The Janet Lowrey Gager Community Concert Series returns to Sweet Briar’s Memorial Chapel at noon Tuesday, Sept. 19 to kick off its annual lunchtime concerts. The series, which is free and open to the public, features music from around the world.
Audience members are invited bring a bag lunch and sit back and enjoy the 50-minute concerts.
Michael HavensThe 2006-07 season will start with “Music of Italy” performed by four Sweet Briar music faculty members, guitarist Michael Havens, soprano Marcia Thom, mezzo-soprano Mimi Hermosa and pianist Rebecca McCord.
Havens, an acoustic and classical guitar soloist, also plays with the guitar and flute duo Con Eleganza and acoustic guitar duo Entre Nous. He will perform “Le Rossiniane, Op. 123” by Mauro Giuliani, a 19th-century guitar virtuoso and composer who counted Beethoven and Rossini among his friends.
Havens lives in Roanoke and teaches guitar at several colleges. He began guitar lessons at around age 12 and later studied at Radford University and the Cincinnati Conservatory.
Marcia Jones ThomSoprano Marcia Jones Thom will sing arias from Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro” and Puccini’s “Turnadot” and “Tosca.”
Thom has performed roles with opera companies in several U.S. cities. Local listeners might know her from the role of Nedda in Opera on the James’ inaugural production of “Pagliacci” and as a featured soloist. Equally at home on the musical theater stage, Thom is an Equity actress and has performed extensively with theater companies in Tennessee.
She made her Alice Tully Hall debut in New York City as a winner of the Liederkranz Competition. Thom is an adjunct instructor at Sweet Briar, where she teaches opera workshop and vocal performance.
Mimi Hermosa, who has taught voice at Sweet Briar for more than 15 years, will sing a selection of Neapolitan songs.
Mimi HermosaA graduate of Westminster Choir College, Hermosa received additional training at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia. She has performed extensively in the area, including faculty art song recitals while teaching at Lynchburg College. Hermosa has been alto soloist on numerous occasions with different local choral groups, including the Jefferson Choral Society and the Lynchburg Symphony.
Pianist Rebecca McCord will perform “Ricercare and Toccata” on a theme from “The Old Maid and the Thief” by Gian-Carlo Menotti. During the spring 2007 semester, this opera will be performed at Sweet Briar directed by Caitlin Cashin for her senior Bachelor of Fine Arts project.
McCord has performed as solo recitalist, chamber musician and soloist with orchestras in the United States, Europe and Asia. She earned her doctorate and the prestigious Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. McCord has been on the faculty at Sweet Briar College since 1985.
The second concert in this year’s series breaks from the usual noontime mold. “Music of Russia,” will be presented 7:30 p.m. Nov. 1. Performers will include baritone Jonathan Green, piano and violin duo Nicholas and Jana Ross, guitarist Havens, and pianists McCord, Kathryn Whittemore and Laura Delafield.
The Janet Lowrey Gager Community Concert Series is made possible by the support of Forrest Gager, in memory of his wife Janet, who served as Sweet Briar’s director of public relations.
The final performance, featuring the music of France, will be presented at noon, March 27, 2007. For more information, e-mail
mccord@sbc.edu or call 381-6115.
