Bel Canto is an annual benefit performance featuring international opera stars, many of whom have performed at the Metropolitan Opera. The program features arias from favorite operas but also includes popular songs from Broadway shows as well.
Founded in 1993 exclusively as a benefit for the Bascom, Bel Canto’s beneficiaries now include the music programs at the Highlands school and the local preschools. Through the generosity of its benefactors Bel Canto has contributed over $750,000 for the benefit of the Highlands Community in the last 15 years.
This Year's Recital
The 31st annual Bel Canto Recital will be held in Highlands on Sunday, September 10, 2023, at 4 PM at the Performing Arts Center. A gala dinner with the artists will follow at the Highlands Country Club.
This year’s performers are soprano Greer Lyle, who is a Carrollton, Georgia native. She is a graduate of Georgia State University School of Music and the Yale Opera Program within the Yale School of Music. Ms. Lyle made her professional debut in 2018 with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. In spring of 2021, she competed at the semifinalist level for the first-ever livestreamed Metropolitan opera National Council Auditions. Lucy Baker will be the mezzo-soprano. Lucy has sung with the DePaul Opera Theatre, the Chautauqua Institution, and with the Chautauqua Opera Company. She is currently sing with the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
American tenor Sahel Salam is known for his "warm, plangent voice" and "gleaming tone,". As a 2023 National Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition and winner of the Mario Lanza Competition, he has performed at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera, the San Francisco Opera, The Music Academy of the West, and the Cincinnati Opera. Baritone Phillip Addis will round out the quartet. He has established himself as one of Canada’s leading performers of opera, concert, and recital repertoire. He has extensive international concert experience, and he has given recitals worldwide with pianist, Emily Hamper.
For information about this recital series, please call The Bascom at 828.526.4949