Brian Jeffers, Tenor
Stacie Haneline, Collaborative Piano
Songs of a Lark
Friday, November 17, 2023 @ 7:00 PM
Tenor Brian Jeffers, currently from New York City, is one of our own, being born and educated in and around Omaha. He returns home with a variety of his favorite music in this solo recital.
About Brian
Brian Jeffers is a NYC-based vocalist and actor praised for his flexible and heroic tenor (Opera News). His 2022/2023 season engagements include his mainstage role debut as Beadle Bamford in Sweeney Todd as well as Lillas Pastia in La Tragedie de Carmen with Chautauqua Opera and his symphony debut with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra. In March he made his Lincoln Center chorus debut as part of the NY Philharmonic Chorus in Adolpus Hailstork’s oratorio Done Made My Vow as well as Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall. In 2016 he made his professional debut in the world premiere of Jonathan Dawe’s Nero and the Fall of Lehman Brothers at Columbia University’s Casa Italiana and was a Guest Artist at The Juilliard School’s revival of Dawe’s Cracked Orlando with their Center for Innovation in the Arts. An active performer of new works, he has worked with composers Lisa Despain, Buck McDaniel, Tyler Goodrich White and in 2019 the art song Leavings was written for him by Gilda Lyons with poetry by fellow Iowa/Nebraskan Martha Collins. He has since been seen with Bronx Opera, Opera Saratoga, New Amsterdam Opera, Axelrod Performing Arts Center and City Lyric Opera.
Active in choral and popular repertoire, he is a member of the New York Philharmonic Chorus, the tenor of the chamber ensemble at the Church of Our Saviour, Park Avenue, and has performed the solos in Mozart’s Requiem, To Be Certain of a Dawn (Paulus), King David (Honegger), The Creation (Haydn) at ASU Gammage, Vesperae solennes de confessore (Mozart) and Messiah (Handel). As a chorister he has performed Britten’s War Requiem, Verdi’s Requiem, Bach’s B Minor Mass, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Poulenc’s Gloria and Brahms’ Ein Deutches Requiem. He has performed as a backing vocalist for Kristin Chenoweth with the Phoenix Symphony, and in early 2023, appeared with the Gloria choir and Sharon Stone on Saturday Night Live with musical guest, Sam Smith.
Born in Sioux City, Iowa and a native of Omaha, he is thrilled to make his debut as a recitalist here in his hometown. Thanks to a silent but vigorous nod from Bellevue East’s Dr. Marjorie Simons-Bester after wondering aloud if he should be an opera singer, Brian earned his Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from UNL’s Glenn Korff School of Music and doubled down with a minor in Musical Theatre. He studied with Dr. Jamie Reimer (voice) Dr. Bill Shomos (opera), Alisa Belflower (Musical Theatre) and Stan Brown (Acting). He then earned his MM in Music Theatre-Opera Performance from Arizona State University’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts where he studied voice with acclaimed baritone Gordon Hawkins and opera with conductor Brian DeMaris. During his training he performed roles that have proved invaluable to his work as a character actor, such as Don Curzio (Le Nozze di Figaro), King Kaspar (Amahl), Raoul Marcel (O Pioneers!), Mayor Upfold (Albert Herring), Governor (Candide) with UNL Opera, and Lechmere (Owen Wingrave), Lord Eveyln Oakleigh (Anything Goes), and Nemorino (L’Elisir D’Amore) with ASU MT+Opera. He has also trained with operatic tenors Vinson Cole and Bill Burden.
He has performed as a Studio (2019) and Apprentice Artist (2023) with Chautauqua Opera, a Young Artist with Opera Saratoga (2022), and is an alum of the Aspen Opera Theatre (2016/2018), Broadway Dreams Foundation (2012-2014), and Harrower Opera Workshop (2012).
Website: http://brianjefferstenor.com//
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About Stacie
Admired for her consummate skill and for her “musical excellence which is overshadowed only by her generous spirit and kindness to her colleagues” (Thomas Wilkins, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Boston Symphony and Omaha Symphony), pianist Stacie Haneline maintains an active career as a pianist in symphonic, chamber, opera, vocal and instrumental repertoire. A versatile musician, she has performed as a pianist for the Sydney Opera House, New York City Opera, Kennedy Center, Hawaii Opera, Virginia Symphony, Virginia Opera, Brooklyn Academy of Music, University of Australia, Brevard Music Center, Omaha Symphony and Opera Omaha to name a few.
Performance highlights include the world premiere of Shawn Okpebholo’s, Words Like Freedom with soprano, Jamie Reimer; Rosephanye Powell’s, Hold Fast to Dreams with soprano Lisa Burr and violinist Naimi Burr; and Andre Myers, Surviving the Apocalypse with soprano, Jamie Reimer and baritone, Byron Jones during the 25th African American Art Song Alliance. Other highlights include Clint Needham’s, Voices for string quartet and orchestra featuring piano and the Boston Symphony String Quartet; Zodiac Chamber Festival in Nice, France; the premiere of Leslie Adams Dunbar Songs with soprano Gail Robinson-Orturo; and an evening with Broadway Legend Kimilee Bryant at the Venetian Arts Society in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
An established collaborator with soprano, Jamie Reimer, the two were honored performers at the African American Arts Song Alliance featuring Robert Owens’ 4 Sonnets to Duse. The first of three recordings for Centaur Records were released in 2021 and featured Robert Owens’ vocal and chamber music. The recordings were awarded two highly coveted Judges Awards from the American Prize Competition both in Chamber Music and Art Song.
Stacie is equally passionate about educating, inspiring and growing community involvement to support sustainable and inter-cooperative communities within the arts. She has collaborated with organizations and artistic leaders to build diverse programs in schools, artistic organizations, museums, opera houses, arts centers, symphony outreach programs, youth programs, hospitals and hospice homes. The former Executive Director of the Omaha Chamber Music Society and Artistic Director of Vesper Concert Series, Stacie created numerous opportunities to bring outstanding musical ensembles to perform for the community while inspiring many to continue advocating for outstanding arts in the community.
The Coordinator for the Collaborative Piano program at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Stacie performs with visiting artists and faculty.