Music

The unique music program at FCRH features an all-professional vocal ensemble every Sunday from September to June. Six classically trained singers perform both solo and ensemble works especially suited to the lovely and intimate sanctuary. Our repertoire ranges from masterworks of the Renaissance to American hymns and spirituals. Sunday services include a solo introit, anthem, offertory and responses. Current and former singers have appeared with the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago as well as many of the major European houses.

Services feature a variety of instruments including organ, piano, harpsichord, lute and handbells. The church houses a fine Steinway grand piano and a custom pipe organ built by the Boston based Aeolian Skinner company. Aeolian Skinner is best known for building pipe organs for five of the foremost symphony orchestras in America including the organ at Philharmonic Hall, Lincoln Center. Guest instrumentalists are often featured in special services.

Music Director — Gwendolyn Hillman

Gwendolyn Hillman, music director/organist, holds a bachelor of music degree from the New England Conservatory, a Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts from Stony Brook University. As a singer and pianist, she has performed both solo and chamber engagements throughout the United States and Asia. Operatic credits include Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Parasha in Stravinsky’s Mavra, Marguerite in Faust, and Fiordiligi in Così fan Tutte. She has appeared as a principal artist with the Sanibel Music Festival, Opera Theater of Connecticut, Ashlawn-Highland Festival, the Canterbury Chorale Society of New York and the Wallingford Symphony. Recent concert appearances include Carmina Burana atWoolsey Hall, Handel's Messiah with the ECSU Concert Chorale, and Mozart's Vesperae solennes de Confessore with the Middletown Chorale.

Ms. Hillman has also been invited to premiere several new works, among them the title role in Sheila Silver’s opera, The Thief of Love recently released on DVD by Hummingbird Films. Opera News praised her performance, "Gwendolyn Hillman sings with warmth, strength and gracefulness. Hers is a voice that truly matters, and deserves international attention.” (March, 2007)

Ms. Hillman has won numerous awards and prizes including the Galli-Campi Coloratura Award, the Jensen Foundation Competition, and the Amici Vocal Competition. She was also a finalist in the Royal Opera House Covent Garden Vilar Young Artist Auditions in London. She is a music faculty member at the University of New Haven and Choate Rosemary Hall where she teaches music theory, music history and private voice.

 

ENSEMBLE SOLOISTS

Maksim Ivanov

Russian-born baritone Maksim Ivanov has been praised for his portrayal of many operatic roles including Figaro in The Barber of Seville, Marcello and Schaunard in La Bohème, Guglielmo in Cosi fan tutte, Dandini in La Cenerentola, Onegin in Eugene Onegin, Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro, Robert in Tchaikovsky's Iolanta, and Ford in Falstaff. In the United States he has sung leading roles with such companies as Glimmerglass Opera, the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Opera Providence, Opera Theatre of Connecticut, Boheme Opera of New Jersey, Sanibel Music Festival and Ash-Lawn Highland Festival among others. A frequent soloist on the concert stage, his most recent performances include Carl Orff ’s Carmina Burana atWoolsey Hall in New Haven,"Viva Italia: An Evening of Italian Arias" with theWallingford Symphony and was a special guest soloist in an evening of Russian repertoire with the Connecticut Grand Opera and Orchestra.

Mr. Ivanov is a two time winner of the Metropolitan Opera competition in Connecticut, and has won numerous other prizes including the Connecticut Opera Guild Competition, the New York's Jensen Foundation, Liederkranz Opera, the Licia Albanese Voice Competitions and the Shubert Theater International Opera Competition.

Mr. Ivanov holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from State University of New York at Stony Brook. He received his Bachelor of Music (cum laude) from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master of Music degree from both the Manhattan School of Music and Yale University. Currently Mr. Ivanov is an Adjunct Professor of Music at the Connecticut College in New London, CT.

 

Samantha Lane Talmadge

Samantha Lane Talmadge, soprano, is currently attending Yale University where she is pursuing a Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance in the Yale Opera Program. She has recently appeared with Yale Opera as Pamina in The Magic Flute, and for the fall opera scenes program in excerpts of The Bartered Bride as Marenka, and Idomeneo as Ilia . She appeared as Rosalinde in Yale Opera’s production of Johann Strauss’ “Die Fledermaus” and also played the role of Tatiana in excerpts of Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin”. In the summer of 2008, Samantha was in Milan, Italy where she sang in Mascagni’s opera “Il Si” and Franz Lehàr’s operetta “Frühling” with the Orchestra Sonfonica di Milano, Giuseppe Verdi. In August 2008 Samantha played the role of Micäela in Peter Brook’s Tragedy of Carmen at the Alba Music Festival in Italy.

Prior to her graduate studies at Yale, she received her undergraduate degree in Music Education from the University of New Mexico. After completing her studies there, Samantha was the Assistant Choir Director at Las Cruces High School in Las Cruces, New Mexico for the 2006-2007 school year. As a performer, she has received high vocal honors as a National Opera Association Vocal Competition finalist in 2003 and 2004, and was the first place winner of the National Association of Teachers of Singing Vocal Competition—Rio Grande Chapter in 2003. Samantha has been a regular performer with professional companies such as Musica Romantica and Teatro Nuevo Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In the summer of 2007 she sang with the Santa Fe Opera in Donizetti’s “The Nightbell”, and has also performed with the Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra as the soprano soloist in Mozart’s Requiem. In July of this year, Samantha will return to Milan, Italy to perform again with Orchestra Verdi in The Magic Flute, La Bohème, andWonderful Town.

 

Myeong Lee

South Korean mezzo-soprano, Myeong Lee, has garnered acclaim in the United States and abroad. Among her most recent successes are concerts at the Caramoor Festival where she performed on the Mozart Gala along with Sumi Jo, Will Crutchfield and the Caramoor Orchestra. During the same season she covered Ewa Podles for Caramoor’s production of Tancredi. Past performances include guest appearances with Pacific Opera, Stony Brook Opera, the Boston University Opera Institute, the Sound Symphony Orchestra, Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra, and Washington Soloist Ensemble. She has also performed recitals in New York, Boston, and Seoul.

In addition to the standard operatic repertoire, Myeong’s musical interests have led her to Baroque and Contemporary music. Her diverse repertoire includes the roles of Tancredi (Tancredi), Ottone (Agrippina), Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro), Ottavia (L’Incoronazione di Poppea), Dorabella (Cosi fan Tutte), Jocasta (Oedipus Rex), The Queen (The Thief of Love, world premiere by Sheila Silver), The Neighbor (Stravinky’s Mavra), and Zita (Gianni Schicchi). Upcoming performances include the role of Myrtale (Thaїs) with Amici Opera in March 2009, Laura (La Gioconda) with Center Stage Opera in June 2009, and as Suzuki (Madame Butterfly) with Center Stage Opera in November, 2009.

Myeong received her Bachelor’s degree from Yon Sei University, Korea, and her Master’s Degree from the Manhattan School of Music. She recently received her Doctor of Musical Arts Degree at the State University of New York at Stony Brook where she studied with Elaine Bonazzi.