Nordic Chamber Music: Nordic Neighbor - British Isles

Welsh mezzo-soprano Nerys Jones will be joined by Steven Luksan on the piano to give a tour of the British Isles through a long and rich history of folk and art songs, exploring dialects, languages, and fascinating cultural stories.

• Nerys Jones, mezzo-soprano
• Steven Luksan, piano

• Folk and Art Songs from the British Isles

Concert duration: 60 min

More info at nordicchambermusic.org

Praised for her ‘focused Mezzo, real presence, pearly clean sound, and crystal-clear diction’ (The Times), Nerys Jones gained huge success during her time at English National Opera (ENO) in London, perfecting her talent for playing ‘pants roles’.

Nerys's roles at ENO included Hansel, Cherubino, Despina, Garcias, Zerlina, Mercedes, Kitchen Boy, Flower Maiden, 2nd Lady, Proserpina, Flora, Melissa, Sister Mathilde and Pitti Sing. Roles at other opera companies include Rosina in The Barber of Seville; Dorabella in Così fan tutte; Dryad in Ariadne auf Naxos; Stewardess in Flight; and Angelina in La Cenerentola. She performed with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Early Music Consort and the National Youth Orchestra of Wales.

Nerys made her Seattle Opera debut as Inez in Il trovatore in 2019 and returned to the company to sing Giovanna in Rigoletto. Other recent roles include Female Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia and Marcellina in The Marriage of Figaro, both at Tacoma Opera. At Vashon Opera, she sang Second Lady in The Magic Flute.

Since moving to Seattle, Nerys has worked with the Seattle Opera, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Seattle Chamber Society, Northwest Philharmonia and Northwest Sinfonietta. She also continues to enjoy a busy concert schedule.

A native Welsh speaker growing up in the heart of Wales and surrounded by music from a very young age, Nerys feels blessed to have been born in the country known as the ‘Land of Song’.

Steven Luksan is a composer, pianist, and educator making music in Seattle, WA. He is a pianist at Seattle Opera, on faculty at Music Center of the Northwest, and is the accompanist for the Seattle Mannskor (The Norwegian Male Chorus of Seattle). He currently serves as Composer-in-Residence with the Northwest Edvard Grieg Society. Steven received a Master’s Degree in Music Composition from the University of British Columbia and Bachelor’s Degrees in Music and Norwegian Language from the University of Washington.Steven is an advocate for the performance of new and uncommon compositions (especially those by Scandinavian composers and women composers), and for the performance of chamber music in intimate settings. He is the founder and artistic director of the Saltwater Music Series (Des Moines, WA), a concert series dedicated to performances of local and off-the-beaten-path chamber music. As a performer and researcher, his interests focus on late-19th and 20th century Nordic and American music, especially music composed by Norwegian-American immigrant composers. Highlights of the 2023-2024 concert season include the premiere of Steven's first opera,Valparaiso, a tour throughout Washington State with Seattle Opera's production ofMonkey and Francine in the City of Tigers, and a revival of Alf Hurum's chamber music in both Hawaii and Washington. As a scholar, this season includes Steven's presentation of his research paper "Bjarne Rolseth in America: the Life and Work of a Norwegian-American Composer" at the International Edvard Grieg Society Conference (Bergen, Norway), and his lecture recital "Leif Erikson in Seattle: Gerard Tonning and Norwegian Opera in the New World" for the Society for the Advancement Scandinavian Studies.

The Nordic Chamber Music Series is produced by the Northwest Edvard Grieg Society.

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More info at nwegriegsociety.org

Host or Publisher Northwest Edvard Grieg Society