The 24th annual Frederick Lisman Memorial Holiday Concert, sponsored by the Milford Fine Arts Council, will be held in the City Hall Auditorium on Sunday, Dec. 7, at 4 p.m.
The concert was conceived to utilize the colonial-style auditorium as a venue for an intimate concert featuring a string quartet. This year will feature the NHSO string quartet. The members of the quartet are Stephan Tieszen, violin; Artemis Simmerson, violin; Jill Pellet Levine, viola; and Rebecca Pattersen, cello.
Stephan Tieszen has degrees from Mannes College of Music, the Juilliard School, and the Yale School of Music. He teaches violin and chamber music at Mannes College of Music and Tabor Community Art Center, and orchestral violin classes at the Meadowmount School of Music.
Artemis Simmerson is the assistant concertmaster of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra of the Orchestra New England, acting also as soloist and concertmaster on numerous occasions. She has recorded solo and chamber music soundtracks as well as various CD recordings, and was the featured solo violinist in Long Wharf Theater’s premiere production of: “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.” She is now a member of the string faculty at Choate-Rosemary Hall.
Jill Pellet Levine received her BFA from SUNY/Purchase and her Master of Music and Artist Diploma from the Yale School of Music. She plays in several orchestras throughout Connecticut, including the New Haven Symphony, Bridgeport Symphony and Waterbury Symphony.
Rebecca Patterson received degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the Yale School of Music. A winner of several awards and scholarships, she was a recipient of the Ender Scholarship which goes to a cellist with excellent promise. She was appointed principal cello with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra in 2012, and is an adjunct cello professor at the University of Connecticut.
Also featured is tenor, Gary Harger. He has appeared in several operas, and as a soloist in Europe. Harger made his Carnegie Hall debut as tenor soloist in Schubert’s Mass in G, and has performed with the Memphis Symphony, the Charleston Symphony and the Connecticut Choral Society.
Performing again this year is the Foran High School choirs, directed by Theresa Voss, singing a variety of holiday music. The choirs have won numerous awards in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Virginia, where they competed against choirs from across the country.
Voss holds a B.S. in Music Education from the University of Arizona, and a master’s degree with an emphasis in choral conduction from Central Connecticut State University. She has taught music for 23 years in Arizona and Connecticut.
This year’s concert will be a combination of classical, popular and holiday music, culminating in a traditional sing-along.