Gemma Kavanagh & Mick Hesse IN CONCERT

Southwest Arts kicks off its 2015-2016 season Friday, October 23 at 7:00 p.m. with soprano Gemma Kavanagh performing with trumpeter Mick Hesse and pianist C. Scott Hagler. Tickets, $20 for adults and $5 for students and children, are available by clicking here and at the door. Patrons are invited to a reception hosted by Southwest Arts following the recital to meet the artists and mingle with other audience members.

The concert will feature music by Handel, Scarlatti, Puccini, Rossini and more.

Dublin-born soprano Gemma Kavanagh began her career with the Dublin Opera. Her first studies began in Rome, Italy with Contuctor/voice teacher Maestro Napoleone Annovazzi. As a resident singer and actress with the Bunratty Singers, Gemma performed in many Shannon Heritage medieval castles in Ireland.

Before embarking upon the American operatic stage, Gemma sang with the Dublin Symphony in the National Concert Hall and performed with Ireland’s prominent Radio Telifís Éireann television programs, under the tutelage of Dr. Veronica Dunn of the Royal Irish Academy of Music.

After moving to California in 1994, Gemma performed with the San Francisco Opera, the San Francisco Lyric Opera, the San Francisco Opera Guild, Opera San Jose, Berkeley Opera, Monterey Opera, Oakland Lyric Opera, and Donald Pippin’s Pocket Opera. Her operatic repertoire includes lead soprano roles in “Don Giovanni,” “Madame Butterfly,” “The Magic Flute,” “La Boheme,” “Die Kluge,” “La Traviata,” “Tosca,” “La Rondine,” “Merry Widow,” and “Carmen.”

Her concert/oratorio repertoire includes Verdi’s “Requiem,” Poulenc’s “Gloria,” Vaughan Williams’ “Serenade to Music” and “Dona Nobis Pacem,” Beethoven’s “9th,” Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana,” Haydn’s “Creation,” Bach’s “Magnificat,” Faure’s “Requiem,” Mozart’s “Grand Mass in C Minor” and “Exultate Jubilate,” Brahm’s “Requiem,” and Strauss’s “Four Last Songs.”

Since moving to Durango, Colorado in 1999, Gemma has performed with the San Juan Symphony, Music in the Mountains, Durango Women’s Choir, and 3rd Ave. Arts.