Songs for America: Voice Recital to Honor America250

RECITAL TO PREMIERE SONGS FOR AMERICA, SUNDAY, JULY 12 AT 6:00 PM AT TRINITY UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, UNIONTOWN

Dr. Julianne Laird, soprano, and RJ Nestor, piano, will present a recital entitled Songs for America on Sunday, July 12 at 6:00 PM at Trinity United Presbyterian Church, 79 W. Fayette St., Uniontown, PA.

The recital is a collection of vocal music that honors America250 through the words and music of diverse composers and authors recalling the foundations, dreams, and stories of the American experience. The program will include the premiere of Nestor’s song cycle, Songs for America, as well as his 2019 song cycle, Five Appalachian Songs.

Additionally, Laird and Nestor will perform selections by Native American composer Louis Wayne Ballard, and by African American women composers Florence Price and Undine Smith Moore.

Dr. Julianne Laird served for three decades as a choral and string music educator in the Indiana Area School District. Laird holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in voice performance from West Virginia University, where she studied with Dr. Hope Koehler. Dr. Laird performs regularly on the Outer Banks of North Carolina as a singer and “cellofiddler” in the folk duo, J.R. Shanty Co. with her husband Richard Workman.

R.J. Nestor holds degrees in music composition and orchestral conducting from West Virginia University. His compositions have been performed across America and Europe. He has composed three original musicals, including Golden Horseshoe, which regularly tours throughout West Virginia celebrating the state’s rich history.

The concert is free and open to the public. It is sponsored in part by Trinity Presbyterian Church and by the Fort Necessity Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution.