DATE: Sunday, 26 March 2003, 3:00 PM

SITE: NC Museum of Art   Map 
2110 Blue Ridge Road, Raleigh

PROGRAM Songs by Gabriel Fauré, Jules Massenet, Charles Gounod and others

The duo DoubleAction is dedicated to performing the rich body of music composed for tenor and harp. Using their unique combination of highly developed research and performance skills, DoubleAction concentrates primarily on two eras of song composition. The first is American and European song from 1780 to 1830, before the piano became the standard accompanying instrument for songs. These works are performed with a single-action harp made in 1829 by John Egan of Dublin. The instrument was fully restored in 2000 by H. Bryan & Company of Appamattox, Virginia. DoubleAction has presented historical performances of this repertoire at the Society for American Music, the College Music Society and under the auspices of the American Antiquarian Society.

DoubleAction's second body of repertoire consists of nineteenth and twentieth century art songs for voice and modern harp, particularly those of Benjamin Britten, who wrote several works for tenor Peter Pears and harpist Osian Ellis. In 1999 DoubleAction had the opportunity to coach and perform with Mr. Ellis, still the definitive interpreter of Britten's harp music, at the Florida International Festival. On that occasion the Daytona Beach News-Journal called them " . . . a charming duo, blending the 20th-century art song with folk roots."

The duo has performed for many chamber music series and academic conferences in New England and the Carolinas, and is currently preparing a recording titled "My Harp Has One Unchanging Theme: Theater and Popular Songs of England and Early America."

Tenor Thomas A. Gregg has received much acclaim for his work in concert, opera, recital, and early music performances. An Ohio native who lives and works in the Boston area as a professional singer and voice teacher, he is a member of the professional choir at historic King's Chapel, co-founder and half of the duo DoubleAction, and a member of the Early American music ensemble Columbia's Musick. Experienced in many styles, he has performed as a soloist with many groups throughout the southern and eastern United States. His European debut was at the 1995 Franz Schubert Institute in Baden-bei-Wien, Austria. Dr. Gregg holds degrees from Capital University, the University of Michigan, and Ohio State University, and he has won many academic and professional awards. He is the Director of Vocal Studies for Harvard's University Choir and teaches at The Boston Conservatory and Tufts University.

Emily Laurance is one of the most active harpists in central North Carolina, frequently appearing in the area as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player. Since her arrival in Chapel Hill in 1990 she has performed with a wide variety of ensembles, including the North Carolina Symphony, Triangle Opera, Opera Company of North Carolina, Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle, Carolina Ballet, the North Carolina Theater, and the Wilmington Symphony. An accomplished chamber musician, Ms. Laurance most recently co-founded the duo DoubleAction. Ms. Laurance's recording credits include a performance of Luciano Berio's Sequenza II for solo harp on Neuma Records New Music Series. She has also contributed to the projects of several Chapel Hill based bands, including the Squirrel Nut Zippers album Perennial Favorites. In addition to her active performing career, Ms. Laurance teaches harp at Duke University, UNC-Chapel Hill and maintains a large private studio.