JOSEPH WRIGHT
JOSEPH WRIGHT and I first met on the stage of the SJSU Concert Hall in 1996 and became “Friends at First Sight.” It was a friendship that blossomed into an artistic partnership and a life-brotherhood.
Here is the text of JOSEPH‘S legendary Best Man Toast at our wedding:
“Good evening beloved family, treasured and honored guests. Thank you for your attention.
I am JOSEPH WRIGHT, Adam’s Best Man, longtime friend and fellow opera singer.
I’d like to thank Dr & Mrs Takesono Mr & Mrs. Flowers and all who have made today such a joyous occasion, Thank you Adam & Nicole for honoring me with the privilege of making the best man speech.
Adam and I met 9 years ago while students at San Jose State University. We were both enrolled in music classes, but, more often than not, could be found in the student union “Studying.” Our study sessions consisted of deep, philosophical discussions, or the latest episode of the Simpsons. But there was always plenty of coffee and fellowship.
After college, we both began our careers at Opera San Jose and have shared the stage in over 20 productions. Onstage we’ve been everything from fierce rivals to faithful comrades; royal brothers to gypsy bandits.. But of all the roles to date, being your friend remains the highlight.
Adam, you have certainly come a long way since those first days when you had a developing crush on a certain Page Boy in the 2001 production of Rigoletto. Little did you know it then, but that cute girl in britches would become the woman you’d want to commit your life to today.
In addition to their passion for music, Adam and Nicole enjoy taking hikes together. It was about this time last year that one of their hikes led them to the top of Angel Island where Adam proposed.
Love and respect has brought Adam and Nicole to the beginning of their shared life’s journey. All of their unique individual experiences will now guide their future path together.
The path on a trail is, in many ways, a perfect metaphor for a relationship. You start seeking a little fun and adventure. Along the way there is rough terrain and unforeseen obstacles. There are times when it would be easier to turn back, but the decision to press onward can lead to untold pleasures worth enduring that challenge; side by side you discover more than you ever could before that difficult climb.
At times, one may need to move ahead and lead the way. We may stumble and need to support each other to find stable ground again. That was the case on the Flowers Family Tahoe Tour of 2001. Adam invited me on their annual Summer trek to the Lake.
On the 2nd day of a week long trip, we went for a hike to Fallen Leaf Lake. Just after reaching our destination, I severely sprained my ankle. Without hesitation, Adam supported my weight as we climbed the 4 miles back to our car.
This is just one of many recollections I have of Adam’s loyal and faithful friendship.
Nicole, I know that these qualities, in addition to his love of family and wacky sense of humor, are what brought you to commit your life to him today.
So now, let us lift a glass to Adam and Nicole and toast to their commitment to journey together as Husband & Wife.
In closing, may you walk hand in hand with love & respect along the way to a lifetime of great happiness & fulfillment.
May the ins and outs and the ups and downs of your marriage occur only in the bedroom!”
— 17 July 2004
Napa, California
Even though we are miles apart and the years have taken us down ever-diverging paths, I will always hold JOSEPH in my heart as my brother and my Best Man.
JOSEPH RAYMOND MEYERS
JOE and I first met as singing waiters at Max’s Opera Cafe in Palo Alto in 1996. He also attended SJSU, but before me. JOE also performed at OPERA SAN JOSÉ many times before I was at the company, starting in the late 1980s. At OSJ, we performed in five productions together between 2001 and 2006.
Through a shared love of Opera, Jerry Lewis, Comedy, and the Golden Age of Hollywood, we quickly bonded while in the trenches of waiting tables at Max’s and the friendship of a lifetime was born. Ever since our meeting in the mid-’90s, JOE has been a part of every major milestone in my life and has helped buoy and support me during some of my life’s greatest challenges. He is another gift that Opera and OSJ have given me.
JESSE MERLIN
JESSE and I met in the September 2000 OSJ production of EUGENE ONEGIN and became fast friends. We appeared in 17 production for the company and JESSE was an usher at my wedding in July of 2004. We have remained friends and I follow his success on the stage and on the Big and Small Screens with great delight. JESSE was a good and loyal friend to me during one of the most difficult times in my life and I feel fortunate to call him a colleague and a friend.
IRENE DALIS
In August of 1996 I was two semesters shy of a double major in Journalism and Improvised Music Studies at San José State University when I realized I needed an additional Music elective to complete my degree. I auditioned for the SJSU Opera Workshop Program and almost immediately my life completely changed.
At the time, the SJSU Scenes Program was the brainchild of internationally-acclaimed mezzo-soprano and Opera impresaria IRENE DALIS. After a successful and storied career, she returned to her hometown and started the Scenes Program at her alma mater and that in turn birthed OPERA SAN JOSÉ.
I didn’t really know who she was, but I could tell that she was someone. She exuded confidence, authority, and dynamism. I sang the famous aria Vesti la giubba… from Leoncavallo’s I PAGLIACCI because no one had told me it was difficult. After my audition, she shouted out from her seat in the concert hall, “Who are you?!”
I replied sheepishly, “Ma’am, my name is Adam Flowers and I am a Journalism major.”
MS. DALIS shot back, “No you are not! You are an Opera singer! You are a musician!” and despite not really knowing who this pint-sized tornado of a woman was, I believed her. For the first time in my life, in that moment, I finally accepted my destiny, all because this woman had the authority to make me believe in myself.
She offered me a scholarship in her late husband’s name to cover tuition and fees if I agreed to switch majors to a Bachelor of Music in Voice, which I did, and I never looked back.
IRENE DALIS became my most ardent and supportive champion. Her generosity of spirit, support and opportunity is almost single-handedly responsible for my life as a working musician and teaching artist. She was tough, had high expectations, and was an unrelenting task master, but her loyalty and passion for young singers was a true force of nature. I can’t imagine my life without her influence and support.
BARBARA BARRETT
BARBARA BARRETT was so many things: she was a lover of gourmet food and drink; an aficionado of great voices singing great music; a rabid fan of SF Giants baseball and Stanford Athletics; an adventurous devotee of fine art and cosmopolitan travel; an early adopter of computer technology well before many of her generation (and mine for that matter); an insightful and supportive artistic administrator; and—more than all that—she was my friend.
BARBARA was the first person of my parents’ or grandparents’ generation who treated me like an equal. In my early 20s, most of the people I knew over the age of 50 where either family or friends of family, teachers, or employers. BARBARA never condescended and her wide knowledge and mischievous charm won me over at once. I have so many fond memories of delightful dinners at her home on Morse Avenue off The Alameda (and she would let me stay after dinner and play MYST on her computer). The 1997 New Years Eve party at the house on Morse was one for the ages!
I helped her move twice, and one time in 1999 she gave me her entire collection of LPs as a thank you. I now possess over 100 of her Opera, Symphonic, and Jazz LPs, many still with the original price tags on them from as far back as the late 1950s.
BARBARA patiently helped me navigate the logistics of the workaday side of the Opera world, a world in which I was a very slow-witted fish-out-of-water. That professional relationship blossomed into a friendship that added greatly to the quality of my life.
As we approach the start of the baseball season, I will miss our talks about the Giants farm system or the latest addition to the roster. When the middle of May arrives, the traditional time of year that OPERA SAN JOSÉ had its old Operafest fundraiser, I’ll see in my mind’s eye the Negroni in your hand as you wink at me from across the ballroom of Napredak Hall. I’ll miss our al fresco brunches with KITTY SPAULDING and lunchtime visits with BETTY POINDEXTER. I will think of you the next time I hear a new great voice and I’ll need to remind myself that I can’t tell you about them.
When I last saw you two weeks ago, I could see that the veil between this world and the next world was very thin for you, but then you’d drop a patented Bebar bon mot and my heart sang.
I shall miss you, I shall miss you, I shall miss you very much indeed.
AIMÉE PUENTES
I first heard AIMÉE sing in a rehearsal at OPERA SAN JOSÉ in January of 2000 and then shortly thereafter discovered her mischievous wit, kind support and shimmering talent. Together we performed in at least 20 productions together over the years, including CARMEN and L’ELISIR D’AMORE in 2000, FALSTAFF where we were paired as Nannetta and Fenton and COSI FAN TUTTE in 2001, and LE NOZZE DI FIGARO in 2004 all for OSJ.
In September of 2007 she was Musetta and I was Rodolfo in a production of LA BOHEME for OPERA IDAHO where we lived in a house with two other cast mates for a month. I came to treasure our “family meals” at the homestay dinner table, games of pool in the game room, or watching episodes of Ken Burns’ “The War” after a long day of rehearsals.
We logged countless miles carpooling to dozens of outreach performances and school shows, all the while telling stories and sharing our thoughts and hopes.
I will never forget how kind she and her father were to me during the Summer 2000 Monterey Jazz Festival when they gave me the backstage treatment. I still think of that experience often.
I also remember a February 2001 night when I went to see AIMÉE in a production of TARTUFFE at WEST BAY OPERA where she stole the show.
I find it impossible to believe that I won’t see AIMÉE make a face or raise an eyebrow across the room at an SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY rehearsal or watch her teach the students at a PACIFIC SINGERS & ACTORS WORKSHOP class.
AIMÉE‘S voice continues to ring out. It vibrates in my ears and in my head and it bounces amongst the stars. Life will never be the same for the rest of us without her.
DAVID COX
Baritone DAVID COX was one of the first four original resident artists at OPERA SAN JOSÉ in the 1980s. A native of Santa Cruz, DAVID was a consummate singing-performer. He was a big man whose physical presence belied a graceful athleticism that imbued his performances with a magnetic charm.
I knew of DAVID because I walked by his headshot on the “Wall of Fame” of current and former Principal Resident Artists in the foyer of OPERA SAN JOSÉ’S headquarters and knew many people who’d worked with him.
I first met DAVID in August of 2000 on the first day of staging rehearsals for OSJ’s production of Tchaikovsky’s EUGENE ONEGIN. He was making his directorial debut for his former artistic home. Over the course of the production I came to respect DAVID’s talent, but I also grew to really like this booming, bear-like man with the grace of a dancer. His friends called him “Bear,” and I was lucky to be counted in that fortunate group.
In September of 2001 DAVID and I appeared onstage together for the first time in OSJ’s FALSTAFF; he in the titular role and I as the lovelorn Fenton. DAVID went on to direct me in four more productions during my residency at OSJ; FAUST, PEARL FISHERS, CARMEN, and LA BOHEME, and we appeared onstage together one final time — DAVID as Antonio the Gardener and I as Don Basilio in the September 2004 production of LE NOZZE DI FIGARO that ushered in the CALIFORNIA THEATRE era at OSJ.
During my collaboration with DAVID at OPERA SAN JOSÉ, we became close colleagues, but it was after my time at OSJ that our mutual admiration and affection blossomed into an offstage friendship. In May of 2006 Nicole and I moved from San José to the westside of San Francisco, less than a mile from the home of DAVID and his wife Susan. When I made my directorial debut for TRINITY LYRIC OPERA‘S West Coast premiere production of PILGRIM’S PROGRESS in June of 2006, I picked DAVID’s brain about stage direction in general but directing one’s self specifically. He gave me invaluable advice.
In September 2007, DAVID and I travelled together to Boise, Idaho for OPERA IDAHO‘S LA BOHEME in which I was cast as Rodolfo and which he directed. We were also reunited with former OSJ resident artists JASON DETWILER as Marcello & BARBARA DIVIS as Mimi; former OSJ guest artist AIMEE PUENTES, and former OSJ Music Director DR. DAVID ROHRBAUGH conducting. It was in Boise that our friendship truly solidified.
DAVID brought me in at the last minute to fill in for a Pang who suddenly withdrew in TURANDOT for FESTIVAL OPERA in June of 2009 (This is also the production where I became friends with future OSJ Music Director JOSEPH MARCHESO.) It was around this time that we got in the habit of meeting monthly for coffee alternating at DAVID’s favorite coffeehouse, ALVIN’S SCRUMPTIOUS COFFEES AND TEAS on Irving Street across from the 18th Avenue SF Public Library, and HENRY’S HOUSE OF COFFEE on Noriega Avenue at 23rd Avenue. It was a ritual we kept up to the best of our ability until DAVID tragically passed away from a brain tumor in December of 2014.
I have so many fond of memories of DAVID onstage and off. DAVID and Susan always invited us to their legendary holiday parties each December which always featured a tour of his latest acquisitions in his well-provisioned wine cellar. I will also never forget going to SF Giants games with DAVID, including the May 2013 game where Angel Pagan hit a walk-off inside-the-park home run.
I still find myself wanting to call DAVID about something or other and then remembering he is gone. I treasure his memory and I will ever be grateful to OPERA SAN JOSÉ for bringing us together.
LEA FREY
Whenever OPERA SAN JOSÉ mounted an Opera production in either French or German, LEA FREY volunteered as a diction and language coach for us performers. She taught German and French at Fisher Middle School in her hometown of Los Gatos, California for 25 years. LEA helped me immensely with my diction and became a kind and reliable supporter and friend.
LEA frequently invited me to her home in Los Gatos to have dinner with her and her husband BILL and their rotating cast of interesting friends. She also introduced me to her longtime friend, legendary operatic tenor JERRY HADLEY. We had a wonderful dinner at LEA and BILL‘S and JERRY and I talked for hours, mostly about Jerry Lewis, slapstick comedy, and not about Opera at all.
Thanks to LEA, I was also invited to dinner at her house with her and BILL when BILL‘S childhood friend and Jazz titan, bassist RAY BROWN was staying with them for the weekend while he was in town to perform at KUUMBWA JAZZ CENTER in nearby Santa Cruz. It was a night I will never forget.
Over the years, LEA and I bonded over our love of Jacques Brel, Jacques Tatí, Fritz Wunderlich, and Rainer Maria Rilke. In the months before my first time traveling to France, she met with Nicole and I weekly to review our traveller’s French. After I finished my time at OSJ in 2006, she continued to keep track of my career and personal developments. She was a bright, shining light and was an exemplar of the army of dedicated volunteers who make the Performing Arts possible.
JEANNE MCCANN
“MAMMA” JEANNE MCCANN is an incredible woman. Shaker Art expert, lover of the Performing Arts, and Opera fanatic, JEANNE, along with her husband JACK MCCANN, are ardent donors, volunteers, and supporters of OPERA SAN JOSÉ. They funded my Artist Residency from 2003 until my departure in 2006. I came to know and love the MCCANNS and stayed in touch with “MAMMA” JEANNE after JACK’S death in May of 2007.
People like “MAMMA” JEANNE MCCANN are the lifeblood of the Performing Arts. Without their dedication and passion for the Arts and artists, our art would be silenced.
In April of 2024, I had the rare privilege of celebrating “MAMMA” JEANNE’S 100th birthday with dozens of other celebrants at the OSJ offices. She is beloved of me and her legacy will never dim.
NICOLE TAKESONO
Mezzo-soprano NICOLE TAKESONO and I first met in OSJ‘s November 2000 production of L’ELISIR D’AMORE. During the following production of RIGOLETTO at OSJ in February of 2001, I was Borsa and NICOLE was the Page. We began dating during this production. We were in several more OSJ operas together, culminating in OSJ’s April 2004 DIE FLEDERMAUS where NICOLE performed the role of Ida and I was Gabriel Eisenstein. We were married in Napa two months later with several of our OSJ colleagues in attendance, including my Best Man, resident artist JOSEPH WRIGHT.
SEPTEMBER 2023