Waupaca concert features local talent

The Waupaca Community Chorus and Civic Orchestra Concert will return to the stage to celebrate its 60th anniversary.

The concert is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Sunday, April 2, at the Waupaca High School Performing Arts Center.

Under the direction of Dan Wolfgram, the choir is returning to its roots of performing choral masterworks with a full orchestra featuring Antonio Vivaldi’s Gloria and the Gabriel Faure’ Requiem.

The Gloria was performed in 1967, 1989 and 2005, while the Requiem has been performed in 1969, 1999 and 2011.

Soloists for both selections are Heather Eikenbary Bayer, Chris Eaton and Sonia Grimsled.

Eikenbary Bayer

A 2008 graduate of Waupaca High School, Eikenbary Bayer went on to graduate from St. Olaf College in 2012, with a degree in vocal performance,
awarded with distinction.

While at St. Olaf, she sang lead opera roles in “The Coronation of Poppea,” as Poppea, and as Beatriz in “Christopher Columbus.” She was a member of the St. Olaf Choir from 2010-12 and was a featured soloist in 2012.

Eikenbary Bayer participated in numerous productions of Waupaca Community Theatre and performed several leading roles, including Belle in
“Beauty and The Beast,” Johanna in “Sweeney Todd,” Beth in “Little Women,” Little Red Riding Hood in “Into the Woods” and the orphan Pepper in the
2003 production of “Annie.” Heather completed her master’s degree in teaching in 2020 from Hamline University.

Eikenbary Bayer has been a member and featured soloist of the Berean Baptist Church Sanctuary Choir in Burnsville, Minnesota, for the past five years. She currently serves as the assistant music director at Berean.

Eaton

Chris Eaton, baritone, is currently a junior at UW-Stevens Point, working on a degree in vocal music education.

He is from Racine, and is a graduate of Case High School.

Eaton has been described as both a wonderful performer and educator and has taken on many roles in the UWSP music department, including officer positions in Opera Club, American Choral Directors Association, and Delta Omicron (music fraternity). He is also bass/baritone section leader in UWSP’s Concert Choir.

Recent performing roles include Masetto in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Count Almaviva in Mozart’s “Le nozze di Figaro,” Joseph in in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” and Phantom in “The Phantom of the Opera.“

He is a two-time winner of Wisconsin National Association of Teachers of Singing award while at UWSP and was a national NATS semifinalist last summer. He has also been a featured soloist with the Racine Theater Guild and the Central Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra.

As an avid pianist and organist, Eaton regularly plays for churches and other events both in the Racine and Stevens Point areas.

Grimsled

Sonia Grimsled is a lyric soprano with experience performing a range of classical and contemporary styles.

Her most recent performances have been with the Central Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra as a soloist for their Salute to Broadway concert and as
a host for their Dorothy Vetter Educational Concerts.

Some of her stage roles include Franca Naccarelli in Guettel’s “The Light in the Piazza,” Micaëla in “The Tragedy of Carmen,” Antonïa in “The Tales of Hoffmann,” and Countess Almaviva in “The Marriage of Figaro.”

In addition, she has performed as a soloist in concert with Eugene Opera, Eugene Vocal Arts and the University of Oregon Musicking Conference. She was a district finalist and Encouragement Award winner at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.

Grimsled is currently based in central Wisconsin where she teaches voice and piano at Noteworthy Music Studio.

She also is the interim high school choir instructor at Loyal High School. She holds a master’s of music in voice performance from the University of Oregon, and a bachelor’s of music in voice performance from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

Tickets

Tickets can be purchased at the Waupaca Area Chamber of Commerce, Waupaca Community Choir Members and at the door. Tickets for adults are $10 in
advance and $12 at the door while students are $4 in advance and $6 at the door. Seating is on a first come first served basis.

Additional information about the choir and the Waupaca Fine Arts Festival can be found at www.fineartsfestval.org.