This Season
Our 29th Season!
The Peppermint Patties Holiday Show
Sunday, December 11, 2022, 2:00 p.m.
The Irving Park Fine Arts Committee is delighted to present a holiday concert featuring The Peppermint Patties on Sunday, December 11 at 2:00 p.m. The Patties perform classic vintage music and are in their element at the holidays! Their repertoire includes a wide variety of genres including jazz, golden era musical theatre, close harmony classics, pop, classical and opera. Trio members are Anna Caldwell, Daina Fischer, and Laura Smalley.
The concert will be held at Irving Park Lutheran Church, 4100 N. Harding Ave. The concert is free, but donations to support future programming are always welcome. A festive reception will follow the concert (subject to current pandemic conditions).
Anna Caldwell is a Chicago-based soprano and marketing professional with a passion for performing in various genres at the community, educational and professional levels. She regularly performs with local companies, including Janus Concert Series, The Savoyaires, Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Co., Opera Inter Alia, and Opera on Tap. Regional credits include work with The Genesis Theater Project, Ohio Valley Summer Theater, and Mercury Summer Stock.
Recent cabaret performances include “Won’t You Be My Galentine,” “A Very Christmas Cabaret,” “Bespoke: An Evening of Song,” and “Perpetual Anticipation.” She works as a supplemental section leader for St. Benedict Catholic Church and made her Chicago Fringe Opera debut in Jake Heggie’s Two Remain in March 2022.
Daina Fischer is a Lithuanian/American dramatic-soprano based in Chicago. Daina has sung all over the Midwest and also internationally, working with renowned conductors, coaches, and teachers. Daina enjoys performing opera, musical theater, jazz, and acapella music. She is an alto section leader and soloist at various churches and synagogues. Daina is active in the Lithuanian music community in the United States and has also given performances in Lithuania.
Her cabaret performances include “A Very Christmas Cabaret” and “Won’t You Be My Galentine?” with the Peppermint Patties, “Dainos iš toli” ( Songs from Far Away) a cabaret performance in Lithuania and “Bespoke: An Evening of Song”. She holds a MFA in Vocal Performance from DePaul University. Along-side her passion for singing, Daina also has a private voice teaching studio and dabbles in social media marketing.
Laura Smalley is a Chicago-based actor and singer. She has performed with Metropolis Performing Arts Centre, Music Theater Works, Forte Chicago, Chicago Fringe Opera, Grant Park Music Festival, Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company, The Savoyaires, Singing River Productions, and Slotted Spoon Initiative. Her cabaret performances include Sleep/Creep/Leap, A Very Christmas Cabaret and Won’t you be my Galentine with The Peppermint Patties, and Reunion: A Night of Sondheim. She holds a BM in Vocal Performance from DePaul School of Music. An advocate for arts, she has worked for many prominent arts organizations, recently taking over as Executive Director of Chicago Fringe Opera.
The Irving Park Fine Arts Committee, now in its 29th season, was created by Roger Bingaman, Director of Music at Irving Park Lutheran Church. The intent of the series is to bring high quality, professional music and theatrical events to the northwest side of Chicago. The series is a program of Carlson Community Services, a 501c3 non-profit whose mission is to connect the Irving Park community with programs that enrich lives through education, culture and service.
Max Bessesen Quartet
Sunday, February 12, 2023, 2:00 p.m.
The Irving Park Fine Arts Committee will present a free concert featuring saxophonist Max Bessesen on Sunday, February 12th at 2 pm. Praised for his “saxophone virtuosity” by Downbeat Magazine, Max is a young composer and performer based in New York City. A former resident of Independence Park, Max performed a holiday jazz concert for the Fine Arts series in 2020, which was recorded due to the pandemic. We are thrilled to have Max back in Chicago and performing for us in person! He’ll be playing a mix of original compositions and jazz standards. Joining Max are Dave Miller, guitar, Gregory Artry, drums and Ethan Philion, bass.
Max Bessesen
Woodwind artist and composer Max Bessesen creates music that “pushes boundaries without being abstruse and is stirringly emotive while eschewing melodrama.” (Jazziz Magazine) His “saxophone virtuosity” (Downbeat Magazine) has also earned him opportunities to perform alongside artists like Ron Miles, Greg Ward, and Bobby Broom. He has performed at jazz festivals across the United States, the Netherlands, and in Jordan. After four years living in Irving Park, he has relocated to NYC and now plays at prominent clubs like Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Appel Room, and Nublu, among other venues. Max’s first recording Trouble (2020) was well reviewed and earned him an ASCAP young jazz composer award. He has also been supported by Luminarts, Pathways to Jazz, and The Beebe Fund. As a 2016-17 Beebe Fellow, Max spent a year studying music in India, Ghana and Cuba.
Dave Miller
Guitarist and composer Dave Miller (Greg Ward’s Rogue Parade, Dustin Laurenzi’s Snaketime, Joe Policastro Trio, Algernon, Ted Sirota’s Rebel Souls), has been a prominent fixture in the Chicago music scene for nearly two decades. His last record, Old Door Phantoms (ears&eyes Records), hailed by Audiophile Audition as “the multi-genre instrumental album of the year,” as well as “a complex and beautiful piece of work” by New City, explored themes of nature, spirituality, and the human condition through the lens of an instrumental psychedelic garage rock band.
Echoes of Neil Young’s Crazy Horse and guitarist Marc Ribot continue into Miller’s new album, DAVE MILLER, though he has expanded his focus to now include detailed arrangements and more refined production techniques. With the opening of Miller’s new recording studio, Whiskey Point Recording, Miller’s music has become even more alive and exploratory. Beautiful mellotrons collide with fuzzed out guitars over swampy drums and non-ironic bongos, as if Brian Wilson got into a bar fight with The Meters and Link Wray before realizing they were kindred spirits, with Miller composing the score. Miller’s music, above all, aims to create its own utopic universe where all the cool music coexists.
Gregory Artry
Born into a musical family, Gregory A. Artry, Jr. was exposed to the drum set at an early age. Throughout his childhood and teen years, Greg continued to study and play the drums alongside other instruments, such as piano, cello, and voice. He attended the University of Louisville upon receiving a scholarship to study jazz drum set.
Gregory has toured and recorded with many of the world’s greatest musicians, including Pharez Whitted, Bobby Broom, Melvin Rhyne, Ira Sullivan, Claudio Roditi, Alyssa Allgood, Kurt Elling, Rob Dixon, Zeshan Bagewadi, Steve Turre, Marquis Hill, Victor Goines, Jeff Swanson, Sonny Fortune, Bobby Watson, Richard Johnson, Sharel Cassity, and countless brilliant artists from around the globe. International tours, special guest appearances on the Late Show with Steven Colbert, and the debut of his original band named /4our/ are some the highlights Gregory has achieved over the course of his 15+ year career. Diligently working to improve and expand his abilities, Gregory continues to perform, teach, and record across the globe.
Ethan Philion
Ethan Philion is an award-winning bassist, composer, and bandleader based in Chicago. A graduate of Oberlin Conservatory and DePaul University, Philion has been praised by the Washington Post for his “well honed chops and astounding musicality” and his debut album, Meditations on Mingus, was commended as “a labor of conspicuous love and respect for a musical titan” by Downbeat Magazine. He has performed with an extensive list of jazz artists including Rufus Reid, Greg Ward, Dana Hall, Mark Feldman, Russ Johnson, Howard Levy, Ryan Cohan, Tito Carillo, Gary Bartz, Alfonso Ponticelli, Ernest Dawkins, Geof Bradfield, Dee Alexander, Mark Gross, Alyssa Allgood, Thaddeus Tooks, Victor Garcia, Mike Allemana, Mai Sugimoto, Paul Marinaro, and more.
Philion won the 2019 International Society of Bassists Jazz Competition and was selected as one of the four fellowship recipients for the 2020 Chicago Luminarts Jazz competition. More recently, Philion was selected by the Jazz Institute of Chicago for their 2022 New Works Fresh Voices Fellowship. He was honored with the Kennedy Center’s Betty Carter Jazz Ahead Fellowship in 2015 where he worked with director Jason Moran.
The concert will be held at Irving Park Lutheran Church, 4100 N. Harding Ave. The concert is free, but donations to support future programming are always welcome. The program is subject to change.
The Irving Park Fine Arts Committee, now in its 29th season, was created by Roger Bingaman, Director of Music at Irving Park Lutheran Church. The intent of the series is to bring high quality, professional music and theatrical events to the northwest side of Chicago. The series is a program of Carlson Community Services, a 501c3 non-profit whose mission is to connect the Irving Park community with programs that enrich lives through education, culture and service.
Tribute to Sondheim
Sunday, March 26th, 2:00 p.m.
The Irving Park Fine Arts Committee is pleased to present A Tribute to Sondheim on Sunday, March 26th at 2:00 pm. The concert will honor the late composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim who passed away in November 2021. Credited with reinventing the American musical, Sondheim’s works include beloved musicals Into the Woods, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Company and Sunday in the Park with George. The concert will feature vocalists Stephanie Stockstill,Rachel Klippel,Christopher Richard and Lazaro Estrada, accompanied by pianist Roger Bingaman. Both well-known and lesser-known songs from the Sondheim catalog will be featured. The concert will be held at Irving Park Lutheran Church, 4100 N. Harding Ave. The concert is free, but donations to support future programming are gladly accepted. The concert is rescheduled from its original date in November.
Stephanie Stockstill (she/her)
Stephanie graduated from Northwestern University with a Bachelor’s degree in Vocal Performance and a certificate in Musical Theatre. She has been a part of the music team at Irving Park Lutheran Church for a handful of years and has been performing on stages all over the Chicago area for over a decade; some highlights are as follows. Beverly Arts Center: The Sound of Music (Maria), Black Button Eyes Productions: Mary Rose (as Mary Rose) [and original cast recording], Shockheaded Peter (Mother), and Goblin Market (Laura), Lifeline Theatre: Northanger Abbey (Catherine) [Jeff Nom- Leading], Boho Theatre: A Little Night Music (Charlotte) [Jeff Nom- Supporting], Piven Theatre: Melancholy Play A Chamber Musical (Tilly) [Chicago Tribune Top Ten List], Porchlight Music Theatre: Sweeney Todd (Johanna), Kokandy Productions: Loving Repeating (Georgine Skeene), Music Theatre Works: The Student Prince (Princess Margaret), Circle Theatre: A Little Night Music (Anne). For more information, please visit stephanieblairstockstill.com.
Rachel Klippel (she/her)
Rachel Klippel is a Chicago based Soprano. Chicago credits: Ms. Barley in Gentlemen’s Guide to Love and Murder and Sweeney Todd (Porchlight), “Mrs. Segstrom” in A Little Night Music (BoHo), “Clara” in The Light in the Piazza and Masterclass (Theo Ubique), “Rita/Young Julia” in James Joyce’s The Dead (Court Theatre), Sweeney Todd, Sunset Boulevard and Beaches (Drury Lane), Miracle on 34th Street (Theatre at the Center) and Juno (TimeLine). Regional credits: “Celeste I” in Sunday in the Park with George and “Aggie” in The Game’s Afoot (Peninsula Players). Ms Klippel is also an Adjunct Voice Professor in the Theatre Conservatory at the Chicago College of Performing Arts with Roosevelt University. For more information visit www.rachelklippel.com.
Christopher Richard (he/him)
Baritone Christopher Richard is a veteran of Chicago musical theater and regional opera. Chris is originally from Indiana and holds degrees from Butler University and the University of Southern California. In Chicago he has performed with DuPage Opera Theatre, Bowen Park Opera, Music Theater Works and Drury Lane Oakbrook. On a broader scope, he has appeared with Sarasota Opera, Indianapolis Opera, Aspen Music Festival Opera, Mexico National Chamber Orchestra and New World Symphony Orchestra. In addition to performing, Chris is a music educator who has held positions at Roosevelt University, DePaul University Community Music Division and the Merit School of Music. Chris has been musical director for Music Theater Works Summer Workshop since 2007. He also teaches private voice lessons at Oak Park and River Forest High School and directs the Chicago Opera Theater for Teens, a program in partnership with After School Matters. He is the assistant music director at Irving Park Lutheran Church and director of their Contemporary Ensemble.
Laz Estrada (they/them)
Laz Estrada was most recently seen in Theo Ubique’s Godspell as the “All Good Gifts” soloist. In 2020 they were part of Porchlight Music Theatre’s New Faces series. Some of their favorite Chicago credits include: Porter’s Can Can (“Theophile”), A Little Night Music (“Mr. Erlanson”), 110 in the Shade (“Jimmy Curry”), and Guys and Dolls (“Nathan Detroit”). Laz is thankful to their friends, cast, and creative team for all their support. Follow Laz on IG: @lazestrada
Roger Bingaman (he/him)
Roger L. Bingaman is the Music Minister and Director of Communications at Irving Park Lutheran Church and Artistic Director of the Irving Park Fine Arts Series. He is the Music Director at Music Theatre Works where he has conducted Ragtime, White Christmas, Into the Woods, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Peter Pan,Gypsy, Candide, Die Fledermaus, Mame, My Fair Lady, The Fantasticks, South Pacific, Cabaret, H.M.S. Pinafore, Oliver!, Camelot, The Secret Garden, The Student Prince, Brigadoon, Hello, Dolly!, Carousel and many other productions.
From 1999 to 2019, “Bing” was the director of the apprentice program and chorus master for the Sarasota Opera, where he began his tenure in 1998 as an assistant conductor. He was also choir director and organist at Ezra Habonim, the Niles Township Jewish congregation in Skokie. Bing has worked with Lyric Opera’s Opera-in-the-Neighborhoods program, Michigan Opera Theatre, the Aspen Music Festival, the Savoyaires, Milwaukee Opera Theatre, Dayton Opera, Opera Lenawee and Opera Lafayette, among other companies.
The Irving Park Fine Arts Committee was created by Roger Bingaman, Director of Music at Irving Park Lutheran Church. Now in its 29th season, the intent of the series is to bring high quality, professional musical and theatrical events to the northwest side of Chicago, free of charge.
The Fermi String Quartet
Sunday, April 30, 2023, 2:00 p.m.
The Kalamazoo College Singers
Sunday, May 7, 2023, 2:00 p.m.
The Irving Park Fine Arts Committee is pleased to present The Kalamazoo College Singers on May 7th at 2 pm, under the direction of Assistant Professor of Music Chris Ludwa. The concert will be held at Irving Park Lutheran Church, 4100 N. Harding Ave. There is no charge for admission, but donations are gladly accepted to help defray the cost of the ensemble’s tour expenses.
The ensemble is made up of 30 singers whose majors range from music to physical science and from political science to psychology. An academic class, the College Singers seeks to foster the love for a wide range of music, awareness of social justice, and a deeper appreciation for the power of communal singing. The ensemble has performed for juvenile justice centers, prisons, hospitals, and senior living communities in addition to performances on campus in traditional theatrical venues.
The program will present songs from a variety of sources and styles from the Renaissance to Stevie Wonder, including music inspired by ancient poets such as Rumi and modern composers. The music is designed to uplift, inspire and mend the hearts and minds that have remain isolated even after the lockdown of 2020 and 2021 subsided. Some pieces include piano while others are a cappella, and audiences will also enjoy music by smaller ensembles as well as soloists. Singers come from as far away as Jamaica and as close as Traverse City, reflecting the College’s diverse population and vibrant study abroad emphasis.
Kalamazoo College, founded in 1833, is a nationally recognized residential liberal arts and sciences college located in Kalamazoo, Mich. The creator of the K-Plan, Kalamazoo College provides an individualized education that integrates rigorous academics with life-changing experiential learning opportunities. For more information, visit www.kzoo.edu.
The Irving Park Fine Arts Committee, now in its 29th season, was created by Roger Bingaman, Director of Music at Irving Park Lutheran Church. The intent of the series is to bring high quality, professional music to the northwest side of Chicago, free of charge. The series is a program of Carlson Community Services, a 501c3 non-profit whose mission is to connect the Irving Park community with programs that enrich lives through education, culture and service. For more information, contact Roger Bingaman at 773.267.1666.