Thursday, December 9th 1:00 PM OLMC Church
Please join us for this wonderful way to celebrate the coming of Christ at Christmas! This Vocal Christmas Concert features OLMC Music Director Andrea Covais and OLMC Cantor Justyna Giermola, accompanied by David Maiullo. They will perform Christmas pieces plus a special section of works dedicated to the Blessed Mother. The concert is free to the public and will be live streamed.
Justyna Giermola
Born in Poland, soprano Justyna Giermola brings a traditional European flavor to opera with a layered, luxuriant voice, and striking beauty. The critics have called her a soprano with a “rich, velvety timbre” and her performances have been described as “sparkling and pristine”. Ms. Giermola made her Zankel Hall debut at Carnegie Hall singing a concert of works by the Polish composer Stanislaw Moniuszko in November of 2019. In the same month she also sang the NYC premiere of Tomas Peire Serrate’s Five Haiku for chamber ensemble and voice with Four Corners Ensemble. She was also a featured soloist for The New Vision Concert under the auspices of New York Dance & Art Innovations. Continuing her celebration of new works she also had the distinct honor of debuting three songs by Patricia Giannattasio in Treble Girls, a concert dedicated to women composers. She was also the soloist in a Gala Concert with the NJCU Orchestra where she sang excerpts from Verdi’s Don Carlo and Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier. Ms. Giermola’s season was rounded off by company debuts with Hudson Lyric Opera and NYC Productions singing Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana and First Witch (Dido, cover)in Dido and Aeneas, respectively. Ms. Giermola has sung the roles of Aure%a in Mozart’s L’oca del Cairo,Viole%a in La Traviata, Muse%a and Mimi in La Boheme,Micaela in Carmen,Nedda inI Pagliacci, DonnaElvira in Don Giovanni,Santuzza in Cavalleria Rus=cana, and the =tle roles in Tosca, Manon Lescaut and Suor Angelica. Other roles include Mother and Hansel in Hansel and Gretel,Jadwiga in the Polish Opera Straszny Dwor (Haunted Manor) Andalusia in Man of La Mancha.Her performances have led her to venues in NYC as well as nationally in Ohio, Arizona, California, Florida, North Carolina, Louisiana, Colorado, and Minnesota and internationally to Spain, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Germany and Austria.
Andrea Covais
Soprano Andrea Covais has been the Director of Sacred Music at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Tenafly, NJ since March 2018. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Manhattan School of Music,a Master of Arts degree from Montclair State University and is currently a candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from City University of New York. Andrea is currently Professor of Voice at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA NY) and the Extension Division of The Juilliard School. She is a member of the Board of Trustees for NJ Pro Arte Chorale, the National Association of Pastoral Musicians and The American Federation Pueri Cantores. Andrea has performed opera, in recital, and with chamber ensembles in the United States, Canada, and Europe. She is the winner of the National Association of Teachers of Singing competition, was a finalist in the New Jersey Association of Verismo Opera competition, was a finalist in the David Adams Art Song Competition and won the John J. Cali School of Music scholarship from Montclair State University.Her first journal article entitled Navigating the Woods: Exploring Ralph Vaughan Williams’“Epithalamion” was published in 2015 in the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society Journal.