Grace Church welcomes Karen Coker Merritt home on Saturday 10 February 2018 for an afternoon of sacred song at 4:00 p.m. in the Church.
Dr. Coker Merritt sang in the Adult Choir of Grace Church and was voice teacher to many of the choristers during her tenure with us.
It is wonderful to have her coming home.
The program is open to all with free admission.
PROGRAM
Rigaudon…….André Campra (1660 – 1744)
Quia respexit from Magnificat, BWV 243…….J. S. Bach (1685-1750)
I know that my Redeemer liveth from Messiah…….G.F. Handel (1685-1759)
Pie Jesu from Requiem, Opus 48…….Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)
Domine Deus from Gloria…….Antonio Vivaldi (1669-1741)
Laudate Dominum from Vesperae solennes de confessore, K. 339…….W. A. Mozart (1756-1791)
Largo from Xerxes…….G. F. Handel
Ah, Holy Jesus (“Herzliebster Jesu”)…….Johann Crüger, 1640 arr. by Richard Walters (1931-2007)
The Call from Five Mystical Songs…….Ralph Vaughan Williams(1872 – 1958)
God is My Shepherd from Biblical Songs…….Antonin Dvorak(1841 – 1904)
Andante Tranquillo from Sonate in A-Dur, Opus 65/3…….Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy(1809 – 1847)
Sometimes I Feel like a Motherless Child…….trad., arr. by Moses Hogan (1957 – 2003)
I Wonder as I Wander…….John Jacob Niles (1892-1980)
Were You There…….trad., arr. by Moses Hogan
A native of North Carolina, Karen Coker Merritt received her Master of Music degree from the University of NC at Greensboro, and her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Vocal Performance at Florida State University. She began her professional operatic career with Pittsburgh Opera, studying as an apprentice with opera legends such as Renata Scotto, Régine Crespin, and Renée Fleming. She made her professional operatic debut with Baltimore Opera in 2003. International engagements have included a tour of England with Opera North of the UK’s production of Kurt Weill’s One Touch of Venus, starring as Venus. She reprised this role at the Ravenna Festival in Italy, and at Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London. She has performed in numerous oratorio, recital and concert engagements throughout New York City, and starred as Rosalinda in Opera New York’s Off-Broadway production of Tales from the Manhattan Woods. Her recent performances include the roles of Tatiana in Eugene Onegin, and Love Simpson in Carlisle Floyd’s Cold Sassy Tree, coached by the composer himself.
Prior teaching positions have included Head of Voice Faculty for the Choir of Men and Boys and the Girls’ Choir at the historic Grace Church in New York City, as well as positions at Florida State University, the University of North Florida, and Seminole State College. Dr. Merritt currently serves as Assistant Professor of Voice at Stetson University, where she joined the faculty in 2016.