A Night at The Gaming Tables
Opening Night Gala Performance
The RCAS celebrates its 20th Anniversary Season with A Night at the Gaming Tables, an elegant gala performance. The evening features RCAS Artistic Director Vera Danchenko-Stern’s acclaimed abridgement of P.I. Tchaikovsky’s beloved opera The Queen of Spades. The concert is followed by a champagne toast celebrating our 20th Anniversary and a festive reception with wine, hors d'oeuvres, and petit fours.
Tickets: $79*
Black Tie Optional
*Admission includes the performance and a post-concert reception with wine, light hors d'oeuvres, and desserts. Pre-registration and photo ID are required to enter the embassy grounds. Patrons without pre-registration or photo ID will not be permitted inside the embassy
Cast - The Queen of Spades
Jennifer Casey Cabot, soprano
Viktor Antipenko, tenor
Magdalena Wór, mezzo-soprano
Susana Poretsky, mezzo-soprano
Justin Burgess, baritone
John L. Wolfe, narrator
Genadi Zagor, piano
Vera Danchenko-Stern, piano
In a stellar career which grows in magnitude with every role, soprano Jennifer Casey Cabot continues to perform extensively in opera and concert. Her roles include many of the heroines of Mozart, Verdi, Puccini and many concert and recital performances. In the 2011-12 Season she sang as a soloist in Messiah with the National Philharmonic, Stan Engebretson conducting, and as a soloist in an evening of Russian music for the Russian Chamber Art Society of Washington, DC. She also performed as Rosina with Opera Lafayette, in a semi-staged production of Paisiello’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia. Her recent success include singing Giulietta in Casanova’s Homecoming by Dominick Argento, with Minnesota Opera; appearing as soloist in Messiah with the Nashville Symphony, Verdi’s Requiem with New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with Oberlin Conservatory of Music; returning to the Metropolitan Opera roster, and to San Diego Opera as Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes; her debut with Minnesota Opera as Konstanze in Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, and singing soloist in Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass and Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra.
In Europe, Ms. Cabot was a resident soloist at Deutsche Oper Berlin and Staatstheater Braunschweig. She returned to Germany for a concert of arias and duets with Placido Domingo, the success of which led to a gala concert with Mr. Domingo in Japan. Currently Jennifer Casey Cabot performs often as a faculty member of the Dewberry School of Music at George Mason University. She is an assistant professor of Voice, Diction and Pedagogy at GMU since 2023. A New York native, Jennifer Casey Cabot holds both Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Arts degrees from Oberlin College, as well as a master’s degree from the Yale School of Music. She studied voice with Richard Miller and Doris Yarick-Cross.
Russian-American tenor Viktor Antipenko, praised for his effortless, expansive sound, and excellent technique, continues to sing leading roles to great acclaim and has become a singer to watch in the dramatic repertoire.
In the 2024-25 season, he makes his role and house debut singing Canio in I Pagliacci at Staatsoper Hannover and as Siegmund in Die Walküre at Theater Dortmund under the baton of Gabriel Feltz and staging by Peter Konwitschny. Mr. Antipenko will also be reunited with conductor Rafael Payare to open the Caramoor Summer Music Festival with Beethoven’s Symphony #9.
Last season, he made debuts at the Sydney Opera House singing Luigi in Il Tabarro under the baton of Lidiya Yankovskaya with Opera Australia; Pacific Opera Victoria performing Siegmund in Die Walküre; and Atlanta Opera where he reprised his signature role of Siegmund conducted by Arthur Fagen and directed by Tomer Zvulun. He also returned to the New National Theatre Tokyo of Japan to perform Lensky in Eugene Onegin. Mr. Antipenko was added to the roster of Lyric Opera of Chicago where he covered the role of Radames in Aida with Music Director Enrique Mazzola at the helm. In concert, he joined conductor Franz Krager for performances of Rachmaninoff’s The Bells with Moores School Symphony Orchestra alongside baritone Sergei Leiferkus and made his San Diego Symphony debut performing Siegmund in an Act 1 concert of Die Walküre with Music Director Rafael Payare.
Mezzo-soprano Magdalena Wór is praised often for the sumptuous color of her voice and her complete devotion to music and text. “She has that kind of velvety rich mezzo that makes you want to follow her anywhere.” (The Washington Post) Her vocal flexibility allows her to easily span the lower to upper registers of the mezzo range as well Baroque through 21st century repertoire.
Summer 2024 performances include soloist for Vivaldi's Gloria at the Amalfi Coast Festival with conductor Anthony Blake Clark and soloist at the American Cathedral in Paris with guest conductor in residence Stan Engebretson. Magdalena marked her debut with Savannah Philharmonic in 2022 in a performance of Handel’s Messiah under the direction of Erin Freeman. In recent seasons, she returned to Alabama Symphony Orchestra for Mozart’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s Magnificat and to Atlanta Symphony for Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Regina coeli, Requiem, and Mass in C “Coronation.” She was featured with National Philharmonic for Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, University of Kentucky Orchestra for Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky, and Berlioz’s Les nuit d’été with Capital City Symphony (Washington, DC). Magdalena sang her debut performances with Seattle Symphony under the baton of Gary Thor Wedow and Richmond Symphony with conductor Keitaro Harada as soloist for Messiah.
Following her triumph at Placido Domingo’s Operalia Competition in 1998, mezzo-soprano Susana Poretsky was invited to sing with him a gala concert in Japan and, in 2004, he en gaged her to sing Suzuki in Madama Butterfly with the Los Angeles Opera. Hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle for having a voice of “extraordinary passion and power”, Ms. Poretsky’s opera roles include Pauline in Pique Dame, the title role in Car men, Maddalena in Rigoletto, Margret in Wozzeck, Charlotte in Werther, Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, and Adalgisa in Norma. She has performed in prestigious venues such as the Los Angeles Opera, San Diego Opera, Metropolitan Opera, Washington National Opera, Paris Opera, Royal Opera of Stockholm, Arena di Verona, Theatre de la Monnaie in Brussels, La Scala in Milan, the New Israeli Opera, and more. Also active on the concert stages, Ms. Poretsky has performed with numerous or chestras under the baton of such prestigious conductors as Zubin Mehta with the Israel Philharmonic, Kurt Masur with the New York Philharmonic, and Michael Tilson Thomas with the San Francisco Symphony.
Baritone Justin Burgess, a native of South Lyon, Michigan, made his Washington National Opera debut as Schaunard in the Cafritz Young Artist performances of La bohème last season and recently performed the role of Mercutio in the Young Artist production of Romeo and Juliet. In the summer of 2022, he joined the Santa Fe Opera as an Apprentice Artist where he covered Morales in Carmen and Der Steuermann in Tristan und Isolde. In 2021, he returned to Wolf Trap Opera to cover Toby in Sweeney Todd and Baron Pictordu in Viardot’s Cendrillon. Mr. Burgess performed Walter/Michael in Cincinnati Opera’s workshop of Kevin Puts’s The Hours, commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera through their Opera Fusion: New Works initiative. As a Studio Artist with Wolf Trap Opera in 2019 and 2020, he performed as Zerbin in L’ile de Merlin and Fiorello in Il barbiere di Siviglia, and filmed scenes as Billy in Billy Budd, Schaunard in La bohéme, and Papageno in Die Zauberflöte. Mr. Burgess was a regional finalist and two-time recipient of an Encouragement Award from the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition.
John Leslie Wolfe was an original cast member of EVITA on Broadway. He began playing Peron a year later, beginning with the Chicago company, and then toured the USA and Europe for another three years. His other Broadway credits include SARAVA, PASSION, and PARADE. At NY City Opera, he played Tommy in BRIGADOON, and Joey in MOST HAPPY FELLA. For 6 years, he played Andre in the Las Vegas company of PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. National tours and regional shows include PARADE (Watkins), SWEENEY TODD (Sweeney), ANNIE (Warbucks), 1776 (Hancock). At the Kennedy Center, he was Col. Ricci in PASSION, Pierre in MARTIN GUERRE, and a soloist with the NSO Pops. On TV he appeared in HOUSE OF CARDS, THE WEST WING, THE WIRE, and HOMICIDE. His films include HBO’s SOMETHING THE LORD MADE, AMIRA & SAM, THE INVASION, STEP UP, and INVINCIBLE.
Genadi Zagor is an Instructor of Piano in College of Music at MSU with primary teaching in the area of duo-piano and collaboration with the Voice Area in opera and other collaborations.
A native of Krasnodar, Russia, Genadi Zagor began his music studies at the age of four with his father, a foremost guitarist and composer. He continued his piano studies at the Moscow Central Music School for gifted children with Tatiana Manuilskaya. Subsequently, he studied with Nelly Mezhlumova, one of the most prominent teachers of the Caucasus. After graduating from Krasnodar's Rimsky-Korsakov College of Music with distinction, he went on to study at the Moscow State Conservatory with Mikhail Mezhlumov. In 1991, Genadi immigrated to Israel and became an assistant to the famous Piano Duo Bracha Eden-Alexander Tamir at the Jerusalem Rubin Academy of Music and Dance.
Throughout his career, Dr. Zagor appeared with the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Gotham City Orchestra, Northbrook Symphony Orchestra, South Bend Symphony Orchestra, Green Bay Symphony Orchestra, Post-Classical Ensemble and Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, among others. In 2000, he moved to the United States and joined Maestro Alexander Toradze's Piano Studio at Indiana University (South Bend). After completing his Artist Diploma, he accepted the position of Visiting Artist at the University of Northern Iowa.
Dr. Zagor holds Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in piano performance from Michigan State University. He has performed on stages and at festivals around the world as well as radio and television programs. Reaction to his performances has been commonly expressed as “sensational,” “nimble-fingered,” a “lively and imaginative player,” a “triumph,” and an “electrifying performance.”
Vera Danchenko-Stern is Russian diction specialist with over 50 years of teaching experience. She graduated with honors from Moscow’s prestigious Gnessin Institute of Music where she mastered piano, solo performance, chamber music, vocal and instrumental accompaniment.
Her expert Russian diction coaching skills are in demand by world renowned institutions such as the Washington National Opera and the Cafritz Young Artist Program, where she has collaborated on highly acclaimed productions (Tsar’s Bride, Boris Godunov, The Queen of Spades, The Maiden of Orleans), The Honolulu Opera (Eugene Onegin, Ivan the Terrible), and the Baltimore Symphony under the baton of Yuri Temirkanov.
Ms. Danchenko-Stern has taught Russian diction on the faculties of Catholic University in Washington, D.C, and the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. She recently conducted master classes at Princeton University, Michigan State University, and Potomac Vocal Institute in Washington, D.C.
Ms. Danchenko-Stern is a jury member in international competitions and a highly regarded Master Class teacher. Many of Ms. Danchenko-Stern’s former students, Timothy Mix (baritone), Magdalena Wor (mezzo), Natalie Conte (soprano), to name a few, were able to use their Russian repertoire to establish and further their distinguished operatic careers.
Ms. Danchenko-Stern is included in the Centennial Edition of “Who’s Who in American Women” and is a National Associate Artist of Sigma Alpha Iota.