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GALLERY AND MEDIA
GALLERY AND MEDIA
Originally from San Diego, Therese Pallares lives and breathes the Southern California lifestyle. Working as a REALTOR®, Therese brings the values that make living in San Diego so great into the heart of her business, warmth with a sunny disposition.
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ABOUT MUSICA VITALE
Musica Vitale is a professional ensemble presenting a cappella chamber works of Western European and Slavic origin from the last 300 years. The ensemble’s mission is to revive and rediscover neglected repertoire of the Classical, Romantic, and post-Romantic eras, maintaining the highest artistic standards, preserving the heritage of vocal chamber music, and bringing enrichment to the community through public performances.
Vitale--or vital, of life--translates into the choices of the ensemble’s repertoire, emphasizing the works of Romantic and Contemporary periods of Music History, emotionally open and charged with expression.
An ensemble of some of San Diego's finest singers offers an audible feast of choral colors and timbres, equally successful in singing with delicacy and finesse as in Robert Schumann’s ‘Romanzen und Balladen’, and with the richness and warmth of Sergey Rachmaninov’s Vespers.
Musica Vitale has been bringing music to life since 2005, when a group of professional singers from the San Diego Opera Chorus and Sacred Heart Church came together to perform a benefit concert for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. At this concert, the group revealed its unique potential and Musica Vitale was born.
During these years of exceptional music making, the group became one of the premier ensembles in the county and won the hearts of a larger San Diego following.
OUR BOARD AND OFFICERS
Elena Vizuet
Artistic Director and Board Chair
Mrs. Vizuet is an International Music Educator and Performer with more than 30 years of experience. Mrs. Vizuet has an MA degree in Choral Conducting and an MA in Music Education from the prestigious Ural Conservatory, Russia. She also has a BA, Cum Laude, in Choral Conducting and Music Education from Chelyabinsk Music College, Russia. Mrs. Vizuet has worked as a professional singer, pianist, music instructor, conductor, and impresario for decades.
She performed internationally in venues such as Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, Rachmaninov Hall of Moscow Conservatory, Chelyabinsk Opera Theater, Vidago Concert Hall in Budapest, Casa de Kultura in Mexico, and in more than 100 productions with San Diego Opera, USA. She is a Founder an Artistic Director of Vocal Ensemble Musica Vitale, a non -profit art organization. Please visit www.Musicavitale.com
Mrs. Vizuet held position of a Teaching Artist with the San Diego Opera company in the program "Opera for Kids by Kids"; taught voice and conducting classes to undergraduate students of Chelyabinsk Music College, Russia; and Mesa City College, USA. Through her mentorship and guidance Mrs. Vizuet opened doors to professional music world to many opera singers who now sing with leading Opera Theaters in Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as professional Choral Groups, Music Colleges and Schools.
Lisa Parente
Artistic Manager and Board Member
Ms. Parente has an MM degree in Vocal Performance from the Peabody Conservatory, and a BM in Vocal Performance from San Diego State University. She has been seen in many operas, such as Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Belinda in Dido and Aeneas, Amore in L’incoronazione di Poppea, and Dew Fairy in Hänsel und Gretel. Lisa has also been an artist with San Diego Opera’s Opera Exposed! She has been featured as the soloist in Poulenc’s Gloria, the soprano soloist in Faure’s Requiem, and many more. Lisa has experience in graphic design and digital marketing.
Llisa Hiebert
Treasurer
Llisa is a member of Crown City Chorale who previously worked in management teams for many years in various departments within the State of California as a governmental program analyst and retired in 2007 as Regional Administrative Officer with 38 years of state service. She has also served as the Treasurer for the San Diego Women’s Chorus (SDWC) where her duties included dues collection, bank balancing, bill payment, annual balance sheets, and support for annual reports and grant applications. At that time, the Chorus grew to well over 100 singers because we received a grant from the San Diego Human Dignity Foundation and performed at Balboa Theater for three consecutive seasons with notable guest performers— the Indigo Girls, Frenchie Davis, and Janis Ian.
Raffi Mikaelian
Assistant Conductor
Raffi Mikaelian is the Artistic director & Conductor of the Paros Chamber Choir and Conductor at
The National Opera & Ballet Theatre of Armenia.
He obtained his Masters and Postgraduate degree in Choral conducting and a Bachelor in Orchestra Conducting at the Yerevan State Conservatory and Artist Diploma in orchestra conducting from the San Diego State University.
Raffi Mikaelian is well known in Armenia for his performances with the “Paros” chamber
choir, “Havatamq” female choir and Armenian Orchestras. Since 2009, he has been Artistic
Director of the “Paros'' chamber choir (consisting mainly of singers with physical disabilities)
and has led them to four silver medals in the “World Choir Games” in Riga, Latvia (2014) and
Sochi, Russia (2016). He was awarded the First Prize and Best Conductor Prize at the “Kolozha Blagovest” Competition in Grodno, Belarus in 2014 with the “Havatamq” female choir.
Mikaelian is founder and conductor of Voce Dell’orchestra in Los Angeles where they
mainly perform at the St.Leon Armenian Cathedral in Burbank, CA alongside the “Shnorhali”
choir. He is also assistant conductor and Board member of “Musica Vitale” in Coronado, CA
since 2018. Guest conducting appearances have included work with the “Open Arts Community
Choir” in Belfast, Northern Ireland and the St. Petersburg Youth Orchestra in Russia. Mikaelian
premiered T.Mansurian’s “Requiem” in San Diego with “Musica Vitale”.
In 2022 Raffi Mikaelian was appointed conductor at the “National Opera & BalletTheater of Armenia” where he regularly performs.
International tours include: Armenia, Austria, Belarus, France, Iran, Latvia, Lebanon, Northern
Ireland (UK), Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Syria, U.A.E. and the U.S.A.
William Propp
Secretary and Board Member
Dr. William Propp was a professor of Ancient History and Jewish Studies at UCSD for 34 years, where he held the Harriet and Louis Bookheim Chair in Biblical Hebrew and Related Languages. His primary expertise is the ancient Near East and the Hebrew Bible, and his two-volume commentary on the Book of Exodus (Anchor Bible Series) is considered the standard reference work on the subject.
Propp has been an active freelance bassoonist (San Diego Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Nova, Lyric Opera San Diego, San Diego City Ballet, La Jolla Symphony Orchestra) and baritone singer (Musica Vitale, San Diego Pro Arte Voices), as well as a former choral conductor (La Jolla Renaissance Singers). He is a current board member of the San Diego Early Music Society, for which he composes program notes, and often delivers pre-concert lectures for Musica Vitale and other ensembles.
Sharon Hall
Marketing
Sharon is a recent member of the Coronado City Chorale. Although not a trained musician, she savors all genres of music and actively seeks and attends concerts and performances. She earned an Ed.D at The George Washington University in Washington, DC and served in the field of education at the local, state, and federal levels. She is an avid international traveler. Sharon recently moved to California from Maryland to be closer to her sons and their families. She currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the Coronado Public Library and for the Friends of the Coronado Public Library.
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Donna Dixon
Board Member
Martin Green
Associate Director
Casey Kurpinsky
Administrative Assistant
PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY:
