Soprano Julia Heron Metzler Sings Opera Favorites

Soprano Julia Heron Metzler, together with pianist Stephen Karr, present a recital of Opera Favorites at the Neighborhood Unitarian Church in Pasadena on Father’s Day at 4:00 pm. The arias and art songs to be performed include works by Jules Massenet, Richard Wagner, Henry Purcell, Reynaldo Hahn, Benjamin Britten, Anton Dvorak, Georges Bizet, Richard Strauss, and more. The recital is a fund-raiser to enable Julia to participate in the Belvedere International Singing Competition in Amsterdam, and to work with leading European voice coaches this summer. Hundreds of important European opera directors, coaches, and agents will be observing this famous competition, offering valuable feedback and possible future contracts. Julia will leave for Amsterdam the day after this recital. Suggested donation is $20 per person. However, no one will be turned away.

Many of you who find yourselves on this page may very well know Julia as the knowledgeable and friendly violinist behind the counter at the Metzler Violin Shop, especially on weekends. Yet her true passion, talent, and profession is that of singing Opera. Her early ten years as a violinist has helped her immensely to excel in the world of opera, enabling her to be a crack sight-reader and to sing rhythmically complex pieces with orchestra with ease. This recital in Pasadena may be the best opportunity for southern California opera lovers to enjoy hearing Julia in concert before she graduates from UCLA a year from now with a Masters degree in music.

Julia Heron Metzler was the recipient of a special encouragement award from the 2012 and 2011 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and was a finalist in the Palm Springs Opera Guild Competition. She has received prizes from the L.A. Spotlight Awards, the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts, and the International Franz Liszt Competition. Master class teachers include Placido Domingo, Hakan Hagegard and Lenore Rosenberg. Julia’s past roles include Blanche in The Dialogues of the Carmelites (San Francisco Conservatory of Music), Lady Billows in Albert Herring (Repertory Opera Company) Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro (Pacific Opera Project), 2nd Lady in Die Zauberflote (Center Stage Opera), and Annina in La Traviata (Red Door Opera). As a Masters student at UCLA, Julia has recently sung the role of the Countess in Saverio Mercadante’s opera “I Due Figaro”, and the mezzo soprano solos in the UCLA production of the Verdi Requiem this Spring. Just before this recital, Julia will perform three roles in John Musto’s riotous fable “Bastianello” – part of Opera UCLA’s triple bill of one act operas from June 4-6.

CLICK HERE to RSVP to Julia to Reserve your Recital Seats

Not able to attend the recital? Consider contributing to Julia’s GoFundMe campaign, or check out audio clips of her singing.

CLICK HERE to DONATE, or to LISTEN

Born in Greenville, South Carolina, Stephen Karr is a young conductor and keyboardist establishing himself as a compelling interpreter of a wide variety of orchestral and operatic works. Stephen is the co-founder of Pacific Opera Project. He serves as music director and has led all of the company’s productions, most recently Tosca and La bohème AKA “The Hipsters,” as well as the highly successful trilogy of Mozart/da Ponte operas which he led as both conductor and recitative accompanist. He also recently conducted performances of Sweeney Todd at California State University, Northridge, substituting on short notice for an indisposed colleague. He has worked at such opera companies as the OPERA Iowa outreach tour of Des Moines Metro Opera as music director, the Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown, New York, which took him to the Royal Opera House in Muscat, Oman as assistant conductor and principal keyboardist for performances of The Music Man, Opera New Jersey for a critically acclaimed production of Menotti’s The Consul, Opera Santa Barbara and Palm Beach Opera. Additionally, he has been on staff with schools such as Chapman University, Michigan State University, UCLA, USC and Westminster Choir College.

Stephen’s other pursuits include work as a continuo harpsichordist, which he has applied to west coast premieres of two operas by Francesco Cavalli (La Calisto with POP in 2014 and Il Giasone with Opera UCLA in 2010), Opera UCLA’s production of Handel’s Agrippina in 2012, Glimmerglass’s Armide in 2012 and a performance of Le quattro stagioni with the American Youth Symphony featuring Sarah Chang as soloist and conductor. Stephen is also an organist, and has appeared in concert throughout the East Coast, as well as a performance with James Conlon at Royce Hall of Zemlinsky’s Psalm 13. He is currently the organist at St. Wilfrid of York Episcopal Church in Huntington Beach. Stephen is also an accomplished author, who provides supertitles for most of POP’s productions, in addition to titles for Opera UCLA, pre-concert lectures for POP, the Glimmerglass Festival and Palm Beach Opera, and program notes for the Broad Stage.

Stephen holds degrees in organ performance from Westminster Choir College and Mercer University, and a master’s degree in orchestral conducting from UCLA, where he studied with Neal Stulberg and led performances of John Adams’s Chamber Symphony, Beethoven’s Symphony no. 6, Verdi’s Falstaff, and Le nozze di Figaro, which he conducted from the fortepiano as conductor and recitative accompanist. He is also a co-founder of the school’s resident new music ensemble, contempo flux.