Symphony & Opera

Shem made his professional opera debut in Germany with the Döbeln-Freiberg Mittelsächsisches Theatre as Spoletta in Puccini’s Tosca. His operatic repertoire includes Parsifal, Siegmund, Florestan, Peter Grimes, and Canio. He is a regular tenor soloist with the Atlanta Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Philly Pops, and the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. He has also conducted several pops concerts with The Columbus Symphony, The Oklahoma Symphony, The Dallas Symphony, The Little Rock Symphony, The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, and The Boston Pops Orchestra.

Rock & Pop

Shem von Schroeck has been entertaining audiences since he was 3 years old. A veteran of the stage and recording studio, he has performed in all 50 United States and 55 countries around the world as a singer, multi-instrumentalist, and music director in a diverse range of genres. Currently the bassist and principal backing vocalist for the legendary band  TOTO, Shem has additionally toured and recorded with several international and Grammy Award-winning artists, including Kenny Loggins, Michael McDonald, David Foster, Christopher Cross, Richard Marx, Don Felder (The Eagles), Al Stewart, Patti Austin, Stephen Stills, Tom Jones, Loggins & Messina, Gary Wright, Spooky Tooth, and many others.

Scarlett Strallen has starred in productions on Broadway, London’s West End, and is a frequent soloist on the concert stage. She is currently starring on Broadway as Gwendolyn in Travesties and has appeared in the title role of Mary Poppins, a role she also played in the West End and as Sibella Hallward in A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder.

Additional theater credits include Mabel in Pirates of Penzance at Barrington Stage Company, Lady Macduff in Macbeth at the Armory in New York, Cunegonde in Candide at the Menier Chocolate Factory, Cassie in A Chorus Line at The London Palladium, Kathy Selden in Singin’ in the Rain at Chichester Festival Theatre and The Palace Theatre London (Olivier Award Nomination for Best Actress in a Musical), Amalia in She Loves Me at the Chocolate Factory, and Clara in Passion at Donmar Warehouse. Prior to this, she played Marian in The Music Man at Chichester Festival Theatre and at the Royal Shakespeare Company playing Anne Page in Merry Wives of Windsor. Her performance of Josephine at Regents Park Open Air Theatre in HMS Pinafore won her an Olivier nomination. Other productions at Regents Park include Cymbeline and Twelfth Night, Truly Scrumptious in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (London Palladium), and original casts of Mamma Mia! (Prince Edward), The Witches of Eastwick (Theatre Royal, Drury Lane) and Peggy Sue Got Married (Shaftesbury). In 2014, Scarlett received the ‘Whatsonstage’ awards for best actress in a musical for A Chorus Line at the London Palladium and Candide at the Menier.

A frequent soloist with orchestras around the world, Scarlett made her German debut at the Philharmonie in Berlin with the John Wilson Orchestra in “A Celebration of the MGM Film Musicals”. Recent concerts include “Disney on Broadway” at the Royal Albert Hall, “I Love Musicals” arena tour of Sweden with Peter Joback, “Cole Porter in Hollywood” UK tour with the John Wilson Orchestra, a broadcast on Sky television from the Royal Albert Hall in London and “Bernstein Stage and Screen” at the BBC Proms with the John Wilson Orchestra which was broadcast on BBC television.

Scarlett has recorded with Simon Keenleyside “Something’s Gotta Give” for Chandos conducted by David Charles Abel. Film and television credits include Beyond The Sea, the title role in the BBC production of Mary Poppins celebrating HM Queen Elizabeth’s 80th birthday.

One of Broadway’s biggest personalities, Debbie Gravitte has found herself in demand from the Broadway Stage to the concert stage and beyond. She won the prestigious Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance in Jerome Robbins’ Broadway, along with a Drama Desk Award Nomination and New York Showstopper Award. After making her Broadway debut in the original cast of They’re Playing Our Song, she went on to appear in: Perfectly Frank (Drama Desk Nomination), Blues In The Night, Ain’t Broadway Grand, Zorba, Chicago, and Les Miserables. Debbie has appeared in the Encore’s series productions of The Boys From Syracuse, Tenderloin, and Carnival at New York’s City Center.

Debbie has performed her nightclub act worldwide, from New York’s Rainbow and Stars, 54 Below, to London’s Pizza on the Park, and back home again to Atlantic City, where she’s had the honor of performing with Jay Leno, Harry Anderson, and the legendary George Burns. A favorite with Symphony audiences, she has sung with over 100 Orchestras around the world. She has toured with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops, appeared with Lang Lang and the Chinese Philharmonic in Beijing, along with Peter Nero and the Philly Pops, National Symphony (with Marvin Hamlisch), The New York Pops with the legendary Skitch Henderson, Atlanta Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Utah Symphony and Opera, St. Louis Symphony, Houston Symphony, Dallas Symphony, and San Diego Symphony.

Overseas, Debbie has sung with the London, Aalborg, and Birmingham Symphony Orchestras, Stockholm Philharmonic, the Gotesborg and Jerusalem Symphonies, Munich Philharmonic, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Orchestra Massimo del Palermo, and Symphonica of Brazil.

On television, Debbie co-starred on the CBS series Trial and Error, was seen on NBC’s Pursuit of Happiness, and has starred in several specials for PBS, including Live from the Kennedy Center, The Boston Pops Celebrate Bernstein, Podgers and Hart for Great Performances, and Ira Gershwin’s 100th Birthday Celebration.

Debbie has 4 solo CD’s to her credit, including her latest release: Big Band Broadway, along with Defying Gravity, The MGM Album, and Part of Your World: The Music of Alan Menken. Her other recordings include Calamity Jane, Unsung Sondheim, Lucky Stiff, Miss Spectacular, Louisiana Purchase, A Broadway Christmas, as well as Mack and Mable in Concert: Live from the Drury Lane Theatre among others. Debbie has sung with the New York City Ballet in Peter Martin’s “Thou Swell” at Lincoln Center, appeared with Bette Midler in the Universal Feature, Isn’t She Great?, and can be heard as one of the voices in Disney’s The Little Mermaid. Debbie is the proud mother of three beautiful children.

For more info, please visit www.debbiegravitte.com or buy music at www.debbietunes.com

Leading man Hugh Panaro has made his mark as both the title character and his rival Raoul in Broadway’s The Phantom of the Opera. Panaro has also played dual roles in Les Miserables on Broadway (Marius) and in Philadelphia (Jean Valjean). His Broadway credits include the title role in Lestat and Buddy in Side Show, plus the title role in the American premiere of Martin Guerre and Ravenal in a London revival of Show Boat.

James K. Bass, GRAMMY® award winning conductor and singer, is Professor and Director of Choral Studies at the Herb Alpert School of Music at UCLA. James is on the faculty of the Aspen Music Festival and serves as the Program Director for the Professional Choral Institute. He is the Associate Conductor for the Miami based ensemble Seraphic Fire and is the Artistic Director of the Long Beach Camerata Singers. Bass received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Miami–Florida, Master of Music and Bachelor of Science degrees from the University of South Florida and is a graduate of the Interlochen Arts Academy.

Bass has appeared with numerous professional vocal ensembles including Seraphic Fire, Conspirare, the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Trinity Wall Street, Apollo Master Chorale, Vox Humanae, True Concord and Spire. He was the featured baritone soloist on the GRAMMY® nominated recording Pablo Neruda: The Poet Sings with fellow singer Lauren Snouffer, conductor Craig Hella-Johnson and the GRAMMY® winning ensemble Conspirare. He is one of 13 singers on the GRAMMY®-nominated disc, A Seraphic Fire Christmas and appears on CD recordings on the Harmonia Mundi, Naxos, Albany, and Seraphic Fire Media labels.

Bass was selected by the master conductor of the Amsterdam Baroque Soloists, Ton Koopman, to be one of only 20 singers for a presentation of Cantatas by J. S. Bach in Carnegie Hall and was an auditioned member of Robert Shaw’s workshop choir at Carnegie. During his tenure as Artistic Director for the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay, the official chorus of the Florida Orchestra, he was responsible for five recordings and multiple world premieres. In 2012 he served as chorusmaster and co-editor for the Naxos recording entitled Delius: Sea Drift and Appalachia featuring the Florida Orchestra and conducted by Stefan Sanderling. In 2014 he was the preparer for the recording, “Holiday Pops Live!” conducted by the Principal Pops Conductor Jeff Tyzik.

His professional career has coincided with the development of Seraphic Fire as one of the premier vocal ensembles in the United States. He has been actively involved as soloist, ensemble artist, editor, producer and preparer for 14 of the Ensemble’s recordings and routinely conducts the Ensemble in Miami and on tour. During the summer of 2011 he co-founded the Professional Choral Institute. In its inaugural year of recording, Seraphic Fire and PCI received the GRAMMY® nomination for Best Choral Performance for their recording of Johannes Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem. In 2017 Seraphic Fire and UCLA launched a new educational initiative entitled the Ensemble Artist Program that aims to identify and train the next generation of high-level ensemble singers. In 2021, Bass won the Grammy for Best Choral Performance for his work as director of the UCLA Chamber Choir in partnership with the Buffalo Symphony Orchestra and Chorus for “The Passion of Yeshua.”

Michael Berkowitz brings his professional experience, personal charisma and “witty banter” to concert stages in what reviewers call “a model of high quality conducting technique.”

Johnny Green, the great composer-conductor, called Michael Berkowitz a “Drummer Conductor Extraordinaire.” Berkowitz has led numerous orchestras, including the Boston Pops, London Symphony, Cincinnati Pops, Pittsburgh Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, and the National Symphony, and has conducted for Marvin Hamlisch, Roberta Flack, Maureen McGovern, Michael Feinstein and Sarah Brightman. He is also featured on recordings with Steve Lawrence, Placido Domingo, Linda Eder and countless original cast albums, movies, jingles, and television performances.  As a drummer, he has performed for Henry Mancini, Liza Minnelli, Michael Crawford, Billy Joel, Sting, Elton John, and Bette Midler.

Berkowitz began performing as a drummer at the age of 11 in his hometown of Indianapolis. After studying music at Indiana University, he began touring with Johnny Mathis, Andy Williams and Henry Mancini, the latter persuading him to move to Los Angeles, where he became one of the city’s busiest studio musicians, working with stars such as Gloria Estefan, Linda Ronstadt, Ringo Starr, Helen Reddy, Seals and Crofts, and The Association.

Berkowitz has performed on many television programs including The Academy Awards, The Tonight Show, The Tony Awards, The Today Show, A Capitol Fourth, Great Performances, Live From Lincoln Center and Concerts at the White House.

His close work with two of Hollywood’s greatest talents, Johnny Green and Nelson Riddle, led Berkowitz to consider conducting. Johnny Green, composer of “Body and Soul” and conductor of the world-famous MGM Studio Orchestra, was a great inspiration and passed along much of his experience and knowledge to Michael. Nelson Riddle firmly pointed Michael toward conducting. During their close 15-year friendship and working relationship, the two collaborated on television projects, feature films, recordings, and live shows. Through Riddle, Berkowitz learned the fine points of the music business. When Riddle was too ill to conduct for Dame Kiri TeKanawa on his last recording project, it was Berkowitz that Riddle asked to step in and conduct.

After moving to New York in 1980, Berkowitz was immediately in demand on Broadway, working shows such as Evita, Pacific Overtures, The Tap Dance Kid, Do Re Mi, and Jerome Robbins’ Broadway. On recordings, he has been heard from New York’s Carnegie Hall on such projects as A Sondheim Tribute, My Favorite Broadway, Anyone Can Whistle, and An Evening With Betty Buckley.

He was the drummer for the once-in-a-lifetime performance of Stephen Sondheim’s “Follies” with the New York Philharmonic. Jerome Robbins asked Michael to come to the New York City Ballet to play for Robbins’ West Side Story Suite, which has been performed before sold-out houses in New York and all over Japan.

Well known in Europe, Berkowitz is a recognized artist in the United Kingdom and has been a part of three command performances at London’s famed Palladium Theatre.

As a leader of his own big band, Berkowitz plays all over the country in tributes to Gene Krupa, Harry James, Buddy Rich, Nelson Riddle, Artie Shaw, and Billy May. His band played at the world-famous Birdland for three sold-out nights.

Berkowitz’ current projects include a new Jerry Herman Musical, Miss Spectacular, a Tribute To Sinatra with the Cincinnati Pops for Telarc, a benefit performance of West Side Story for Katie Couric’s Foundation (starring Robert DeNiro, Kevin Kline, Bette Midler, Chita Rivera, Rita Moreno, Josh Groban, Beyonce Knowles, the cast of The Sopranos, and Rudy Giuliani) and a special concert version of Jerry Herman’s “Mack and Mabel.”

He continues to work with “Broadway on Broadway,” a free concert in New York’s Times Square, featuring numbers from each season’s Broadway musicals, now in its 11th year and continuing to draw more than 50,000 people. During the holiday season, Berkowitz will be at Madison Square Garden for his 10th year in the pit for “A Christmas Carol.”

In January 2018, Berkowitz was asked to be a part of the Toulon Opera House’s production of “Wonderful Town,” in honor of the 100th Anniversary of Leonard Bernstein’s birthday. In May 2018, Berkowitz conducts Igor Stravinsky’s Ebony Concerto in Los Angeles with famous Jazz clarinetist, Ken Peplowski.

Sonny Black, Jimmy Cargill, and Tony Apiclla celebrate the era of martinis, tuxedos and the American standard. These three performers bring their infectious charisma and natural camaraderie to the stage for what will be a night made for Vegas! Taking their cue from the legends of generations past, this trio captures the essence of an era gone by while showing that they’re anything but out of style.

Born in Queens, New York, Lucia was immersed in the arts by the age of three, diligently practicing dance, piano, and violin. It didn’t take long for Lucia to discover her passion and greatest talent was the violin, which quickly became her main focus. After moving to Hawaii at the age of five, she continued to refine her skills on the violin with teachers Kathryn Lucktenberg and Sheryl Shohet, and just a year later at the age of six, Lucia made her debut as a soloist with the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra. Soon after, she began frequently appearing on local television shows and concertizing throughout the Islands.

At age eleven, Lucia was accepted into the prestigious Juilliard School of Music’s Pre-College Division.  She studied with the renowned violin pedagogue Dorothy DeLay, and also took lessons with Itzhak Perlman, Cho-Liang Lin, and Won-Bin Yim. Within a year, playing against some of the world’s most gifted prodigies, she won the Pre-College Concerto Competition and settled into a routine that would combine instruction with concert appearances at the Hollywood Bowl, Lincoln Center, and other prominent international venues. She spent her summers at the Aspen Music Festival, regularly performing with the orchestra, and won the Violin Concerto Competition in 2000, resulting in a performance of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the Festival Orchestra.

At seventeen, Lucia left Juilliard to attend the Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with celebrated international violinist Pinchas Zukerman. It was during this time that Lucia began to develop a growing interest in non-classical music. She started moonlighting with local jazz and rock bands in New York clubs, and by the following year, she had accepted an offer to tour with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra as a featured violinist and concertmaster.

Since then, Lucia’s profile has continued to soar. She’s been a featured soloist in two of Josh Groban’s world tours, toured extensively with Chris Botti and was featured in his Live From Boston PBS special (from which the duet they performed together, “Emmanuel” has received over 7 million YouTube views), and was featured in Barbra Streisand’s 2013 international tour. She also released two solo albums, Music From A Farther Room and Interlude. But 2009 saw Lucia broadening her career even further when she was cast in the starring role of “Annie” in HBO’s critically acclaimed series, Treme, created by David Simon and Eric Overmeyer, which ran for four seasons and won a Peabody Award as well as a Primetime Emmy Award.

Currently, Lucia has just finished her first PBS concert special which has been airing throughout the US in 2018. This PBS event is an eclectic journey through her many musical influences – from classical to jazz to traditional fiddle music and Americana – all bound together by her trademark emotional vulnerability and technical wizardry.

Being touted as one of the next great American Verdi baritones, Opera News describes Mark Walters as “a force to be reckoned with.” He is lauded for his performances throughout the United States as Scarpia in Tosca, Germont in La traviata, and Pizarro in Fidelio. For his performance in La forza del destino, The Chicago Sun Times commended his “vocal fury.”  Walters is now foraying into richer, more dramatic roles including Die fliegende Holländer, Jochanaan in Salome, Wotan in Der Ring des Nibelungen, the title role of Sweeney Todd, and Iago in Otello. This February, Walters takes on another premiere as Duke in Anton Coppola’s Lady Swanwhite with Opera Tampa.

Last season, Walters sang the role of Jack Rance in La fanciulla del West with Virginia Opera, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor with Bob Jones University, the bass soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Spokane Symphony and Don Pizarro in Fidelio with Boston Baroque.

Recent engagements include a company début as Scarpia in Tosca with Minnesota Opera and a return for their world première of The Shining as Mark Torrance; the title role of Rigoletto with Florida Grand Opera and Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra; the title role inDon Giovanni and Peter in Hänsel und Gretel with Seattle Opera; Germont in La traviata with Arizona Opera, Florentine Opera, and Finger Lakes Opera; Don Pizarro in Fidelio with Kentucky Opera and Opera Omaha; Marcello in La bohème with Florida Grand Opera and Opera Coeur d’Alene; Zurga in Les pêcheurs de perles with Opera Carolina; Renato in Un ballo in maschera with Opera Tampa; Valentin in Faust and Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor with Arizona Opera; a production of Peter Grimes with Canadian Opera Company; Jack Rance in La fanciulla del West with Mobile Opera; his début with the Spoleto Festival USA in John Adams’ El Niño; début with Opera Santa Barbara in the title role in Don Giovanni which he subsequently performed in concert with the Kalamazoo Symphony; Scarpia in Tosca with Sarasota Opera and Opera Tampa; and Sharpless in Madama Butterfly with Florentine Opera.

Career highlights include the world première of Rappahannock County by American composer Ricky Ian Gordon recorded on the Naxos label.  His European début as Germont in La traviata with Den Nye Opera, Norway and his Asian début as Don Giovanni in Osaka, Japan.  He also portrayed the Reverend Olin Blitch in a special 50th-anniversary production of Susannah, personally overseen by Carlisle Floyd.

Walters’ oratorio work includes his Carnegie Hall début in Orff’s Carmina Burana and Fauré’s Requiem conducted by John Rutter; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Tallahassee Symphony, Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, Augustana College, Springfield Symphony, Traverse City Symphony, and the Lima Symphony; Verdi’s Requiem with the Mississippi Symphony and Spokane Symphony; Cantata Memoria with DCINY at Carnegie Hall; Verdi’s Requiem with Spokane Symphony; Vaughn Williams Serenade with Springfield Symphony; the Brahms Requiem with Arizona Music Festival; and Händel’s Messiah with the Mississippi Symphony, Augustana College, and the Händel Oratorio Society. As a featured soloist, Mr. Walters has sung in the Milnes Voice Gala Honors James Morris, in the Baritones on the Bayou with Opera Louisiane, as Elijah with the Pensacola Choral Society, and in a Gala concert for the Canterbury Festival, UK.

Tenor Raúl Melo has enjoyed a career performing some of the most demanding roles of the Italian and French repertoire across four continents. His international career began when he was awarded the prize of “Best Lyric Tenor” in the 1992 Alfredo Kraus Competition, a prize personally bestowed upon Mr. Melo by the late great Spanish tenor. Beginning in the lyric repertoire, Mr. Melo’s repertoire has expanded to embrace the great heroic Verdi and Puccini roles: Carlo Don Carlo, Rodolfo Luisa Miller, Alvaro La Forza Del Destino; des Grieux Manon Lescaut, Cavaradossi Tosca, Dick Johnson La Fancuilla Del West, and Calàf Turnadot.

For nine seasons Mr. Melo has been a regularly invited guest artist with the Metropolitan Opera. He made his MET debut in 2005 as Duca Rigoletto and was heard in a 2008 Sirius Metropolitan Opera Radio live broadcast as Pinkerton Madama Butterfly. His other MET responsibilities have included covering the lead tenor roles in La Damnation de Faust, Hamlet, Romeo et Juliette, and La Rondine, as well as four Verdi titles: La Traviata, Un Ballo in Maschera, Rigoletto, I Vespri Siciliani, and Don Carlo, the last of which he covered during the MET’s 2011 tour to Japan. Mr. Melo also joined members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra for the 2011 New York premiere of Allen Shawn’s work Hide Not Thy Face.

Mr. Melo has also been a frequent guest with other New York opera companies. For New York City Opera, Mr. Melo has performed such leading roles as Cavaradossi Tosca, Pinkerton Madama Butterfly, and Araquil in Massenet’s rarely-performed yet thrilling La Navarraise. For Teatro Grattacielo, which presents rarely-heard verismo operas in concert form, Mr. Melo has performed Vassili in Giordano’s Siberia, the King in the New York premiere of Franco Alfano’s Sakuntala, Giosta Berling in Zandonai’s I Cavalieri di Ekebu, Gennaro in Wolf-Ferrari’s I Gioielli Della Madonna, and Osaka in Mascagni’s Iris. In recent seasons, Mr. Melo has displayed impressive stylistic breadth with his role debuts as both Turiddu Cavalleria Rusticana and Canio Pagliacci, performing both in the same evenings (Amarillo Opera). Other North American companies with which Mr. Melo has performed include Washington National Opera, Dallas Opera, Seattle Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Spoleto Festival USA, Manitoba Opera, and Opéra de Québec.

Mr. Melo’s early career included several seasons in the major German theatres, including both of Berlin’s major opera houses (Deutsche Oper Berlin and Staatsoper unter den Linden), Düsseldorf’s Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Hamburg Staatsoper, Staatstheater Braunschweig, the Köln Arena, Oper Frankfurt, and the Semperoper Dresden, in repertoire including Alfred Die Fledermaus, Nemorino L’Elisir d’amore, Duca, Rigoletto, Rodolfo La Boheme to Don José Carmen among others. His European credits include performances at the Grand Théâtre de Reims, the Palais Princier de Monaco (the official residence of the Prince of Monaco), Brussels’ Vorst Nationaal Music Hall, Zürich Opera, Oslo’s Den Norske Opera, and Opera Ireland in Dublin. In 2003 Mr. Melo made his Italian debut as Don José Carmen at the Teatro Verdi di Salerno, and went on to debut with other distinguished Italian companies such as the Teatro San Carlo di Napoli and Teatro Massimo di Palermo (both as Rodolfo LA BOHÈME), the Teatro Regio di Parma (concert in honor of Verdi’s bicentenary), and the Teatro Comunale di Bologna on their inaugural tour of Korea (Duca RIGOLETTO).

Farther abroad, Mr. Melo has performed in Colombia (FOSBO Orchestra Bogotá, Rachmaninoff concert), Argentina (Teatro Colón Buenos Aires, Verdi Requiem), Israel (New Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv), China (Shanghai International Arts Festival, Macau International Music Festival), Hong Kong (Musica Viva Hong Kong), Japan (Tokyo), and South Korea (Teatro Comunale di Bologna tour, which played in Seoul, Busan, and Kwanju-san).

Mr. Melo has been a frequent guest of “A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keilor.

The Havana-born, American-educated tenor resides in New York.