The Presbyterian College Department of Music announces a Sept. 4 free to the public concert at Edmunds Hall on campus. These are the performers:
Lyric Coloratura Soprano Díana Thompson-Brewer is lauded for her “aplomb and sparkling ‘’ vocal pyrotechnics and her nuanced character portrayals. Díana made her professional operatic debut in the role of Adele in Strauss II’s Die Fledermaus and has since amassed an array of soprano roles that range from the pinnacle of coloratura sopranos - Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor - to the fiercest queen of all opera - Queen of the Night in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. Other operatic credits include Zerbinetta from Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos, Susanna in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Musetta in Puccini’s La bohème, Mlle Silberklang in Mozart’s Die Schauspieldirektor, Sister Genevieve in Puccini’s Suor Angelica, Beth & Amy in Mark Adamo’s Little Women, Millie in Libby Larsen’s Picnic, Belinda in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Vi in Gershwin’s Blue Monday, Mrs. McDowell in Hailstork’s Rise for Freedom, and Eden in the world premiere of Galaxies in Her Eyes.
Díana has performed with L’Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, Opera Carolina, Greensboro Opera, Opera Wilmington, Miami Lyric Opera, Augusta Opera, GLOW, and other regional companies and festivals. In addition to opera, Díana has been a soprano soloist in Haydn’s The Creation, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s Cantata 4, Haydn’s Mass in Time of War, Vivaldi’s Magnificat, and Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy. She also made her Musical Theatre debut as Sarah in Flaherty’s iconic musical Ragtime.
For the 2022-2023 season, Díana’s roles and engagements included appearing as Queen of the Night in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte with Opera Wilmington, Musetta in Puccini’s La bohème with Greensboro Opera, Magda in La rondine with Mobile Opera, Clara in Porgy and Bess with North Carolina Opera, and Soprano Soloist in Carmina Burana with Georgia Symphony Orchestra.
This season, Díana will travel with her recital A Woman’s Love and Life performing the song cycle of the same title in German (Frauenliebe und Leben) by Robert Schumann as well as a new work at first sight, with composer Christopher Cooley on piano, incorporating elements of what it means to love a black man in modern-day America. Following this tour, she will debut with both the Aiken Symphony Orchestra as well as the University of South Carolina’s Symphony Orchestra performing Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915. Thompson-Brewer will complete her orchestral season serving as Soprano Soloist in a performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Florence Symphony Orchestra.
Díana holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Georgia (Presidential Fellow), a Master of Music degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and a Bachelor of Music degree from Augusta State University, all in Vocal Performance. www.DianaDarleneThompson.com
Dr. Christopher Cooley, pianist and composer BIO
Pianist Christopher Cooley has concertized with various instrumental and vocal soloists in five continents, as well as Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall. As a soloist, he has played with the University of Texas Symphony, the Chamber Orchestra of Florida, and the Musica Bella Orchestra of New York. As a collaborative pianist, he has served on the staff of numerous summer opera festivals in Italy, Germany, and Austria, as well as the Castleton Festival in Virginia, the Piatigorsky Seminar for Cellists in L.A., and the Manhattan School of Music Summer Voice Festival.
Since 2006, Chris has collaborated regularly with soprano Lauren Flanigan on music written for her by composers from Stephen Schwartz to Thomas Pasatieri. They have performed together at numerous venues including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the McCarter Theater in Princeton, the Shakespeare Theater Company Gala in Washington D.C., and the George London Foundation Recital Series at the Morgan Library (NYC).
Chris has enjoyed a wide variety of musical activities as a freelance accompanist, organist, cocktail pianist, arranger, and composer in and around New York City for over 20 years. Recent projects include a recital of the music of Ricky Ian Gordon with Opera Noire; a workshop of Sheila Silver’s new opera “A Thousand Splendid Suns”; a summer tour of Europe including work as pianist and composer at festivals in Italy; a Broadway-themed dinner cruise for Hornblower Cruises, for which he arranged the music; and the Paper Mill Playhouse (NJ) New Voices Concerts, a summer musical theater program for which he has served as pianist and arranger for 10 years. He spent five years as music director of St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church in White Plains, where the choir premiered several of his compositions and arrangements. Currently he is organist at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Bedford, NY.
Chris holds degrees from Florida State University, the University of Texas at Austin, and a doctorate in Collaborative Piano from the Manhattan School of Music.
