Reames/Penna Duo: Schubert, Debussy, Britten

Artists
Program
Preview
Performances
Bios

Artists

Christopher Reames, Tenor
JJ Penna, Piano

Program

Viewable/Printable Program

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

Im Frühling, D. 882
An den Mond, D. 296
Nachtstück, D. 672

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

Fêtes galantes, premier livre
* En Sourdine
* Fantoches

* Clair de lune

Fêtes galantes, deuxième livre
* Les Ingenus
* Le Faune
* Colloque Sentimental



Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)

Winter Words, Op. 52
* At Day-close in November
* Midnight on the Great Western (or The Journeying Boy)
* Wagtail and Baby (a Satire)
* The little old Table
* The Choirmaster’s Burial (or The Tenor Man’s Story)
* Proud Songsters (Thrushes, Finches, and Nightingales)
* At the Railway Station, Upway (or The Convict and Boy with the Violin)
* Before Life and after

Preview

Performances

Musicivic Everywhere 
April 24 – May 1, 2022 (premier 7:00 PM ET Apr 24)
Free Tickets

Three Village Chamber Players  
April 24 – May 1, 2022 (premier 7:00 PM ET Apr 24)
Free Tickets

Oakmont Musicivic 
April 24 – May 1, 2022 (premier 7:00 PM ET Apr 24)
Free Tickets

Twin Forks Musicivic
April 24 – May 1, 2022 (premier 7:00 PM ET Apr 24)
Free Tickets

Ambler Musicivic 
April 24 – May 1, 2022 (premier 7:00 PM ET Apr 24)
Free Tickets

Bios

J.J. Penna

American pianist J.J. Penna has performed extensively with a variety of eminent singers, including Kathleen Battle, Harolyn Blackwell, Measha Brueggergosman, David Daniels, Denyce Graves, Ying Huang, Susan Narucki, Roberta Peters, Florence Quivar, and Andreas Scholl. He has held fellowships at the Tanglewood Music Center, Banff Center, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, and San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program. He received his training under Martin Katz, Margo Garrett, and Diane Richardson. Devoted to the teaching of classical song literature, he has been on the faculties of The Juilliard School, Yale University School of Music, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the Bowdoin Festival, Westminster Choir College, and Vancouver International Song Institute. He currently teaches at the Steans Institute of the Ravinia Festival, the Renee Fleming Song Studio at Carnegie Hall, and the New England Conservatory of Music. He joined the faculty of the Yale University School of Music in 2021. 

Christopher Reames

American tenor Christopher Reames is establishing an exciting and engaging career as a concert artist, recitalist, and dynamic performer on the operatic stage. Chris is a winner of The Gérard Souzay Prize for French Singing appropriated by Dalton Baldwin and administered by The Art Song Preservation Society of New York, who co-sponsored his New York City recital debut of beloved French mélodies in Marc A. Scorca Hall at The National Opera Center. Chris’ compelling performances captivate audiences with beauty and sensitivity, and he has been praised for his “lustrous” singing and “great musicality” by The Examiner of Greater Kansas City.

Chris is a recent finalist in national competitions such as the Joy in Singing Artist Award CompetitionNew York Oratorio Society Solo CompetitionFranco-American Vocal Academy Grand Concours de ChantArt Song Preservation Society of New York Mary Trueman Song Competition and the National Association of the Teachers of Singing Artist Award Competition. Recent operatic performances include Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor and Prologue/Peter Quint in The Turn of the Screw with Stony Brook Opera, Slender in The Merry Wives of Windsor, the title role in Weber’s Oberon,Gomatz in Zaide, and Tamino in Die Zauberflöte with the Manhattan based Occasional Opera Company.

An avid performer of sacred music, his recent concert performances include Uriel in The Creation with the Village Church Choir and Orchestra at Kansas City’s own Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, Mozart’s Vesperae solennes de confessore and Obadiah in Elijah with the Huntington Choral Society, Evangelist in both theSt. John and St. Matthew Passions,and as the tenor soloist in The Messiah with the Musica Lumina chamber ensemble of Niles, IL and with the Long Island Choral Society, J.S. Bach’s Magnificat with St. Peter’s By-the-Sea Episcopal Church of Bay Shore, NY, excerpts from Bach’s Weihnachts Oratorium with St. John’s Church of Cold Spring Harbor, NY, several of Bach’s sacred cantatas, and secular works by Purcell and Monteverdi with the Stony Brook Baroque Ensemble, and under the direction of John Harbison at the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, MA.

Passionate about the art of recital singing, Chris’ diverse repertoire spans more than 400 years from Monteverdi, Handel, Haydn and Mozart through Beethoven and Schumann to Debussy, Poulenc, Britten, Barber and Messiaen. Highlights include Schubert’s Auf dem Strom, Schumann’s Dichterliebe, Poulenc’s Tel jour telle nuit, Beethoven’s An die ferne Geliebte, Brahms’Fünf Lieder, Op. 47Debussy’s Fêtes galantes,and many selections fromThe Great American Songbook. He possesses a particular affinity for French melodies, and for British art song repertoire, and has received great praise from audiences following recent performances of Vaughan Williams’ On Wenlock Edge, Finzi’s Farewell to Arms, Gurney’s “Trench” songs, Britten’s Winter Words, and Three Songs from “The Heart of the Matter”, including Canticle III.

In addition to his career as a soloist, Chris has equally thrived in both large and small choral ensembles. He served the celebrated St. Peter’s By-the-Sea Episcopal Church Parish Choir in Bay Shore, NY as a staff section leader and soloist from 2011-18. In a similar role, he previously served superior choral music programs at Green Valley Presbyterian Church in Henderson, NV, Village Presbyterian Church in Prairie Village, KS, and the Church of St. Patrick in Huntington, NY. Singing sacred choral music at a high level remains a consistent artistic priority for him, as it has provided many rewarding musical opportunities, and a fulfilling sense of community contribution and leadership.

Chris is a past fellowship recipient at the Tanglewood Music Center, SongFest, Aspen Music Festival, Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, Cincinnati College-Conservatory’s Opera Theatre and Music Festival of Lucca, Italy, and is an alumnus of the prestigious N.A.T.S. Internship Program. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, a Master of Music degree from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, and a Bachelor of Science degree from William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri. Chris is currently an Assistant Professor of Vocal Music at Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville, TN.

MC22-0005

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