Soprano Anne Jennifer Nash and pianist Christopher Turbessi will perform at Hope College on Sunday, Jan. 13, at 3 p.m. in Wichers Auditorium of Nykerk Hall of Music.
The public is invited. Admission is free.
Christopher Turbessi, who is a 2008 Hope graduate, is currently an Emerging Artist at Virginia Opera in Norfolk, Va., where upcoming projects include Andre Previn’s “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “Le Nozze di Figaro,” and an educational outreach production of “Hansel and Gretel.” During the summer of 2012, he was a Fellowship Pianist at the Aspen Opera Theater Center, where he coached and played in the onstage band for John Harbison’s “The Great Gatsby.”
He has served as Principal Coach at Syracuse Opera, coaching “Madama Butterfly,” “Carmina Burana,” “La Traviata,” “Les Pêcheurs de Perles,” “Don Giovanni” and “The Mikado.” He was Chorus Master for “Les Pêcheurs de Perles” and “Madama Butterfly,” and prepared and traveled with Resident Artist education and scene programs. From 2008 to 2010, as a graduate student assistant at the University of Michigan, he coached the university’s production of Christoph Willibald Glück’s “Armide,” and was on staff for two study-abroad vocal programs in Italy. He has also accompanied for Toledo Opera’s production of “Falstaff” and Songfest in Malibu, Calif.
Turbessi holds a Master of Music degree in collaborative piano from the University of Michigan, where he studied with Martin Katz. He studied with Charles Aschbrenner at Hope, from which he holds a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance.
Anne Jennifer Nash, who is an assistant professor of voice at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn., is heralded as an exceptional light-lyric soprano with an uncommon beauty of expression and musicianship. Praising her performance as Laurie in Bard Summer Scape’s production of “The Tender Land” by Aaron Copland, Anthony Tommasini, writing for “The New York Times,” reported “The ardent soprano Anne Jennifer Nash vividly captures Laurie’s sensual yearnings.”
Nash was in residence at “SongFest” at Pepperdine University in June 2011 as the “Distinguished Alumna,” presenting a recital of living American composers as well as a week-long collaboration with American composer Libby Larsen, culminating in the premiere of Larsen’s “Donal Oge.” She is equally at home on the opera stage, where her recent engagements include appearances in productions of the “Rake’s Progress” as Anne Trulove, “L’Elisird’amore” as Adina and “Armide” as Armide. She is the recipient of fellowships for advanced studies from “SongFest” at Pepperdine, Middlebury College, AIMS, Centro StudiItaliani (where she sang Yvette in “La Rondine”), Lake George Opera, and Chautauqua Opera, and a three-summer fellowship with the Aspen Music Festival (for which she performed Mirium in the U.S. premiere of “The Golem”).
Nash completed her Doctorate of Musical Arts at the University of Michigan. She holds a Master of Music degree with a major in voice from the Peabody Conservatory of Music as well as a Graduate Performance Diploma in Opera, and a Bachelor of Arts in Music and French literature from Dickinson College.
Nykerk Hall of Music is located in the central Hope campus at the former 127 E. 12th Street between College and Columbia avenues.