Midday Musical Menu: Apr. 16

The next luncheon concert is Wednesday, April 16, at 12:15 p.m. with soprano Blythe Walker and guitarist Richard Goering. The program includes “Anyone Can Whistle” and “Send in the Clowns” by Stephen Sondheim as well as music by Leonard Bernstein, Luis Bonfa, and Laurindo Almeida. 

Blythe Walker is grateful to have returned to Cincinnati and to be concertizing again with her long-time colleague and musical collaborator, guitarist Richard Goering. With a voice deemed "warm-toned, lyrical, and shining,” soprano Blythe Walker is internationally acclaimed for performances in recital, opera, chamber music, and music theater. In a varied and distinguished career, her beautiful voice and sensitive musicality, comedic gifts, powerful dramatic acting, inquisitive approach to the repertoire, and dedication to her craft have made her a favorite with audiences, students, and colleagues. Metropolitan Opera National Council Winner in 1987, Ms. Walker made her Met company debut in 1988 as Najade in Ariadne auf Naxos, under the baton of James Levine. An adventurous and compelling recitalist dedicated to keeping the art of the song recital alive, Ms. Walker was presented in her New York recital debut by the Liederkranz Foundation in 1990. Career highlights include fruitful collaborations with Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, and Peter Schickele (P.D.Q. Bach). 

For 45 years Richard Goering has performed as a fingerstyle soloist and classical guitarist, with orchestras and chamber music groups, and with classical and popular vocalists on concert series in the United States, in Spain, and Italy. Richard has been a Kentucky Arts Council Performing Arts Artist for 20 years. Locally, he has performed with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati Ballet, the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, Concert Nova, the Huntington Chamber Orchestra, and the Cincinnati Boy Choir. In New York this November Richard appeared in concert with Suzanne Bona, host and producer of the nationally heard program Sunday Baroque, on the Argondizza Guitar Series. With cellist Michael Ronstadt, Richard has recorded Radames Gnattali Sonata for Cello and Guitar.  He can also be heard, with Suzanne Bona, on the Sunday Baroque CD “Hand Picked Volume 3”.  An accomplished arranger and improviser, his playing prompted one critic to write “the guitar is for our time but it is also for all time.” (Louisville Courier Journal)

Lunch is available from 11:30 a.m. for $7.00 in the May Room.  The concert is free and in the church.