Milton Community Concerts
at First Parish
Pauline Wells Pauline Wells was born in Brighton and grew up in North Cambridge. She attended high school at North Cambridge Catholic and the University of Massachusetts earning a bachelor of arts in business, and a graduate degree from Anna Maria College.
For 23 years, Pauline has served with the Cambridge Police Department where she currently holds the rank of Lieutenant. She cherishes the police profession and the experiences she has shared, especially with victims of serious personal crime.
Pauline is very active in charitable and community causes. She competes annually in several long distance charity bike events, while also coaching girls’ softball here in Milton and making public presentations to mentor young teenage girls of Middlesex County.
Her singing came completely by accident while on a vacation to Ireland in 2000. Shortly after the attacks of 9/11/2001, Pauline taught herself to sing the National Anthem of the United States. Her rendition has often been described by listeners as spirited and pure. In addition to the Star Spangled banner, Pauline also performs the Anthems of Canada and Ireland, the Irish which she performs in Gaelic. Pauline has made well over 300 public appearances including Justice Square at the US Capital in Washington DC, Faneuil Hall, Gillette Stadium, Harvard University, the State House, and three appearances at Fenway Park.
In 2006 Pauline was stricken with Acute Hearing Loss (AHL). This unknown virus caused permanent loss of all hearing in her left ear. While some thought her singing would end, she has persevered.
Pauline considers her singing and musical opportunities a great privilege. She directs all of her musical effort towards charitable and civic groups donating 100% of her earnings.
Her hard work and vocal talent has afforded her the opportunity to headline and appear on concerts at historic venues such as The Wilbur Theatre, Blue Ocean Music Hall and Old Town Hall in Manhattan.
Pauline resides in Milton with her husband Richard and daughter Molly.
For more information go to www.paulinewells.com
Sunday, October 18 at 4pm
First Parish Church of Milton
Milton resident Pauline Wells and MHS grad Brandon Grimes headline a wildly eclectic program of songs in a FREE benefit concert to raise funds for music in the Milton Public Schools. They will be joined by pianist Timothy Steele and others in a concert with something for everyone. Pauline has made more than 300 public appearances at venues as diverse as Justice Square at the US Capitol, the Massachusetts Statehouse, Fenway Park and Gillette Stadium. Brandon has numerous operatic and musical theatre credits, having just completed a national tour of JEKYLL AND HYDE while looking forward to performances soon at the Cape Playhouse and the Ordway Center in St. Paul, MN. A free-will offering will be taken.
Brandon Grimes Praised for the depth of his characters, vocal expressiveness, and comedic timing, singing actor Brandon Grimes is equally comfortable on the theatre, musical theatre, opera, and concert stages. Brandon recently completed the national tour of Jekyll and Hyde, warmly received with a standing ovation every night at some of the nation's most beautiful touring venues.
In July 2014, Brandon had the honor to appear as Josiah Bartlett in 1776, alongside Tony nominee Christiane Noll, Broadway veteran George Lee Andrews, and directed by the brilliant James Brennan. This summer he is thrilled to be making his debut at the Ordway Theatre, St. Paul, in Pirates of Penzance, directed by James A. Rocco.
Brandon is a graduate of University of Michigan, as well as University of Houston's Master program for Opera. He studied with such inspiring faculty as Martin Katz, Mark Madama, Cynthia Westphal, Caroline Helton, Buck Ross, Robert Swedberg, and Joshua Major.
Since moving to New York, Brandon has participated in multiple readings of new plays and musicals working with some of the city's most promising young writers including many from the BMI workshop. Highlights include Natalie Lovejoy's Deployed, Lizzie Hagstedt's Camo Girl, and the hillariously disturbing Grindr: the musical by Jacob Tischler. He has also appeared in several Off-Broadway and Off-off broadway fully staged productions, including several award-winning productions at the 2014 West Village Music Theatre Festival.
During his time as a Houston-based artist, Brandon's portrayal of Bobby in Sondheim's Company received rave reviews on broadwayworld.com, the Houston Chronicle, and the Houston Press. Grimes also spent two years in the vocal company of College Light Opera on Cape Cod, MA, where he played such roles as Sweeney Todd (Sweeney Todd), Hajj (Kismet), Juan Perón (Evita), Pooh Bah (Mikado), Jud (Oklahoma!), First Gangster (Kiss Me, Kate), and Big Jule (Guys and Dolls).
Grimes' strong musicality, sight reading and ear make him especially successful at new music. At University of Michigan he frequently premiered the works of the most promising student composers, and has found much success performing some of the most difficult repertoire of the 20th Century: Grimes is also a composer himself. He studied composition with Kristin Kuster, and his hour-long work Mass for a Dawning Age was premiered with 15-piece orchestra, 5 soloists, and 100-voice choir by the Quincy Choral Society when he was only 18 years old.
Right on Your Doorstep
Timothy Steele, pianist
Timothy Steele is an active vocal coach, collaborative pianist, and conductor, and is currently in his twenty-fifth year on the opera faculty at New England Conservatory. He has conducted for outreach tours with the Boston Lyric Opera and is a former music director for Opera Providence. He has served as assistant conductor/ pianist for over 130 productions with twenty-four opera companies, including Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Boston Lyric Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Central City Opera, and Portland Opera Repertory Theatre. He assisted with the Pulitzer Prize-winning opera Madame White Snake for productions in Boston and Taiwan, and for three years collaborated with WaterFire-Providence on a unique and popular series of opera evenings. In Boston he has performed with Emmanuel Music, the Handel and Haydn Society, and the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, among others. He is currently the choir director and organist at First Parish CHurch of Milton.
