Mezzo-soprano Christianne Stotijn and pianist Joseph Breinl will perform "Dream Works," a program of Grieg, Brahms, R. Strauss, Tschaikovsky, Mussorgsky and Rachmaninov Saturday, Nov. 27 at 8 p.m. in Memorial Chapel as part of the College’s Chamber Concert Series.
The Delft-born Stotijn and Munich native Breinl work together regularly and have performed in top recital venues and with leading orchestras throughout the world. Both are impeccably trained and have received numerous honors.
Born in 1977, Stotijn studied violin and voice at the Amsterdam Conservatoire, gaining her solo diploma in 2000. She continued her vocal studies with Udo Reinemann at the Conservatoires of Amsterdam and Metz, where she graduated in 2003 with the highest distinction in song recital and opera. She also studied with Jard van Nes and Dame Janet Baker, with whom she has been compared.
She has performed at Tanglewood with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and at Lincoln Center with the London Symphony Orchestra under Bernard Haitink. She is the recipient of numerous prizes, including the 2005/06 ECHO Rising Stars Award, the 2005 Borletti Buitoni Award, the prestigious Dutch Music Prize and, in April of this year, the BBC Music Magazine Vocal Award for her Tchaikovsky Romances CD.
An impassioned performer of lieder, she has appeared in recitals and concerts at the world’s premier concert halls, including London’s Wigmore Hall, New York’s Carnegie Hall and the Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels. She has performed in top roles at the Paris Opera, Netherlands Opera, the Monnaie and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
Breinl’s international career includes performances at prestigious festivals and venues in Europe, North America and Asia, including the Munich Opera Festival, Austria’s Schubertiade, Wigmore Hall, Symphony Hall in Osaka, Stockholm Concert Hall, Carnegie Hall and Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center. Born in 1977, he is the son of Gerhard Breinl, a violist in the Bavarian State Orchestra.
Boston Camerata, under the direction of Anne Azema, will perform Sunday, Dec. 13 at 3 p.m. Founded in 1954, the group plays historically informed compositions from European medieval, Renaissance and Baroque eras is one of the world’s oldest continually functioning early music ensembles.
At Union, Boston Camerata’s distinguished singers and specialists in early instruments will present “An American Christmas,” featuring American music from a wide range of early tune books and manuscripts. The performance will include many carols, New England anthems, hymns and religious ballads for the season.
Both shows are free to members of the Union community. Sotijn and Breinl are $20 for the general public; Boston Camarata is $25. For more information call 388-6080, or visit http://www.union.edu/ConcertSeries