Ariel Pisturino earned the Master of Music degree from the University of Southern California, where she performed the role of Bianca in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia for USC Thornton Opera as well as several opera scenes. She has also worked extensively with the Composition department at USC in performing new works. Ariel attended the International Lyric Academy of Rome where she performed the role of Giovanna in Verdi’s Rigoletto. She was also a Fourth Place prizewinner in the Palm Springs Opera Guild Vocal 
Competition. After graduation from USC, she transitioned from Mezzo-soprano to Lyric Soprano and undertook further stage training with OperaWorks in the Advanced Artist Program. She would go on to perform a number of operatic roles, including Nancy T’ang in John Adams Nixon in China, Second Lady in The Magic Flute, Micaela in Carmen, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, First Witch in Macbeth, and Susanna in Il Segreto di Susanna. Currently Ariel works with composers in the Los Angeles area in an effort to have their music heard by the public. She is a co-founder of Chamber Opera Players of LA and the co-founding curator of the unSUNg summer concert series through Lauri’s List. She has recently recorded composer Mark Abel’s Five Rilke Songs for the album Terrain of the Heart, produced by Delos Records and due to release in February 2014. Upcoming opera appearances include Lola in Douglas Moore’s Gallantry and Geraldine in Barber’s A Hand of Bridge with Chamber Opera Players of LA.
Author: Spacious Vision
Spacious Vision--Words and Music is the former home of the Spacious Vision Song Project. Today it curates occasional essays and projects by Gerald Seminatore DMA.
Our “Britten in Song” artists: David Castillo
Filipino-American baritone David Castillo has been honored with several prizes: the Grand Prize of the Steward Brady Competition, a Metropolitan Opera National Council Regional Finalist Award, a National Finalist Award in Classical Singer’s University Competition, an Encouragement Award from the Palm Springs Opera Guild Competition, and grants from 
the Los Angeles based Opera Buffs, Inc. During the USC Thornton Opera’s 2012/2013 season, he performed as Ferdinand in the West Coast premiere of Lee Hoiby’s The Tempest and Second Commissioner in Francis Poulenc’s Dialogue of the Carmelites. He was a featured performer in the Opera Buffs, Inc. Spring 2013 Showcase and in the Palm Springs Opera Guild’s “Opera in the Park 2013” event. For Vermont’s Green Mountain Opera Festival, he has appeared as Sid in Benjamin Britten’s Albert Herring and as Dr. Malatesta in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale. During the 2011/2012 season, he appeared as Papageno in Die Zauberflöte with La Mirada Vocal Arts, sang the baritone solos in in Handel’s Messiah with the Claremont Symphony Orchestra, and essayed the title role in the West Coast premiere of Britten’s Owen Wingrave with USC Thornton Opera. David holds the Master of Music degree from the University of Southern California and the Bachelor of Music degree from Loyola University in New Orleans. He spent the summers of 2010 and 2011 with the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, where he performed the roles of Marco in Gianni Schicchi, Le Fauteuil and L’Arbre in L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, and Liberto in L’incoronazione di Poppea. He has also been a Fellow at the Aspen Music Festival. He is a member of the Los Angeles Master Chorale and appears frequently as a recitalist.
David’s credentials speak for themselves–he is a rising star in the singing world and we are happy he will share his talents on our upcoming “Britten in Song” concert!
BRITTEN IN SONG, Nov. 10 2013 in Glendale, CA
The Spacious Vision Song Project will present the concert “Britten in Song” on Nov. 10, 2013 at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Glendale, CA. General admission, no tickets required, donations requested. (Our only funding source is audience donations, and we have a number of expenses to meet. So we are asking everyone who attends to contribute whatever they can.)
With this program, two generations of artists join forces for a celebration of the Benjamin Britten Centennial. The accomplished Los Angeles based singers for this concert will include sopranos Bianca Hall and Ariel Pisturino, baritone David Castillo, and tenors Arnold Livingston Geis and Gerald Seminatore. They will be joined on a musical tour of Britten’s songs and operatic arias by pianist and conductor Kristof van Grysperre, Associate Conductor of the Long Beach Opera.
(Some other musical friends may also join us.)
Ariel Pisturino “An impressive young discovery” (Los Angeles Times)
(click HERE for website)
David Castillo Metropolitan Opera Competition Finalist, Opera Buffs Awards
(click HERE for website)
Gerald Seminatore “Expressive tenor…virtuosic” (San Francisco Classical Voice)
(click HERE for website)
Kristof van Grysperre “Gifted and stylistically impeccable” (Orange County Register)
(click HERE for website)
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church offers listeners a warm and welcoming venue for this program. The church is located at the corner of N. Brand and Dryden in Glendale, north of Rt. 134. Ample free parking is available at the church and on neighboring streets. One of Glendale’s main pedestrian friendly shopping and dining areas lies only a few blocks south. Audience members can also enjoy a light meal and refreshment at the church’s café and restaurant neighbors.
General admission; no tickets required. However, we have expenses to meet! Cash or check donations are requested.
Selections from Holst’s VEDIC HYMNS on SoundCloud
Recordings of Jaebon Hwang’s and Gerald Seminatore’s recent live performance of four selections from Holst’s VEDIC HYMNS, op. 24 are now available at our SoundCloud archive. These were offered on the “unSUNg–Songs Uncommon and New” concert series in Glendale.
The photo is of a statue of the Hindu deity Indra. Before listening, we recommend you check out the texts and some illustrations for these rare and beautiful songs. Click here for the link, and then click again on the file name when it appears. You should then see the .pdf document in your Web browser’s reader.
New audio and video recordings available!
It took a little bit of time, but several video recordings from our World AIDS Day concerts are now available on our YouTube channel. There are some powerful performances including rare and beautiful songs from Chris DeBlasio’s “The Disappearance of Light” sung by John Seesholtz. In addition to John’s contribution, the AIDS Quilt Songbook is further represented by performances by Gerald Seminatore and Diana Burbano. Christopher Reed is at the piano. There is also a complete performance of Benjamin Britten’s rare song cycle “A Charm of Lullabies” by mezzo-soprano Pamela Dellal with Brian Moll at the piano.
Over on our SoundCloud archive, several recordings from our inaugural concert are now available for streaming, including audio of Pamela Dellal’s “A Charm of Lullabies” and selections from Britten’s “Winter Words” sung by Gerald Seminatore. And there is more from our World AIDS Day concerts as well. Some 30 selections from our first year by these artists, as well as by Barbara Kilduff and Libor Dudas, are now available online!
Spacious Vision artists perform for “unSUNg — Songs Uncommon and New”
Tenor GERALD SEMINATORE and pianist JAEBON HWANG were featured artists on the recent July 14 performance of the new concert series “unSUNg — Songs Uncommon and New” at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Glendale, CA. The duo performed Benjamin Britten’s Canticle “My beloved is mine, and I am his,” and several selections from the rarely performed “Vedic Hymns” of Gustav Holst. They will next appear together on Sept. 18, 2013 on the “Music at Noon” series at the Pasadena Presbyterian Church.
Here is an illustration for one of the Vedic Hymns, “Indra, God of Storm and Thunder”. (Unknown illustrator). 
Visuals always help make song repertoire more accessible!
June update for our visitors
Activity on our collaborative Spacious Vision projects has cooled for a bit, primarily because the members of our collective have been occupied with several other projects professional and personal. We ARE working on new events for Fall 2013. In the meantime, here are a few updates on our artists and their recent activities, in alphabetical order:
Actress DIANA BURBANO and her partner Tom Shelton’s new play “Silueta” was just produced and recognized by the jury at the Summer Great Plains Theater Festival in Omaha, NE.
Mezzo PAMELA DELLAL recently appeared in recital in Tucson, AZ, as well as performances of medieval Spanish music with the Newberry Consort at the Boston Early Music Festival.
Pianist BRIAN MOLL has taken it a bit easy during a long recovery period from skeletal injuries sustained this past December. But he is now back at the keyboard at the Longy School and in other venues. We expect to collaborate with Brian again very soon and are thrilled that he is back on his game.
Pianist CHRIS REED has been working at the Taos Opera Institute in Taos, NM before beginning his residency with the annual SongFest program at the Colburn School in Los Angeles. And then it’s off to the Eastman School of Music, where he will begin his D.M.A. studies in Fall 2013!
Baritone JOHN SEESHOLTZ just completed a May run of rehearsals and performances of Gounod’s opera “Faust” with the Fort Collins Opera.
Tenor GERALD SEMINATORE will appear on the “unSung” series of contemporary music concerts in Glendale, CA in July. For much of 2013 he has been occupied with family responsibilities in New England, while also attending to his students at his teaching appointments in Southern California. In August 2013 he will also join the faculty of the Shasta College Summer Vocal Institute in Northern California.
Other affiliated Spacious Vision artists (Soprano Barbara Kilduff, Counter-tenor Caleb Barnes, mezzo Lauren Edwards, and pianist Libor Dudas) are currently busy with various concerts, programs, and teaching activities, including the Green Mountain Opera Festival, the Vancouver Early Music Festival, international travel, and other interesting work. All of which is to say that we are all roaming far and wide, and keeping ourselves busy!
Organizing our collaborative work in one place and aligning our schedules is proving to be a challenge, but we plan to come together in the fall to resume our programming. More details as they are available. Thanks for visiting!
UPDATE: Gerald, John, and Chris will be performing together at the College Music Society’s National Conference in October, 2013 at the Hyatt Regency in Cambridge, MA. Additional Boston events around that trip are almost sure to happen!
March update for our visitors
Thanks for visiting our website! If you are a new visitor, please scroll down the page and check get to know us. Right now, Spacious Vision programming is on hiatus, but we plan on being back with new programs later this spring. Stay tuned! And please “like” us on Facebook and join our mailing list for updates about future events.
Concert recordings now available for streaming on SoundCloud!
Thanks to the SoundCloud music sharing service, we are pleased to share several recordings of performances from recent Spacious Vision programs.
You can hear soprano Barbara Kilduff and tenor Gerald Seminatore, along with pianist Libor Dudas, in selections from our recent New Year Concert at Bowdoin College. The program included songs by George Frederic Handel, Hugo Wolf, Peter Warlock, John Jacob Niles, and others.
Our 2012 concerts for World AIDS Day elicited deeply felt and appreciative responses from our audiences. From the SoundCloud page, you may stream readings and songs from the AIDS Quilt Songbook, as well as songs by Leonard Bernstein, Benjamin Britten, John Duke, Carlisle Floyd, and Richard Hundley. Performers include actress Diana Burbano, pianist Christopher Reed, baritone John Seesholtz, and tenor Gerald Seminatore.
https://soundcloud.com/spacious-vision
(TIP for new visitors: The orange arrow button on the left side of each waveform graphic is the “Play” icon. Click there and wait a second or two for playback to begin.)
New Year Concert Postscript
The 2013 New Year concert in the Bowdoin College Chapel was well-attended and concluded with a standing ovation by an enthusiastic audience. This was wonderful for all concerned, especially as we had a bit of excitement in the days leading up to the concert. Brian Moll had injured his shoulder earlier in the week and was unable to play! Luckily, the fine pianist Libor Dudas was available and agreed to stand in for Brian with only one rehearsal. And he played beautifully!
Click here to see the printed New Year 2013 Concert Program. We have already had several requests to repeat it when the holidays roll around once more!
The next program for the Southern California contingent is in the planning stages, and more information will be shared here as details are finalized. And some audio files from past programs will be published in the near future. Thanks for visiting!
Spacious Vision 