A (virtual) Beer Tasting…to Benefit The WVC!
Join the WVC on Wednesday evening, October 28th, for a benefit (virtual) evening of beer and song—from the comfort of your own home!
Though we can’t raise a glass together at Judson this year, there’s no reason for us to have to miss out on celebrating the arrival of pumpkin spice season—we’ll just convene on Zoom!
Once again our friend and Braumeister for the evening, Patrick Watson of Stinky Bklyn, will guide us through a selection of seasonal beers that will be paired with musical offerings by our wonderful artists!
Registration is $20 per person and can be done via our Eventbrite event page. (We are also offering “pod pricing” for homes with multiple viewers (or drinkers or singers)
WVC Virtual Oktoberfest
Wednesday, October 28th at 7:00 pm on Zoom*
Cost: $20 per person or $30 “Pod” pricing for multiple viewers in the same location
Tickets/Registration: visit our Eventbrite event page
*Zoom link will be provided in confirmation email following successful registration.
We look forward to raising a glass with you!
Our Beers!
Our Braumeister Patrick Watson has selected a flight of beers that can be purchased as a mixed six-pack at Whole Foods, or your local store, so you can follow along with the tasting. If you can’t find a particular item locally, feel free to pick up a bottle of the type indicated.
Beer/Cider Flight
1: Cider: Austin Eastciders Original Dry Cider / ABV: 5.0%
2: Pilsner: Victory Brewing Co. Prima Pilsner / ABV: 5.3%
3: IPA: Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing IPA / ABV: 6.7%
4: Oktoberfest: Brooklyn Brewing Co. Oktoberfest / ABV: 5.5%
5. Lager: Blue Point Toasted Lager / ABV: 4.8%
Our Artists
Justin Beck, Bass-Baritone
Bass-baritone Justin Beck was born in San Diego, CA and raised in Texas where he began his singing career in his church children’s choir and his professional career at the age of nine in Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors. He studied music with a focus on vocal performance at the University of Texas at Austin, and Texas State University. He was a Young Artist at Austin Lyric Opera for two seasons singing roles in Gounod’s Faust, Puccini’s La fanciulla del West, and Verdi’s Rigoletto. He also spent two summers at the Aspen Music Festival in their opera theater center. Additional opera credits include three seasons with Opera Company of Middlebury in Vermont performing in Massenet’s Thaïs, Puccini’s La Rondine, and Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers. Other favorite roles include Leporello in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Dr. Falke and Frank in J. Strauss Jr.’s Die Fledermaus, both with Opera Manhattan.
Concert highlights include Handel’s Messiah with the Austin Symphony, Berlioz’s Requiem with the Carnegie Hall Festival Chorus under the baton of Robert Spano, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Orff’s Carmina Burana with the National Chorale in Avery Fisher Hall, Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex with the Bard Music Festival, and R. Strauss’s Feuersnot with the American Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Leon Botstein at Carnegie Hall. Additional recent engagements include concerts with Long Island Masterworks and Gregg Smith Singers.
Currently, Mr. Beck is a choral scholar at St. Mark’s Church in Mt. Kisco, as well as the West Village Chorale and Hudson Chorale, where he most recently sang Haydn’s Mass in D Minor. He is both honored and pleased to be returning for his second summer with the Ocean Grove Auditorium Choir as their bass soloist and section leader.
Sara Blaze, Soprano
Sara
h Blaze, a musical theater and cabaret artist as well as a film and stage actor has performed her cabaret, “No More Waiting…” to sold-out audiences in two of New York City’s most well-known clubs: Don’t Tell Mama and The Duplex.
She made her Off-Off-Broadway debut in an Equity Showcase production singing the lead role of Jo Meriam in Al Carmine’s musical, The Bonus Army, through Judson Arts, and as cofounder of the Dakota Theater Company, she performed in the company’s debut production as Louise in Ted Swindley’s Always…Patsy Cline.
Sarah’s film work includes Gary Marshall’s Beaches, as well as two films, Beyond Belief and Down in Flames, both of which have received accolades in film festivals throughout the United States, as well as a feature-length film, Lies I told My Little Sister, also recognized in film festivals in both the U.S. and England. All three films were directed by William J. Stribling.
Sarah’s most recent performances include the world premier of Lisa K. Winkler’s play, The Shabbos List with the Thespis NY Theater Festival and Al Carmine’s Christmas Rappings as the Virgin Mary with Judson Arts.
Sarah has conducted master classes in Aberdeen, Scotland and Grand Forks, North Dakota and maintains a private voice studio in New York City.
Chelsea Friedlander, Soprano
Hailed as a singer with “confidence and beautiful vocal color” soprano Chelsea Friedlander is thrilled to be involved with the WVC’s Oktoberfest; she was last seen singing at our Viva Vino in spring 2019.
Most recently Ms. Friedlander debuted with Winter Opera St. Louis, singing her iconic role as Mabel in Pirates of Penzance. Most recently, Ms. Friedlander debuted at NYC’s famous Feinstein’s/54 Below singing Bernstein’s “Glitter & Be Gay!” Ms. Friedlander’s 2018/2019 season included a return to Light Opera of New Jersey singing Marie, the title role in The Daughter of the Regiment, Cunegonde in Candide in Los Angeles, with Angels Vocal Art as an Emerging Professional Artist, under the baton of Kristof Van Grysperre. Multiple debuts continued with Opera on the James in Virginia as a Tyler Young Artist and also as a Mary Ragland Young Artist with Nashville Opera, debuting as Olympia in Tales of Hoffmann. Ms. Friedlander’s concert work included a debut as soprano soloist with Albany Pro Musica under the baton of José Daniel Flores-Caraballo in Mozart’s Mass in C Minor (K. 427). Ms. Friedlander holds a BM from Cleveland Institute of Music and a MM from Manhattan School of Music. Ms. Friedlander appears courtesy of Athlone Artists. For more information on Ms. Friedlander please visit: www.chelseafriedlander.com.
Laura Green, Soprano
Soprano Laura Green is an active singer and conductor in the greater New York area. She has performed with the West Village Chorale since 2002 on concerts including Michael Conley’s This Bequest of Wings and Appalachian Requiem, and Bach’s Mass in D.
Ms. Green conducts choirs at the Reformed Church of Bronxville and the Hoff-Barthelson School, both in Westchester County. She has sung on stage with Dave Brubeck, Leon Botsein, Riccardo Muti, Lorin Maazel, Alan Gilbert, Xian Zhang, Harold Rosenbaum, Matthew Phelps, K. Scott Warren, and Kent Tritle. Recordings include a collection of Haydn Masses with the Choir of Trinity Wall Street, John Adams’ On the Transmigration of Souls (Grammy Winner with NY Philharmonic), and (soloist).
Ms. Green coordinates the The Yuletide Singers, a crew of 20+ professionals ready to torture you with Christmas songs ad nauseam from Halloween until the clock strikes midnight on Christmas Eve. This ensemble’s Snow Carolers won the first Rachael Ray “Battle of the Carolers” as judged by Nick Cannon.
Amine Hachem, Tenor
Dubbed as “a soulful and handsome young man who delivers an electrifying and thrilling performance, bringing the crowd to their feet,” (An-Nahar), Amine J. Hachem is an operatic and crossover tenor who has captivated audiences across the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. He has been a leading tenor in several operas and musicals, including La Traviata, Tosca, La Boheme, Madama Butterfly, Carmen, Phantom of the Opera, Evita, I Lombardi Alla Prima Crociata, Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, and has also performed in numerous cabarets, and concert venues all over the world.
Last season, Amine “pushed the boundaries of operatic music by integrating it with unconventional sounds from around the world” (BroadwayWorld), and sold out his show “From the Mediterranean to the Americas” at the MGM Grand, The United Nations, Carnegie Hall, 54 Below, Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral, Andrew W. Mellon Hall Auditorium, Elebash Recital Hall, and The Metropolitan Club. He has also appeared on the runways of New York Fashion Week as a guest performer, and will appear as a guest model in the upcoming Hollywood film Ocean’s 8.
Acclaimed for his “captivating” performances (iHeart Radio), Amine is an international performer who fluently speaks four languages: Italian, French, English, and Arabic.
For more information, please visit www.aminejhachem.com.
Spencer Viator, Tenor
Spencer Viator is a rising young tenor in the opera world. He was recently hailed for his “ringing and elegant tenor” by the New York Times for his return to LoftOpera as Ferrando in their production of Cosi fan Tutte. He was also lauded for his voice’s “wonderfully expressive emotions” (Broadway World) in his debut of Nadir in Les pêcheurs de perles with Winter Opera of St. Louis.
The 2017/18 season saw a plethora of role debuts for Spencer Viator. First, in a co-production with both the Atlanta Opera and On-Site Opera, he sang the role of Count Belfiore in Mozart’s The Secret Gardener. The Wall Street Journal praised Spencer for his “elegant, lyric tenor, with a subtle gift for self-mockery.” Spencer then went to Opera Saratoga, where under the baton of Maestro John Mauceri he performed and recorded the role of Junior Mister in Blitzstein’s The Cradle Will Rock. Soon after, he joined The Berkshire Festival
Opera for the 2nd Season to portray the roles of both the Tanzmeister and Brighella in their production of Ariadne auf Naxos, where the Berkshire Record described him as having a voice that “shone like burnished brass.”
The Summer season has him returning to Des Moines Metro Opera to cover the role of Martin in The Tenderland. Afterwards he will be making his role debut of Tonio in La fille du regiment with Opera in the Heights in Houston, Texas.
For the past two years he was a Beneson Young Artist with Palm Beach Opera where he sang such roles as Offizier/Scarmuccio in Ariadne auf Naxos, Borsa in Rigoletto and the family performances of both Ernesto in Don Pasquale and Frederick in The Pirates of Penzance. He also learned and performed the role of Fernando in Granados’ Goyescas with 24 hours’ notice, filling in for a sick colleague. In 2015 he helped premiere the role of Soldier Hyimie in Ricky Ian Gordon’s new opera Morning Star with Cincinnati Opera.
Spencer has been in many prestigious young artist programs including Des Moines Metro Opera’s Young Artist Program where he covered Fenton in Falstaff. He is also a two-time Gerdine Young Artist at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as well as a Young Artist with Opera Saratoga.