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Elem Eley, a LaGrange native, will be giving a classical concert at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Callaway Auditorium.

Admission to this concert is free and it promises to be a memorable evening featuring a very talented and accomplished singer.

Baritone Eley is professor of voice at Westminster Choir College of Rider University, joining the faculty in 1987 after previous teaching positions in Texas and Georgia. He performs frequent song recitals, with prominent pianists such as Dalton Baldwin and J.J. Penna. Current and former students of Elem Eley sing with major opera companies in concert venues across the globe.

Eley enjoys a varied career, from opera, oratorio and recital to premières of contemporary vocal music. He appears on four recent recordings, two of them released by Albany Records — including a solo album (with pianist, JJ Penna), Drifts and Shadows: American Song for the New Millennium.

A review appearing in Journal of Singing declares, “No matter what technical and expressive hurdles these songs present, Eley surmounts them with conviction and assurance…What they [Eley and Penna] achieve here is truly profound.”

The duo have recorded a new CD featuring Lieder of Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Wolf and Frank Martin, to be released in early 2013 on Centaur Records, entitled Der Geist spricht/The Spirit Speaks.

In Vienna, Mr. Eley sang Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch (with soprano Faith Esham and Penna) in a 2011 recital at the Schubert Geburtshaus. He has coached there with both Walter Moore and Norman Shetler (also with Robert Holl, Carolyn Hague and Joëlle Bouffa). Additionally during his 2011 leave in Vienna, he taught a master class to students at Konservatorium Wien Privatuniversität. More recently, Eley and Penna presented a guest recital and master class at Indiana University. Recitals and master classes in fall of 2012 will be hosted by LaGrange College and by Columbus State University. He rejoins conductor Allan Birney and the Pennsylvania Sinfonia/Camerata Singers for Messiah on Dec. 15.

Eley has performed in leading concert and recital venues, including Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and other New York City venues. He has appeared with the Symphony Orchestras of Buffalo, Charlotte, Kansas City, New Jersey, Sioux City, Springfield and Syracuse, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, The Little Orchestra Society, Princeton Pro Musica, and many other presenting groups. He sang the title role of Don Giovanni for his debut at the Operafestival di Roma and appeared in productions with the opera companies of Cincinnati, Hawaii, Shreveport and Syracuse, Athena Grand Opera, the Sylvan Opera Festival, the Center for Contemporary Opera and Musica Europa 2001.

Recent seasons featured a return to Avery Fisher Hall as soloist in Messiah with the Peniel Concert Choir, Carmina Burana and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Springfield (MO) Symphony, recitals at Berry College and Westminster Choir College of Rider University, and a performance on the Joy in Singing Anniversary Gala at Merkin Concert Hall. Winner of the 1996 Joy in Singing Award, Elem Eley is Professor of Voice at Westminster Choir College of Rider University. He is also founder/director of the summer program, Vienna: Language of Lieder, dually focused on preparation, coaching and performance of Lieder and language study, annually conducted in the City of Music.

Pianist J.J. Penna will accompany baritone Eley in Thursday’s program. Together, the duo plan to perform a rather ambitious array of selections from five different composers.

Included in the program will be selections from Aaron Copeland (1900-1990), Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835), Edvard Grieg (1843-1907), Francis Poulenc (!899-1963) and Lee Hoiby (1926-2011)

This performance promises to be an early holiday treat for all, and one that should definitely not be missed.