What: A benefit concert for Help!ComeHome!
When: Tuesday, June 19th, 6pm
Where: Bemis Hall, 15 Beford Rd, Lincoln, MA 01773
The Boston Opera Collaborative has graciously partnered with Help!ComeHome! to program a concert fundraiser whose proceeds will directly benefit Help!ComeHome! and the communities it serves throughout the US and Navajo Nation. Please join Soprano Sarah Joyce Cooper, pianists Rachel Goodwin and Tae Kim, and violinists Thomas Cooper and Roland Clark for an evening of Bach, Beethoven, Strauss, Turina, Dorado Schmitt, and African American Spirituals.
If you’re familiar with Help!ComeHome!, you know that for over a decade our volunteers and board members have served US citizens throughout the nation from countless backgrounds, traditions, and socioeconomic stations. Regardless of background, each of us has experienced the beauty of a cool breeze on a hot day, the comfort of a familiar face in a new and strange setting, the heaviness of heartbreak, the pain of losing a loved one... While it’s impossible to capture the entire emotional spectrum of the human experience in one concert, our program will seek to celebrate and explore these universal experiences through the variety of styles presented and the poetic text of the art songs and spirituals.
A reception will follow featuring singer and guitarist Darla Dee-Gould and violinist Roland Clark.
Program
Tchavolo Swing - Tchovalo Schmitt
Tres Poemas (Olas gigantes, Tu pupila es azul, Besa el aura) - Joaquín Turina
Sonata No. 1 in G minor (Fuga, Siciliane, Presto) - J. S. Bach
Selections from Richard Strauss (Ständchen, Wiegenlied, Ich schwebe, Morgen)
Intermission
Partita No. 3 in E Major (Preludio, Loure, Gavotte en Rondeau) - J. S. Bach
Sonata No. 8 in G major Op. 30 No. 3 - Ludwig van Beethoven
Spirituals
His Name So Sweet (Hall Johnson, arr.)
Motherless Child (Moses Hogan, arr.)
Deep River (H. T. Burleigh, arr.)
About the musicians:
Soprano Sarah Joyce Cooper earned her Bachelor’s Degree in French from Princeton University and her Master of Music Degree in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy from Westminster Choir College. Previous performances include Pamina in Die Zauberflöte (CoOPERAtive), Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro (Savannah Voice Festival), Micaëla in Carmen (Martina Arroyo’s Prelude to Performance), and Violetta in La Traviata (CoOPERAtive). In 2016, Sarah was a first-place winner of the Coeur d’Alene Symphony Young Artists Competition and the Westminster Choir College Voice Scholarship competition. Sarah also received the 2017 Colleen and Edward Carducci Encouragement Award at the Metropolitan National Council Auditions in Columbia, South Carolina. In January 2018, Sarah was awarded first place in the Opera and Operetta division for The American Prize. As a Principal Artist for the 2017-2018 season of the Boston Opera Collaborative, Sarah performed the role of Mimi in La Bohème with the company in April.
In addition to performing, Sarah is also the Executive Assistant for Help!ComeHome! Sarah is a regular volunteer with the organization, offering her musical and administrative skills to further its mission.
Thomas Cooper, from Lincoln, MA, received a BM in violin performance from Oberlin Conservatory in 2017. There, as a student of Milan Vitek and Peter Slowik, Cooper received top prizes at the 2017 Naftzger Young Artist Competition, the 2015 Ohio Society Competition, the 2015 Coeur D’Alene Symphony National Competition, and the 2014 Arlington National Competition. During his time at Oberlin, Cooper served as concertmaster of both the Oberlin Orchestra and Contemporary Music Ensemble, and appeared with his chamber groups on Oberlin Honors Showcase Recitals and on tours. Passionate about chamber music, Cooper spent summers at Greenwood Music Camp, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Colorado College Summer Music Festival, Mozarteum Summer Academy (Salzburg), the Litomysl International Masterclass (Czech Republic), Keshet Eilon International Mastercourse (Israel), and Nagold Sommermusik (Germany), receiving additional instruction from such renowned artists as Vadim Gluzman, Ilya Kaler, Itzakh Rashkovsky, Ani Schnarch and Per Ennokson. Equally at home with the solo repertoire, Cooper has performed concerti with the Colorado College Festival Orchestra, the Coeur D’Alene Symphony Orchestra, The Credo Baroque Orchestra, and the Middlesex Chamber Orchestra among others. Cooper successfully competed to play as a soloist on both the 2014 Danenburg Honors Recital as well as the 2017 Commencement Recital at Oberlin. He has performed in masterclasses for such artists and pedagogues as Christian Tetzlaff, David Kim, Kevork Mardirossian, and Nicholas Kitchen. Cooper continues his studies at New England Conservatory as a student of Malcolm Lowe (Concertmaster, Boston Symphony). Cooper is passionate about his faith in God, and led the men’s Bible study for the Oberlin chapter of Intervarsity Christian Fellowship. In his spare time, he enjoys cooking, sailing, and all things to do with aviation.
Roland Clark studied violin performance at Boston University with Peter Zazofsky and at McGill University with Felicia Moye. He was a member of the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra from 2012-2014 and the McGill University Orchestra in 2014-2015, and attended Greenwood Music Camp from 2011-2013, where he studied with Rebecca Fischer. Roland has been active in the Green Mountain Mahler Festival and has participated in the LyricaFest Chamber music festival in Lincoln, MA, studying with Laura Bossert. In addition to his experience as a classical musician, Roland is an accomplished violinist in the realms of folk, bluegrass, irish, country music and jazz. For his high school senior music project, he collaborated and performed with the renowned jazz guitarist Bill Frisell. Roland co-founded the Vermont-based newgrass ensemble Beg, Steal or Borrow, which won a number of festival awards in 2017 and will be appearing this summer at the Greyfox, Podunk, and Green Mountain Bluegrass and Roots festivals among others. In his free time he enjoys running, cooking/baking, Monty Python, Shakespeare, and outdoor activities such as hiking and canoeing. Roland lives with his family in Johnson, Vermont.
Pianist Rachel Goodwin is renowned for her musicianship as well as for her artistic leadership and innovation. A pioneer in the chamber music landscape, Goodwin founded and served as Artistic Director of Ashmont Hill Chamber Music, an urban and grassroots supported chamber music series based in Dorchester, MA, for nearly three decades. Together with a core group of musicians with connections to some of Boston’s finest musical institutions she has designed, implemented and performed in concerts hailed by the press for their “gutsy, risk-taking programming” (Patriot Ledger). She is pleased to continue collaborating with these musicians as Artistic Director and member of Convergence Ensemble.
Ms. Goodwin has performed solo recitals and as a chamber musician throughout the eastern United States and California. She has also been heard in WGBH, WCRB and WUMB radio broadcasts. Ms. Goodwin holds an M.M. with honors from the New England Conservatory and a Diploma in Piano Performance from the Mannes College of Music in New York. Her teachers were Edith Oppens, Barbara Shearer, and Alexander Lieberman. Other mentors include Karl Ulrich Schnabel, Gyorgy Sebok and Eugene Lehner.
A dedicated teacher, Ms Goodwin served on the piano faculty of the College of Holy Cross and has taught chamber music for New England Conservatory’s Preparatory and Continuing Education divisions. She maintains an active private studio.
Pianist Tae Kim has been hailed as a "highly skilled improviser" by the New York Times and "prickly and explosive" by the Montreal Gazette. His rare blend of rigorous execution and whimsical styling creates an interpretation of the classical repertoire all his own.
Tae has gained widespread recognition as a classical pianist and improvisational artist. His innovative "Walk on the wild side" by Lou Reed concert at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and Salle d'Institut in Orléans, France, featured not only his classical improvisation on the very song by Lou Reed but traditional repertoire ranging from Robert Schumann to rarely heard Olivier Greif. His unique talent for classical improvisation earned him "Prix d'interprétation André Chevillion–Yvonne Bonnaud" for the premiere of his work, "Translate (2016)" at the 12e Concours international de piano d'Orléans, as well as "Prix–Mention Spéciale Edison Denisov". Part of the Piano at South Station, Tae regularly played on Thursdays in the middle of a train station amidst the confused if not pleased onlookers and travelers. He has soloed with many ensembles, including Cambridge Philharmonic, Yurodivy Chamber Orchestra, Hemenway Strings, and Boston Conservatory Orchestra. The Boston Globe praised his "sparkling performance" of Beethoven's Fifth Piano Concerto with the BCO as a "glimpse of radiant talent".
Avid collaborator, Tae has performed with Aliana de la Guardia (Guerilla Opera), Andrew Eng (A Far Cry), Augustine Gonzales (award-winning Gonzales|Kim Duo), and is the pianist for the New England-based Revere Piano Quartet with Jin-Kyung Joen, Ron Gorevic, and Eugene Kim. Tae has also partnered with "America's most wired composer" Tod Machover in such productions as Central Square Theatre's 2012 play "Remembering H.M.", part of the 2013 Edinburgh Festival's "Repertoire Remix" and as one of the presenters in "Reconstructing Beethoven's Improvisations" at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Tae's teachers include Jonathan Bass, Bruce Brubaker, Janice Weber, and Patricia Zander.
About Boston Opera Collaborative
Boston Opera Collaborative offers fresh opera experiences that put our audiences in close contact with the power of the human voice. Our year-round performance calendar features Boston’s brightest young talent in energetic and intimate productions of repertoire ranging from canon favorites to Boston premieres. We bring opera into unexpected places and find new ways to tell familiar stories, inviting the uninitiated to see their first opera and welcoming the lifetime fan to engage with our unique brand of music theater.
Boston Opera Collaborative’s roster artists come to us from the nation’s top conservatories, making Boston their home as they pursue the next stage of their careers. BOC provides performance and outreach opportunities, continuing education and professional development resources. We also provide opportunities for singers and others interested in arts administration to serve in an administrative capacity in one of our operational departments, from Production to Development, Marketing to Finance. Through this business model, they gain valuable hands-on experience in administrative skills that support their future careers in the arts.
