MUSIC | FriDAY & SATURDAY, May 9 & 10 | $20 ($10 for Students)
Gonzo Opera is bringing DOWN ON THE PHARMA: The Medicine Show to FUSION | The Cell on May 9th & 10th! Come experience genuine opera but with outlandish characters and stories one would never expect to find in traditional opera! DOWN ON THE PHARMA is a comedic satire on Big Pharma. Whether you love opera or hate opera, Gonzo Opera will tickle your funnybone.
Written by librettist Rick Huff and Emmy-award-winning composer Daniel Steven Crafts. Featuring Thomas Munro (Doc Charletayne), Hannah Stephens (Adicta), Esther Moses (Mypilla), Santiago Alfonzo Meza (Drug Doug), Molly Hill (Flute & Piccolo), Megan Snow (Clarinet), and Joe McCanna (Piano).
PERFORMANCE TIMES
Friday, May 9, 7 PM
Saturday, May 10, 2 PM & 7 PM
TICKET COST
$20 General Admission
$10 Student
ABOUT GONZO OPERA
GONZO: It's not your Grandma's opera! Gonzo Opera is modern, tuneful, bawdily hilarious and REAL OPERA. Our mission is to breathe new life into an art form dangerously close to becoming a museum piece—using humor, modern themes, and wonderful singers with beautiful melodies.
DOWN ON THE PHARMA: The Medicine Show—BIOS
THOMAS MUNRO (Doc Charletayne). Thomas Munro’s “magnificent” dramatic baritone voice is coming to stages for the first time since he moved away from lyric roles toward heavier repertoire. Roles have included Tonio in Pagliacci, Figaro and the Count in Le nozze di Figaro, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, and Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte. He has been seen with the University of New Mexico Opera Theatre, the Lowell House Opera Company (Cambridge, MA) and Vertical Player Repertory (Brooklyn). Lieder performances have included the alto/baritone songs of Das Lied von der Erde and an experimental performance of Winterreise from the piano!
HANNAH STEPHENS (Adicta). Lyric coloratura soprano, Hannah Stephens, resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and performs worldwide.
Miss Stephens recently performed a stunning Mahler’s Fourth Symphony with the New Mexico Philharmonic Orchestra. After her debut of Poppea in Handel’s Agrippina, with West Edge Opera, critic, Victor Cordell, for AllEvents wrote, “
Hannah Stephens soprano is light and bright as Poppea. The opera is replete with challenging coloratura and staccato passages for which her voice is particularly effective.”
Another recent success was her touching and heartfelt performance of Gorecki’s Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, with the Albuquerque Philharmonic Orchestra.
Some past highlights of her operatic career include the Queen of the Night, Musetta, and Gilda. Miss Stephens enjoys the challenge of contemporary music, and is working with several composers on new works. She has sung with West Bay Opera, Pocket Opera, and Spreckels Performing Arts Center. Hannah’s successes in concert include Strauss’ Vier Letze Lieder, Schoenbergs String Quartet No. 2 and Villas-Lobos Bachianas Brasileiras.
Other highlights of her operatic career were the role of Nella (Gianni Schicchi) with the Jacobs School of Music at IndianaUniversity, and Zerlina (Don Giovanni) and Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro), which she performed in Weimar, Germany.Miss Stephens was selected by the opera department of the Jacobs School to sing both Königen der Nacht arias from Mozarts Die Zauberflöte, for public concert. She performed the US premiere of Lorenzo Palomos Mi jardín solitario.
Born in the United Kingdom, Miss Stephens is a dual citizen and received her Master’s degree in Vocal Performance from Indiana University, studying with Carlos Montané, and her Bachelor’s from the University of New Mexico, studying with Marilyn Tyler.
ESTHER MOSES (Mypilla). Esther Moses, Mezzo/Soprano, returned to her home state of New Mexico after working in the Pacific Northwest, where she was part of the statewide outreach, chorus roster, and concert soloist with the Portland Opera for more than a decade. She has performed new works as part of Gonzo Opera, including “And the Winner Is…”, “Down on the Pharma” and “Cellular World.” Esther has performed with Albuquerque and Santa Fe organizations such as Polyphony: Voices of New Mexico and the NM Performing Arts Society. She has worked with Opera Southwest as a soloist and with the Oregon East Symphony in Mahler’s 4th Symphony and Mozart’s Requiem. She has been featured with the Rose City Chamber Orchestra, Kids’ Concert and Yuletide Pops with the Oregon Symphony, and Bach’s St. John Passion with Choral Arts Ensemble of Portland. Other performances include Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with the Chamber Orchestra of Albuquerque and Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass with the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. Operatic roles include the title role in Puccini’s Suor Angelica, Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd, Arsena in Gypsy Baron, Fatima in Abu Hassan, Laetitia in Menotti’s Old Maid and the Thief, and Tullia in the American premiere of Vivaldi’s Ottone in Villa at the Cincinnati Conservatory. She has been a featured soloist with the Albuquerque Philharmonic and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra as well as soloist in the staged oratorio, Vivaldi’s Juditha Triumphans, at the Opera Theatre of Lucca, Italy. As a Regents Scholar, Esther holds performance & music education degrees from the University of New Mexico and received her Master of Music from the College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) at the University of Cincinnati. Esther enjoys raising her children, gardening, and beekeeping. She is a music and theater educator in the local schools.
SANTIAGO ALFONZO MEZA (Drug Doug) is a baritone from Caracas, Venezuela, who relocated to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to pursue a MM Vocal Performance at the University of New Mexico, where he studies under the direction of Dr. Michael Hix. He enjoyed a career as a choir member and cantor for congregations in the Washington D.C. area and a stage performer with local theatre and opera companies, including Creative Cauldron and Loudon Lyric Opera, and also served as a chorus member for the Washington National Opera and Maryland Lyric Opera. In New Mexico, he has performed with two seasons of the University of New Mexico opera scenes program as well as portraying the role of Count Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. Additionally, Santiago has recently debuted with Opera Southwest, performing the role of Zuniga in the regional Spanish language premiere of Georges Bizet's Carmen. This coming spring he will be back with University of New Mexico's opera program, portraying the role of John Brooke in Mark Adamo's Little Women.
MOLLY HILL (Flute & Piccolo) is a performer and music teacher in Albuquerque since completing her MM in Flute Performance '21 at UNM. She received her BM in Flute Performance '19 from The University of Tampa and has studied Javanese gamelan and wayang at the Ekalaya Institute in Surakarta, Central Java, Indonesia. Molly's mentors and teachers include Barbara Prescott, Jenny DeBouzek, Valerie Potter, Pak Wakidi Dwidjomartono, and Kitsie Emerson. In addition to teaching with the Young Musician Initiative and private flute lessons of all ages, she performs frequently in Albuquerque and Santa Fe as a freelance flutist, with Sunset Winds woodwind quintet, and Gamelan Encantada.
Megan Snow (clarinet). Megan Snow is a musician and dancer in the Albuquerque/Santa Fe Metro area. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Montana, and a Master of Music degree from the University of New Mexico. She is also a student of Javanese gamelan and dance, and attended the Ekalaya Institute in Surakarta City, Indonesia, to study music and dance. Snow has played with several ensembles in New Mexico, including Gamelan Encantada, Sandia Wind Quintet, Opera Southwest, Santa Fe Symphony, Santa Fe Pro Musica, and the San Juan Symphony. She has also danced with Gamelan Encantada, New Mexico Ballet Company, and Garden City Ballet Company. Owner of Snow Music Studio, she has taught private music lessons for 10 years. Snow can be contacted for gigs and for private lessons at megansnow43@gmail.com. Recordings can be found at www.youtube.com/@megansnow43.
JOE MCCANNA (Piano). A native of Albuquerque, Joe’s day-job has been doing music for the last 30 years. He works primarily as a pianist, but has also written several musicals, which have all seen productions in venues such as The Albuquerque Little Theater, the Kimo Theater, and others. He has music-directed over 30 musical theater and opera productions with Music Theater Southwest, Opera Southwest, Opera Unlimited, A.L.T., and others. (Even more productions have seen him playing in the trenches of the pit orchestra.) A student of George Robert’s, Joe has always loved and played all kinds of music: from classical to rock; piano bar, jazz, & folk to ethnic & world music. He's worked with youth, community, and school groups and houses of worship; and he likes taking long walks, reading science articles, studying languages, and playing guitar—(not professionally any more, but just for himself.) And he is very happy and excited to be a part of this new Gonzo Opera venture!
DANIEL STEVEN CRAFTS (composer) Daniel Steven Crafts wrote for the great tenor, Jerry Hadley, until his tragic death. Their first collaboration, The Song & the Slogan was released as a program for the PBS network and won an Emmy for Best Music. To date, Mr. Crafts has completed 22 operas, 18 symphonies, 6 concertos, and 17 large orchestral works, as well as a variety of shorter pieces. Having spent most of his life in the San Francisco Bay Area, Mr. Crafts moved to New Mexico in 1999.