Up-And-Coming Crane School of Music Graduates Return for Unforgettable Alumni Recital

Tenor Dimitri Pittas '99 and Soprano Lydia Zervanos '10 to Present Alumni Recital at SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music on Oct. 20

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Fresh off the Metropolitan Opera stage, tenor Dimitri Pittas ’99 will perform at his alma mater, SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music, on Oct. 20 (Photo: Kristin Hoeberman).

POTSDAM, NY (10/09/2015)(readMedia)-- SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music will welcome two accomplished young singers back to their alma mater for an unforgettable alumni recital on Oct. 20.

Fresh from the Metropolitan Opera stage, tenor Dimitri Pittas '99 will take the stage alongside Greek soprano Lydia Zervanos '10 for the Crane Alumni Recital Series, on Tuesday, Oct. 20 at 7:30 p.m. in the Sara M. Snell Music Theater.

This event is free, and the public is invited to attend.

Pittas and Zervanos will take turns trading arias throughout the recital, ending the performance with two duets. Pittas will be accompanied by his wife, Leah Edwards, on the piano, while Crane faculty member François Germain will accompany Zervanos.

Zervanos will present solo works by Francis Poulenc, George Lambelet, Manolis Kalomiris, Vicenzo Bellini and Jules Massenet. Pittas will perform pieces by Henri Duparc, Johannes Brahms, Bellini and Giuseppe Verdi.

The performance will close with the singers sharing the stage to perform "È Il Sol Dell'Anima" from Verdi's "Rigoletto," ending with a duet from Theophrastos Sakellaridis's "The Godson."

About the performers:

Dimitri Pittas '99 has appeared on leading opera stages throughout North America and Europe. He is a graduate of the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and has been heard on the Met stage as Rodolfo in "La Bohème," Macduff in "Macbeth," Nemorino in "L'Elisir d'Amore" and Tamino in "Die Zauberflöte." Pittas began the current season at the Metropolitan Opera singing the role of Cassio in a new opening night production of "Otello," directed by Bartlett Sher. He also performs the role of Alfred in "Die Fledermaus" at the Met, and in Japan at the Saito Kinen Festival. On the concert stage, he will sing Beethoven's "Missa Solemnis" with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Verdi's "Requiem" with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and will also be presented in recital by the George London Foundation. Last season, Pittas's engagements included Rodolfo in "La Bohème" with Opera de Paris, Opera National de Bordeaux, Dallas Opera and Palm Beach Opera. He performed the title role in "Don Carlo" in a new production for Opera Philadelphia, Nemorino in "L'Elisir d'Amore" with Deutsche Oper Berlin, and Michele in the world premiere of "La Ciociara" ("Two Women") by Marco Tutino with San Francisco Opera. A 1999 graduate of The Crane School of Music, Pittas was honored for his many achievements with the 2008 Rising Star Award from the SUNY Potsdam Alumni Association.

Lydía Zervanos '10 was born in Athens, Greece and is part of a musical family. From a young age as a cellist, she collaborated with numerous professional ensembles. She has also been part of the Orchestra of Northern New York, the Cellissimo and Fior de la Piedra ensembles. As a singer, she performed with the Crane Opera Ensemble in the operas "L'Egisto" by Cavalli, and Maurice Ravel's "L'Enfant et les Sortilèges." She has presented recitals in Greece, Germany and the U.S. In 2012, she performed the title role in "Yasou Aida!," a Greek-German co-production between the Neuköllner Oper Berlin and "The Beggars' Operas of Athens," which premiered in Berlin and later appeared at the Thessaloniki Concert Hall and the Athens Festival. She has an ongoing collaboration as a singer and cellist with the Neuköllner Oper. In 2013, Zervanos joined the Greek National Opera, performing in Kypourgos's "Beware! The Prince is Messy," as well as singing the leading roles in Samaras's "Mademoiselle de Belle-Isle" and Sakellaridis's operetta, "The Possessed." Zervanos holds cello and voice degrees from The Crane School of Music, and has also studied at the Classical and Modern Music Conservatory and the Musical Horizons Conservatory in Athens. As a SUNY Potsdam Presidential Scholar, Zervanos authored "Singing in Greek: A Guide to Greek Lyric Diction & Vocal Repertoire," recently published by Rowman & Littlefield, 2015.

This concert will be broadcast live on the SUNY Potsdam website at the performance time. To view the program and see other upcoming streaming performances, visit www.potsdam.edu/academics/Crane/streaming.

For more information about SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music, please visit www.potsdam.edu/crane.

Founded in 1886, SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music has a long legacy of excellence in music education and performance. Life at Crane includes an incredible array of more than 300 recitals, lectures and concerts presented by faculty, students and guests each year. The Crane School of Music is the State University of New York's only All-Steinway institution.

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