Fifth Anniversary Concerts
Celebrating half a decade of new music organizing in the Hudson Valley
3pm, August 24, 2019 | Lyall Memorial Federated Church, Millbrook, NY
7:30pm, September 7, 2019 | Picotte Recital Hall, College of St. Rose, Albany, NY
One Quiet Plunge celebrate five years of new music organizing in the Hudson Valley: world premieres, multimedia projects, genre-bending collaborations, and some great music-making! The program returns to the theme of 1QP’s original production, a concert of vocal works by Hudson Valley composers that focus on the experience of place in the Hudson Valley through its weather, landscape, and history. Works for soprano, baritone, and piano will be featured by composers from throughout the area (click on titles for more info about the composers and pieces):
Joseph Bertolozzi, “Hymn” (2000) | Text by Edgar Allen Poe
Chester Biscardi, “Seven O’Clock at the Cedar” from Sailors & Dreams (2007-2010) | Text by Shirley Kaplan
Rachel DeVore Fogarty, “In August” (2017) | Text by Babette Deutsch
Joshua Groffman, “Summer Wind (Why so slow?)” (2019) | Text by William Cullen Bryant
Lawrence Kramer, “That Lonesome Whistle” (2010) and “Stopping by Woods” (2019) | Texts by Lawrence Kramer and Robert Frost
Michael Levi, “Snow” (1999) | Text by Laura Gilpin
Jeffrey Miller, “An Idle Hour” from John Clare Songs (2006) | Text by John Clare
Bruce Roter, “The Duck and the Kangaroo” (1983) | Text by Edward Lear
Hilary Tann, “The Story” from Melangell Variations (2018) | Text by Gwyneth Lewis
William Vollinger, “God’s Optimism” (2017) | Text by Yehoshua November
Tianyi Wang, “To the Rising Full Moon” (2016) | Text by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Admissions to the concerts is free, with a suggested donation. The concerts feature two accomplished vocalists.
Soprano Suna Avci-Gunther is Assistant Professor and Coordinator of Voice at the College of Saint Rose, where she teaches applied lessons, Vocal Diction, Vocal Pedagogy, Opera and Musical Theater workshops, Motown Ensemble, and other voice-related courses. She previously taught Musical Theatre at the University of North Dakota, Voice at Berea College, Music Theory at Indiana University, and served as a vocal coach and pianist at the University of Kentucky. Dr. Gunther holds degrees in Vocal Performance and Instrumental Music Education from Northwestern University and Voice and Opera from Indiana University in Bloomington. Off campus, she is in her thirteenth year singing with the Grant Park Chorus of Chicago and is the assistant music director and soprano for Trio Chicago and Friends, a group that travels the world on behalf of the U.S. State Department as “cultural ambassadors” to give concerts of American classics for embassy functions and workshops to students of all ages. Her work in that role has brought her to Singapore, Korea, Palau, Indonesia, The Marshall Islands, Turkey, Kuwait, Chile, Peru, Cambodia, Saudi Arabia, and the Federated States of Micronesia.
Baritone Thomas Gunther is quickly making his presence felt on the operatic scene. Having completed his work at the well regarded Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, he was recently a member of San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program, where he sang the role or Stanley Kowalski in André Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire. He recently has performed the role of Javert in Les Misérables and the notorious Don Giovanni in Mozart’s masterwork Don Giovanni. Mr. Gunther has already made his mark on the international scene as well, having sung the role of Marcello in La Boheme with La Musica Lirica in Italy and even more recently as Shaunard with the Dominican Republic National Symphony under the baton of Maestro José Molina, as well as premiering Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah in Tel Aviv, Israel. Mr. Gunther has advanced to the Upper Midwest Regional Finals twice and the Mid-South region twice in the Metropolitan Opera Competition, as well as to the finals of the Chicago Lyric Opera’s Ryan Opera Center Competition.
One Quiet Plunge 