Northwest Chorale: Celebrate Spring! Songs of Life, Love, & Faith

• Michael Drumheller, baritone

Admission is complimentary and a free will offering will be taken to benefit Northwest Harvest.

The concert begins with Brahms' Zigeunerlieder, eleven songs with texts drawn from Hungarian folk songs. A vocal counterpart of his Hungarian Dances, these lively songs are filled with the flirting, joy, and longing of young love. The second part of the program showcases Haydn's part songs, which were among the last compositions of a busy and famous composer. Many have a very personal quality and offer a lively sense of humor and irony. Haydn's skills with text painting and counterpoint bring his subjects to life with delightful results. The program concludes with Five Mystical Songs by Ralph Vaughn Williams featuring baritone soloist Michael Drumheller. The lush poetry of George Herbert enriches the beautiful melodies sung by the soloist, supported by choir in the first three movements and in a simple and moving solo in the fourth. The work concludes with the full choir in a joyous and triumphant praise of both God and music.

Two performances:
- Saturday, May 11, 3pm at Haller Lake United Methodist Church in Seattle
- Saturday, May 18, 3pm at Edmonds United Methodist Church

About Northwest Chorale

http://www.nwchorale.org

About Michael Drumheller, baritone

Michael Drumheller is originally from Richland, Washington. A favorite bass-baritone in the Pacific Northwest opera and classical scenes, he has been a soloist with Seattle Symphony, Boston Lyric Opera, Tacoma Opera, Skagit Opera, Seattle Gilbert & Sullivan Society, Cleveland Orchestra, Orchestra Seattle, and many other organizations, under the direction of renowned conductors including Robert Spano, Gerard Schwarz, and Leonard Slatkin. As a recitalist, he is especially interested in Russian music, and has been an invited performer of Russian vocal repertoire at the Icicle Creek Music Festival and at Wellesley College.

Mr. Drumheller holds a Master's degree in Vocal Performance from Boston University, where he was a student of Phyllis Curtin. He has studied with Armen Boyajian, Robert Honeysucker, Julian Patrick, and several other notable teachers. He is an alumnus of the Tanglewood Music Center and holds BS and MS degrees in engineering and science from MIT. His diverse musical background includes playing tympani in symphony orchestras and drumming and singing for his own rock bands. Mr. Drumheller has been a featured performer in many productions of the late, distinguished Northwest conductor Hans Wolf, and regularly appears as a soloist for Northwest Chorale, which raises money for Northwest Harvest, which fights hunger throughout the Pacific Northwest.