Local singers performing back-to-back concerts Sunday at First Christian Church


Chelsea Davidson Lehnea
Chelsea Davidson Lehnea

If you go

Chelsea Lehnea Recital› Where: First Christian Church, 650 McCallie Ave.› When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 18› Admission: Free with suggested $20 donationThree Local Tenors› Where: First Christian Church, 650 McCallie Ave.› When: 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 19› Admission: $20› For more information: 423-267-4506

A Lee University alumna who is a rising star in national operatic circles returns home this weekend to present a recital Saturday night, Aug. 18, at First Christian Church.

Chelsea Davidson Lehnea is the first half of a double billing at First Christian Church this weekend, both concerts produced by Harv Wileman. Lehnea's performance will be followed by The Three Local Tenors on Sunday afternoon, Aug. 19.

The Three Local Tenors are Wileman, Michael Mays and Bob Sauser. Their concert will feature selections from Broadway, opera and pop music presented in solos, duets and trios.

Wileman is artistic director of Voci Virili Men's Consort and the Voice of Reason Women's Ensemble. Mays leads the Mays Family Singers. Sauser is an attorney by vocation; musician by avocation.

photo Tenors Harv Wileman, Bob Sauser and Michael Mays, from left.

Other local musicians participating in the tenors' fundraiser for the Chattanooga Area Food Bank will include Gordon Inman, clarinet; Carey Shinbaum, oboe; Michael McCallie, guitar; Mark Burroughs, tuba; Ed Bergin, accordion; Sunanda Sadanandan, mezzo-soprano; and Joy Mays, pianist.

All of the artists are donating their time and talent in support of this second annual fundraiser for the food bank.

Saturday night's concert will be Lehnea's first at home since leaving for grad school in 2013, says Wileman.

The Ringgold, Georgia, native graduated from Lee University and earned a master of music in opera performance from the University of Maryland, where she was a member of the Maryland Opera Studio.

As an undergraduate at Lee, she was not initially a voice major and worked four jobs to make ends meet. She was a sophomore who'd had only two private voice lessons when she auditioned for Lee University Opera Theatre and ended up nabbing the lead role of Susanna in Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro."

A 2016 alumna of the Santa Fe Opera's Apprentice Singer Program, Lehnea made her Washington National Opera debut as Sister Catherine in Francesca Zambello's 2017 production of "Dead Man Walking."

This winter, she will join Sarasota Opera to perform Frasquita in "Carmen" and cover Adalgisa in "Norma." She will also make her New York debut in the title role of "Lucia di Lammermoor," performing excerpts from the opera under the aegis of the Metropolitan Opera Guild.

"Only 26 years old, the soprano is enjoying remarkable success for a young artist of her age and shows every indication of becoming a professional opera success story with a long career ahead of her," says Wileman.

She will perform excerpts from such operas as "Lucia di Lammermoor," "La Traviata" and "Norma" in Saturday night's concert. Her performance will also feature a tribute to the late Grace Moore, a lead soprano at the Metropolitan Opera and a movie star who received an Oscar nomination for her role in "One Night of Love."

Lehnea will by joined by baritone Aaron Murphy and pianist Rachel Appleton.

Doors open at 7 p.m. and there is parking on-site.

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