Join us for a delightful evening of musical theatre and opera favorites that will be performed by Asheville’s own sopranos, Merideth Marano and Sarah Jane Moore and mezzo-soprano, Maddy Curtis. They will transport you through an array of beloved composers with the help of Chelsea Cribbs accompanying on piano including: Sondheim, Puccini, Rogers and Hammerstein, Bizet, Saint-Saëns, Lloyd Webber, and much more. You won’t want to miss these beautiful melodies lingering with you as you leave the Parlor!
Meet the Artists….
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Maddy Curtis, Mezzo-Soprano, is an award-winning singer who can switch from genre to genre with ease. After getting her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance at The Catholic University of America in 2015, she moved her way into not only singing for opera companies such as Maryland Lyric Opera and Bel Cantanti Opera, but also crooning jazz standards at various clubs and wineries around the greater Washington, DC area all while performing in beloved musicals. Maddy moved to Asheville with her sweet little family about two years ago and is thriving in its music scene singing jazz locally as well as performing in Asheville Musical Theatre's production of Songs For a New World in July.
Some of her favorite roles from both the musical theatre and opera world include: Jo March in Little Women, Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, Stéphano in Roméo et Juliette, Nancy in Oliver!, Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes, and Eponine in Les Misérables. Critics have described her voice and performances as "hauntingly beautiful" (DC Theatre Arts) as well as "having an old soul and depth" (Simon Cowell on season 9 of American Idol).
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Soprano Merideth Marano, a native of Asheville, has recently returned to beautiful Western North Carolina after years spent living and performing in Europe, Washington DC, and Seattle among other places. Following a Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance, Merideth gained acclaim as a paid young artist with Maryland Lyric Opera and Savannah Voice Festival before moving into her professional career. The Washington Post called Merideth “certainly the standout, with an effortless high D”, Washington Life's reviewer reported that: “she sang with a radiance that floated with ease into the performance space”, Washington City Paper wrote: “Marano has dramatic vocal weight with a high register and a gift for coloratura” and from DC Metro Arts that: “she was a constant thrill throughout the evening, sparkling in her high notes and bringing a special poignancy and soulfulness to her low notes”.
Merideth’s well-rounded career spans from oratorio and concert performances to leading roles in opera. Roles include Sieglinde (Wagner), Donna Anna (Mozart), Juliette (Gounod), Sylva (Kalman), Nedda (Leoncavallo), Roselinde (Strauss), Suor Angelica (Puccini), Laetitia (Menotti), and Echo (Strauss). She was the featured soprano soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Handel’s Messiah and Vivaldi’s Gloria, and has performed in several countries including Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Jordan, the United States and Italy.
Coaching and masterclass experience includes work with Kristen Okerlund (of the Vienna State Opera), Montserrat Caballe (Zaragoza, Spain), Barbara Bonney (Salzburg, Austria), Sherrill Milnes (Savannah, Georgia) and long term study with Elizabeth Whitehouse in Nuremburg, Germany, and Fabiana Bravo in Washington DC. Merideth has successfully competed both nationally and internationally. She was chosen for a prestigious award in the Jakub Pustina International Vocal Competition in the Czech Republic and recently placed third in the New York Lyric Opera Theatre’s National Competition.
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Sarah Jane Moore, Soprano, and Asheville native is thrilled to be collaborating with these talented local artists. Sarah Jane graduated from Converse College with a Bachelor of Arts with a distinction in music and performance. She received a fellowship to study at the Bassi Brugnatelli Symposium in Robiatte Italy and advanced in both NATS and Classical Singer Competitions. She has had the opportunity to sing in countries reaching as far as Australia. Her favorite roles are a mix of musical theater and opera ranging from Alcina in Handel’s Alcina to Adelaide in Guys and Dolls.
Over the last few years, Sarah Jane has taken a break from the performance world to focus on her optical career and family. Now that she is a licensed optician with a beautiful little girl, Martha Jane, she is ready to take the stage again!
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A 2016 graduate of The Florida State University College of Music with a Bachelor’s degree in Music, Chelsea Cribbs teaches and performs in Asheville, NC. Chelsea is a piano, guitar, and ukulele instructor in her own private studio, and she also does freelance accompanying at Mars Hill University in the instrumental department. In addition to that, she performs piano with a vocalist at several retirement homes around town, specializing in golden-age-era music theatre classics. Over the past several years Chelsea has been involved with several musical theatre companies, music directing various productions, accompanying for auditions, and working with voice students in the Mars Hill music theatre program. During her time in Asheville, she has taught music at French Broad River Academy for Girls, Canterbury Classical School, and Piano Lab. She served as the accompanist for Asheville Youth Choir’s Concert Choir (3rd-6th grade) for three seasons and often plays for the lower and upper school choirs at Asheville Christian School. She served as an accompanist with Asheville Lyric Opera, having represented ALO as the summer of 2017 Young Artist Program piano apprentice. In addition to piano, Chelsea also plays various instruments, such as guitar, banjo, mandolin, and ukulele while often adding these instruments and her vocals on church worship teams and other musical endeavors around Asheville, including a folk duo with her husband called Pale Ghosts & Holy Rumors. Chelsea offers her musical services for weddings or any other special event, as well as at Contra and English Country Dances and Waltzes as a pianist.
Chelsea has been playing piano since the age of six and along with the other instruments she picked up along the way, Chelsea has learned a variety of genres of music. Apart from classical piano, other genres of music that she enjoys include Irish music, acoustic folk and bluegrass, musical theatre, world music, and jazz. During her time at Florida State University, Chelsea performed on piano in solo and studio recitals, collaborated with vocalists and instrumentalists, and played various stringed instruments on the worship team of her college campus ministry. Chelsea began teaching piano and guitar in high school and has enjoyed teaching a range of ages, from young children to adults and everything in between.