MGS presents Stephen Tharp & Kendra Berentsen
GRAMMY-nominated concert organist Stephen Tharp is the artist in residence at The Riverside Church in New York City. His more than 80 world tours earned him the 2011 International Performer of the Year Award from the American Guild of Organists, considered the highest honor given to organists by a professional American musicians’ guild.
Noteworthy performances include The Royal Albert Hall, London; Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris; the Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg; the Philharmonie, Berlin; the Gewandhaus, Leipzig; Cologne Cathedral; Dvorak Hall, Prague; Victoria Hall, Geneva; the Helsinki Concert Hall; the Duomo, Milan; Monaco Cathedral; The Hong Kong Cultural Centre; Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, Seoul; The Opera House, Sydney; Symphony Center, Chicago; Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles; The Meyerson Symphony Center, Dallas; and Alice Tully Hall, New York City.
Stephen Tharp is known for commissioning new music for the organ, with works dedicated to him by Samual Adler, George Baker, Thierry Escaich, Jean Guillou, Anthony Newman and others. He is himself a composer, with commissions from Cologne Cathedral and Walt Disney Concert Hall. His choral music has been sung by ensembles in the US and Europe, including the St. Thomas Choir of Men and Boys (NYC).
Tharp has taught at Yale University; the Eastman School of Music; Rice University, Houston; Westminster Choir College; and the Cleveland Institute of Music. He has also adjudicated for competitions at the Juilliard School and Northwestern University and served as a member of the jury for international organ competitions throughout the USA and Europe.
For more information see www.stephentharp.com.
Kendra Berentsen was winner of the Oratorio Society New York's Esther Korshin award at the 2023 at Carnegie Hall. As an oratorio soloist, she has performed “Messiah” with Fairfield County Chorale, Vaughn Williams’ “Pastoral” Symphony with New York Repertory Orchestra, and Mahler’s “Das Himmlishe Leben” with Astoria Symphony. Kendra’s past credits include Juliette in Romeo et Juliette, Adele in Die Fledermaus, Frasquita in Carmen, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, and Zerlina in Don Giovanni. Kendra received her BM and MM from Eastman School of Music, and headlined as Carolina Il Matrimonio Segreto, Flora in Turn of the Screw, Herz in The Impresario, Kost in Cabaret, and Manon in Concert.
Ms. Berentsen returned to the Merola Opera Program at San Francisco Opera Center in 2018 singing Leïla in Les Pêcheurs de Perles in the Schwabacher Concert under the baton of Kathleen Kelly and Massenet’s Thaïs in the Merola Grand Finale under the baton of Dean Williamson. In 2018 the Shoshana Foundation awarded Ms. Berentsen the Richard F. Gold Career Grant for the Merola Program. In 2017, she was featured in The Schwabacher Concert as Baby Doe in under the baton of Anne Manson as well as Marie in La Fille du Regiment for the Grand Finale under the baton of Anthony Walker.
Stephen Tharp & Kendra Berentsen, organ & voice
Friday, March 5, 2027 - 7:30 pm
Christ United Methodist Church
