To Hope! A Celebration
by Dave Brubeck
Concert Soloists
Wendy Gerbier – Mezzo-Soprano
Marques Hollie – Tenor
Wendy Gerbier, Mezzo-Soprano
Wendy Gerbier is a United States National Anthem Ambassador. Her mezzo-soprano voice, simply put, is sublime. The vibrant radiance of her three-octave range moves listeners deeply as they experience her full-bodied strength and warmth.
Even as a young child it was clear that Wendy had a natural gift for all things musical. So it is no surprise that this accomplished musician, composer and producer has established herself as a successful opera singer.
Wendy's solo debut was in Danbury, CT as a soloist in a concert honoring Marian Anderson. Her audiences regularly find themselves deeply moved by her rich and colorful tones and her exceptionally expressive stage presence. She is a soloist who is eagerly sought out throughout this country and abroad.
Wendy performed at President Obama's "Moving America Forward" rally in Connecticut. She also performed at Governor Malloy's inauguration. Wendy made her European debut performing a solo concert in London and her Parisian debut when she performed her solo concert in Paris, France.
Wendy's voice is a voice not to miss. Her name is one that you are sure to hear again and again as she soars throughout the world of classical music one note at a time.
Wendy previously appeared with the Connecticut Master Chorale in Karl Jenkins' Stabat Mater, John Rutter's Feel the Spirit, and Martin Palmeri's Misa a Buenos Aires. Wendy is excited to return to the Connecticut Master Chorale a fourth time.
For more information, please visit Wendy's website.Marques Hollie, Tenor
Marques Hollie, hailed as a “triumphant tenor” by Broadway World, is a New York City-based ‘jewsician’ and theater artist.
Since making his professional debut in Verdi's Aida, Marques has sung more than 30 roles in the operatic canon, spanning a broad range of comedic and dramatic roles from classic and contemporary operas. Highlights from previous seasons include: the world premiere of Whitney George and Bea Goodwin's Princess Maleine, workshop performances of Alex Weiser's State of the Jews and Felix Jarrar's Ulster County Songbook, reprising his role as Gnat the evil witch in Jarrar's Mother Goose: A Drag Comic Chamber Opera, and a return to the New York Fashion Week runway as a singer for fashion house Pyer Moss.
Marques began singing professionally in the late 2000s, and after a particularly meaningful Passover seder, began an artistic and spiritual exploration of their identities as a Queer, Black, and Jewish person, resulting in original music, prose, and a work-in-progress theatre piece called Go Down, Moshe. Go Down, Moshe explores the exodus from Egypt through Negro spirituals, civil rights-era music, the narratives of enslaved people, and traditional Jewish prayer modes.
Marques is a rabbinical student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia, and in his spare time enjoys taking circus and aerial classes, playing dodgeball with Stonewall Sports, and dreaming about playing the Baker in Into the Woods.
For more information about projects and performance schedule, please visit Marques' website.