VOICE Festival organizers announce a week long celebration which will take place next month in and around Savannah as a Prelude to the Festival.  These events celebrate the excellence in vocal talent, which the Savannah VOICE Festival has brought to our city, and will unveil the program for the second annual VOICE Festival, which will return from August 1^st – 17^th 2014.

The week begins with a 90-minute concert on Saturday, January 25^th at 3pm at Christ Church, 28 Bull Street at Johnson Square in Downtown Savannah featuring a combination of opera, musical theatre and popular song. Tickets for the ‘Prelude to the Festival’ concert at Christ Church are $25 each and the full schedule and artists for the 2014 Savannah VOICE Festival will be revealed at the end of this event. Special reserved seating will be available for VOICE Society members.

Sherrill Milnes, opera legend and Artistic Director of the Savannah VOICE Festival explains, “We have set the national opera community alight with the growth and excitement of the Festival. We look forward to sharing our 2014 plans with Savannah and the operatic world.” Milnes continues, “Get ready for a few surprises in the 2014 program!”

The week continues with community outreach in Savannah schools and on the evening of Tuesday, January 28^th there will be a special video screening of Milnes’ film ‘Homage to Verdi’ at the Congregation Mickve Israel at 20 East Gordon Street in the Historic District of Savannah on Monterey Square.  This event continues to celebrate the 200^th anniversary of the composer’s birth, which the Savannah VOICE Festival began during the highly successful National Opera Week. It offers the opportunity to meet legendary Metropolitan Opera baritone Sherrill Milnes up close and personally, as he presents this Verdi documentary and the stories behind it’s filming.  This free (yes, free) event will take place at 6.30pm at the Mickve Israel. 

The long awaited collaboration with the Savannah Philharmonic takes place at 7:30pm on Friday January 31^st at the Lucas Theatre as VOICE Festival singers perform in the Puccini opera, La Boheme in the Philharmonic’s special “Scenes de la vie Boheme”.  Festival favorite artists Cooper Nolan, Meechot Marrero, Amy Shoremount-Obra, Scott Russell, Matthew Morris return to Savannah and new to the VOICE programs, Dan Kempson, star in Puccini’s famous opera. Artistic director Peter Shannon takes the podium for this semi-staged production with Edwin Cahill returning from the Festival to direct the work. Tickets are still available at www.savannahphilharmonic.org.

During this Prelude week there will also be special performances in Florida and South Carolina.  ‘An Afternoon of Beautiful Voices’ will take place at 5pm on Sunday January 26^th at the Circle Square Cultural Center

at On Top of the World in Ocala, Florida followed a special video presentation by Sherrill Milnes in ‘A Singer and His Friends: Sharing the Stage’ as part of “Master the Possibilities” continuing education at On Top of the World on Monday, January 27^th at 1pm. Both events are free.

The celebratory week concludes at the First Presbyterian Church at 540 William Hilton Parkway
on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina with a Sherrill Milnes Master Class at 3pm on Saturday February 1^st and a ‘An Afternoon of Beautiful VOICES” concert at 3pm on Sunday February 2^nd.  Both will be free events but donations will be accepted at the door to assist with VOICExperience with scholarships and its community service. 

Maria Zouves, Executive Director of the Savannah VOICE Festival and VOICExperience comments, “We are gearing up for our second annual Festival and feel a part of this community and its collective missions. Savannah is indeed becoming one of the operatic destinations of the southeast!”

To buy tickets, join the VOICE Society or for more information about the VOICE Festival’s plans, visit www.savannahvoicefestival.org, emai [email protected] or call 855.76.OPERA