Throughout the summer, Graves Memorial Presbyterian Church will once again be bringing a variety of musical talents to the church as part of a summer concert series.
The concert series will begin this Sunday, with Excerpts from Opera and Oratorio.
Sunday’s concert, featuring Cameron Someliana-Lauer, baritone, and Garrett Whipkey, tenor, will begin at 4 p.m. in the church fellowship hall. All concerts are free and open to the public, but donations will be accepted.
This is the first of a four-part summer concert series hosted by GMPC and will feature music by J.S. Bach, Brahms and Beethoven.
A Charlotte native, Someliana-Lauer’s recent performances include Olin Blitch (Susannah), Top (The Tender Land), and Judge Turpin (Sweeney Todd). Someliana-Lauer has performed with the Asheville Lyric Opera, Opera on the James, in the Liberty Opera workshop, as well as with the Western Carolina Opera workshop.
He recently graduated from Liberty University with a master of arts in music education. His studies focused on conducting and ensemble pedagogy. Someliana-Lauer recently lectured on and conducted the great Aaron Copland A cappella work, In the Beginning with Liberty Universities Chamber Singers, of which he was a member. He has recently moved to Clinton, with his wife and daughter, where he is serving as office manager and choir member at Clinton First United Methodist Church.
Whipkey is a native of Clinton and a 2010 graduate of Hobbton High School. Over the summer he will complete his bachelor of arts in music from Western Carolina University, where he studied saxophone.
While studying at WCU, Whipkey performed in the Pride of the Mountains Marching Band, wind ensemble, jazz band, concert choir, and other ensembles. He also served in WCU’s student government, and was student body president for a semester. Whipkey’s professional career includes serving as choir scholar at the Cathedral of All Souls in Asheville. He has also sung with the Asheville Symphony Chorus for three years.
In July he will be relocating to Colorado, where he hopes to pursue a master of vocal performance, and continue his work as a choir scholar.
Someliana-Lauer and Whipkey will be joined by guest vocalists Barbara Taylor, Sean Capparuccia, and Larisa Capparuccia. Piano accompanists will be Marquita Someliana-Lauer and Lara Capparuccia.
Graves Memorial Presbyterian Church is located at 201 Fayetteville St., Clinton.
