The Westminster Choir College Faculty Recital Series is set to present soprano Faith Esham and baritone Elem Eley with pianist J.J. Penna on Sunday, October 4, 2015 at 3 p.m. The concert will take place in Bristol Chapel on the campus of Rider University’s Westminster Choir College, located at 101 Walnut Lane in Princeton. Admission is free.
They will perform Hugo Wolf’s song cycle Italienisches Liederbuch, a collection of skillfully crafted songs with Italian texts that touch on all aspects of love and relationships.
Faith Esham has been acclaimed by the international press for her outstanding performances in the leading houses of the United States and Europe. Her extensive credits in the United States included performances at the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Santa Fe Opera, New York City Opera where she was featured in two “Live From Lincoln Center” telecasts, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington Opera, Dallas Opera, and Pittsburgh Opera. She has sung in many of the leading international opera houses including La Scala, the Vienna Staatsoper, Welsh National Opera, the Chatelet in Paris, Opera de Caracas as well as the Festivals of Glyndebourne and Lausanne.
Elem Eley creatively blends his active performing career with an extensive teaching life as professor of Voice. His discography includes nine CDs, among them the highly-acclaimed album with pianist J.J. Penna, Drifts and Shadows: American Song for the New Millennium. The most recent disc is Lenoriana, a recital of new American songs. Eley is frequently heard in recital and in master classes and has performed in concert and opera in New York’s most prominent venues, throughout the country and in Europe.
J. J. Penna has performed in recital with such eminent singers as Kathleen Battle, Harolyn Blackwell, William Burden, Amy Burton, David Daniels, Denyce Graves, Kevin McMillan, Florence Quivar, Andreas Scholl, Sharon Sweet, Christopher Trakas, Indra Thomas and Ying Huang. He has been heard at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Weill Hall, Zankel Hall and Merkin Recital Hall in New York City, the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, Seizi Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood, Wigmore Hall in London, as well as on concert tours throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, the Far East, South America, and the former Soviet Union. Devoted to the performance and study of new music, he has premiered song cycles by William Bolcom, Ricky Ian Gordon, Richard Hundley and Lowell Liebermann.
To learn more, visit rider.edu/arts.
