Trevor Stephenson, Nola Richardson, Clara Osowski, Scott Brunscheen, Michael Hawes

press release: American Music 1750-1940

7:30 pm, October 11, 2019, West Middleton Lutheran Church, 3763 Pioneer Road, Verona

Trevor Stephenson, piano

Nola Richardson, soprano

Clara Osowski, mezzo-soprano

Scott Brunscheen, tenor

Michael Hawes, bass-baritone

Trevor Stephenson and a quartet of outstanding vocalists perform masterworks by American composers Scott Joplin, Louis Gottschalk, Stephen Foster, Charles Ives, and Richard Rogers in their original arrangements! A grand tour from pre-Revolutionary War tunes, to the dreamy ballads of Stephen Foster, to the art-songs of Charles Ives, to the awakening energy of Ragtime, and ending with the great Broadway musicals of the 1920’s and 30’s.  This program will be filmed October 9 in Madison by Wisconsin Public Television for airing statewide in 2020.

West Middleton Lutheran Church, 3763 Pioneer Road, Verona WI 53593

(intersection of Mineral Point Rd. and Pioneer Rd.)

Admission $25, limited seating. Tickets in advance (trevor@trevorstephenson.com) and at the door

Trevor Stephenson—harpsichordist, fortepianist, and pianist—is the artistic director and founder of the Madison Bach Musicians. He received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Historical Performance of 18th-Century Music from Cornell University, where he studied fortepiano with Malcolm Bilson. With his colleague, Norman Sheppard, he has made and refurbished a series of historical keyboard instruments ranging from Italian Renaissance harpsichords to Victorian pianos. He has released sixteen recordings on the Light & Shadow label and tours throughout the United States as performer and lecturer. Every July since 2000, he has taught Road Scholar courses on Bach at Hidden Valley Institute of the Arts in Carmel Valley CA. Information and tour schedule at trevorstephenson.com.

Australian soprano Nola Richardson has been praised for her “beautiful tone” (The New York Times) and “astonishing balance and accuracy,” “crystalline diction,” and “natural-sounding ease” (Washington Post). A prizewinner in both the 2016 Bethlehem Bach and the 2016 Handel Aria Competitions, Nola has performed as a soloist with numerous ensembles around the country including the Baltimore Symphony, the Boston Pops, the American Bach Soloists, Clarion Music Society, and the Colorado Bach Ensemble among others. She has been a guest soloist at the Norfolk, Blue Hill Bach, and Screen Door Summer Music Festivals, and a vocal fellow at Tanglewood, Songfest, and the Boston Early Music Festival. Nola is currently completing work on a DMA at Yale. NolaRichardson.com.

Mezzo-soprano Clara Osowski, most recently recognized for her international excellence in her home state of Minnesota, was a recipient of the prestigious 2018-2019 McKnight Artist Fellowships for Musicians. With pianist Tyler Wottrich in 2017, Clara placed second at Thomas Quasthoff’s Das Lied Competition, and in September, 2019 was awarded the Vaughan Williams Prize in the prestigious Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation Song Competition. Clara recently won the Radio-Canada People’s Choice Award and third place in the song division at the 2018 Concours Musical International de Montréal. In addition, Clara teaches at the Aspen Music Festival in partnership with Seraphic Fire and is co-artistic director of Source Song Festival. For more information, visit claraosowski.com.

Tenor Scott Brunscheen has received national acclaim for recent performances of Haydn’s L’isola disabitata, Marais’ Ariane et Bachus, and Cesti’s L’Orontea with Haymarket Opera in Chicago. Past seasons baroque and early classical presentations have included Purcell’s The Fairy Queenwith Chicago Opera Theater and Long Beach Opera, Bach’s Coffee Cantata (Great Lakes Baroque), Haydn’s The Creation (College of DuPage) and Handel’s Messiah (Madison Bach Musicians) and Judas Maccabaeus (North Shore Choral Society). Other performance highlights include Rossini’s Mose in Egitto, Glass’ The Fall of the House of Usher, the world premiere of Stewart Copeland’s The Invention of Morel(Chicago Opera Theater); Dialogue des Carmelites (Caramoor Festival); La Cenerentola (Lyric Unlimited); Unsuk Chin’s Alice in Wonderland (Opera Theater of St. Louis); Don Giovanni(Opera New Jersey); Die Zauberflote, La fille du regiment, and Tosca (Madison Opera); and The Turn of the Screw and The Rape of Lucretia (Chicago Fringe Opera).

Michael Hawes is a Bass-Baritone singer and Trumpeter living in Chicago, Illinois. Michael is the Music Director at St. Cornelius Church in Chicago, where he leads music from the Piano, a member of Axiom Brass; an award-winning touring Brass Quintet based in Chicago, and sings around the city in various ensembles. He has sung recently with the Crossing Choir in Philadelphia, as well as the Clarion Choir of New York, and Seraphic Fire of Miami. In his free time, you can find him playing and singing through Schubert lieder, and chasing frisbees into Lake Michigan.