An Evening of Art Songs at Marple Library

BROOMALL–The beautiful sounds of opera filled the air on Tuesday night during the “Evening of Art Songs” program, hosted by The Friends of the . The concert featured Brieann Pasko, a lyric-coloratura soprano, who performed some of the most celebrated masterpieces of all time, including works by Strauss, Lehár and Gershwin. Brieann’s program incorporated German, French and English songs. She was accompanied by pianist Mark Livshits.

The charming 22-year-old artist attended high school in the Reading, PA, area, and recently earned a Music Education degree from West Chester University. Next fall, Brieann will be studying at the prestigious Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University, and hopes to earn a Master’s in Vocal Performance. While her focus is voice, Brieann has an extensive background in instruments as well. She studied saxophone, and has skills in piano, brass and mallet percussion. While she says she enjoyed becoming an instrumentalist, she later decided to explore vocal arts.

“I had always loved singing, but it was something I kept inside. Once I got to West Chester as a saxophone major, I was getting a lot of positive encouragement about my voice, and decided to change majors,” she says. “I’ve enjoyed every bit of it. Not only do I get to sing, but I get to act and become a different person completely.”

Brieann goes onto say it gives her satisfaction that she can share her passion for opera with this community.

“First and foremost, I love singing. When I can share that with other people, it is simply a wonderful feeling,” she says.

William Conville, who directed the program for The Friends of the Library, stresses how important he believes song and the arts can be to uplift and bond a community together.

“We should hold tight the work of artists in our community, as they can brighten our day and help us see through the storm,” says Conville. “It is song that lifts our minds, hearts and souls to timeless things, such as love, beauty and truth.”

Brieann will continue to strive toward these virtues, in hopes of reaching higher goals in her craft, and perform for the world to see. While attending Peabody is certainly not inexpensive, Brieann says it’s a small price to pay for doing what she loves.

“It’s an enormous amount of money for someone who is already in debt from their undergraduate degree, but I figure it will be worth it when I’m singing at The Met one day. That would be a dream, of course. I would also like to sing in Europe. I just want to sing, and if I can make a career out of it, I’m going to do everything in my power to make it happen,” she says.