FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
January 8, 2007
Contact: Colin Byrne
Sales and Communications Manager
Phone: (407) 646-1561
Fax: (407) 646-2692
E-mail: cbyrne@bachfestivalflorida.org
WINTER PARK, FL – November 13, 2006. The Bach Festival Society of Winter Park announces that it has been selected to host Keri Alkema, a mezzo-soprano, as part of the Marilyn Horne Artist-in-Residence program in January 2007. Keri will spend 5 days in Central Florida leading Master Classes with area high-school music students. The selected schools are Winter Park, Dr. Phillips, Timber Creek, and Apopka. “It is a wonderful honor to host Keri Alkema,” said Elizabeth (Betsy) Gwinn, Executive Director, Bach Festival Society. “We are so excited to be able to bring this great educational experience to the students in our community.”
“To have the opportunity for our students to have a Master Class with Keri Alkema, especially having just worked with her in the October concert, is a special occasion for our students. This gives them the opportunity to work with someone who is doing what many of them would LIKE to do, make performance their career,” said Sarah Meadows, Director of the Dr. Phillips High School Concert Chorus. Keri Alkema was recently praised by the New York Times as having “an appealing brew of dark and creamy colors in her mezzo, which she yields with an incisive musicality” and recently received praise for her portrayal as Mrs. Madeleine Lee in Scott Wheeler’s Opera Democracy, commissioned by Placido Domingo for the Washington National Opera.
As a frequent recitalist, Ms. Alkema is currently on the roster of the Marilyn Horne Foundation. Under the auspices of the foundation, Ms. Alkema made her New York recital debut and as since been heard in two other foundation concerts. As a part of the ‘On Wings of Songs’ series Ms. Alkema has been heard at the Big Arts Festival in Sanibel, Florida. She has worked under such notable conductors as Emmanuel Villaume, Ricardo Frizza, Heinze Fricka, Placido Domingo, Eugene Kohn, and Ann Manson. She has also worked with such notable directors as Mariusz Trelinski, Marthe Keller, Mark Adamo, John Pascoe, Chas Radar Shieber, and Martha Domingo.
“Keri is a great singer,” said John Sinclair, Artistic Director, Bach Festival Society. “A fabulous instrument embodied in a delightful person.” The public will have a chance to hear Ms. Alkema’s outstanding voice during her free public recital on Sunday January 21st at 3:00 pm in the John M. Tiedtke Concert Hall on Rollins College Campus.
The mission of the Marilyn Horne Foundation (MHF), created by world-renowned opera diva Marilyn Horne, is to encourage, support and preserve the art of the vocal recital through the presentation of vocal recitals and related educational programs in communities across the United States. To meet its mission, MHF partners with concert presenters throughout the contry to co-present an MHF artist in a five-day stay during which time the artist gives information education programs in pre-college schools and a formal recital on the organization’s concert series.
Since the MHF founding in 1993 by Marilyn Horne, the foundation has assisted 100 young vocal artists who performed 240 recitals and 596 school programs in 26 states that reached 45,243 audience members and 49,997 children.
About the Bach Festival Society
The Bach Festival Society, located in Winter Park, Florida, is the premier classical music organization in the state of Florida and one of the longest continuously operating Bach Festivals in the country. The Bach Festival Society brings the highest caliber of classical music to Central Florida. Performances are held in the intimate setting of the Tiedtke Concert Hall and the Knowles Memorial Chapel on the beautiful campus of Rollins College.
For more information regarding the upcoming season or to order tickets, please call the Bach Festival Society at 407-646-2182 or visit us online at www.bachfestivalflorida.org