St. Luke’s 3^rd Annual Recital Series – 2008-2009

St. Luke's is proud to have an active recital series, the only one in the Town of Scituate as far as we know.  We usually have four to six concerts per year on Sundays at 4:00 p.m. in the church sanctuary.  The concerts feature both Boston artists and professional artists from places such as Pittsburgh, New York City, Orlando, and Greensboro, North Carolina. 

Suggested donation for each concert is $15.00 for adults and $12.00 for children and seniors.  Our concerts are designed to be "user-friendly" -- that is, one does not have to be an educated music-lover to attend.  We talk about each piece before it is performed, and the environment is relaxed and informal. 

The schedule for our upcoming concerts this year follows:   

Sunday, October 5, 4:00 – James Liu, bass-baritone, and Jean Anderson Collier, piano.

Bass-baritone James Liu is a physician by day and singer by night.  He has sung in choruses for more than twenty years, with solos in performances of the St. Matthew Passion, Judas Maccabeus, Les Noces, and Howells’ Requiem.   His art song repertoire includes Die schoene Muellerin, Winterreise, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Dichterliebe, and Don Quichotte à Dulcinée.  He has worked at WHRB as a classical music announcer and producer, and has appeared in operas, including Idomeneo, Don Giovanni, and The Magic Flute.  He will be singing Count Almaviva in Indian Hill Music’s production of The Marriage of Figaro in November.  James studies with Frank Kelley. 

Jean Anderson Collier is the organist at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, and also teaches at the New England Conservatory of Music, where she also earned her , doctorate in collaborative piano.   Jean works frequently with Opera Providence, Boston Lyric Opera, and often accompanies auditions for the Tanglewood Music Festival.  She is also an opera coach at Northern Arizona University’s summer opera festival in Fidenza, Italy.  She has performed extensively throughout the United States and Europe as a collaborative pianist.

Sunday,  February 8, 4:00 – John Greer, piano, and Jean Anderson Collier, piano.

John Greer, the head of the opera department at New England Conservatory, is active as a conductor, accompanist, vocal coach, arranger, and composer.  A native of Canada, he has been an active recitalist with many of Canada’s most talented young singers,  and performs often with American singers including William Sharp, Carmen Balthrop, Linda Mabbs, Carmen Pelton, and Delores Ziegler.  He has conducted operas for companies such as Canadian Opera Company, the Banff Music Festival, Victoria Opera Piccola, Ottowa Opera Lyra, and Brevard Music Festival’s Janiec Opera Company.  Before coming to New England Conservatory, he taught at University of Toronto, the Eastman School of Music, and the University of Maryland.   His compositions include ten song cycles and a children’s opera, The Snow Queen, written for the Canadian Children’s Opera Chorus, and recently premiered in the United States. 

 Sunday, March 15, 4:00 – Amy Gifford, soprano, and Jean Anderson Collier, piano.

Soprano Amy Gifford is currently a professor of voice at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida.  A native of Florida, Amy holds degrees from the University of Central Florida and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.  She has also been a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Vocal Study in Paris, and a fellow in the Aspen Music Festival’s Vocal Chamber Music program.  Amy appears often as soloist with the Choral Society of Orlando and the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park, and was a frequently featured soloist with the Vocal Arts Ensemble of Cincinnati.  Her choral solo repertoire includes Orff’s Carmina Burana, Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Requiem, and C.P.E. Bach’s Magnificat.   Amy often collaborates with composers of new music and has premiered several of Daniel Crozier’s award-winning compositions, including his opera With Blood, With Ink.  An eclectic and versatile performer, Amy also enjoys performing as a pop vocalist and works often as a studio and backup singer.  She lives in Florida with her husband and their two daughters.

 Sunday, April 26, 4:00 – Karen Cabellero, soprano, and David Collins, piano.

Soprano Karen Cabellero has recently completed both a master’s degree and an a graduate degree in vocal performance from New England Conservatory of Music, and is now active as a recitalist and opera singer.   Recent performances include the role of Adele in Die Fledermaus and Nannetta in Falstaff, both with Longwood Opera in Boston.  Other roles to her credit include Cathleen in Vaughan-Williams’ Riders to the Sea, and Aurelia in Argento’s Miss Havisham’s Wedding Night.  She appears often as soloist with various choral groups in the Boston area, and her repertoire includes soprano solos from the Mozart Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, the Fauré Requiem, and Vivaldi’s Gloria.  Equally comfortable as a recitalist, Karen often programs a diverse range of repertoire,  including new music and works of  lesser-known composers.  A native of Milwaukee, Karen currently lives in Brookline with her husband. 

Pianist David Collins is currently on the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and has previously worked as staff accompanist at New England Conservatory, Boston Conservatory, and Boston University.  He is active as a recitalist in vocal and chamber music throughout the United States.  A native of northern Michigan, David has performed in chamber music series’ in Manistique and Escanaba, as well as at the Pine Mountain Music Festival.  He has also concertized throughout Michigan, Tennessee and upstate New York with violist Robert Dan.  In the Boston area he performs often at Boston University, the Boston Conservatory, and New England Conservatory.  He made his Jordan Hall debut in 2002 with the Alhambra Piano Trio.  He has also worked as musical director and pianist for the East of Eden Chamber Players in Bar Harbor, Maine.  David holds advanced degrees in both composition and chamber music, and is currently completing his doctorate in collaborative piano at the New England Conservatory of Music, where he studies with Irma Vallecillo, Kayo Iwama, and John Greer.