Company members Jenny Schuler, Laura Smalley, and Jonathan Zeng bring music to your morning in this laid back recital to help raise funds for our Spring production Love Wounds. Enjoy a donut or two, with coffee and stronger beverages for purchase at the bar, and join us in experiencing these incredible voices singing works by Vaughan Williams, Gwyneth Walker, Charles Griffes, William Walton and selections from our upcoming collaboration, Love Wounds, by composer Christopher Cerrone.
As this is a fundraising event, please note there are no refunds issued for unused or returned tickets.
Cast
Jenny Schuler
Soprano
Jenny Schuler
Soprano
Soprano Jenny Schuler has earned praise in recent seasons for her powerful vocalism and compelling stage artistry. She has been hailed as a “sumptuous soprano,” with a voice “rich in nuance” and “a vivid presence on the stage.” Her 2020/2021 season highlights include a debut with Chicago Opera Theater as Isabela in La Hija de Rappaccini (originally Matilde in Catan’s Il Postino), a debut with Opera Festival of Chicago in the role of Giorgetta in Il Tabarro, in addition to her role as a featured artist in the Dante 700 recital series also with Opera Festival of Chicago..
In the 2019/2020 season Ms Schuler made her Oregon Symphony debut as the soprano soloist in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and returned as Mother in their production of Hänsel und Gretel, in addition to debuting the title role of Tosca with New Jersey Festival Orchestra. Productions canceled due to Covid-19 include Louder, Longer, Wagner! (Valerie/Brünhilde) with Lyric Unlimited, Lyric Opera of Chicago & Second City, and Songs from Letters recital with Chicago Fringe Opera.
Recent season highlights include the title role of Ariadne auf Naxos as a guest artist with Indiana University, Berta in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Sugar Creek Opera, Ariadne auf Naxos and Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas, both with the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute, and Leonore* in the Princeton Festival’s production of Fidelio.
Ms. Schuler was nominated as finalist for the 2019 Richard Tucker Career Grant, she was the second place winner in the 2019 Classical Singer Competition, first place winner of the 2018 Lyra New York International Vocal Competition, a semi-finalist in the 2017 Premier Opera Foundation International Vocal Competition, a semi-finalist in Shreveport Opera’s 2017 Mary Jacobs Smith Competition, a finalist in the 2017 Marcello Giordani International Voice Competition, and first place winner in the 2016 Heafner–Williams Vocal Competition. Ms. Schuler earned her Artist Diploma from the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute and her Master of Music from Roosevelt University Chicago College of Performing Arts.
Productions with Chicago Fringe Opera
Ear Taxi Festival – Spotlight Series Concert: Songs From Letters
Soloist
2020
Dynamic Donuts: A Fundraiser for Love Wounds
Soloist
2019
2016 Holiday House Party
Soloist
2016
Chicago Fringe Opera’s Lakeside Soiree
Soloist
2015
Voices in the Dark, Jazz & Trouble in Tahiti
Girl, Jazz Trio
2015
2014 Christmas Celebration
Soloist
2014
The Rape of Lucretia
Female Chorus
2014
Laura Smalley
Soprano
Laura Smalley
Soprano
Laura Smalley is a producer, actor, and singer in the Chicago area. She has worked in arts administration with many prominent arts organizations, including Des Moines Metro Opera, Stage 773, The Lyric Opera Chicago, and Chicago Opera Theater. She is also an alumna of the 2018 Hart Institute for Women Opera Administrators, a professional development program at The Dallas Opera.
Laura’s recent performing credits include A Christmas Carol (Metropolis Performing Arts Centre), How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying,Hunchback of Notre Dame (Music Theater Works), Big Entrance (Forte Chicago), Love Wounds (Chicago Fringe Opera), Grant Park Music Festival, Merrie England (Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company), Pirates of Penzance (The Savoyaires), Pascagoula: A Folk Opera (Singing River Productions), Old Maid and the Thief (MOE), and Sorry/Grateful (Slotted Spoon Initiative).
Her cabaret performances include Sleep/Creep/Leap and Reunion: A Night of Sondheim. She is a founding member of the vintage vocal trio The Peppermint Patties, with recent shows including Won’t You Be My Galentine? (2020), Home for the Holidays (2020), and Holiday Cabaret (2021).
She holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from DePaul School of Music.
Productions with Chicago Fringe Opera
Two Remain
Executive Producer
2022
The Heroes Project – The Widow’s Will
Executive Producer
2021
A City of Works
Executive Producer
2021
Corsair
Executive Producer
2020
Love Wounds
Echo Cover; "I WIll Learn to Love a Person" Soloist Cover
2019
Dynamic Donuts: A Fundraiser for Love Wounds
Soloist
2019
Fringe at the Taproom
Soloist
2018
Jonathan Zeng
Tenor
Jonathan Zeng
Tenor
Lauded for his versatility as a performer and accomplished in Musical Theater, Opera, Oratorio and Concert repertoire, critically acclaimed tenor, Jonathan Zeng, has performed throughout the United States with companies such as Cincinnati Opera, Central City Opera, Tulsa Opera, Opera Memphis, Utah Festival Opera, and the Princeton Festival. With a voice described by Chicago publications as “valiant”, “stunning”, “vibrant”, and “rich”, Jonathan is based in Chicago and has appeared as soloist with The William Ferris Chorale in the American premiere of John Joubert’s Five Songs of Incarnation and Bonaventura Somma’s Missa Pro Defunctis. You may also have seen him singing with the Grant Park Symphony Chorus, in Johnny Johnson or The Csardas Princess with Chicago Folks Operetta, or performing in Chicago Fringe Opera productions The Long Christmas Dinner, Trouble In Tahiti, Turn of the Screw, and Song From the Uproar. Roles elsewhere range from Goro in Madama Butterfly & Beppe in I Pagliacci to Prince Charming in Cinderella, Chip Tolentino in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and Frederic in Pirates of Penzance. An avid proponent for arts education and vocal instruction, Jonathan has served as an adjunct faculty member in the Preparatory Department at the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music and has maintained a private voice studio for more than a decade. Jonathan received a BA in Music Education from the School of Music at Western IL University and an MM in vocal performance from the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music (CCM). Jonathan also writes and records his own music.
Productions with Chicago Fringe Opera
Sounds of Pride 2020
Soloist
2020
Sounds of Pride
Soloist
2019
Love Wounds
Narcissus
2019
Dynamic Donuts: A Fundraiser for Love Wounds
Soloist
2019
The Long Christmas Dinner
Charles
2018
Fringe at the Taproom
Soloist
2018
The Great God Pan
Clarke and Meyrick Cover
2018
Song from the Uproar
Ensemble
2016
The Turn of the Screw
Miles
2015
Chicago Fringe Opera’s Lakeside Soiree
Soloist
2015
Voices in the Dark, Jazz & Trouble in Tahiti
Tenor, Jazz Trio
2015
Allison Rye
Oboe
Allison Rye
Oboe
Allison Rye began her oboe studies with Rebecca Testerman in 2004. She has since performed regularly with DeKalb Symphony Orchestra, Evanston Symphony Orchestra, South Carolina Philharmonic, Northbrook Symphony, and Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and has taught privately in Atlanta, Chicago, and South Carolina. In 2015, Allison graduated from Furman University, where she studied with Petrea Warneck, with her Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance. While at Furman, Allison received the Burleson Endowed Music Scholarship, was a winner of the 2014 Furman University Concerto Competition, and studied at the Accademia dell’ Arte in Arezzo, Italy with Italian oboist, Gianluca Dioni. During the summer of 2014, Allison was selected as a participant of Pedro Diaz’s English Horn masterclass at the International Double Reed Society Conference in New York City and attended the Hot Springs Music Festival, where she returned for their 2015 season. As a dedicated teacher and mentor of music, oboe studies, and reed making, Allison has interned and taught at the Atlanta Chamber Music Festival and Oxford Oboes camps and is currently on faculty at Intelligent Fingers Music School and The People’s Music School of Chicago. Allison obtained her Master’s of Music Degree at Northwestern University in 2017, where she studied with Michael Henoch and was recognized, through receiving the Ray Still Award and grant, for excellence in the study and teaching of the oboe.
Productions with Chicago Fringe Opera
Dynamic Donuts: A Fundraiser for Love Wounds
Oboe
2019
Josephine Yang
Pianist
Josephine Yang
Pianist
Based in Chicago, IL, Josephine Yang performs internationally as a soloist and collaborator. She received the Master of Music degree in piano performance in 2016 under the direction of world-renowned concert pianist Daniel Pollack at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music. Comfortable in diverse settings, her performance scope ranges from the traditional concert hall to rock concerts and street festivals. Josephine performed as the solo pianist with the symphonic rock band Evanescence on their Synthesis orchestra tour in 2018 at Chicago’s Ravinia Festival and well as at Indiana’s Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center. In the summer of 2018, she performed in Chicago’s classical music street festival, the Thirsty Ears Festival, produced by Access Contemporary Music, where she gave the midwest premiere of Mauricio Arias’s Arizona Mirage. In the 2014-15 season, she made her debut performances with Orquesta Filarmonica de Sonora (Mexico), Arizona Repertory Orchestra, and Sierra Vista Symphony Orchestra, in a performance which won the city’s Hessy Award for “Best Performance of the Year.” She has performed at several music festivals including Pianofest in the Hamptons (2015), directed by Paul Schenly, the 36th Annual Daniel Pollack Masterclass in Seattle (2014), and MusicFest Perugia (2009, 2011), directed by Ilana Vered. She was also featured as a pianist on a television show from Japan’s Shinagawa district, which aired in 2015, and in The Real Pianists of the Hamptons Youtube show.
In her freshman year at Arizona State University, Josephine won the 2011 annual Concert of Soloists competition, which led to a performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the ASU Symphony. Other honors include the Grand Prize Winner at the 2009 Arizona Musicfest Competition, first prize in the Senior Concerto Division of the 2009 Schimmel/Arizona Piano Young Artist Competition, and 2008 MTNA Arizona State Senior Division Winner. In May 2014, she received the Bachelor of Music, summa cum laude, in piano performance from Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts of Arizona State University. Her mentors include Dr. Baruch Meir and Dr. Hamilton Tescarollo.
An avid collaborator as well as a soloist, Josephine has performed with members of the Cincinnati Symphony, Classical Revolution Chicago, and many young artists in recitals and competitions, including the CSYO Concerto Competition in November 2016, of which the two top prize-winning performances were her collaborations. She made her Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall collaborative debut in November 2016 with cellist Miriam Smith, who was also her piano student. Josephine is also a passionate teacher who sees teaching as an essential expression of her personality and musicianship. She also believes deeply in interdisciplinary art collaboration and presenting great music of all genres, and is launching a concert concept that combines the forces of living music, lighting design, art film, and fashion design in an ongoing, large-scale project with Lanly Le as the videographer and photographer. She also champions new music written by living composers, and she has premiered several new works around the world.
Productions with Chicago Fringe Opera
Dynamic Donuts: A Fundraiser for Love Wounds
Pianist
2019
Media
Supported by The MacArthur Funds for Arts and Culture at The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, The CityArts Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events, & the Illinois Arts Council Agency. Chicago Fringe Opera is an Opera America Partner.