Annual Recital for Donors
Each year we invite our donors to an Opera Guild recital with an emerging operatic talent. Our 2021 Annual Recital for Donors will be a premiere YouTube virtual presentation on June 13 at 2pm. The audience is limited to donors, and features Lauren Nash Silberstein, who performed at a wintry Bravo Night before the pandemic, when she immediately came to our attention as a future Recitalist. Donors will receive their special invitation via email and information on the link to connect them to the recital.
Recital Details
YouTube link to be sent to donors via email. The performance will be available starting June 13, 2021 at 2pm.
View the 2021 program.
View the translations.
Not a donor?
Simply click the donate button, complete your gift, and your name will be on the invited list.
Scheduled Performers
Lauren Nash Silberstein
Praised for being “winsome and fiery” on stage with a “powerful, deliriously gorgeous voice, (Nippertown Magazine)” Lauren Nash Silberstein, soprano, was most recently seen as a Young Artist with The Ohio Light Opera in 2019 and 2020 as Julie Jordan in Carousel, Lavinia in Perchance to Dream, Cinderella’s Mother in Into the Woods, and Leontine (cover) in The Devil’s Rider. Lauren is a recent graduate of The Eastman School of Music with a Master’s Degree in Vocal Performance and Literature.
In Fall 2019, she portrayed Little Red in “Little Red’s Most Unusual Day” with Rochester Fringe Festival. Performances with Eastman include the academic premiere as Soprano 1 in Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Tibetan Book of the Dead and Franca Naccarelli in The Light in the Piazza. Both of these roles were coached with the composers themselves. She portrayed the Dew Fairy in Tri-Cities Opera’s production of Hansel and Gretel. With Tri-Cities Opera Lauren has also been seen as a member of the ensemble of Sweeney Todd and La Traviata. She portrayed Yum-Yum in Binghamton University’s production of The Mikado. With Opera Saratoga, Lauren has been seen as second spirit in Die Zauberflöte and ensemble for The Mighty Casey and HMS Pinafore.
Lauren's awards include prizes from The Harold Haugh Light Opera Vocal Competition in 2020, The Mendelssohn Club (Albany) Joel Dolven Scholarship Award in the Intermediate Division (2018) and First Place of the National Association of Teachers of Singing Eastern Region Conference in 2017 and 2014. She has been the soprano soloist with orchestra for Handel’s Messiah, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, and both Fauré and Rutter Requiems. She holds both a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance and Bachelor of Science in Business Management concentrating in Marketing from undergraduate studies at Binghamton University. During coronavirus quarantine months, with the troupe Where the Good Songs Go Lauren made the first-ever recordings (virtually) of four forgotten early musicals. Lauren cannot wait to return to the stage in person!
Maeve Berry
A recent graduate of the Master of Music in Accompanying and Chamber Music at the Eastman School of Music, Maeve Berry is a collaborator who finds immense joy in working with both singers and instrumentalists. Prior to studying at Eastman, Maeve received a Bachelor of Music in piano performance at The Pennsylvania State University as a cum laude graduate in the studio of Dr. Christopher Guzman. She received several awards throughout her college years, including the prestigious Presser Scholarship in 2018. In the spring of 2019, Maeve was awarded the Creative Achievement Award from the College of Arts and Architecture and was also inducted into Pi Kappa Lambda at Penn State.
At Eastman, Maeve currently studies with Dr. Andrew Harley and holds a graduate assistantship in both studio accompanying and music theory. She received the Barbara M. H. Koeng award in 2020 for excellence in vocal collaboration and pursued an Advanced Certificate in Music Theory Pedagogy in addition to her master’s studies. During her master’s degree, she was also accepted into several summer programs such as Songfest LA and Toronto Summer Music Festival Art of Song program. This year, Maeve is also a finalist in the Kneisel Lieder Competition.
During the 2020-2021 academic year, Maeve served as the Marketing and Outreach chair for Eastman’s Graduate Student Association. She is also an active member in Schola Cantorum at Christ Church in Rochester.
In the fall of 2021, Maeve will continue at Eastman under the direction of Dr. Harley to work toward a DMA with assistantships in studio accompanying and opera. Maeve was awarded the Brooks Smith Fellowship and the Jean Barr Endowed Scholarship to continue her studies.