See you on Sunday, May 1st at 4:00 pm for Vestry Adult Choir and Jubilate Adult Handbell Choir’s Spring Concert, “I Dream a World.” The music promises to be fantastic and you won’t want to miss getting to hear our guest soloist, James Martin, sing several solo selections as well as with Vestry Choir. Below is more information about our soloist. The concert is free and open to the public, nursery care is available.

Guest Soloist: James Martin
Baritone James Martin has won critical acclaim for his performances in opera, musical theater, and concerts as a versatile singer, actor, and entertainer. He serves as Assistant Professor of Music at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania. Always an audience favorite, his artistic repertoire spans from Bach to bebop, Busoni to Burleigh, and Berg to Bernstein.

He has appeared with leading musical organizations throughout the United States and abroad, most recently he toured Taiwan and Thailand with frequent collaborator Lynn Raley. Favorite operatic roles include Mozart’s Papageno (Die Zauberlöte), Figaro, (Le nozze di Figaro) and Puccini’s Marcello (La bohème). As a concert artist, Martin enjoys a rich and varied repertoire ranging from the classic art song and oratorio repertory to new modern and contemporary classics with specialties in the music of Black Americans and the Great American Songbook.

Martin holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Illinois Wesleyan University and his Master of Music from the Juilliard School. He was a Young Artist with the Juilliard Opera Center, and apprenticed with major young artist programs in the U.S. and with L’Opéra National du Rhin in Strasbourg, France, as one of seven international Les jeunes voix du Rhin. He studied voice with David Nott (IWU), Cynthia Hoffmann (Juilliard), and Benita Valente. In addition to a successful performance career, Mr. Martin is an accomplished teaching artist and arts advocate touring classrooms and educational performance venues across the United States, Europe, and Asia. He has served on the boards of Grace House, a non-profit for homeless people living with HIV/AIDS, and the Mississippi Academy of Ancient Music (M’AAM). James Martin can be heard on the Copland House Blend, Naxos, and Albany record labels.

FCC is very happy to welcome James Martin back to Crystal Lake. Mr. Martin recently performed as a soloist with Encore Music Academy/Voices in Harmony in December.