Concert is ‘Easy to Love’

Space Coast Symphony Orchestra presents songs of Broadway romance

(SUNTREE, FL) December 26, 2016 –   Bring your best gal or best guy and join the Space Coast Symphony for Easy to Love: Broadway’s Romance on Thursday, January 5 at 7:00 PM.  The performance will feature the love songs of Broadway’s most famous composers and their biggest shows at the Scott Center for the Performing Arts at Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy (5625 Holy Trinity Drive in north Melbourne, 32940).  Enjoy favorites from Richard Rodgers, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter and Andrew Lloyd Webber with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, Lorenz Hart and Don Black. All-star soloists join the symphony on stage to perform favorites that include, “If I Loved You,” “With a Song in My Heart,” Some Enchanted Evening,” “Hello Young Lovers,” “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” “Blue Moon,” and many more.  $20 advance tickets are available through the orchestra website at www.SpaceCoastSymphony.org or at several convenient ticket outlets, including Ace Hardware stores in Indialantic and Cocoa Beach, Blue Sky Insurance in Cocoa Village, Tropical Realty of Suntree, La Moda Boutique in Suntree, Art Expressions in downtown Eau Gallie, Atlantic Strings in Melbourne, A Floral Affair in Merritt Island, Brass & Reed Music Store in Merritt Island, and Brevard Florist in Palm Bay.  Tickets at the door are $25.  The concert is free for those aged 18 and under or with a student ID.  For more information, call toll free to 855-252-7276 or visit www.SpaceCoastSymphony.org.

Space Coast Symphony Orchestra Conductor and Artistic Director, Aaron T. Collins, expects Easy to Love: Broadway’s Romance to be a crowd-pleaser.

“Broadways speaks the language of romance,” said Collins.  “And we have four exceptional performers joining us who will make the songs come alive.  You may just fall in love all over again.”

For more information about the Space Coast Symphony 2016-17 season or the Symphony for Everyone discount ticket program, please visit www.SpaceCoastSymphony.org or call toll-free (855) 252-7276.

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ABOUT THE SOLOISTS —

Michelle Evans Jarrell, a recent finalist in the American Prize for Voice Performance, is an up and coming “professional singer of a high order, in demand by orchestra conductors, who especially like her for her work ethic and accurate preparation.  She has a beautiful, well-placed soprano voice with an especially lovely middle register, a fine sense of legato, and good audience communication.  Michelle received a Bachelor of Arts in Music and her Master of Music in Voice Performance from the Petrie School of Music at Converse College where she was awarded the Daniel Music Scholarship and a Graduate Teaching Assistantship. Other awards include the National Association of Teachers of Singing and first place in the Petrie School of Music Concerto Competition. While a student at the Petrie School of Music, she also had the distinct privilege of representing her studio in master classes with the legendary Metropolitan Opera star Marilyn Horne and the distinguished coach John Wustman.

Upcoming engagements for 2016 include soprano soloist in Mozart’s Requiem with the Southern Wesleyan University Concert Choir and Orchestra, soprano soloist on the annual gala with the Metropolitan Youth Symphony Orchestra of Atlanta, soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah in Savannah, GA, as well as additional recitals and concerts around Atlanta. Other recent concert and oratorio engagements include soprano soloist on the annual Holiday Pops Concert in the Cathedral with the Savannah Philharmonic Orchestra in 2010, 2011, and 2013, soprano soloist with the Georgia Symphony Orchestra in December 2014 in excerpts from Handel’s Messiah and Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem, and soprano soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the GAMAC Chorale and Orchestra in South Carolina. Additional concert engagements include Vivaldi’s Gloria, DuBois’ Seven Last Words of Christ, Requiems by Rutter and Fauré, Bach’s solo cantata for soprano and orchestra Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, and Mozart’s Exultate, Jubilate. Michelle made her professional debut with Opera Carolina where she also served as Resident Artist performing the role of “Lucy” The Billy Goats Gruff.  Her operatic roles include “Pamina” in The Magic Flute as well as “Papagena,”  “First Lady,” and the “Queen of the Night,”  “Miss Silverpeal” in Mozart’s The Impresario, “Cinderella” in The True Story of Cinderella,“Gilda” in Milton Granger’s Talk Opera, and “Lucia” in a scene from Lucia di Lammermoor with the Converse Symphony Orchestra. Additional stage credits include roles in Carmen, Suor Angelica, Hansel and Gretel, and Die Fledermaus, and Julie in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel.

Michael John Foster, Baritone is a Central Florida artist with an international career who divides his time between performing, directing and teaching. Michael, an Actor’s Equity Association (AEA) artist, has a Bachelors degree in music from Liberty University and a Masters degree in voice from Florida State University and a doctorate in voice performance from the University of Illinois where he was a 2011 Krannert Center Debut artist nominee and studied with Grammy award winner and Metropolitan Opera artist Nathan Gunn. He has previously appeared in many productions including the Baker in Into the Woods, Tony in West Side Story, Kodaly in She Loves Me, and Smudge in the touring company of Forever Plaid to name a few. Michael has recently been seen with the U of I opera as Sid in Benjamin Britten’s Albert Herring and as Don Giovanni, Leporello and Ben Franklin in the U of I opera studio course led by Dawn Harris and Ricardo Herrera. In concert, Michael has been featured soloist for works such as Steiner Requiem, Messiah, Haydn’s Creation, and Handel’s Saul appearing with groups such as the Skaneatles Choral Society in New York and The Nashville Chamber Singers at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville.

He is also an accomplished stage director having most recently directed Into The Woods, You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown, The Magic Flute, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, The Light in the Piazza, Sondheim’s Company, and Steel Magnolias. He has spent several summers performing and teaching at the Scuola Italia Summer Program for Young Opera Singers in Urbania, Italy and currently heads their newest program for singing actors, which he developed, called The Program for Lyric Theatre. Michael has been featured as the lead in several commercials, as Gaston in Beauty and the Beast Live at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and is known as convention speaker specializing in acting methods for singers. Michael also leads the Arts and Culture Committee of North Brevard, a team which specializes in creating opportunities for artists to excel while enriching the lives in the community of Florida’s Space Coast. More about Michael John Foster is available on his website at www.drmichaeljohnfoster.com. 

Matthew Coules, tenor, is a graduate of Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ. In recent years, he worked with some of the world’s finest conductors and orchestras including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and the West-East Divan Orchestra. At Westminster Choir College, Matthew was a member of The Westminster Williamson Voices under the direction of Dr. James Jordan. During his time in Williamson Voices, they were nominated for a Grammy Award for best choral performance for their Naxos recording of Whitbourn: Annelies, An Oratorio of Anne Frank. As a young up and coming tenor at 25 years of age, Matthew has performed the roles of The Servants in Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffman, Don Basilio in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, and Ferrando in Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte. In fall 2017, Matthew will be taking his voice up north to start his graduate work at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts where he will be pursuing a Masters of Music in Voice Performance. This will be Matthews second season singing with Aaron Collins and The Space Coast Symphony Orchestra.  In December of 2016, Matthew was the tenor soloist with the Brevard Community Chorus in their performance of the BachMagnificat and selections from Handel’s Messiah.

ABOUT THE SPACE COAST SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA— The SCSO is a lively and passionate Central Florida orchestra comprised of professional musicians, music educators and mentored amateurs of exceptional ability.  The Orchestra was formed by Conductor and Artistic Director Aaron T. Collins with a two-fold mission: to provide mentoring and performance opportunities for Florida’s finest young musicians as well as to provide professional concerts at genuinely affordable prices.  The ultimate goal of the organization is to help ensure the symphonic tradition for the enjoyment of future generations.

33-year old Aaron T. Collins is garnering recognition for his achievements.  LEAD Brevard named the ambitious Collins one of their “4 under 40” Young Professionals, the youngest-ever recipient of the honor.  Space Coast Business magazine listed him as one of Brevard’s “100 Most Admired Businesspeople.” In 2016, Collins won the Richard A. Stark Award for cultural leadership from the Cultural Council of Indian River County.  Through his personal involvement with more than a dozen performing arts groups, pioneering reciprocal ad program and social media cross promotions, Collins has gained a reputation for generosity; championing other arts organizations throughout Central Florida for the cultural enrichment of the community.

The Space Coast Symphony Orchestra performs in several very comfortable venues in Brevard and Indian River counties, with advance general admission tickets priced at just $20.  School-aged children 18 years and under are admitted free of charge, as are college students with a valid ID.  In keeping with their mission, the symphony provides a unique Symphony for Everyone ticketing program, a “pay-what-you-can” option designed to provide substantially discounted admission to any Space Coast Symphony concert.

Relying on a non-traditional orchestra model and a slim budget, the Space Coast Symphony Orchestra is one of only 19 U.S. orchestras to perform year-round. In addition to maintaining the Space Coast Symphony JAZZ Orchestra and Space Coast Symphony Wind Orchestra, the non-profit organization provides numerous separate and free ensemble performances. More information about the Space Coast Symphony Orchestra’s upcoming concerts, ticket sales, venues, directions and sponsorship opportunities is available at www.SpaceCoastSymphony.org by calling toll free (855) 252-7276.