Press Release

on Stage

From Opera to Broadway - A selection of Arias and Broadway favorites

Shawnee on Delaware, Pennsylvania -- The Shawnee Community Concert Series will host From Opera to Broadway –
A selection of Arias and Broadway favorites! The show starts at 7 p.m. Tuesday, August 1st.

About the performers…

Garry Grice

This is a tenor whose repertoire of 50 roles bridges from the dramatic Italian and French roles such as Otello, Radames, Manrico, Canio, and Don Jose, to the Heldentenor roles of Florestan, Max, Bacchus and Lohengrin. Mr. Grice has been cheered on the operatic stages of Germany, Switzerland, Canada, the US, and Egypt with opera companies which include the New York City Opera the Bavarian State Opera and the Des Moines Metro Opera. Among the distinguished conductors with whom he has performed are Carlos Kleiber, George Pretre, Anton Guadagno,Robert Larsen, Semyon Bychkov, and Imre Pallo. In 2003, he added Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk with Baltimore Opera. Orchestral engagements include: New Orleans, Kansas City, Portland, Milwaukee, Annapolis, Greeley and Dayton. In the 2005/06 season, Mr. Grice sang Otello in Philadelphia,
Ismaele Nabucco in Philadelphia, Festa Italiana (Scranton), and Ernani. In August he will sing Otello in Atlantic city and next season's roles include; Florestan (Atlantic Coast Opera Festival), Trovatore, Lucia and William Tell. Mr. Grice teaches at the Fergus and Clark Academy of music in Stroudsburg.

As a dramatic coloratura, Wendy has performed many principal roles which include, Queen of the Night, Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Fiordiligi (Cosi fan tutte), and Violetta (La Traviata) among others. Anna is also busy as a concert soloist. She created the role of Susannah Wesley in the worlds premier of the oratorio, "A Church of One Book", and was a 1996 winner of the concerto competition at the University of Notre Dame. This season, she sang Abigaille (Nabucco) and Elvira (Ernani) with Amici Opera in Philadelphia. In August, she will sing Desdemona (Otello) in Atlantic City and in November, the US premier of Donizetti’s opera Torquato Tasso in Collingswood NJ. Wendy teaches at Fergus and Clark Academy of music in Stroudsburg.

Alexandra Tanico

Alexandra Tanico graduated this past May with a BM in Vocal Performance from Susquehanna University. While attending Susquehanna, she was a member of the University Choir, Chamber Singers, and the Opera program. She performed her senior voice recital in November 2005. In Spring 2006, she performed the role of Mrs. Jones in Kurt Weill's "Street Scene." Her voice teachers at Susquehanna were Julie Hanlon and Nina Tober. Alexandra is a 2002 graduate of Stroudsburg High School, where she was involved in the concert choir, chorale, orchestra, and several school musicals. She studied with Vaughn Bryner while attending high school. She was an active participant and performer with Pocono Lively Arts during high school and college, and has sung as a featured soloist at several venues in the area. Most recently, she sang the role of the Duchess in an local production of Gilbert & Sullivan's "The Gondoliers." In September 2006, she will pursue her MM degree in Vocal Performance & Pedagogy at Northwestern University.

Kyle Tomlin

Kyle Tomlin is a first year senior at Penn State University majoring in Voice. He is a graduate of Stroudsburg High School and has studied voice for 7 years with Vaughn Bryner, Norman Spivey, and Jennifer Trost. Locally, Kyle has performed in the Pocono Lively Arts Young Artists’ Showcase, Fergus and Clark Academy’s Take it to the Stage Program, and played the role of Marco in The Gondoliers directed by Gary Grice. At Penn State, Kyle is a singer the Concert Choir, Glee Club, and Opera Intermezzo; where he has sung in roles from Marriage of Figaro, The Crucible, The Barber of Seville, Louise, and the Magic Flute.

About the Concerts:

Seven years ago, Charlie and Virginia Kirkwood (owners of the Shawnee Inn and the Shawnee Institute) organized this series of concerts as a way to give back to the community. Boasting a wide variety of musical entertainment, the concerts have become quite popular over the years for visitors and local residents alike. An attendance of 300 people is not uncommon, and well over 400 gather for the Fourth of July patriotic celebration.

The series of lawn concerts typically consists of 13 shows, and, because the Poconos is such a musically talented community, it is not hard to find performers. Volunteering their talents, these artists perform a wide range of music, including jazz, big band, country, polka, Broadway, oldies, folk, gospel, acoustic, patriotic and more. Each one as entertaining as the next, these shows are fun for audiences of all ages. Each concert is free of charge and donations to the performers are accepted in order to show appreciation for their time and talents. Shows run rain or shine at the front lawn of the Shawnee Inn and in the event of inclement weather they are moved to the Inn’s lobby or veranda.