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News Release
| 2/7/08 - Emerald City Opera Presents Ashraf Sewailam |
Bass-baritone Ashraf Sewailam, of Cairo, Egypt, will appear in concert on Thursday, Feb. 7, at 7 p.m. at the Depot, accompanied by Mike Tilley on the piano.
The program will include exerpts from Schubert's Dichterliebe, Copland's Old American Songs, Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore and Sondheim's films.
Mr. Sewailam is currently a doctoral candidate, as well as winner for two years running of the Spencer Voice Fellowship at the University of Colorado at Boulder. As a part of this Fellowship he performed the role of Sarastro in The Magic Flute. He made his Opera Colorado debut in the 2004/2005 season singing Leporello in Don Giovanni, and has sung in last season's main stage productions of La Traviata, La Bohème and Il Barbiere di Siviglia. This last season's engagements included Alidoro in Cenerentola for both Fresno Grand Opera and Opera Nevada, Ferrando in Il Trovatore for a return to Mobile Opera and Colline in La Bohème for his debuts with both Lake George Opera and Seattle Opera. Mr. Sewailam will debut with Virginia Opera next season as Ferrando in Il Trovatore. Recently Mr. Sewailam sang Bartolo in Le Nozze di Figarowith Opera Theater of the Rockies, Emerald City Opera's Colline in La Bohème, Ramfis in Aida with Piedmont Opera North Carolina, and Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte at Colorado University. In 2005, Mr. Sewailam was engaged by Opera Colorado as Count Ceprano in Rigoletto and Bartolo in Le Nozze di Figaro. In the same season he made his Nevada Opera debut as Der Sprecher in Die Zauberflöte and Angelotti in Tosca and later traveled to Mobile Opera for his company debut as Colline in La Bohème. His vocal potential and love for music inspired him to redirect his original career plans after graduating from Cairo University with a degree in Architectural Engineering in 1989. He was soon noticed by the Cairo Opera Company where he was a house soloist, performing over 20 roles including Bartolo in Le Nozze di Figaro, Colline in La Bohème, Dulcamara in L'Elisir d'Amore, Gaudenzio in Il Signor Bruschino, Ramfis in Aida, Palémon in Thaïs, Sparafucile in Rigoletto and Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte. In 2001 Ashraf was a prizewinner at the New Voices international competition in Gütersloh, Germany, and featured in the opening concert of the New Alexandria Library in 2002 singing Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. In addition to his singing engagements, Mr Sewailam has taught at the American University in Cairo, and served as music director for Disney Character Voice International (DCVI) dubbing Disney productions into Arabic, as well as performing some of the characters himself, most notably, Mickey Mouse and Ursula the Sea Witch in The Little Mermaid.
Tickets, $20 for adults and $10 for students and seniors, are available at All That Jazz or at the door. For more information, call 970-879-1996.
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