Performing Arts at Fawn Lake (PAFL) Announces its First Concert of 2026 to be Held on February 21st
Christòpheren Nomura
Monica Yumus
Gerald Steichen
Christòpheren Nomura, Monica Yumus and Gerald Steichen will present an unforgettable evening of songs and duets of love, romance and (of course) death!!
SPOTSYLVANIA, VA, UNITED STATES, January 28, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Performing Arts at Fawn Lake is dedicated to bringing top musicians from around the world to perform live in the private Fawn Lake Community, located in the Central Virginia County of Spotsylvania.
This will be Christòpheren Nomura's first concert at Fawn Lake since his selection as Co-Artistic Director of Performing Arts at Fawn Lake in July 2025.
An internationally acclaimed lyric baritone, Christòpheren has moved audiences around the world with his immense talent, charm and wit. He is definitely a voice to hear. Hailed as one of classical music’s “Rising Stars” by The Wall Street Journal, Christòpheren Nomura has appeared in opera, oratorio, recital and music festivals throughout the world.
Opera roles have included Papageno, Figaro, Marcello, Malatesta, Mercutio, Don Giovanni and Guglielmo with such companies as Seattle Opera, San Francisco Opera, Dallas Opera, Cincinnati Opera and German opera houses in Hamburg, Berlin and Kiel. In oratorio, Mr. Nomura has appeared as soloist with such noted orchestras as Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, San Francisco Symphony, Utah Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, among many others in works ranging from Monteverdi’s Vespers, Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion to Philip Glass’s Symphony No. 5 and Frank Martin’s Sechs Monologe aus Jedermann. .
Concerts have included performances of Brahms’ Requiem with the Washington National Orchestra at the Kennedy Center, Handel’s L’Allegro with Chicago’s Music of the Baroque, Bach’s St. John Passion at the National Cathedral and Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with the Pacific Symphony.
He made his Broadway debut in 2015 in "Allegiance", the musical with George Takei and Lea Salonga.
Mr. Nomura is a recipient of the highest post-graduate award from New England Conservatory, as well as winner of the prestigious Young Concert Artists International, Naumburg Competition, and International Fulbright Scholarship which enabled him to study with renowned baritone Dietrich Fischer Dieskau.
Internationally renowned soprano Monica Yumus will perform at Fawn Lake for the first time. The NY Times described her voice as “especially winning”, “utterly captivating” and a voice destined for super-stardom. She has performed on the world’s leading stages and is acclaimed for her sterling artistry as well as for her leading role as a social entrepreneur and advocate for arts and culture. Known for her “commanding and alluring soprano” (Opera News) and “glorious” interpretive gifts (Daily Camera), Monica has appeared as a principal artist with The Metropolitan Opera for over a decade – the first leading artist from her native Bangladesh to do so.
In 1999, Monica made her professional opera debut at an unusually young age (22) with Palm Beach Opera in the role of Countess Olga in Umberto Giordano’s Fedora after winning the Palm Beach Opera Competition that same year. She then took first place at the Florida Grand Opera Competition and was awarded the Bori Grant for Study Abroad. In a career that spans over 20 years, she has performed across the globe in concert and operatic appearances in the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, collaborating with stars including Jon Batiste, Andrea Bocelli, Joseph Calleja, José Carerras, Joyce DiDonato, Jamie Barton, Plácido Domingo, and Bryn Terfel.
Yunus’ concert and recital appearances include solo recitals at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, and Steinway Hall in New York, at the Manuel de Falla Hall in Granada, Spain, and at Madrid’s Auditorio Nacional with Her Majesty Queen Sofia in attendance. Chamber works performed include Delages’s Four Hindu Poems in concert in Alice Tully Hall, and Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate at St. Anselm’s Church in New York.
Monica, who was born in Chittagong, Bangladesh to Russian mother, Vera Forostenko Yunus and Bangladeshi economist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Muhammad Yunus, earned both her Bachelor of Music and Masters of Music degrees from The Juilliard School.
The pianist at this performance will be Gerald Steichen, also performing at Fawn Lake for the first time. He not only plays the piano, but conducts symphony orchestras, acts in Broadway plays, and conducts opera touring companies, including the U.S. Tour of "The Phantom of the Opera". He conducted the final public Broadway performance of “Cats”. He has presented piano concertos and served as on-stage pianist for New York City presentation. With a career that ranges from symphony to opera and Broadway to chamber music, Conductor Gerald Steichen has established himself as one of America’s most versatile musicians. No stranger to the stage, Mr. Steichen played the role of Manny the Accompanist in Terrence McNally’s Tony Award-winning Broadway production of "Master Class".
He currently serves as the Music Director of the Ridgefield (Connecticut) Symphony Orchestra, Principal Pops Conductor of the Utah Symphony, and just completed fifteen seasons with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra. This season, Steichen debuts with the Detroit Symphony, and returns to lead the Hong Kong Philharmonic. His passion for education in the arts has led to numerous guest appearances with student orchestras and choruses throughout the United States, including four years leading the student orchestras at NYU. For New York's Lincoln Center, he spent eighteen years with the "Meet the Artist" series as conductor, clinician, and pianist. With a strong commitment to new music and emerging composers, Steichen has conducted readings of new American operas as part of City Opera's VOX American Composer's Showcase, and served as conductor for the for the New York-based Azure Chamber Ensemble.
Steichen is a native of Tonkawa, Oklahoma; and holds degrees from Northern Oklahoma College, Oklahoma City University and the University of Southern California.
Since its founding in 2022, PAFL has hosted internationally acclaimed performers Violinist Michelle Kim, Tenor J. Mark McVey, Cellist Wendy Sutter, Pianist William Wolfram, Soprano Gay Willis, Pianist Duk Kyu Kim, Baritone Prince Havely, Pianist Maxwell Foster, Violinist Laura Frautschi, Cellist Kristina Cooper, Pianist/Composer John Novacek, Jazz duo and recoding artists Trumpeter Marcus Printup and Harpist Riza Printup, Violinist Brett Deubner, Pianist Blair McMillen, Baritone Christòpheren Nomura, Pianist Karen Delevan, Clarinetist Pascual Martinez-Forteza, Pianist Gema Nieto-Forteza, and Violinist Kyungha Ko.
FRANK BLANCO
Performing Arts at Fawn Lake
frank2842@hotmail.com
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