Celebrate the Season

Saturday, December 9, 2023
3:30 & 7:30 p.m.
Dimnent Memorial Chapel, Hope College

Johannes Müller Stosch, Music Director and Conductor
Allison and Steven Martin, soloists

Program

On Christmas Day 
Steven Amundson

The Snowman Overture
Erich Wolfgang Korngold  

Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring
Johann Sebastian Bach, arr. Arthur Luck 

Ave Maria
Johann Sebastian Bach & Charles Gounod

The Nutcracker 
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
     March
     Arabian Dance
     Trepak
     Waltz of the Flowers

Fantasia on Greensleeves
Ralph Vaughan Williams  

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
Hugh Martin, arr. Calvin Custer

Christmas Singalong
John Finnegan

O Holy Night
Adolphe Adam, arr. René Clausen

Dona Nobis Pacem from Silent Night
Kevin Puts

Sleigh Ride
Leroy Anderson

The Prayer
Carole Bayer-Sager & David Foster, arr. Larry Goss

Straussiana
Erich Wolfgang Korngold

HSO presents two traditional holiday concerts of seasonal classics and carols as we celebrate the season. Local favorites Steve & Allison Martin join HSO to share their gifts with us.

Saturday, December 9, 2023 at 3:30 & 7:30 p.m.

Dimnent Memorial Chapel, Hope College

Tickets are $28 for adults and $5 for students through college.

Parking is available on the streets or in Faculty/Staff parking lots (not during regular business hours).

Allison Martin received her Masters of Music in Vocal Performance from Michigan State University and Bachelors of Arts in Music Performance from Goshen College. She has performed throughout the U.S. and in Italy singing both opera and musical theater. She has performed roles such as Annina in Verdi’s La Traviata, Countess Charlotte in Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, Casilda in Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Gondoliers, Laetitia in Menotti’s The Old Maid and the Thief, and Catherine in Schwartz’s Pippin with companies such as Opera in the Rock, Opera Grand Rapids, and The Other Mirror Production Company. On the oratorio stage, she was the soprano soloist for Mozart's Missa Brevis in Fmajor in Vienna and Saltzburg, Austria, Handel's Messiah with the Mennonite Choral Society, Brahms’ Ein Deutches Requiem with the St. Joseph Valley Camerata, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at Goshen College where she was also an invited masterclass clinician. Martin currently serves as Interim Managing Director for the Next Festival of Emerging Artists (www.next-fest.org). 

Stephen Martin has enjoyed engagements spanning throughout Italy, China, Austria, and the United States singing leading roles in staged works such as La Traviata, La Bohème, The Tales of Hoffmann, Gianni Schicchi, The Grapes of Wrath, Les Misérables, and many more. He has performed with companies such as The Santa Fe Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival Opera, Sarasota Opera, Minnesota Opera, Opera in the Rock, Chicago Summer Opera Festival, Kenosha Opera, The Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Motor City Brass Band, Flint Symphony Orchestra, Saginaw Symphony, and others. Stephen has twice won the East Tennessee District Metropolitan Opera Competition and is the recipient of an Encouragement Award at the Mid-South Regional Metropolitan Opera competition. He was a grand finalist in the Rochester International Voice Competition, a semi-finalist in the Mildred Miller International Voice Competition, Opera Index Competition, and Birmingham Opera competitions, was awarded the Mandelker/Harris Award for Outstanding Returning Studio Artist at Sarasota Opera, and won the Charlotte Ruppel Memorial Voice Competition.

In 2019 Stephen took a step back from full-time performing and became an Assistant Professor of Voice at the University of Central Arkansas where he served for two years until transitioning into full time music ministry. He currently serves as the Director of Music and Fine Arts at Memorial Drive United Methodist Church in Houston, Texas.

Stephen holds a Doctorate in Voice Performance, Masters Degrees in Voice Performance and Music Theory Pedagogy, and a Bachelor's degree in Voice Performance all from Michigan State University. 

You can learn more about Stephen at StephenMartinTenor.com