Pitt-Greensburg's Joan Chambers Concert Series returns with 3-date season

The Joan Chambers Concert Series returns to the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg Saturday for the first concert of a condensed, three-performance season.

Baritone Skip Napier, accompanied by pianist Tim Heavner, will lead the audience on a tour of musical styles from opera and oratorio to spirituals beginning at 7:30 p.m. The concert will feature music by Brahms, Wolf, Schubert, Rossini, Burleigh, Gershwin, Mendelssohn and Gounod.

Admission is free.

Napier performs as a member of the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Opera Chorus and Resonance Works.

“I met Skip in 2016 when he auditioned for performance I was leading of Handel’s ‘Messiah,’” said Christopher Bartley, Pitt-Greensburg director of music. “He rocked my world with the power of his voice and his preparedness and how stylistically acute he was. What an instrument and a presence he had.”

Heavner is a teacher and musical director at Sewickley Academy. He has been a singer, accompanist and rehearsal assistant with the Mendelssohn Choir and is music director for the Junior Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh and music director and organist at Community Presbyterian Church of Ben Avon.

“Tim is such a giving performer and consummate professional,” Bartley said. “It’s a privilege to bring in these performers who help make music in Pittsburgh happen.”

The last full season for the popular classical music series was in 2019-20, with the interruption because of the pandemic.

There are only two rules for choosing performers for the series, Bartley said.

“First, the series is dedicated to great classical performance,” he said. “The other rule is, every year, be sure to invite the Heinz Chapel Choir. Luckily, this year, they are able to come.”

Bartley explained that the second rule honors the the series’ namesake, the late wife of Pitt-Greensburg President Emeritus George F. Chambers, who loved the choir.

The Heinz Chapel Choir, directed by Susan Rice, will perform the series’s second date, at 8 p.m. April 21.

The audience will hear selections that the ensemble will perform on its May tour of the United Kingdom. Founded in 1938, the choir regularly performs in Heinz Memorial Chapel in Oakland and comprises Pitt students from various academic programs who are chosen by audition.

Rounding out the series will be a performance by the Pittsburgh Camerata at 7:30 p.m. June 6.

Led by Artistic Director Mark A. Anderson, the Camerata was founded in 1974 and is Pittsburgh’s longest-standing professional vocal ensemble. Its repertoire includes both early vocal music and more recent works.

In the past, the concert series has featured performers known nationally and internationally, but this season is sticking closer to home for a good reason, Bartley said.

“It’s been a long time coming to bring the series back. The fact that we get to do three concerts in a couple of months is really special,” he said. “If we’re going to open our doors again to the people of Western Pennsylvania, let it be the performers of Western Pennsylvania that bring them in.”

For more information on the Joan Chambers Concert Series, visit greensburg.pitt.edu.