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Brenda Marie Turner’s vocal artistry seamlessly spans classical, jazz, musical theater, gospel, pop, and neo-soul. A featured soloist for opera, oratorio, art song, studio recordings, and television broadcasts, Brenda is in demand as a backing vocalist who is prized for her versatility, solid musicianship, and sheer vocal beauty.
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Brenda divides her time between the USA and Europe, performing regularly in the States, throughout Germany and Italy. She has been seen recently as Orpah and Haggeman’s opera, Ruth, in a collaborative production by Pegasus Opera and Southern Illinois University, Nella (Gianni Schicchi) with Bronx Opera company, a soloist at the Berlin Philharmonic, with 4Spiel String Quartet, members of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Nairobi Girls’ Chorale (Kenya), and the Kumasi Evangel Choir (Ghana). She has toured with German Pop Sensation Sarah Connor as a backing vocalist and featured artist, toured with Rev. Gregory M. Kelly and The Best of Harlem Gospel as a lead vocalist, and vocally supported a myriad of German stars on televised concerts and variety shows. Learn more here.
Pianist Christopher Cooley has concertized with various instrumental and vocal soloists in five continents, as well as Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall. As a soloist, he has played with the University of Texas Symphony, the Chamber Orchestra of Florida, and the Musica Bella Orchestra of New York. As a collaborative pianist, he has served on the staff of numerous summer opera festivals in Italy, Germany, and Austria, as well as the Castleton Festival in Virginia, the Piatigorsky Seminar for Cellists in L.A., and the Varna International Music Festival.
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Dr. Cooley has enjoyed a wide variety of musical activities as a freelance accompanist, organist, cocktail pianist, arranger, and composer in and around New York City for over 25 years. Recent projects include a recital of the songs of Ricky Ian Gordon with Opera Noire; a workshop of Sheila Silver’s new opera "A Thousand Splendid Suns”; a summer tour of Europe including work as pianist and composer at festivals in Italy; a Broadway-themed dinner cruise for Hornblower Cruises, for which he arranged the music; and the Paper Mill Playhouse (NJ) New Voices Concerts, a summer musical theater program for which he has served as pianist and arranger for 15 years. He spent five years as music director of St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church in White Plains, where the choir premiered several of his compositions and arrangements. Currently he is organist at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Bedford, NY. Visit his website for more.