Performing with the Symphony Orchestra of Arlington on January 20, 2012 will be a few talented soloists. Emily Alpern Fisch, Laura Wehrmeyer, and Gregory Stuart will help to bring your Broadway Favorites to life. Learn more about them below!
Emily Alpern Fisch graduated cum laude from Barnard College of Columbia University in May 2011, and is currently fulfilling one of her dreams as a pre-school teacher at an independent school in New York City. Having grown up in Bethesda, Md., Emily has been performing musical theater since the age of two, made her Off-Broadway debut at fourteen as a principal role in A Stoop on Orchard Street, and was a member of the nationally-acclaimed “Deaf Access Theater Company” for seven years (a children’s theater acting company of deaf, hard-of-hearing, and hearing actors). Emily has had extensive theatre training at Imagination Stage, Signature Theater “Overtures” Musical Theater Institute at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The National High School Institute Theater Program at Northwestern University, and Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center. While at Columbia University, Emily was a regular National Anthem soloist at basketball and football games, a member of a co-ed a cappella group and chorus, and an after-school program theater teacher for Kindergarten through sixth graders.
Laura Wehrmeyer has appeared locally as Josephine in HMS Pinafore with The Washington Savoyards; Mabel in Pirates of Penzance with The Arlington Players; and Desirée in Desirée, Arsena in The Gypsy Baron, and Rose in Ruddigore with Victorian Lyric Opera Company. She was pleased to appear in the Symphony Orchestra of Arlington’s inaugural concert last season, singing Tatiana’s Letter Scene from Eugene Onegin and “Dir danken wir” from Mozart’s Dir, Seele des Weltalls. Laura performs regularly with the In Series, and has appeared as Gianetta in Love Potion #1, Niña Tula in Maria La O, Doxie in Casino Paradise, Susanna/Bastienne/Blondchen in WAM! (with the Washington Ballet), Frasquita/ensemble in Carmen, and Norah in Noël and Cole. Musical theatre credits include Johanna in Sweeney Todd, Lily in The Secret Garden, Christine in Toby’s Phantom of the Opera, and swing/ensemble in Signature Theatre’s Les Misérables. Laura is the soprano section leader and soloist at St. John’s Norwood Parish Episcopal Church in Bethesda and sings seasonally with the Christmas caroling group Joyous Voices throughout the region. In 2006 and 2007, she was an artist in residence at the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival in Buxton, England, where she performed the role of Phyllis in Iolanthe. Laura holds a Masters degree in Vocal Performance from Towson University, where she studied with Gran Wilson.
Gregory Stuart, baritone, sang with Symphony Orchestra of Arlington as a member of Open5ths, a men’s a cappella ensemble in July of 2011. He was fortunate to appear as a soloist in two major premieres of Paul Leavitt’s Requiem last year, in Paris, France and in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City. In 2009, he was a baritone soloist inthe world premiere of the work and its subsequent recording. In 2010, the world premiere of Paul Leavitt’s Cantata Emmanuel featured Mr. Stuart as a baritone soloist. Mr. Stuart has performed numerous recitals and has been a concert soloist with the Syracuse Camerata and Ithaca Community Chorus in New York, with Church of the Reformation and Church of the Ascension and St. Agnes in Washington, D.C.; and with St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Arlington, Virginia. In opera, he has sung roles with Pittsburgh Opera, Opera Theatre of Pittsburgh, Repertory Opera Theatre of Washington, and with Ithaca Opera. His past is littered with roles in musicals, including a National Tour of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. A trained classical actor, Mr. Stuart also has a slew of Shakespearean roles to his credit. He is scheduled to appear with Irina Varamesova and Paul Leavitt on the concert series of the Society of the Cincinnati at the Larz Anderson House in Dupont Circle in February 2012. He teaches singing, drama, yoga and pilates.
John Dellaporta is honored to be joining the Symphony Orchestra ofmArlington for the first time. Born and raised in Ft. Lauderdale, Fl., John relocated to the Washington, D.C. area to study at the Catholic University of America’s Benjamin T. Rome School of Music. After completing the school’s prestigious musical theatre program, he remained in the area, working with Olney Theatre Center, Adventure Theatre, Bay Theatre Company, Toby’s Dinner Theatre, the Washington Savoyards, Limelight Theatre, Open CircleTheatre, and, most recently, the New Musicals Foundation’s Who’s Your Baghdaddy? Or, How I Started the Iraq War, which was voted as “Pick of Fringe – Best Overall Show” and enjoyed an extended hit run. Other favorite roles: Matt in The Fantasticks, Strephon in Iolanthe, Man 1 in Closer than Ever, and appearing as a company member in Helen Hayes-honored productions of Annie and Titanic: the Musical.