NATS- LA Spring Symposium

“Spanish Canciones and Zarzuela Arias”

featuring

Anthony León

&

Melodee Fernandez

With Collaborative Pianist Dr. You Zhao

At LA Opera, he has also sung Roderigo in Verdi’s Otello, Pelléas in Impressions de Pelléas, Don Curzio in Le nozze di Figaro, Male Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia, Spoletta in Tosca, and Normanno in Lucia di Lammermoor. Beyond Los Angeles, during the summer of 2023, Anthony made debuts both at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and the Salzburg Festival, singing the roles of the Teapot, Frog, and Mathematician in Ravel’s Das Kind und die Zauberdinge (L’enfant et les sortilèges). He has also recently been on tour performing the roles of Giove and Amphinome in Monteverdi’s opera, Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, with the ensemble I Gemelli. On tour, Anthony performed at Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, France; Arsenal Theater in Metz, France; and Victoria Hall in Geneva, Switzerland. A recorded album of the opera with Ensemble I Gemelli was released in September 2023 on all music platforms and has won international awards. 

In the fall of 2021, Anthony also presented the role of Count Almaviva in Opera Theatre St. Louis’ production of The Barber of Seville. During the summers of 2021 and 2022, Anthony was an Apprentice Artist at Santa Fe Opera, covering the role of Lysander in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Fenton in Verdi’s Falstaff, and performing Remendado in Bizet’s Carmen. In addition to these contracts, Anthony has performed other leading roles in various stages around the world such as Le Chevalier in Dialogue des Carmélites, Agenore in Il re pastore, Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore, Tamino in The Magic Flute, the Witch in Hansel and Gretel, and Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance. 

Anthony holds a Bachelor of Music from La Sierra University and a Master of Music degree concentrating in Vocal Performance from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, where he was awarded the Wendy Shattuck ‘75 Presidential Scholarship for Vocal Studies studying under the tutelage of Bradley Williams.

Melodee is the immediate past president of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, Los Angeles Chapter. In February she completed The Music Center’s 2020 Teaching Artist Training Program (35 hours) and has also received teacher training from the Los Angeles County Arts Commission Arts for All Professional Artist School-Based Training Program (8 weeks), Gibson USA and while a student and Teaching Assistant at the University of Southern California.

Melodee gave lectures, including a lecture/recital, celebrating Zarzuela, Spanish opera and the return of El Gato Montés for the Opera League of Los Angeles and was interviewed for their BRAVO newsletter. She has also guest lectured for LA Opera (LA Opera Connects, Opera for Educators, Opera Talks), Hispanics for LA Opera, NATS-Los Angeles, Orange County School of the Arts (OCSA), the Cal State Universities at Los Angeles, Bakersfield, Long Beach and Fresno and many other organizations. At the Biblioteca Nacional in Madrid Melodee conducted extensive Zarzuela research. She sang with Opera Cómica de Madrid in a national tour of Spain performing in Agua, Azucarillos y Aguardiente and El Chaleco Blanco, sang in master classes led by Teresa Berganza, Ana Higueras, Marimí del Pozo, Martin Katz, Sherrill Milnes, Mignon Dunn, George Shirley, Graham Johnson and Darryl Taylor, twice toured Japan as a featured soloist with the Roger Wagner Chorale, sang the lead female roles of Paloma in El Barberillo de Lavapiés (Santa Barbara Grand Opera) and Susana in La Verbena de la Paloma (Center Stage Theater, Santa Barbara), directed Goyescas for Lyric Opera of Los Angeles and La Verbena de la Paloma for Cal State Los Angeles, has been a featured Zarzuela soloist with the Bilingual Foundation of the Arts and sang Isabela with Daniel Catán in a workshop of his opera Rappaccini’s Daughter. For her excellence in the interpretation of Spanish music, Melodee received the Joaquín Rodrigo Award from “Música en Compostela” (Santiago de Compostela, Spain). She has been an adjunct music professor at the University of Southern California and Cal State Los Angeles and has also taught voice at College of the Canyons. Earning her MM and BM in Voice from the USC Thornton School of Music, she was a Voice Fellow at the Music Academy of the West, sang with Opera Pacific for ten years and is a member of AGMA.

Increasingly sought-after as a musical partner, pianist Dr. You Zhao is a versatile and active collaborator in vocal, instrumental and orchestra music. Recently, Dr. Zhao made her Carnegie debut as a SongStudio Young Artist, under the leadership of world-renowned soprano Renée Fleming. Her performances were praised as “brilliantly” and “brought elegance, drama and excitement”.

She was a vocal piano fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, Franz-Schubert-Institut and Songfest. Frequently being spotted in concert venues and music festivals in Europe, North America and China, Dr. Zhao was a finalist in the 2017 Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation International Song Competition in London and served as the pianists, music director and tour manager at the Nashville Opera as one of the Mary Ragland Emerging Artists in 2022.

An advocate for new vocal music, Zhao has been on the creative teams for several new works. Dr. Zhao holds degrees from Eastman School of Music and New England Conservatory of Music. She earned her doctorate degree in Keyboard Collaborate Arts at Thornton School of Music, University of Southern California, where she was awarded the Keyboard Collaborative Arts Ensemble Award, Keyboard Collaborative Arts Department Award and Gwendolyn Koldofsky Scholarship.

While being actively engaged as a pianist for competitions and auditions, Dr. Zhao is currently serving as a staff pianist at Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at California State University, Long Beach and California School of the Arts, San Gabriel Valley. She is also a passionate piano instructor teaching at La Cañada School of Music and Semitone Institute of Music.