Redlands is in for “A Night of Opera Delight”

The University of Redlands Orchestra will present Justin Brunette, the 2015 Concerto Competition winner, in a program featuring famous arias from popular operas of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries at 8 p.m. Feb. 9 in the Memorial Chapel on the University of Redlands campus. This event is free and open to the public. Brunette’s performance will open with three arias: “Si Puo” a dramatic aria from the prologue of Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, followed by a heartfelt “Di Provenza, il Mar” from Verdi’s La Traviata and the delightful “Ein Mädchen order Weibchen” from Mozart’s The Magic Flute. After Schubert’s “Unfinished Symphony,” Brunette will return to the stage to sing the splendid aria “Tanzlied des Pierrot” from Korngold’s Die Tote Stadt and the virtuosic aria “Largo al factotum” from Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. The hour-long program will conclude with Bizet’s orchestral arrangement of well-known melodies from his opera Carmen: Interlude from Act II, Habanera, the Toreador song and Danse Boheme. Baritone Justin Brunette has sung many musical genres including opera, operetta, choral and musical theater. During his studies at Georgia State University, he received the Florence Koploff Vocal Scholarship in Performance. He also participated in the Harrower Summer Opera Program where he had the honor of singing in master classes conducted by Carlyle Floyd, Copeland Woodruff and Reed Woodhouse. Brunette has performed with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra starring as Bernardo in their Summer Concert Series production of West Side Story. He was one of five original members of the cabaret group On Cue. From Georgia to Texas, Brunette has sung in several chamber and choral groups including the Atlanta Men’s Chorus, the Our Song Mixed Ensemble, the Austin Community Singers and the Capital City Men’s Chorus. Brunette's theater production credits include the Galaxy Music Theater’s productions of Putting It Together and Big Show/Small Box. He currently attends the University of Redlands, majoring in music education. Brunette performed the role of General Novakovich in the University of Redlands’s production of The Merry Widow, and he will play the role of Figaro in Redlands’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, coming this spring. The University of Redlands is located at 1200 E. Colton Avenue, in Redlands.