Sweet Corn Productions is devoted to highly entertaining
presentations that affirm self-esteem and social equality.
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3 Men and a Soprano: Poetry in Song
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Artist Biographies
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The vocal quartet was established by Steve Bryant for this program. It is distinguished by its use of a male alto, a common feature of vocal quartet performance in prior centuries and a requirement of the Britten trio performed today. The quartet’s gender-blind selection of repertoire also embraces compositions originally performed by an evenly mixed quartet.
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Steve Bryant, Countertenor, has performed a broad range of early and modern music as a countertenor, mezzo soprano and haute contre. He has made a particular specialty of performing music written for castrati, having performed in a concert version of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice and in a solo drama Voice of an Angel: A Castrato Remembers. He appeared last season with Choral Arts Northwest in Bernstein’s Choruses from The Lark in the featured solo role composed for Russell Oberlin. His performance venues also have included the Castle Rock Festival, the University of California, San Francisco’s Old First Church, and KPFA radio. As music director of Sweet Corn Productions, he has produced and directed many concerts of early music featuring original instruments, and staged a Britten festival in San Francisco. He is a student of former MGM contract opera artist Maria Greco, who with Gigli shared the highly reputed Rosati as a teacher.
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Andrew Childs, Tenor, received his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of California at Irvine. As a doctoral candidate at the University of Washington, he is completing work on his dissertation on evangelistic style in the Passions of J.S. Bach. Andrew maintains an active performance career, and has been a featured artist with prestigious local ensembles such as the Northwest Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonia Northwest, the Seattle Symphony Chorus, the Pacific Northwest Chamber Chorus, and the Whatcom Chorale. He has earned critical praise for his performance of leading operatic roles including Britten’s Albert Herring and Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo. Andrew was featured in the Music Academy of the West’s 1990 and 1991 seasons, and has performed with symphonies throughout Southern California. He is a student of Julian Patrick and has studied art song with some of its leading proponents.
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Jane Harty, Piano, is an active and diverse recitalist of solo and chamber music repertoire, as both a pianist and harpsichordist. She holds a D.M.A. degree from the University of Southern California, and studied at L’Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris. Her teachers have included Blanche Bascourret de Gueraldi, a student of Cortot; and Johanna Graudan, a student of Schnabel. She was also a participant in the classes of Nadia Boulanger. A first-round finalist in the Gina Bachauer International Competition, she is also the recipient of several other awards including an appointment as Artist-in-Residence at the United States Foundation in Paris. She has served on the faculties of the University of Minnesota and California State University in Los Angeles, and is currently teaching at Pacific Lutheran University. She is a resident of West Seattle, the mother of three young musicians, and music director of the ArtsWest Concert Series.
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Tatiana Keylin, Piano, began her musical studies at age five in her native Russia. She was soon accepted to the Special Music School for Gifted Children of the St. Petersburg Conservatory. During this period she won various awards and prizes, which led to appearances both in recitals and as soloist with numerous orchestras in St. Petersburg. After graduating from the Mussorgsky College of Music, she proceeded to teach in music schools and became accompanist for the children’s choir “Samanta,” which is widely renowned in Russian and throughout Europe. She arrived in the United States in 1990 and currently lives in West Seattle with her husband Leonid (a violinist in the Seattle Symphony) and their two children.
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Vernon Nicodemus, Bass, has divided his musical pursuits between singing and playing trumpet. As a trumpet player, he has been soloist with the Northwest Chamber Orchestra and has played with the Seattle Symphony and Seattle Opera. As a vocal soloist, he has appeared in venues from Honolulu to Anchorage. His first love being ensemble singing, he was a founding member of Circa 1600 and has sung in many small ensembles throughout the Northwest, including The Tudor Choir and Choral Arts Northwest. He has been involved in music at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle for more than twenty years, in capacities from interim choirmaster to associate director of the Compline Choir.
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Linda Strandberg, Soprano, holds degrees from the University of Arizona and the University of Southern California. She has also attended the Banff Festival of the Arts Singing Academy and participated in the Vancouver Early Music Program, the Aston Magna Performance Practice Institute in New York, and the Musica en Compostela Festival in Spain. While living in Los Angeles, she sang in the West Coast premier of Philip Glass’ A Madrigal Opera at the Mark Taper Forum and was soloist in the performance of Mozart’s Requiem in honor of the visit of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. She has performed leading roles in Menoti’s operas The Old Maid and the Thief, Amahl and the Night Visitors, and The Medium, and has appeared as soloist with the Pacific Northwest Chamber Chorus, the Seattle Choral Company, and Choral Arts Northwest. She currently teaches at Seattle Central Community College and is a frequent soloist at Seattle First Baptist Church.
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all photos: Demian
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