Guest soloists Meghan Lambert, soprano, and Jeremiah Smallridge, tenor, will join the Greenbrier Valley Chorale in toasting the music of the theater during upcoming concerts in Lewisburg and Clifton Forge.
Lambert and Smallridge will perform the popular Brindisi (drinking song) from Verdi’s La Traviata and selections from Die Fledermaus (The Bat), an operetta by Johann Strauss II. Smallridge also will perform Oh What a Beautiful Morning from the classic Rogers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma.
Meghan Lambert transcends musical genres by specializing in classical, jazz, and commercial music styles. Last season, she was selected to sing the role of Maria in West Side Story with the Lynchburg Symphony Orchestra for their celebration of the composer Leonard Bernstein’s 100th anniversary. In December 2018, she sang the title role of the Mother in Liberty University’s production of Amahl and the Night Visitors.
A Lynchburg resident, Lambert has been a featured soloist in the concert productions of Vivaldi’s Gloria, Mozart’s Grand Mass in C Minor, and Handel’s Messiah. She holds an undergraduate degree in vocal performance from Liberty University and is currently studying for her master’s in music education.
Jeremiah Smallridge holds two bachelor degrees in music, one in music education from Glenville State College and the other in vocal performance from West Virginia Wesleyan College. He received a master’s in music education at the Shenandoah Conservatory of Shenandoah University. He has taught as an adjunct professor of music education at Glenville State College and West Virginia Wesleyan College. He is co-music director at Glenville Presbyterian Church and is an active performer in central West Virginia, working primarily with local schools, churches, Buckhannon Community Theatre, Vintage Theatre Company and the Buckhannon Choral Society.
The concert will also include the chorale singing selections from Verdi’s Nabucco, Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance, and the Broadway musicals Oklahoma! and Phantom of the Opera. The chorale is directed by Barbara Wygal Lutz with piano accompaniment by Teresa Bryant.
Performances will be Sunday, May 5, at 3 p.m. at Carnegie Hall in Lewisburg, and Tuesday, May 7, at 7:30 p.m. at the Historic Masonic Theater in Clifton Forge, VA. Tickets for the Carnegie Hall performance can be purchased online at www.carnegiehallwv.org, or by calling 304-645-7917. Tickets to Clifton Forge concert may be purchased online at www.historicmasonictheatre.com, or by calling 540-862-5655.
The chorale’s season sponsors are Greenbrier Physicians Clinic, Nancy Bulla and Dr. James Nemitz. Spring concert sponsors are David and Barbara Elliot and Carrington, Taylor, Nathaniel and Scout Bryant. The chorale also receives funding from the Greenbrier County Commission Arts and Recreation Fund and from individual and corporate donors.