TGIF Concert, Jun 28, 5:30pm
This Friday our talented Travis Bregier (baritone) and David Beatty (pianist) move us into other realms with music by Erik Satie and Samuel Barber. Sanctuary doors open at 5:15 pm and the concert begins at 5:30. The concert is free with donations accepted.
Program
Music by Erik Satie, the eccentric French composer at the intersection of modernism and minimalism in early 20th-century music and art. His works are described as sometimes dreamy, sometimes spare, sometimes quirky or fun or rambunctious, and sometimes all of the above.
Music by Samuel Barber, an American composer, pianist, conductor, baritone, and music educator, and one of the most celebrated composers of the mid-20th century. His compositions are masterfully crafted and built on romantic structures and sensibilities—at once lyrical, rhythmically complex, and harmonically rich.
The Artists
Travis Bregier earned his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in vocal performance at North Dakota State University. As a student of Dr. Robert Jones, he performed solo recitals featuring music from the Baroque to the twenty-first century, and appeared as a soloist in George Frederic Handel’s Messiah. He also performed as a soloist in Europe with the NDSU Concert Choir while touring Croatia and Italy.
Extending his talents into opera, Bregier has made multiple appearances on the stage of the NDSU Festival Concert Hall, including: Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus (Strauss), a priest in The Magic Flute (Mozart), the Learned Judge in Trial by Jury (Sullivan), and Peter Quince in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Britten).
Bregier was a first place finalist in the North Dakota National Association of Teachers of Singing regional competitions in 2010, 2011, 2013, and in the graduate division in 2015, allowing him to compete in the semi-final round at the National NATS audition that same year.
Currently, he is singing with the Santa Fe Symphony Chorus and First Presbyterian Church while also teaching voice and piano lessons at First Presbyterian Church and The Candyman: Strings & Things. Looking forward, he is excited to be preparing for Opera Southwest’s fall production of Guillaume Tell (Rossini) in Albuquerque.
David Beatty is a native of Albuquerque, New Mexico. He attended Eastern New Mexico University, pursuing bachelor studies in music theory and composition under Icelandic composer and theorist Dr. Jon Jonsson, with minors in voice and piano. Attending Oklahoma City University (OCU), he pursued graduate studies in vocal pedagogy under Vicky Kelly and studied voice with Inez Silberg.
He taught voice at OCU and voice and music theory at Midwest Christian College, Oklahoma City, and for several seasons served as a vocal coach with Opera in the Ozarks, Eureka Springs, Arkansas. David served as organist at several churches in Oklahoma and was previously Director of Music at Christ Lutheran Church, Santa Fe.
David sings in the First Presbyterian Chancel Choir and plays in the Bell Choir, and is a chorister with the Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. He serves as assistant accompanist for the Chancel Choir and accompanies the Bell Choir on occasion. He has assisted with the music program at St. Michael’s High School, Santa Fe, as well as the choir of the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi, Santa Fe. He has sung with Opera Southwest, Performance Santa Fe, Canticum Novum, and Cantus Spiritus.
He composes and arranges choral, organ, and hand bell music. His compositions have been commissioned by groups including Concord Choir (Oregon), Christ Memorial Episcopal Church (Oklahoma), Cimarron United Methodist Church (New Mexico), the Oklahoma Music Educators Association, The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi (Santa Fe), and most recently the Santa Fe Women’s Ensemble with his four-movement Mementos of the Compass of Time which was premiered by that Ensemble in conjunction with the Durango Women’s Choir on April 28, 2019, in Santa Fe, and June 2, 2019, in Durango.
Other recent compositions include four Psalm settings for baritone and piano, premiered at First Presbyterian Church with Travis Bregier, baritone, and the composer at the piano, A Still and Silent Night written for a joint performance of the Bell Choir of First Presbyterian Church and the High Desert Harp Ensemble. Several anthems have been premiered by the Chancel Choir of First Presbyterian Church, including a Good Friday anthem, Crux Fidelis, and a Lenten Anthem, The Day Too Small. The Chancel Bell Choir of First Presbyterian Church has premiered several original and arranged settings, including Trois Petites Pièces for hand bells, and a partita on Bring a torch, Jeanette, Isabella. His anthem Arise, My Love was performed by the Chamber Singers of the Santa Fe Symphony Chorus, with the composer conducting.