Karen Pax, soprano, will perform with Mark Howard, pianist, a concert titled, “Fierce and Fragile Women: Songs of Many Heroines” on Friday October 23 at 7 pm at the Broad Bay Congregational United Church of Christ, 941 Main Street, Waldoboro. Concert goers will hear Arias, Jazz, & African American Spirituals as well as piano selections of Debussy, Poulenc, and Guinet. 

There is no charge for the concert; donations will be accepted.

Friday night’s concert celebration of fierce and fragile women is fundraiser for New Hope for Women, an agency working to end domestic violence in Sagadahoc, Lincoln, Knox and Waldo Counties. New Hope offers support and education to women, children, and men affected by domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking, and provides educational resources to assist our communities in creating a safer and healthier future.

Karen Lilli Pax thinks of singing as painting with sound. A graduate of Temple University's College of Music, she attended the Georgia State University Summer Opera Workshop (Atlanta, GA); has twice been a participant in the Bel Canto Institute (New Palz, NY) and was selected for the Opera Studio at the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria. She was guest artist at the University of Melbourne, Australia, where she performed a concert of American Songs and taught a master class for voice students. Formerly on the voice faculty of Colby, Bates and Bowdoin Colleges, Karen has also performed in concert in Maine, New York, and in Europe.

Karen Pax has been soloist, choir director, and music director in churches in Maine and New York. She has designed and lead retreats and worships, as well as producing numerous benefit concerts with both amateur and professional musicians. Since 1996, she has coached with) Millard Altman, retired Assistant Conductor, Coach and Prompter of the Metropolitan Opera.

Since February of 2014 Karen Pax has conducted a choir of about 40 at The Highlands Retirement Community in Topsham, Maine. Summer and winter concerts have featured songs in Zulu, Italian, Latin, Korean and English in a variety of styles, and are sung by participants from 70-92 years of age. At every age, the power of music to engage the body, mind and spirit is evidenced. When not fully engaged in music, Karen enjoys reading about quantum physics, the poetry of T.S. Eliot and Mary Oliver; writing, and being a Methodist Pastor.

Mark Howard comes from Massachusetts. He studied music at Baldwin-Wallace College in Ohio, English literature at Bates College, and education at the University of Maine. He particularly enjoys studying and performing music of past cultures, accompanying vocal soloists, a wide range of chamber music, and art history. Mark Howard lives in Portland and has worked as a private and public school teacher and church organist.

Broad Bay Congregational United Church of Christ is an Open and Affirming Congregation and has supported New Hope for Women for many years. Karen George, Broad Bay member and New Hope volunteer observed, “New Hope supports women where they are—whether fierce, fragile or both.”