The Church of the Messiah in Rhinebeck will host a performance by pianist Nielson Chen on December 4, as well as a quartet from the Bard Vocal Arts Program presenting vocal chamber music. Let it be Forgotten: Shades of American Identity, an anthology of works, will be presented at 4pm and touches on complicated identities and relationships in America.
The series of tracks will explore the different backgrounds of people living in the U.S., highlighting equally the good and the bad, as well as the joy and pain experienced by citizens of different cultural backgrounds. Included in the Let it be Forgotten: Shades of American Identity program will be Bard musicians, Zihao Liu, Montana Smith, Jonathan Lawlor, Neilson Chen, and Katherine Lerner Lee.
With this recital, we want to communicate how important it is for us to listen to one another. There is no amount of sharing one’s own experience that takes away space from someone else to do the same. On this program, everyone’s voices are given ample room to be heard, and my hope is that it encourages our audiences to be open and active listeners in their daily lives.
Montana Smith, soprano and co-curator for December’s vocal chamber performance
Zihao Liu is a Chinese tenor whose been featured in many solo appearances, including for several recitals, largely involving opera and orcherstrative concerts. His recent appearances include his tenor soloist performances in Beethoven 9th Symphony with the Bard Conservatory Orchestra and Handel’s Messiah with The Orchestra Now.
Montana Smith is an emerging soprano musician and is currently continuing her education in graduate studies at the Bard College Conservatory of Music in the Vocal Arts Program. She has participated in a plethora of opera productions, holding a vision which emphasizes the importance for young people to be represented in world opera art, while attempting to express more effective and open communication with her audiences. Smith’s performances vary across the range of the classical genre, and she holds a focus in representing the musical expression of Black and American artists.
Baritone, Jonathan Lawlor, has built experience working with established Baroque musical groups, as well as being actively involved in the opera music scene, through collaboration with opera ensembles. Lawlor carries an interest in evolving the composition techniques utilized in classical music sound production, grounded in the intent of diversifying the musical background of the musician, hence also the performance.
Katherine Lerner Lee, a soprano living in Brooklyn, has a breadth of performing experience and a versatile repertoire. She received the 2021 Concerto Competition this past season while obtaining her Masters at Bard Conservatory, played the part of “Gold Spurs” in Janacek’s The Cunning Little Vixen, and debuted in concerts at the Fisher Center and with the Broad Street Orchestra in Kinderhook. She delivered a performance in December that included Luciano Berio’s Folk Songs and Pauline Oliveros’ Silences.
Taiwanese-born Neilson Chen is a collaborative pianist assistant at the Bard College Conservatory of Music and a music PhD candidate at Arizona State University. He has given numerous performances not only in the United States but also in countries like Germany, Luxembourg, France, Ireland, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. The Saarburg International Music Festival in Germany, the Vianden Music Festival and School in Luxembourg, and the Rocky Ridge Music Center in Colorado are just a few of the music festivals that Neilson performs at it during the summer as a staff pianist.
Featured in the afternoon’s performers are composers William Grant Still, Juhi Bansal, Chihchun Chi Sun Lee, Charles Ives, and Alex Weiser, delivering songs with texts included in English, Mandarin, and Yiddish. The church has provided service to the community area, being a host for an Afghan immigrant family in Spring of 2022. All proceeds from the recital event at the church will go into supporting the family.
The Church of the Messiah is located at: 6436 Montgomery St, Rhinebeck. RSVP for the event here.
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