The LaGrange Symphony Orchestra is proud to announce the vocal soloists for their March 20th concert performance. The Embrace LIFE concert begins at 7:30 p.m. on the first day of Spring, March 20th, in Callaway Auditorium, LaGrange, GA. Under the direction of Dr. Richard Prior, the LSO continues its acclaimed 2017-18 season with this March event. Quicklink to TICKETS HERE
Included in the evening, will be a side-by-side co-performance with the LaGrange Symphony Youth Orchestra, who are directed by Celeste Myall. This annual event has consistently impressed as LaGrange takes great pride in the education and preparedness of its music students. Experience is key. These young artists will be performing professional level music, alongside our musicians.
The evening will also include the Mozart Requiem Mass in D minor. This is a collaborative endeavor with the engaging LaGrange High School Chorus, who study under the direction of Katie Westbrook Trent. The chosen soloists for the Mozart Requiem are:
Dr. Maryann Kyle – Soprano:
In demand as one of the finest vocal coaches of belt, legit and classical vocal technique, Maryann Kyle has dedicated her professional life to guiding singers and teachers in their pursuit not only of exceptional singing, but also captivating performance. Kyle has extensive experience teaching, coaching, and performing opera, recitals, concerts and Broadway shows. Additionally, she actively mentors over twenty teachers of voice and theatre in various universities across the United States, and her students can be found on the stages of the finest opera and musical theatre companies, conservatories and training programs across the globe.
Kyle was the vocal coach for the musical Twist, a show by composers Tena Clark and Gary Prim, and directed by Debbie Allen, which opened in Atlanta in 2010 at the Alliance Theatre, and opened at the Pasadena Playhouse in 2011.
Maryann Kyle is an active performer of opera, concert, and recital repertoire, and has shared the concert stage with some of world’s greatest artists, having sung the role of Micaela in Carmen opposite internationally known mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves; performing as a guest soloist with The Miami Festival opposite famed bass-baritone William Warfield; and singing the soprano solos in Mendelssohn’s Elijah opposite baritone Timothy Noble and mezzo-soprano Marietta Simpson. Kyle has appeared as a soloist on the pop music stage with famed artists Patti Labelle, Patti Austin, Dionne Warwick, Ann Nesby and Vesta Williams. Kyle’s one-woman-show, Sondheim in the City, premiered in NYC at the Laurie Beechman Theatre/West Bank Café in October, 2011, and she performed the title role in Daniel Lincoln’s show, Calixte and Tosca with Mississippi Opera. She will sing the role of Liu in 2018 as well as numerous musical theatre cabaret shows and Mozart’s Requiem.
Specializing in belt and legit style Broadway technique, Kyle has had a tremendous success in training singers in the best and healthiest use of their voice, and in integrating the function of singing with their character and physical acting process. She maintains a studio in NYC and has worked with the NYU-Tisch, Playwrights Horizons Studio, Florida Thespian’s Conference, Southeastern Theatre Conference, National Opera Association’s National and Regional Conferences, and the musical theatre apprentice program and teaching fellowship as a part of the International Performing Arts Institute in both Germany and Thailand.
Kyle’s coaching talents are not restricted to Broadway musicals. Her students are successful in the classical realm as well, many of whom have performed leading roles with New Orleans Opera, Seattle Opera, Oper Frankfurt, English National Opera, Virginia Opera. San Francisco Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Chicago Opera Theatre, Sarasota Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Mississippi Opera, Mobile Opera Opera Cologne and the Badisches Staatsheater Karlsruhe. Her students have garnered numerous awards including top placements at state and regional Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions.
Her students have earned apprenticeships with Seattle Opera, Lake George Opera Festival, Aspen Festival, Tanglewood Music Festival, Ohio Light Opera, Brevard, Wolf Trap, Utah Festival Opera, Opera Saratoga, Sarasota Opera, Des Moines Opera, Chatauqua Opera, Central City Opera, Crested Butte Opera, Opera Breve, Harrower Opera program, Cincinnati Opera, Virginia Opera, Opera in the Ozarks, International Performing Arts Institute and Operafestival di Roma; many continue to pursue their studies in major conservatories and schools including Juilliard, Indiana University, San Francisco Conservatory, Boston Conservatory, Manhattan School of Music, Cincinnati Conservatory, Oklahoma City University, Shenandoah University, University of Texas at Austin, Florida State University, the University of Illinois and New England Conservatory of Music.
Maryann Kyle is currently professor of voice at the University of Southern Mississippi and will join the faculty of the University of Mobile in the Fall of 2018 as the Director of Graduate Music Studies. Kyle is the founder of the Pedagogy of Style Conference, which will present its next conference in September of 2018. Additionally, Kyle is the master teacher of the IPAI Teacher Fellowship Program in Germany, which focuses on the integration of performance and teaching language and practice in the 21st century voice studio.
Dr. Beth Everett – Alto:
Beth Everett is Associate Professor of Music and teaches courses in conducting and vocal music. Since the fall of 2016 she has served as the Director of the Sons of Lafayette. She has studied conducting with Ray Robinson, Jack Delaney, Paul Phillips, Constantina Tsolainou, and Gregory Fuller. Dr. Everett holds a DMA from the University of Southern Mississippi, a Masters in Choral Conducting from Southern Methodist University, and a Bachelor of Church Music from Palm Beach Atlantic University.
From 1996 until 1998, Dr. Everett was a member of the faculty of the National Music Conservatory in Amman, Jordan where she taught courses in Music Theory, Music History, and Sightsinging and Ear Training. She served concurrently as assistant conductor of the Amman YWCA Choir and trained various choruses for performances with the National Music Conservatory orchestra. Past teaching appointments also include Eastern Michigan University, Bethel University (Tennessee), and Landmark Christian School (Georgia).
Recent conducting engagements include John Rutter’s Magnificat for the University Musical Society’s Summer Sing in Ann Arbor, the Michigan Community College Choral Festival in Grand Rapids, and various high school clinics around the state of Michigan. Dr. Everett recently returned to Mississippi as musical director for HMS Pinafore at the Natchez Festival of Music and as musical director for Command Performance Broadway Live! at FestivalSouth in Hattiesburg.
Choirs under Dr. Everett’s direction have performed across the United States as well as internationally. The Bethel University Singers participated in the American International Choral Festival in St. Louis and received a Gold Diploma in adjudication. They worked with world-renowned clinicians such as Charles Bruffy, Andre de Quadros, Anders Jalkeus, and Dr. Hak-won Yoon, conductor of the Incheon City Chorale (Korea).
Dr. Everett has prepared choruses for Meadows Opera Theater and Southern Opera and Musical Theater productions including Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites, Kurt Weill’s Street Scene, and Maurice Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges. She was the assistant conductor for Benjamin Britten’s Albert Herring, Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah, Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story, and Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata, a joint production with Mississippi Opera. She has also served as Musical Director for musical theater productions including Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Meredith Willson’s The Music Man, and Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods.
Dr. Everett remains active as a singer. She is a member of Voices, a professional choir based out of the Eastman School of Music and has performed the mezzo soprano solos for such major choral works as Handel’s Messiah, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Mozart’s Requiem, and Mendelssohn’s Elijah. Dr. Everett performed at Carnegie Hall as a soloist with the University of Southern Mississippi’s Southern Chorale. Her voice teachers include Anna Keith and Timothy Seelig.
Bradley Howard – Tenor:
Praised by the American Record Guide as being “a total hit…singing with bursting brilliance” for his performances in Emmerich Kalman’s Die Csárdásfürstin, tenor, Bradley Howard has gained recognition as a multi-faceted performer. With a career spanning classical and modern choral works, solo recitals, and opera roles, he has developed a repertoire of opera’s most classic roles. Included on this list are Mozart’s Tamino in The Magic Flute, Ferrando in Cosi fan tutte, Puccini’s Rodolfo in La Boheme, Beppe in I Pagliacci, Rossini’s Count Almaviva in I Barbiere di Siviglia, and Peter Quint in Britten’s Turn of the Screw and Albert in Albert Herring.
Mr. Howard began his career under the batons of renowned conductors Seiji Ozawa, William Fred Scott, Christian Badea, Riccardo Muti, Joesph Flummerfelt, Yoel Levi, John Mauceri, and Robert Spano. He has performed at various festivals including Spoleto, Chautauqua Opera, The Ohio Light Opera, Tanglewood Music Festival, and Breckenridge Music Institute. He joined the faculty of Emory University as Director of Vocal Studies in 2011. He is also on the faculty of the Amalfi Coast Music Festival. This season he will be performing at Emory University in several concerts and recitals including Jazz Meets Classics with pianists William Ransom and Gary Motley, Emory’s Annual Bach Bowl with a host of musicians including Timothy Albrecht, Don Saliers, and the Vega String Quartet, and the Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta’s Valentine’s Day Love Songs with soprano, Abigail Santos Villalobos.
Mr. Howard’s concert engagements have included a long time collaboration with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. As soloist with the ASO, Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins, Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, Christmas with the ASO, and, most recently, Saint Saens’ Samson and Dalila are among these performances. Among other recent works he has performed are Mozart’s Requiem, Haydn’s Creation, Handel’s Messiah, and Bach’s St. John’s Passion. He brings depth and excitement of an expansive repertoire to his solo recitals, handling the florid style of Bach and the fragmented tonalities of Britten and Menotti with equal aplomb.
Mr. Howard’s Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in music and voice from Baylor University and The University of Cincinnati opened the doors to America’s musical stage. At UC he earned his M.M. in voice working with Professor William McGraw, and B.M. in voice at Baylor working with Dr. Joyce Farwell. A coveted fellowship to the Tanglewood Music Center brought him to the attention of famed conductor Seiji Ozawa, as he sang the role of Bob Boles in the 50th Anniversary of Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes.
Recording credits include the ACA Digital production of the Atlanta Opera’s Mozart Requiem and Telarc’s La Boheme with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
Mr. Howard’s students have been accepted to undergraduate and graduate programs in voice performance and musical theater at The Julliard School, Manhattan School of Music, Oberlin, University of Cincinnati (CCM), The University of Michigan, The Florida State University, Elon College, Carnegie Mellon, NYU, Roosevelt, Bard College, Indiana University, and many others. They have been accepted and participated in young artist programs such as Interlochen, CCM Opera Boot Camp, Amalfi Coast Music Festival, Houston Grand Opera’s YAVA, Castleton Festival, and many other local and international summer opera programs. His students consistently place as finalists in young artist competitions such as NATS auditions.
Mr. Howard is an active adjudicator and clinician. He has presented master classes and/or clinics at the University of Washington, Whitman College, Sam Houston State University, Emory University, Georgia State University, Valdosta State University, and The Ohio State University.
Dr. Paul Houghtaling – Bass-Baritone:
Bass-baritone PAUL HOUGHTALING has been hailed by critics for his versatility and musicality in a diverse repertoire spanning the 12th through the 21st centuries. Career highlights include European tours as Papageno with Teatro Lirico d’Europa; the release of the Philip Glass soundtrack of Reggio’s film Naqoyqatsi for SONY, on which he is a featured vocalist; national tours with Early Music New York; a debut with the Bard Music Festival and the American Symphony Orchestra as Nanni in Haydn’s L’Infedeltá Delusa; Kennedy Center appearances with the Waverly Consort; a Carnegie Hall debut in Messiah with the New England Symphonic Ensemble; Mozart’s Requiem and Bach’s Magnificat with Cecilia Chorus of New York under David Randolph at Carnegie Hall; works of Bach, including more than 70 cantatas, with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s “Bach Cantatas in Context” series in New York, American Classical Orchestra, Bach Aria Festival, Boston Baroque, BachWorks at Merkin Hall, the renowned Holy Trinity Bach Foundation series in New York, Long Island Baroque Ensemble, and the Bach Societies of Miami, Worcester, and Palm Beach Atlantic, among others; and “Opera Buffa: Comedy On Stage” on Lincoln Center’s Meet the Artists series. In December 2010 he returned to Carnegie Hall with the Cecilia Chorus and Orchestra as soloist in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio for which the NY Times reported that “Paul Houghtaling supported his strong bass-baritone with an appealing interpretive sensibility.” The spring of 2011 included a debut with the Alabama Symphony as soloist in Duruflè’s Requiem and he appeared again with that ensemble in the spring of 2012 as soloist in Fauré’s Requiem. In 2015, Mr. Houghtaling made his debut with the Helena Symphony under Maestro Allan R. Scott in a semi-staged production of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. In 2017, Mr Houghtaling
Mr. Houghtaling has appeared as soloist with the Boston Early Music Festival, Clarion Music, Ensemble for Early Music (U.S. tours), and the Mark Morris Dance Company production of Dido & Aeneas. Additional engagements include concerts throughout the U.S. with My Lord Chamberlain’s Consort, appearances with the Folger Consort in Washington, D.C., the Billings Symphony in Messiah, and the New York Chamber Symphony under Martin Turnovsky. Earning considerable attention for his work in contemporary music, especially for his performances of Davies’ Eight Songs for a Mad King, Mr. Houghtaling has performed with Gunther Schuller, the Virgil Thomson Foundation, and ALEA III, both in the U.S. and on the Kalamata and Iraklion Festivals in Greece in new theater works for Greek National Television. In 1994, he appeared with the American Composers Orchestra on its Sonidos de las Americas Festival, and in 1996 with the Brooklyn Philharmonic on its Virgil Thomson Centenary. Other notable projects include John Cage’s Apartment House 1776 during the composer’s 1988 Norton Lectures at Harvard, George Crumb’s Songs, Drones & Refrains of Death with ALEA III, and Davies’ Le Jongleur de Notre Dame with Boston’s Dinosaur Annex Ensemble. Mr. Houghtaling has created roles in Philip Glass’s The Witches of Venice, recorded for Euphorbia, Lee Hoiby’s The Tempest with Des Moines Metro Opera and the title role in William Harper’s El Greco for the Off-Broadway Intar Theater. He can also be heard as soloist on two recordings for New World Records’ Recorded Anthology of American Music series: cantatas of Robert Beaser on Divine Grandeur, and Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s “Romancero Gitano” on The Mask, both with NY Concert Singers.
Mr. Houghtaling’s many opera engagements include appearances with the Abilene, Boston Lyric, Baltimore, Central City, Des Moines, Knoxville, Long Beach Civic Light, Mobile, Nashville, Natchez, Santa Fe, Saratoga, and Tacoma Operas, the Metropolitan Opera Guild, and L’Opera Francais de New York, among others. He holds degrees from the College of the Holy Cross, New England Conservatory, Hunter College, and the City University of New York. Dr. Houghtaling is currently Associate Professor of Voice and Director of Opera at the University of Alabama.