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Sweethearts in Song
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Tiffany Bostic-Brown, Soprano

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Soprano Tiffany Bostic-Brown currently serves on the faculty at the University of North Alabama in Florence, Alabama. Originally from Fairfax, Virginia, Dr. Bostic-Brown was awarded a Bachelor of Music degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and a Master of Music degree and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree with emphasis in Vocal Performance and Stage Direction from Louisiana State University.

Known for her “sweet and ethereal” voice, Dr. Bostic-Brown traveled the United States and Europe as a concert artist, recitalist, and operatic artist. Her performance credits include: the mother in Hansel and Gretel, Micaëla in Carmen, First lady in The Magic Flute, Female Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia, Violetta in La Traviata, Fiordiligi in Cosi Fan Tutte, Madame Lidoine in Dialogues of the Carmelites, Mimi in La Boheme, Beth in Little Women, Mrs. Hayes in Susannah, Nella and Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi, Miss Wordsworth in Albert Herring, Marianne in Tartuffe, Elisetta in Il Matrimonio Segreto and Adele in Die Fledermaus .

As a concert artist, Dr. Bostic-Brown has also performed many symphonic and oratorio works by, Bach, Barber, Beethoven, Brahms, Dvorak, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Poulenc, Rossini, Schubert and Vivaldi with symphonies such as The Washington National Philharmonic, The Baton Rouge Symphony, The Lake Charles Symphony Orchestra, The Louisiana Sinfonietta, the Oklahoma Canterbury Choral Society and with the DCINY Concert Series at the Lincoln Center in New York City.

Dr. Bostic-Brown has also made a professional recording of select works by composer Dinos Constantinides with the Louisiana Sinfonietta as well as a video recording and national PBS broadcast of Opera Louisiane’s opening season “Opera Gala” with Met Opera Artists Susan Graham, Paul Groves, Lucas Mechem and Lisette Oropesa.   Her honors include the Des Moines Metro Opera Apprentice program participation, regional finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in New Orleans for three consecutive years. Dr. Bostic-Brown made her Carnegie Hall debut in Spring 2012.

In 2015, the Birmingham Music Club presented Tiffany Bostic-Brown and her husband Terrance Brown in concert at the Clubhouse on Highland.  It was February and there had been a blizzard a few days earlier, so we were afraid they would not make it from North Alabama.  Thankfully, they were able to travel here safely, along with their accompanist Karen Cantrell.  With their exquisite voices also accompanied by the Red Mountain Chamber Players, it was a beautiful and exciting concert to treasure.  If you were among the audience members who could not attend because of the weather, now is your chance to hear the lovely Tiffany Bostic-Brown in Sweethearts In Song.

 

 Terrance Brown, Baritone

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American Baritone Terrance Brown currently serves as the Executive Director of the School of the Arts at the University of North Alabama in Florence, Alabama, and faculty member for Voice and Opera. He is a native of West Blocton, Alabama.

Dr. Brown was awarded a Bachelor of Music degree from Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, and Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from Louisiana State University. Dr. Brown has quickly made a name for himself as a versatile singer and conductor.

An active teacher and stage performer, Dr. Brown has traveled extensively throughout the United States and Europe as a concert artist, recitalist, and operatic artist. He is known for his rich, lyrical baritone voice that is capable of performing a variety of musical styles. His performance credits include: Count Capulet in Gounod's Romeo et Juliette, Bob in Menotti’s Old Maid and the Thief, Peter in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, Sarastro in Mozart’s Die Zauber Flöete, Collatinus in Britten’s Rape of Lucretia, Boaz in James Niblock’s Ruth and Naomi, Germont in Verdi's La Traviata, Voltaire in Bernstein's Candide, Salieri in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Mozart and Salieri, Jake/Robbins in Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, Le Baili in Massenet's Werther, Le Marquis in Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites, and Dashwood in Mark Adamo's Little Women.

As an active recitalist and concert artist, Dr. Brown has worked with such fine conductors and coaches as John Keene, Dennis Jesse, Rufus Mueller, Frank Nemhauser, Duaine Wolfe, Kyle Marrero, Jerome Shannon, James Niblock, Lamar Drummonds, Kenneth Fulton, and Timothy Muffit. He has performed as feature soloist with the Canterbury Choral Society, Oklahoma City Ballet, Austin Symphony Orchestra, as well as many other noted performing ensembles. His concert repertoire includes works by Beethoven, Haydn, and he recently appeared as a soloist in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra and the Brahm’s Requiem with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra for the final concert of the southern division American Choral Directors Association convention.

Dr. Brown has also made a professional recording of select works by composer Dinos Constantinides with the Louisiana Sinfonietta. His honors include being named a regional finalist for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in New Orleans and being selected as a regional finalist for the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Artist Awards. Dr. Brown’s appearance in Fall 2008 in the opening gala concert of Opera Louisiane was nationally broadcast on PBS in 2009.  He was seen in the 2011-2012 season in the title role of Verdi's Rigoletto with the Chesapeake Chamber Opera, First Nazarene in Strauss' SalomeTonio in Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, and in solo performances with the Texarkana Symphony and the Tuscaloosa Symphony, for which he premiered a new work by composer Joseph Landers entitled Sinfonia da Requiem commemorating the tragic losses sustained resulting from the tornadoes which devastated the state of Alabama in the spring of 2011. 

In 2015, the Birmingham Music Club presented Terrance Brown and his wife Tiffany Bostic-Brown in concert at the Clubhouse on Highland.  It was February and there had been a blizzard a few days earlier, so we were afraid they would not make it from North Alabama.  Thankfully, they were able to travel here safely, along with their accompanist Karen Cantrell.  With their exquisite voices also accompanied by the Red Mountain Chamber Players, it was a rare and beautiful treasure of a concert. If you were among the audience members who could not attend because of the weather, now is your chance to hear the wonderfully vibrant Terrance Brown in Sweethearts In Song.

 

Kyoung Cho, Soprano

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Internationally acclaimed Korean soprano Kyoung Cho has established a reputation in diverse regions of Asia, Europe, The Middle East, and North America. After winning several national & international competitions and awards, Lyric soprano Kyoung Cho has performed numerous operas, oratorios, and concerts and some of the performances mentioned here led her to the stages of Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York City, Kennedy Center in Washington D. C. and other prestigious stages and universities in the US and 16 countries around the globe.

Her international solo appearances have included leading operatic roles in Austria, Germany, the Slovak Republic, and the United States, and both concerts and lecture-recitals in China, Korea, Cambodia, Thailand, Italy, France, Austria, Germany, Serbia, Canada, Luxembourg, Israel, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Japan, and the U.S.

A native Korean, Dr. Cho received her B.M. in voice from Yonsei University, one of the three most prestigious universities in Korea. Moving to the United States in 1991, she received her M.M. in voice at the Manhattan School of Music in NYC, followed by post-graduate studies in opera performance at Yale University.  She completed her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Voice at the University of Memphis, where she was the recipient of the Hohenberg-Scheidt Opera Fellowship.

She is currently an Associate Professor of Voice & Coordinator of the voice program at University of South Florida in Tampa, FL, which she joined in 2007 after having previous teaching engagements at SUNY Fredonia (Voice) and at Luther College in Iowa (Voice/Opera).

Dr. Cho is a champion of Korean Vocal Music and leading performing scholar of promoting this unique vocal genre to Non-Korean scholars, musicians, and audience. Her other main areas of specialization are Italian opera, and the music of contemporary composers from both Korea and the United States.  Both of her CDs, Korean Art Songs and Italian Opera Arias are critically-acclaimed, and she is currently working on more CDs of the Korean Art Song repertory.  She has also recorded music by contemporary composers Max Lifchitz and Lee Chan-Hae.

 The Birmingham Music Club was fortunate to have had Kyoung and Won Cho as our artists for the Westmoreland Parlor Concert in 2012, and as our Guest Artists in Maestro Goes Around the World in 2017, and we are so glad to welcome them back to Birmingham this weekend for the Live-Stream Concert Sweethearts In Song.

 

Won Cho, Baritone

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 Korean-Canadian Bass Won Cho is in demand in both concert and operatic repertoire worldwide thanks to the unique range and beauty of his voice as well as his outstanding acting ability and strong stage presence, appearing with many of the opera houses and orchestras of the U.S., Canada, Europe, The Middle East, Asia, and his native Korea. 

You have probably seen him in some of his Solo roles in ‘Carmen’, ‘Madama Butterfly’, ‘The Magic Flute’, ‘Rigoletto’, ‘Hamlet’, ‘Roméo et Juliette’, & ‘Cendrillon’ with Opera Birmingham, or in ‘Messiah’ & ‘Magnificat’ with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra.

Other highlights of Cho's career of the past few years include solo appearances at Carnegie Hall in NYC as a bass soloist in Mozart's Requiem, five engagements of Don Basilio in Il Barbiere di Siviglia’in NY, Alaska, Florida, & Montana, Colline in La Bohème, Osmin in Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Commendatore & Leporello in Don Giovanni in NY & IL, his Mexican debut in Die Zauberflöte with the Xalapa Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven's Mass in C & Brucker’s Te Deum with the Palm Beach Symphony, Mozart Requiem in Korea,  Beethoven’s 9th Symphony & Brahms Requiem at Bach Festival Society of Winter Park in FL, The Creation’in Toronto,  Missa Solemnis & Lord Nelson Mass with Haydn Festspiele Eisenstadt at Esterházy Palace in Austria,  Bach Cantata & Messiah with The Florida Orchestra,  Bonzo in Madama Butterfly, Don Alfonso in Cosi fan tutte, and Lord Capulet in ‘Roméo et Juliette’ with Opera Tampa,  and Fauré Requiem with JSU Chamber Singers/A Cappella Choir/Calhoun County Civic Chorale.

He has also been invited to present concerts and lecture-recitals in Korea, China, Cambodia, Thailand, Luxembourg, France, Italy, Serbia, Japan, Hungary, & several cities in the US.

Dr. Cho began his vocal training at University of Western Ontario & Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada and received degrees from Manhattan School of Music, Boston University, and the University of Memphis.

He is also an accomplished voice teacher and opera director with over 30 operas and opera scenes under his directing and producing credit. His teaching credentials included Artist-Faculty at Vianden International Music Festival & Nei Stëmmen International Voice Institute in Luxembourg, Assisi International Music Festival, and Yanbian University in China as well as presenting master classes in China, Korea, Hungary, Thailand, Cambodia, and several cities in the US. He has served as faculty at University of Northern Iowa (Voice), State University of New York in Fredonia (Voice / Opera), University of South Florida (Voice/Opera), and is currently an Associate Professor of Voice at University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Birmingham Music Club was fortunate to have had Won & Kyoung Cho as our artists for the Westmoreland Parlor Concert in 2012, and as our Guest Artists in Maestro Goes Around the World in 2017.  Won was also a featured soloist in our Maestro Goes to Broadway in 2016, and our Vaudeville Varieté in 2019.  He is very much appreciated and we look forward to hearing him sing with his sweetheart Kyoung in Sweethearts In Song.

 

Carin Gunter, Soprano
 
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Carin Gunter is excited to be back with the Birmingham Music Club after last appearing in the 2013 production The Merry Widow while in college at Samford University.
 
After graduating from Samford with a B.F.A. in Musical Theatre, she moved to New York City to pursue performing professionally, and had the opportunity to work with theatres all over the country. Some of her favorite regional credits include Mary in Mary Poppins, Magnolia in Showboat, Grace in Annie, and Missy in The Marvelous Wonderettes
 
Last year, she returned to Birmingham to marry her good "friend" from college, Evan, and they are happily settled here as newlyweds. Thank you to the Birmingham Music Club for including us in this special concert!

(Note from Birmingham Music Club:  Birmingham audience members may also very well remember Carin (as Carin Lagerberg) from her title role in the critically acclaimed Samford production of Jane Eyre in 2015.  We’re glad she and her sweetheart are  back, and look forward to seeing them today!)

 

Evan Woods Gunter, Baritone

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Baritone Evan Woods Gunter is a native of Rainbow City, Alabama.  He studied Vocal Performance at Samford University, and then worked professionally in Musical Theatre, just returning from New York City late last year, when he and Carin Lagerberg decided to reside in Birmingham after their marriage.

Evan has worked for several regional theatre companies including Red Mountain Theatre Company (AL), College Light Opera Company (MA), The Little Theatre On The Square (IL), Maples Repertory Theatre (MO), and Merry-Go-Round Finger Lakes Music Theatre (NY).  Some of his favorite roles include Gabey (On the Town), Pirate King (Pirates of Penzance), and Marius (Les Misérables).

Evan was memorable as Hassi in Birmingham Music Club’s 2015 production of The Desert Song.  His beautiful baritone vocal performance won a 1st place Birmingham Music Club Scholarship that same year.  We welcome him back to Birmingham, and look forward to hearing him sing with his new bride Carin in Sweethearts In Song.

 

 

 

 


John Robertson
Accompanist and Music Director
 
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John Robertson holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in Piano Performance and Pedagogy, and he is currently completing his DMA in Piano Accompanying and Chamber Music at the highly esteemed Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY.

 In January 2020, he was invited to participate in Renée Fleming’s Song Studio at the Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall.  In 2019, he received  the 2019 Barbara M. H. Koeng Award for Excellence in Vocal Accompanying.

Indeed, his work with the Birmingham Music Club began as one of the fine accompanists in our 2012 Best of Young Birmingham concert.  Since then, the breadth of his musical talent has made him one of our most valuable team members.

In 2013, he had a major role in our production of The Merry Widow.  He was a standout as the operatic tenor Camille de Rosillon, the 2nd romantic lead.  After that, we continued to experience the range of his musical skills (and magic), on full display in his work as chorus master, vocal coach, and music director for Desert Song in 2015, Die Fledermaus in 2016, Naughty Marietta in 2017, and Operetta Spectacular in 2018.

John has also performed for innumerable events with Opera Birmingham, Samford University, Samford Opera, and Red Mountain Theatre Company.  The Birmingham Music Club is very fortunate that he will be joining us again as Music Director and Accompanist for Sweethearts in Song.


 

Kristin Kenning, Director
 

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Kristin Kenning is a stage director from Detroit, Michigan and is Director of Opera at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama.

Recent productions include The Pirates of Penzance for Opera Birmingham; Il matrimonio segreto for Mobile Opera; The Ghosts of Gatsby for the OPERA America New Works Forum and Seagle Festival; Naughty MariettaThe Desert SongDie Fledermaus, and Operetta Spectacular for the Birmingham Music Club; Mlle. Modiste and The Vagabond King for Minnesota's Skylark Opera; The Ghosts of Gatsby, The Marriage of FigaroHansel and Gretel, Lucinda y las flores de la NochebuenaAmahl and the Night Visitors, and On the Town for Samford Opera; The Match Girl’s Gift on the Minnesota Centennial Showboat; and The Ladysmith Story at the Red Eye Theater in Minneapolis.

Dr. Kenning  is a champion of new work and is invited to direct often for the Atlanta Opera’s 24-Hour Opera Project.  Kristin loves the Birmingham Music Club and is so thankful for their investment in our community!

(Note from the Birmingham Music Club: Thank-you Kristin for those kind words about the Birmingham Music Club.  We are so thankful for you and all you have done for us.  You're a treasure and we can't wait to see and hear the Live-Streamed Concert Sweethearts in Song.)