Singer Spotlight on Christian Stevens!

Up next in our SACC Singer Spotlights is Christian Stevens, a very talented bass who will be joining us on our upcoming concert, The Mystery of Christmas!  This December marks one year of Christian singing with SACC.

Tell us about yourself, Christian!

I was born in Rochester, NY, and moved to Maine when I was around 8 years old. After having lived there for some time, we decided to move to San Antonio due to my father getting a job here last year. I finished high school at Winston Churchill High School and I am in the middle of a half-gap year and plan on taking college classes next semester. My father plays piano and my mother paints so I had a lot of influence to pursue the arts from them. I currently also hold an internship with St. John’s Lutheran Church, so I’m thankfully keeping vocally active.

I’ve been singing ever since I could join a choir, but I never really discovered my true passion for it until I found classical music in my sophomore and junior years of high school. Ever since then I’ve been inspired to take music as far as I can and I’m able to work with wonderful groups like SACC. In my senior year of high school I participated in TMEA and made 1st chair Bass II at All-State. I am currently taking voice and composition lessons in town, and plan to continue pursuing opportunities as they come.

If you could be any other vocal part, which would you be?

contrabass; I’d love to hit those low notes in some Russian sacred music, if only for a day.

What are your favorite choral pieces?

It's a tie between Mahler’s 8th symphony and Havergal Brian’s 1st symphony. Both have incredible orchestration and call for enormous ensembles.  They both use the choirs involved to really drive home the emotion of the work.

Who is your current singer crush?

Joyce DiDonato. She just has a beautiful voice and is one of my favorites to listen to.

What has been the most valuable musical lesson you've learned?

Music is a service, not just a hobby.

Do you play any other instruments?

I'm a bit rusty, but I play cello and guitar.

Who is someone who inspired you and encouraged you to pursue music?

My music teachers in high school, my close friends, and my parents have all helped me along in this path. I can’t thank them enough.

What is your favorite holiday carol?

The Coventry carol

What is your fondest music memory?

Performing at All-State with Randall Stroope is probably one of my fondest memories. The music really moved me as we performed it, and I’ll never forget it.

What's your favorite guilty music pleasure?

My guilty pleasure is buying lots of music scores just to read. I have a huge stack of scores by my bedside table if I ever want to read along to some of my favorite works.

Do you have any other passions?
I’m a big fan of video games, especially fantasy/sci-fi/role playing style games.

What's your dream choral piece you've been dying to perform?

If I was given the chance to perform Figure Humaine by Poulenc, I would take it in a heartbeat.

Christian was a featured singer on SACC's newest recording, Unfrozen: Christmas in the Baltics!  It's a beautiful album of Christmas and solstice music from Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia and would make an excellent holiday gift for the classical music lover in your life!  For a limited time, donors who make a generous donation to SACC for $100 or more receive this beautiful CD as a gift!  Please consider donating today!

Also available to Christian's friends and family is the ability to sponsor him!  A gift of $450 to SACC would sponsor Christian's participation in this December's concerts and give the donor acknowledgment in our concert program next to Christian's name.  

Come see Christian and all the extremely talented singers of the San Antonio Chamber Choir this December 16th and 17th for SACC's The Mystery of Christmas Concert!  This event celebrates 100 years of recorded jazz and 1,000 years of choral music in a combined concert with special guests, the Jazz Protagonists.  Also featured will be the North East School of the Arts Dancers and the Clark High School Choir.