BMC Night Beat: Soprano Diane Johnson & Pianist Rick Asher
Free (suggested donation: $20; students free)
- Diane Johnson, soprano
- Rick Asher, piano
Rick Asher — Selected works
Johannes Brahms — Rhapsody in G minor, Op. 79, No. 2
George Frideric Handel — "O sleep, why dost thou leave me?" from Semele, HWV 58
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart — "Vedrai, carino" from Don Giovanni, K. 527
Charles Gounod — "Faites-lui mes aveux" from Faust
Gabriel Fauré — Poème d'un jour, Op. 21
Claude Debussy — "III. Clair de Lune" from Suite bergamasque, L. 75
Traditional — Selected works (spirituals TBA)
Bellingham Music Club's 108th concert season, "Sounds Sublime," will be exactly that – music that transforms, uplifts, and inspires.
We are delighted to welcome soprano Diane Johnson and pianist/composer Rick Asher! Together they bring us an eclectic program ranging from Handel and Mozart to Fauré, Clara Schumann, spirituals, and contemporary works of Rick Asher himself.
Full-length BMC Night Beat is on Friday, October 6, 7:30pm, at Trinity Lutheran Church, 119 Teas St. in Bellingham. No ticket purchase is required, and all students are free; we suggest a $20 donation for others.
About Diane Johnson, soprano
Diane Johnson received her Bachelors (1984) and Masters (1985) Degrees in Music from the University of California in Riverside, and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Conducting and Voice (1990) from Claremont Graduate University.
In the past 30+ years, Diane has been a featured soloist with the Whatcom Symphony, the Everett Symphony, the Whatcom Chorale, the Everett Chorale, the Skagit Valley Chorale, Pacific Northwest Opera and the Skagit Symphony.
As head of the Music Department at Skagit Valley College, Diane keeps busy conducting college choirs, directing college musicals and teaching a wide variety of music classes from Music Theory to "Psych"edelic Rock, a class which combines Psych 101 and a History of Rock'n'roll.
When not working, Diane loves to travel, hike, travel, hike, oh yes, and travel. This past July, she had the opportunity to sing the International Mass at La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain, with the Wanderlust Women's Choir of Seattle.
http://faculty.skagit.edu/news3.asp?pagenumber=2434&dept=70&yrq=C122About Rick Asher, piano
Rick Asher holds degrees in Music Education from Western Washington University and the University of Oregon, each with emphasis in conducting and piano. He studied the Alexander Technique with Catherine Madden in Seattle, and applies that technique in his teaching and in his own life.
His career has included teaching instrumental and vocal music in elementary school through university levels, as well as studio instruction in piano and voice. Following eight years of teaching elementary and high school music, he began working at Edmonds Community College where he taught in the Music Department for twenty-four years before becoming its Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences.
He has also served as director of Cascade Youth Symphony, the Whatcom Chorale in Bellingham, and the 80-voice Sanctuary Choir of Seattle First Baptist Church.
Now retired from full-time positions, he maintains a studio of piano, voice, and composition students at his home in Shoreline, and spends time almost every day playing the piano and writing music.
http://www.rickasher.com/