Lauded by the New York Times for her “pure,” “agile,” and “winningly sweet-toned lyric soprano,” and described by Opera News as “sheer delight,” Laurelyn Watson Chase has appeared with opera companies and orchestras throughout the USA and England. Equally dedicated to concert music, Laurelyn has enjoyed many sacred music performances and made her solo recital debut at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.
Laurelyn has performed at over 200 venues throughout the United States including New York City Center, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, and Wolf Trap and has appeared with Opera Saratoga, Buffalo Philharmonic, Colorado Symphony, Sioux City Symphony, Cape May Festival Orchestra, Sorg Opera, Sun Valley Opera, St. Alban’s Festival Choral Society, and many others. She was delighted to make her debut with the International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival at the Great Malvern Theatre and at Royal Hall in Harrogate, England this August. She regularly performs leading roles with the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players.
Laurelyn is a graduate of the University of North Texas, Manhattan School of Music, and Bel Canto Institutue. She is a proud vocal and piano instructor and serves as music director for the professional female vocal ensemble MadriGals, which she co-founded in 2009. Her parents James and Karen Watson are Blanco residents.
Pianist Jason Andrews, a native Texan who has called New York his home for the past 24 years, is frequently heard in solo piano, vocal, and chamber music recitals. Mr. Andrews has performed in many of New York’s noted venues, including Weill Recital Hall, Zankel Hall, and Isaac Stern Auditorium, all of Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall, Avery Fisher Hall and Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Symphony Space,Steinway Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Trinity Church’s Noonday Concerts.
Mr. Andrews is a frequent performer for the Music at Saint Alban’s Recital Series of Staten Island, and the Concerts at Christ Church Series in Pelham Manor, having played many solo and collaborative concerts for both series. Upcoming performances for these organizations include a program of piano and organ duets with organist Kenneth Hamrick, featuring the Rachmaninov Second Concerto in c minor, and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.
Mr. Andrews attended Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas for three years, after which he transferred his studies to the Manhattan School of Music where he received both his Bachelors and Masters in piano performance.
A wonderfully enthusiastic audience welcomed the breathakingly musical performances of gutiarists Johannes Moller and Laura Fraticelli on the opening concert of Blanco Performing Arts. Tickets for Laruelyn’s concert, the second concert in the series “From Deep in the Heart”, are available at blancoperformingarts.com or by calling 830-385-1173.
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