ABOUT THE TRIO

OFFERING

The New Bel Canto Trio is comprised of three award-winning voices of exceptional brilliance, warmth and power. The trio features tenor, Paul Spencer Adkins, soprano, Lisa Daltirus and baritone, John Cimino, each of whom has won raves from critics and audiences in concerts halls and on operatic stages around the globe.

Together now as "The New Bel Canto Trio", the artists join forces with acclaimed pianist, Jon Klibonoff, in performance of masterworks by Verdi, Puccini, Bizet, Mozart, Mascagni, Rossini, Leoncavallo and Gounod.

Taking their inspiration from the original “Bel Canto Trio” of 1948 comprised of tenor, Mario Lanza, soprano, Frances Yeend, and bass-baritone, George London, The New Bel Canto Trio offers arias, duets and trios from the opera world, but also exciting and beloved melodies from the Broadway stage, American Spirituals and treasured arts songs.  Beautiful singing, thrilling voices and magnificent music come together in a joyous blend of concert elegance and light spirited 21st century conversation across the footlights.

The New Bel Canto Trio gave its debut performance in the spring of 2016 as a benefit to Music for Humanity in support of college scholarships for prize-winning young musicians.  The Trio launches its 2018-19 season with an encore performance in Saratoga Springs honoring its founding patrons.

In addition to their mainstage concerts, The New Bel Canto Trio offers outreach and educational programming including Master Classes, Informances, Workshops and Residencies for every type of audience. 

Their individual and collective experiences on-stage and as cultural ambassadors to governments and premiere institutions on six continents has credentialed them as uniquely gifted innovators in their field.  Classically trained and currently affiliated with top American universities and conservatories, they are winners of dozens of international awards and prizes, including the International Verdi Competition and the Luciano Pavarotti International Singing Competition.

Coincidences are often blessings in disguise, or so one might choose to believe.  Certainly, this little story has something to say about that.  

So, Paul and I were attending an event at Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center together with our wives, Mary and Rachel.  The event was a celebration of the musical legacy of Roland Hayes, one of America’s first African American classical vocal artists, a truly world-class concert tenor, and Paul was scheduled to speak at the end of the program as part of a distinguished panel.  During the intermission, we were chatting enthusiastically with our wives telling them all about our recently formed “New Bel Canto Trio” and explaining its ties to the original Bel Canto Trio comprised of the famous tenor, Mario Lanza, soprano, Frances Yeend and esteemed bass-baritone, George London, when all of a sudden a polite but assertive little voice from the row in front of us interrupts saying, “Hello, I couldn’t help over-hearing your conversation about George London and your New Bel Canto Trio. 

I’m Mrs. George London and I think your idea is really wonderful.”  And so began a thrilling little exchange that seemed somehow right out of a Hollywood movie.  She offered to show us programs from the famous tour of 1948-49 and invited us to her home to see them.  We could hardly believe our good fortune.  Coincidence or blessing, what do you think?

PAUL SPENCER ADKINS (TENOR)

A winner in the First Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition as well as the Philadelphia and Princeton Metropolitan Opera auditions, tenor, Paul Spencer Adkins enjoys a career in the United States and abroad. He has performed leading tenor roles with opera companies which include the Greater Miami Opera, the Opera Company of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, Tulsa Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Opera Delaware, Orlando Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Virginia Opera, Cleveland Opera, Lake George Opera and Opera Columbus among others.  Mr. Adkins’ European operatic debut was with the Netherlands Opera Forum as Nadir in The Pearl Fishers.  Symphonic engagements include the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, the Milwaukee Symphony, the Toronto Philharmonic Orchestra; the Richmond Symphony, Mexico's National Symphony and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Mr. Adkins has performed with the Flanders Opera Orchestra, Belgium, RAI Orchestra in Milano, Italy; the Swedish Radio Orchestra along with the Bournemouth and Portsmouth Symphony Orchestras of Great Britain.

Adkins' television credits include the co‐producer and featured solo artist in the international PBS broadcast of “The Musical Legacy of Roland Hayes.” His appearance in the children's opera, A Star For Kitty, for “Mr. Rodgers’ Neighborhood” is rebroadcast annually.  Paul Spencer Adkins is an Adjunct Associate Professor for the University of the Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was also the first vocal director for Peter Nero and The Philly Pops® Voices of the Pops, a resident ensemble.  Mr. Adkins is a principal artist of Creative Leaps International and its parent company, Associated Solo Artists, Inc.  Two solo CD’s “How Can I Keep from Singing” and "PART of a PAINTING" are available from www.cdbaby.com.

LISA DALTIRUS (SOPRANO)

Lisa Daltirus is an international vocalist with a radiant voice of beauty, power, nuance and a demanding stage presence. She is an active soloist in opera, symphonic concerts and recitals. Lisa has received acclaim on opera stages of the world in the title roles of Tosca and Aida, Leonora in Il Trovatore, Bess and Serena in Porgy and Bess to name a few.   She has performed with the Metropolitan Opera, the Seattle Opera, Portland Opera, Connecticut Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and Arizona Opera, the Washington National Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, on tour in London, Edinburgh and Cardiff with the Cape Town Opera and in concert with the Orlando Philharmonic and the Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles.  Additional regional companies include, Palm Beach Opera, Minnesota Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, and the Opera Company of Philadelphia.  European engagements include Amsterdam, Thessaloniki, Greece, the Opera Nationale de Nancy, France and Copenhagen, Denmark.  An active soloist with orchestra, Lisa has performed at Carnegie Hall with New York Grand Opera Orchestra, Avery Fisher Hall with the Richard Tucker Foundation and members of the Met and NY Philharmonic Orchestras, the Philadelphia Orchestra in the Kimmel and Mann Music Centers, Shanghai City Orchestra Shanghai, China, the Radio Philharmonic at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam and many others.

Celebrated works performed include the Beethoven 9th, Mahler’s 4th and 8th Symphony, Verdi’s and Mozart’s Requiem and Knoxville Summer of 1915. Ms. Daltirus has received awards and recognition from the NJ State Opera Vocal Competition, the Joy of Singing competition, The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, The Liederkranz International Vocal Competition and the New York Vocal Artists Competition. She is also a grantee of the Singer's Development Fund in NYC and the William Matthews Sullivan Foundation.

The New York Times said, “Imperious, her eyes ablaze, the very image of Tosca...she exuded an intangible electricity, that charge that comes across to the audience when something is really happening onstage.” 

Opera News reported, “plainly a star in the making...Leontyne Price is a clear (and welcome) model vocally....Her full, liquid sound illuminated line after line with musical polish and detail and soared impressively on high B-flats and Cs.”

JOHN CIMINO (BARITONE)

John Cimino is an award-winning operatic and concert artist who has performed throughout the United States, Europe and around the globe on six continents.  Among his performance credits are a gala opening night with the Opera Company of Philadelphia as "Marcello" in La Boheme opposite tenor Luciano Pavarotti; "Miller" in Verdi's Louisa Miller with Carlo Bergonzi at the International Verdi Festival in Busseto, Italy; “Sharpless” with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra opposite Anna Moffo; “Cascart" in Leoncavallo's Zaza at the Wexford Opera Festival in Ireland; "Alfio" in Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana with New York City Opera; "Wulf" in Puccini's Le Villi, "Silvio" in I Pagliacci and “Cascart” in Leoncavallo’s Zaza with New Jersey State Opera; “Tonio” in Pagliacci with New Orleans Opera; "Figaro" in Rossini's Barber of Seville with Piedmont Opera Theater and the San Antonio Opera; the title role in Verdi's Rigoletto with San Francisco's Western Opera; and the title roles in Man of La Mancha and The Most Happy Fella with various American theater companies.  Cimino has more than 20 international prizes to his credit including the First Pavarotti International Voice Competition and the International Verdi Competition. 

Cimino's musical training was accomplished at the Manhattan and Juilliard Schools of Music where he studied voice with lifelong friend and teacher, Maestro Daniel Ferro, and in Italy where he studied Verdi with the famous Maestro Ettore Campogalliani who afterwards presented him in debut performance at the revered Amici del la Lirica in Mantova where he had previously introduced both Pavarotti and Bergonzi.  Cimino is also an avid composer-lyricist of opera, musical theater and art songs, including works based on the paintings of American artist, Thomas Cole, and the poetry of William Blake, Walt Whitman, Stephen Crane, Loren Eiseley, Daniel Berrigan and his own original texts as well.  Cimino is co-founder and president of Associated Solo Artists, The Learning Arts, and Creative Leaps International and, most recently, founded the Renaissance Center for Knowledge Integration, Interdisciplinary Thinking and Advanced Applications of Imagination with funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.  Of Cimino’s singing reviewers have said: "For sheer beauty of lyric singing, Cimino walked away with the prize." (NEWARK STAR LEDGER); "...a virile, smoothly produced baritone ...the most beautiful singing of the evening."  (NEW YORK TIMES)

JON KLIBONOFF (PIANIST)

A versatile recitalist, orchestra soloist and chamber musician, Jon Klibonoff has performed extensively throughout the U.S. and abroad. His various honors include first prizes in the Kosciuszko Chopin Competition and the silver medal in the 1984 Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition. Klibonoff has appeared as soloist with the Utah, Baltimore, Richmond, Denver, New Orleans, Oakland, Syracuse, and North Carolina symphonies, as well as the Buffalo Philharmonic and the Denver Chamber Orchestra. Mr. Klibonoff is a past recipient of a NEA solo recitalist's grant and has been sponsored by the Pro Musicis Foundation in recital throughout the world.

A founding member of the acclaimed ensemble, Trio Solisti, he has performed in major venues such as Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and at numerous colleges and universities throughout the United States. Mr. Klibonoff is also a principal member of Associated Solo Artists, an organization that performs concerts, educational programs and corporate events. He holds degrees from the Manhattan School of Music and from The Juilliard School and is on the faculties of the Manhattan School of Music and Concordia Conservatory of Music.