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Maestra Green
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Program
Kennett Symphony of Chester County
Mary Woodmansee Green, Music Director
Toni Marie Palmertree, Soprano
Melody Wilson, Alto
Abdul Barr Khaliq, Tenor
Jarrett Ott, Baritone
Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia Alan Harler, Artistic Director
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BEETHOVEN
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Symphony No. 9, op. 125, D Minor
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Toni Marie Palmertree
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Soloists
Toni Marie Palmertree, soprano
Toni Marie Palmertree, Soprano, is a native of Fleetwood, Pennsylvania. She is a captivating performer who delights audiences in concert and on the opera stage. Caryl Huffaker of The Kennett Paper describes:
“Toni Marie Palmertree wowed the audience. They appreciated her complete vocal mastery and technique… and had the audience in the palm of her hand. With her technical expertise, personality and powerful but effortless singing, she is a major force”.
Toni Marie recently tackled the role of Carmen. The performance brought the audience to their feet. Her previous roles include Alice in Falstaff, Pamina in The Magic Flute, Noemi in Cendrillon, Lauretta and Zita in Gianni Schicchi, Mimi in La Bohème, Ellen in Lakmé and Suor Genevieve in Suor Angelica. Toni Marie has also premiered roles in several 21st century operas during their world premier in Philadelphia.
Toni Marie is proud to hold many awards: She recently won first place in the Long Leaf Opera of North Carolina voice competition. Other first place awards include The Kennett Square Symphony Voice Competition, and The Marcella Sembrich competition. She was awarded third place in the James Parkinson Opera Competition and the second place winner of the Sylvia Green Voice Competition. From The Peabody Conservatory, she was granted The Anita Erdman award. At the age of 21, Toni Marie was a finalist in the International Moniuszko Voice Competition in Warsaw, Poland.
Toni Marie received her Bachelor of Music degree from The Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, Maryland. During her studies, she enjoyed being a student of Ms. Phyllis Bryn Julson. Toni Marie currently studies voice with Metropolitan Opera singer, Gwynne Geyer.
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Melody Wilson
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Melody Wilson, mezzo soprano
Ms. Wilson is a 2010 graduate of the University of Michigan where she was a student of Shirley Verrett and Geroge Shirley. While at the University of Michigan she performed the roles of Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Larina in Eugene Onegin.
This fall Ms. Wilson will sing Flora in Opera Delaware’s production of La Traviata. She was the 2009 winner of the International Czech and Slovak Voice competition in Montreal, Canada. She performed in the 2009 Wexford Festival Opera in Wexford, Ireland in John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles as well as The Opera Theatre of Saint Louis where she participated in the Gerdine Young Artist Program, where she also covered the role of the Page of Herodias in Salome. At Opera North Ms. Wilson has performed the role of Mercedes in the mainstage production of Carmen, covered the role of Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, and performed the role of 3rd Spirit in The Magic Flute.
She has also sung Kate in The Pirates of Penzance and Strawberry Woman in Porgy and Bess with Opera Delaware.
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Abdul Barr Khaliq
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Abdul Barr Khaliq, tenor
Abdul Barr Khaliq has officially been a singer since he was 5 years old, starting under the direction of his father, later with the Boys Choir of Harlem and ending up in the performance track at Lincoln University where he has received his Bachelor of Arts in Music. His voice has grown tremendously over the last four years, thanks to intensive study with a myriad of different professors and exploring new modes of expression.
Mr. Khaliq is a Regents’ Scholar and a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc. He has done vocal competitions and special performances for humanitarians and has performed a wide range of repertoire, which most recently includes several movements from Il Signor Bruschino with a student opera workshop class.
After graduating from the university, Mr. Khaliqplans to attend graduate school, but he plans to spend sometime in the performance world while looking for opportunities to continue his vocal studies. Abdul would like to thank his family and friends for their continued love and support and the talented and hard-working professors who have worked diligently within their devotion to him. He would also like to thank the late great Dr. Walter J. Turnbull, for giving him the most important thing a singer can have—technique!
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Jarrett Ott
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Jarrett Ott, baritone
Jarrett Ott, baritone, recently graduated from West Chester University of Pennsylvania's School of Music under the tutelage of Randall Scarlata. He has appeared in leading roles in Gallantry, The Old Maid and the Thief, and L'enfant et les sortilèges at West Chester University, in scenes from La Bohème and Il barbiere di Siviglia with Oberlin in Italy, and most recently played Count Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. A finalist in this year's Annapolis Opera Competition, he took first place in the Kennett Symphony Voice Competition and recently appeared as soloist with the Atlantic Symphony Chamber Players. Mr. Ott began his masters at the Curtis Institute of Music this Fall studying with Marlena Malas.
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Alan Harler, Artistic Director
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Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia
Founded in 1874 by William Wallace Gilchrist, the Mendelssohn Club has been a major force in choral music in Philadelphia and beyond, with notable historic performances including the 1916 US premiere of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with Leopold Stokowski and The Philadelphia Orchestra.
Other historical premieres include the first performance outside the Soviet Union of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 13, and the Philadelphia premieres of Brahms’ German Requiem, Prokofiev’s Ivan the Terrible, Scriabin’s Symphony No. 1, and Bartók’s Cantata Profana.
Photo courtesy of J. L. Shipman.
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Thanks to our sponsors
Horizon Service, Inc.
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