Pictured: Nikki Renee Daniels

By Kathleen Suss, Executive Director, Concordia Conservatory

Feb. 7, 2024: Concordia Conservatory presents its gala benefit, “MUSIC FROM THE HEART,” as part of the Hoch Chamber Music Series on Saturday, February 10 at 6:00 pm at The Reformed Church of Bronxville, 180 Pondfield Road.

To purchase tickets, click here or call 914-395-4507.

This gala concert features Broadway singer/actress Nikki Renée Daniels with Grammy-nominated James Lowe in a program of the American Songbook and will also feature chamber music performed by violinists Elizabeth Lim-Dutton and Emanouil Manolov, violists Lawrence Dutton and SoHui Yun, and cellist Paul Watkins in Johannes Brahms’ String Quintet No. 2 in G Major.

“MUSIC FROM THE HEART” supports the Conservatory’s ongoing effort to make music available to all. Funds raised will support scholarships and outreach, music and art therapy, concert series, the tuition-free annual holiday community musical, endowment, and unrestricted funds for the Bronxville and Stamford campuses.

The 2024 Conservatory Benefit Committee includes Anne Angevine, Margie Ball, Jennifer Cebenoyan, Selene Contreras, Brigid Garelik, Julie Latham, Kathryn McGrath, Anne Prost, Michele Rohr, Erin Seuffert, Laurie Slaughter, Kristin Smith, Emily Tyree, and Nancy Yohannan.

The Junior Benefit Committee of Conservatory students consists of Shay Armand, Sabrina Belke, Alex Cebenoyan, Ila David, Alison DeFilippo, Caris Erman-Thurmond, Aaliyah Hartenstein, Valeria Huerta, Leah Jones, Kit Knapp, Athina Lekovic, Samantha Lopez, Ciara McAndrew, Laura Sanchez, Sarah Thomas, and An Qi Wang.

Nine-Time Grammy Award winner Lawrence Dutton of the Emerson String Quartet is the artistic director of the Hoch Chamber Music Series, and this gala concert is part of the Hoch Series.

Concert tickets are $46 adult and $23 child/senior; combined tickets for the concert and dinner-dance are $250. To purchase tickets, visit www.concordiaconservatory.org or call 914-395-4507. 

About Nikki Renee Daniels

Nikki is an acclaimed Broadway actress and concert soloist. She recently starred as Angelica Schuyler in the Chicago company of Hamilton, and as Jenny in the Tony Award Winning Broadway revival of Company.

Her other Broadway credits include The Book of Mormon (Nabulungi), The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess (Clara) LesMisérables (Fantine), Anything Goes, Promises Promises, and Lestat.

She recently played Martha Jefferson in 1776 at Encores, and Rose Lennox in The Secret Garden at David Geffen Hall.

She made her New York City Opera debut as Clara in Porgy and Bess.

Nikki’s regional credits include Emmie in Caroline or Change at the Guthrie; Sarah in Ragtime at North Shore Music Theater; Belle in Beauty and the Beast at Sacramento Music Circus and Hope in Anything Goes at Williamstown Theater Festival.

She has been seen on TV in “Billions,” “The Equalizer,” “Madam Secretary” and “The Sound of Music: Live.”

Nikki has performed as a soloist with symphony orchestras in Atlanta, San Francisco, Houston, Detroit, Omaha, Indianapolis, Edmonton, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, and at Carnegie Hall.

About Jim Lowe

Grammy-nominated conductor, arranger, orchestrator and composer James Lowe continues to garner praise for "beautifully sculpted" (Opera News) performances. He appears regularly with major opera houses in the US and abroad, as well as on Broadway.

This season he will make debuts at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari and Atlanta Opera and will return to Lyric Opera of Chicago and Arizona Opera.

He recently conducted the world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon and Michael Korie’s The Garden of the Finzi-Continis with New York City Opera at the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene.

He arranged, orchestrated and conducted Songbird, a new adaptation of Offenbach’s La Périchole in the style of 1920’s New Orleans jazz for the Glimmerglass Festival.

He has appeared at San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Washington National Opera, the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse and Opéra National de Bordeaux.

On Broadway, James Lowe was the Music Director and Conductor of the recent revival of Les Misérables, as well as the Tony Award-winning revival of Cole Porter's Anything Goes. He also served as the Music Supervisor for the First National Tour of this production.

Mr. Lowe made his Broadway debut conducting performances of Gypsy, starring Patti LuPone.

Mr. Lowe was nominated for a Grammy Award for his work on the Anything Goes cast album released on Ghostlight Records, which he conducted and co-produced.

With members of the cast, he has appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman, the CBS Early Show and A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor.

He toured North America as Music Director and Conductor of the acclaimed Cameron Mackintosh/National Theatre production of My Fair Lady and conducted the First National Tour of Adam Guettel’s The Light in the Piazza.

Mr. Lowe has appeared in concert with Sir Elton John, singer-songwriter Randy Newman and the legendary Booker T. Jones.

His arrangements have been performed by Joyce DiDonato, Isabel Leonard, Ailyn Pérez and Nadine Sierra, Glimmerglass Festival and Utah Opera, among others.

As a pianist, Mr. Lowe performed as soloist with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and has given recitals, including several world premieres, at such venues as the Aspen Music Festival, the Chautauqua Institute, the University of Texas San Antonio New Music Festival, and the University of Colorado Artsweek Festival in Boulder.

He has served on the faculties of Syracuse University, and the Hochstein Music School in Rochester.

He holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the University of Michigan, with additional studies at the Aspen Music School and the Aspen Opera Theater Center.