We're capable, mature, and our services will make you purr......
OLD CATS ENTERPRISES
OLD CATS ENTERPRISES
Telephone:(845) 489-1291
(your call will be returned within the hour.)
About us:
(To enlarge images, left click.)
Jonquil and I are 3 years apart in age. Going on 18, I'm the older one. Jonquil interloped--well, became part of the family when I was about 3. So, go ahead and ask how old he is, so I can be sarcatstic. Please...
Portrait of Juniper & Jonquil by RS
...Oh, it is really our humans you wish to know about? Well, excuse me...
Richard's start in the performing arts came early in San Francisco as a fan bearer in scenes from Aida for a touring opera company run by his parents, Siegfried Sonnenschein and Rebecca Radcliffe Sonnenschein. Suzanne Sonnenschein, his twin appeared as a peasant girl in scenes from Cavalleria Rusticana during the shows. Then there was his time as youngest member of the San Francisco Boys Chorus under the direction of Madi Bacon, followed by a run as a soloist, along with his sister, with the Kinderchor (aka Kinderfunkchor) des Bayerischen Rundfunks. The Betthupferl (hop into bed) program, a lullaby-and-sleep-tight-oriented show broadcast throughout Bavaria is the one in which Suzanne and Richard were most often heard. Kurt BrÜggemann was Director/Conductor at the time.
Jetzt Fangen Wir Zum Singen An.(Now we start singing) Advent to Epiphany.
Kinderchor des Bayerischen Rundfunks 1965
Richard and Holly became friends in 1972 while working summer stock in New Hampshire with the famed New London Barn Players when Norman Ledger was producer.
To enlarge images, simply left-click them.
Richard co-produced and managed with his mother, Rebecca Sonnenschein Radcliffe the Seattle Music Theatre in 1973, reopening the long dyfunct Moore Theatre; and the Mississippi Valley Opera Company 1975 Opera Festival at the Missouri Baptist College in St. Louis (Creve Coeur), Missouri.
Below: Maria Di Giglio as Suor Angelica in the 1975 Festival
Right: Brian Donohue, Carol Toscano, Donald Nevins, Grant Southard, Paul Barrientos in Festival '75's The Spanish Hour.
The festival was critiqued by Frank Peters of the St. Louis Post Dispatch as "the best opera we've heard in a decade of attempts to revive it in St.Louis since the Metropolitan Opera stopped touring here. This festival has established new standards for the lyric stage in St. Louis. "
In 1979, Albert Kay Concert Artist Management had Richard join the Israel National Opera Company as a principal baritone. He performed many times in repertory and on tour the roles of Schaunard, Morales, Fiorello, Baron Douphol, Dr. Grenville, Yamadori and Monterone, in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa; and delighted in sharing stages with wonderful singers, among them Kathryn Minicozzi, Neyde Thomas, Esther Baumvel and Rio Novello. "His performance was exceptional in every way" wrote Massachusetts Berkshire Eagle critic Amy Hill several years later of his Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha performed two seasons with Berkshire Center for the Performing Arts. Mary Ward (below) and Nancy Oehmich performed Aldonza. The production was honored to have Carola Goya and Matteo on castanets.
Richard with Mary Ward in Man of La Mancha
Richard with Esther Baumvel in Carmen
Stunts and double for John Cassavetes in Brass Target
A few years of singing, acting on stage and in films including DasTausendunderste Jahr (Eberhart Itzenplitz, Director), and producing, here in the U.S. and abroad, in Germany and Switzerland, brought him to Poughkeepsie, where he for some years shared with Holly the privilege of being House Fellows in Cushing House at VassarCollege.
Brass Target: It was a long way down.
To enlarge images, left-click them.
Mikael in Rasputin am Zarenhof:Bloody!
Richard lectured in classroom and provided behind-the-wheel instruction throughout Dutchess, Ulster and Putnam counties for high school driver education programs administered by Ulster County Community College, Our Lady of Lourdes and John Coleman High Schools, from 2002-2011...
He was seen as General Benjamin Lincoln in the the History Channel /Partisan Pictures documentary, "The Revolution," and in the background (a place he finds it hard to stay in) of scenes for Peace, Love & Misunderstanding, a film shot right here in the Hudson Valley. More recently he worked on a wonderful e-book with Ramiro P. Austin on Mexico City.
Richard is also delighted and honored to be working with Mike Fraticelli on his
documentary now seven years in the making. Mike struggles to finish it while
facing a perplexing lack of interest in it from scholars and funding institutions
alike.
Need a voice over? Richard may be able to help!
Holly, pictured on right in the 1984 Theatre International brochure, and who has shared in this and other theatre-related adventures with Richard.
Television shows come and go:
VOICE SAMPLE
Now retired, Holly lectured for thirty years in fashion history and costume design, and designed the costumes for a great number and variety of plays and musicals. She also created the Vassar College Costume Collection that consists primarily of clothing worn from 1860-1960.
Dissertation after the blast in 8 seconds.
VOICE SAMPLE
For in-depth information about the collection: http://vcomeka.com/vccc
"Fashion and Fashion Plates." The June, 2014
Vassar Costume Collection Exhibit.
To enlarge images, left-click them.
Holly continues to work on exhibitions of the Vassar Collection and in costume design. The annual exhibition is always beautiful. It must be seen.
In 2011, she designed the costumes for Richard Wilson's innumerably-faceted jewel of an opera, "Aethelred The Unready," the first fully-staged production of which was presented at Vassar College and Symphony Space in Manhattan.
Most recently, Holly designed costumes for the HALFMOON THEATRE'S 2017 production of Yours, Anne.
The Poughkeepsie Anti-Slavery Singers have also taken Holly aboard as their costumer, and she has assisted the VP Dance Academy of Fishkill, New York with costumes for their spectacular 2014 recital.
Working together with Candace Schuster, she contributed her expertise to some historic exhibits at the beautiful Locust Grove Samuel Morse Estate on Route 9 in Poughkeepsie, New York.
To enlarge images, left-click them.
Winter/Spring exhibition by Candace and Holly for the Locust Grove Samuel Morse Estate.
(845) 489-1291
Do you need pet sitters in Poughkeepsie, New York (near Vassar College)? Give Holly and Richard a call!
We're capable, mature,and our services will make you purr.
