The Choral Society presents a rare opportunity for area singers to spend a day working on their vocal performance skills with celebrated choral conductor Dr. Eugene Rogers. Among his many accolades, including a Grammy nomination, is the recent award from Chorus America for the commission of a new choral oratorio. He serves as director of the prestigious Washington Chorus (D.C.) and is on the faculty at the University of Michigan.
The day-long Singers’ Workshop is to be held on the lovely Music Academy of the West campus in Lehmann Hall on Saturday, May 21, from 10 am – 3:30 pm.
Dr. Rogers will lead the attendees in two sessions: Mozart’s Requiem in the morning and a medley of African-American spirituals in the afternoon. Participants are asked to bring their own lunch and the $25 fee for the workshop includes all music scores, a beverage and dessert. The registration fee is payable at the door.
Dr. Eugene Rogers is a two-time Michigan Emmy Award winner, a 2017 Sphinx Medal of Excellence recipient, and a 2015 GRAMMY® Award nominee, Eugene Rogers is recognized as a leading conductor and pedagogue throughout the United States and abroad. Dr. Rogers is the director of choirs and an associate professor of conducting at the University of Michigan. Recently, he was named as the fifth Artistic Director of the two-time GRAMMY® Award-Winning Ensemble, The Washington Chorus (Washington, D.C.). Visit www.eugenerogers.com
Venue
Lehmann Hall, Music Academy of the West
1070 Fairway Road
Santa Barbara, CA 93108
Date
Saturday, May 21, 2022, 10 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Tickets
$25 collected at the door. Deadline for registration is May 10.
American baritone, Ralph Cato has travelled the world extensively, telling stories in song with his warm, clarion baritone voice.
Tenor, Benjamin Brecher has performed over fifty operatic roles with many of the world’s most prestigious opera companies, specializing in the high lying lyric tenor repertoire. He has performed 16 roles with New York City Opera alone. Career highlights include performances with Opera Orchestra of New York, L’Opera de Nice, Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, L’Opera de Montreal, Santa Fe Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, among many others. His orchestral solo repertoire includes Mozart, Handel, Orff, Bach, Haydn, as well as many performances of Britten. In 2000 he began performing the great Irish Tenor songs in a concert produced for him entitled A Celtic Celebration, Twenty years later, the show has become a North American hit with performances with 45 Symphonies in North America. Ben continues his discography having added his twelfth recording in 2016 Forgotten Liszt, with pianist Robert Koenig, and will record a new release in 2022 entitled “Three Centuries of Thomas Moore” including the music of Britten, Berlioz, and Sarah Gibson on MSR Classics. He is a Professor of Voice at University of California Santa Barbara, where he has served as the Head of Voice.
Born and raised in Southern California, April Amante is a versatile soprano with expertise and facility in repertoire spanning from early music to contemporary musical theater.
Tracy Van Fleet is pleased to return to the Santa Barbara Choral Society. As a soloist, she has performed with the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Lüneburg Symphony in Germany, Orquesta Filarmónica de Boca del Río in Mexico, Pasadena Symphony, Naples Philharmonic, Los Angeles Bach Festival, San Diego Chamber Orchestra, Colorado Philharmonic, USC Symphony and Chorus, and others. She has had many appearances with the Los Angeles Opera, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pacific Symphony, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Opera Pacific, San Diego Opera and Opera Colorado.