By Daniel and Jennifer Brevik perform Winter Songs
A joyful concert to welcome the holiday season
Daniel Brevik, bass-baritone and Jennifer Fijal-Brevik, mezzo-soprano, will present a medley of stunning vocal performance of classical, musical theater, and holiday season songs, accompanied by pianist Ania Bostock, at 4 p.m. on Sunday, December 10, 2023 at the Stone Church Cultural Center, 283 Main Street, Gilbertville. A public reception will follow the concert. Tickets: $20 available online or at the door. Learn more. Youth under 18 and holders of the Mass Cultural Council “Card to Culture” will be admitted at no charge.
American bass-baritone Daniel Brevik is praised for having a ‘massive, focused, rich warm timbre.” A recipient of Opera Theater of Saint Louis’ Richard Gaddes Career Grant and the Wendy Shattuck Presidential Scholarship at the New England Conservatory, Brevik was hailed by The Washington Post for having ‘an impressive, sonorous voice” while Opera Today claimed he could ‘rattle the rafters one moment and be lullingly conversational the next.” A Massachusetts resident, Brevik teaches voice at The Hartt School of the University of Hartford. He has amassed millions of listeners on social media.
Jennifer Fijal-Brevik, mezzo-soprano, plays keyboard and conducts choral singing in addition to her superb and sensitive vocal performance. She sang in Don Boothman’s quartet at “Let Joy Resound,” the re-opening concert for the Stone Church in April of 2016. She has appeared in FOSC concerts twice since that time. Ms. Fijal-Brevik grew up in Palmer and was mentored by Mr. Boothman, a renowned baritone and Hardwick resident for many years. Fijal-Brevik holds a Bachelor’s degree in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy from Plymouth State University and a Master’s in Voice and Opera from the New England Conservatory, where she performed in the American premiere of Rossini’s historic opera La Gazzetta.
Ania Bostock won the New England Piano Championship in 2001 and started teaching music at age 16. She is Music Director of Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church in South Hadley.
When the Breviks last appeared together at the Stone Church, in December of 2019, audience members expressed awe at the quality of their performance. This concert will open with a pair of classical gems: Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Samuel Barber’s 1958 English-language aria “Must the Winter come so soon?” and “Aleko’s Cavetina” from Sergei Rachmaninoff’s first opera. These lyrical songs of nature and tragic love will resonate with listeners approaching a New England winter. The program will then switch magically to Disney-inspired songs: Liz Calloway’s show-stopping “Once Upon a December,” nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Original Song, and the transformative “Evermore,” as Beauty and the Beast’s title character learns to love and expresses his heartbreak and loneliness for the first time. Delights continue with beloved gems from musical theater. In the second half of the program, the talented singers will open up their gifts for holiday season listening.
This concert is supported in part by a grant from the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.
LOCATION
The Stone Church Cultural Center • 283 Main Street (Route 32) • Gilbertville, 01031
GPS 42.3069, -72.2108
Friends of the Stone Church 