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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
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.
Laura Plumb
Board Member
Laura Plumb is the Founder and Director of VedaWise, and lead faculty for the Ayurvedic Integrated Nutrition 200 hour Professional Training, author of the best-selling book Ayurveda Cooking For Beginners, creator/presenter of the online video course The Medicine In Your Kitchen: Introduction to Ayurvedic Cooking hosted by Spirituality & Health, writer and host of the 53-part television show CleanseVeda, and the 12-part series called Divine Yoga.
Formerly the General Manager of The Discovery Channel Europe, Laura offers clinical services in natural medicine for whole person wellness, and health practitioner trainings in the Vedic sciences. She leads many online courses, and gives classes and consultations in Ayurveda, Jyotish, Yoga Therapy, Whole Food Cooking and Nutrition. Additonally Laura has served as a contributing Ayurvedic educator at the UCSD Center for Integrative Medicine, is an Ambassador for Banyan Botanicals and runs The Sophia Camp for Girls – a week every summer dedicated to cultivating self-esteem, self-care and self-regulation through Yoga, Ayurveda, mentoring and creative play.
Laura’s blog food-alovestory.com is an inspirational free resource for Ayurvedic recipes and wise living. Her popular whole food, plant-based seasonal cleanses are powerful, effective and deliciously nourishing. Her articles on health and wellness have been published in Huffington Post, Ayurveda Next Door, Spirituality & Health, Well + Good, Yoga Digest and the Times of India, among other national and international media.
As a graduate of the Kerala Ayurveda Academy, the American Institute of Vedic Studies, and decades of study into Yoga, Meditation, Vedanta, Jyotish, herbal medicine, nutrition, health and healing, Laura is an international educator on the power of the Vedic sciences to promote radical health and sacred, sumptuous living.
Raffi Mikaelian
Board Member & Assistant Conductor.
Mr. Mikaelian has both an MA and a Post Graduate degree in Choral Conducting, as well as a BA in Orchestra Conducting from Yerevan State Conservatory. He was the recipient of an Artist Diploma in Orchestra Conducting from SDSU and has participated in international master classes with: Colin Metters and Alexander Polyanichko in St. Petersburg, Russia, and Kenneth Kiesler in San Diego.
William Propp
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.
Nicole Baller
Education and Outreach Officer
Ms. Baller has a BM in Music Education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She has taught elementary school and conducted adult and children's choirs. Moving frequently as a military spouse, she has been privileged to sing across the country and internationally. Her varied music experiences include choirs, musical theater, opera, jazz, and praise bands.
PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY:
Mr. and Mrs. Kearney
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we can all be stewards of the future of serious music.