Dr. Masek was recently featured soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s New Music Group, performing Franco Donatoni’s “Hot” (1989), with Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting.  He has also performed as soloist at the American Music Festival in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, the China International Music Festival(Beijing), the Aspen Music Festival, Ojai Music Festival, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Idyllwild Arts Academy, and extensive performing throughout the Far East.  Additional performances include featured solo appearances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Pasadena Pops Orchestra, Long Beach Symphony, Symphony in the Glen, New West Symphony, Pasadena Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, Santa Barbara Symphony, Los Angeles Opera Company, Long Beach Opera, Ostgota Symphony(Sweden), orchestras in South Africa include: The Cape Town Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Free State Symphony, KwaZulu-Natal Symphony, Transvaal Philharmonic Orchestra; and the Transylvania Philharmonic Orchestra in Romania. He has performed with notable conductors such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Kent Nagano, Placido Domingo, John Mauceri, Andre Previn, Michael-Tilson Thomas, Leonard Slatkin, Jorge Mester, James Conlan, David Robertson, Carl St.Clair, Valery Gergiev, Valery Ryvkin, Jeffrey Kahane, Giselle Ben-Dor, Rachael Worby, JoAnn Falletta, Marin Alsop, Enrique Arturo Diemecke, Arthur Rubinstein, Boris Brott, Grant Gershon, Richard Cock, Carlo Franci, Hubert Soudant, Paul Freeman, Allan Stephenson, Chris Dowdeswell, and Bernhard Gueller. Having premiered dozens of compositions written exclusively for him, Masek's discography includes seven CD solo collections; Distant Memories, Windwood, Recrudescence, Saxvoir Faire, Saxtronic Soundscape, Saxophone Alternative, and EclectSax. The latter three cds, which are produced by Centaur Records, feature compositions of Los Angeles composers. Douglas has also recorded for Centaur, Albany, Cambria, Atlantic, Koch International, Stereophile, Summit, and Philips Classics recording companies. He continues to perform on motion picture sound tracks for Sony, Warner, Paramount, Universal, Disney and 20th Century, along with television and radio broadcasts. You can learn more about Douglas Masek and hear sound samples at his website: www.dougmasek.com