National Opera tenor Corey Rotz comes home to perform for CVSM gala
CHAMBERSBURG >> Washington National Opera tenor Corey Evan Rotz will come home this weekend to take part in Cumberland Valley School of Music's 26th Gala Showcase concert program "Moved by Music" at the Thomson Alumnae Chapel on the Wilson College Campus.
Featured will be centennial tributes to iconic performers Frank Sinatra and Edith Piaf. Rotz' performance will be a tribute to Sinatra, featuring some of the music legend's greatest hits.
A Chambersburg native who has become well known both at home and nationally for his opera performances, Rotz said he is excited about Saturday's Gala and the opportunity to perform in Chambersburg again, as well as sing some of his favorite Sinatra tunes.
Rotz said he always enjoys coming home, seeing familiar faces and working with fellow musicians here.
"It is exciting, both to be able to perform for a hometown audience again and to sing Sinatra's music," he said in a phone interview Wednesday. "I think as a musician he was the foremost musical communicator of the 20th century."
He said that he is very pleased to pay tribute to the man who moved, and continues to move, millions of people worldwide.
Rotz will be accompanied by Brain Helman at the piano, Sam Hepfer on the drums and Herm Hopple on bass.
Rotz is well known in the musical world for his opera roles. He performs regularly with the WNO, but has also performed with the LA Opera, the Arizona Opera, at Carnegie Hall and in 2002 appeared on stage with Placido Domingo as Cassio in the opera "Ortello" during a WCO tour of Japan. Domingo had the lead role in those performances.
Rotz' pianist, Helman will also be featured in movements of two different piano trios during the program. He will perform the first movement of "Trio in Bb" by Franz Schubert with violinist Deborah Stotelmyer and cellist Michael Cameron.
Heather McEndree, flutist, will perform "Baroque and Blue" from Claude Bolling's "Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano." Helman, Hepfer and Hopple will comprise the jazz trio.
Others that will participate in the concert include CVSM Instructor David Shearer, who will perform his organ arrangement of the Navy Hymn, "Eternal Father Strong to Save," a work that captures the tempest of the sea and petitions the Holy Trinity to protect all branches of the Armed Forces.
Shearer drew inspiration from his background — he is now retired from serving in the Navy for over 24 years — to develop the arrangement.
A program featuring movement in music would not be complete without dance music, said CVSM Executive Director Paula Hepfer.
Student Olivia Colli will perform a modern, interpretive dance to "River Flows in You," by Yiruma. Her dance will be accompanied by her piano instructor, Valerie Merriman.
The concert will also feature a number of other local artists in a variety of musical arrangements.
The 26th Gala Showcase Concert "Moved By Music" by Cumberland Valley School of Music will be held at the Thomson Alumnae Chapel on the Wilson College Campus at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 24. Tickets can be purchased by calling CVSM at (717)-261-1220 or online through the school website. Patron tickets (preferred seating and listing in the program) are $25; Advance tickets are $12; $15 at the door. Student tickets for grades K through 12 are $5.
Vicky Taylor can be reached at 717-262-4754 or 717-881-5373.