Brian Church, baritone, performs widely both as a solochurch and classical singer. Mr. Church is a long-standing member of the Cantata Singers, having served as a soloist, section leader and educator in their Classroom Cantatas Educational Outreach program. As a member of Exsultemus Early Music Ensemble, he has participated in performances throughout New England, on WGBH radio and on European tours to Germany and Belgium. At King's Chapel in Boston, Brian Church has served as section leader, soloist and occasional conductor. In addition, he has performed with the Firebird Ensemble, New Gallery Concerts, NotaRiotus Microtonal Ensemble, the Fromm Players at Harvard, New Music Brandeis, Opera Boston Underground, Dinosaur Annex and the Callithumpian Consort. He recently premiered the dual roles of Joe Biden and Joe the Plumber in Guerilla Opera's production of Curtis Hughes' Say It Aint So, Joe, which garnered significant musical and political press around the country. In November, Brian revisited Peter Maxwell Davies' 8 Songs for a Mad King with Collage New Music under the direction of Julian Kuerti of the BSO. Hailed as "hair-raising" and "astonishing", this performance was named Most Exciting Contemporary Music Concert in the Boston Phoenix Classical Year in Review. Brian Church is also an accomplished bassist, playing in the avant-noise punk group Tristan Da Cunha who have also been profiled in the Phoenix as well as the Weekly Dig, Northeast Performer and The Noise. He has also played bass in pit orchestras and provided voiceover work for ImprovBoston Theater in Cambridge. Previously an elementary music specialist in the Melrose Public School system, Mr. Church is currently on the faculty at Music 101 Studios in Melrose, teaching beginning piano, voice, guitar and bass. This past spring, he and his wife, Jaime, an actress and Kindergarten teacher, welcomed their new son, Elias, into their family.
A most uncommon acknowledgment of Good Friday recalling the crucifixion of Jesus Christ occurred at Jordan Hall. It involved the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, a slate of guest soloists, and the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum. Two reenactments of the passion, one allegorical, by David Lang and the other, from Biblical texts, by Arvo Pärt, adopted a similar, now familiar musical language of minimalism. Both passions were fittingly in minor modes commonly associated with all things sorrowful.