directors Note
Ahoy Mateys,
Welcome aboard the Rome Symphony Orchestra and Rome Shakespeare Festival’s production of The Pirates of Penzance! This show has been a long time coming for me. My first exposure was the movie version starring Kevin Kline, Linda Rondstadt, and Angela Lansbury—and I was instantly hooked. The schtick, the style, the music, the comedy—it was everything I loved. As a lifelong band geek and trombone player, I’ve admired everything the Rome Symphony Orchestra does, and I’ve been itching to collaborate with them for years. That spark was reignited when I heard Shorter University’s talented opera students perform selections from Pirates at a showcase. I thought,
“This is it. This is the moment.” And here we are.
This is not quite a concert, not quite a play, not quite a fully staged production—but something more exciting: a hybrid event that blends the energy of live theater with the beauty and precision of a professional orchestra. We’re bringing in opera professionals for the principal roles, along with students, professors, and community performers for the show. Some knew every note before rehearsal; others were hearing it for the first time. That beautiful blend of experience and discovery has made this collaboration truly special.
And let’s be honest—The Pirates of Penzance might be a satire from the 1800s, but it hits close to home in 2025. In a world where people can get so entrenched in ideology, duty, and tradition, it’s refreshing (and necessary) to laugh at how absurd those blind allegiances can be. This show reminds us that love and joy don’t follow rules—they break them.
This process has been a whirlwind of baton passes: from music director, to staging, to maestro, to our incredible tech team—and now finally to you. It’s felt a bit like trying to land a plane on an aircraft carrier, or maybe more like docking a pirate ship in a storm. But this cast and crew picked up their music stands and dove in—like pirates to water. In just a week, they’ve pulled off something remarkable.
I hope you laugh. I hope you hum the tunes on the way home. I hope you leave thinking about he silly rules we live by—and maybe even start imagining new ones. So drop anchor. Batten down the hatches. And enjoy the show. Just please... don’t make us walk the plank.
With gratitude and giggles,
Drew Davidson
Director
PURPOSE: To enrich the musical culture of our community.
MISSION STATEMENT: The mission of the Rome Symphony Orchestra is to inspire, educate and entertain through excellence in musical performance.
VISION STATEMENT: The vision of the Rome Symphony Orchestra is to live in a community that is enriched by beautiful music.
Maryanne Kyle
THE CAST
Maryann Kyle has dedicated her professional life to guiding singers and teachers in their pursuit not only of exceptional singing, but also captivating performance. In addition to her active studio of performers she also actively mentors over thirty teachers of voice and theatre in various universities across the United States, and her students can be found on the stages of the finest opera and musical theatre companies, conservatories andntraining programs across the globe.
Kyle remains an active performer of multiple genres of music and has shared the concert stage with some of world’s greatest artists including Denyce Graves, William Warfield, Timothy Noble and Marietta Simpson. She has appeared as a soloist on the pop music stage with famed artists PaI Labelle, PaI Aus6n, Dionne Warwick, Ann Nesby and Vesta Williams. Kyle’s one-woman-show, Sondheim in the City, premiered in NYC at the Laurie Beechman Theatre/West Bank Café in 2011 followed by her concert entitled Apparitions and her upcoming recital, Reminiscence presented by Opera Mississippi.
Specializing in the teaching belt, power belt and high belt technique, Kyle has had a tremendous success in training singers and teachers in the best and healthiest use of their voice, and in integrating the function of singing with their character and physical acting process. In addition, she has developed a curriculum in musical theatre and commercial music pedagogy and literature which she presents as a part of the Alabama School of the Arts Artistic Development Series and the International Performing Arts Institute Teaching Fellowship. This acoustically sound training for athletic vocal technique and style is easily connected to classical vocal training while maintaining an authentic musical theatre and commercial music sound.
Kyle’s students have performed leading roles with New Orleans Opera, Seattle Opera, Opera Frankfurt, Opera Berlin, English National Opera, Virginia Opera, San Francisco Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Chicago Opera Theatre, Sarasota Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Florida Grand Opera and St. Louis Opera Theatre to name a few.
They have also garnered numerous awards including top placements in national and international competitions and apprenticeships with Seattle Opera, Lake George Opera Festival, Aspen Festival, Tanglewood Music Festival, Ohio Light Opera, Brevard, Wolf Trap, Ashlawn Opera, Opera North, Utah Fes6val Opera, Opera Saratoga, Sarasota Opera, Des Moines Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Central City Opera, Savannah VOICE Festival andn continue to pursue their studies in major conservatories and schools including Juilliard, Indiana University, San Francisco Conservatory, Boston Conservatory, Manhattan School of Music, Cincinnati Conservatory, Oklahoma City University, Florida State University, Fordham University, Louisiana State University, the University of Illinois and New England Conservatory of Music. Kyle is the director of the Teaching Fellowship Program with the International Performing Arts Institute. In her free time, Kyle enjoys riding her Yamaha V-Star 950 motorcycle, gardening, spending time with friends and mothering her five shih tzu pups.
ALAN NAYLOR
Alan Naylor is a multi-award winning actor, singer, and pianist who has traveled the country performing for audiences in musical theatre, dramatic plays, opera, concert, and cabaret. He is thrilled to return to Rome once again to sing with the fabulous Rome Symphony! A native of St. Louis, he grew up performing at the renowned MUNY and Opera Theatre of St. Louis. He has given world premieres of numerous theatrical works as well as crafting original concerts and recitals with performances Off-Broadway, The Kennedy Center, Disney Hall, Strathmore, and many more. Winner of the prestigious Helen Hayes Award(Outstanding Lead Actor in a Musical) he is a master of interpretation in art song, american songbook, golden age musical theatre, and contemporary theater. Favorite roles have included: Jean Valjean and Marius(LesMiz); Jesus(Godspell); Dr Parker(Bat Boy); Lockstock(Urinetown); Carlo(Comedy of Tenors); Cosme(Souvenir); Scarecrow(Wizard of Oz). In addition to his work as a performer Alan is a highly sought after audio engineer/recordist and concert piano technician/rebuilder. He holds degrees from Washington University in St. Louis as well as St. Olaf College where he was a soloist and member of the world renowned St. Olaf Choir. www.alan-naylor.com
Scott Willis
Dr. Scott Willis is an active performer and stage director in a variety of repertoire both in concert and on stage. Past engagements include baritone soloist with the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera, Southern Adventist University Orchestra, Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra, as well as Sweeney Todd in Sweeney Todd, Alfio in Cavalleria Rusticana, and John Sorel in The Consul with Opera Tennessee. He is a frequent performer with several premiere ensembles with concert credits including Mozart’s Organ Solo Mass at the Spoleto Festival USA, Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s Magnificat at Middle Tennessee State University, as well as baritone soloist in Bach’s B Minor Mass with the Nashville Symphony.
Dr. Willis’s stage directing credits include works such as Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, Puccini’s Suor Angelica, W.A. Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Gilbert and Sullivan’s Trial by Jury, Steve Martin and Edie Brickell’s Bright Star, Freedman and Lutvak’s A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, and Johann Strauss II’s Die Fledermaus.
Dr. Willis earned the Doctor of Musical Arts in Voice Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Alabama, Master of Music in Voice Performance and Pedagogy from East Carolina University, and a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from Middle Tennessee State University. He is the founder and Executive Director of Chattanooga Music Academy and is the music director at Northside Presbyterian Church in Chattanooga, TN. He also serves on the voice faculty and as the Director of Opera at Berry College.
David Tahere
Maori-American baritone David Tahere loves collaboration and story telling through music. Stage credits include The Pirate King (Pirates of Penzance), Jamie (The Last Five Years), Mr. Potter (It’s a Wonderful Life), Harold Hill (The Music Man), Colonel Calverley (Patience), Sam (Trouble in Tahiti), Malatesta (Don Pasquale), Ramiro (l’Heure Espangole), Le Gendarme (Les Mamelles de Tirésias), Saint Peter (Too Many Sopranos), Harašta (Cunning Little Vixen), Olin Blitch (Susannah) and Daniel Webster (The Mother of Us All). Tahere has been a featured soloist with the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia, Philadelphia Chamber Chorus, Chattanooga Choral Arts Society, Chattanooga Bach Choir and Tenth Concert Series under the batons of highly regarded conductors like Andrew Altenbach, David Neeley, Cristian Macelaru, Arthur Fagen, and Helmuth Rilling.
A lover of song, Tahere was a finalist in the 2023 Joy in Singing International Art Song Competition and a three-time fellow at SongFest, working closely with Graham Johnson, Martin Katz, Sir Thomas Allen, Jake Heggie, and Sanford Sylvan. He’s been praised for interpretations that are “emotionally, just what the audience wanted,” portraying villains with “cold gall,” and possessing a “soaring, warm baritone,” full of “color and shimmer.”
A certified teacher through MTNA and Associate Professor of Voice at Covenant College, Tahere studied at Lee University, Temple University, and The Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. He loves traveling, reading, hiking, and spending time with his wife, Christa, their two boys, and puppy.
Kelly Curtin
Soprano Kelly Curtin is known not only for her extraordinary vocalism, but also for her ability to play both comedic and dramatic roles with realism and great timing. She has been lauded for her “crystal-clear soprano” by Opera News and the “lovely fullness” of her voice by New York Classical Review. Her performance of Marie in La fille du régiment with St. Petersburg Opera in Florida was named "Best Opera Performance of the Decade" by the magazine Creative Loafing Tampa. She also won "Best Leading Actress in a Musical" for her portrayal of Marie and "Best Supporting actress in a musical" for her portrayal of Zerlina in Mozart's Don Giovanni, both with St. Petersburg Opera Company, from Theatre Tampa Bay. She is best recognized for her singing of Mozart's famous Queen of The Night in The Magic Flute which she has performed with Shreveport Opera, In Series Opera, Washington Opera Society (at the Austrian Embassy) and Bel Cantanti Opera among many other concerts of the famous aria, Der Hölle Rache, including in many performances aboard the Crown Princess Cruise Ship. Other favorite roles include Olympia The Doll (Les Contes d'Hoffmann), Mimì (La Bohème), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Fiordiligi and Despina (Così fan tutte), Micaëla and Frasquita (Carmen), Mabel (The Pirates of Penzance), Josephine (HMS Pinafore), Yum-Yum (The Mikado), Eurydice (Orphée aux Enfers), Adele (Die Fledermaus), Le Feu and Le Rossignol (L'enfant et les sortilèges).
As a concert performer, Ms. Curtin has thrice appeared as the soprano soloist in Handel's Messiah with the Helena Symphony and frequently sings the Christmas and Easter portions of the work in the DC area seasonally She recently sang it on just a few hours notice in December 2024, filling in for an ailing colleague in two performances at the Baltimore Basilica with Ed Polochick conducting.
She will return to the Helena Symphony in 2025 as the Soprano Soloist in the Brahms Requiem. Other concert works include the soprano solos in Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass and Ola Gjielo's Dreamweaver with CoroAllegro (DE), Vivaldi's Gloria with Market Street Music's Noontime Concerts, and Mozart's Exsultate Jubilate. In December of 2018, Ms. Curtin joined the St. Louis Church Concert Series in their Christmas presentation singing "Et incarnatusest" from Mozart's Great Mass in C Minor. A recording of this performance is available on Ms.Curtin's YouTube Channel. Ms. Curtin began the 2024/25 season with a performance with Maryland Opera in a concert of selections from Rigoletto, Die Zauberflöte, La Fille du Régiment, and Charpentier's Louise. Following that appearance, she returned to Princess Cruises for her final appearances as “The Diva” in their production of Encore! and in performances of her solo show Olympic Singing.
Upcoming appearances include a return to Shreveport Opera to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of their SOX Program, and continued workshop and promotional performances of Brian Wilbur Grundstrom's opera For Whom the Bell Tolls based on Ernest Hemingway's famous novel, and a new musical by Arnold Kirschenbaum and Robert Nath called Where You Go, I Will Go. Ms. Curtin is also a champion of new operatic works and has participated in several works hops and premieres, or subsequent performances in which newer works were still "under construction." Besides her work on For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ms. Curtin has participated in the premieres of Joseph Kaz's The Female Stranger at the DC Fringe Festival, and a filmed production of Andrew Earle Simpson and Susan Galbraith's Caesar and the Mannequin with the New Music Theatre Association. Other performances of contemporary operas include Valentina in John Musto's Later the Same Evening, Senator Patrick Leahy in Melissa Dunphy's Gonzales Cantata as filmed by In Series Opera, Emma in Francis Pollock's What Gets Kept, Josephine in Michael Oberhauser's The Name on the Door, and several pieces from Michael Ching's Speed Dating Tonight! which she recorded as learning aids for future productions. In all of these rehearsal periods, Ms. Curtin had the pleasure of working with the composers on the performance of their works.
Grant Bradshaw
Flynn Allen
Katie Hartel
Lindsey Chambers
Marielle PEGUREO
Sarah Warden
Scott McDaniel
William Gowens
Will Smith
ZAC ColQuitt
Thank you to our 2024-2025 sponsors!
CHAIR SPONSORS:
Betty Wright Ledbetter: Conductor Chair (Helen Dean Rhodes Memorial Chair)
Barb & John Beninato: Concert Master Chair (Louise A Hoge Memorial Chair)
Sylvia & Randy Edison: Assoc. Concert Master Chair (Ladere Combee Floyd Memorial Chair)
Gayland Cooper: Principal Viola Chair (In memory of Barbara Cooper)
City of Rome: $3,750
Laurie Steber, Dan Gitomer, Ms. Laurie Steber: Cello, James W. Bryson Memorial Chair
Montgomery Family Charitable Fund: Principal Euphonium Chair (W. Frank Barron, Jr. Honorary Chair)
Susy & Pete Gilbert: Second Violin (Suzanne W. Smith Memorial Chair)
Karen K. Smith: Second Violin (Suzanne W. Smith Memorial Chair)
Dr. Anne and John A. Cowan, Dr. Annie Cowan: Trombone (Michael Carver Memorial Chair)
Donna Sweitzer: Flute (John Carruth Memorial Chair)
Cheryl Huffman: Bassoon Principal Chair
Brian & Emily Beals: Principal French Horn Chair
Amanda and David Hale: Oboe Principal Chair Sponsor
Blanca and Raul Gonzalez: Principal Clarinet Chair
Concert Etiquette:
Do not arrive late or leave early.
-Arriving before the start of the concert will allow you to find your seat easily and give you time to read the “Program Notes” in the concert program. The program notes will give you some biographical information about the composer and also tell you what to listen for or expect in the piece or in the different movements of the piece.
-If you arrive after the concert has begun, you should wait until the conclusion of the piece being played. Usually the first piece of the concert is a short piece (4-6 minutes) just for this purpose.
Please applaud when the Concertmaster enters the stage. The concertmaster sits in the first chair in the Violin I section. The Oboe will play an “A” and the other instruments will tune to it. When the concertmaster sits down, the concert is about to begin.
Please applaud when the Conductor enters the stage.
Please do not talk during the concert.
Children are welcome; however, quickly remove restless or crying children. Please tell children to stay seated and keep their feet from kicking the chairs of others.
Please do not unwrap and eat candy during the performance. If you think you might need a cough lozenge, please unwrap it before the performance begins. Remember, food and/or drink is not allowed in the Auditorium.
Please turn off or silence all pagers and cell phones.
The concert is not over at intermission. This is the time to use the restrooms, stretch, say hello to friends or get something to drink in the lobby. Please return to your seat before the end of intermission. Lights will flicker announcing the end of intermission and the beginning of the second half of the concert. The concert will last about 70 – 90 minutes.
Please do not applaud between movements (there will be a pause in the music) or between multisectional works listed in the program. For example:
Symphony No. 8 Ludwig van Beethoven
Allegro vivace (fast and lively)
Allegetto scherzando (moderately quick and playful)
Andante (moderately slow tempo)
Note: Applaud after all three movements have been performed.
Applaud with vigor at the conclusion of the performance.
We hope you enjoy the concert!