WEST LIBERTY, W.Va., Nov. 17, 2015 – West Liberty University’s Community Chorus presents George Frideric Handel’s “Messiah” at 7 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 21 at the J. B. Chambers Performing Arts Center at Wheeling Park High School. The Baroque-era oratorio is a holiday classic and the performance is free and open to the public. It is a result of a collaboration between WLU Department of Music and Vance Memorial Presbyterian Church.
“Our annual performance of the ‘Messiah’ this year features the new community chorus along with a professional orchestra. I’m excited with the success of our College Community Chorus. We have over 100 singers, representing faculty members, WLU students, high school teachers and students from over five area schools and plenty of community members,” said Dr. Scott Glysson, WLU director of choral activities and choirs.
Glysson will conduct the debut performance. Soloists include Dr. Angela Day, Timothi Williams, Adam Bonanni and Daniel Teadt.
- Day, soprano, is an adjunct professor of voice at WLU. She holds both Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees in Vocal Performance from Louisiana State University, as well as a Bachelor of Science degree in Vocal Performance from Mid-America Christian University. She has performed many roles in opera both at LSU and locally.
- Williams, mezzo-soprano, is a second year graduate student in the Vocal Performance and Pedagogy program at Penn State. She received her Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from WLU in 2014. She has been named a semi-finalist in the Eastern Regional National Association of Teachers of Singing Competition (2012) and was awarded first place in the Tri-State National Association of Teachers of Singing Competition in her division in 2013 and 2014. Upon graduation, she plans to pursue a classical performance career.
- Bonanni is a second-year Pittsburgh Opera Resident Artist. In 2015-16, he will be seen as Abdallo/Nabucco, Laurie/Little Women, Pablo Picasso/27 and Count Almaviva/The Barber Of Seville Student Matinee. He was a guest soloist in Mozart’s Requiem at Erie Philharmonic in April 2015. As a member of Chicago Lyric Opera’s Ryan Opera Center in 2013-14, Bonanni appeared as Gastone/La traviata and The Fourth Esquire/Parsifal; he was additionally a featured soloist at the 2013 Ravinia Festival and Grant Park Music Festival. He also debuted on the Carnegie Hall main stage as the tenor soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the St. Cecilia Chorus. He made his Lincoln Center debut with Maestra Eve Queler and The Opera Orchestra of New York as The Priore/I Lombardi.
- Teadt has performed throughout the United States and Europe in more than 30 operatic roles in repertoire spanning more than 400 years. His range of repertoire includes his New York City Opera debut as the title role in Telemann’s Orpheus. Recently he performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Susquehanna Vallay Chorale, Resonance Works, Pittsburgh Song Collaborative and Lyric Fest. He will be appearing with Pittsburgh Opera in Little Women, Akron Symphony for the Faure Requiem, West Liberty Chorale’s Messiah, Resonance Works, Elgar’s The Apostles with the Riverside Symphonia and the New York City premiere of Missa Latina with Canticum Novum. Other notable highlights include Grammy Award winning performances with the London Symphony Orchestra, appearances with Pittsburgh Opera, San Francisco Opera, Aix-en-provence Festival, Arizona Opera, Opera Theatre of St Louis, Anchorage Opera, Ashlawn Opera Festival and Central City Opera among others.
Glysson holds a master’s and a doctorate in choral conducting from The University of Arizona and a bachelor’s in music education from George Mason University. He has also been honored as a finalist in the Western Division American Choral Directors Association Conducting Masterclass Competition. For more information on the community chorus or information on joining, please email scott.glysson@westliberty.edu.