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2025-2026 Season

Love Letter to Paris

September 16, 2025 • 6:30 PM

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September 17, 2025 • 6:30 PM

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16 - SOLD OUT
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17 - SOLD OUT

Brad Hogarth, Associate Conductor
Malinda DeRouen, vocalist
Bernard Holcomb, vocalist
Leberta Lorál, vocalist

SCHEDULE
5:00 - Box Office Opens
5:30 - Theater Opens
6:30 - Concert

COSTUME CONTEST
Come dressed as a character from one of the featured movies and have a chance to win prizes! Winners will be announced from the stage after intermission.

PROGRAM

Can Can from Orpheus in the Underworld
Jacques Offenbach

The Pavane in F-sharp minor, Op. 50
Gabriel Fauré

Habanera from Carmen
Georges Bizet
with Leberta Lorál

I Will Wait For You from Les Parapluies de Cherbourg
Michel Legrand
with Leberta Lorál

American in Paris
George Gershwin

~ intermission (20 minutes) ~

Overture to Beauty and the Beast
Alan Menken, Arr. by Michael Kosarin, orch. by Doug Besterman

Ratatouille Suite
Michael Giacchino

La foule
Édith Piaf
with Malinda DeRouen

La vie en rose
Édith Piaf
with Malinda DeRouen

La valse d'amelie from Amélie
Yann Tiersen, arr. Jan Angermüller

The Duel from The Adventures of Tintin
John Williams

Phantom of the Opera: The Phantom of the Opera
Andrew Lloyd Webber
with Leberta Lorál and Bernard Holcomb

Concert Sponsors

Media Sponsors

Malinda Derouen

Malinda Derouen

Malinda is thrilled and honored to celebrate another year of Love Letter with the incredible Monterey Symphony! She most recently was seen in the one-woman show Songs for Nobodies at The Western Stage and as Mama Rose in Gypsy here in Carmel at Pac Rep. Other notable shows include the title roles in Mary Poppins, Evita, and Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill. She can also be seen singing jazz and soul in the local music scene as a solo artist or with the Sade tribute band, Diamond Life. Beyond the Peninsula, Malinda was a vocalist with Royal Caribbean Cruises and a cast member in San Francisco's Beach Blanket Babylon. To keep up with Malinda, visit www.malindaderouen.com

Bernard Holcomb

Bernard Holcomb

Tenor Bernard Holcomb has "already made a name for himself in the world of opera" with his "delicate and flexible" voice (OperaWire) and the "appealing sweetness and clarity [of] his tone" (The New York Times). Katy Walsh of Chicago Theater Beat said it best: "Although everyone [at Lyric Opera of Chicago] can sing, Holcomb reminds us why we come to the Lyric."

Last season, Mr. Holcomb returned to The Metropolitan Opera for both X: The Life and Times of Malcom X and Fire Shut Up in My Bones, and he joined On Site Opera to sing the Curator in Song of the Nightingale and the Narrator in their Bach pastiche Coffee Cantata. He sang Alfredo in La Traviata with Eugene Opera, workshopped the title role in The Pigeon Keeper with Santa Fe Opera, performed as Beadle Bamford in Pacific Symphony's Sweeney Todd produced by UIA Presents, and joined Central City Opera to perform as Henry Davis in Street Scene. He also made his network television début on the 25th season of Law and Order: SVU. This season, he returns to the Met to sing the Fourth Jew in Salome and to Eugene Opera to sing the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto. He also joins Opera Parallele in the title role of The Pigeon Keeper.

Recently, Mr. Holcomb made his Metropolitan Opera début in Terence Blanchard and Michael Cristofer's Champion, his house début at Opera Omaha in X: the Life and Times of Malcolm X, and he joined Central City Opera as Iago in Rossini's Otello. In addition, Holcomb performed with On Site Opera as Harlekin in Der Kaiser von Atlantis and took part in the workshop for The Pigeon Keeper, a new commission from Santa Fe Opera. In concert, he sang Elijah with Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, Adolphus Hailstork's A Knee on the Neck with New York Choral Society, a holiday concert with the Cincinnati Pops under the baton of Mo. John Morris Russel, Jacksonville Symphony's concert Lush Life: Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, as well as Damien Geter's An African American Requiem with Fort Worth Opera, after having appeared in its world premiere in the 21-22 season.

Previously, Mr. Holcomb joined Opera Carolina for Douglas Tappin's opera I Dream and made his début with Portland Opera, reprising the role of Kevin Richardson in Central Park Five following the world premiere with Long Beach Opera. He also returned to the Dallas Symphony as a soloist in Lush Life: Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, Detroit Opera for their production of X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X, and Lakes Area Music Festival as the Tanzmeister in Ariadne auf Naxos. In concert, Mr. Holcomb performed Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with St. John the Divine, Bach's Magnificat and Mozart's Mass in C Minor with Musica Sacra, and Damien Geter's An African American Requiem in its world premiere with both the Resonance Ensemble and the Oregon Symphony. He also toured Europe with the Harlem Gospel Choir and joined the New York Choral Society for their concert Love in Action. Holcomb also reprised his performance of Dancing in the Street: The Music of Motown for the Dallas Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, and Greensboro Symphony.
Recent milestones include Captain Leadbetter in the world premiere of Emerson Eads and Dave Hunsaker's Princess Sophia with Project Orpheus, his long-awaited Carnegie Hall début, his title role début in Rossini's Otello, and his début at the Dresden Semperoper in Porgy and Bess. Other recent engagements include Rigoletto with Seattle Opera, Porgy and Bess in Italy with New York Harlem Productions, the role of Lechmere in Owen Wingrave with Little Opera Theater of NY, a soloist in Gershwin's Blue Monday with On Site Opera, a soloist in Lush Life: Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn with Austin Symphony and The Florida Orchestra, and the role of Sportin' Life in Porgy and Bess with Harrisburg Symphony. Mr. Holcomb performed with Sphinx Connect, as a soloist in Christian De Gré Cárdenas' Twisted Operettas at Joe's Pub, Poul Ruders' The Thirteenth Child with Santa Fe Opera at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, BMP: Next Generation with Beth Morrison Projects, Chicago Opera Theater as Tristan in Frank Martin's Le vin herbé, and he was featured as a soloist with Renée Fleming and Sir Patrick Stewart in Second City's Guide to the Opera.

New York theater credits include Thomas (lead) in Whiskey Pants: The Mayor of Williamsburg Off-Broadway and Tom Collins in Rent. He also performed as Sportin' Life in the international tour of Porgy and Bess and in productions of Company and Sweeney Todd.

An alumnus of the Lyric Opera of Chicago's Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center, Bernard performed such roles as Ernesto in Don Pasquale and Rodolfo in La bohème. During his Lyric tenure, Mr. Holcomb appeared in main stage performances of Elektra, Simon Boccanegra, Don Pasquale, and Les contes d'Hoffmann, and he covered major roles in Werther, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and Rigoletto. As part of the Young Artist program at Sarasota Opera, Bernard appeared in main stage performances of Pagliacci, The Crucible, L'amico Fritz, and I Lombardi. At the end of the program, he was awarded with the Anne O'Donnell Award, given to an outstanding apprentice.

Other notable engagements include Paolino in Cimarosa's Il matrimonio segreto and Alfredo in La Traviata with Pine Mountain Music Festival; the Crabman in Porgy and Bess, which led to an international tour through Russia, Poland, Greece, Latvia, Estonia, and Germany; and Gastone in La Traviata with Detroit Opera. Bernard also appeared on several themed song recitals as part of a collaboration between Lyric Opera of Chicago and Chicago's WFMT 98.7.

Mr. Holcomb has displayed tremendous musicianship and poise on concert and recital stages. These credits include a concert performance of La bohème with Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Holiday Pops Concerts with the New Hampshire Symphony Orchestra, a concert performance of Die Zauberflöte with The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Augustus Hill's Exegesis with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with Macon Symphony Orchestra and the Illinois Philharmonic, and Mozart's Requiem with the DeKalb Festival Chorus.

A winner of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition (Michigan District), the Detroit native currently residing in NYC has earned a Master of Music degree from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music

Leberta Lorál

Leberta Lorál

Sponsored by Judy MacClelland

"She has a phenomenal voice, was a pleasure to work with and sang with power and expressiveness." Composer Rick Yramategui

Leberta Lorál possesses a clarion voice that has been described as both Mezzo and Soprano (Zwishenfach), as well as artistry that are both technically impressive and emotionally intense. Exciting highlights for the 2023-2024 season include appearences with Festival Opera (Tales From The Briar Patch as Madame Partridge), Santa Cruz Opera Project (La Boheme as Colline), Fillmore Jazz Festival (with Tammy L. Hall), National Women's Music Festival (with Tammy L. Hall), the 66th Monterey Jazz Festival ("We've Come This Far By Faith") and "Soulful Joy" at Grace Cathdral with Destiny Muhammad. The year of 2024 sees her reuniting with Maestro Mabalot in concert at the Sandbox Sand City as well as other dates that are in the works! The 2022-2023 season she was asked to return to the Exploratorium once again for the opening night of their exhibit, "Glow", debuting at the 65th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival, being presented in concert with Ms. Tammy L. Hall for two performances of their show, "Classical Broadway", featured in appearances at the Cinnabar Theater, San Ramon Public Library's Jazz Series, and SandBoxSandCity, being interview with Ms. Hall for John Michael's Rock Box, happily appearing again at Monterey County Composers' Forum at Hidden Valley Music, being invited to sing during the 25th African-American Art Song Alliance (she will sing a song that is based upon a poem she wrote in 2020 - she commissioned the wonderful Maria Thompson Corley!), and excitedly being a part of the Christmas celebration at Grace Cathedral with Destiny Mohammed!

The 2020-2021 season included a lot of therapeutic Covid-coping activities like baking, enjoyed by many friends and neighbors. In November 2021, she will sing Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the Longmont Symphony in Colorado. In early 2021, Leberta was honored to sing with others on Zoom in the Presidential Inauguration post-celebration with pop great Demi Lovato. She also traveled to Los Angeles where she performed compositions by Duke Ellington in a celebration of Black History Month at Forest Lawn. The offering of songs composed by Florence Price, HT Burleigh, Jeremiah Evans and Antonin Dvorak in Musical Soulmates, produced by pianist Kate Alm, closed the first quarter of 2021. Spring of 2021 to the present blossoms with new collaborations with 2022 Grammy winner, pianist/accompanist/composer, Tammy Lynne Hall, including performances for the Ross McKee Foundation, Hall's production, A Time for Love at the Cinnabar Theater in Petaluma, To Nina Simone, With Love in the Flower Piano series at the Botanical Gardens San Francisco's Golden Gate Park in September and at the Exploratorium in San Francisco for the opening of Museum of the Moon exhibit and the Christmas Tree Lighting concert at the beautiful Grace Cathedral in San Francisco.

In 2019, Leberta won KDFC's Star Spangled Sing-Off, where she lit up San Francisco's Oracle Arena, singing the National Anthem live from the pitcher's mound for Opera at the Ballpark - San Francisco's free simulcast of Gounod's Romeo and Juliet. Further highlights included collaborations with Douglas Ovens, performing his composition Three Love Songs, for soprano and vibraphone, based on the poems of Alice Fulton. She also collaborated with pianist/accompanist Pauline Troia in her first independent project: Sustenance Through Song, based upon the ancient Greek concept of eight (8) types of love. Performances with the Camerata Singers of Monterey County, featuring Ralph Vaughan Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem and teaching Vocal Master Classes at California State University-Monterey Bay, also made for a great year of forward motion and musical discovery.

2018 had its stellar moments too! In March of that year, Leberta was the featured soloist in Henry Mollicone's Beatitude Mass: for the Homeless, with the Camerata Singers and she again performed with them May in a benefit for two local homeless shelters. This collaboration led to an introduction to the composer Rick Yramategui. She sang his Look at the Birds of the Air, during the Monterey County Composers Forum in Carmel Valley in August of that year.

The recording of Richard Thompson's original opera, Mask in the Mirror, based upon the life of American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, is beautiful evidence of a wonderful collaboration between Ms. Lorál and Mr. Thompson. They met in 2017 at the 20th Annual Conference of the African American Art Song Alliance, where Leberta performed the works of composers Mr. Thompson and Undine Smith Moore. During that conference, Mr. Thompson asked Ms. Lorál to record the roles of Victoria and The Woman in the Bar for the Parma Records/Naxos label, which released the recording of Mask in the Mirror February 8, 2019.

"The Mask in the Mirror, a chamber opera by Richard Thompson, chronicles Dunbar's (Paul Laurence Dunbar) rocky relationship with writer Alice Ruth Moore. Occasionally, we get a dose of something jazzier...in which the charming Joplinesque rag turns into a very catchy trio number for Humes, Leberta Lorál and Roland Mills, who sound terrific together". Joshua Rosenblaum, Opera News, Critics Choice, July 2019

An invitation from Mr. George Shirley brought Ms. Lorál to Michigan twice - once in December 2014 and again in December 2016, to sing in his annual Heritage Holiday Concert in Ann Arbor. In August of 2012, Leberta sang in concert with Maestro Mabalot at the Herbert Zipper Concert Hall in Los Angeles, CA. She was the soloist in Mahler's Rückert-Lieder with the Symphonisches Orchester Münchens Andechs (SOMA), conducted by Maestro Andreas Pascal Heinzmann, in February 2011 in Munich, Germany. Additional engagements include performing the works of Maestro Mabalot at the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in August 2011, and in sold out concerts with Metropolitan Opera Mezzo, Susanne Mentzer at the Monterey Museum of Art and the Santa Lucia Preserve in Carmel, CA.

A regional winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, while living in Los Angeles, Leberta's made numerous appearances as the featured soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in their series at the Hollywood Bowl, the Southeast Symphony and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. She has performed a broad spectrum of concert works ranging from Baroque to Contemporary, garnering critical acclaim. Her core repertoire: Johann Sebastian Bach's Magnificat and Mass in B Minor, Handel's Messiah, Mozart's Requiem, Rossini's Stabat Mater, Mendelssohn's Elijah, Saint-Saëns' Christmas Oratorio and Faure's Requiem, 20th century compositions such as Vaughan Williams' The First Novel, Mabalot's Songs of Rumi and Thompson's Songs of Passion. Her operatic repertoire includes the roles of Serena in Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, the Mother in Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel with Venus (Tannhauser) in preparation. Additional repertoire in preparation is Strauss' Vier Letzte Lieder and Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde.

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