2019-2020 SeasonGabriel Fauré: Requiem.
Saturday, January 18, 2020
8:00 pm |
 Hollis Kelly, Soprano
Kelley Hollis is a soprano originally from Wellington, Florida. She recently returned from London, where she recorded Arnold Rosner’s Requiem with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios (to be released by Toccata Records in the fall of 2020). In 2018 Kelley performed a concert at Prague Castle in the Czech Republic, along with a series of recitals in cities around the country, as a featured artist with the Americké jaro Festival. At home in Boston, Kelley is a core musician of Juventas New Music Ensemble, which regularly performs and premiers works by emerging classical composers. Earlier in 2019, Kelley played Rosalinda in MassOpera's critically acclaimed production of Die Fledermaus, and premiered the role of Juana in the Omar Najmi’s En la ardiente oscuridad. Her other opera roles include Mimi in Puccini's La femme bohème, Beth in Adamo’s Little Women (Metrowest Opera), Eliza in Muhly’s Dark Sisters (Third Eye Theater Ensemble); Florencia Grimaldi in Catan's Florencia en el amazonas, Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni, Micaela in La Tragédie de Carmen, Harper in Eötvös’s Angels in America (BU Opera Institute) and Nina in Pasatieri's The Seagull (Opera del West). Kelley has performed twice at Symphony Hall, in Boston: In 2016 she appeared as the First Orphan in the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s concert production of Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier, alongside Renée Fleming and Susan Graham, and in 2015 she was the soprano soloist for Mahler’s "Resurrection" Symphony, with the Boston University Symphony Orchestra. Her most recent concert repertoire includes Vaughan Williams's Dona Nobis Pacem, Händel’s Messiah, and Fauré’s Requiem. Ron Williams, Baritone
Recognized nationwide for his artistry in the field of opera and oratorio, Ron Williams continues to gather acclaim for his work onstage and in the concert hall. He has sung leading roles with several opera companies nationally, including San Francisco Spring Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre and Opera San Jose, where he created the role of Edward in the world premiere of Alva Henderson’s The Last Leaf.
In New England, Williams debuted with Boston Lyric Opera in the revival of Kurt Weill’s Lost in the Stars, receiving critical acclaim from The New York Times. He portrayed nemesis Nick Shadow in the much-heralded production of The Rake’s Progress with Boston’s Opera Laboratory Company at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Boston Globe praised his performance of Figaro in Opera New England’s The Barber of Seville. Ron made his debut with Longwood Opera in the title role of Verdi’s Rigoletto. With Greater Worcester Opera, he has sung Escamillo in Carmen, Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro and the title role in Don Giovanni in last summer. Mr. Williams was a regional finalist in the San Francisco Opera National Auditions. He received the College Foundation Award from the California Music Teachers Association. Ron remains passionately interested in arts education for young audiences and has performed at the National Children’s Arts Festival at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. Mr. Williams maintains a busy concert schedule, having performed with Cantata Singers, Chorus North Shore, Symphony Pro Musica, as well as the Dartmouth College Symphony (N.H.) where he sang a concert version of Beethoven’s Fidelio. Ron took on the role of the biblical narrator in a performance of King David, by Arthur Honegger, with the Masterworks Chorale under the late Alan Lannom. Ron was seen in the one-man opera of Domenico Cimarosa, Il Maestro di Cappella with the Boston Civic Symphony. He made his debut with Boston Cecilia in Britten’s Cantata misericordium and performed the role of Christus in J. S. Bach's Saint Matthew Passion, all under the direction of Donald Teeters. Last summer he reprised the title role in the comic opera Gianni Schicchi with Opera Susquehanna in Pennsylvania. Last October, Ron performed a principal role in the MassOpera reading of Freedom Ride, a new opera by Dan Shore. Ron made his European debut with the Düsseldorf Chamber Orchestra in Germany. His stage debut was in St. Gallen, Switzerland, and he has performed on the European stage in several countries including the Netherlands, France, Denmark, Austria, Switzerland, and Spain. An artist committed to bringing to the stage the works of twentieth-century American composers, Ron has researched and performed the works of Hale Smith (Mediation in Passage) and Ned Rorem (The Lake of Innesfree). Ron has been involved with the premiere of several works locally, including Elmer Gantry, an opera by New England composer Robert Aldridge. For more information please visit www.RonSings.com |