About the Composer
Michael J. Glasgow
Michael J. Glasgow’s personal alphabet soup includes an ENTJ personality and a delightfully unnerving combination of ADHD and OCD (making him boldly and intensely particular about a whole lot of stuff all at one time!), and he absolutely loves teaching – and learning from – others.
After a full-time church-music career spanning more than 23 years, Michael is now “full-time freelance,” and offer his clientele a full-service experience, without the distractions of a church job or a school job. (Yup, someone who actually answers the phone AND returns e-mails promptly: “what you need, when you need it.”).
Heralded for his “abundant melodic gift” (New York Concert Review), Michael is an award-winning composer of organ, handbell and choral works, and has fulfilled more than 60 commissions. He is deeply committed to his craft, and proud that each piece he writes has a story and a purpose behind it.
Michael made his Carnegie Hall debut conducting his “Requiem” for chorus and orchestra in June 2017, and conducted its European premiere in Vienna in June 2019. More than 170 engagements have brought him to three dozen states, as well as multiple engagements in England, Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada, and a cruise ship in the Eastern Caribbean. Last December, his “Concerto for Castings” was premiered by Toronto’s Counterpoint Community Orchestra, with Emily Li performing the virtuosic solo. Michael’s been named a Distinguished Composer and Conductor by MidAmerica Productions, and will return to the podium at Carnegie Hall next June to conduct his riveting “Gloria” for chorus and orchestra (stop by his booth if you’re interested in being a part of this project!).
Michael serves as the Bass Section Leader of the North Carolina Master Chorale, the Chorus Conductor of the Tar River Orchestra and Chorus (Rocky Mount, NC), and a Principal Guest Conductor of Singapore’s Ministry of Bellz. “The more people I meet through music,” he says, “the smaller the world becomes.”
You won’t find him on Facebook, but visit www.michaeljglasgow.com and @MichaelJGlasgow on YouTube for more information and samples of his work.
About the Soloists
Jill Gardner
Recognized as a “lyrico spinto, Puccini girl through and through,” Ms. Gardner has sung over 50 performances of her signature role of Tosca in recent seasons with such notable American companies as Opera Carolina, Arizona Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Hawai‘i Opera Theater, Toledo Opera, Lyric Opera of Baltimore, Piedmont Opera and in a new production with Mill City Summer Opera to name a few. Opera News calls Ms. Gardner’s interpretation of Tosca “fresh and focused” and states “in Gardner’s hands, her Act II aria, ‘Vissi d’arte’, was not merely a famous showstopper but an opportunity to reveal layers of Tosca’s character…”
Equally at home in the operetta and musical theater traditions, Ms. Gardner made her role debut as Anna Maurrant in Kurt Weill’s Street Scene for Virginia Opera in the fall of 2018, gave the first inaugural opera house performances of the role of Margaret Johnson in Adam Guettel’s Light in the Piazza with Piedmont Opera and has enjoyed success in Lehar’s The Merry Widow (Syracuse Opera) as well as Sondheim’s A Little Night Music (Hawai‘i Opera Theater). On the concert stage, she has performed with such ensembles as the Washington Chorus in a Puccini Concert; the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra in a Verdi/Mascagni/Wagner Concert; the role of Madame Lidoine in Poulenc’s operatic tragedy Dialogues des Carmélites with the Portland Symphony Orchestra and the Winston-Salem Symphony; Gala Concerts for Opera Carolina, Greensboro Opera and Anchorage Opera; Verdi’s Requiem in Dallas; Beethoven’s Mass in C Major with the Wichita Symphony; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music with the Syracuse Symphony as well as the Brahms Requiem, Wagner’s Ring Cycle in One Night and Holiday Pops Concerts with the Binghamton Philharmonic.
An alumna of the Young Artist Programs of Glimmerglass Opera Festival and Tri-Cities Opera in upstate New York, Ms. Gardner created the role of Madame Loiseau in the world premiere of Stephen Hartke’s The Greater Good, which was recorded live in the Alice Busch Opera House of the Glimmerglass Festival for the Naxos Label. She has been a Southeast Regional Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and holds a Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro as well as a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance from Centenary College of Louisiana.
Ms. Gardner currently resides in Kernersville, NC with her beloved pups, Frida and Bear.
Timothy LeFebvre
Nationally acclaimed baritone Timothy LeFebvre has wide-ranging experience from the operatic stage to the concert hall. Recent performances include Verdi’s Rigoletto with Tri-Cities Opera, Beethoven’s Mass in C with Pennsylvania Chamber Orchestra, Haydn’s Creation with State College Choral Society, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Firelands Symphony, Handel’s Messiah with Susquehanna Valley Chorale, Dvorak’s Te Deum with Wichita Symphony Orchestra, Handel’s Messiah and Saint-Saens’ Christmas Oratorio with Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Vaughan-Williams’ Dona nobis pacem with Symphoria (Syracuse, NY), Dett’s The Ordering of Moses at Oberlin Conservatory, Mendelssohn’s Elijah with New Dominion Chorale (Washington, DC), Brahms’ Requiem with Hamilton College, and Bach’s Saint John Passion with Spoleto Festival USA.
Mr. LeFebvre has appeared in concert with the Jacksonville Symphony, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Cleveland Pops Orchestra, Wichita Symphony, Pensacola Symphony, Evansville Symphony, Symphoria (Syracuse), Butler County Symphony Orchestra, Toledo Symphony, West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Vermont Symphony, Minnesota Symphony, Syracuse Symphony, American Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Pennsylvania Chamber Orchestra, Spokane Symphony, Binghamton Philharmonic, Rochester Bach Festival, Berkshire Choral Festival, New Dominion Chorale, Williamsport Symphony, Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes, Syracuse Chamber Music Society, the Skaneateles Festival and the Marlboro Music Festival. He has also appeared in concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall.
LeFebvre’s operatic experience features performances with Central City Opera, Tri-Cities Opera, Sarasota Opera, Chattanooga Symphony and Opera, Syracuse Opera, Indianapolis Opera, Opera Delaware, and Opera Theater of Pittsburgh.
Mr. LeFebvre is currently Professor of Voice at Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he is also division director of vocal studies. During the summer, LeFebvre is the Young Artists Division Head for Bel Canto in Tuscany, a three-week program for singers.
