Monday, Sep 11, 2017
The Westminster Symphonic Choir will perform Beethoven鈥檚 Symphony No. 9 and Tchaikovsky鈥檚 1812 Overture with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Rossen Milanov. Performances are Saturday, September 16 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, September 17 at 4 p.m. in Richardson Auditorium in Alexander Hall on the campus of Princeton University. Soloists will be Westminster alumni Alexandra Batsios, soprano; Anne Marie Stanley, mezzo-soprano; Francis Williams, tenor and Thomas Lynch, baritone.
Hailed by Opera News as a 鈥渃oloratura tour de force鈥 鈥11 is garnering attention as a promising operatic talent. Her recent credits include the Queen of Shemakha in The Golden Cockerel) and Leonora in Il trovatore. As a studio artist with Sarasota Opera, she covered Adele in Die Fledermaus, made her debut as Berta in Il barbiere di Siviglia, and covered H茅l猫ne in Verdi鈥檚 闯茅谤耻蝉补濒别尘.She has also appeared at St. Petersburg Opera, Palm Beach Opera, New Opera NYC, and Opera North. She was a top prize winner in the 2015 Sullivan Foundation competition.
Anne Marie Stanley 鈥14 received her bachelor鈥檚 degree from Westminster Choir College and earned her master鈥檚 degree in voice performance from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. At Rice, she performed the roles of Dinah in Bernstein鈥檚 Trouble in Tahiti and Giulio Cesare in Handel鈥檚 Giulio Cesare in Egitto. She was recently a second-year apprentice singer at the Santa Fe Opera for their 2017 season. As first-prize winner of the Albert M. Greenfield Student Competition, she made her solo debut with The Philadelphia Orchestra in Verizon Hall at The Kimmel Center. She also won first prize in the Franco-American Grand Concours Vocal Competition in Austin, Texas and the New York Lyric Opera Theatre National Vocal Competition.
Francis Williams 鈥16 is making his Princeton Symphony Orchestra debut. His past credits include Caius in Falstaff, Almeric in Iolanta, and Acis in Acis and Galatea. He has focused much time on Early Music, and works by Bach throughout the United States and internationally. Most recently, he sang the aria 鈥淎ch mein Sinn鈥 in Bach鈥檚 St. John Passion under the direction of Dr. Andrew Megill at the Illinois Bach Academy.
鈥16 has sung in a number of concerts and operas at Westminster Choir College, including Falstaff in Verdi鈥檚 Falstaff, Capellio in Bellini鈥檚 I Capulteti e I Montecchi, and Buonafede from Haydn鈥檚 Il mondo della luna. At the Spoleto Festival USA, he was the soloist in performances of Carissimi鈥檚 Jepthe and Beethoven鈥檚 Choral Fantasy. Mr. Lynch has recently debuted at the Caramoor Festival as the Gran Sacardote in Rossini鈥檚 Aureliano in Palmira.
To learn more about this performance, go to .
NOTE: In conjunction with these performances, Joe Miller, conductor of the Westminster Symphonic Choir, will participate in a PSO Soundtracks program with Rossen Milanov at the Princeton Public Library on Wednesday, September 13 at 7 p.m.
Photograph: Westminster Symphonic Choir performing Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the New York Philharmonic. May 2017 (Chris Lee)
