Music Ministry
The celebration of music is an integral part of the worship experience at Round Hill. Our adult choir is enhanced by professional soloists who work alongside Church members to create remarkable music. Anthems are selected from the entire history of sacred music, from earliest hyms to the more contemporary pieces.
Special recitals and concerts, often with instrumental accompaniment, are given throughout the year.
All are welcome in the choir!
Media
Our Soloists
Risa Renae Harman, soprano
American soprano Risa Renae Harman has been widely acclaimed for her technical virtuosity and communication skills as an artist. For her recital at Trinity Church, The New York Times noted, “But she is that rare creature among singers, a really good recitalist…she seemed to have something to say in all five languages she was singing in.”
Noted for her diverse repertoire, Risa is a versatile singing actress distinguished for performances in opera, oratorio, concert and recital repertoire. Not only appearing as principal artist with opera companies such as New York City Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, and Opera Saratoga, she has been a featured soloist with orchestras and concert series across the country having appeared at Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, National Cathedral, and Kimmel Center among others. Risa has been a frequent collaborator with noted composer Sheila Silver and regularly workshops, premieres and champions new works as a member of Random Access Music, a New York-based new music ensemble. She is the recipient of numerous awards and career grants, including the Lee Schaenen Foundation, the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation, Sullivan Foundation, Shoshana Foundation, Palm Beach Opera, Liederkranz Foundation, Washington International, winner of the Dalton Baldwin Mélodie prize in the Lotte Lehmann Vocal Competition and completed a concert tour of Sweden as a winner of the American Jenny Lind Competition.
As a teaching artist and clinician, she has presented masterclasses and music business seminars at the Bay View Music Festival, Georgia Southern University, New York University Steinhardt School of Music, Stony Brook University, Virginia Commonwealth University and Five Towns College. Risa currently serves as Head of Vocal Programs and Artist-in-Residence at the Bay View Music Festival and on the voice faculty at Hofstra University.
From Richmond, Virginia, Risa received her Doctor of Musical Arts and Masters of Music degrees from Stony Brook University, an Artist Diploma in Opera from the Hartt School of Music and a Diploma with Distinction from the Franz Schubert Institute in Austria. She presently resides in New York City and considers Round Hill her church home.
Brooke Larimer, mezzo-soprano
“Charismatic” (OperaWire), Vermont-born mezzo-soprano Brooke Larimer has been celebrated for her “richly hued voice and nicely timed comedic ability” (Pittsburgh in the Round), her "lusty presence" (Syracuse.com), and her "stunningly dramatic" performances (ClevelandClassical.com). Her career includes performances of roles spanning the centuries of inherited repertoire through premieres of contemporary American works.
In recent seasons, Brooke has had performances with Opera on the James, Little Opera Theater of New York, Cleveland Opera Theater, Death by Classical, and Syracuse Opera. Notable opera roles include Zita in Gianni Schicchi, La Poncia in La Casa de Bernarda Alba, a role she created, Ruth in Pirates of Penzance, Mistress Quickly in Falstaff, Filippyevna in Eugene Onegin, and Auntie in Peter Grimes. She made her international debut with Center for Contemporary Opera as Aunt Sadie in William Mayer’s A Death in the Family at Szeged National Theatre and Opéra d’Avignon.
Brooke is also a passionate advocate for music and musicians. She serves as Head of Foundation Services for The Aaron Copland Fund for Music and The Amphion Foundation, co-hosts the Indie Opera Podcast, and co-founded the artist-driven opera company Boston Opera Collaborative.
Brooke is a graduate of Vanderbilt University and The Boston Conservatory, and was a young artist at Opera New Jersey, Natchez Festival, and Opera on the James. She is also a certified ADHD coach, and lives in The Bronx with her rescue mutt, Cindy.
Dustin Lucas, tenor
Dustin Lucas currently holds a position as a tenor vocalist in the Metropolitan Opera Chorus. This season Mr. Lucas will appear in a new production of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic Marnie, as well as the Zeffirelli classic of La boheme. He has appeared as the Animal Vendor and a Lackey in Der Rosenkavalier, Prisoner in Francesca da Rimini, a Herald in Turandot, and over fifty Met productions as a chorister. Mr. Lucas has recently appeared with the North Carolina Master Chorale and Washington Choral Arts society as the tenor soloist in Hector Berlioz’s Grande Messe des morts. In the summer in 2011, Dustin was a Studio Artist with Wolf Trap Opera Company appearing as Almoro in Le donne curiose, as Cochenille in Les contes de Hoffman, and as Beadle Bamford in Sweeney Todd with the National Symphony Orchestra.
From 2007 to 2011, Dustin was a tenor chorister and soloist in the esteemed United States Navy Band Sea Chanters Chorus. He performed in over twenty-five high profile events including the 2009 Presidential Inauguration of Barrack Obama, private dinners for President George W. Bush, Laura Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, the Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Chief of Naval Operations, and numerous memorials and dedications including the Pentagon Memorial dedication concert. Mr. Lucas was also a member of the renowned Washington National Cathedral Chorus of men, boys, and girls, performing and soloing in numerous high-profile events including the 2009 Inaugural Prayer Service and the annual nationally televised Christmas Morning Broadcast.
Dustin competed in the 2010 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and received an Encouragement Award at the regional finals at the Kennedy Center. Past competition credits include being a 2009 and 2010 Metropolitan Opera National Council district first place winner and a two-time finalist for The National Association of Teachers of Singing. Dustin has appeared in the musicals Always Patsy Cline, Gershwin’s Trial by Jury, and played Caspar in Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors and has performed as a soloist in numerous ensembles including Orpheus Chamber Singers in Dallas, Texas, Washington Bach Consort, the Washington Philharmonic, and the Folgier Consort.
Dustin was born and raised in Dallas, Texas and earned his vocal performance degree and Master’s of Educational Leadership degree from the University of North Texas. He has studied voice and coached with Francois Loup, David Sundquist, Michael McCarthy, and Kathy Olsen. Currently, he and his wife Lexie reside in Nyack, New York.
Scott Tomlinson, bass
Scott Tomlinson is a bass from Woodstock, Illinois. He received his B.M. in vocal performance, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He continued his studies at the University of Texas at Austin. There he completed his M.M. in opera performance. During his studies, he was selected as a young artist with the Santa Fe Opera, where he performed the roles of the Commendatore in Don Giovanni, and Jose Tripaldi in Ainadamar. Scott Tomlinson has studied under the exceptional tutelage of Prof. Ronald Hedlund, Prof. Nikita Storojev, Dr. John Van Cura, and Mark Oswald.
Since his initial training, Mr. Tomlinson has been seen on the stages of Santa Fe Opera, Dayton Opera, Edmonton Opera (Canada), Austin Lyric Opera, and others. Scott Tomlinson is currently singing with the Chorus of the Metropolitan Opera, and will be back for his 14th season in 2022-2023.
Our Director of Music
Leslie Smith Kons
Leslie Smith Kons, MM, CAGO, is currently serving as Director of Music & Digital Ministry at Round Hill Church in Greenwich, CT. She also maintains a piano studio at Greenwich Country Day School and serves as Regional Councilor of the Northeast Region & Chair of the Board of Regional Councilors of the American Guild of Organists, which includes Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec, the country of Finland and the continent of Europe.
Previously, she served at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Birmingham, AL and as Artistic Director of Colla Voce, a local sacred chorale. During graduate studies at Yale, she worked as Director of Music and Liturgical Arts at The United Methodist Church of Westport and Weston. Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Leslie was a member of Peachtree Presbyterian Church and in 2001 recorded an eponymous Christmas album with the Peachtree Handbell Quartet. She holds a Bachelors in Music for Organ Performance and Dalcroze Eurhythmics from the Cleveland Institute of Music where she studied with Todd Wilson and David Brown, and a Masters in Music for Organ Performance from Yale University with a Certificate from Yale's Institute of Sacred Music, studying with Thomas Murray. Leslie received the Henry Fusner Award for achievement in Organ Performance while at CIM and served as Assistant Director of Music and Organist at Disciples Christian Church in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. In addition, she was Founder and Director of the Case Women’s Glee Club, a sister club to the historic Case Men’s Glee Club. She also served as Assistant Director for “Sing Out!”, a biennial benefit concert for the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center which during her time raised over a half million dollars to help women and families in crisis.
When not performing and practicing music, she enjoys crafting (mainly crochet), cooking (mainly baking), and cycling (mainly to work off the baking). While in Birmingham, she started a baking company called Bakesmith and served subsequently as Pastry Chef of James Beard-nominated restaurant Ollie Irene.