ORIGIN STORIES: TENOR | BASS Duo
ORIGIN STORIES is the quartet's inaugural HD live broadcast season.  Connect with us from around the world - from your living room to our virtual concert hall.  Watch each event in real time as the singers are performing, and enjoy 48-hour replay access following the concerts.

The 2021 HD season continues with Tenor | Bass Duo featuring ensemble tenor Ace Gangoso and bass-baritone David Govertsen performing folksong settings from the Philippines and Norway; and art songs that look outward toward the moon, the stars, and the cosmos.  Featuring music by Jake Heggie, Stacy Garrop, Edvard Grieg, Florence Price, José Alejandrino, and Robert Schumann.

Tenor | Bass Duo is generously Sponsored by

Kent Dymak and Theodore Foss
VIEW FULL 2021 HD SEASON

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Program

Artists

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ACE GANGOSO, tenor, enjoys an eclectic musical career in Chicago as a singer, music director, pianist, and teacher. Ace is thrilled to be joining Fourth Coast Ensemble this season, adding to his existing singing engagements with the Chicago Symphony Chorus, Grant Park Chorus, and Chicago a cappella. Within Chicago a cappella, Ace also serves as the Program Director for the High School Apprenticeship, an auditioned group of young singers seeking experience in high-level ensemble singing and arts nonprofit operations.

Ace is the Director of Music Ministry at St. Nicholas Parish in Evanston where he conducts several choirs and musical groups, and plays up to four Masses each weekend. Additionally, he is a pianist for the Chicago Black Catholics Choir and a supplementary staff musician at St. Michael in Old Town. Ace is also a private voice instructor at Highland Park High School.

A native of Little Rock, Arkansas, Ace became a Chicagoan in 2010 and currently resides in the Lakeview neighborhood. Ace holds Bachelor’s Degrees in Music Education and Voice Performance from the University of Central Arkansas, and a Master’s Degree in Voice Performance from Northwestern University; he continues voice study with NU Professor W. Stephen Smith. He is a proud alumni member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, the world’s oldest and largest fraternal society in music.
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Chicago native DAVID GOVERTSEN has been active as a professional singer for fifteen years, portraying a wide variety of opera’s low-voiced heroes, villains, and buffoons.  An alumnus of the Ryan Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago, he has performed ten roles with the company, most recently appearing as Sprecher in Die Zauberflöte and King Priam in Les Troyens.  This past season he also appeared at Santa Fe Opera as Frank in Die Fledermaus, and he created the role of Stoever in Stewart Copeland’s The Invention of Morel for Chicago Opera Theater. 

As a concert soloist Mr. Govertsen has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Grant Park Symphony, Santa Fe Symphony and Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival among many others.  He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2011 as the Herald in Otello with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Riccardo Muti.  He is an alumnus of both the Santa Fe Opera and Central City Opera apprentice programs and holds degrees from Northwestern University, Northern Illinois University and the College of DuPage.  Mr. Govertsen is currently on faculty at Valparaiso University, Lewis University, and the College of DuPage.
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Pianist YASUKO OURA has been praised for her sensibility and passion for collaborating with others. She has maintained a busy schedule of performing concerts and working for various opera companies while keeping an active teaching schedule.  She is currently a lecturer of collaborative piano at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music where she enjoys working with talented pianists as well as coaching chamber music.  She is also on the faculty at North Park University.  In demand as a vocal coach, she has been on the music staff for Des Moines Metro Opera for over ten seasons.  She regularly works for Lyric Opera of Chicago and Chicago Opera Theater.  She has played under many prominent conductors such as Sir Andrew Davis, Gary Wedow, and Jane Glover. Additionally, she was the principal production pianist and coach for Florentine Opera for seven years.  Her other past affiliations include companies such as Fort Worth Opera, Kentucky Opera, Madison Opera, Toledo Opera, and AIMS in Graz, Austria.  

Some recent operatic highlights include An American Dream for Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Lyric Unlimited, Moby Dick at Chicago Opera Theater, and Candide at Des Moines Metro Opera.  This summer, she would have returned to Des Moines Metro Opera for Platée.  On a recital front, she has performed many recitals with some of the world’s most exciting musicians including Susanna Phillips, David Portillo, Susanne Mentzer, and Kyle Ketelsen.  This summer she was slated to return to the Twickenham Festival where she would have collaborated with Susanna Phillips as well as other prominent artists on recitals and chamber music concerts.  

An avid chamber musician, Ms. Oura has performed in such venues as Carnegie Hall’s Weil Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Merkin Hall.  She is also the co-artistic director of Chamber Music at Bethany concert series where members of Chicago Symphony Orchestra and other prominent musicians come together to perform chamber music. She has also served as the official pianist for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Wisconsin District and the McCammon Vocal Competition in Fort Worth, TX.  She has been seen in performances for the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series, the Bel Canto Foundation, WFMT, and WTTW’s Chicago Tonight.  She resides near Chicago, where she works with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Grant Park Orchestra Chorus, Music of the Baroque, Chicago Opera Theater, Light Opera Works, and the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Wisconsin District. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College and master’s and doctoral degrees from the Juilliard School, where she was a C.V. Starr Doctoral Fellow.
Fourth Coast Ensemble is closely following the guidelines of local and federal government officials regarding the global health crisis.  For additional questions, contact us.​
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