Sara Jakubiak and Ross Benoliel in Love Ain't Easy, Craig Ketter, piano and Jeffrey Golde, narrator on January 9, 2011 at 3:00 p.m. Ellen Golde of Boston has assembled the program of favorite arias and duets from Mozart- Marriage of Figaro, Bellini- I Puritani, Verdi- La Traviata, Puccini- Edgar, Strauss- Die Fledermaus, Weill & Nash- A Touch of Venus, and Rodgers & Hammerstein- Carousel and Oklahoma. Ellen loves opera and Broadway and wants to share it with us. Actor Jeffrey Golde sets the stage for each selection so we know the back story and can just enjoy the singing. The informal presentation and closeness of the performers have been well-received by our audience. Program subject to change.

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Sara Jakubiak, photo by Lisa-Marie Mazzucco
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Ross Benoliel, photo by Nick Granito
Sara Jakubiak has been described as “a singer who is going places and should delight audiences for years to come” by the New Haven Register. In 2010-11 she makes her New York City Opera debut as Dede in Bernstein’s A Quiet Place and appears as soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. The 2009-10 season included her debut with Chicago Opera Theater as Beatrice in Jake Heggie’s Three Decembers, reprising the role of Mimi in La bohème with Syracuse Opera, singing Strauss’ Vier letzte Lieder with Symphony Pro Musica, Schumann’s “Scenes from Goethe’s Faust” with American Symphony Orchestra, and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra.

Recent highlights include her company debut with Tulsa Opera as Mimi, Countess in Le nozze di Figaro with both Seoul Arts Center in Korea and Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra, and covering Patricia Racette as Magda in La rondine with Los Angeles Opera. Other operatic highlights include the roles of Giorgetta in Il tabarro and the title role in Purcell’s Fairy Queen, both with Orchestra Sinfonica Giuseppe Verdi in Milan, Italy. She is featured on the Naxos label’s collection of Charles Ives songs in the series “American Classics.”
 Young baritone Ross Benoliel studied opera at the prestigious Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia.   In 2006, he was selected to compete in the international finals of Placido Domingo's annual Operalia Competition in Valencia, Spain.  He was a 2008 winner of the Liederkranz Foundation Vocal Competition and a 2008 finalist in the New England region of the Metropolitan Opera Competition. He has appeared in major opera houses and international festivals, including New York City Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Tulsa Opera, Madison Opera and Chautauqua Opera.  Other important venues include Avery Fisher Hall with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and Carnegie Hall, where he made his recital debut in 2007.   

  Internationally, Mr. Benoliel has performed with the Lyrique-en-Mer Festival in France for two consecutive years in Don Pasquale and then Così fan tutte.  In October 2010, he makes his Asian debut with Hong Kong Opera in La Boheme and returns to Europe in 2011 for a reading of Candide with the Munich Philharmonic.