This Sunday February 8th Michelle’s Piano is pleased to preset Baritone Anton Belov and noted accompanist, Ms. Susan McDaniel. The voice of baritone Anton Belov has been called rich and mellifluous by the New York Times, while the Philadelphia Inquirer calls it that of an emerging star. A native of Russia and a graduate of the Juilliard Opera Center, he has appeared with numerous companies and orchestras throughout the United States and has earned critical acclaim for his portrayals of characters as diverse as Count di Luna, Don Giovanni, Escamillo, Count Almaviva, Doctor Malatesta and Eugene Onegin. Equally at home with opera, oratorio and concert repertoire, Mr. Belov presented over sixty recitals throughout the States appearing at such venues as Carnegie Hall in New York City and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Mr. Belov is First Place winner of eight vocal competitions including the George London Competition, the Young Concert Artists International Competition and the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. A specialist in Russian lyric diction, he is the author of numerous books on the subject. Dr. Belov is an assistant professor of music at Linfield College in McMinnville, OR.
Anton will be performing East-West Diwan Art Songs Inspired by Persia. What is the flavor of this music you ask? German romantics were fascinated by exotic culture and often infused their poetry witht he imagery of te Far East, Asia and of course, Persia. in 1819, Johan Wofgang Von Goethe published his Wes-Eastern Diwan a collection of transcriptions of the medieval Persian poet Hafiz. The work became a symbol of exchange between the East and the West , the world of Islam and Christianity. This collection in turn inspired art songs by numerous composers including Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, and Hugo Wolfe. This recital presents some of these works intermingled with Russian-Oriental romances, the Middle East inspired works of Anton Rubinstein. Alexander Glazunov, and Sergey Rachmaninoff. You can preview Anton’s rich baritone voice at his site www.antonbelov.com
Susan McDaniel, a third generation native of Oregon and principal accompanist at Linfield College has appeared widely as a soloist and chamber musician including recitals in France, Germany Switzerland, and the Czech Republic. Susan has been a member of the music staff at the Seattle Opera, Portland Opera and the Utah Festival Opera , as well as music director and pianist for the San Diego Opera Ensemble Off Center Opera and Puget Sound Concert Opera. Incidentally, Susan is the accompanist for the 89.9 All Classical Roger Doyle Studio where she can be frequently heard on the Thursday at Three live concerts.
