Sunday, Dec. 15, at 4 pm.
Our Lady Queens of Martyrs, located on Ascan Avenue and Queens Boulevard

The Sacred Music Society of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Church (Forest Hills) presents its Annual Christmas Concert on Sunday, Dec. 15, at 4 pm. The Sacred Music Society joins the Oratorio Society of Queens to perform this concert under the artistic direction of Maestro David Close, who is the church’s Music Director.

The program includes the Christmas portion of Handel’s “Messiah” with Christmas carols and holiday songs. The show features Jennifer Gliere (soprano), John Easterlin (tenor), and Nathan Bahny (bass-baritone with the Orchestral Arts Ensemble of Queens).

The second half features “The Many Moods of Christmas, Suite 1,” a suite of carols from the incomparable team of Robert Shaw and Robert Russell Bennett, including “Adeste Fideles” and “Silent Night.” Easterlin returns from a long engagement in Broadway’s “Phantom of the Opera” to sing his thrilling “Ten Thousand Joys.” Then take a ride in the snow and clap along to Leroy Anderson’s “Sleigh Ride.” The entire chorus and orchestra do “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing,” and the night finishes with “O Holy Night.”

The concert is performed in Our Lady Queens of Martyrs, located on Ascan Avenue and Queens Boulevard. Tickets are $35 general admission and $10 for children 12 and under accompanied by an adult. For more information, call the rectory at 718.268.6251.

Artists

DAVID CLOSE, conductor, is Director of Music and Organist of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs and its Sacred Music Society and organist of Temple Am Echad in Lynbrook. Maestro Close is Artistic Director and Conductor of The Oratorio Society of Queens and The Orchestral Arts Ensemble of Queens. For many years, he served as conductor and vocal coach of the Queens College Opera Theater and conducted performances of the Singers’ Theater of Westchester, the Manhattan Opera and the New York Lyric Opera and Summer Sings for the New York Choral Society and the Masterwork Chorus of New Jersey. He created Musica Reginae Productions and was a founding member of the Flushing Council on Culture and the Arts. He has conducted in the annual Messiah Sing-in at New York’s Philharmonic Hall and he just recently conducted a New York Choral Society Summer Sing at Symphony Space. Maestro Close will also appear in a Holiday Concert with the Oratorio Society of Queens on Sunday, Dec. 22.

JENNIFER GLIERE, soprano, has been described as “a sensitive artist who knows how to turn a phrase while giving urgent meaning to the text.” She has appeared in recital and oratorio in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Ukraine, and throughout the United States. She has given two recital tours in Mexico, performing in live festivals and events around the country as well as giving masterclasses to several youth choirs and appearing in television and radio studios. Her repertoire runs the gamut from Barbara Strozzi chamber music and cantatas, early Baroque zarzuelas, Handel’s “Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day,” Bach’s “B Minor Mass/Magnificat,” and Rossini’s “Stabat Mater” to Luigi Dallapiccola’s “Canti di Prigionia” and Poulenc’s “Gloria.” This summer she returned to Russia with performances in Siberia, the Ural Mountains, and Moscow. Equally at home on the concert and operatic stages, Gliere has garnered rave reviews for her portrayals of many heroines; Violetta in “La traviata” was called a “delicate powerhouse… displaying vocal effervescence as good as any champagne.” Other noted roles include Gilda in “Rigoletto,”Suzel in Mascagni’s “L’amico Fritz” and Michaëla in “Carmen.” She has been involved with productions at the Bard Opera Theatre and appeared with Amor Artis and New Opera New York.

JOHN EASTERIN, tenor, a five-time Grammy and two-time Emmy winner with three listings in the Guinness Book of World Records, has performed at leading opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Los Angeles, and Seattle Opera, as well as appearing at many of the leading opera houses in Europe, including the Wiener Staatsoper, Opéra National de Paris, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Teatro Real, and English National Opera. A master puppeteer and certified magician, he was the first opera singer in history to win at the renowned Cannes Film Festival for his dual performance in “Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny” and a recipient of London’s prestigious Olivier Award for his Covent Garden debut in “The Gambler.” His career highlights include creating roles in two world premiere operas: Philip Glass and Andy Warhol’s “The Perfect American” and Larry King in Anthony Turnage’s “Anna Nicole.” and his Broadway debut as Ubaldo Piangi in “The Phantom of the Opera,” a role he portrayed for two years and over 850 performances.

NATHAN BAHNY, bass-baritone, has appeared in concert with the Wagner Society of Washington D.C, and as baritone soloist in an all-Mahler concert at the Kennedy Center. Operatic roles include Pizarro in Beethoven’s “Fidelio,” the four villains in “Tales of Hoffmann,” Mephistopheles in Gounod’s “Faust,” Alberich in Wagner’s “Ring Cycle” and the titular bloodsucker in the rarely performed “Der Vampyr” by Heinrich Marschner. He has also appeared in the world premiere of Seymour Barab’s opera “Savoir –Faire.” He has performed throughout the United States, including engagements with Opera Theater of Pittsburgh, Long Beach Opera, Sorg Opera, New York Grand Opera, Four Corners Opera of Colorado, Sanibel Music Festival, Opera Northeast, New Jersey Verismo Opera, the New York Liederkranz Society, and the Belleayre Music Festival. His extensive oratorio repertoire includes performances of Handel’s “Messiah,” Beethoven’s “Symphony Number 9,” the Verdi and Mozart “Requiems,” Mendelssohn’s “Elijah,” Bach’s “St. Matthew Passion” and the Brahms “Deutsches Requiem.” Bahny made his Broadway debut in Baz Luhrmann’s production of Puccini’s “La Boheme” and on “Late Night with David Letterman.” Recordings include the Polygram CD, “Chants Mystique” and the Metropolitan Opera’s Grammy Award-winning recording of Wagner’s “Der Ring des Nibelungen.”

SACRED MUSIC SOCIETY OF OUR LADY QUEEN OF MARTYRS was founded in 1983. It presented its first major Christmas Concert in 1984. Excerpts from G.F. Handel’s “Messiah” and Christmas carols and holiday favorites were featured. The combined choruses of the Choir of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs and the Oratorio Society of Queens are joined by professional soloists and a full symphony orchestra to make this outstanding presentation, one without equal in the borough of Queens. The performance of the Annual Christmas Concert has become a tradition that continues to the present day under the direction of Music Director and Conductor, Maestro David Close.

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Tickets
Tickets are $35 general admission and $10 for children 12 and under accompanied by an adult.