James Meena

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Composer	Opera
Beethoven	Fidelio
Bellini	Norma
Bizet	Carmen
	The Pearl Fishers
Britten	The Rape of Lucretia
Donizetti	L’Elisir d’Amore
	Lucia di Lammermoor
de Falla	La vida breve
Gershwin	Porgy and Bess
Gounod	Faust
	Romeo et Juliette
Leoncavallo	I Pagliacci
Mascagni	Cavalleria Rusticana
Mozart	Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail
	Don Giovanni
	Cosi fan tutte
	Le Nozze di Figaro
	Die Zauberflote
Offenbach	Les Contes d’Hoffmann
Puccini	La boheme
	Il trittico
	La Rondine
	Manon Lescaut
	Madama Butterfly
	Tosca
	Turandot
Rossini	Il barbiere di Siviglia
	La cenerentola
Saint-Saens	Samson et Dalila
Tchaikovsky	Eugene Onegin
Verdi	Aida
	Falstaff
	Macbeth
	Nabucco
	Rigoletto
	Otello
	La Traviata
	Il Trovatore
Wagner	Der Fliegende Hollander

Composer	Work
Bach, J.S.	Brandenburg Concerti
	Mass in b minor
	Violin Concerti
Barber	Adagio for Strings
	Overture to The School for Scandal
Bartok	Concerto for Orchestra
	Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste
Beethoven	Corolian Overture
	Choral Fantasy
	Christ on the Mount of Olives
	Missa Solemnis
	Symphonies 1-9
	Triple Concerto
	Leonora Overtures
	Egmont Overture
Bernstein	Candide Overture
Berlioz	Overture to Benvenuto Cellini
	Carnival Overture
	Harold in Italy
	Requiem
	Symphonie Fantastique
Bernstein	Overture to Candide
Brahms	Academic Festival Overture
	Violin Concerto
	Symphony 3 and 4
	Tragic Overture
	Ein Deutsches Requiem
	Variations on a Theme
Britten	Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes
	Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings
Bruch	Violin Concerto
Copland	Fanfare for the Common Man
	Rodeo
Debussy	Prelude a L’Apres-midi d’un Faun
	Nocturnes
	La Mer
Dvorak	Carnival Overture
	Cello Concerto
	Slavonic Dances
	Symphony No. 8
Grieg	Piano Concerto
	Peer Gynt
Handel	Concerti Grossi for Strings
Hanson	Symphony No. 2
Hindemith	Symphonic Metamorphosis
Holst	The Planets
Mendelssohn	Hebrides Overture
	Symphony Nos. 3 and 4>
	Violin Concerto
	Elijah
	Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage Overture
Messaien	Les Offrandes Oubliees
Mozart	Requiem
	Overtures to Cosi fan tutte, Die Zauberflote, and Le nozze di Figaro
	Horn Concerti
	Sinfonia Concertante
	Piano Concerti K 414, K 466, K 22
	Violin Concerti 2, 3, and 4
	Symphonies 35, 39, 40, 41
Mussorgsky	Pictures at an Exhibition
	Night on Bald Mountain
Orff	Carmina Burana
Poulenc	Stabat Mater
	Gloria
Prokofiev	Symphony Nos. 1 and 5
	Alexander Nevsky
Rachmaninoff	Symphonic Dances
Ravel	Daphnis et Chloe
	Bolero
Respighi	Pines of Rome
Rimsky-Korsakov	Capriccio Espagnol
Rossini	Overtures to La Gazza Ladra, Il barbiere di Siviglia, La scala di Seta, Semiramide, and The Siege of Corinth
Say	ViolinConcerto- 1,000 Nights in Harem
Saint-Saens	Piano Concerto No. 2
Schubert	Symphony No. 5
Shostakovich	Golden Age Suite
	Piano Concerto
Smetana	The Moldau
	Overture to The Bartered Bride
	Three Dances from The Bartered Bride
Stravinsky	Firebird
	Petrouchka
	The Rite of Spring
	Oedipus
	Persefone
J. Strauss	Overture to Die Fledermaus
	An Artist’s Life
	Radetsky March
	The Blue Danube
	Pizzicato Polka
	Thunder and Lightning
	Tales from the Vienna Woods
	Voices of Spring
R. Strauss	Til Eulenspiel
	Also Sprach Zarathustra
	Waltzes from Der Rosenkavalier
Tchaikovsky	Serenade for Strings
	Symphony 4 and 5
	Mozartiana
	Variations on a Rococo Theme
	Violin Concerto
Vaughan Williams	Fantasia on Theme by Thomas Tallis
	Antarctica Symphony
Verdi	Requiem
Wagner	Excerpts from Der Ring des Niebelungen
	Overture to Tannhauser, Die Fliegende Hollander, Rienzi, and Tristan und Isolde
Wolf-Ferrari	Overture to Il segreto di Susanna

James Meena, Opera Carolina’s General Director & Principal Conductor since 2000, consistently earns critical acclaim for his artistic vision and dynamic presence on the podium.  The breadth of his repertoire is captured in the works of Mozart, Beethoven, Puccini, Berlioz and Verdi, including to contemporary operas such as Carlisle Floyd’s Cold Sassy Tree and Victor Davies’ Transit of Venus, to full ballet productions and symphony concerts.

Equally experienced in opera, ballet and symphonic repertoire, Mo. Meena has held principal and resident conducting posts with the Cleveland/San Jose Ballet, the Toledo Symphony and Opera, as well as guest conducting appearances that include new productions of Pagliacci/Schicchi, Le nozze di Figaro and La traviata for L’Opera de Montreal, Nabucco, Les pêcheurs des perles, Macbeth, Turandot and Aida for Opera Carolina, symphonic concerts for the Korean Broadcasting System Symphony (a nationally televised Thanksgiving concert); performances of Stravinsky’s tour de force, Le Sacre du Printemps with the National Symphony Orchestra, R.O.C., concerts with the Cairo Symphony (Egypt) in the new Cairo Opera House, symphony concerts with the orchestra of the Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania, the Orchestra Regionale Toscana in Italy, plus Falstaff, Otello and Macbeth for Edmonton Opera and the premiere of Transit of Venus by the Canadian team of composer Victor Davies and librettist Maureen Hunter for Manitoba Opera, recorded for national broadcast on the CBC.  His performances of Faust, Eugene Onegin and Il Trovatore are captured on recording for NPR World of Opera.

Mo. Meena has appeared as guest conductor with orchestras and opera companies in the United States, Italy, Taipei, Korea, Canada and Mexico including the Mexico City Philharmonic, the Orchestra Regionale Toscana in Florence, The National Symphony, R.O.C., the Orchestra Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania, the KBS Symphony Orchestra, the Washington Opera, Opera Pacific, Portland Opera and the Utah Opera. In the operatic world, he has conducted legendary singers Mo. McCracken, Mignon Dunn, Marilyn Horne and Jerome Hines, as well as Diana Soviero, Renee Fleming, Denyce Graves, Jerry Hadley, Mark Delavan and Marcello Giordani.

Mo. Meena made his debut at his home company, Opera Carolina, conducting Roméo et Juliette, which was greeted with unanimous praise. The Charlotte Observer said he was, “…leading the Charlotte Symphony in a sure reading of Charles Gounod’s difficult score…the musicians sounded Thursday like they were working comfortably under Meena’s baton. The string section produced an unusually warm sound for a pit ensemble.”  Of another performance of Verdi’s Il trovatore, the same publication said, “…he is attentive every moment to the singer’s art, though not afraid to unleash the orchestra when appropriate… a firm hand at the musical helm.”

Mo. Meena’s Portland Opera performances of Verdi’s Falstaff were also greeted with acclaim. Opera Canada said, “Mo. Meena conducted this difficult and complex score with brilliance, clarity and precision, always supporting, never overwhelming the stage action.” Likewise, in his Sarasota Opera performances of Puccini’s La rondine, Opera magazine commented, “Mo. Meena conducted with keen affinity for the sheer beauty of the score…the orchestra realized Puccini’s transparent instrumentation with sensitivity and panache.”

In the twelve seasons since becoming General Director & Principal Conductor of Opera Carolina, Mo. Meena has demonstrated exceptional leadership, vision and finesse in the area of philanthropic giving, having expanded the Opera Carolina season from 3 to 4 main-stage productions, as well as adding an annual Gala Benefit Concert.  He expanded the Education touring company from 8 weeks in 1999 to 17 weeks, and in the face of government funding cutbacks, raised twice the requisite funding needed from the private sector.

Since 2000-01, the Opera Carolina has presented six regional premieres, including Cold Sassy Tree and Susannah by Carlisle Floyd, the company’s first productions of Der Rosenkavalier, Nabucco Macbeth and Les pêcheurs des perles, and the regional premiere of Richard Danielpour’s new American opera Margaret Garner starring Denyce Graves, in April 2006. Through Mr. Meena’s personal efforts, the Charlotte performances of Margaret Garner  were recorded and broadcast over National Public Radio’s World of Opera program. Since 2000, Opera Carolina’s budget has increased from $1.9 million to $3.5 million, and has posted positive fund balances in each of these years, with the exception of those immediately following 9/11.

James Meena is a native of Los Angeles, and a graduate of the Carnegie Mellon University and Baldwin Wallace College Conservatory of Music.  His principal conducting teachers included Thomas Mihalak (New Jersey Symphony), Robert Page (Cleveland Orchestra), Rudolph Fellner (Pittsburgh Opera), and Boris Halip (Bolshoi Ballet), with whom he also studied violin.  Mr. Meena has served as an Assistant Conductor to Andre Previn, Gunther Schuller, Michael Tilson Thomas, Anton Guadagno, and Anton Coppola. For several seasons, he was Associate Conductor of the Pittsburgh Opera, for which he made his operatic debut conducting Die Zauberflöte. He made his professional debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony conducting Haydn’s monumental oratorio The Creation. Mo. Meena was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award by his undergraduate alma mater in 1997 for his commitment to visionary excellence and growth of cultural institutions.