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Chamber Opera rescues worthy Barber opera from near-oblivion
'Vanessa'
By John von Rhein Chicago Tribune critic
October 13, 2008

"Chamber Opera minimizes the flaws while playing up the virtues. It delivers capable singing by a cast of Chicago-area artists, plus urgent yet sensitive conducting by Victoria Bond, a staunch champion of Menotti's operas. The staging by Francis Menotti, based on his late father's Spoleto Festival production, is simple but effective."

Rarely staged 'Vanessa' a solid triumph
OPERA REVIEW | Chamber Opera Chicago dazzles in Samuel Barber's 'lost' gem
October 13, 2008
BY WYNNE DELACOMA

"Conductor Victoria Bond and her chamber orchestra found the color and nuance in Barber's ingenious orchestral writing."

Wynne Delacoma, former Sun-Times classical music critic, is a free-lance writer.


VICTORIA BOND CONDUCTS CHICAGO PREMIERE OF SAMUEL BARBER'S VANESSA
CHAMBER OPERA CHICAGO PRODUCTION MARKS 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE WORK'S PREMIERE
October 11, 17, and 19 at Athenaeum Theatre

Chamber Opera Chicago has selected composer/conductor Victoria Bond to conduct the Chicago premiere of Samuel Barber's Pulitzer Prize-winning American masterpiece Vanessa, marking the 50th anniversary year of the opera's premiere. Chamber Opera Chicago's production is staged by Francis Menotti, son of Gian-Carlo Menotti, the librettist and director of the original 1958 Metropolitan Opera production. Victoria Bond conducts Marcy Stonikas and Sarah Gartshore in the double-cast title role; the company's Artistic Director, Barbara Landis, sings the part of Erika. Anatol is sung by Frederick J. Joseph III, and Lyric Opera of Chicago's Philip Kraus appears as The Old Doctor, all accompanied by a 33-piece orchestra.

Three performances take place at the Athenaeum Theatre: Saturday, October 11 (7:30 pm); Friday, October 17 (7:30 pm), and Sunday, October 19 (3:00 pm).

Victoria Bond is a particularly appropriate choice to lead Vanessa. Last season, she scored a decisive success conducting "A Brilliant Life, a Brilliant Night," Chamber Opera Chicago's tribute to Gian-Carlo Menotti, the librettist of Vanessa. And like Samuel Barber, Bond is that rarity in concert music, a singing composer: while studying voice with William Vennard at the University of Southern California, she recorded with Bethany Beardslee and was a featured soloist on the first recording of Harry Partch's Delusion of the Fury.

Moreover, Bond is active as an opera composer herself: scenes from her chamber opera Mrs. President (2002), based on the life of Victoria Woodhull, the first woman to run for president, were performed by New York City Opera in 2001 as part of the company's Vox reading series, and her opera Travels (1994), a full-evening work based on Jonathan Swift's Gulliver tale, was praised by Opera News for its "sparkling, tuneful score."

Given her deep understanding of singing and wide-ranging conducting repertoire, it is small wonder that Bond - the first woman to be awarded a doctorate in conducting from The Juilliard School - is in demand for opera conducting engagements from Chicago to Beijing.

Says Bond, "Samuel Barber has been an inspiration to me ever since I was a child, when I heard my father, a professional basso who sang at the New York City Opera, sing Dover Beach. I immediately fell in love with this music; when I decided to become a composer and learned that Barber, like me, had also been a singer, he became my role model."

Highlights

November 22: New York Philharmonic 
presents "Bridges" at Kidzone

Bond's composition "Bridges" for clarinet,
bass clarinet, erhu and pipa will be performed
by members of the New York Philharmonic
on their "Kidzone" series at Avery Fischer Hall.
April: Dallas Symphony performs
"What's the Point of Counterpoint?"

The Dallas Symphony performs Bond's composition on their Young Peoples' Concerts in April

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Versatility is the hallmark of composer Victoria Bond whose body of work ranges from symphonic and operatic compositions to chamber music, ballet scores, and pieces for young audiences.