Grammy Award nominee Johnathan McCollough will be headlining the “Let Freedom Ring“ concert on Sunday at the Lutheran Church of St. John in-the-Heights in Jim Thorpe.

His nomination for best opera recording was for a piece called “Soldier Songs” by David T. Little and produced by Opera Philadelphia. It is about soldiers through multiple generations, but put into one character from age 6 to 66. It was nominated by the Recording Academy for best opera award for digital excellence.

“I stumbled upon a story about a veteran who was $300,000 in debt and said he was going to take his own life. Gratefully, it got resolved with government assistance,” McCollough said. “There’s so many who don’t get connected. We need to spread awareness of veterans’ mental health and the stigma of it being a weakness to ask for help.”

McCollough started singing as a 15-year-old in opera camp and now has come full circle running the National Youth Opera.

He is a baritone who has performed throughout the United States and Europe with recent appearances with the Pittsburgh Opera as the title character Figaro in “Il barbiere di Siviglia,” Opera Philadelphia as Ophemon in “The Anonymous Lover,” and the Lyric Opera Kansas City as Mercutio in “Romeo et Juliette” to name a few.

Also on the bill are the BQE String Quartet from New York City, Soprano Claudia Handlovic, Randall D. Perry, maestro of Bach and Handel Choral playing the baby grand.

BQE Strings

Launched in the spring of 2020, BQE Strings is comprised of Sabina Nemtusiak, Wojciech Szczech, Anna Majcherczyk and Luis Casal, who has a doctorate in musical arts. They are seasoned chamber musicians with a passion for connecting the past and the present providing a fresh interpretations on a range of classics from Bach to Guns and Roses.

Sabina Nemtusiak Wojciech Szczech

BQE Strings founders Sabina Nemtusiak and Wojciech Szczech met while attending the Academy of Musicin Krakow, Poland.

While Sabina and Wojciech continued to focus on Viennese Classics through the late Romantic period, their keen interest in exploring contemporary repertoire earned them third place at Krakow’s International Competition of Contemporary Chamber Music in 2005.

In 2008, they relocated to New York City. Both are active in the Polish community, taking part in cultural projects with the Slavic Arts Ensemble, the Polish Slavic Folk Dance Company and the Hejnal Choir Society.

Anna Majcherczyk

Born in Krakow, Poland, Anna Majcherczyk graduated with honors from the Music Academy in Krakow and the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz.

Majcherczyk made her debut as a soloist with the Krakow Youth Philharmonic Orchestra at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. She has also performed in prestigious concert halls such as the Musikvereinsaal in Vienna, the Berliner Philharmonic, Tonhalle Zurich and Paul Hall at the Juilliard School.

Currently based in New York, she performs as concertmaster at the New York Repertory Orchestra, guest concertmaster at the Bronx Opera, the New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra and the Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra, as well as principal second violin with the Parlando Orchestra.

Luis Casal, DMA

Luis Casal, DMA, is a concert artist in both violin and viola and is vice president of the Sinfonia Concerante Foundation of Panama.

Casal also is an instructor at the Juilliard School’s Music Advancement Program, the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, the Lucy Moses School and the Washington Heights Community conservatory of Fine Arts, and an honorary academic adviser to the Alfredo Saint Malo Musical Festival.

Currently, he performs as concertmaster of the Camerata Washington Heights and the Brooklyn Conservatory Community Orchestra, principal violist of the Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra, and violinist of the piano quartet Ensemblast Project.

Casal also has composed “8 Etudes for Violin,” which was commissioned in 2021 by the Juilliard School.

Randall Douglas Perry

Performing with the BQE Strings is Randall Douglas Perry, founder, conductor and music director of the Bach and Handel Chorale and Festival Orchestra of Jim Thorpe.

He began his career in sacred music at the age of 11, making this his 58th year as an active church musician. A 1983 graduate of Wilkes College with a bachelor of music degree, he currently serves as organist and master of the choristers of St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, Trexlertown.

A published composer, Perry is a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Performers. One of his works was chosen for performance at the 42nd Annual Choir Festival in Ocean Grove, New Jersey, where a choir of 1,400 voices performed his worked with Perry conducting.

Perry is the recipient of awards, both from the community of Jim Thorpe and the Mauch Chunk Historical Society for his outstanding contribution to the development of the arts in Carbon County.

Claudia Handlovic

Vocalist and soprano Claudia Handlovic grew up in Bucharest, Romania, a beautiful, cultural city where music and arts are part of everyday culture.

Handlovic began playing the violin at age 6 and cello at age 8. In her teens, she began her training as a vocalist and went on graduate from the University of Music and finished with a bachelor’s degree in music-voice professor. She has sung throughout the Middle East and Europe, including Israel, Austria, Finland, France and Italy. In the United States, she has performed in Philadelphia, New York and Washington.

The concert

Last year’s, concert raised $7,500 for world hunger. All proceeds from this year’s concert will benefit Carbon County veterans mental health programs including “Together With Veterans” and Vietnam Veterans Coffee and Camaraderie. These programs are exclusive to Carbon County.

The National Anthem will be performed by the American Legion Veterans Color Guard, and a reception with light refreshments will be held following the concert.

To purchase tickets, contact Irene Remmel at 570-325-4534. Tickets are free for veterans and children under 10 years of age. The concert starts at 3 p.m. at the church, 319 South Ave., Jim Thorpe.

Parking is available in the church lot across from St. John’s. Additional lot parking is available at the former junior high school at Pine and Center avenues, courtesy of Sargent Enterprises.

On-street parking also is available.