Next Opera Thursday is April 2nd!
- 13 hours ago
- 3 min read
at Villa Tronco Italian Restaurant featuring Ella Canney, soprano and Colin Cunningham, baritone with pianist, Moé Takamatsu.
Come and enjoy selections from Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, La Bohème, The Music Man, Kiss Me Kate, Guiditta, and much more!
Learn more about the performers
Ella Canney, soprano
Soprano Ella Canney is a junior Vocal Performance major at the University of South Carolina, where she studies with esteemed mezzo-soprano Rachel Calloway.
Ella is a two-time winner of the USC Vocal Arts Honors Recital and a recipient of the Columbia Music Clubs Scholarship Fund Competition. She is also a winner of the 2026 USC Concerto-Aria competition. She has appeared in multiple productions with Opera at USC—most recently as Anna Gomez in Menotti’s The Consul and La Ciesca in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi.Â
Her summer experiences include participating in the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, Summer Performing Arts with Juilliard, Opera Lucca in Italy, and the USC Castleton Immersion Program. This summer, Ella will attend the Chautauqua Opera Conservatory, where she will cover the roles of First Lady in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and Lia in Debussy’s L’enfant prodigue.
Colin Cunningham, baritoneÂ
Colin Cunningham, from Pawleys Island, South Carolina, is a junior pursuing a degree in Vocal Arts at the University of South Carolina. He studies with Professor Jacob Will and currently performs with Opera at USC. Colin has performed the roles of Henry in Kurt Weill’s Street Scene, Il Commendatore and Leporello in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, the Father in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, and Dr. Gibbs in Ned Rorem’s Our Town, and John Sorel in Menotti’s The Consul. Colin has also performed in venues such as Carnegie Hall in New York City, the Musikverein in Vienna, and Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.
Moé Takamatsu, pianist
Moé Takamatsu is a pianist from Okayama Prefecture, Japan, praised for her sensitivity and virtuosity. Her career has been marked by distinctions that reflect her excellence and expressiveness. In 2015, she was awarded first prize at the Okayama Piano Competition.
In 2020, her performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 resonated with the majesty of the Okayama Philharmonic Orchestra. More recently, in 2023, she was awarded second prize at the 7th Great Composers Competition in the category of Best Interpretation of Liszt. She also became the winner of the 2023–24 Concerto Competition at the University of Rhode Island. In 2024, she was awarded the prestigious Chaminade Club Scholarship in recognition of her outstanding achievements.
Moé Takamatsu completed her studies at the Tokyo College of Music, where she studied on scholarship with Junko Inada, Miyuki Goto, Yuko Niiya, and Yukari Honda, earning her Bachelor’s degree in 2022. She recently graduated with a Master of Music from the University of Rhode Island, studying under Dr. Manabu Takasawa. She is currently studying at University of South Carolina with Professor Phillip Bush.
Since 2022, Moé has been the co-founder of the Hashi Duo alongside Costa Rican guitarist Adrián Montero. Together, they have performed in prestigious venues across the United States, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Japan, and Colombia.
Opera Thursday was created to entertain lifelong aficionados and introduce new listeners to the beauty of opera. Join us each month at Villa Tronco for an unforgettable evening of fine dining, lively company, and captivating performances of arias and Broadway favorites by Midlands-area opera singers.
Dinner begins at 6:00 PM. The performance is at 7:00 PM.
Reservations are required.
To reserve your table, please call Villa Tronco at 803-256-7677.
