When:
Tuesday Jan 28 @ 5:30pm
Rsvp: Email events@florentineopera.org to rsvp and for any questions about the event.
Acis & Galatea, Handel's charming and most performed opera since its creation, tells a tale of love, jealousy, and mythological mischief. Join us for an opportunity to hear from our stage director, conductor, and lead tenor about this production described as this production as “visual poetry”.
About Versed
We build operas over the course of a few years! In that time, dozens of creatives work on costuming, lighting effects, historical juxtapositions and casting. For each mainstage production, we offer a Versed experience for the Milwaukee community (and beyond). Come to hear about the work's history, stay to experience a musical demonstration featuring a lead artist and conductor!
Our Versed series takes place as an intimate gathering in our very own Lueders Opera Center in the Riverwest neighborhood. These are FREE and open to the public.
Please RSVP at events@florentineopera.org
Featuring
Francesco Milioto
Conductor
Francesco Milioto continues to establish himself in opera houses as an incredibly gifted "singer’s" conductor. His interpretation of each score is fueled by a philosophy of collaboration in service of the overall experience for artists, creators, and audience.
Maestro Milioto currently serves as Music Director of OPERA San Antonio, Music Director Designate to The Florentine Opera, and Music Director of Holy City Arts and Lyric Opera. Highlights of Mr. Milioto's most recent acclaimed performances, outside of his home companies, include at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, The Atlanta Opera, Arizona Opera and Tulsa Opera. He is a member of the music staff at the world-renowned Lyric Opera of Chicago and The Santa Fe Opera.
Mr. Milioto began the season leading a successful production of Romeo and Juliet at The Florentine Opera, before heading to San Antonio to conduct their performances of Pagliacci. He then made his debut with Ballet San Antonio conducting several performances of The Nutcracker in collaboration with the Classical Music Institute Orchestra. The new year began with a recital in Charleston for HALO, followed quickly by a last-minute substitution with Tulsa Opera for their gala performance of Verdi's Aida. Mr. Milioto will end the season with a return to San Antonio to lead OSA’s production of Romeo and Juliet.
This season also included his work on productions of Ernani and Hansel and Gretel at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Maestro Milioto is an avid coach and much sought after master teacher. In addition to his work with young artists at OPERA San Antonio and The Florentine Opera he recently gave masterclasses for the Detroit Opera Studio and Mexico Opera Studio in Monterrey, Mexico.
As a Music director and guest conductor Mr. Milioto has thrived in Chicago and beyond. Over his many years in Chicago, he claimed the title of Music Director to the New Millennium Orchestra, the Skokie Valley Symphony Orchestra, the Highland Park Strings, Access Contemporary Music and the Chicago Cultural Center Summer Opera. As a guest conductor he has amassed several critically acclaimed productions with Chicago Opera theater and has collaborated with many professional local orchestras. His work with the New Millennium Orchestra and Chicago Opera theater were each named to the Chicago Sun-Times list of the “10 best performances of the year.” Mr. Milioto is particularly proud of his work with the New Millennium Orchestra of Chicago, which he co-founded in 2005. The NMO had an incredible range of repertoire, playing everything from classical music and opera, to collaborations with jazz and hip-hop artists. His highly acclaimed work over ten seasons with both the Highland Park Strings and Skokie Valley Symphony Orchestra ranged from early music to contemporary works and often featured world-renowned soloists. As Artistic Director/Conductor of Access Contemporary Music, Mr. Milioto led the brilliantly vibrant ensemble Palomar which has been featured on the radio and in performances throughout the city and abroad. He has also conducted successful productions with The Atlanta Opera, Arizona Opera, Tulsa Opera, Opera Santa Barbara, Opera Southwest, Elgin Opera, and Opera on the James.
E. Loren Meeker
Director
Praised by the Chicago Sun-Times for her “inspired innovation,” stage director E. Loren Meeker has garnered worldwide acclaim for her keen artistic vision and rich, measured storytelling. With an international career spanning engagements across the United States, Argentina, Singapore, and France, Ms. Meeker’s work has been seen at notable houses including Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Washington National Opera, Teatro Colón, and more. A diverse artist with a background in dance and theatre, Ms. Meeker is especially regarded for her unique, cross-genre perspective which she regularly brings to her work on the operatic stage.
Ms. Meeker’s upcoming season encompasses a number of directorial debuts and new artistic collaborations. Following her debut with Santa Fe Opera directing the Apprentice Scenes Showcase, she makes two more house debuts with Austin Opera directing The Marriage of Figaro and Arizona Opera with a 50th anniversary season finale production of Così fan tutte. Ms. Meeker serves as the General & Artistic Director at OPERA San Antonio, where she finishes the season directing Tomer Zvulun's production of Rigoletto.
Met with critical acclaim in her most recent productions, Ms. Meeker is regularly praised for her distinctive and illuminating takes on standard repertoire. Of her 2019 production of La bohème with Opera San Antonio, Mike Greenberg of Music Incident Light reported, “It’s an uncommonly lithe staging. This is that rare opera production in which every action of every character is purposeful and natural – not a false note the entire evening. As much as the words and the music, Ms. Meeker’s abundant, intelligently placed details show us who the characters are."
Recent highlights of her directing engagements include collaborations with Houston Grand Opera (Vinkensport, The Impresario), Portland Opera and Florida Grand Opera with two productions of Madama Butterfly, Washington National Opera (Don Giovanni), Lyric Opera of Chicago (Rigoletto, Die Fledermaus), The Glimmerglass Festival (Show Boat, The Cunning Little Vixen, La bohème), and The Dallas Opera (Show Boat, Manon). Other notable credits include engagements at Houston Grand Opera (Les pêcheurs de perles), Atlanta Opera (Daughter of the Regiment), Wolf Trap Opera (La pietra del paragone), San Francisco Opera (Die Fledermaus), Teatro Colón (Manon) and Singapore Lyric Opera (Manon Lescaut). Equally at home in contemporary repertoire, Ms. Meeker has directed five world premieres for Houston Grand Opera (HGOco) as well as the world premiere of Jason and the Argonauts for Lyric Opera of Chicago (Lyric Unlimited).
Ms. Meeker’s vision and skill as a director has been recognized through a number of recent honors and awards, including two “Best of Opera” awards through the New Orleans Opera Association for her productions of Faust (2017) and Die Fledermaus (2015). Her production of Carmen with Washington National Opera was included in DC Metro Theater Arts’ 2015 “Best of Opera” list. Other notable awards include First Prize (Division IV) of the National Opera Association Opera Production Competition for her production of Lakmè at Rutgers University as well as six “Best Of” ArtsImpluse Theatre Awards nominations for her production of Cendrillon at Boston University Opera Institute.
Ms. Meeker has served on the directing staff for a number of major opera companies across the United States, counting Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Florida Opera, and more among her early influences. While on staff with Central City Opera, she received the John Moriarty Award for her contributions to the company’s 2006 season. Such opportunities have yielded artistic and collegial ties with many distinguished directors including Sir David McVicar and Francesca Zambello.
As a choreographer, her work has been showcased at Glimmerglass Opera (Orpheus in the Underworld), Houston Grand Opera (Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni), and Opera Boston (La Vie Parisienne). While in residence with Central City Opera, Ms. Meeker contributed her talents to the Bonfils-Stanton Young Artist Program as the company’s movement teacher and choreographer.
Ms. Meeker’s unique path to directing began with a background in dance and gymnastics, later combining her talents in these disciplines with a love for acting and singing. She received her BFA in Theatre Studies at Boston University and immediately applied her diverse theatrical background to the world of opera. Ms. Meeker is currently based in Boston, Massachusetts.
Patrick Bessenbacher
Tenor
With “purity of tone and ardent, youthful stage presence” (Opera News), tenor Patrick Bessenbacher was raised in Overland Park, KS, where he grew up as a three sport athlete and an avid music lover. He received his Bachelor’s in Music at the University of Colorado Boulder in 2020, and his Master’s in Music from The Juilliard School in 2022.
As one of the Florentine Opera's Baumgartner Studio Artists for the 2022-23 season, Mr. Bessenbacher performed the roles of Tybalt in Roméo et Juliette, Ferrando in Kelley Rourke and Nicholas Lell Benavides' Così fan tutte: REMIX, and as a soloist in the company’s exciting new production Covers with Milwaukee-based alternative electronic duo Immortal Girlfriend. These performances mark his debut as Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville.
This summer, Mr. Bessenbacher will return to the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont to study chamber music. During the 2023-24 season, he will tour the East coast with Marlboro singing Vaughan Williams Blake Songs, and join Opera Birmingham in the role of Peter Fagan in Touch, based on the life of Helen Keller.
In Summer 2022, Mr. Bessenbacher performed the role of El Remendado in Opera Theatre of Saint Louis’ production of Carmen. During the 2021-22 season, he performed the roles of Tom Rakewell in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress and Fenton in Otto Nicolai’s Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor with Juilliard Opera.
Mr. Bessenbacher is represented by Robert Mirshak and Mirshak Artists. He enjoys spending his free time with family and friends, in the mountains skiing, on the beach having a drink, or enjoying everyones’ company.