Met Meets Melbourne Brings Opera Stars to Gleason Center April 25
MELBOURNE, FLA.—Two internationally acclaimed opera stars, one formerly and one currently with New York City’s Metropolitan Opera, will sing show tunes, old favorites and well-known arias in a concert that will delight people of all musical tastes. The performance will be held at Florida Institute of Technology on April 25 at 4 p.m. Likely to be included in the program will be numbers from South Pacific, Les Misérables and Carmen. The event, in the university’s Gleason Performing Arts Center, was organized by the South Guild of the Brevard Symphony Orchestra.
The singers, who have homes in Brevard County, are tenor Mark Baker and baritone Dean Peterson. Also featured on the program will be guest soprano Carla Cortner Mueller, a Brevard County native who has performed operatic roles in both the United States and Europe.
Baker, who performed more than 210 times at the Met since his debut in 1986, has appeared with Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo and has sung leading roles in the opera houses of Paris, Buenos Aires, England, Chicago, San Francisco and more. Among his many roles are the title role in Peter Grimes, Don Jose in Carmen, Siegmund in Die Walkure and Samson in Samson et Dalila. Retired from the Met two years ago, he teaches voice at Brevard Community College and lives in West Melbourne.
Peterson, who continues to perform at the Met, has appeared at opera houses all over the United States and Canada, including the Spoleto U.S.A. Festival, and in Italy, Spain, Austria, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Among his favorite roles are Mustafa in L’Italiana in Algeri, Mephistopheles in Faust, Trulove in The Rake’s Progress and the king in Aida, all performed at the Met. He has a home in Satellite Beach.
Tickets are $50 each. All profits will benefit the Brevard Symphony Orchestra (BSO). For tickets, visit The Symphony House at 1500 Highland Avenue in the Old Eau Gallie section of Melbourne or call the symphony office at (321) 242-2024.
Tickets may also be purchased at Wesche Jewelers, 8145 N. Wickham Road, and at ReMax Olympic Realty, 445 5th Avenue in Indialantic.
The Gleason Performing Arts Center is located on University Boulevard at Babcock Street in Melbourne.
