The Sophisticated Ladies are trumpet player Barbara Prugh, soprano Emily Samson Tepe and pianist Linda Lorgus. Together they present both classical and pops programs for concert halls, churches and retirement communities. Performing together for the past three years, they have received rave reviews for their programs. Classical concerts include beloved opera arias, art songs, gems of the trumpet repertoire as well as duets for soprano and trumpet. Pops programs include music of the big band era and jazz standards as well as select classical pieces. The Sophisticated Ladies will tailor their program to your venue and audience. Continue below to view their biographies, sample programs, and reviews.
The Sophisticated Ladies have performed at:
Kendal, Longwood, PA
Stonegates, Greenville, DE
Whitehorse Village, Newtown Square, PA
St. Michael Church, Unionville, PA
Forwood Manor, Wilmington, DE
Willow Valley, Lancaster, PA
Springhouse Estates, Lower Gwynned, PA
Folkeways, Lower Gwynedd, PA
Emily Samson Tepe, a native of Delaware, has been performing internationally in both classical and popular venues since debuting with Opera Delaware as a nine year old. Trained at Princeton University, the Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music, Emily performed at the Aspen Music Festival and Lincoln Center before moving to Stockholm, Sweden in 2004 on a Fulbright Scholarship. There she studied Scandinavian Classical Music and created a recital that premiered at the Finnish Church in Old Town, Stockholm. After a number of years of continued training and well-received recitals at the Music vid Siljan and Musik i Glasriket festivals, she made her way to the Swedish Royal Opera as Tamar in the World Premier of Sven-David Sandström’s Batseba. Since returning to our area last summer, she’s been a featured performer for Opera Delaware, premiered the music of composer Paul Fejko at Old Swedes’ Church in Philadelphia, and given numerous concerts with Barbara Prugh. This fall she’ll give a recital of colonial era music presented by the Society of Colonial Wars and the Colonial Dames at Old Swedes’ Church in Wilmington, and will also perform in recital for the Swedish Women’s Educational Association in Philadelphia.
Emily also has an alter-ego, performing her own original music under the name “IVA”. This past year she’s played for a sold out crowd upstairs at the new World Café Live at the Queen Theatre on Market Street in Wilmington, and at the baby grand, The Grand Opera House’s recital hall. On May 10th she’ll return to headline the Queen’s main stage, and next season joins the World Café Live Philadelphia’s ClassicAlive! concert series with a performance at the World Café in Philadelphia. She’s written and released two albums of her music, the second through Universal Music Sweden, toured throughout France, Belgium and Sweden, and been heard on national Swedish TV and radio performing her “Operatic Pop”.
Barbara Prugh is well known throughout the Delaware Valley and beyond as a trumpet soloist and and ensemble player. A native Delawarean, Barbara received her degrees from the University of Delaware and Eastman School of Music. A Finalist in the 1983 Concert Artists’ Guild Competition in New York City, she has appeared as a guest soloist with many of the Philadelphia area’s top ensembles and collaborated with some of its’ finest performers and conductors. She has premiered several new solo compositions for trumpet and is well-known for her rendition of “The Trumpet Shall Sound” (from Handel’s MESSIAH) in churches in the region to the stage of the Academy of Music in Philadelphia. She has also recorded a CD entitled, Barbara Prugh, Trumpet Artistry. Besides her solo work, Barbara has frequently been heard in a “principal trumpeter” capacity with area orchestras, including a tour of Portugal with the Delaware Symphony and twenty years in that capacity with the Reading Symphony. She has also performed as part of the Philadelphia Orchestra’s trumpet section under Ricardo Muti. Barbara concertizes extensively with the Festive Brass (quintet) and has performed with Mannheim Steamroller and Diana Ross in area appearances. She recently premiered a show called Lady With a Horn, a memoir of her musical life, and plans to develop that further. She has traveled to Europe several times (including a tour as trumpet soloist with the University of Delaware Concert Choir while in college, a performance at the International Brass Congress in Switzerland, and a trip to the Czech Republic and Bulgaria to solo and record with orchestras there) and travels north each summer to perform as solo and principal trumpet for the White Mountain Bach Festival (where she’s also served as a conductor). She’s also been featured at International Trumpet Guild conferences and the International Women’s Brass Conference. For more information on Barbara visit www.trumpetsinger.com.
Linda Young Lorgus is an active accompanist in the PA-DE-NJ tri-state area. She has performed with orchestras, vocal ensembles, soloists, private music studios and several area school music programs. Some of her accompanying credits include for the Youngstown Symphony Chorus and Orchestra, the National Association of Teachers of Singing vocal competitions, and the Brandywine Dinner Theater. She has played for the Matinee Musical Club of Philadelphia’s Young Artist Concerts held at the Academy of Music and for instrumental Master Classes at the Kimmel Center. As part of the Kinckner-Lorgus Organ Piano Duo, Linda has performed at Longwood Gardens on the magnificent Aeolian organ and Steinway piano. She has traveled with several groups to perform on stages at Disneyworld and Colonial Williamsburg. She also works with Schulmerich Carillons, arranging and recording carillon music heard from bell towers. Linda is Music Director and Organist at St. Michael Lutheran Church in Unionville, PA. where directs five vocal and handbell choirs. Prior to coming to St. Michael, she was the Principal Organist and Handbell Director at Westminster Presbyterian Church, West Chester, PA, a position she held for over twenty years. She has rung with both the Philadelphia Handbell Ensemble and Bell Amis Handbell Ensemble. She holds a degree in Church Music from Westminster College where she majored in piano and organ performance. Linda studied organ with Raymond Ocock and Robert Carwithen. She studied piano with Jane and Benjamin Whitten.
Programs from Recent Performances
