Twelfth Night (1/5/08)
Sing a New Song (11/9/07)
O I AM Aesop (8/16/07)
Patriotic Programs (7/2/07 & 7/4/07)
Sacred Voice 2007 (4/6/07 & 4/7/07)
James Joyce in Word & Song (3/17/07)
If Music be the Food of Love! (2/9/07)
The Other Wise Man (12/15/06-1/6/07)
Wicked Good (10/23/06)
The three winning Aesop-themed entries from New Opera Works "Opera in a Month challenge" were presented in concert 7:30 p.m. on August 16th at American Fork's Historic City Hall. You can view the entire concert or download mp3s (large files) of the performances here:
The Dreamweaver by Erica Glenn
The Quantum Mechanic by John G. Bilotta
The Lion and the Wood Nymph by Jonathan Price
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Join vocalists Janilyn Anderson, Ruth Ellis, M. Ryan Taylor and Neil Whitaker for a program of favorite music that celebrates the freedoms and ideals of the land we call "America," "Our Home," "the good ol' U.S.A."
American Fork Amphitheater : July 2nd, 7 p.m., Free
Provo Freedom Festival's Colonial Days : July 4th, 3 p.m., Free
On April 6th and 7th the Sacred Voice 2007 finalists were presented. The ballots have been counted. The first place winners, as chosen by audience ballot, are:
Sacred Song Cycle:
Songs from St. John of the Cross by Hiram Titus
Sacred Art Song:
Sa Mahal na Birhen Maria by Jeremy Rafal
Songs and Cycles were rated on a scale of 1 to 5 in four different categories: Beauty or Power, Clarity, Originality & Music Expresses Text. These scores were added up and averaged with a total possible score of 20. The competition between the finalists was extremely close with all compositions scoring between 14 and 17 points. The first place song cycle received a $500 award and the first place song an award of $200.
Download the entire Sacred Voice 2007 concert:
Two Classic Sacred Songs (12 mb)
Individual Song Finalists (35 mb)
Song Cycles (39 mb)
Download the program for song order, composer information, translations and performers. Visit the production archive to learn more about this unique composition competition.
Sacred Voice 2007 Finalist Concert
Friday & Saturday, April 6th & 7th, 7:30 p.m.
American Fork City Hall
(31 N Church Street)
Tickets $6 ($5 for students and seniors)
Come and cast your vote! VocalWorks.org offers a unique opportunity to listen, be uplifted and assess as it presents the finalists in this years Sacred Voice 2007, an interfaith sacred art song composition competition. Over thirty entries* have been received from 24 countries and states, including Canada, Croatia, England and Lithuania.
The audience will help to choose the two entries from the winner's circle that will receive a cash award. The winner in the Art Song category will receive a $200 award and the winning Song Cycle will receive $500. The audience will help to choose these winners using the same criteria that was used to select the finalists (sensitivity to the text, originality, beauty, comprehensible form, etc.).
The Sacred Voice 2007 competition was organized to encourage the creation of a body of concert music for the solo voice based on spiritual texts and themes, themes which are often neglected on the concert stage. This is not necessarily music one might hear at a church service, but then again one might; it all depends on the spiritual theme being explored and the compositional approach of the composer. As an interfaith competition, a wide variety of spiritual views and themes are represented in the contests entries.
Another purpose of Sacred Voice 2007 is to give this spiritual song literature 'a voice,' and is unusual among composition competitions in that a large number of the entries will be performed and heard by the public. Additionally, the concert will be recorded and broadcast on VocalWorks.org, ensuring that the music will be heard by a large number of people outside the scope of the initial concert. These event features insure that Sacred Voice 2007 will better serve a larger audience, but also the future of the genre and the composers themselves by letting a large number of people hear their work.
Presenting the finalists at the concert will be classical vocalists Andrea Bowles Custer, Ruth Ellis, Brian Manternach, M. Ryan Taylor, Sara Thomas and Alisa Thomason. Accompanying the vocalists will be pianists Becky Alexander, Cloe Hewett & Heidi Rodeback.
Come, participate in shaping the future of an under-explored genre. Come to Sacred Voice 2007.
Download : 11x17 Poster 8.5x11 Poster
* from Arizona, California (6), Canada, Croatia, England (3), Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Lithuania, Massachesetts, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey (2), New York, Ohio (2), Oregon (3), Washington, and Wisconsin (2).
Brian Manternach, Tenor Cloe Hewett, Piano
Saturday, March 17 (St. Patrick's Day), 7:30 p.m.
American Fork City Hall
(31 N Church Street)
Tickets $5 ($3 for students and seniors)
Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with a tribute to Ireland’s most recognized author. The concert will feature songs and readings that honor the literary genius of James Joyce and the musical traditions of his native country.
James Joyce, one of Ireland’s greatest writers, is perhaps best known for his complex novels, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Ulysses, and Finnegans Wake, Joyce’s first published work was a set of thirty-six lyric poems entitled Chamber Music. At the suggestion of a mentor, tenor Brian Manternach began to seek out the various musical settings of these poems. “I began to discover how each song could uniquely reveal an individual composer’s style while still shedding new light on the depth of Joyce’s wonderful words.”
The songs that will be performed during the upcoming recital, not accidentally occurring on St. Patrick’s Day (March 17th), are written in the classical art song tradition yet still reflect the melodic contours, harmonic color, and ever-present spirit that has come to be associated with Irish culture. Additional poems and letters by Joyce will be interspersed among the songs to more accurately paint “A Portrait of the Artist."
The recital opens with songs by Geoffrey Molyneux Palmer, a composer with whom Joyce communicated during his lifetime. Joyce expressed in his letters that, of the many musical settings of his Chamber Music poems, Palmer’s were the best.
The evening also includes a melody written by Joyce (an amateur musician himself) and beautifully set to one of his own poems.
If the old adage holds true that on St. Patrick’s Day “everyone is Irish,” then expect a night of rollicking tunes, touching ballads, and an open-armed greeting of Caed Mille Failte! (a hundred thousand welcomes)
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Tenor Brian Manternach has appeared across the country in recitals, concerts, opera and musical theatre. He has made recent local appearances with the American Fork Symphony and in the title role of M. Ryan Taylor’s The Other Wise Man, produced by New Opera Works.
Pianist Cloe Hewett is an award-winning performer and teacher. She frequently appears as soloist as well as accompanist for singers and vocal groups. She maintains a piano studio in American Fork.
Download : Poster
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Just in time for a Valentine date night: a romantic evening of classic songs from musical theater and opera. Beautiful voices mix with music from Phantom of the Opera, Seven Brides, Tales of Hoffman, Camelot, Secret Garden, Trial by Jury, She Loves Me and more.
To enhance the "food of love" theme, audience members will also have a chance to win one of several gift certificates from local restaurants and eateries, including Cobblestone Cafe, Colorado Kernels & IHOP.
This concert was organized by Janilyn Anderson and VocalWorks.org producer M. Ryan Taylor and involves a number of excellent local singers:
| Janilyn Anderson | Andrea Bowles Custer | Ruth Ellis | Kimberlee Talbot | M. Ryan Taylor |
Sara Thomas |
Neil Whitaker |
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Janilyn has performed with Utah Opera, Utah Lyric Opera Society, New Opera Works, and Utah Symphony. Past president of the National Association of Teachers of Singing Southern Utah Chapter, Janilyn has a great passion for teaching and owns her own vocal studio. She has a Bachelor degree in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy from BYU. Other passions include shoes, Belgian chocolate, and a tall, dark, handsome husband. |
Andrea Bowles Custer, soprano, received her Bachelor of Music from Utah State University, and her Master of Arts from San Jose State University, both in Vocal Performance. She has performed with Opera San Jose and will perform with Utah Opera in March. Andrea curently teaches voice and piano, and continues her own vocal studies with Dr. Arden Hopkin. |
Ruth Ellis was raised in Orem and at the age of 19 bought a one way ticket to New York to pursue her education at the internationally renowned conseratory, The Manhattan School of Music. There Ms. Ellis earned her Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Vocal Performance. During her fourteen years of study and performance in New York City, Ruth enjoyed an interesting mix of genres. She had the opportunity to create several roles in their New York or World Premieres. Other operatic roles performed range from The Queen of the Night in Mozart's The Magic Flute, to the title role in Naughty Marietta with Utah Festival Opera Company. |
Soprano Kimberlee Talbot was born and raised in Sandy, UT. She completed her BM and MM at BYU and is happy to be back in Sandy working and teaching voice. She is excited for this opportunity to sing with such talented musicians and would like to thank her family and friends for their love and support. |
Baritone, M. Ryan Taylor was raised in Southern California, but since completing degrees in vocal performance and composition at BYU, has adopted Utah Valley as his home and base of operations. Taylor created VocalWorks.org to create opportunities for the public to hear the excellent talent native to the Utah Valley area and has since become involved with the American Fork Arts Council, serving on the newly created "Classic Voice" board with his wife Dixie. You can learn more about Taylor at his website: MRyanTaylor.com | Soprano Sara Thomas spent this last summer in
New York City where she sang Norina in Don Pasquale and Kate Pinkerton in
Madama Butterfly. She has sung other operatic leading roles in
Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, Puccini's La boheme, and Guilbert
and Sullivan's HMS Pinafore. She has soloed with the Mormon Tabernacle
Choir at Tanglewood and on their nationally televised weekly broadcast.
"Her performance of the queen of the night's aria from the Magic Flute at Vocal Works' Halloween benefit concert literally astounded and electrified the audience. I gauge this not only by the enthusiastic applause, but the enthusiastic comments made to me after concert." |
Neil loves to sing and is seen in community theater and concerts from Salt Lake to St. George, performing classical and musical theater favorites. He dedicates this performance to the late George Whitaker, his father and favorite baritone. |
About the accompanist : Norma Mitchell studied voice and piano at the McCune School of Music and earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from BYU. She accompanies The Madsen Women’s Chorus, The Utah Polynesian Choir, and four lovely sopranos known as “Sing Joy.”
Download: "If Music be the Food of Love!" Press Release High-res Poster
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Beautiful music, moving drama and heavenly voices combine as New Opera Works (NOW) and Utah based composer M. Ryan Taylor bring American author Henry Van Dyke's classic Christmas tale to life. The Story : Join Artaban (the other wise man) as he discovers the sign of Christ's birth and travels to meet his fellow magi to offer gifts (a sapphire, a ruby and a pearl) to 'the king of light.' After stopping to help a sick stranger along the way, Artaban discovers he has missed the caravan and has been left behind. So begins a personal journey to find his king; a journey frustrated at every turn, one that will last his entire life. Bearing Gifts to You : One of the unique features of this production is that it travels, taking in three different locations during the month of December: Provo, Salt Lake City and American Fork. "Opera doesn't often travel, but we decided early on we wanted to 'take it to the people' as much as we could," says Taylor. "The soul of opera is great music, great stories and great voices. Take away the big sets and you can take it anywhere. This is the kind of experience you can't get in a movie or even in a large theater. I mean, here an actor stands right there beside you, singing to you. There really is nothing else like that around." About the Composer : 'The Other Wise Man' is Taylor's second opera. The first, 'Abinadi,' was BYU opera's mainstage production in 2003 and has since been seen numerous times on KBYU & BYUTV. "While 'Abinadi' was written in the grand opera tradition with a large ensemble, chorus and orchestra," says Taylor, "'The Other Wise Man' is much more down to earth and intimate. It requires only six singers who play a number of roles throughout the work. Instead of focusing on how big I could make it, I focused on how close I could get to the audience. I think the music reflects that, a desire to bring the audience together and really inspire them. Also, Van Dyke's story is timeless. Those who know it will enjoy re-living it. Those who are discovering it for the first time will hopefully discover something about themselves and come away refreshed." About NOW : NOW was organized in 2006 by Taylor to provide an intimate chamber opera experience in Utah. Members of the group include Brian Manternach, Gary Sorenson, Clara Hurtado, Lynnette Owens and Janilyn Anderson; all bring extensive performance credits and experience to this production. Manternach, who will be playing the title role, moved to Utah this year while finishing his doctorate in vocal performance at Indiana University's prestigious Jacobs School of Music. Sorenson and Hurtado have both recently sung in Utah Opera's workshops for their upcoming production of "The Grapes of Wrath." Of Owens' Paradigm Concert performance, Jeff Manookian of the Salt Lake Tribune said, “The talent of Owens was a cornerstone of the success of this performance . . . [her] vocalizations were top-notch in every sense of the word.” Anderson has performed with the Utah Symphony, Utah Lyric Opera Society and Sundance Summer Concert Series. Taylor, who sang the role of King Noah in BYU's stage production of his "Abinadi," completes the group. Arias from Scene 2 (MP3)Master, I Can Run! (Scene 2) Seeking to Follow (Scene 2)
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Wicked Good! : a Halloween benefit concert
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