(OCEAN GROVE, NJ) -- Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association presents their 2025 Sacred Masterworks Concert: Arthur Honegger's King David on Sunday, August 24th at 7:00pm in The Great Auditorium. This dramatic and deeply moving work traces the life of the biblical king through an evocative blend of choral, orchestral, and solo passages.
The Sacred Masterworks Concert serves as the Great Auditorium premiere of this exceptional work. Experience the grandeur of this masterwork in a unique and historic sacred space.
“It is an extraordinary honor to bring Arthur Honegger’s King David to life for the very first time in the Great Auditorium. This sacred masterwork is a timeless testament to the power of faith, the resilience of the human spirit, and the unifying force of music. In this historic space, where so many great voices have resonated, we have the privilege of sharing David’s journey in a way that will inspire, uplift, and speak to the hearts of all who listen,” said Maestro Jason Tramm, Director of Music Ministries, Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association.
Featured soloists include Monica Ziglar (soprano), Laura Zahn (mezzo-soprano), Ronald Naldi (tenor), and Justin Beck (bass). This quartet is lead by Maestro Jason Tramm and joined by the MidAtlantic Philharmonic Orchestra and Dr. Gordon Turk on the historic Great Auditorium Organ.
Admission is free of charge, with a freewill offering collected. The Great Auditorium is located at 21 Pilgrim Pathway in Ocean Grove, New Jersey.
Featured Artists:
Jason Tramm (Conductor) - Maestro Tramm has been hailed as a “conductor to watch” by Symphony Magazine, “filled with Italianate passion” by the Huffington Post, and an “orchestra Pied Piper” by the New York Concert Review. Maestro Tramm’s work in the operatic, symphonic, and choral realms has received critical acclaim throughout the United States and abroad. He holds the following appointments: Executive Director, Light Opera of New Jersey, the Director of Music Ministries, Ocean Grove Great Auditorium, Artistic Director, MidAtlantic Artistic Productions, Music Director of both the Taghkanic Chorale and Putnam Chorale. Dr. Tramm serves as an Associate Professor and Director of Choral Activities at Seton Hall University, where he conducts the University Chorus, Chamber Choir, and Orchestra. As a guest conductor, he has led symphonic and operatic performances in Italy, Romania, Hungary, Czech Republic throughout the Unites States.
Monica Ziglar (Soprano) - From recital to opera stage Monica is known for “possessing a gift of transcending angelic high notes.” Tucson Citizen Press Ms. Ziglar hails from Tucson, Arizona where she studied music at the University of Arizona and developed her love for art song and sacred oratorio from her beloved teacher Soprano Elizabeth Mosher. While there Monica was known throughout the Southwestern region and Sonora Mexico for her opera and concertizing programs as well as festival performances such as the Alfonso Ortiz Tirado Music festival in Alomos, Sonora, Mexico. In 1993 Monica came east to attend the Academy of Vocal Arts (AVA) in Philadelphia, PA. Some of her Operatic roles include: Suor Angelica, Alice in Falstaff, Magda in The Consul, The Mother in Hansel & Gretel, and Salud in La Vida Breve. Smaller secular works include performances of Leonard Bernstein’s A Julia de Burgos, Paul Hindemith’s Das Marian Leben and J.S. Bach’s BWV211 Coffee Cantata.
Currently Ms. Ziglar is in her twenty-fifth season as soprano soloist with St. Mary’s Episcopal Church under the direction of Dr. Gordon Turk. Ms. Ziglar has also been the soprano soloist for the past twenty years with the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, New Jersey where she performs secular and sacred repertoire in the historic Great Auditorium, built in 1894, which boast over 6,500 seats and one of the largest Hope Jones organs in the world. This venue has hosted performances by artists such as Enrico Caruso, John McCormick, Marian Anderson and Current Metropolitan Opera Tenor Ronald Naldi.
Under the directions of Dr. Gordon Turk and Dr. Jason Tramm, her passion for Sacred Oratorio is regularly expressed in such works as: Rossini’s Stabat Mater, Dubois’ Seven Last Words, Bach’s B Minor Mass, Saint-Saëns’ Christmas Oratorio as well several masses and soprano solo works by Mozart, Hayden and Handel. Ms. Ziglar has been heard performing Jaromir Weinberger’s The Way to Emmaus and Arvo Pärt’s Stabat Mater. In March of 2009, she made her Carnegie Hall debut singing Mendelssohn’s Elijah and in November of 2017 she debuted at the National Cathedral in Washington DC singing Verdi’s Requiem.
Laura Zahn (Mezzo-Soprano) - Mezzo-Soprano Laura Zahn, a Philadelphia native, has been praised for her “warm, voluptuous voice clearly destined for Puccini and Verdi.” This year, Ms. Zahn joined Opera Orlando for their Viva Verdi season, which focused on the works of Giuseppe Verdi. During her residency in Orlando, Laura performed Maddalena (Rigoletto), Giulietta di Kelbar (Un giorno di regno) and Flora Bervoix (La Traviata). In May, Laura sang the role of Marguerite (La Dame Blanche) with New Amsterdam Opera. In previous seasons, Ms. Zahn has performed La frugola (Il tabarro), Florence Pike (Albert Herring), Mother Goose (The Rake’s Progress), Mother (Amahl and the Night Visitors), Dorabella (Cosi fan Tutte), Pepa (Goyescas) and Marcellina (Le nozze di Figaro).
An adept competition singer, Laura was most recently a Finalist in Opera Mississippi’s 2021 John Alexander National Vocal competition. She also semi-finaled in the 2020 NYIOP/Premiere Opera Foundation Competition and the 2016 Mildred Miller International Voice Competition. Ms. Zahn holds degrees from The Boston Conservatory and Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music.
Ronald Naldi (Tenor) - Ronald is the tenor soloist and artist-in-residence in historic Ocean Grove, New Jersey. An internationally acclaimed lyric tenor, he has brought his art to the stages of the Metropolitan Opera, Verona Opera, Opera da Camera of Rome, L'Opera Francais, New Jersey State Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the Salzburger Landes theater. Mr. Naldi has sung more than 25 consecutive seasons at the Metropolitan Opera, where he has sung over 250 performances in 23 different operas including Ismaele in Nabucco, Tschekalinsky in Pique Dame, and Vitek in the Makrapolous Case. He has sung 3 Metropolitan Opera premieres, 5 world premieres, and the American premieres of 3 other operas. With St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble, he has sung over 200 performances of the chamber operas of Haydn, Mozart, Offenbach, Rieti, Bakst, Fioravanti, and Rossini.
Justin Beck (Narrator) - Bass-baritone Justin Beck has had a varied career both as an opera and concert soloist as well as a choral singer. He studied music with a focus on vocal performance at the University of Texas at Austin, and Texas State University. He was a Young Artist at Austin Lyric Opera for two seasons singing roles in Gounod’s Faust, Puccini’s La fanciulla del West, and Verdi’s Rigoletto. He also spent two summers at the Aspen Music Festival in their opera theater center. Additional opera credits include three seasons with Opera Company of Middlebury in Vermont performing in Massenet’s Thaïs, Puccini’s La rondine, and Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers. Other favorite roles include Leporello in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Dr. Falke and Frank in J. Strauss Jr.’s Die Fledermaus, both with Opera Manhattan.
Concert highlights include Handel’s Messiah with the Austin Symphony, Berlioz’s Requiem with the Carnegie Hall Festival Chorus under the baton of Robert Spano, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Orff’s Carmina Burana with the National Chorale in David Geffen Hall, Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex with the Bard Music Festival, and R. Strauss’s Feuersnot with the American Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Leon Botstein at Carnegie Hall. Additional engagements include concerts with Long Island Masterworks and Gregg Smith Singers. Justin is thrilled to be in his seventh glorious season as the bass-baritone of the Great Auditorium Quartet, and bass section leader of the Ocean Grove Auditorium Choir.
