Music

Soprano Wanda Yang Temko and guitarist Nic Deusen will perform at Big Canoe Chapel as the final program in the concert series, “Music in the Mountains.” This free concert is 4 pm, Sunday May 5, 2024 at Big Canoe Chapel, 226 Wolfscratch Village Circle, Big Canoe GA. Under the direction of Music Director Dr. Samuel Holmes, the concerts are organized by Dr. Calvert Johnson, Keyboard Accompanist at the Chapel. Persons from outside Big Canoe will need to inform the gatekeepers that they are attending these concerts in order to enter Big Canoe. A committed performer and teacher, Nicolas Deuson was First prize winner in the Pacific Guitar Competition, a semifinalist in the Tokyo International Guitar Competition, and has performed extensively for the last sixteen years. Nic studied at The Cleveland Institute of Music and at The University of Southern California. Yet Nic’s interests span a full diapason: raised in West Africa he matriculated to pursue an MA in French Literature. Pursuant to these seemingly divergent interests, his research and performance is focused on language as it impacts the art song form mélodie.  Nic’s arrangements and writings are available through Éditions l’Empreinte Mélodique. Nic serves on the faculty of Oglethorpe University in the music, core and language departments. He plays guitars by Antonius Müller, 2019, Géza Burghardt, 2014 and a baroque guitar by Mel Wong, 2011. Soprano Wanda Yang Temko is a respected singer, voice teacher, and arts advocate.  She holds a doctorate in voice performance from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana along with degrees from Georgia State University and Emory University.  Sought after as a recitalist and soloist, recently she performed the role of Evangelist in David Lang’s Little Match Girl Passion with Kinnara.  She is featured on New Trinity Baroque’s recording of Christmas Cantatas and Concertos on Édition Lilac.  She also performs and records with the Meridian Chorale and the Grammy-Award-winning Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Choruses.  Dr. Yang Temko maintains an active private voice studio in Atlanta and serves on Atlanta Early Music Alliance and Kinnara’s Board of Directors. The hour-long concert will include works by Bach, Villa-Lobos, Hildegard von Bingen, Hahn, Mozart, Erb, Klenynjans, von Weber, and Paladilhe.   The opening concert on the 2024-2025 series will feature organist Dr. Carol Williams formerly of Balboa Park, San Diego, on Sunday October 6, 2024. St Petersburg (Russia) Conservatory graduate Dr. Elena Dorozhkina will perform a piano recital on November 17, 2024.   Concerts of Music in the Mountains are funded by generous donations, enabling anyone to attend. Contributions may be made to Big Canoe Chapel, 10455 Big Canoe, Big Canoe GA 30143, with the notation “Music in the Mountains” on the memo line.   For additional information, contact Calvert Johnson at calvertjohnson@gmail.com or 404-373-0748.