ANN ARBOR FESTIVAL OF SONG PRESENTS THE TWENTY-SIXTH ANNUAL WEEK AFTER ART FAIR SONG FEST TUESDAY-FRIDAY, JULY 23-26, 2019 KERRYTOWN CONCERT HOUSE, ANN ARBOR OUR 25TH ANNIVERSARY
TUESDAY, JULY 23, 8:00PM THURSDAY, JULY 25, 8:00PM LIZ PEARSE, PERFORMER SEX, DRUGS, AND OPERA SCENES
FRIDAY, JULY 26 8:00PM
CABARET SCHMABARET WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 8:00PM Herz, Schmerz/Toujours L’amour
2019 ARTISTS Key to abbreviations: BGSU = Bowling Green State Univ; EMU = Eastern Michigan Univ; MOT= Michigan Opera Theatre; UM = Univ of Michigan
Pianist KEVIN BYLSMA‘s work has taken him in recent years to Venice, Paris, Romania, Eastern Europe, New York City, Boston, Los Angeles, and Thailand. Recent collaborations include recitals with Jennifer Rowley, Irina Mishura, Michelle DeYoung, and Kathryn Lewek, and accompanying masterclasses of Samuel Ramey, Dianne Soviero, and Marilyn Horne. His music directing and coaching credits include Ann Baltz' OperaWorks in Los Angeles, Toledo Opera, MOT, OPERA!Lenawee, Papagena Opera Company, and the UM. Currently serving as Head of Music Preparation at Toledo Opera, and Lecturer of Opera at the College of Musical Arts at BGSU, Kevin has also served the Toledo, Adrian, and Greater Lansing Symphony Orchestras as keyboardist, and since 1993 has been associate organist at Mariners' Church of Detroit.
CHRISTINE AMON, MEZZO-SOPRANO, a Grand Rapids native, has performed in recent seasons with Opera Carolina, Nashville Opera, Opera Memphis, Toledo Opera, Opera Louisiane, Union Avenue Opera, and Opera Grand Rapids. In 2018 she was a finalist in the Lotte Lenya Competition hosted by the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music. She is a voice instructor in the Grand Rapids area. She also has been a member of the professional choir at the historic Mariners’ Church of Detroit. She holds degrees from Grand Valley State University and BGSU, and will be beginning her doctoral studies at the UM this fall.
GREGORY ASHE, TENOR, Is a native of Huber Heights, and earned his BME and MM degrees from BGSU. Opera credits include Sportin’ Life in Porgy and Bess: Redux at Cincinnati Opera’s YAP, Arias in Motion at OperaWorks in LA, French Soldier #3 and The Deputy in MOT’s production of The Grapes of Wrath, and in Italy he played Herbie Jenkins in the world premiere opera Buffalo Soldier. Other credits include solos and ensemble work with MOT, Rackham Choir, Dayton Opera, Toledo Opera, Masterworks Chorale, Toledo Choral Society, and Kirk in the Hills in Bloomfield Hills. He resides in Sterling Heights, Michigan.
EMILY BENNER, SOPRANO, has performed roles with MOT and Toledo Opera, and in concert with the Detroit and Toledo Symphonies. Other credits include Toledo Symphony and Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra. She is the recipient of numerous awards, and was a regional finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. A graduate of the UM, she maintains connections with the Phoenix Ensemble, Brave New Works, The Ann Arbor Festival of Song, Michigan Opera Works, and Vox Early Music Ensemble. She is currently on the faculty of EMU, and is a longtime member of the professional choir at the historic Mariners’ Church of Detroit.
CLAIRE CHARDON, SOPRANO, a Michigan native, has established herself as a versatile artist on the operatic, musical theater, and concert stage. Some recent highlights include appearances with Michigan Opera Theater, performing the role of Despina in Mozart’s Così fan tutte with the Bay View Music Festival, and singing as the soprano soloist in Fauré’s Requiem. In addition, Claire has sung the roles of Clara in Light in the Piazza, Adele in Die Fledermaus, and Valencienne in The Merry Widow. Claire earned her Bachelor of Music degree from Grand Valley State University and her Master’s degree from BGSU, and sings weekly at the historic Mariners’ Church of Detroit.
KAREN COOK, SOPRANO, is a choral music specialist, and currently sings with Audivi, sounding light, Detroit Concert Choir, Detroit Chamber Choir, LancasterChorale, Taylor Festival Choir, Tennessee Chamber Chorus, the Oregon Bach Festival, historic Mariners’ Church of Detroit, Toledo Opera Chorus, and Knoxville Opera Chorus. She has been a soloist in McGlynn’s Celtic Mass, Mozart’s Vesperae solennes de confessore, Handel’s Messiah, Schubert’s Mass in G, and Bach’s Magnificat. This summer Ms. Cook will debut with the Baroque on Beaver festival as a soloist in Mozart’s Requiem, and this fall she will join British ensemble Voces8 as a member of their US Scholars Programme.
MATTHEW COOK, PHD, TENOR, is Assistant Professor of Historic Preservation and Cultural Geography at Eastern Michigan University, where he is also working on a Second Bachelors (technically his third; he may have an academia addiction…) in Music. Although he has been a musician for as long as he can remember, he earned his MS and PhD in Geography from the University of Tennessee. He’s quite certain that singing kept him from losing his sanity during this period! Cook regularly sings with EMU Choir, Detroit Concert Choir, and the historic Mariners’ Church of Detroit. He is thrilled to make his debut with the Ann Arbor Festival of Song!
JASON DUIKA, BARITONE: Last fall Jason sang his first Marcello in La Bohème with West Bay Opera (CA) where the reviews said, “Jason Duika sang with glorious round tone, and unimpeachable legato.” In his most recent portrayal of Hérode in Massenet’s Hérodiade, with New Amsterdam Opera, John Yohalem noted, “Jason Duika has a sizable and remarkably lofty baritone, which should serve him well for Verdi roles - he topped ‘Vision fugitive’ with an A-flat. And yet his delivery seemed effortless, lyric, a melting, manly sound.” Jason will sing the title role in his first Nabucco this October with West Bay Opera.
MONICA ELY, SOPRANO, from Mobile, Alabama, completed the Summer Vocology Institute at the University of Utah with the National Center of Voice and Speech, and she sings professionally in several local and regional choirs as a chorister and soloist, including the historic Mariners’ Church of Detroit. She teaches applied voice at a large SE Michigan high school. Mrs. Ely made her debut in 2014 as the soloist in the Ludolph Arens Mass, and in 2017 she was the soloist in Bach’s Ascension Oratorio with the Detroit Concert Choir and the Michigan Sinfonietta.
JOHN GLANN, BARITONE, has performed over forty leading roles in opera and musical theatre. He recently gave the world premiere of composer Patrick Michael Wickham's Songs of Death and Taxes with the Lecoq Ensemble in Paris, which should be released on recording this fall. John studied at BGSU and Indiana University, and maintains a private teaching studio in New York City. Congratulations to Jane and Kevin for twenty-five great years of song!
JENNIFER GOLTZ, SOPRANO, specializes in new chamber music, opera, and cabaret. Her reputation for interpretive sensitivity, vocal virtuosity, and musical precision has inspired dozens of composers to write for her. Her collaboration with composer-pianist Logan Skelton spans two decades, two continents, and numerous song cycles. She is a founding member of the new music ensemble Brave New Works and has appeared with Milwaukee-based Present Music. She recorded the role of the god Pan in Kamran Ince’s opera Judgment of Midas for Naxos; she can also be heard on Albany, Centaur, MSR Classics, AMP, and Blue Griffin Records.
KO KAIDEN, BARITONE: A native of Kamakura, Japan, Ko began his professional music career as an oboist, playing with symphony orchestras in Japan. Upon moving to New York in 1990 he expanded his excellent woodwind skills by becoming a woodwind doubler in Broadway productions. Inspired by a recording of acclaimed tenor José Carreras and pianist Martin Katz, an experience he describes as life-changing, he began his vocal training with a goal of professional singing. He soon became a sought-after performer and has been praised for his “musical sensitivity” and his “intelligence in the delivery of text” by Francisco Casanova, Metropolitan Opera.
HILLARY LABONTE, MEZZO-SOPRANO is committed to performing and producing exciting new opera. Most recently, Hillary sang Polyxo in Kate Soper’s Here Be Sirens and the title role in Kaija Saariaho’s Émilie. Last year she sang the world premiere of Sean Doyle’s Tenebrae with the BGSU New Music Ensemble and appeared as Dorabella in Mozart’s Così fan tutte. She is one half of Duo Rossignol, a voice/flute ensemble with Dr. Mary Matthews. Hillary holds degrees from the Peabody Institute and Baldwin Wallace University. Currently, Hillary is completing her Doctorate in Contemporary Music Performance at BGSU. Learn more at www.hillarylabonte.com.
MICKEY MILLER, SOPRANO, specializes in contemporary works across a spectrum of operatic, choral, and chamber settings. Last year, she performed Soper’s Here Be Sirens, Reich’s Tehillim, Stephenson’s Symphony No. 2, Haber’s Scene X: The Voice Imitator, and Constantidines’ Rosanna in recital at Carnegie Hall. Notable operatic roles include Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Abigail Williams (The Crucible), and Anne Truelove (The Rake’s Progress). Miller holds degrees from Louisiana State University, University of Missouri-Columbia, and iscurrently pursuing her Doctorate in Contemporary Music at BGSU. She can be seen this fall in Mackey’s Places we can no longer go.
JOHN MINK, BASS-BARITONE, earned his MM in voice at BGSU, and a bachelor’s in music business from Mansfield State University of Pennsylvania. Opera and musical theatre credits include Alfio (Cavalleria Rusticana), Uncle Billy (The Outcasts of Poker Flats), Grandpa Moss (The Tender Land), the Sergeant of Police (The Pirates of Penzance), the title role in Pasatieri’s Signor Deluso, Claude Frollo (The Hunchback of Notre Dame), Joe Hardy (Damn Yankees), Adam (The Apple Tree), Bobby (Company) and the title role in Sweeney Todd. John is a section leader in the Toledo Opera chorus, and sings with the professional choir at the historic Mariners’ Church of Detroit.
LIZ PEARSE, SPECIAL GUEST PERFORMER, is a musician of many pursuits, having began her exploration of the endless possibilities of the voice after a childhood spent playing any instrument she could lay hands upon. Though she is known as a specialist in contemporary vocal repertoire, she also deeply enjoys a well-aged song. She has recently begun a long-term project commissioning and performing works for singer at the piano. Liz is one-fourth of Quince Ensemble, a treble-voice quartet dedicated to "charting bold new directions in vocal chamber music" (John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune). Their fourth studio album, David Lang’s love fail, is in the can and will be released later this year. www.lizpearse.com/
BRETT POND, BARITONE, is from Danbury, Connecticut and is excited to be performing for the 2019 Art Fair Song Fest. While pursuing his MM in vocal performance from BGSU in 2017, Mr. Pond performed the roles of Don Alhambra (The Gondoliers) and Henry (Street Scene) with BGSU Opera and Il Commissario (Madama Butterfly) and Crony 2 (Ballad of Baby Doe) with Toledo Opera. Mr Pond was recently a member of the MOT Chorus in their productions of Rigoletto and Eugene Onegin, and was a member of the Toledo Opera Chorus in their production of Carmen.
DEANNA RELYEA, MEZZO-SOPRANO, has performed the major oratorio repertoire with choral societies and symphony orchestras in the Great Lakes Region and Canada. She has appeared with the Ann Arbor Symphony in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony (with her brother, Gary), Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, and the Verdi Requiem. Performances on concert series’ and festivals include Ann Arbor SpringFest chamber music festival, and Kerrytown Concert House’s WolfFest, where she partnered with pianist Martin Katz. She appears also as a cabaret artist on concert series, with symphony orchestras, and in theatre and musical theatre productions. Ms. Relyea is Founder/Director of Ann Arbor’s Kerrytown Concert House, and a member of the professional choir at the historic Mariners’ Church of Detroit.
JANE SCHOONMAKER RODGERS, nominally a SOPRANO, teaches voice and graduate courses at BGSU. Her performing, recording, and directing credits include organizations on both sides of the Atlantic. Recent stage-directing includes BGSU’s productions of Così fan tutte, The Pirates of Penzance, Pasatieri’s Signor Deluso, her own adaptation of Offenbach’s The Lantern Wedding, and next spring Il Matrimonio Segreto. This summer she made her debut as 3rd Horn with the Ann Arbor Civic Band, and she continues weekly in the professional choir at the historic Mariners’ Church of Detroit, as she has since 1994.
CHRISTOPHER SCHOLL, TENOR, sang for 20 years in Europe, in opera, oratorio and recitals, in cities such as Munich, Mannheim, Kiel, Leipzig, Paris, Marseilles and Trieste. He joined the faculty of the College of Musical Arts at BGSU in 1997. Recent credits include recitals at BGSU, in Toledo, Ithaca, NY, DeKalb, IL, Saint Peter, MN, Baltimore, MD, and Bangkok, Thailand; Messiah with Toledo Symphony; Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Detroit Civic Orchestra; Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin in Amarillo, TX; Greenbriar Chamber Music Series (Britten’s Serenade with Katharine Caliendo, horn, and members of the Houston Symphony); Elder Hayes in Susannah at Toledo Opera.
ELLEN STRBA SCHOLL, MEZZO-SOPRANO, holds degrees from Northern Illinois University and De Paul University. She sang for 15 years in Europe, including Bavarian State Opera (Munich), TV and radio. Roles include Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro, Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte, Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier and Conception in L’Heure Espagnol; oratorio roles include Attalia, Messiah, Samson, and Elijah. She as sung under conductors Klaus Peter Seibel, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Sir Colin Davis, Michael Tilson thomas, Zubin Metha, Josef Leitner, Michael Halasz, Martin Fischer-Dieskau, and Don Neuen of the Crystal Cathedral; formerly on faculty at the Christian Albrecht Universitaet in Kiel, Germany; two-time winner of the Metropolitan Opera district competition.
KYLE SCHREIBER, SOPRANO, recently graduated from BGSU, where she earned her MM in Vocal Performance. She holds a BM degree in Vocal Performance with a minor in Theatre from Ball State University. Schreiber recently helped found the Black Swamp Opera Ensemble. Opera credits include Jennie Hildebrand (Street Scene), Lola (Cavalleria Rusticana), The Youngest Daughter of Jerusalem (The Songs of Solomon: A New Work), Micaëla (La Tragédie de Carmen), Kätchen (Werther), and work with the Michigan Opera Theatre and Toledo Opera choruses, as well as the historic Mariners’ Church of Detroit.
ALVIN WADDLES, SPECIAL GUEST PERFORMER, has delighted Detroit music lovers with performances in a variety of musical events, including the international Detroit Jazz Fest and the Detroit Festival of the Arts. He is the featured piano soloist in the often-sold-out annual productions of Too Hot to Handel in both Detroit and Chicago. His engagements as a soloist and featured artist have taken him to a variety of destinations, including Barbados, Beijing, Paris, Barcelona, and Ghana, West Africa, and he has worked with some of the world's finest musicians including Robert Shaw, Margaret Hillis, Brazeal Dennard, Minister Thomas Whitfield, Aretha Franklin, Anita Baker, Placido Domingo, George Shirley, Marcus Belgrave, Jack Jones, Haley Westenra, Stephanie Mills and Tramaine Hawkins.
AMANDA WILLIAMS, SOPRANO, is the Theater Director at Concordia University-Ann Arbor, a stage director at Milan High School, and will direct with Center Stage Productions in Ypsilanti this summer. She received her bachelor’s from EMU in Vocal Performance, and her MM in Voice Performance from BGSU. She performs regularly, and has recently been seen with Comic Opera Guild, UMGASS, and Toledo Opera.
THE ANN ARBOR FESTIVAL OF SONG Artistic Director: Kevin Bylsma; General Director: Jane Schoonmaker Rodgers; Email: [email protected]; On the web: https://www.a2fos.org US Mail: PO Box 1815; Ann Arbor, MI 48106; LIKE US ON FACEBOOK! THE ANN ARBOR FESTIVAL OF SONG IS A MICHIGAN NON-PROFIT CORPORATION MANY THANKS T O OUR GENEROUS SUPPO RTERS! The following list reflects total gifts to The Ann Arbor Festival of Song from 1994 to the present:
DIVINE BEINGS Jim King/King’s Keyboard House Kav's Kafé ($800 OR MORE) Vintage to Vogue David & Peggy Pennock “A grateful parishioner at CHERUBIM Drs. Daniel & Jennifer Schuetz Eric & Dina Winter Mariners’ Church” ($100 OR MORE): William & Sally Benner Adrian Symphony/ Opera!Lenawee PATRONS Family of Kenneth J. Bylsma, Sr. Peter & Liza Dale/Encore Recordings ($25 OR MORE): Irene Fritz Kenneth & Norma Freeman Denise Boumaroun John &Janet Knapp Tim & Lily Kittle/Lily’s Garden Naomi Donaldson Deanna Relyea Dr. Christopher Layne/Layne Psychological Dragon's Lair Futons David. C. Rodgers & family Services Barbara & Jeffrey Duncan Kenneth J. Sweetman Richard LeSueur Marcia Hall ARCHANGELS Mike Potter/Hill O'Beans Nano & J.R. Roberts ($300 OR MORE): Marlene Rodgers/Of Gothic Proportions Miriam Samson Eleni & Vassos Avgoustis/Cyprus Robert & Mary Ellen Schoonmaker Kate Soper Taverna Helen Stamos/Stamos Travel That Coffee Place at Kerrytown Ellen & Bob Frick: “In Memory of Julie Young/Encore Studio FRIENDS Zingerman’s Bakehouse Margaret Steinfeldt and Alice Rodgers” ($10 OR MORE): Thomas & Barbara Smith Hilbish SPONSORS Julie & Patrick O’Donovan Bishop Richard Ingalls ($50 OR MORE): Stephen C. & Kay L. Oldstrom Jim Leonard/SKR Classical Bank of Ann Arbor Allen Schrott Anita Tanner/Animalia Gallery Frank & Lindsay Bateman Lisa Van Houten Walhout SERAPHIM Dr. James M. Bumford, D.D.S. ($200 OR MORE): Ellwood Derr "Anonymous" Aaron & Sherry Gara Lawrence Berlin Dr. Donald Hartmann Tricia DeBoer/Deboer Gallery Hollander's John Glenn HS Vocal Music Dept. Carol E. Johnson
BECOME A SUPPORTER: We need and welcome financial support! Our presentations are funded by generous individual donors and local merchants, as well as by ticket sales for our special events. Gifts over $10 will be acknowledged in every program we present from now until the end of time (see above), as well as on our Website (www.a2fos.org). We are very happy to add links to our sponsors' professional web pages. The Ann Arbor Festival of Song; PO Box 1815; Ann Arbor, MI 48106