The performance of the Fauré Requiem by the Greenbrier Valley Chorale will be enriched by the talents of two guest vocalists and a chamber ensemble comprised of accomplished musicians from Greenbrier County and beyond. The concert will be held at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 11, at Lewisburg United Methodist Church, 1133 Washington Street East.
Theodore (Tadd) Sipes, baritone, has enjoyed a varied career as a professional musician in church music, academia and performance. He has been a music director for churches in Kansas and Rochester, NY, and has taught in Michigan, Idaho and Virginia. He has sung a wide variety of music as a soloist, including concert works, oratorio, opera, musical theatre, sacred music and works from the “great American Songbook.”
Soprano Jenna Weaver received her undergraduate degree in vocal performance at the University of Tennessee and is now pursuing a master’s degree in vocal performance at West Virginia University. This summer she went to the American Institute for Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, where she competed in the Meistersinger Competition, earning fourth place honors and the award for Audience Favorite. Her goal is to audition and perform for operas after graduating from WVU.
Accompanying the 60-member choir will be a chamber ensemble of organ, harp, violin, cello, and bass. The organist is Susan Adkins, a long-time Greenbrier County music educator who recently retired after a decade as executive director of Lewisburg’s Carnegie Hall. She holds a bachelor’s degree in music education from Concord and a master’s in speech communications from WVU.
Harpist Leah Trent earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music from the University of Colorado in Boulder. She is a professional church musician, currently serving as the organist, pianist, harpist and choir director at Ronceverte Presbyterian Church. Since 2008, Trent has been the education director at Carnegie Hall.
Cellist Alex Bincang and violinist Sarah Bingcang are pleased to be returning to Lewisburg to perform in this concert. Alex Bincange graduated from the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine in in 2006. Before entering medical school, he earned a degree in music performance of the cello at Vanderbilt. He currently practices family medicine in Cincinnati, OH, and outside of his life as a physician, continues to perform the cello in different genres from classical to pop.
Sarah Bincang performs in Southwest Ohio with the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Cincinnati Community Orchestra, and the Clermont Symphony Orchestra. She received a full scholarship to University of Kentucky as a violin performance major and then completed a master of music in violin at Manhattan School of Music
Bassist Jay W. Frye received his music degree from West Virginia University. He is retired after 33 years of teaching music on all levels in West Virginia public schools. Locally, he performs with the West Virginia Jazz Orchestra, the Greenbrier Valley Theatre, Walter Scott and Friends, The Greenbrier River Brass, Washington Street Strutters, and Pushin’ Strings.
For those who would like to learn more about Fauré and his music, there will be a free lecture by Dr. James Caplinger at the church at 1:30 p.m. Concert tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for college students, and $5 for children in grades K-12. Tickets are available from Chorale members, online at greenbrieryvalleychorale.org or can be purchased at the door.
The program is presented with financial assistance from the WV Division of Culture and History, and the National Endowment for the Arts, with approval from the WV Commission on the Arts. Generous support was also received from the Greenbrier County Commission Arts and Recreation Fund and individual contributors. Lewisburg United Methodist Church is ADA compliant.
