Soprano Alice Lestang Named 2016 Paris Conservatory Artist in Residence
First Concert at 7 p.m. Feb. 17 at Gleason
MELBOURNE, FLA. — Rising operatic soprano Alice Lestang is Florida Institute of Technology’s 2016 Paris Conservatory Artist in Residence.
The soprano will give her first concert at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 17, in Gleason Performing Arts Center. The concert is free and open to the public. She will be joined on stage by Florida Tech faculty Eliza Dopira, mezzo soprano, and Kyle Knappenberger, baritone. They will perform arias, duets, and trios from operas by Mozart, Poulenc, Donizetti and others.
Lestang completed her master’s degree in 2015 at the prestigious Paris Conservatory. She is Florida Tech’s third Artist in Residence from Paris, following pianist Paul Anquez last year and percussionist Rémi Durupt in 2014.
She trained with Dina Grossberger at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels prior to entering the Paris Conservatory, where she studied under Elène Golgevit. Additionally, Lestang has trained with singers Nadine Denize, Dame Felicity Lott and the renowned baritone and pedagogue Udo Reinemann.
Her performances as a soloist include Simone in Louis Varney’s operetta Les Mousquetaires au Couvent, Béatrice in Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédicte, Fauré Requiem with the Ensemble Divertimento and Little Red Riding Hood in Aubert’s La Forêt Bleue at the Royal Opera of Wallonie in Belgium.
During her Florida Tech residency, Lestang hopes to highlight opera as an art form for all. She will strive to do so in various ways, she said, such as by organizing a small chorus to perform excerpts from French operettas; holding a series of workshops covering topics such as what constitutes an opera, breathing and body awareness, and operatic traditions.
“I’d like to demonstrate that this is not an art form reserved to a small elite, and that once one has the ‘keys to the kingdom,’ it’s easy to dive in,” she said. “I am enthusiastic about participating in this residency which, I am convinced, can bring me much culturally, artistically, and as a wonderful ‘human’ adventure.”
Lestang will also offer group classes, possibly individual singing lessons, and several concerts highlighting a variety of materials, from French melodies to German lieder.
In March, Lestang will welcome pianist Romain Louveau to Florida Tech. The two are scheduled to perform at 7 p.m. March 25 at Gleason, and will perform at other community events, as well.
Lestang and Louveau also plan to record an album featuring arias by Berlioz and Strauss. That would make Lestang the third Florida Tech Artist in Residence to record an album at the university’s WFIT studio, joining Christian Tamburr, who recorded two, and Paul Anquez.
For more information on workshops and hosting a performance, contact Kevin Burke at 321-674-7165. Information on supporting Florida Tech’s Music Program is available by contacting Jeff Spoeri at 321-674-6162.
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