This Friday: Local opera star joins renowned pianist at UMC

The halls of Wallingford United Methodist Church will be filled with relaxing and inspiring melodies this weekend as two highly skilled musicians are set to join forces for a vocal recital on Friday evening.

Baritone Justin Birchell will be accompanied by pianist Victoria Kirsch– traveling from Los Angeles to Wallingford just for this performance– for “The Goal of Living is to Grow;” an evening of song featuring a set of classical numbers ranging from German romanticism to Greek folk songs.

Performance details:

Friday, February 7th, 2025
Wallingford United Methodist Church
2115 N 42nd St, Seattle, WA
7:30 PM

A Fundraiser for the WUMC Pastor’s Discretionary Fund
Admittance by free-will donation. Suggested donation: $20

Justin Birchell is a local opera star, holding a Doctorate of Arts from the University of Washington and a Master’s in Voice Performance from UCLA. Birchell is neck-deep in the local classical music scene, having sung with the Pacific Northwest Opera, Choral Arts Northwest, the University of Washington Choirs and more. He’s been on stages beyond Washington, performing in world premiers and winning a UCLA Philharmonia’s All-Stars Concerto Competition Award in 2020. He was also Wallingford UMC’s music director until July 2024. You can catch him next for his debut as a stage director, singing the title role in the Tacoma Opera’s Gianni Schicci.

Based out of Southern California, Victoria Kirch is a world-touring pianist who’s performed on some of the nation’s most prestigious stages. She was a member of the music staff for the Los Angeles Opera and an official pianist for the Operalia Competition and the Metropolitan Opera’s National Council Auditions, among others. Kirch has curated and performed multiple musical exhibitions for notable museums, including the USC Fisher Museum of Art, the Getty Museum, the Robert and Frances Fullerton Museum of Art, and the Long Beach Museum of Art. She’s been a vocal and opera coach at UCLA for over a decade and is currently a member of the keyboard faculty at USC Thornton School of Music.

If you can’t make it on Friday, the duo will also perform in Tacoma Thursday at 7:00 p.m. at Mount Cross Lutheran Church University Place. 8902 40th St. W, University Place.