Juilliard student from Chattanooga brings friends home for concert
Thomas West, a McCallie School graduate now studying at New York’s famed Juilliard School, will be performing tonight, March 9, in Chattanooga, along with two fellow Juilliard students and another from Manhattan School of Music. The program, “Decades: A Recital,” will be a musical journey showcasing the lives of three individuals from age 5 to 45.
The program is anchored by the world premiere of a new song cycle by Juilliard composer Matthew Liu of the same title. Vignettes for each decade feature a mix of classical and musical theater works ranging from Faure to Sondheim.
The free concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church, 316 N. Bragg Ave. It will last about 90 minutes with a 10-minute intermission.
ABOUT THE PERFORMERS
› Thomas West, baritone: Now in his third year at Juilliard, he has performed in the Juilliard Chamberfest and in the U.S. premiere of Ethel Smyth’s “The Prison” with Cantori New York. He was named a Presidential Scholar in the Arts by Barack Obama in 2014. Upcoming performances include Brahms Requiem with the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra and an exploration of human limitation on songs (including a world premiere) by American composer Wayne Oquin as part of Juilliard’s Wednesday at One concert series. Along with his accolades as a performer, he is a spotlight alumnus of NPR’s “From the Top” and founder/president emeritus of ReGenerate, an arts leadership program dedicated to advocating and fundraising for the arts in Chattanooga-area public schools. He helped launch a new program at Juilliard called OperaComp, a collaboration between New York musicians and theater artists to create six new opera scenes. › Ryan Brideau,
tenor: Brideau, from Cartersville, Ga., is a fourthyear undergraduate in vocal performance at Juilliard. He has worked with New York-based composer Harold Meltzer on a performance of his song cycle “Beautiful Ohio” at Juilliard and with maestro Jordi Savall in a concert of settings of Shakespeare and Cervantes at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
› Rachel Brideau, soprano: This singer, actress and dancer from Cartersville, Ga., is a freshman working toward her Bachelor of Music degree in musical theater at Manhattan School of Music. She made her Broadway debut last November when she was selected to sing with Kristin Chenoweth in her show “My Love Letter to Broadway.”
› Nathan Raskin, piano: This Boston native is a collaborative pianist studying at Juilliard and a member of the coaching faculty of the Chautauqua Institution Voice Program. He has previously served on the faculty of the Merit School of Music in Chicago. He holds degrees in music and German from Northwestern University.