The Wagner Society of Northern California recently closed out its year in style with the traditional Holiday Celebration – The Cosima Wagner Birthday/Holiday Celebration.
Members met for a fabulous luncheon, music, revelry and a customary drawing for valuable prizes at San Francisco’s Marines Memorial Club & Hotel downtown.
Musical guest artists for the Cosima Celebration included pianist Dennis Doubin, Music Staff San Francisco Opera, and former participant in both the Merola and Adler Fellowship programs of the San Francisco Opera.
The vocalist was Eugene Richards III, bass baritone.
Richards has spent the last three years studying with dramatic soprano, Luana DeVol and the past three summers as part of Dolora Zajick’s Institute for Young Dramatic Voices in Reno, NV, in the American Wagner Project division. In 2017 this study of Wagner led to his being selected as 1 of 16 finalists in the Lauritz Melchior International Vocal Competition in Aalborg, Denmark. Richards participated in The Miami Music Festival in their Wagner program where he covered Alan Held as Wotan in Die Walküre & sang King Heinrich in Lohengrin. Richards sang the role of Wotan in the Vegas City Ring Production.