Wayward Music Series: Steven Damouni & Emerald Lessley
$5-$20 donation at the door
- Emerald Lessley, soprano
- Steven Damouni, piano
Join pianist Steven Damouni and soprano Emerald Lessley for their Nightmare Before Christmas Concert, featuring pieces light on Christmas cheer and heavy on extended techniques. This dynamic duo of best friends will perform George Crumb’s evocative song cycle, Apparition, Elliot Carter’s Night Fantasies for solo piano, and Luciano Berio’s groundbreaking work for solo voice, Sequenza III.
Dr. Steven Damouni is an active performer of both contemporary and traditional repertoires. He holds a Bachelors of Music in Piano Performance, a Masters of Art in Music from Washington State University, and a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Piano Performance from the University of Washington. He has won numerous regional and state competitions and is equally at ease as a chamber musician. In 2015 he participated in New England Conservatory’s Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice where he performed the "Concord" Sonata of Charles Ives in masterclasses and at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
Highly sought after performer, instructor, and clinician, Dr. Emerald Lessley began performing and studying music at a young age. She completed her Doctorate of Musical Arts in Vocal Performance from the University of Washington in 2017. Emerald’s favorite operatic roles have included, Fiordiligi in W.A. Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Suor Angelica in Giacomo Puccini’s Suor Angelica, Dido in Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, and Belisa in the U.S. premiere of Bruno Maderna’s opera Don Perlimplìn. In addition to traditional operatic repertoire, Emerald is an active performer of new music, premiering new works in both the U.S. and Europe. Dr. Lessley is a full-time music faculty member at Olympic College in Bremerton, WA.
COVID-19 PROTOCOLS: Following current mandates from King County & WA State public health officials, all audience members at this performance will be required to wear masks regardless of vaccination status. Additionally, chair seating will be arranged to maintain social distancing; people who live together may group chairs accordingly. Audience should be aware that performers will be unmasked, and some will be singing or playing wind instruments.
About Wayward Music Series
Each month, Nonsequitur and a community of like-minded organizations and artists present 10 concerts of adventurous and experimental music in the gorgeous Chapel Performance Space at the Good Shepherd Center: contemporary/post-classical composition, free improvisation and the outer limits of jazz, electronic/electroacoustic music, new instruments, phonography, sound art, and other innovative musics.
https://www.waywardmusic.org/