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Carley DeFranco, soprano
Emily Harmon, mezzo-soprano
Jonathan Shin, piano
Join soprano Carley DeFranco, mezzo-soprano Emily Harmon, and pianist Jonathan Shin for an evening celebrating women of classical and contemporary music, in addition to raising awareness and funds for the Joyful Heart Foundation. This program features a new song cycle by Juliana Hall titled 'Through the Guarded Gate' to the poetry of Margaret Widdemer. More highlights include Lori Laitman's cycle 'Orange Afternoon Lover' on poems by Margaret Atwood and Marti Epstein's 'Sheep in Fog' on Sylvia Plath texts, as well as some surprise a cappella folk music!
WHEN:
Saturday, May 4, 2019 @ 8pm
WHERE:
First Congregational Church
495 Canton Ave, Milton 02186
TICKETS: $10-$20
Through ticket sales and online donations, our goal is to raise $1000 for the Joyful Heart Foundation. Joyful Heart's mission is to “transform society’s response to sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse, support survivors’ healing, and end this violence forever.” If you are not able to attend the concert but would still like to donate to this cause, please visit our fundraising page.
“Sunny” and “soaring” soprano Carley DeFranco is the 2018-19 Lorraine Hunt Lieberson Fellow with Emmanuel Music. This season brings the Sunday Bach cantata series, Handel’s Ode for St. Cecilia, Bach’s Easter Oratorio and Lucy Lockit in The Beggar’s Opera arranged by Britten. Her other operatic roles include Alcina (Opera del West), Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro (Greater Worcester Opera), Zuniga in The Tragedy of Carmen (Opera Theatre of Cape Cod), Yvette in La Rondine: Remix (Boston Opera Collaborative), and four years of world premieres in BOC’s annual presentations of “Opera Bites”. A champion of Bach, Handel and Mozart, Carley has appeared as a soloist with the North Carolina Master Chorale, Providence Singers, Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Bach Sinfonia, Arlington Philharmonic Orchestra and Polymnia Choral Society. In demand for her performances of new music by American composers, Carley has given premieres at the Kennedy Center, Fog X FLO on the Emerald Necklace, New England Conservatory, Middlesex Community College, Longy School of Music and American University. This summer she will perform the role of The Rose in The Little Prince with NEMPAC Opera Studio at Faneuil Hall and will début at the American Bach Soloists Festival in San Francisco.
Praised for her “velvety mezzo-soprano voice” (Pittsburgh in the Round), Emily Harmon has appeared with companies including Pittsburgh Festival Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra, Beth Morrison Projects, Boston Opera Collaborative, MassOpera, and the Worcester Youth Symphony Orchestra. This summer she will cover the role of Suzuki in Madama Butterfly as a Bonfils-Stanton Foundation Apprentice Artist at Central City Opera. Some of Emily’s favorite past operatic roles include Amastre (Xerxes), the Marquise de Merteuil (The Dangerous Liaisons), Dido (Dido and Aeneas), the Old Lady (Candide), Elder Constance (Second Nature), Ruth (Dark Sisters), and Auntie (The Scarlet Ibis). In concert, Emily has performed the alto solos in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Handel's Messiah, Mozart's Requiem, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, and Arvo Pärt's Stabat Mater. Emily made her Jordan Hall debut singing the world premiere of Kati Agòcs' Hyacinth Curl with Hub New Music, and later made her Symphony Hall debut singing the alto solo in Purcell’s Come, Ye Sons of Art, Z.323. She was the resident Alto of the Handel + Haydn Society Educational Outreach Quartet for two years until its dissolution in 2018. She holds both an M.M. and a B.M. in Vocal Performance from Boston University and resides in Boston with her rescue dog, Captain.
Jonathan Shin isn’t sure if he’s a composer-pianist or pianist-composer; some nights he even masquerades as a guitarist and belts the Beatles at his forgiving friends. In his un-free time he can be found working on his commissions – which this year include an orchestral work celebrating Singapore’s Bicentennial, and incidental music for a children’s play – or performing recitals with unusual themes (his latest recital solely featured composers who suffered from syphilis).
He is a founding member of the Lorong Boys, an instrumental quintet who are equally comfortable performing Vivaldi as they are grooving to a Charlie Parker tune. At its core, the quintet believes in, and aims to provide democratic, universal access to classical music.
Founded in 2004 by Law & Order: SVU star Mariska Hargitay, the Joyful Heart Foundation carries out its mission through an integrated program portfolio of healing, education, and advocacy. [Their] work is paving the way for innovative approaches to treating trauma, igniting shifts in the way the public views and responds to sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse, and reforming legislation to ensure justice for survivors.
The Joyful Heart Foundation is is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit organization and is a Charity Navigator four-star charity. For more information, please visit http://www.joyfulheartfoundation.org