REMEMBER

SSSO closes out their 24-25 season with Verdi’s great “Requiem!” Special guests include the Octavo Singers and soloists Jennifer Forni (soprano), Katherine Lerner (mezzo-soprano), Lucas Levy (tenor) and Andrew Boisvert (bass).

Don’t miss the pre-concert talk with our guest artists and Artistic Director/Conductor Glen Cortese at 2 p.m. at Proctors! It’s an excellent way to learn more about the music and an opportunity to ask questions about the performance. All are invited to attend. 

Tickets are $17–$24. Children under 18 are free when accompanied by a ticketed adult.

Run time: 2 hours

More on the artists:

The Octavo Singers are Schenectady County’s longest-running mixed vocal ensemble, recognized for our tradition of distinguished choral performances. As a non-auditioned group, we welcome singers of all backgrounds who share a passion for making great music together. Our success is built on the dedication of our talented members and the steady musical leadership that has guided us since our founding in 1933. Andrew Burger, who took the helm in September 2022, is only the fourth artistic director in our history, underscoring the group’s stability, enduring artistic vision and legacy of excellence in collaboration with our accompanist, Trevor Kahlbaugh.

The Octavos primarily perform in grand venues renowned for their acoustics—ideal settings for the large-scale sacred choral works that define our repertoire. Each season, we present a Fall concert, our cherished December performance of Handel’s Messiah, and a Spring concert.

The Octavo Singers has a history of engaging with the community. As part of our outreach we are proud to offer a scholarship bienially to a young community member who displays a talent and passion for music.

Trevor Kahlbaugh, Rehearsal Accompanist, is a native of the Capital District where he began studying the piano and the organ at an early age. Mr. Kahlbaugh did his undergraduate study in Organ Performance and Church Music at Indiana University. His teachers have included Dr. Lloyd E. Cast, Dr. Marilyn Keiser, Dr. Christopher Young and Dr. John Schwandt. As a church musician, Mr. Kahlbaugh has had the privilege of serving many parishes. Most notably, he has served as Organ Scholar and Assistant Choirmaster at the Cathedral of All Saints in Albany, NY, as Assistant Music Director at Trinity Episcopal Church in Bloomington, IN and Organist at Trinity United Methodist Church in Albany, NY. He currently serves as Organist at First Presbyterian Church in Albany. In addition to his duties at First Presbyterian, he maintains an active studio of piano and organ students of all ages as well as being a Studio Accompanist at the College of St. Rose. Mr. Kahlbaugh has performed in recitals and concerts throughout the United States and Europe as well as many accompanying engagements in the Capital Region.

Andrew Burger is a Regionally recognized Choral-Orchestral Conductor from Niskayuna, NY. He is Artistic Director of the Octavo Singers, Founding Artistic Director of Excelsior Vocal Ensemble, and Director of Music ministries at the Niskayuna Reformed Church. Formerly Artistic Director of the Northern Berkshire Chorale, Adjunct Professor at Skidmore and RPI, Section Leader for Albany Pro Musica, and Chorus Director for the Albany Symphony.

Andrew studied conducting at Bard College under the renowned James Bagwell, where he served as Assistant Conductor and Administrator, conducting the Bard Chamber Singers, Bard Symphonic Chorus, and The Orchestra Now, and was a Conducting Fellow with Chorus America in Los Angeles. He received his bachelor’s degree in music education from The College of St. Rose. A baritone soloist throughout the capital region including with the SSSO, he maintains a voice lesson studio and when not pursuing his wide reaching musical career, Andrew helps on his family’s greenhouse and vegetable farm in Niskayuna.

 

American soprano Jennifer Forni is a dynamic singer possessing the raw, luxurious power of a classic lirico spinto. “Forni’s voice has the power and brilliance of a Roman candle, and yet is never pushed, always in control. She has the best messa di voce I’ve heard in a long time.” – Oregon Arts Watch. 

On the operatic stage, Jennifer made her Metropolitan Opera debut in Wagner’s Parsifal, a production broadcast in HD worldwide. She excels in the heroines of Bizet, Mozart, Verdi, Puccini, Strauss, and Tchaikovsky. She has sung with the New York City Opera at Lincoln Center, The Santa Fe Opera, Opera San Jose, Portland Opera, Opera Theatre St. Louis, Maryland Opera, and Ozarks Lyric Opera.

A prolific concert singer, Jennifer’s repertoire includes performances of the Verdi Requiem, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, the Chants d’Auvergne, the Mozart Requiem, Barber’s Knoxville; Summer of 1915, St. John Passion, and performed at New York’s Carnegie Hall; Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony, Faure’s Requiem, and Rutter’s Requiem. Jennifer is often in recital singing the works of Strauss, Duparc, Schubert, Chausson, and Debussy. 

Jennifer is excited to be producing her first solo album, Du mein süßes Leben, with musicians from the Springfield Symphony Orchestra. This album endeavor was inspired by the birth of her niece, Rowan. A compilation of some of the most beautiful lullabies from composers such as Strauss, Canteloube, Liszt, and Schubert.

Jennifer received her Bachelor of Vocal Performance from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and her Master of Opera from the University of Maryland. She was a member of the prestigious Portland Opera Resident Artist program, as well as an apprentice with the Santa Fe Opera and Opera Theatre of St. Louis. She currently resides in Springfield, Missouri, and maintains a thriving private voice studio. 

Hailed for her voice of “gleaming black lacquer” and “unbelievable power,” American mezzo-soprano Katherine Lerner wields her richly hued instrument with sensitivity and expression.

In 2017, she joined the ensemble at the Landestheater Linz (Austria) as a Dramatic Mezzo, where in her house debut as the Amme—in a new production of Die Frau ohne Schatten—she received rave reviews. During her five years in the ensemble, she went on to sing roles such as Kundry/Parsifal, Azucena/Il Trovatore, Fidès/le Prophète, Klytämnestra/Elektra and Brängane/Tristan und Isolde among others.

The mezzo is an accomplished recitalist, having honed her skills at the Music Academy of the West and the Steans Institute at Ravinia. She has performed with top-tier orchestras around the country, including the San Francisco Symphony, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra.

Ms. Lerner received her Masters in Opera from the Curtis Institute of Music and her Bachelors in Voice from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. She is the proud recipient of a Richard F. Gold Career Grant, as well as awards from the Opera Columbus, Opera Birmingham, Florida Grand Opera and New York Wagner Society competitions. In 2021, she was nominated for the Österreichische Musiktheaterpreis “Best Female Lead” for Azucena/il trovatore and in 2022, after a second nomination, she won the award “Best Supporting Female Role”/Woman in Turnage’s Twice Through the Heart at Landestheater Linz. 

Admired by The New Yorker for his “vocal and emotional warmth,” American tenor Lucas Levy is known for his voice of burnished gold, his “rich dark voice” opening into a ringing top capable of both “enormous” high notes and pianissimi like thread through the eye of a needle. From his early career as a character tenor, Levy has performed the expanse of the tenor repertoire on 3 continents, now arriving at the most exciting lirico-spinto roles in Italian, French, and German. This season, Levy sings the Verdi “Requiem” with the Schenectady-Saratoga Symphony Orchestra, returns to Opera Company of Middlebury for “Scalia/Ginsburg,” performs operatic favorites with the Clinton Symphony, and joins the iSING! Festival to sing “Ancient Tang Poems” in a world tour beginning in China.

In the 2023-2024 season, Levy sang his first Verdi “Requiem” with the Emory Symphony, debuted “Faust” with I Filarmonici Columbus, appeared in concert with the Greater Newburgh Symphony Orchestra, and returned to Teatro Nuovo for a bel canto modern premiere, “Anna di Resburgo.” The 2022-2023 season saw Levy appear with Maryland Lyric Opera in “Otello,” with Opera Project Columbus to debut Un ballo in maschera, join the Lakeland Symphony Orchestra for “Cavalleria rusticana,” return to Opera Company of Middlebury for “Fidelio,” and join Teatro Nuovo for Poliuto. He performed Scriabin’s Symphony No.1 with the Columbia Bach Society, and appeared in recital for the Joy in Singing Art Song Competition. Levy is a grant recipient from the Olga Forrai Foundation for Dramatic Voices, and an alumnus of the young artist programs of Sarasota Opera, Opera Maine, and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from Oberlin Conservatory, and his Master of Music degree from Westminster Choir College. Mr. Levy hails from Lexington, Massachusetts, and currently resides in New York City.