The Sharon & The Studio Theatre Blog

Category: The Sharon Performing Arts Center

Meet the Cast of OPERA LOCOS!

Come see Opera Locos at The Sharon on April 9th!

About The Opera Locos

The Opera Locos is a comic opera show where five exceptional lyric singers perform some of the most well-known opera hits, sometimes combined in a clever and original way with rock and pop classics. The performance combines the best of clowning and opera to show off these fantastic entertainers in a production unlike any other!

The idea for the show was conceived and created by YLLANA, Spain’s award-winning comedy-theatre company.

The Cast

Edwin Parra, Countertenor/Contratenor

Edwin began his formal singing studies in 2011 at the UACH Faculty of Arts and was also a fellow of the SNFM Vocal Scenic Ensemble in Mexico City. He earned the First Place award at Ópera Durango 2016, and Countertenor of Mexico in the Olivia Gorra 2017 contest. He has sung the operatic roles of Nerone and Ottone from Monteverdi’s l’Incoronazione di Poppea; Cherubino from Le nozze di Figaro and The Cat from El gato con botas opera by Montsalvatge; he also performed Lumiere in the musical Beauty and the Beast.

María Rey-Joly, Soprano

Born in Madrid, María studied violin and piano and later graduated in singing from the Escuela Superior de Canto of Madrid. She completed her training in the masterclasses of Gundula Janowitz, Brigitte Fassbaender, Raina Kabaiwanska and Plácido Domingo. Her vocal personality makes her a highly versatile and flexible singer, allowing her to face a varied repertoire with roles from Mozart to Wagner! Highlights: Richard Wagner: Das Rheingold and Götterdämmerung (Woglinde), Die Walküre (Ortlinde and Helmwige); W.A. Mozart: Die Zauberflöte (Pamina and Erste Dame), Così fan tutte (Fiordiligi), Don Giovanni (Donna Anna and Donna Elvira), Don Pasquale (Norina); Leonard Bernstein: Candide (Cunegonde); Giacomo Puccini: La Bohème (Musetta), and many more.

Antonio Comas, Tenor

Born in Barcelona, Antonio made his debut with Massenet’s opera Herodiade at the Gran Teatre del Liceu where he went on to perform Strauss’s Il Capriccio and Puccini’s Turandot. In 2011, he premiered Amadeu, a musical by Albert Boadella about the composer Amadeu Vives, at the Teatros del Canal in Madrid (Ercilla Theatre Award for best actor). Highlights: Candide by Bernstein, Il Sequestro by Alberto García Demestres, La note d’acoté by Alfonso de Vilallonga, El Eclipse by Alberto García Demestres, Yo, Dalí by Xavier Benguerel, Shakespeare’s Richard III, among many more!

Mayca Teba, MezzoSoprano

Mayca is a soprano and Sevillian actress of great vocal and artistic versatility. Her repertoire ranges from Opera and Zarzuela to Musical Comedy, Jazz and Symphonic Rock. She began her lyrical career at the age of 20 at Maestranza Theatre in Seville with producer Pino Cuccia, singing Le Nozze di Figaro, Die Rossenkavalier, and many others. Highlights: Cosí fan tutte, Acis and Galatea, at López de Vega Theatre of Sevilla; Dido and Eneas at Isabel La Católica Theatre-Granada; Orpheus in the Underworld, West Side Story at The Sherman Theatre – Cardiff; Madam Butterfly at the Britten Theatre-London and at the Clonter Opera Theatre in Manchester.

Enrique Sánchez-Ramos, Baritone

Enrique was born in Aranjuez, Spain. He began his musical studies at age 9 at the Joaquin Rodrigo Music School of Aranjuez, Madrid and holds degrees in Solfeggio, Piano Teaching, and Choral Conducting. He made his operatic debut singing “Guglielmo” in Mozart’s Cosi fan Tutte. He has also performed in France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Brasil, México and Costa Rica. Since 2004 he has sung as baritone soloist with the early music ensemble Hyppocampus in the complete cycle of Bach’s Cantatas sponsored by Madrid’s Town Hall. Highlights: Orff’s Carmina Burana, J. Melchor Gomis’ opera Le Diable à Seville, Händel’s Agrippina, Gounod’s Faust, Händel’s Messiah, Delibes’ Lakmé.

The Opera Locos performs at The Sharon at 7pm on April 9th!

The Sharon – Canela y Limón

Germán López (performing at The Sharon March 3rd, 2022) shines on the world stage as one of the most brilliant and prolific “timple” virtuosos. 

What is a timple?

The timple, a type of a small guitar, is the most emblematic musical instrument of the Canary Islands – a Spanish outpost off the western coast of North Africa.

The parts of the timple are – from the bottom – the case (the lower bridge, soundboard and soundhole), the neck (the fingerboard and frets) and the pegbox (the soundboard and pegs). Five strings run from the bridge up the neck to the pegbox. The woods most commonly used in the manufacture of the timple are white spruce and pine for the front of the case (tabla de armonía), black mulberry and sandalwood for the back, ebony for the splint and orange for the ornaments and the rosette. Dromedary (animal bones) were commonly used in the early days to make the pegs, but nowadays they have been replaced by synthetic materials.

A timple!

Although its origin is unclear, it is very similar to other diminutive guitars including the Portuguese cavaquinho, the Hawaiian ukulele, the Venezuelan cuatro and the Bolivian charango. One major difference between a timple and these others is the hump! The back of the timple is rounded in order to create more resonance and volume.  Because of this, in the Canaries, the timple has the nickname “Camellito Sonoro” meaning the Sonorous Camel!

The island of Lanzarote (Canary Islands) is regarded as the birthplace of the timple. The most important timple maker was Simón Morales Tavío, who began its systematic manufacture in the first half of the 20th century.

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Germán López is joined on stage by acoustic guitar maestro Antonio Toledo, from Cádiz in southwestern Spain, for an unforgettable concert of dexterous music making. The duo released their album Canela y Limón in 2016.

A balm for the body, “Canela y Limón” often refers to cinnamon and lemon tea that is popular in Spanish culture. Likewise, this acoustic concert will surely be a balm for the soul.

But which one of them is “cinnamon,” and which one of them is the “lemon”? Only time will tell – or maybe the audience will!

See Germán López and Antonio Toledo at The Sharon, March 3rd, 7pm!

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