Hunter Opera Theater Presents the World Premiere Workshop Reading of
The Secret Melody
by Composer, Luc Baiwir & Librettist, Susan Gonzalez
Hunter College, 695 Park Avenue, NY, NY 10065
LANG RECITAL HALL, 4th floor
December 11 at 7:00 PM
December 13 at 2:00PM, 2025
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Admission is Free, click here to register
Hunter Opera Theater proudly presents the premiere workshop reading of The Secret Melody, a new opera by internationally renowned composer Luc Baiwir and librettist/dramaturg, Susan Gonzalez. Admission is free and open to the public. Performances will take place on Thursday, December 11 at 7:00 PM and Saturday, December 13 at 2:00 PM at Hunter College, Lang Recital Hall.
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This innovative project marks an exciting collaboration between Luc Baiwir, Susan Gonzalez and the students of Creating Opera: A Workshop for Singers, led by Professor Susan Gonzalez, Director of the Voice Studies and Artistic Director of Hunter Opera Theater. In addition to her leadership of the program, and with assistance of conductor and coach Lana Norris, students have played an integral role in developing this two-act opera in English—shaping its libretto, refining musical elements, and exploring the vocal tessitura, voice type, and character development of each role.
ABOUT THE SECRET MELODY
On a snowy night in Paris, the Sisters of Sacre Coeur Convent discover an abandoned baby, left with a note and a mysterious sheet of music, and vow to raise her if no one claims her. Twenty years later, Emily Providence, along with friends Kathleen Smith, Frankie Moore, and pianist Jonathan Vassy, study at the Paris Academy of Performing Arts under the guidance of Elisabeth Wilson. As they prepare for auditions in New York, Emily discovers the full brilliance of her extraordinary singing voice. Along the way, she and Jonathan develop a deep and enduring romantic bond. In the bustling city, Emily struggles to break into the musical world but perseveres, performing in the subway to support her training. With the help of Jonathan, the sisters, and mentors including Francois Malon, Emily lands a lead role at the New York City Opera. Through her operatic success, she uncovers the truth about her mysterious past, revealing the identities of her parents, and is joyfully reunited with them and Jonathan, culminating in a triumph of love, music, and family.
THE SECRET MELODY
Music by Luc Baiwir
Libretto by Luc Baiwir and Susan Gonzalez
PRODUCTION TEAM
Susan Gonzalez, Director/Producer
Lana Norris, Conductor/Coach
Archie Worley, Music Editor
Corinne Schaefer, Production Manager
Naoko Aita, Piano Collaborator
Sara Banleigh, Rehearsal Pianist
PRODUCTION TEAM BIOS
Luc Baiwir, Composer
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‘No man is a prophet in his own country’. But we will have to revise this statement. Indeed, Luc Baiwir is not just an artist. He is the Mega Performer in Belgium, no less. He conjures up imposing new age-music from his synthesizers and surrounds it with a show of crazy light effects, swinging fountains and everything he deems necessary to attract the public in his fantasyland. He gave a lot of concerts in Paris, Brussels, London, Shanghai, Rabat, Antibes, Liege...
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He compose for television and movies. Luc Baiwir show us his vision on water, sea, animals or nature, subjects he certainly knows after having provided music for tens of documentaries.. With his band, he knows how to present this theme like no one else. A true extravaganza of light and music you will reflect on for a long time.
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But Luc Baiwir is born in the classical world. First at all, he learned piano in the Liege Conservatory. Than he began to compose classical music. Early, he gives some piano recital with his own music.
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"Today, Luc Baiwir is one of the Belgian composer the most required to produce scores and original works for soloist, strings and symphony orchestras." (USA Today - Concert at Fayetteville - North Carolina)
"Transiting between classic and modern, BAIWIR shows itself as a full composer today. Approaching uninhibitedly all these music styles, his wide palette of creation show considerable qualities of a composer in full maturity, a musician of our time and an artist that cannot be ignored at the beginning of the 21th century." (A.Riedes, Nice Matin, 2000)
Susan Gonzalez, Director/Producer
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SUSAN GONZALEZ has professional experience internationally in both theater and opera. Her credits include a BBC Series, SAILOR, which won the British National SUN AWARD for excellence. She began her professional singing career with the National Opera Company where she sang Fiordiligi in Cosi fan Tutte, Rosalinda in Der Fledermaus, and Norina in Don Pasquale. She went on to sing Violeta in La Traviata with the Lyric Opera of Chicago at Grant Park, Chicago Opera Theater, and New Orleans Opera, among many others. Her international credits include debuts with the Bolshoi Opera in Cheboksary and Nishny Novgorod, Russia. Other television credits include her appearance as Rosina in a filmed version of Il Barbierre di Siviglia which went on to receive an EMMY nomination.
Susan Gonzalez’s theatrical background provided her with the skills and inspiration to create the Hunter Opera Theatre at Hunter College where she showcases full productions of new operas. In 2007 Hunter Opera Theatre officially launched its first season in the Kaye Playhouse producing Nicholas Flagello’s opera The Sisters. HOT is celebrating its 18th season with a workshop of The Secret Melody by Luc Baiwir.
Susan Gonzalez’s solo concert appearances include performances at New York's Avery Fisher Hall with the National Symphony, and Carnegie Hall with the American Composers Orchestra. She has also performed with the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Cincinnati Symphony, Annapolis Symphony. Her recordings include projects released by Naxos, Artek, Leonarda, and Westland Music Inc. featuring the music of Nicholas Flagello, Luc Baiwir, and American Composers of the 20th and 21th centuries
Dr. Gonzalez holds degrees from Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and Eastman School of Music where she earned her Doctorate of Music in Literature and Performance. She is a skilled vocal technician with an emphasis in classical music and musical theater teaching men’s and women’s voices with equal success.
Lana Norris, Conductor/Coach
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LANA NORRIS is a NYC-based conductor and educator known for dynamic musicianship. In addition to her Hunter professorship facilitating both new opera and classical performances, Lana is the first-ever Associate Conductor of Ember Choral Arts; Teaching Artist with Musica Sacra; Staff Musician at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine; and a Staff Contributor to I CARE IF YOU LISTEN powered by American Composers Forum with her music journalism in the Library of Congress. She is on the creative team for the Lincoln Center 2025 production of Jeanine Tesori’s BLUE. Lana is a member of the Maestra Music network.
James Archie Worley, Music Editor
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JAMES ARCHIE WORLEY, Hunter College adjunct assistant professor, has covered roles at the Metropolitan Opera, and has appeared as tenor soloist in a variety of major venues in the US and abroad. Archie premiered P. D. Q. Bach’s Four Next-to-Last Songs at Carnegie Hall, and sang the role of The King on Philip Glass’s recording of The Witches of Venice. He has toured with the Mark Morris Dance company and the New York Vocal Arts Ensemble and appears as an Irish singer in the movie The Other Guys, and the opera singing vendor in A Complete Unknown.
Corinne Schaefer, Production Manager
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CORINNE SCHAEFER serves as Production Manager at Hunter Opera Theater and Assistant to Artistic Director Susan Gonzalez. Her operatic roles include Die Königin der Nacht (Die Zauberflöte), Olympia (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), Gretel (Hansel and Gretel), Nanetta (Falstaff), Musetta (La Bohème), Clotilde (Norma), Norina (Don Pasquale), and Beth (Little Women). She has performed internationally as a soloist, including appearances with the New Jersey Symphony and for the U.S. Consulate in Hamburg, Germany. Corinne also performed in the German production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera in Hamburg, where she appeared as Carlotta over 100 times. In 2022, she founded Creative OPERAtions, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Monmouth County, NJ, dedicated to sharing the transformative power of opera, classical music, and the arts through accessible performances and community partnerships.
Naoko Aita, Piano Collaborator
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NAOKO AITA, Piano, is an adjunct accompanist at Hunter College, a pianist at Ron Raines’s voice studio, the music director at the Japanese American United Church. She has over 34 years of experience teaching piano. Naoko has been performing throughout Metropolitan area as an accompanist. She has YouTube channel as Ministry Thru Piano, there are over 1000 piano accompaniment tracks to sing along with.
Sara Banleigh, Rehearsal Pianist
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SARA BANLEIGH is a graduate student at Hunter College, pursuing her Master of Arts in Classical Voice and Music History. As a singer and pianist, she has performed at Lincoln Center, The Institute for Sacred Music at Yale University, The Library of Congress, the New England Folk Festival, the Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival, and many others stages nationally and internationally. She performs regularly with The Red Skies Music Ensemble, an innovative group combining music, research, theater, and live performance. She is also an ensemble pianist with Country Dance New York, playing Baroque and Classical dance tunes for CDNY’s English County Dance events. Her original folk music and arrangements can be found at http://sarabanleigh.bandcamp.com.