Soprano Annie Gill, together with pianist Andrew Stewart, perform a program of Czech and Slovak folk songs, art songs, and opera arias.  These works explore the human condition through the many ways we express our love for each other.  The artists have previously performed this repertoire in recitals throughout the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. area, and most recently for The Woman's Club of Roland Park in Baltimore city.  

The mission of this project is to preserve and promote Czech and Slovak music.  This repertoire reaches beyond the span of standard classical music and is not widely performed.  Through this program, the artists aspire to celebrate Czech and Slovak culture and preserve, but also introduce, unique repertoire that is not performed often.

They submitted the program to the Orpheus Classical record label for recording consideration in April, 2020.
The Orpheus Classical artistic commission in Europe and America unanimously accepted the recording project based on the artists’ outstanding talent and distinctive artistic personalities.  The commission granted a sponsorship proposal consisting of 75% of the production costs related to recording the repertoire for an album.  The album was released in September of 2021, and is now available on all streaming platforms.

The album showcases the work of Baltimore artists in every facet:  musicians Annie Gill and Andrew Stewart live and work in Baltimore, as do project recording engineer David Sexton, master recording engineer Ed Tetrault, and project photographer Roy Cox.  Through the digital release of this project, the work of Baltimore artists will reach an international audience.

Ms. Gill is an avid performer of Czech and Slovak repertoire, having roots in the Slovak culture through her mother’s family, the Karaffas.  Originally from the village of Livov (in the Prešov Region of north-east Slovakia), the Karaffas immigrated to the United States in the early 1900s.  Although she grew up with many Slovak traditions during her childhood, Ms. Gill began a more intensive study of Czech and Slovak repertoire when she incorporated the songs of Dvořák into her Winner’s Recital performance as the top Prize Winner in the 2012 Art Song Festival of Toledo, OH.  Ms. Gill was then invited by festival faculty member Dr. Timothy Cheek, a prominent Czech-language vocal coach and author of Singing in Czech:  A Guide to Czech Lyric Diction and Vocal Repertoire, for further study in the Czech Republic.  In 2013, Ms. Gill attended the Moravian Masterclass in Brno, where she worked with Dr. Cheek and Mirka Zemanová (a Czech language coach and musicologist).

Pianist Andrew Stewart grew up in California and has been based in Baltimore since 2000.  Much in demand as a soloist and collaborative artist, he has worked with countless singers and instrumentalists; premiered works by composers including Garth Baxter, Hollis Thoms, and John Belkot; and performed with a great many organizations, among them the Bach Society of Baltimore, OperaBelle, the Atlantic Guitar Quartet, Assisi Performing Arts in Italy, and most recently the Choirs of Goucher College and the Annapolis Choral.  He is featured on the album Katherine Keem Sings Songs and Arias by Garth Baxter, released in 2014 on Centaur Records, as well as Ask the Moon, released in early 2018.  Mr. Stewart has been associated with the Lyric Opera of Baltimore for well over a decade, giving upwards of seventy performances a year as part of its education component and teaching on the faculty of the Lyric Opera Camp.  He is also the creator of several shows including “Opera Games,” a much-requested interactive program about the basics of opera, and has appeared on Maryland Public Television in the short film “Opera Magica” which he produced with educator Evon Hewitt, Jr.  Additionally he maintains a busy schedule as a theatrical musical director, having led more than forty productions since 2006.  Mr. Stewart studied with Charles Asche at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and with Marian Hahn at the Peabody Conservatory.  Other teachers include Marie Brown Curea, and Sharon Mann.  





 

Experience the power of the human voice.  Baltimore's finest singers present art songs, arias, and vocal chamber music in an intimate and relaxed setting.

A Musicale:  a social entertainment with music as the leading feature.  A musical gathering or concert, typically small and informal.

Ms. Gill has been involved in the Baltimore Musicales organization since its beginning performances in the Spring of 2014.  Since that time, the organization has produced over one hundred concerts, consisting of mainstage performances, outreach concerts for both school-aged children and senior living communities, and specialty concerts in some of the most unique venues the city of Baltimore has to offer.  Breaking the traditional boundaries between concert-goers and performers, the artists of the Musicales share interesting biographical information about the composers and poets, and provide historical and literary contexts.  This allows the listeners in the audience to form deeper and more personal connections to the music and to the artists.

The Baltimore Musicales produced a one-of-a-kind concert event in 2018 in collaboration with the George Peabody Library and the Peabody Friedheim Library celebrating the life and career of legendary soprano (and Baltimore resident) Rosa Ponselle.  The Musicales continued with their mainstage season, as well as many outreach collaborations in the Baltimore city and county communities, until the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.   Throughout the pandemic, the Musicales continued to connect with its audience members through virtual performances.  Since March, 2020, the Musicales premiered eight virtual performances on its YouTube channel, in addition to creating and introducing the series "In the Living Room with...", an informal virtual discussion with artists and composers.  

The Musicales resumed in-person performances again in 2021, and continued the ambitious concert calendar until the series finale in 2025.  Ms. Gill remained a core roster member throughout all eleven seasons of the concert series, and sang in her finale concert in January, 2025, which was fittingly a reprise of the poignant and memorable tribute to Rosa Ponselle.

For more information and archival footage, please visit the Baltimore Musicales website at http://www.baltimoremusicales.org/

With a flexible voice than can transition between the agile singing of Handel and Mozart, and the more dramatic demands of Verdi's works, Ms. Gill has an ever-expanding list of concert and sacred music credits.  Performance highlights include Soprano Soloist in Verdi's Requiem with the Defiant Requiem Foundation;  multiple performances as Soprano Soloist in Handel's Messiah  with the Landon Symphonette; Soprano Soloist in Mozart's Requiem at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Harrisburg, PA, and Second Soprano Soloist in Beethoven's Choral Fantasty with the Cathedral Choral Society.  

Most recently, Ms. Gill appeared as Soprano Soloist in several concerts with the Central Pennsylvania Symphony under the baton of Maestro Stephen Czarkowski.  Other notable concert appearances include Soprano Soloist in Cabaret in Concert with Laura Osnes with the Classic Theatre of Maryland, and Soprano Soloist in the Piedmont Symphony Orchestra's concert PSO in Tinsletown at the Shenandoah Valley Music Festival.

Since 2006 when she began her Graduate Performance Diploma studies at the Peabody Conservatory, Ms. Gill has been a frequent soloist in many churches throughout Baltimore City and surrounding counties in Maryland.  Ms. Gill held the position of Resident Soprano Soloist and Section Leader at the Church of the Advent in Federal Hill from 2006-2011.  Ms. Gill has sung as a guest soloist for many other churches including the Chapel at the US Navel Academy (Annapolis, MD),  St. Andrew by the Bay (Annapolis, MD), Ascension Catholic Church (Bowie, MD), Our Lady of the Fields (Millersville, MD), New Hope Presbyterian Church (Derwood, MD), and Church of the Navity (Lutherville - Timonium, MD).  In Baltimore city, Ms. Gill has frequently appeared as a guest soloist for St. Mark's Lutheran Church, Epiphany Lutheran Church, the Cathedral of Mary, Our Queen, Loyola University Alumni Chapel, Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, First English Lutheran Church, and St. Leo the Great Roman Catholic Church.  Ms. Gill is currently the Soprano Soloist at the First Church of Christ, Scientist in Baltimore city - a position which she has held since July, 2019.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ms. Gill sang as a soprano section leader for the Bel Cantanti Virtual Choir's weekly hymns.  The choir also virtually recorded many other sacred works, all of which can be found on Ms. Gill's YouTube channel.


 

Ms. Gill received excellent reviews for her performances on the album:

---Ask The Moon – Album Review (Recorded May 17th, 2017)

1. Source Publication:  Ihr Opernratgeber (Your Opera Advisor Online)

Source Name:  Sven Godenrath
Date of review:  May 27th, 2018
Review online link: 
https://svensopernparadies.wordpress.com/2018/05/27/garth-baxter-ask-the-moon-navona-records/
 
Album Review – Garth Baxter – Ask The Moon
 
“Erleichtert aufatmen kann man dann kurz vor Schluß noch einmal bei Annie Gill, einer frischen jugendlichen Sopranstimme, die mit sehr viel Charme Two last songs und „April Twilight“ besingt.
 
<translation from the German by Nadja Werner>
“You can breathe with relief once again towards the end with Annie Gill, a fresh youthful soprano voice, who performs “Two last songs” and “April Twilight” with a lot of charm.”

1. Source Publication:  Gramophone – Sounds of America

Source Name:  Laurence Vittes
Date of review:  May Issue, 2018
Review online link:  https://reader.exacteditions.com/issues/62641/page/3?term=master
 
Album Review – Garth Baxter – Ask The Moon
“There is also clear, bright singing from Annie Gill in two songs set to poems by Linda Pastan and Christina Rossetti.”

In addition to her classical singing career, Ms. Gill is an actress and voice over artist whose work spans many genres including film, television, theater, industrials, and commercials.

Born and raised in Cincinnati, OH, Ms. Gill began her artistic career at a young age in the theater, with professional appearances at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and the Children's Theatre of Cincinnati. Ms. Gill also studied voice, piano and flute in her youth, and now has over three decades of experience with these instruments. Focusing on opera, operetta, and classical concert music, Ms. Gill went on to receive Vocal Performance degrees from Indiana University (BM), Boston University (MM), and the Peabody Conservatory (GPD). While in Boston, Ms. Gill worked with the North Shore Music Theatre for two seasons in their production of A Christmas Carol, and also worked with several professional opera companies in the Midwest, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic throughout pursuing music degrees. To date, she has sung over 60 roles in opera, operetta, and musical theater, and has appeared in over 40 concert and oratorio performances throughout the US and Europe.

After landing the role of the Opera Singer in the season two finale of House of Cards, Ms. Gill expanded her career to include film, television, and commercials. She has since appeared in over twenty feature and short films, including the award-winning feature Wild Fire (Maeve), the popular thriller Death 4 Dinner (Katrina Rutherford), and the horror-comedy Gothic Slayers (Ben's Mom).  Television credits include United States of Scandal on CNN, Vaughn Recreation (Kim Vaughn) Curiosity Stream - Forensics, What Really Happened (Paige Birgfeld) RTL Television Network, and Who The Bleep Did I Marry? (Kathleen) Investigation Discovery. With over seventy national, regional, and local commercial credits, highlights include Big Lots, Royal Sonesta, Forte Construction and Design, West Shore Home, Little Treasury Jewelers, and Roadway Moving.  Notable industrial credits include military films for Rock Creek Media and Rocket Media, Management Gaps (Kim) OTS Management, Facing Change (Nurse Jill Sheridan), and Diversity and Inclusion (STSO Michell) TSA/General Dynamics.

Commended for a voice that is warm, inviting, and knowledgeable, Ms. Gill's voice over work comprises film roles (Hello in Here, Missing You), commercials (Maryland Food Bank, Easton Plaza Shopping Center, Veterans United Foundation), podcasts (The Ladies Speak; Wine, Women, and Song), as well as online and telephone service introductions (Chesapeake College, Winner Automotive Group).

Soprano Annie Gill is a professional singer, actress, and voice over actor who continues to gain recognition as a distinctive and versatile artist.  Ms. Gill now adds the new role of “Presenter” to her multi-faceted career.

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, musicians’ lives and performance careers were changed overnight.  To adapt to these new challenges, Ms. Gill created a presentation entitled "On-Camera Techniques for Musicians".  This virtual presentation guides fellow musicians through the new virtual process as they continue to perform, teach, and live online. The presentation combines her skills and training as an on-camera actor and voice over artist with the needs of musicians in the digital age.
 
Topics discussed include everything from home studio set-up and recording equipment; to hair, makeup, and what to wear on camera; and how to perform for the camera without compromising technique.  Since the summer of 2020, Ms. Gill has presented for several colleges throughout the entire United States, including Morgan State University, Towson University, Georgia College, the Peabody Preparatory Vocal program, Duquesne University, Florida State University, the Hartt School, and the Rio Grande division of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS).  Additionally, Ms. Gill has presented for one-on-one coachings, and for independent musicians and private studios.  To date, Ms. Gill has given her "On-Camera Techniques for Musicians" presentation over thirty times (and counting).
 
Ms. Gill also created several additional presentations, which have been acclaimed by musicians, students, and professionals alike.  “From the Stage to the Office:  Vocal Health Tips and Tricks for the Professional" focuses on vocal health for all professions, and specifically tackles the difficulties of significant vocal use while working in online platforms.  Ms. Gill has presented for several private practices in the medical profession, as they transitioned in-person patient visits to virtual medical appointments.  Ms. Gill created three specialty presentations entitled "Professionalism and Preparedness for the Industry", "Vocal Health:  How to Wisely Use Your Voice and Maintain Vocal Health and Stamina in the Arts", and "Pivoting and Using Your Skills as a Musician in Adjacent Fields" for the Barbara Ingram School for the Arts (BISFA).  She worked with the performing arts students to hone their craft and prepare for the professional performing arts world beyond high school.

Ms. Gill is also a sought-after teacher of voice and piano, with over twenty years of teaching experience. She holds degrees from Indiana University (BM), Boston University (MM) and the Peabody Conservatory (PD).  Ms. Gill currently teaches out of her home studio in Towson, MD, and joins the faculty at Stevenson University for the Spring Semester in 2026.  Although in-person teaching was suspended at the onset of the pandemic in  March, 2020, Ms. Gill's studio remained active online through virtual lessons and virtual recitals via Zoom.  Today, Ms. Gill offers both in-person and virtual lessons, where she is able to teach students throughout the greater Baltimore area and beyond.

Ms. Gill is an encouraging and nurturing teacher, who aims to foster a love of music and performing for all students. Special skills include the following: * classical vocal instruction and technique * musical theater vocal instruction * monologue preparation and coaching * audition preparation and workshops * beginning to intermediate piano and keyboard instruction * beginning to intermediate music theory and ear training instruction *diction and language preparation in Italian, German, French, Russian, Latin, and Czech.

Current and past students have been accepted into leading conservatories and musical theater programs such as Temple University in Philadelphia, Towson University, Idyllwild Arts Academy, Rider University (Westminster Choir College), AMDA (American Musical and Dramatic Academy), Catholic University, Baltimore School for the Arts and the Carver Magnet High School for the Performing Arts. Ms. Gill's students have also been accepted to the Maryland All-County and All-State Choruses, as well as the prestigious Baltimore Lyric Opera Camp.  Music has always been extremely important part of Ms. Gill's life, and she hopes to share her enthusiasm for the arts through her teaching.