A Concert of Art Songs: Rachmaninoff, Fauré, and Gershwin

Soprano Jennifer O’Brien and pianist Stephen James will present a concert of the music of some of the great song composers – Rachmaninoff, Fauré, and Gershwin – and the premiere of a new set of songs by Dr. James on poems of Mary Oliver on November 23 at 2:00 pm in the Falcetti Performance Hall.

Stephen James: 

Stephen James completed his doctoral degree in composition at Boston University, where he received the graduate composition prize in 1984, the Malloy Miller Composition Award in 1986, and an award for continuing musical excellence in 1987.  He is a pianist as well as a composer and has performed for the Tanglewood Music Center Chamber Series, the WICN Radio concert series at Mechanics Hall (Worcester, MA), the American Repertory Theater, Alea III, the Omnibus Series at Boston University, the The Essex Chamber Music Players, and on many other concert series in New England.​

​Dr. James was a 1985 Crofts Fellow in Composition at the Tanglewood Music Center and a member of the Center for Compositional Study at the Aspen Music Festival in 1986.  Performances of his works include premieres by the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston and the Atlantic Brass Quintet, commissions from the Washington Music Ensemble and the Newburyport Choral Society, and performances by the Society for New Music (Syracuse, NY) and the Fellows of the Music Center at Tanglewood.  He has taught piano performance, music theory and  composition at Boston University, Worcester State University, the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, Anna Maria College and Bridgewater State University.

Jennie O’Brien:

Jennie O’Brien is a graduate of Boston University with Bachelor of music, one in Vocal Performance and the other in Music Education and a Master’s in Education from University of Massachusetts Boston specializing in teaching  students with visual impairments. A soloist for several area churches, Jennie has also performed with Newton Choral Society, Longy Chamber Singers, Broadmoor Chamber Singers, Theater, Revels, Inc., In Good Company, and her own trio Crooked Mowth. Jennie teaches Voice, Theatre Arts, vocal ensembles, and independent living skills at Perkins School for the Blind and also teaches at New England Conservatory in the Continuing Education department and a board member of the theater group In Good Company.