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Sing for Their Supper IV 

Flourishing mezzo-soprano Grace Allendorf is known for her “creamy timbre, evenness of color and coloratura agility”. A consummate musician, she is dedicated to performing opera, oratorio, art song and new music. She is thrilled to be “singing for her supper” once again this year. Upcoming engagements include “Nevertheless, she persisted” with Ensemble Lyrae and “Faust” with Opera 51. She recently performed the role of Dew Fairy in “Hansel and Gretel” with Longwood Opera, and has shared the stage as a soloist with Concord Community Chorus, Coro Allegro, Andover Choral Society, MetroWest Choral Artists, and the Metropolitan Wind Symphony. Grace is also committed to giving back to the community through music, and has performed at a number of senior care facilities throughout the Greater Boston Area. Grace currently serves as a section leader and soloist at First Parish in Milton and as a cantor at St. Richard’s Parish in Danvers. Grace holds a Master’s Degree in Vocal Performance from Longy School of Music and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music with a minor in Theatre Arts from Brandeis University, and is a student of Jayne West.  www.graceallendorf.com ,   www.ensemblelyrae.org .

Junhan Choi, baritone, a native of South Korea, was currently awarded Extraordinary prize at the 54th Viñas international voice competition in Barcelona. He received three special prizes for best performer of Oratorio-Lied, which are ‘Mercedes Viñas’, ‘Victoria de los Ángeles’, and ‘Franz Schubert’. As a 1st prize recipient of Talents of the World Voice Competition, he made his Carnegie Hall debut concert. He also won 1st place in MetroWest Opera’s Vocal Competition and placed 4th with Audience Favorite prize at Rochester’s Classical Idol Vocal Competition in 2017. Mr. Choi began his operatic career with the title role of Puccini's Gianni Schicchi in 2009. Since then, he has also performed Belcore in L’elisir d’amore and Germont in La Traviata in Korea. Mr. Choi holds Master’s degree and Graduate Diploma with a Presidential Scholarship from New England Conservatory of Music. His roles at NEC include Papageno(Die Zauberflöte), Guglielmo(Cosi fan tutte), Oreste(Iphigénie en Tauride), Gianni Schicchi(Gianni Schicchi), Revírník(Příhody lišky Bystroušky), Claudio(Agrippina), Monsu Traversen(La Gazzetta),  Der Tod(Der Kaiser von Atlantis), Liberto/Littore/Soldato(L'incoronazione di Poppea), Eisenstein(Die Fledermaus), Policeman(The Consul), and Thierry/ Javelinot/ Officer (Dialogues of the Carmelites). He also performed the title role of Don Giovanni with the Harvard University music department in 2013. In the capacity of Caramoor Bel Canto Opera Young Artist 2015, he appeared as the Geôlier in the Caramoor Music Festival production of Dialogues des Carmélites. In 2016, he performed as Dandini in the North End Music and Performing Arts Center Opera’s production of La Cenerentola. More recently, upcoming engagements for the 2017-2018 season include his role debut as Melisso in Handel’s Alcina with Opera del West and Marcello in Puccini’s La Boheme with Boston Opera Collaborative. As a lieder singer and recitalist, Mr. Choi is an 2015-2017 season artist of Boston Art Song Society and had successful concerts. In 2016, he also made his baritone solo debut of Carmina Burana in Jordan hall and Handel’s Messiah with North End Music and Performing Arts Center.m a paragraph. 

Chris Carbin

Brian Landry has a tenor voice that reminds people of the great tenors of yesteryear, though he is poised to become a great tenor of his own generation. Brian sang his first Radames in Tulsa Opera's 2013 production of Giuseppe Verdi's Aida.  He also made other recent important debuts: Cavaradossi in Puccini's Tosca with Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, MacDuff in Verdi's MacBeth with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras, Canio in Providence Opera's Pagliacci, and the tenor soloist in Beethoven's 9th Symphony with Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra. He recently also sang his favorite role of Verdi’s Otello (for the 3rd time!) with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras. Brian sang as a Young Artist at the 2010 Caramoor International Music Festival in Katonah, NY.  Under the baton of Will Crutchfield, he performed as Flavio in Bellini’s Norma, and covered the role of Pollione in the same opera. He also sang in several concerts during the festival.In the 2009- 2010 season, Brian sang as a studio artist for Tulsa Opera, where he sang Normanno in Donizetti's Lucia Di Lammermoor, Borsa in Verdi's Rigoletto, And Rodriguez in Massenet's Don Quichotte. In March 2007, Brian returned from the prestigious Accademia Verdiana in Busseto, Italy, where he was coaching with the great Maestro Carlo Bergonzi. Brian made his international debut as a featured performer at a concert in the Teatro Verdi in Busseto, which was televised on Italian National Television on the program Loggione.

Christopher Carbin is a Boston-based bass-baritone hailing from Norman, Oklahoma. Christopher is quickly becoming recognized for his artistic versatility and affinity for new opera. In the summer of 2018, he will be joining the Glimmerglass Festival as a Young Artist, covering the roles of Harašta in Janáček's The Cunning Little Vixen and the British Major in Puts's Silent Night, among other assignments. Christopher has collaborated with such artists as Cerise Jacobs, Paola Prestini, and Julian Wachner in several workshop productions of the new operas Gilgamesh and Rev. 23, and in the fall of 2018 will be creating the role of Marsyas in the world premiere of PermaDeath, by Cerise Jacobs and Dan Visconti. Christopher has sung as a member of the Crested Butte Opera Studio, a Gerdine Young Artist with the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and holds a Master's Degree from the New England Conservatory of Music. 

Tamara Ryan, soprano, has been hailed by The Boston Globe as a "breathtakingly solid" soprano,” the Cleveland Plain Dealer as "charming" and "fearless," and the Boston Musical Intelligencer as having "the comedic genius of Madeline Kahn" as well as a "captivatingly expressive strength,”. She has appeared in recent seasons as Sibyl Vane in Lowell Liebermann's The Picture of Dorian Gray, Stephanie in Jake Heggie's To Hell and Back, and Madame de Tourvel in Conrad Susa's The Dangerous Liaisons, as well as premiering the title role in Daniela DeMatos' Ondine and the lead role of Sonny in the initial workshop of White Snake Productions' Permadeath. In April of 2018, she will star in her first one-woman opera, Miss Havisham's Wedding Night.

Emily Thorner, versatile soprano, is an active performer internationally and throughout the Boston music scene. She is rapidly making her mark in contemporary music and early music. Known for her command of stratospheric high notes, Ms. Thorner recently toured Germany, where she made her debut at the Jubiläumsfeier des Goethe-Instituts Dresden as a soloist on the radio, toured with Canto Armonico, and was featured on Wartburg Radio in Eisenach. A featured soloist with Sound Icon, she recorded the US premiere of Wolfgang Rihm's Frage, known for its impossibly high tessitura of over twenty-two high F's and beyond. She is one of the original members of Les Enfants d'Orphée, a new and international Baroque ensemble dedicated to the performance of French baroque music. Recent performances include recording with recording choir Vox Futura, singing with Grammy award winning Hans Zimmer on his international tour, Sophie in Terrence McNally's Masterclass, Sisa in Noli Me Tangere, featuring a coloratura mad scene in the Tagalog language, and the guest soprano in residence in Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass at the New Hampshire Music Festival. In the 2017-2018 season, Ms. Thorner will tour PA at Lehigh University with Hub New Music to sing works by Paul Salerni and Louis Karchin as well as performing with Henry Purcell Society of Boston, and Boston Musica Viva, featuring music by David Stock and Andy Vores.

Frequently sought after for new music recordings, Ms. Thorner is currently working with composer Noam Faingold to create a piece specifically for her high coloratura. Other future and recent collaborations with composers include Evan Meier’s for his piece She is in the Sea with Vocalypse Productions in Canada, Rita Ueda, Dr. Geoffrey Hicks, and Daniel Felsenfeld.

A soloist for Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610 with Sounds of Stow and Handel's Alexander's Feast with Harvard Early Music Society, Ms. Thorner had the privilege of coaching under one of the world's most renowned early music specialists, Dame Emma Kirkby, and appeared as a solo artist with the Lexington Choral Festival.

As a performer in opera, Ms. Thorner sang the role of Lucia in The Rape of Lucretia with Opera Brittenica and Flora in their immersive theatrical production of The Turn of the Screw. She starred as Rose Maybud in Ruddigore with MITG&SP and has made appearances with Commonwealth Lyric Theater in Mozart and Salieri and Lowell Opera House in Lakmé. Additionally, Ms. Thorner portrayed Eurydice in Orphée aux enfers. Mrs. Nordstrom in A Little Night Music and covered Königin der Nacht in Die Zauberflöte at the Horrower Opera Workshop in Atlanta. Other roles include Silverpeal in The Impresario and Gretel in Hansel and Gretel (both of which she performed for touring outreach programs), the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor, Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier and Zdenka in Arabella. Additional performing credits include Phyllis in Iolanthe and Rapunzel in Into the Woods. A winner of the NH NATS, she was also a semi-finalist in the international Orpheus Vocal Competition.

Ms. Thorner received the Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance at Florida State University and the Bachelor of Arts degree in Vocal Performance from Plymouth State University and is represented by Vocal Artists Management.

Dana Lynne Varga, soparano, has been praised for her "stunning voice" and was the first place winner in the 2016 Classical Singer National Vocal Competition. Dana continues to amass accolades for her numerous operatic roles that include Musetta in La bohème, Fiordiligi in Cosi fan tutte, Anna Maurrant in Street Scene, Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus, Micaëla in Carmen, Alcina in Alcina, Hanna Glawari in The Merry Widow, First Lady in The Magic Flute and Giannetta (/Adina cover) in L’elisir d’amore, the latter performed at the prestigious Caramoor Festival in New York. Ms. Varga sings regularly with Boston Lyric Opera, and has performed with Odyssey Opera, Connecticut Lyric Opera, the Aldeburgh (Britten-Pears) Festival, PORTopera, Opera Boston, Boston Opera Collaborative, PANopera, Commonwealth Opera and Boston Baroque, amongst others.

An avid concert soloist, highlights of Dana Lynne Varga’s recent concert and oratorio performances include the Haydn Lord Nelson Mass and Mozart Great Mass in C Minor with Coro Allegro, the Fauré Requiem and Neilsen’s Symphony No. 3 with the Springfield Symphony, Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Granite State Choral Society, Beethoven Mass in C in Tanglewood’s Ozawa Hall, Handel’s Messiah and the Bach B Minor Mass and Christmas Oratorio with the Rhode Island Civic Chorale and Orchestra and Dubois’ Seven Last Words with Coro Allegro.  She has performed the Vaughan Williams’ Sea Symphony and Dona Nobis Pacem as well as the Brahms Requiem and the Dvořák Te Deum with the Metropolitan Chorale, Schubert’s Miriam Siegesgesang and Handel’s Israel in Egypt with the Commonwealth Chorale, the Vivaldi Gloria and Handel’s Messiah with the New England Classical Singers and the Bach Magnificat, Mozart Requiem and Mendelssohn St. Paul with the Choral Art Society.

In addition to her recent Classical Singer Competition win, Dana won second place in the 2016 Rochester Oratorio Society Classical Idol Competition and was a semifinalist in the 2016 Oratorio Society of New York Competition.  She was awarded the 2012 St. Botolph Emerging Artist Grant for excellence in music.  Dana was a finalist in the lieder division of the 2009 Liederkranz Competition and winner of the Arlington Philharmonic Competition, and was among the winners in the Boston Regional Auditions of the Metropolitan National Council Auditions. She won first place in the National Association of Teachers of Singing Competition, Boston, in both 2004 and 2005.

Upcoming performances include soprano solos in Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Cantata Singers (Jordan Hall, NEC), Mendelssohn’s Psalm 42 and Rutter’s Requiem with the Andover Choral Society, a Mozart opera pastiche with the Grand Harmonie Chamber Orchestra, and a touring recital with pianist Christina Wright-Ivanova. To learn more and to view additional upcoming performances, please visit www.danavarga.com.

Ron Williams is recognized nationwide for his artistry in the field of opera and oratorio and he continues to gather acclaim for his work onstage and in the concert hall. He has sung leading roles with several opera companies nationally, including San Francisco Spring Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, New York Harlem Opera Ensemble and Opera San Jose, where he created the role of Edward in the world premiere of Alva Henderson’s The Last Leaf.

Locally, Williams debuted with Boston Lyric Opera in the revival of Kurt Weill’s Lost in the Stars, receiving critical acclaim from the New York Times. He portrayed nemesis Nick Shadow in the much-heralded production of The Rake’s Progress with Boston Opera Laboratory Company at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Boston Globe praised his performance of Figaro in Opera New England’s The Barber of Seville. With Greater Worcester Opera he has sung several principal roles including Escamillo in Bizet’s Carmen and Count Almaviva in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro. Last summer Ron was one of the featured soloist at the DCR Hatch Shell with Boston Landmarks Orchestra in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. He debuted with the Massachusetts Symphony in Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy last month.

Mr. Williams was a regional finalist in the San Francisco Opera National Auditions. He received the College Foundation Award from the California Music Teachers Association. Ron remains passionately interested in arts education for young audiences and was chosen to perform Alice in Wonderland by Robert Chauls for the National Children’s Arts Festival at J.F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in the nation’s capital.

The artist maintains a busy concert schedule, having performed with Cantata Singers, Chorus North Shore, Symphony Pro Musica, as well as the Dartmouth Symphony (NH) where he sang Beethoven’s Fidelio.  Ron took on the dramatic role of biblical narrator in a performance of King David by Arthur Honneger with Masterworks Chorale, under the late Allen Lannom. He performed the one-man chamber opera of Domenico Cimarosa, Il Maestro di Cappella with Boston Civic Symphony. He made his debut with Boston Cecilia in Britten’s Cantata Misericordium and made several appearances, including Christus in Bach’s Saint Matthew Passion, all under the direction of the late Donald Teeters.

Ron made his European concert debut in Germany with the Düsseldorf Chamber Orchestra. His stage debut was in Saint Gallen, Switzerland. He has performed extensively throughout the rest of the continent.

An artist committed to bringing to the stage the works of 20th century American composers, Ron has performed the works of Hale Smith (Meditations in Passage) and Ned Rorem (The Lake of Innisfree) which was heard by audiences on WCRB. He participated in developmental performances of Elmer Gantry by Robert Aldridge, composer and Herschel Garfein, librettist.

Future engagements will include Bizet’s Carmen with New Hampshire Philharmonic, Aluta Continua: The passion of David Kato Kisule with Coro Allegro and the title role in Mozart’s Don Giovanni with Greater Worcester Opera.

For further information about the artist visit http://www.Ronsings.com

Jin-Xiang Yu is a Chinese/ Russian/ Korean/ Japanese soprano raised in Japan. She holds a degree in theatre dance, linguistics, vocal performance, and opera. In her role as Elle in La Voix Humaine, the NY Times praised her "compelling performance that traced the shifting moods vividly." She is a recipient of the Jack Kent Cooke Graduate Arts Award and the William Orr Dingwall Foundation's Korean Ancestry Grant, among others. She was also a semi-finalist of the Young Concert Artist Competition and the first-place winner of the Lyra New York International Vocal Competition in 2016. Recently, she sang Messiaen's Poèmes pour Mi with the Yale Philharmonia under Maestro Peter Oundjian and the lead role of Setsuko in Jack Perla's An American Dream at Opera Maine. She has been part of New Music New Haven multiple times, singing works by Liliya Ugay and Ethan Braun. She premiered Naughty Boy by Eric Chernov in recital at LeFrak Concert Hall with Konstantza Chernov, along with songs by Poulenc and Schumann, which will be performed again this year at Mannes College of Music. In February, she will be playing Papagena in Der Zauberflöte as a guest at the Schubert Theatre with Yale Opera. She thanks Tim and Katie Steele for the invitation to "Sing For Their Supper" this year. 

Milton Community Concerts

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