Soprano Amy Shoremount-Obra made her Metropolitan Opera debut as the First Lady in Mozart’s “The Magic Flute.” Courtesy photo

Presented by the Hawaii International Music Festival on Wednesday, the ProArts Playhouse will host an “Echoes of Elegance” featuring pianist Monica Chung and acclaimed soprano Amy Shoremount-Obra.

The concert will include “a collection of our favorite pieces over the past six years,” said Chung. “I get to work with Amy almost every January on the Big Island. We really love performing together when we have the opportunity, which is not very often. When she asked me, ‘What do you want to do for Maui?’ I was like, ‘Let’s just do all of our favorites.'”

A renowned concert pianist from New York City who performed with orchestras in Hungary, England and Russia, Chung has lived on Kauai for the last 12 years.

Shoremount-Obra’s career spans the world’s greatest opera houses, major concert halls and music festivals. Known for her commanding stage presence, expressive vocal artistry and versatility across repertoire, she stands as a leading figure in the classical music scene.

Among the works they will perform are pieces by Schubert and Schumann, and a selection of songs by John Woods Duke, one of America’s foremost composers of art songs.

“What inspired me and drew me in was that they were based on poems by Emily Dickinson,” Chung explained. “Some of them are really beautiful, very floral, very whimsical and playful. They’re the kind of songs that, especially in an intimate setting, you feel like you’re part of a painting. Like you’re in the art. But also some of the songs are very fast-paced and fleeting and thrilling.”

The duo will also include some musical theater.

“She’s doing ‘Bill’ from ‘Show Boat’ and ‘I Could Have Danced All Night’ from ‘My Fair Lady,'” said Chung. “She has quite a theater background.”

Meanwhile, Chung will get the chance to flaunt her stuff, so to speak, on piano.

“We’re ending with a set from Roger Quilter, and the finale piece is called ‘Love’s Philosophy,'” she said. “It’s quite virtuosic. In the program there’s also ‘Canciones Clásicas Españolas’ from the composer Obradors, which is very flashy.”

Chung made her orchestral debut at age 11 with the North Carolina Piedmont Triad Symphony Orchestra. Besides performing internationally as a soloist with orchestras, she participated in prestigious music festivals and masterclasses around the world, from the Banff Chamber Music Festival in Canada and the Puigcerda Festival in Spain to the International Musicians Seminar in England.

Kauai-based pianist Monica Chung has performed internationally as a soloist with orchestras. She will perform with Amy Shoremount-Obra on Wednesday at the ProArts Playhouse. Courtesy photo

After a busy touring schedule, Chung briefly stopped playing piano about 15 years ago and became a yoga teacher.

“I tried to step away, but that didn’t last very long,” she said. “When I came out of a break, I had not played for almost five years. So, getting back into it was painful, literally. I still teach yoga. It helps keep my head on my shoulders.”

One of the founders of the Hawaii International Music Festival, Shoremount-Obra sang on Maui in 2016 with violinist Eric Silberger, Louisiana Philharmonic cellist Daniel Lelchuk and Canadian pianist Ian Parker for the festival’s first season.

Making her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 2014, Shoremount-Obra played the First Lady in Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” a role she has returned to multiple times and recorded with the company. Her dramatic roles included the title characters in “Turandot” and “Salome,” Leonore in “Fidelio,” Donna Anna in “Don Giovanni,” and featured parts in works by Strauss, Verdi and Wagner.

Besides opera, she excels in concert and recital settings. Notable debuts include soprano solos in Brahms’ “Requiem” at Carnegie Hall and Verdi’s “Requiem” at Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall.

“Amy is one heck of a soprano,” said Chung. “She’s lovely to work with.”

The artistic director of the Kauai Concert Association, Chung performs with the Ensemble Henrietta chamber group. Among her concerts on the island, she mounted a successful fundraiser to ship her Steinway grand piano from New York.

“That was an adventure,” she recalled. “I had to get it out from New York City and traveled to Kentucky, where I found a company that created custom crates specifically for pianos and motorcycles. They built the crate, and then it got driven to California, where it got on a ship to Oahu first and then to Kauai. I had every nightmare imaginable. I had nightmares that the ship sank to the bottom of the sea. I dreamt about everything.”

“Echoes of Elegance: An Evening with Soprano Amy Shoremount-Obra and Pianist Monica Chung” will be at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the ProArts Playhouse. Tickets range from $26 to $42 at proartsmaui.org.