Program
Joaquín Turina
Poema en forma de canciones, Op. 19
Miquel Ortega
Memento
Romance de la luna, luna
Canción del Jinete
Manuel Ponce
Palomita
A la orilla de un palmar
Voy a partir
María Grever
Te quiero dijiste
Júrame
Carlos Guastavino
Ya me voy a retirar
Se equivocó la paloma
La rosa y el sauce
Alberto Ginastera
Canción a la luna, lunanca
Canción del arbol del olvido
Cinco canciones populares argentinas
Ernesto Lecuona
Danza Negra
Malagueña
Adolfo Guzman (Arr. Gutkin)
No puedo ser feliz
Miguel Matamoros (Arr. Gutkin)
Lagrimas
Mexican-American lyric tenor Dr. Genaro Méndez has a versatile and wide-ranging career as a leading operatic tenor, chamber and solo recitalist, conductor, and voice professor. His most recent operatic performances include Nadir in Les pêcheurs de perles and Tibalt in Romeo and Juliet with Wichita Grand Opera, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte with Heartland Opera Theatre, and Ramiro in Rossini’s Cenerentola with Springfield Regional Opera, Missouri. As an oratorio and chamber music soloist, he has been featured in Carmina Burana and Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn, & Strings with the University of Kansas, and Handel’s Messiah with Voices of Omaha. Other featured solo engagements have included the Martha’s Vineyard Music Festival, Bach Aria Soloists, Reno Chamber Orchestra, and the Reno Philharmonic. As a conductor and musical director, Genaro has collaborated with the KU University Theater in The Fantasticks and Sondheim’s A Little Night Music. A Nevada native, Genaro began his musical studies and performing career under the late master teacher of voice and Nevada Opera founder, Ted Puffer. Under Maestro Puffer’s musical guidance, Genaro completed his undergraduate degree in voice from the University of Nevada Reno and performed in over 30 Nevada Opera productions, from chorus member to comprimario to leading tenor. He continued his formal studies at the University of Illinois, where he performed on the 1990-1997 U.S. tour of the complete songs of Franz Schubert with world-renowned vocal coach, John Wustman. He received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Oregon and studied under mezzo-soprano, Milagro Vargas. As an Associate Professor of Voice at the University of Kansas, Genaro is a dedicated teacher of vocal technique, diction, and repertoire. The students from his studio have enjoyed numerous accolades, including placing in regional and national voice competitions and apprenticeships with opera companies across the country.