Home for the Holidays 2025 Evening: Steve & Allison Martin
Home for the Holidays 2025 Evening: Steve & Allison Martin
West Ottawa Performing Arts Center
Enjoy fresh-baked goods, candies, and snacks from Marlene Buller’s local bakery, Frosted Memories. A portion of each purchase will benefit HSO’s Education programs. Cash payment is preferred, but Venmo is also an option.
Holland Symphony Orchestra & Deos Contemporary Ballet
Guest Artists Hosts Lee & Linda De Visser
Johannes Müller Stosch, Music Director & Conductor
Steven & Allison Martin, vocalists
Local favorites Steve and Allison Martin join HSO for festive selections from The Nutcracker, Leroy Anderson’s classic Sleigh Ride, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” and some of the Martins’ favorite songs, including “The Prayer,” “O Holy Night,” and “Ave Maria.” Rounding out the family-friendly concert will be the audience favorite “Christmas Singalong,” full of well-known holiday carols! Steve and Allison are well known in West Michigan, having sung on opera stages and musical productions locally and around the country. Allison received her Masters of Music from Michigan State University. Steve holds a doctorate and master’s in music from Michigan State University. He has taught at the college level and is now Director of Music and Fine Arts at Memorial Drive United Methodist Church in Houston, Texas.
A special thank you to Guest Artists sponsors Lee & Linda De Visser
Program
La Péri - Fanfare
Paul Dukas
Ave Maria
Johann Sebastian Bach/Charles Gounod
Panis Angelicus
César Franck
“Carillon” and “Farandole” from L'Arlésienne
Georges Bizet
O Holy Night
Adolphe Adam, arr. René Clausen
Adoration
Florence Price
White Christmas
Irving Berlin, arr. Robert Russell Bennett
It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
Meredith Wilson, arr. Daryl McKenzie
Christmas Song
Robert Wells & Mel Torme, arr. Daryl McKenzie
“Arabian dance,” “Dance of the Reed Flutes,” & “Waltz of the Flowers” from The NutcrackerPeter Ilych Tchaikovsky
Sleigh ride
Leroy Anderson
The Prayer
Carole Bayer Sager & David Foster, arr. Larry Goss
Christmas Singalong
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
