Western Piedmont Symphony to Perform MASTERWORKS: GRANT US PEACE in Hickory

Western Piedmont Symphony (WPS), the professional orchestra of the western foothills of North Carolina, will present MASTERWORKS: GRANT US PEACE on Saturday, February 28, 2026, at 7:30 p.m. at P.E. Monroe Auditorium in Hickory.

This inspiring Masterworks program brings together orchestra, chorus, and acclaimed guest soloists in a powerful exploration of humanity's enduring longing for peace. Blending profound choral and orchestral works, the evening offers audiences a stirring musical journey of reflection, hope, and unity in a world yearning for harmony.

The program brings together a range of works that explore conviction, struggle, and the search for peace. It opens with Christian Zeal and Activity by American composer John Adams, a contemporary piece that examines faith and intensity in modern life. Selections from Claude Debussy's musical mystery play The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian follow, showcasing his distinctive colors and dramatic storytelling. The concert concludes with Ralph Vaughan Williams' Dona nobis pacem (Grant Us Peace), a major work for chorus, orchestra, and soloists that moves through moments of tension and reflection before arriving at a powerful plea for peace.

"Grant Us Peace is a thought-provoking and powerful journey that contains a message that is as necessary as it is timeless," said Music Director Matthew Troy. "The works on this concert will take the audience through an experience that is imbued with reflection, spirituality, and transformation. The program opens with the ethereal work by composer John Adams called Christian Zeal and Activity, followed by the mystical sounds of Claude Debussy's music from The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian. Closing the concert will be the 1936 oratorio Dona Nobis Pacem by Ralph Vaughan-Williams, which employs the text of Walt Whitman and explains that 'war and all its deeds of carnage, must in time be utterly lost.' This promises to be a deeply moving concert that uplifts our community through the power of music."

Featured artists for this program include soprano Janinah Burnett and baritone Michael Adams. Internationally celebrated for her radiant tone and remarkable versatility, Burnett has performed leading roles on both Broadway and the Metropolitan Opera stage while maintaining an active international career. Adams appears regularly with the Metropolitan Opera and leading companies across the country. Together, Burnett and Adams bring extensive stage experience and vocal artistry to Vaughan Williams' Dona nobis pacem. The choral masterwork also features more than 150 members of regional community choirs, including the CVCC Chorus and Ensemble, the Hickory Choral Society, and the Lenoir-Rhyne A Cappella Choir.

Behind the Music: Pre-Concert Conversation with Music Director Matthew Troy
Enhance your concert experience with Behind the Music, a special pre-concert conversation led by Music Director Matthew Troy. This complimentary talk, included with concert admission, will take place from 6:30 to 6:50 p.m. in P.E. Monroe Auditorium prior to MASTERWORKS: GRANT US PEACE. Audiences are invited to gain deeper insight into the composers and works featured on the program before the performance begins.

MASTERWORKS: ROMANTIC MASTERS is funded with support from Vanguard Furniture, Sandra Pait Clay and George Clay, III, the Hickory Community Relations Council, Imagine One Hospitality, and The Art of Compassion, a community initiative that inspires and promotes compassion, kindness and love for others through education, arts and entertainment. Additional support is provided by Our State magazine, Arts Culture Catawba, and the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

MASTERWORKS tickets are $20-$58 for adults. Student tickets are $10 with a valid ID. Students can purchase $10 tickets in sections A and B only when accompanied by an adult who also buys a ticket in the same section. To purchase tickets, visit wpsymphony.org, call 828.324.8603, or stop by the Western Piedmont Symphony Box Office located on the SALT Block at 243 Third Avenue NE, Hickory, NC 28601. The Box Office is open Wednesday through Friday, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. P.E. Monroe Auditorium, where MASTERWORKS concerts are held, is located at 625 7th Ave NE, Hickory, NC 28601.

Up next, Western Piedmont Symphony invites audiences to FOOTHILLS POPS: FROM BROADWAY TO HOLLYWOOD! on Saturday, April 18, 2026, at 7:30 p.m. at J.E. Broyhill Civic Center in Lenoir. This lively concert takes listeners on a musical journey through iconic show tunes from stage to screen and beloved American standards by Gershwin, Sondheim, Rodgers & Hammerstein, and more. The evening features the stunning soprano Haley Sicking, who has performed as a soloist at Carnegie Hall and toured across 18 cities in China. Concessions will be available beginning one hour prior to the performance, and tickets start at $33. To purchase tickets or learn more, visit wpsymphony.org.

Western Piedmont Symphony continues its Masterworks series with MASTERWORKS: MUSICAL WANDERLUST on Saturday, May 16, 2026, at 7:30 p.m. at P.E. Monroe Auditorium in Hickory. This adventurous program takes audiences on a musical journey around the world, featuring orchestral and solo masterpieces including Goldmark's Overture to Sakuntala, Bizet's L'Arlesienne Suite No. 1, Steiner's Casablanca Suite, and Saint-Saëns' Piano Concerto No. 5, "Egyptian". Featured artist Sheng Cai, an acclaimed Canadian pianist, brings his expressive depth and virtuosity to the program, having performed with major orchestras worldwide including the Toronto Symphony, Shanghai Symphony, and Philharmonie Südwestfalen.

For more information about the Western Piedmont Symphony 2025-2026 season of concerts and events, visit wpsymphony.org. Please note that all programs, artists, venues, prices, and dates are subject to change.

About the Artists:

Janinah Burnett, soprano

Raised in jazz music, Janinah Burnett is the daughter of legendary jazz drummer Carl Burnett and writer/educator/artist Imani Constance. As a child, Janinah was surrounded by Horace Silver, Freddie Hubbard, Eddie Harris, Nancy Wilson, George Cables, Billy Higgins, and many others who inspired her early musical beginnings. This innovative and exceptionally artistic beginning led to a myriad of musical activities throughout Janinah's formative years. While in school at the Hamilton Music Academy in Los Angeles, Janinah won the solo vocal jazz competition at Cal State Fullerton, propelling her desire to serve her artistic muse and study vocal jazz music at Spelman College. During her time at Spelman, Janinah continued her jazz studies and was a member of the Spelman College Jazz Ensemble. Janinah participated in a host of private events and engagements including singing for Margaret Thatcher, several performances with the Atlanta Symphony, singing with the great Ray Charles, and at a private birthday party celebration for Oprah Winfrey at the home of Maya Angelou. Janinah continued her music studies at the Eastman School of Music, where she received a Master's Degree in Vocal Performance and Literature.

A major role Janinah learned and performed at Eastman was Mimì in La Bohème. Directly following those performances and upon graduation from Eastman, Janinah joined the cast of Baz Lurhmann's La Bohème on Broadway as Mimì and thrilled audiences. Several exciting events occurred as a result of this show including her performances on the Tony Awards, performances at esteemed events for Prada and Tiffany's, and her win of the LA Theater Alliance's Ovation Award, to name a few. Directly after the whirlwind that was La Bohème on Broadway, Janinah joined an International tour of Porgy and Bess as Clara and Bess. On this tour she sang in major opera houses in Austria, Japan, Italy, Germany, Sweden, and Denmark. Upon returning to the US, Janinah sang the following leading roles: Violetta in La Traviata, Donna Anna and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Norina in Don Pasquale, Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi, Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier, Margru in Amistad, Marguerite in Faust, Leïla in Les Pecheurs de Perles, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Micaëla in Carmen, Suzanna in Le Nozze Di Figaro, Mimì in La Bohème, and many others in more than 25 international and domestic cites.

Janinah's brilliant technique and exceptional character interpretations led her to join the Metropolitan Opera Company for their productions of Carmen, La Bohème, Parsifal, Le Nozze di Figaro, La Rondine, The Enchanted Island, Iphigénie en Tauride, Elektra, and Manon. Janinah made her MET debut as Bianca in La Rondine and spent eight seasons singing at the MET. Her subsequent world premiere presentation was starring as "Harriet Tubman" in Nkeiru Okoye's opera, Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed that Road to Freedom presented by American Opera Projects.

Janinah is in high demand and returned to Broadway in 2016, where her professional career began. She made appearances as Carlotta Giudicelli and the Innkeeper's Wife in Phantom of the Opera on Broadway and was a member of the closing April 2023 cast. Janinah also produces her own solo concerts of diverse vocal styles, which led her to the release of her debut album entitled Love the Color of Your Butterfly, February 2021. Love the Color of Your Butterfly is a foray into the fusion of classical, jazz, and other popular idioms delivered with exceptional musicianship and emotional authenticity. Additionally, Janinah produces performances of her own writings juxtaposed with photography, art songs, freedom songs, and spirituals entitled I, Too Sing America: A Lament for the Fallen, which exists to provide quality performances rooted in education, activism, committed artistic expression, and healing while honoring those who have been killed due to social injustice.

Most recently, Janinah joined the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where she currently serves as the Assistant Professor of Commercial Voice. janinahburnett.com

Michael Adams, baritone

Praised by Opera News for "brandishing a beautiful, evenly produced, nicely ripe sound," Michael Adams' engagements in the 2025-26 season include returns to the Metropolitan Opera as Dancaïre in Carmen and The Glimmerglass Festival as Curly in Oklahoma. He also sings Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Nashville Opera. He will again join the Metropolitan Opera in their production of Andrea Chénier and Western Piedmont Symphony as the baritone soloist in Vaughan Williams's Dona Nobis Pacem. Last season, he was back at the Metropolitan Opera as Scarus in Adams' Anthony and Cleopatra and joined the company for its production of Le nozze di Figaro. He also sang Anthony Hope in Sweeney Todd with Opera Maine and Handel's Israel in Egypt with the New Choral Society.

The baritone recently made his debut at the Grand Teatre del Liceu as Zurga in Les pêcheurs de perles and the Metropolitan Opera as Dancaïre in Carmen. He first joined Seattle Opera as the title role in Eugene Onegin, Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, and Belcore in filmed performances of L'elisir d'amore and made company debuts and subsequent returns at the Grand Théâtre de Genève as Melisso in Alcina, and Marcello in La bohème, Masetto in Don Giovanni, and Maximilian in Candide; Utah Opera as Marcello in La bohème, Silvio in Pagliacci, Count in Le nozze di Figaro, Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia, and Betto in Gianni Schicchi; and Des Moines Metro Opera as Lescaut in Manon, Ping in Turandot, Donald in Billy Budd. He joined Dallas Opera as Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, Opera Omaha and Madison Opera as the Count in Le nozze di Figaro, Austin Opera for the Count in Le nozze di Figaro, Knoxville Opera for Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor, made his first appearance at The Glimmerglass Festival as Gaylord Ravenal in Showboat, Opera Idaho as Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia, and sang Edwin Cheney in Hagen's Shining Brow with Arizona Opera.

Mr. Adams has returned to Washington National Opera as Papageno in Die Zauberflöte and Lieutenant Audebert in Puts' Silent Night. He is a former Cafritz Young Artist with the company, and while there sang Melisso in Alcina, the Pilot in Portman's The Little Prince, the title role of Don Giovanni, Prince Yamadori in Madama Butterfly, and the Motorcycle Cop and Prison Guard #1 in Dead Man Walking. He joined the Deutsche Oper Berlin for a season, singing a number of roles including Ping in Turandot, the Marquis in La traviata, and Harašta in The Cunning Little Vixen and recently returned as the Count and the Herald in Shrecker's rarely-performed Der Schatzgräber.

His concert performances include a Bernstein concert under the baton of Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Bach's Cantata No. 29, and Handel's Te Deum, all with the Fort Worth Symphony. He has also sung Orff's Carmina Burana with the Phoenix Symphony and Western Piedmont Symphony.

Mr. Adams completed two years as a Resident Artist at the Academy of Vocal Arts, where his performances included Valentin in Faust, Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, Lescaut in Manon, Tomsky in Pique Dame, Schaunard in La bohème, and Taddeo in L'italiana in Algeri. He is a former Resident Artist of the Santa Fe Opera and Studio Artist at Wolf Trap Opera.

He was a 2018 grant winner from The William Matheus Sullivan Musical Foundation. Additionally, he was 2015 winner of first place in the Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition, Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation International Vocal Competition, and the Mario Lanza Competition; the namesake award from the Nelson Eddy Foundation; third place in the Giulio Gari Foundation International Vocal Competition, and fifth place in the Loren L. Zachary Competition, an encouragement award winner of the Opera Index Competition. He was a Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions semi-finalist in 2015.

Mr. Adams holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Texas Christian University and completed further training at the Seagle Music Colony and Janiec Opera Company of the Brevard Music Center.

michaeladamsbaritone.com

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