Baroque Advent Vespers with The Christopher Street Collegium
Free
- Janet Sora Chung, organ
- Audrey Fernandez Fraser, soprano
- Michelle Repella, alto
- Andrew Yeargin, tenor
- Oliver Holt, bass
- Erica Dicker, violin
- Surai Balbeisi, violin
- Marina Fragoulis, viola
- Adam Young, cello
- Yanni Burton, double bass
Johann Sebastian Bach — Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland ("Now come, Savior of the heathens"), BWV 61
Marc-Antoine Charpentier — Magnificat, H. 80
Heinrich Schütz — O lieber Herre Gott, SWV 287
Johann Sebastian Bach — "Zion hört die Wächter singen" ("Zion hears the watchmen singing") from Wachet auf ruft uns die Stimme ("Awake calls the voice to us") BWV 140
Marc-Antoine Charpentier — In nativitatem Domini canticum, H. 414 ("Salve Puerule")
All are invited to this special service, where Advent music by Bach, Charpentier, and Schutz, is interwoven with congregational hymns, readings, and prayer.
About The Christopher Street Collegium
Based at St. John's Lutheran Church, on 81 Christopher Street in Manhattan, the Collegium gathers diverse combinations of New York's finest classical musicians to create artistically fresh and profound opportunities for listeners to feed their souls with the sacred word clothed in celestial melodies.
https://www.christopherstreetcollegium.nyc/About Janet Sora Chung, organ
About Audrey Fernandez Fraser, soprano
About Michelle Repella, alto
Michelle Repella, soprano, is a New York native and an accomplished choral and operatic singer. She is a graduate of Westminster Choir College in Princeton, N.J. and holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education and Voice Performance. She has sung with the New York, Dresden, and Berlin Philharmonics, and has appeared as soprano soloist in concert performances of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Brahms's Ein Deutsches Requiem, Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle, and Mozart's Requiem and Mass in C minor. Ms. Repella currently sings in the NYC-based ensemble Canticum Scholare and is a member of the ensemble at Temple Israel in Westport, Conn. In 2018, Michelle celebrated her 10th season as staff cantor and member of the Schola Cantorum at Holy Trinity Catholic Church on New York's Upper West Side, and was officially made a member of the parish pastoral staff as Music Associate and Principal Cantor. She has previously sung in the professional choirs at St. Bartholomew's Church, the Church of St. Ignatius of Antioch and the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, all in Manhattan. She has featured solos on recordings for the GIA, Atlantic Records and Pro Organo labels. A flexible singer with a large range and a gift for full lyric straight-tone singing, she is as comfortable singing Tallis as she is singing Wagner, and is currently training as a dramatic soprano. She excels at performance through recital, most recently appearing as an artist at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, S.C., alongside organist Andrew Yeargin. Recent dramatic roles include the Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors and La Zia Principessa in Suor Angelica, as well as performing the European premiere of Adamo's Little Women, singing the role of Cecelia March in Bruges, Belgium.
https://www.youtube.com/user/michellerepellaAbout Andrew Yeargin, tenor
Dr. Andrew H. Yeargin maintains an extensive career as a recitalist, accompanist, conductor, and church musician. A native of Raleigh, North Carolina, Andrew is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, where he was awarded the degrees of Master of Music (2009) and Doctor of Musical Arts (2016) in organ and musicology under the tutelage of the legendary McNeil Robinson. As one of Robinson's final prize-winning organ students, Andrew made Robinson the subject of his doctoral thesis, entitled McNeil Robinson (1943—2015): The Complete Musician. Dr. Yeargin is also an alumnus of Westminster Choir College in Princeton, N.J., where he studied organ with Matthew Lewis and Diane Meredith Belcher, and conducting with Sun Min Lee and James Jordan, while singing with the foremost orchestras of the world as a member of the Westminster Symphonic Choir.
About Erica Dicker, violin
About Surai Balbeisi, violin
About Marina Fragoulis, viola
Marina Fragoulis performs on both modern and historical violins, and is the artistic director of Dorian Baroque, a Queens-based early music organization that presents orchestral, chamber, and opera performances on period instruments. She has appeared with NYS Baroque, REBEL, and the Queens Consort, and is a member of SIREN Baroque, the Cecilia’s Chorus & Orchestra, Kollective366, the New England Symphonic Ensemble, and the Symphony of Westchester. Marina teaches violin at the Dalton School and is a teaching artist with Midori & Friends. She is a graduate of the Mannes College of Music where she was a student of David Nadien.
About Adam Young, cello
Adam Young received his Master's degree in viola da gamba from The Juilliard School where he studied with Sarah Cunningham. A finalist in the 2018 Bach/Abel Wettbewerb in Köthen, Young has performed with many NYC-based early music ensembles as well as concerts in Canada, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Kosovo and Russia.
https://www.groupmuse.com/musicians/7133-adam-youngAbout Yanni Burton, double bass
A Juilliard graduate in double bass, Burton is no stranger to the stage, having performed all over the world with orchestras, chamber groups and rock bands. He most recently shared the concert stage with pop stars John Legend, Michelle Williams and Natasha Bedingfield.
A native of Australia, Burton now takes center stage as solo artist, singer and songwriter. The album captures universal themes of love, while he offers us a peak inside his personal world of love and romance. Same Old Love, the CD and concert, will take you on a journey through all the ups and downs we encounter in love, no matter who we are and who we end up falling head over heels for.
http://www.yanniburton.com/