(PRINCETON, NJ)-- The Westminster Choir College 2017 Faculty Recital Series opens with a performance of part-songs and solo lieder on Sunday, September 24 at 3:00pm in Bristol Chapel on the campus of Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton. Admission is free.
A considerable amount of repertoire that is frequently performed by choirs was actually written for small ensembles of soloists and known as part-songs. This program features some of those songs, such as Brahms’s Neues Liebeslieder, and solo lieder by Schubert, Schumann and Brahms.
Performers are Elizabeth Sutton, soprano; Amy Zorn, contralto; Eric Rieger, tenor; Sean McCarther, baritone; Elem Eley, baritone ; Phyllis Alpert Lehrer, piano and J. J. Penna, piano.
Soprano Elizabeth Sutton is a lyric coloratura. David Patrick Stearns of the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote about her performance in New Jersey Opera’s production of Le Nozze di Figaro, “More vocally or theatrically charming singers than Elizabeth Sutton as Susanna… are hard to imagine.” She has performed with opera companies and festivals throughout the United States, Italy and Austria, including the Caramoor International Music Festival, Opera Cleveland, Skylight Opera Theater, American International Music School and Lucca Opera Theater, Italy. In concert appearances, Ms. Sutton has been featured as a soloist with the Princeton Society of Musical Amateurs, the Southern Delaware Chorale Arts Society, New Haven Chorale, Norwalk Chamber Ensemble, the Graz Festival Orchestra, the Lucca Festival Orchestra, the Cincinnati Conservatory Philharmonic and The Korean National Arts Society.
Contralto Amy Zorn has sung under the batons of Seiji Ozawa, Henry Lewis, John Harbison, Craig Smith, Yves Abel and Sun Min Lee. She has been heard in the operatic roles of Carmen, Lucretia, Dido, Suzuki, Maurya, Principessa, the Old Lady, Dame Quickly, and Ulrica. Most recently she performed the role of Auntie at the Tanglewood Music Festival’s historic revival of Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes. She has been heard as guest oratorio soloist at Harvard and Brandeis Universities, Ithaca College, Schubert Music Society of NYC and with the Princeton Society of Musical Amateurs.
Tenor Eric Rieger has enjoyed success performing opera throughout Europe where he has sung under such conductors as John Elliot Gardner, Stefano Ranzani and Franz Welser-Möst. His career has led him to the opera companies in Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Scotland and Ireland. Known for his interpretations of Rossini, Donizetti and Mozart, Dr. Rieger has excelled in such roles as Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola, Lindoro in L’Italiana in Algeri, Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore, Ernesto in Don Pasquale, Tonio in La fille du régiment, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni and Ferrando in Cosí fan tutte. His large repertoire spans from the Baroque to the 20th century.
Baritone Elem Eley creatively blends his active performing career with an extensive teaching life as professor of voice. His discography includes nine CDs, among them the highly-acclaimed solo album, with J. J. Penna, Drifts and Shadows: American Song for the New Millennium. The duo’s lieder recording, Der Geist spricht/The Spirit Speaks was praised by Audio Visual Club of Atlanta for its “…deeply expressive, moving performances of some of the most awesome examples of German lieder we are likely to encounter on record.” The most recent disc is Lenoriana, a recital of new American songs. A new CD of sacred and gospel music, Forever Sing, will be released later this year. Eley is frequently heard in recital and in master classes. Winner of the 1996 Joy in Singing Award, he has performed in concert and opera in New York’s most prominent venues, throughout the country and in Europe.
Baritone Sean McCarther has performed leading roles in opera, musical theatre and staged plays with JCA Management, The Lee Norvelle Theater and Drama Center, the Bloomington Early Music Festival, Bloomington Playwrights Project and Indiana University Opera Theatre. He is a strong proponent of new music, and he has appeared in several premieres including Gabriella Ortiz’s Unicamente la Verdad! and Don Freund’s Romeo and Juliet. He premiered the chamber cycle Archy Speaks by composer Gabriel Lubell as part of the Ball State New Music Festival.
Dr. McCarther has presented scholarly research at the Indiana Music Teachers Association, the Beall Poetry Festival, the New Voice Educators Symposium and the Alleluia Conference.
Pianist Phyllis Alpert Lehrer is known internationally as a performer, teacher, clinician, author and adjudicator. She has given master classes, workshops and enjoyed an active concert career as a soloist and collaborative artist in the United States, Canada, Central America, Asia and Europe. Her performances have met with much critical acclaim: The Times of London wrote, “Warmth and vibrancy at its best,” London’s Daily Telgraphy wrote, “An able warmhearted pianist…Impressive musicianly qualities,” and The New York Times has praised her “an admirable musicality.”
Pianist J. J. Penna has performed in recital with such eminent singers as Kathleen Battle, Harolyn Blackwell, William Burden, Amy Burton, David Daniels, Denyce Graves, Kevin McMillan, Florence Quivar, Andreas Scholl, Sharon Sweet, Christopher Trakas, Indra Thomas and Ying Huang. He has been heard at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Weill Hall, Zankel Hall and Merkin Recital Hall in New York City, the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood, Wigmore Hall in London, as well as on concert tours throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, the Far East, South America and the former Soviet Union. Devoted to the performance and study of new music, he has premiered song cycles by William Bolcom, Ricky Ian Gordon, Richard Hundley and Lowell Liebermann.
Learn more about this performance at www.rider.edu/arts or by calling 609-921-2663. Westminster Choir College is located at the corner of Hamilton Avenue and Walnut Lane in Princeton
