Orchestra, Singers to Perform Concerto
The Westmont Orchestra performs works by Leonard Bernstein, Giacomo Puccini, Gioachino Rossini and Franz Liszt at the Concerto Concert on Friday, Feb. 20, at 7 p.m. in Westmont’s Page Multipurpose Room and Sunday, Feb. 22, at 3 p.m. in First Presbyterian Church, 21 E. Constance Ave. General admission is $10 and students are free. Tickets may be purchased at the door. For more information, please call (805) 565-6040.
Senior soprano Emmalee Wetzel sings “Steal Me Sweet Thief” from Gian Carlo Menotti’s “The Old Maid and the Thief.” Wetzel, who studied music and vocal performance in Austria in spring 2014, this February 2014, has sung in numerous Westmont performances.
Senior baritone Luke Mizuki performs “Largo al factotum” from Rossini’s “Barber of Seville.” Last year he directed the music for the play “The Last Five Years,” conducted “Adieu, sweet Amaryllis” by John Wilbye in the Vocal Chamber Concert and traveled with an Emmaus Road team to Tokyo to teach English and volunteer with afterschool activities.
Senior tenor Andrey Kitsen sings “Nessun Dorma” from Puccini’s “Turandot.” Andrey, a computer science major who emigrated to the U.S. from Ukraine, has performed with numerous choral groups in Santa Barbara and Fresno.
Junior pianist Aaron Wilk performs Liszt’s Piano Concerto #1 in E flat. Wilk, who recorded his first full-length CD at the age of 11, has opened for Twila Paris, a member of the Christian Music Hall of Fame. The Centennial, Colo., resident earned a Monroe Scholarship, Westmont’s highest academic honor. He spent last summer conducting research toward a DNA vaccination against herpes simplex virus 1.
Michael Shasberger, Adams professor of music and worship, directs the Westmont Orchestra. Han Soo Kim, an award-winning artist who joined the Westmont faculty this fall, is the string coordinator.