Musick for a While

MUSICK FOR A WHILE is a vocal sextet specializing in European vocal music of the 15th–17th centuries.

Soprano Lauren Zinke is a transplant to the San Diego musical community from Seattle, Washington. She is a staff singer with First United Methodist Church of San Diego in Mission Valley, has recently joined Sacra/Profana and Musica Vitale, and will be joining the San Diego Master Chorale later this season.

Soprano Pamela Narbona Jerez is a native of Santiago, Chile. Since moving to San Diego, she has sung with Pacific Camerata, Cappella Gloriana, Bach Collegium San Diego, Sacra/Profana, Musica Vitale, and the La Jolla Symphony and Chorus, among others. She earned a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance and a master’s degree in musicology from San Diego State University. Pamela works in web accessibility and instructional design, and is the executive director of the San Diego Early Music Society. She is also a professional copy editor and translator, and in her spare time she volunteers as a legal and medical interpreter and translator for other nonprofits.

Mezzo-soprano Penelope Hawkins, a native of the UK, studied at the London Early Music Centre under Mary Nichols and co-founded the San Diego Renaissance broken consort Courtly Noyse. Her extensive local performance history includes over 20 years with San Diego Opera Chorus. A former faculty member at SDSU, where she taught Latin and Ancient Greek, she also holds the Master of Music Degree in Vocal Performance (which is more fun).

Tenor Brad Fox has been a ubiquitous feature of San Diego choral life since 2007, singing with Sacra/Profana, Bach Collegium San Diego, San Diego Opera chorus, South Coast Chamber Choir, Musica Vitale, St. Peter’s and All Souls’ Episcopal Churches, and other fabulous organizations too numerous to mention. He and his husband have amazing dogs, and he bakes a really nice fruitcake.

Baritenor Andrew Nam is a reformed violist who discovered far too late in life that voice was actually his best instrument. A relative newcomer to the San Diego choral scene, he is a staff singer and occasional soloist with the San Diego Master Chorale and Saint John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Encinitas. He enjoys singing with various other groups as well, including Cappella Gloriana and Musica Vitale.

Bass-baritone William Propp has performed with Pacific Camerata, Musica Vitale, San Diego Pro Arte Voices and La Jolla Renaissance Singers, an ensemble he directed from 2001 through 2009 and sang with from 1986 through 2017.  He has appeared as baritone soloist with San Diego Masterworks Chorale and Escondido Choral Arts.  Propp is also a freelance bassoonist, currently playing with San Diego City Ballet, and a freelance illustrator whose artwork has appeared in Harper’s and the New Republic. In order to support these artistic endeavors, from 1983 through 2017 Bill taught at UCSD, where he held the Harriet and Louis Bookheim Chair in Biblical Hebrew and Related Languages.

Free concerts at noon every Monday from fall through spring . . . no wonder the Mini-Concerts are the longest-running and one of the most popular classical music series at the library! This series was founded by Glenna Hazleton in 1970 at the Athenaeum, and has been going strong ever since. The concerts feature both local and touring musicians, prize-winning students, university music faculty members, local chamber ensembles. . . and the repertoire also includes jazz, folk and world music. There are no reservations, no tickets . . . just line up at the side door of the Athenaeum before noon. (Donations are always welcome!) Mini-Concerts take place every Monday at noon and last about an hour.

The concerts will be in person at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library. There are no physical tickets for these events. Doors open at 11:50 a.m. Seating is first-come; first-served. These events will be presented in compliance with State of California and County of San Diego health regulations as applicable at the time of each concert.