“He contaminates everything he touches — he has made music sick.”
– Friedrich Nietzsche
“His work signified the very essence of art!”
– J.L. Klein
March 13, 2025
7:30 PM
GRAM
No other composer in Western music has been so controversial as Richard Wagner. For over a century, his music has either inflamed or enraptured critics and listeners alike. Mark Twain humorously summarized the situation saying, “I have been told that Wagner’s music is better than it sounds.”
Join musicologist Camellia Adams and the talented OperaGR singers and musicians as they dive into the literary and musical world of Richard Wagner. Come see for yourself what the controversy is all about. Will you leave happily singing “Kill da Wabbit” from Chuck Jones’ cartoon What’s Opera Doc? Or will you leave thinking Wagner’s operas are simply hours of “lewd caterwauling”?
Tickets
Tickets $30
Student Tickets $5 Valid student I.D. must be presented at door.
Or call the Box Office: 616.451.2741
Performers and Presenters
Rachel Mills | Soprano
She has performed in operatic performances in the United States, Europe, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates. Rachel frequently performs with Opera Grand Rapids and appears this year as Giannetta in L’elisir d’amore and Little Stone in Matthew Aucoin’s Eurydice. Other recent roles include Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Yum-Yum (The Mikado), Papagena (The Magic Flute), and Barbarina (Le Nozze di Figaro). In 2015, Rachel sang First Boy in The Magic Flute with Welsh National Opera and Polly in Beggar’s Opera with Opera’r Ddraig in Cardiff, UK. She has also sung leading roles with Opera Carolina and Toledo Opera.
Rachel enjoys concert singing, and has been invited as a guest soloist for the Calvin University performance of Handel’s The Messiah in December 2024. She has previously performed The Messiah with Dubai Opera Festival Chorus and recently with Holland Chorale. Rachel also sang Villa Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras with members of the Welsh National Opera Orchestra in 2015 and a year later as a guest soloist at New York University Abu Dhabi with French cellist Yan Levionnois. Internationally, she has performed in recitals in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sopron, Budapest, and throughout the UK.
Rachel holds a Master of Arts in Opera Performance from Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, a Master of Music in Voice and Opera Literature from Northwestern University, and a Bachelor of Music in Musical Theatre from Arizona State University.
Avalon Cutts-Jones | Mezzo Soprano
Avalon Cutts-Jones is Grand Rapids, MI native who comes from two musical families who made their mark in the gospel quartet music industry.
Avalon is known for her vocal versatility performing different genres such as R&B, gospel, jazz, and classical. She is a graduate of Grand Valley State University with a Bachelor of Music in vocal performance. She’s had the privilege of touring through Spain and Portugal on the Oh Happy Day Tour with the Alabama Gospel Choir as a featured soloist. Her voice could also be heard in the role of Rosa Parks in Douglas Tappin’s opera I Dream: The Story of a Preacher from Atlanta with both Toledo Opera and Opera Carolina. Avalon currently serves as the Artistic Director of the Girls Choral Academy of Grand Rapids. Avalon Cutts-Jones Music (AVCJ Music) can be found performing throughout the Midwest.
Jon Lovegrove | Tenor
Jon Lovegrove has performed with opera companies and ensembles for several years.
He has performed such roles as Cavaradossi (Tosca) with the Hawaii International Music Festival; Don José(Carmen), B. F. Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly), Father (Hansel and Gretel), Sam (Susannah) with West Michigan Opera Project and Kalamazoo Philharmonia; 2nd Priest/Man in Armor (The Magic Flute), Shem (Noah’s Flood), Remendado (Carmen) with Opera Grand Rapids, along with numerous productions as a member of the OGR chorus; Rinuccio (Gianni Schicchi) with GVSU Opera Theatre; Rodolfo (La Bohème) with the Kent Philharmonic Orchestra; Timothy (Help, Help, the Globolinks!) with 2nd Act Opera. He has also performed as the tenor soloist for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Kalamazoo Philharmonia, the Elkhart County Symphony, and the Holland Symphony Orchestra; Handel’s Messiah with the Zeeland Civic Chorus; Mozart’s Requiem with the Baroque on Beaver music festival; Rossini’s Stabat Mater with Opera Grand Rapids.
Dan Ewart | Baritone
Dan Ewart has sung a wide variety of roles. Most recently he sang Horace Tabor in the Ballad of Baby Doe with Toledo Opera.
Previous to this he was Dancaïro in Carmen with Prelude to Performance in Manhattan where “he provided fine support” ~ Opera News. He also performed Escamillo in the High Lights concert that same summer in Manhattan.
Previously, Dr. Ewart performed the role of Owen Hart in Dead Man Walking and Zuniga Carmen with Shreveport Opera. He covered the leading baritone roles Joseph DeRocher and Escamillo with the same company. Other roles performed include Germont in La Traviata, Don Alfonso in Cosi Fan Tutte, Marcello in La Boheme, Editor Webb in Our Town, His Father-in-law in The Poor Fisherman, Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus, and Dr. Miracle in Les Contes d’Hoffmann.
Dr. Ewart has also sung with several orchestras as a soloist. Dr. Ewart has performed on several occasions with the Lansing Symphony Orchestra where he was the baritone soloist in Schubert’s Mass in G as well as the baritone soloist in Bruckner’s Te Deum. He has also sung and hosted a variety show with the Lansing Symphony Orchestra’s Linked-in concert series. He was also the baritone soloist in Mozart’s Great Mass in C Minor with the Texarkana Symphony Orchestra, as well as a soloist in Handel’s Messiah with members of the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra where he was also the baritone soloist in Mozart’s G major mass that same year.
Dan Ewart has a B.M. in vocal performance from Michigan State University, a M.M. in vocal performance from DePaul University, and a D.M.A. in vocal performance with Michigan State University.
Camellia Adams | Curator
Germany and Austria will always hold a special place in Camellia Adams’ heart.
In 2019 she and her family lived in Graz, Austria. Prior to the move, Camellia had traveled multiple times to Germany and Austria and studied German in high school and at university. Camellia directed the German Edelweiss Choir of Grand Rapids for many years. She was thrilled to create this year’s program about German composer Richard Wagner for Opera is Lit 2025!
Camellia has traveled extensively throughout Asia, North America, the South Pacific, and Europe. Those experiences set Camellia on a path to make an in-depth study of the music and cultures she had experienced. She graduated from the University of Kentucky with a BA in Music (Musicology/Ethnomusicology, Opera Performance). She studied under American musicologist Dr. Ronald Pen. Camellia’s university musicology studies were primarily focused on the hymns, ballads, and folk music traditions of the United Kingdom and Ireland and how these immigrant groups affected the musical traditions of the Southern Appalachian mountains.
Camellia’s love of ethnic music, folktales, and dance extends beyond the Southern USA into exploring the intersection of classical music, world folk cultures, and literature. She has worked as a community choir director and church music minister in various congregations for over 2 decades. She loves incorporating world music into concerts and worship. Her greatest achievement is raising four beautiful children with her husband Robert, all of whom love history, travel, the arts, and of course world music!
Faywen Adams | Presenter
Faywen Adams is excited to be participating in her fourth Opera is Lit program.
Faywen is a junior at Grandville High School (GHS) where she is involved in the music and theatre programs. Recently, she played Kathryn Schaub in Radium Girls at GHS. Other notable roles include Fairy Godmother in Disney’s:Descendents with StageGR, the Cook/Singing Telegram Girl in Clue at GHS, and Tweedledum in Alice in Wonderland at StageGR. Faywen has been a violist for 8 years and enjoys attending Grand Rapids Symphony concerts.
Besides a love of music and theatre, travel has been important in shaping Faywen’s outlook on life. She is grateful to have explored countries such as Ireland, the United Kingdom, Italy, Slovenia, France, Germany, Hungary, and Japan. She lived in Graz, Austria in 2019, which fostered a love of learning about other cultures, their history, music, literature, language, and gave her insight into how other people live. She practices her German language skills whenever possible. She also enjoys nature, singing, and spending time with her family.
Guenter Tusch | Presenter
Guenter is excited to participate in Opera Grand Rapids’ Opera is Lit program.
He was born in Germany and grew up in Essen (North-Rhine Westfalia). His father was a piano player and church organist and the family wanted him to become a pastor, but he opted to become an electrical engineer instead. Guenter inherited a violin from the brother of his grandmother. It was restored and he received lessons.
His parents had a subscription to the Essen Opera House, and starting at the age of twelve, Guenter attended many opera performances when his dad couldn’t attend. Among those were many Wagner operas like Flying Dutchman and Valkyrie, where he sat through almost 4 hours of performance. Guenter later spent some time in the Bay Area with frequent visits to the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco and eventually settled in Grand Rapids, MI, where he is a Professor of Health and Bioinformatics at Grand Valley State University. During his travels, he attended many interesting performances in opera houses all over Europe, the US, and also China.