WESTCHESTER LUTHERAN CHURCH PRESENTS
40TH ANNUAL HANDEL MESSIAH CONCERT
WITH SINGERS FROM PACIFIC CHORALE AND LA OPERA
New
Building and Growth at WLC Marked by
40th Year of
Messiah Performance
Soprano Suzanne Lawrence
Suzanne has performed regularly at many Westside churches and
temples. Some of her oratorio credits include soprano solos in
Faure’s Requiem, Bach’s Magnificat, Mozart’s
Requiem, Vivaldi’s Gloria, and Rutter’s Requiem.
She has appeared in numerous operas, including Aida, La Traviata
and Madame Butterfly and has enjoyed singing and
traveling with Marina Singers, Concert Singers, South Bay Master
Chorale and Cambridge singers. She has enjoyed performing in places
as diverse as the Mormon Temple’s weekly service in Salt Lake City
and the Innsbrook Choral Festival, but lists as her favorite musical
experience her weekly singing with Westchester Lutheran Church.
Tenor John St. Marie
John St. Marie is
a frequent soloist in the Los Angeles area and is known for his
versatile, impassioned performances in various vocal styles. He has
received critical acclaim for his solo work in Bach’s B Minor Mass
with the John Alexander Singers, and in works by Lili Boulanger,
including Vieille Priére with the Pacific Chorale and Pacific
Symphony under the direction of John Alexander. As a featured
soloist, John has performed throughout Southern California, Utah,
and Louisiana in works such as Mozart’s Requiem, Vaughan
Williams’ Hodie, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Bach’s
St. John Passion, Schubert’s Mass in Eb, and Mendelssohn’s
Elijah. Mr. St. Marie has also brought to life numerous operatic
roles in productions of The Crucible, Lucia di
Mr. St. Marie graduated with a Bachelor of Music Therapy and a
Bachelor of Voice from Loyola University, a Master of Music in
Choral Conducting from California State University, Fullerton, and
is a Doctoral Candidate at the University of Southern California
having recently completed coursework and competencies for the
Doctorate of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting.
Bass-Baritone Michael Gallup, Bass-Baritone
A versatile singing actor, Michael Gallup earned praise for more
than two decades as a regular guest of a number of opera companies
throughout the United States, including the Los Angeles Opera,
Dallas Opera, New Jersey State Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre,Opera
Pacific, Portland Opera, Seattle Opera, San Diego Opera, Long Beach
Opera, Arizona Opera, Anchorage Opera, Dayton Opera, Orlando Opera
and Palm Beach Opera. He has also performed opera at the Hollywood
Bowl under Michael Tilson Thomas, Sir Charles Groves and Leonard
Slatkin.
Notable roles for Los Angeles Opera (where he has appeared in
forty-one productions) include Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s
Dream, Faninal in Der Rosenkavalier, the Sacristan in
Tosca, Trinity Moses in The Rise and Fall of the City of
Mahagonny, Doctor Bartolo in Le Nozze di Figaro and Il
Barbiere di Siviglia, Taddeo in L’Italiana in Algieri,
Don Alfonso in Cosí fan tutte, Dulcamara in L’Elisir
d’amore, Zuniga in Carmen, Czar Nicholas II in Deborah
Drattel’s operatic adaptation of Nicholas and Alexandra, and
Alcindoro/Benoit in La Bohéme.
Elsewhere he has performed to great acclaim the roles of Leporello
for Michigan Opera Theater, Opera Pacific, Dayton Opera and Utah
Opera, Dulcamara; Don Magnifico and Doctor Bartolo for Arizona
Opera; Dr. Bartolo in Il Barbiere di Siviglia for Opera Pacific and
Duluth Festival Opera; Dulcamara for the Lyric Opera of Kansas City;
Pooh-Bah in The Mikado for Utah Opera and Hawaii Opera; Mustafà in
L’Italiana in Algieri for the Palm Beach Opera; Faninal for Portland
Opera; Alcindoro/Benoit for Dallas Opera, Opera Pacific, and
Vancouver Opera; and Don Alfonso in Cosí fan tutte and Osmin
in The Abduction from the Seraglio for the San Luis Obispo
Mozart Festival. This season, he sang Bartolo for Opera Pacific and
the Sacristan for Phoenix.
Alto, Laura Harrison
Laura Harrison hails from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada where
she completed a Bachelor of Music at Capilano College and a Bachelor
of Education degree at UBC (the University of British Columbia) to
become a high school teacher. As fortune would have it, while on
tour with her high school choirs in Alberta, she met then department
chair of the University of South California. He offered her the
opportunity to apply and audition (and consequently get accepted
with scholarship) to complete graduate studies at USC.
Laura finished her Master of Music at USC in 2002 and her Doctorate
of Music in 2007. She has been pursuing a dual career in classical
music as a mezzo-soprano and has made quite a reputation for herself
in that field. Laura is the alto section leader and staff singer of
the Pacific Chorale. She also sings in many churches, including her
home church of Tustin Presbyterian where she is the alto soloist and
children’s choir director. Laura is also at California State
University, Fullerton where she teaches the Vocal Jazz Ensemble.
Note: The Chorus
features members who have sung for almost forty years as well as
brand new members and is made up of members from the
following churches: American Martyrs Catholic Church, Manhattan
Beach; Bethel Lutheran, Los Angeles; Central Lutheran, Van Nuys;
Christ Church of the Valley; The Christian Institute, Santa Monica;
Crescent Heights United Methodist; Faith Lutheran, Huntington Beach;
First Baptist, Westchester; Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church; Knox
Presbyterian, Los Angeles; Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic
Church, Claremont; Resurrection Lutheran Church, Redondo Beach;
Riviera United Methodist, Redondo Beach; Sinai Temple; St. Anastasia
Catholic Church, Playa del Rey; St. Jerome Catholic Church,
Westchester; St. John Presbyterian; St. Luke’s Lutheran, Long Beach;
St. Pancratius, Lakewood; Trinity Baptist, Santa Monica; Trinity
Lutheran, Manhattan Beach; Vipassana Support Institute; Visitation
Catholic Church, Westchester; Westchester Lutheran; Westside
Singers; Westwood Hills Congregational.
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