The Ocean City Pops Presents Remembering Romberg August 3

OCEAN CITY – The Ocean City Pops Orchestra, William Scheible, Artistic Director, presents Remembering Romberg on Wednesday, August 3rd at 8:00 PM at its historic performance venue, The Music Pier, located at Moorlyn Terrace and the Boardwalk. The Concert Operetta Theater (COT) under the direction of Dan Pantano and conducted by Jose Melendez will be presenting a program of Romberg highlights from The Desert Song, Student Prince, New Moon and others. Featured singers will be AVA tenor Jeffrey Halili and Michele Johnson, who is the most recent winner of the MET national auditions. Tickets are available for $15/10 by calling the box office at 609-525-9291 or ordering online at www.ocnj.us. Full information an all POPS concerts and events is available at www.oceancitypops.org.
Soprano Michelle Johnson, the 2011 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Winner, received her opera training certificate from Boston University Opera Institute and her bachelor of music degree from the New England Conservatory of Music. She is currently a candidate for her artist diploma at Philadelphia’s Academy of Vocal Arts, where she has sung the title role of Suor Angelica, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, the Countess in Capriccio, and Alice Ford in Falstaff. She has also sung Monisha in Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha with Opera Providence, a Naked Virgin in Schoenberg’s Moses und Aron in concert with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro with Boston’s L’Orchestra da Camera. Upcoming is Aida with the 2012 Glimmeglass Music Festival and Leanora in Il Trovatore with Opera in the Heights.
Jeffrey Halili is a graduate of the Academy of Vocal Arts where he performed numerous roles in operas including Rigoletto, La Navarraise, Iolanta, Cosi fan tutte, Elektra, L’Amico Fritz, Le Nozze di Figaro, Die Zauberflote and Lucia di Lammermoor. “[Hurling] himself across the stage with demonic enery” in AVA’s production of Das Rheingold, “the clever fire god Loge furnished tenor Jeffrey Halili with an excellent vehicle for his gifts; his dynamic characterization, deft verbal pointing and legato flow [which] gave consistant pleasure”.
In concert he has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra and Buffalo Philharmonic. His repertoire includes Uriel in The Creation, Handel’s Messiah, Richard Einhorn’s Voices of Light, and Arthur Honegger’s oratorio King David.