The Tulsa Chorale will present its holiday performance, “Bach for the Holidays,” November 23 at First Baptist Church Tulsa, 420 S Detroit Ave in downtown Tulsa. The concert begins at 7:30 pm and will feature the 100-member chorale alongside five talented vocal soloists and members of the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra performing The Bach Christmas Oratorio (Part I) and Bach’s Magnificat. Read more about the featured soloists below.
“Sung fetchingly” was the description The New York Times gave Meray Boustani’s performance of Berlin Songs composed by, fellow native Tulsan, Noam Faingold. She has been engaged as a soprano soloist with Tulsa Chorale, Canterbury Voices, Bartlesville Chorale, and the Oklahoma Bach Choir in performances including Mozart’s Requiem and Great Mass in C Minor, The Celestial Country by Charles Ives, Handel’s Messiah and Solomon, Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen by J. S. Bach, and Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem. Other concert performances include Haydn’s Mass in Time of War, Fauré’s Requiem, Vivaldi’s Gloria, and Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater. An enthusiastic recitalist, some recital highlights include Buxtehude’s Singet dem Herrn, Heil’ge Nacht and Osterlied by Josef Rheinberger, Songs and Sonnets to Ophelia by Jake Heggie, Louis Spohr’s Sechs Deutsche Lieder, Three Shakespeare Songs by Amy Beach, Ned Rorem’s Last Poems of Wallace Stevens, and Emerald Songs by Romanos Melikian. Ms. Boustani has had the opportunity to collaborate with some of Eastern Oklahoma’s finest artists including the late poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko in Between the City of Yes and the City of No, musicians from the Tulsa Symphony and Philbrook Museum of Art in Music on Exhibit, Whitney Hollis and Cathy Venable in Saint John’s Music at Midday series, and Lyndon Meyer in the University of Tulsa’s Brown Bag It series.
Skye Singleton, Oklahoma native, has received the Marilyn Horne and Dame Eva Turner awards. KUCO’s review of her portrayal as the tragic heroine, Lucia, hailed her as “magnificent” with “high D’s that topped the ensemble…” Notable roles include: Lucia (Lucia diLammermoor), Queen Shemaka (The Golden Cockerel), Norina (Don Pasquale), Frasquita (Carmen). Skye returned to Painted Sky Opera to sing Miss Jessel (Turn of the Screw) and previously sang with the company as an Educational Outreach singer. Recently, sheperformed the World Premiere of Opera Orrore: Cask of Amontillado with Theatre Crude Fringe Festival as Fortunato.
An avid concert soloist, Skye specializes in singing Handel’s Messiahwith previous engagements at the Bartlesville Chorale and the Norman Philharmonic, as well as contemporary works. Other works include Mozart’s Missa Brevis G Major, kv 49 and Schubert’s Mass in G Major (2022) with the Bartlesville Chorale. She worked with Michael Daugherty in the Oklahoma premiere of “Labyrinth of Love”. She excels at new music and loves to work with living composers to create new art together. Other performances include: George Crumb’s “Apparition” & Soundtrack “Whispers” for “The Vexation of Spirit” Documentary by Dylan Larino. Skye received her Doctorate of Musical Arts in 2024. She’s delighted to sing the Bach Magnificat as a soloist with Tulsa Chorale this fall.
Characterized by The Dallas Morning News as a “countertenor full and fluent, glowing on top, dispensed with the loveliest legato,” Nicholas Garza has been hailed for intimate, engaging performances across the United States, Mexico, and Canada.
An early music specialist, Garza has performed with ensembles including Ars Lyrica Houston, the Chicago Arts Orchestra, ensemble viii, Bach Akademie Charlotte, Spire Ensemble, The Oklahoma Bach Choir and Soloists, La folia, Austin Baroque Orchestra, Tactus, and Mountainside Baroque.
Working with noted singer and conductor Simon Carrington, Garza was twice a singing fellow at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival of Yale University; additional festival credits include the International Cervantino, Victoria Bach, Baroque Music – Corona Del Mar, Big Moose Bach, Hawaii Performing Arts, and Bach Akademie Charlotte festivals.
Garza has sung roles including the Sorceress in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Ruggiero in Handel’s Alcina, Cortez in Vivaldi’s Montezuma, and Rinaldo in Handel’s Rinaldo, Dardano in Hadnel’s Amadigi di Gaula, among others. He also appears regularly with the Dallas Bach Society, Orchestra of New Spain, and Incarnatus.
Nicholas also serves as founding Artistic Director of Ensemble Iona based in Fort Worth, Texas and serves as Executive Director of American Baroque Opera.
A Harlingen, Texas native, Garza studied at the University of Texas at Arlington under Jing Ling-Tam and David Grogan.
Kim Childs, tenor, sings regularly in recital and concert venues. He has performed with the Denton Bach Choir in the role of Evangelist in the J. S. Bach St. Matthew Passion. Other performances have included the Saint-Saëns Messe De Requiem, Op. 54, J. S. Bach’s Mass in B minor, and the Vaughan Williams Hodie with the Tulsa Oratorio Chorus (now Tulsa Chorale).He sings frequently in the Concerts with Commentary series at the University of Tulsa; most recently, Debussy’s Cinq Poèmes de Charles Baudelaire and Ravel’s Chansons madécasses. He has sung with a number of professional choirs, including the American Bach Soloists, Orpheus Chamber Singers, Carmel Bach Festival, Texas Choral Artists, Dallas Bach Society, the Westminster Chamber Choir in Florence, Italy, and previous seasons of the Santa Fe Desert Chorale. Dr. Childs is Professor of Choral Studies and Voice at the University of Tulsa.
Kevin Eckard, bass-baritone, is a native of South Carolina and has performed frequently throughout the United States, as well as in Italy, China, Mexico, Austria, Poland and Great Britain. He recently performed with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic as Sacristan in its production of “Tosca” as well as the role of Raimondo with Painted Sky Opera in its production of “Lucia di Lammermoor”. Kevin has performed as a soloist with the Enid Symphony, the Messiah Festival in Lindsborg Kansas, the International Choir Festival in Chester, England, Indianapolis Opera, Tulsa Opera, Denver Opera, Wichita Grand Opera, Bartlesville Choral Society, Tulsa Oratorio Chorus, Colorado Symphony, National Repertory Orchestra, Augusta Opera, Opera Carolina, and Lyric Theater of Oklahoma City. Among his many concert credits Kevin has performed St. John’s Passion, B minor Mass, Christmas Oratorio and the Magnificat by J.S. Bach. He has also performed Brahms’ Ein DeutschesRequiem, Faure’s Requiem, Haydn’s Creation, Mozart’s Requiem, Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Handel’s Messiah. Kevin was also a three-time winner of the South Carolina District Metropolitan Opera Competition and a regional finalist. He currently teaches voice and is the head of Vocal Arts at the University of Central Oklahoma.