Bel Canto Chorus Presents Evensong

Feb. 8, 2012 - PRLog -- Milwaukee, WI - Bel Canto Chorus will present Maestro Richard Hynson's Evensong as the cornerstone of an afternoon of choral music on Sunday, March 4, 2012 at 3:00 PM at St. Joseph Center Chapel (1501 S. Layton Blvd., Milwaukee, WI). Tickets are $20-$25. Senior and student discounts available by phone.

The intimacy and incomparable beauty of St. Joseph Center Chapel is the ideal setting for this concert of sacred choral music influenced by the longstanding Anglican tradition of celebrating light's victory over darkness. Rebecca Whitney (soprano) and Jonathan Laabs (baritone) appear as soloists in Evensong. The program also includes John Rutter's For the Beauty of the Earth, performed by the Bel Canto Boy Choirs, and Gerald Finzi’s Lo, the Full, Final Sacrifice, with Kevin Bailey (organ). A special performance of Benjamin Britten’s Canticle II: Abraham and Isaac, Op. 51 will feature 2011 Bel Canto Regional Artists Competition winner Eric Jurenas (countertenor), Daniel O’Dea (tenor), and Bel Canto Assistant Conductor Michelle Hynson (piano).

Hynson wrote Evensong in 1999 in thanksgiving for his first decade as Bel Canto Music Director, and to honor David and Roseann Tolan for their forty years of service to the chorus. The piece is based on the sung form of Evening Prayer of the Anglican Church. Hynson's Evensong goes beyond the tradition of composing music for text that was historically sung, in order to include all of the major elements of the service.

To purchase tickets ($20-$25), call the box office at (414) 481-8801 or visit http://www.belcanto.org. Senior, student, and group discounts are available by phone.

About Richard Hynson
This season marks Richard Hynson’s 24th year as Music Director of Bel Canto Chorus. Since 2006 Hynson has also served as Music Director of the Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra. In addition to his work as a conductor and educator, Hynson is a composer.  He has written a substantial body of published choral, vocal, and ensemble works, many of which he has recorded with Bel Canto Chorus singers.  The U.S. Air Force Singing Sergeants have frequently performed Hynson’s In the Midst of Life, composed in response to the events of September 11.

About Kevin Bailey
Kevin Bailey is the Director of Worship and Music at Fox Point Lutheran Church, where he is organist and choir director.  He is a graduate of Augustana College (IL) and Indiana University. Bailey has accompanied and conducted choirs at Anderson University (IN) and served as choir director and organist at several churches in Indiana before moving to Milwaukee in 2003. He remains active outside the church as an accompanist and continuo performer, and served as accompanist for Master Singers of Milwaukee from 2004 to 2008.

About Michelle Hynson
Michelle Hynson has been active in Milwaukee as soprano soloist, pianist, accompanist, composer, church musician, and voice teacher since 1981. She has performed with Bel Canto Chorus since 1990 as assistant conductor, accompanist, and soprano section leader. As a concert pianist, she has performed Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, Bloch’s Concerto Grosso No. 1, and Fauré’s Ballade. In October 2008, she was the premier pianist for Bel Canto’s performance of Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle. Hynson performed Piazzolla’s Maria de Buenos Aires with the Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra in November 2011. Hynson is also a successful composer/arranger published through Hal Leonard Publishers, Shawnee Press, and Lorenz Publishing Company. She shares the position of Minister of Music at the Mequon United Methodist Church with husband Richard Hynson, and teaches voice in her Thiensville, WI studio.

About Eric Jurenas
Eric Jurenas has worked with several groups as a featured soloist, including American Bach Soloists, Kentucky (Lexington) Bach Choir, UC Davis Ensembles, St. Andrews Arts Council, and Cincinnati-area groups. In spring 2012 he will play the title role in the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati (CCM) production of Handel’s Serse. His upcoming concert engagements include performances with the Lexington Bach Choir, performing the solo alto cantatas of JS Bach. Within the last several months, Jurenas has won several competitions and awards, including 1st place in the Dayton Opera Guild Competition, 1st place in the Lexington Bach Choir Competition, and 1st place in the Bel Canto Chorus of Milwaukee Regional Artist Competition. His most recent achievement is being named as a finalist in the Nico Castel International Master Singer Competition, to be held in February 2012 at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.

About Jonathan Laabs
Jonathan Laabs is a 2008 graduate of Martin Luther College, where he studied elementary education, and secondary choral and instrumental music. Previous solo engagements include Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem with the Martin Luther College Choir, as well as Handel’s Israel in Egypt and the United States premiere of Corrado Margutti’s Missa Lorca with Bel Canto Chorus. Laabs is a bass section leader and member of the professional core of Bel Canto Chorus, as well as guest conductor. He has also sung with The Singers: Minnesota Choral Artists under the direction of Matthew Culloton.

About Daniel O’Dea
Daniel O'Dea is a tenor from Chicago, Illinois.  He is currently working towards his DMA at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he is the recipient of the prestigious Paul Collins Wisconsin Distinguished Fellowship. He recently performed Bako in the world premiere of Jerry Hui's comic opera Wired for Love, and the 1st Commissioner in The Dialogues of the Carmelites with Des Moines Metro Opera. Other performances include Fenton in Falstaff at the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), Ferrando in Così fan tutte at the Chautauqua Institute and Ralph Raskstraw in H.M.S. Pinafore at Brevard Music Center. He has been a soloist with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. He was an Apprentice Artist with Des Moines Metro Opera in 2011 and is an alumnus of the Aspen Opera Theater Center. He was a young artist at the Brevard Music Center and Chautauqua Institute. He has also performed with Philadelphia's premier vocal ensemble The Crossing with Donald Nally. He has received his Artist Diploma in Opera at CCM, Masters of Music in Voice from CCM and Bachelors of Music in Vocal Performance from Westminster Choir College.

About Rebecca Whitney
Rebecca Whitney received her Bachelor of Music Degree in Vocal Performance and Vocal Music Education from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. She has performed as a soloist with numerous groups in Southeastern Wisconsin, singing works including Handel’s Messiah and Israel in Egypt, Haydn’s The Creation, Mozart’s Vesperae solemnes de confessore, Faure’s Requiem, Poulenc’s Gloria, and works by Bach, Vivaldi, Vaughan Williams, and John Rutter, among others. Whitney joined Bel Canto Chorus as a soprano section leader in 2005, the same year she was named a finalist in the Bel Canto Regional Artists Competition. She also currently serves as Bel Canto’s Development Director. Whitney was honored to appear as the soprano soloist in Mozart’s Requiem for Bel Canto’s 9.11.11 commemorative concert, “United We Stand."

About St. Joseph Center Chapel
In the early 1900s, Mother M. Alfons Schmid, co-foundress of the School Sisters of St. Francis, commissioned Milwaukee church architects Peter Brust and Richard Philipp to design a chapel to adjoin the convent, erected in 1891. The Italian Romanesque Revival chapel, with its excellent acoustics and exquisite beauty, was dedicated on March 19, 1917. Mother Alfons’ initiative in fostering the arts shaped a nationally recognized legacy that continues today. For more information visit http://www.sssf.org.

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Formed in 1931, Bel Canto Chorus is southeastern Wisconsin’s longest continuously performing arts group. Bel Canto is committed to enriching the lives of its audiences and singing members through the outstanding live presentation of choral music. It is made up of mostly volunteer singers.

Under the direction of Richard Hynson, the chorus opened its 81st season on Sunday afternoon, September 11, 2011 with “United We Stand” in Cathedral Square park. This free concert marking the tenth anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks featured Mozart’s Requiem and Barber’s Adagio for Strings with the Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra.

Bel Canto Boy Choirs were formed in August 2009, under the direction of Ellen Shuler. As Milwaukee’s only boy choirs, the groups consist of talented boys with changed and unchanged voices. Bel Canto Boy Choirs provide quality music instruction for young male singers in a safe choral setting, striving for excellence in choral performances.