OPERA SINGERS BRING ECLECTIC ENTERTAINMENT TO FORT COLLINS BY WAY OF THEIR ‘SINGING AIRSTREAM’ TOUR
Opera singers Cass Panuska and Torlef Borsting will travel cross country in their Airstream travel trailer, stopping along the way to share Great American Songs and Arias with communities. Fort Collins marks the third stop on the tour, which also serves as Cass and Torlef’s move to Florida from California. Don’t miss this opportunity to experience an afternoon of live singing, featuring beloved music from the classical and musical theatre genres by American composers!
Tickets: $20/$15 Students and Seniors Available at the door.
ABOUT THE SINGING AIRSTREAM TOUR
When Cass’s parents announced they intended to sell their Airstream travel trailer, Cass Panuska and husband Torlef Borsting thought purchasing it themselves seemed like a great way to create memories with their two young boys, reminiscent of the cherished times Cass had traveling with her family as a child. The plan also resonated with their desires to create a smaller carbon footprint and a movement ‘back to the land,’ trading in their suburban California home for a 12-acre homestead in Florida.
The couple realized that the cross-country trip via Airstream was not only an opportunity to take in the beauty of the country, but also carried the prospect of connecting with the communities through which they traveled. It seemed logical that they reach out via their talents: both Cass and Torlef are professional opera singers. Thus, the Singing Airstream Tour was born. And while the inaugural tour supplements the broader purpose of moving from one coast to another, they envision this as the first of many Airstream trips combining the couple’s love of travel and performing.
The tour stop in Fort Collins marks Cass’s return to the area and to St. Luke’s, where she served as a section leader in the church choir while attending Colorado State University for her Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance.
ABOUT CASS & TORLEF
Soprano Cass Panuska and baritone Torlef Borsting have enjoyed satisfying professional performing careers throughout the San Francisco Bay Area for the past 10 years, both as soloists and as collaborators on concerts together as a couple. Cass has sung as a soloist with Bay Area organizations including Berkeley Opera, Opera San Jose's Outreach Program, Opera Frontier, Pocket Opera, Goat Hall Productions, and Solo Opera. A recent recording session will place her voice on a CD of new compositions produced by Parma Recordings on their Navona Records label to be released this year. Torlef is currently a tenured member of the San Francisco Opera Chorus, and has headlined with San Francisco Opera, the Mendocino Music Festival, Opera San Jose, Berkeley Opera, and Solo Opera. As a team, the pair have done numerous recitals, as well as having performed with the famed Bracebridge Dinner Theatre in Yosemite National Park. They most recently shared the stage at Solo Opera as Mother and Father to Mickey in The Computer Kid's Magic Night. In addition to pursuing musical opportunities, Cass and Torlef are doting parents to two little boys, ages 1 and 4.
PROGRAM
The program, entitled Great American Songs and Arias, features an all-American line up of songs and duets from popular musical theatre shows including OKLAHOMA, SHOWBOAT, KISS ME KATE, MY FAIR LADY, THE FANTASTICKS, A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, and FIDDLER ON THE ROOF; opera arias from THE BALLAD OF BABY DOE by Douglas Moore and SUSANNAH by Carlisle Floyd; and art songs by Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, and John Bilottas. There will be one brief intermission.