Burnaby Lyric Opera celebrates Mozart’s enduring vocal repertoire in season finale, June 22

Soprano Tamar Simon, baritone Geoffrey Schellenberg, and pianist Richard Epp perform an afternoon of arias, duets, and operatic drama

Burnaby Lyric Opera’s *The Marriage of Figaro*.

Burnaby Lyric Opera presents The Magic of Mozart at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts on June 22 at 3 pm

JUST THREE MONTHS after staging The Marriage of Figaro, Burnaby Lyric Opera is returning to Mozart to close its 2024–25 season. Capping off the company’s Opera for a Sunday Afternoon series, The Magic of Mozart will bring together soprano Tamar Simon, baritone Geoffrey Schellenberg, and pianist Richard Epp for a program of opera excerpts and art songs by the prolific Austrian composer.

For any seasoned opera singer, Mozart is a familiar and cherished companion. Simon, an alumna of the Internationale Sommerakademie Mozarteum in Salzburg, has previously performed the roles of Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro and the impassioned Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni. Her Burnaby Lyric Opera credits also include Rosina in The Barber of Seville and Adina in a concert version of The Elixir of Love.

Schellenberg, who portrayed Count Almaviva in Figaro alongside Simon, has taken on the title role in Don Giovanni and the lovable “bird man” Papageno in The Magic Flute. Lauded by Opera Canada for his impressive vocal colour, Schellenberg has appeared as a soloist with ensembles across Canada, including the Vancouver Bach Choir and the Prince George Symphony Orchestra in B.C.

At the piano will be Burnaby Lyric Opera music director Epp, who has conducted UBC’s Opera Workshop and several of Mozart’s operatic works, including The Pretend Garden-Girl and The Magic Flute. Distilling orchestral textures into expressive piano lines, Epp will accompany Simon and Schellenberg at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts on June 22 for an afternoon of love, laughter, and cunning characters—hallmarks of Mozart’s most enduring vocal repertoire.

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Helen Wu

Helen (Yichun) Wu is a classical musician and music critic with an interest in the performing arts at large. Before moving to Canada to pursue a Master of Journalism at UBC, she received her degrees in piano for solo and chamber music, and comparative literature in the United States.

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