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<\/a><\/p>\nThe 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\u2019s Music Director.<\/p>\n
The program includes the Christmas portion of Handel\u2019s \u201cMessiah\u201d 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).<\/p>\n
The second half features \u201cThe Many Moods of Christmas, Suite 1,\u201d a suite of carols from the incomparable team of Robert Shaw and Robert Russell Bennett, including \u201cAdeste Fideles\u201d and \u201cSilent Night.\u201d Easterlin returns from a long engagement in Broadway\u2019s \u201cPhantom of the Opera\u201d to sing his thrilling \u201cTen Thousand Joys.\u201d Then take a ride in the snow and clap along to Leroy Anderson\u2019s \u201cSleigh Ride.\u201d The entire chorus and orchestra do \u201cHark! the Herald Angels Sing,\u201d and the night finishes with \u201cO Holy Night.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Artists<\/p>\n
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\u2019 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
JENNIFER GLIERE, soprano, has been described as \u201ca sensitive artist who knows how to turn a phrase while giving urgent meaning to the text.\u201d 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\u2019s \u201cOde for St. Cecilia\u2019s Day,\u201d Bach\u2019s \u201cB Minor Mass\/Magnificat,\u201d and Rossini\u2019s \u201cStabat Mater\u201d to Luigi Dallapiccola\u2019s \u201cCanti di Prigionia\u201d and Poulenc\u2019s \u201cGloria.\u201d 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 \u201cLa traviata\u201d was called a \u201cdelicate powerhouse… displaying vocal effervescence as good as any champagne.\u201d Other noted roles include Gilda in \u201cRigoletto,\u201dSuzel in Mascagni\u2019s \u201cL\u2019amico Fritz\u201d and Micha\u00ebla in \u201cCarmen.\u201d She has been involved with productions at the Bard Opera Theatre and appeared with Amor Artis and New Opera New York.<\/p>\n
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, Op\u00e9ra 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 \u201cRise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny\u201d and a recipient of London\u2019s prestigious Olivier Award for his Covent Garden debut in \u201cThe Gambler.\u201d His career highlights include creating roles in two world premiere operas: Philip Glass and Andy Warhol\u2019s \u201cThe Perfect American\u201d and Larry King in Anthony Turnage\u2019s \u201cAnna Nicole.\u201d and his Broadway debut as Ubaldo Piangi in \u201cThe Phantom of the Opera,\u201d a role he portrayed for two years and over 850 performances.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s \u201cFidelio,\u201d the four villains in \u201cTales of Hoffmann,\u201d Mephistopheles in Gounod\u2019s \u201cFaust,\u201d Alberich in Wagner\u2019s \u201cRing Cycle\u201d and the titular bloodsucker in the rarely performed \u201cDer Vampyr\u201d by Heinrich Marschner. He has also appeared in the world premiere of Seymour Barab\u2019s opera \u201cSavoir \u2013Faire.\u201d 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\u2019s \u201cMessiah,\u201d Beethoven\u2019s \u201cSymphony Number 9,\u201d the Verdi and Mozart \u201cRequiems,\u201d Mendelssohn\u2019s \u201cElijah,\u201d Bach\u2019s \u201cSt. Matthew Passion\u201d and the Brahms \u201cDeutsches Requiem.\u201d Bahny made his Broadway debut in Baz Luhrmann\u2019s production of Puccini\u2019s \u201cLa Boheme\u201d and on \u201cLate Night with David Letterman.\u201d Recordings include the Polygram CD, \u201cChants Mystique\u201d and the Metropolitan Opera\u2019s Grammy Award-winning recording of Wagner\u2019s \u201cDer Ring des Nibelungen.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019s \u201cMessiah\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
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\nTickets
\nTickets are $35 general admission and $10 for children 12 and under accompanied by an adult.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sunday, Dec. 15, at 4 pm. Our Lady Queens of Martyrs, located on Ascan Avenue and Queens Boulevard<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stay-connected-to-the-latest-local-events"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=74879"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74879\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74881,"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74879\/revisions\/74881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=74879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=74879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=74879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}