THE FELIX JARRAR SESSIONS
THE FELIX JARRAR SESSIONS
Felix Fridays
Friday, June 3, 10 & 17
Noon & 2 pm on Instagram & Facebook
Complete Performance
June 24th, 7 pm CST
YouTube
/kor/ productions announces its Month Long Pride Celebration: The Felix Jarrar Sessions. This digital event features world premieres of new works by contemporary classical composer, Felix Jarrar. New works will be released every Friday at Noon and 2 pm on our Instagram and Facebook pages, culminating in a live-streamed performance of Felix's works on Friday, June 24th.
Friday June 3, 12 pm & 2 pm CST
FELIX FRIDAY with Felix Jarrar, composer / pianist
Featuring Miguel Ángel Vásquez, baritone
Friday June 10, 12 pm & 2pm CST
FELIX FRIDAY with Felix Jarrar, composer / pianist
Featuring Maria Brea, soprano
Friday June 17, 12 pm & 2pm CST
FELIX FRIDAY with Felix Jarrar, composer / pianist
Featuring Brian McQueen, bass
Friday, June 24, 7 pm CST
THE FELIX JARRAR SESSIONS with Felix Jarrar, composer / pianist
Featuring Miguel Ángel Vásquez, Maria Brea, Brian McQueen
THE ARTISTS
FELIX JARRAR
With music described as “dreamlike” by the Boston Globe, composer/pianist Felix Jarrar’s list of accomplishments includes performances at (le) poisson rouge, the BAM! Fisher Hillman Studio, Feinstein's/54 Below, and Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall. Amongst his approximately 220 works, he’s written over 191 art songs, 12 operas, 2 string quartets, 2 cantatas, and an oratorio. He is the assistant music director for BARN OPERA in Brandon, Vermont and a vocal coach at Mannes School of Music. He completed his Bachelor of Arts at Marlboro Collegeand his Master’s of Music degree at Brooklyn College.
Jarrar's righthand collaborator is librettist/lyricist/stage director Bea Goodwin. He frequently works with Whitney George’s The Curiosity Cabinet. Jarrar is a vocal coach at Mannes College and serves as the Assistant Music Director for BARN OPERA in Brandon, Vermont.
MIGUEL ÁNGEL VÁSQUEZ
Miguel Ángel Vásquez, Afro-latino Baritone lionized for his “Ardent baritone and strong dramatic presence” (operawire) and “Golden Voice” (Syracuse.com the post standards).As a cross-over artist and graduate of The Hartt school of music, he has performed internationally (Europe), regionally and in NYC singing with the NY Philharmonic at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and New York City Opera’s world premiere of "Stonewall the Opera" at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Other notable venues include; Carnegie Hall, off-Broadway, Merkin Hall, les Poison Rouge, 54 Below, Symphony Space, and more. His versatility allows him to perform Operas, Musical Theater, screen/film, Orchestral concerts, cabarets, Jazz, Soul, and Sacred music. A few favorite Operatic roles include Figaro in Mozarts Le Nozze di Fígaro, Alfonso in La Favorita, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor and the men in Don Giovanni. Some favorite theater roles include Jake in “Side Show”, Javert in "Les Miz", Cinderellas Prince/ Wolf " Into the woods", and Coalhouse in “Ragtime". Orchestral works include Bass soloist Beethoven 9th, Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, Handels’ Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, and Faure’s Requiem.
Miguel and Jarrar have collaborated in curated recitals and premiered several of Jarrar’s composition including “The Ulster County Songbook” volume 1 and a few pieces from volume 2 as well as recorded his full length opera “ Washington Square” as Slopper. Upcoming Miguel will be in a Production and recording of “X, the Life and Times of Malcolm X“ with Odyssey Opera in Boston, and play the Beast in “Beauty and the Beast” at NBFT in Mass.
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MARIA BREA
Maria Brea, soprano, is a native of Caracas, Venezuela. Praised for "very classy Venezuelan soprano" by The arts desk,
"versatile soprano" by Tampa Bay and "luxiourious soprano" and as Micaela; "her lush tones and thrilling diminuendos were warmly received" by The Brooklyn Reporter.
In 2021- 2022 Maria sang Norina in Donizetti's Don Pasquale with The Barn Opera and was praised for "with a voice that mixes brilliance and richness" Maria makes her debut at The Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall with the Cecilia Chorus of New York singing the Soprano Solo in Orff's Carmina Burana under the baton of Maestro Mark Shapiro.
Ms. Brea most recently won the Metropolitan Opera District of Philadelphia 2022. With one day notice, Maria jumped in as soloist for two performances of Franz Haydn's Creation Oratorio with the Richmond Symphony Orchestra conducted by Erin Freeman. Maria sang Gilda in Rigoletto with Resonance works in which Onstage Pittsburgh said "Her voice is gloriously luxurious". This summer 2022 Maria covers the role of Margaret Herschel in Southern Crossings by Syrian composer Zaid Jabri.
Maria made her debut as Nedda in the New Camerata Opera production of Cav+Pag in 2021. She sang recitals in NYC this Fall 2021 as well as record with composers; Felix Jarrar and Rachel DeVore Fogary. She recently sang at the renown BBC Cardiff competition in the UK June 2021 and was a Finalist of the Paris Opera Competition where she sang at the Palais Garnier in 2022.
BRIAN McQUEEN
Brian McQueen is an operatic bass and voice instructor residing in New York City. They have appeared with the Lyric Opera Theatre of Arizona State University, Miami University Opera, Janiec Opera Company, and Trilogy: An Opera Company, and most recently as a guest in concert with New Camerata Opera. As a recitalist, Brian has served as Artist in Residence with the Tohno International Arts Association (Japan), Manchester Literary Festival, Poetry International (London), Poetry Press Week, and The Metropolitan Opera Guild. In April, Brian made their New York operatic debut singing both the roles of Spinelloccio & Amantio in On Site Opera’s production of Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi. Brian holds a BA in Music from the University of South Carolina, an MM in Voice Performance from Miami University of Ohio, and is an alumnus of the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University.
As an actor Brian has performed in Alexandro Segade’s Future St. at both the We’re Watching series (Bard College residency) as well as in the series Tip of Her Tongue (Broad Museum). They were also seen playing the role of Cleopatra in Here, Serpent (Dixon Place, NYC), a trans-gender liminal experimental theatre piece devised by both Brian and actor C. Bain. Brian returned to ChaShaMa as artist-in-residence for 2019-2020 season after their 2018 debut in their original performance piece We Wear the Masc, presented by ChaShaMa in their Anita’s Way performance space. This month They will be seen in a workshop of the opera Exagoge by composer Avner Finberg and librettist Edward Einhorn presented at Opera America followed by a recital of Mahler’s Ruckertlieder in the A Train Festival. As a voice instructor, Brian maintains a vibrant private voice studio. They are also a Teaching Artist with the Bronx Arts Ensemble and the Harlem School of the Arts. Brian is a 2017 fellow with Emerging Leaders in New York Arts, a finalist in Opera Ebony’s 2021 Benjamin Matthews Voice Competition, and currently serves as Artistic Liaison for ChaShaMa.
