Premier British early music choral ensemble

Peter Phillips, conductor

{$30 General | $25 Senior 60+ | $5 Student}

Program

Robert White: Lamentations II

Robert White: Exaudiat te

Thomas Tallis: Lamentations II

Intermission

Robert Parsons: O bone Jesu

Robert Parsons: Ave Maria

Robert White: Regina caeli

William Byrd: All Saints Propers

• Gaudeamus omnes

• Timete Dominum

• Justorum animae

• Beati mundo corde

The journey behind this program is a familiar one: from darkness into light. Or, to put it in a more Christian way, from penitence into joy. This is an emotional journey, often associated with Lent and Easter, which has inspired some of the greatest sacred music ever written. Our first half is largely devoted to the mood of Lent, nowhere more beautifully captured than in the two English settings of the Lamentations, by White and Tallis. Both composers are masters at alternating the traditional words of lament with the greater reflection provided by the Hebrew letters, which punctuate the main text.

In the second half we join in worship of Jesus and Mary as they fulfill the Easter prophecy and lead us to heaven through the Saints: Jesus in Parsons's magnificent setting of O bone Jesu; Mary in the Ave Maria and Regina caeli settings. The message of these pieces is then summed up in the complete cycle of Byrd's Propers for All Saints - four motets which take us to stand, with the Saints, before God, who is the origin of light. The beautiful music of Justorum animae - one of Byrd's most performed motets - assures the righteous of their place in heaven, while the final Beati mundo corde affirms that the clean of heart 'shall see God'.

- Peter Phillips

The Tallis Scholars were founded in 1973 by their director, Peter Phillips. Through their recordings and concert performances, they have established themselves as the leading exponents of Renaissance sacred music throughout the world. Peter Phillips has worked with the ensemble to create the purity and clarity of sound which he feels best serves the Renaissance repertoire. It is the resulting beauty of sound for which The Tallis Scholars have become so widely renowned.

The Tallis Scholars perform in both sacred and secular venues, giving around 80 concerts each year. In 2013 the group celebrated their 40th anniversary with a World Tour, and now look ahead to their 50th anniversary in 2023. As of the beginning of the cancellations caused by the COVID-19 crisis, the Tallis Scholars had made 2,327 appearances, worldwide.

2022/23 season highlights include performances in Australia, New York and Boston, Amsterdam, Zurich, Paris, tours of Italy, a number of appearances in London as well as their usual touring schedule around the USA, Europe and the UK. In a monumental project to mark Josquin des Prez’ 500th anniversary celebrations The Tallis Scholars sang all eighteen of the composer’s masses over the course of 4 days at the Boulez Saal in Berlin in July 2022.

Recordings by The Tallis Scholars have attracted many awards throughout the world. The latest recording of Josquin masses including Missa Hercules Dux Ferrarie was released in November 2020 and was winner of the BBC Music Magazine’s much coveted Recording of the Year Award in 2021 and the 2021 Gramophone Early Music Award. This disc was the last of nine albums in The Tallis Scholars' project to record and release all Josquin's masses before the 500th anniversary of the composer’s death in 2021.

Peter Phillips has dedicated his career to the research and performance of Renaissance polyphony, and to the perfecting of choral sound. He founded The Tallis Scholars in 1973, with whom he has now appeared in over 2,300 concerts and made over 60 discs, world-wide. As a result of this commitment Peter Phillips and The Tallis Scholars have done more than any other group to establish the sacred vocal music of the Renaissance as one of the great repertoires of Western classical music.

Peter Phillips also conducts other specialist ensembles. He is currently working with the BBC Singers, the Netherlands Chamber Choir, the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Intrada (Moscow) and El Leon de Oro (Spain). He is Patron of the Chapel Choir of Merton College Oxford.

In addition to conducting, Peter Phillips is well-known as a writer. For 33 years he contributed a regular music column to The Spectator. In 1995 he became the publisher of The Musical Times, the oldest continuously published music journal in the world. His first book, English Sacred Music 1549-1649, was published by Gimell in 1991, while his second, What We Really Do, appeared in 2013. During 2018, BBC Radio 3 broadcast his view of Renaissance polyphony, in a series of six hour-long programmes, entitled The Glory of Polyphony.

In 2005 Peter Phillips was made a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture. In 2008 Peter helped to found the chapel choir of Merton College Oxford, where he is a Bodley Fellow; and in 2021 he was elected an Honorary Fellow of St John’s College, Oxford.

Organist, Abbey of Saint-Maurice in Valais, Switzerland

{no charge for admission}

Born in 1991 in Strasbourg, Thomas Kientz is a French organist and improviser, international concert performer.

Thomas Kientz is a laureate of several international competitions: the Olivier Messiaen competition (Lyon 2019), the 8th organ competition of Saint-Maurice (Switzerland 2015), the "Grand Prix Florentz" of the Académie des Beaux-Arts (Angers 2016), the André Marchal/Gaston Litaize competition (2017), the Schnitger competition of Alkmaar (Netherlands, 2017).

Since then, he has had an international career as a concert artist and organ improviser. He is regularly invited to prestigious festivals in France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States where he was artist in residence at the Cathedral of New Orleans (Louisiana).

Thomas Kientz is a professor at the Haute Ecole de Musique (HEMU) in Lausanne/Fribourg and teaches at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels.

He is also titular organist at the Abbey of Saint-Maurice (VS). At the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris,

Thomas Kientz studied with Olivier Latry, Michel Bouvard, Thierry Escaich, Philippe Lefebvre, Yves Henry, Pierre Pincemaille, Laszlo Fassang, Isabelle Duha, Alain Mabit. He holds a Master's degree in organ performance, a Master's degree in improvisation, and Prizes in harmony, counterpoint, 20th-21st century writing and fugue. In addition, he met in Brussels the Belgian composer Benoît Mernier and within the framework of the Higher Institute of Music in Namur (Belgium) obtained a Master's degree specialized in organ interpretation.

On the recording front, Thomas Kientz has made several recordings, including his complete Homilius organ chorales published by Hortus. It has been acclaimed by the critics, obtained 5 diapasons and 5 stars in Classica. "This endearing repertoire finally benefits from its reference version" (X. Bisaro, Diapason, n°667, p 91).

Passionate about creation in all its forms and about timbre, Thomas Kientz is also a composer. His work Dominus Illuminatio mea for grand-organ won the composition competition of Saint-Sulpice in Paris. He also won a 3rd prize in the competition of the Swiss Society of Contemporary Music (ISCM) with his work for choir O Virgo Splendens.

Brahms Symphony No. 4
Brahms Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn
Mendelssohn Hebrides Overture

Philharmonie Austin
Mark Dupere, conductor

{$30 General | $25 Senior 60+ | $5 Student}

Philharmonie Austin is Austin's premier period instrument orchestra.

In 2002, Redeemer Presbyterian Church began a ten-year collaboration with First Presbyterian Church in its annual St. Cecilia Music Festival. Each year, the two churches contracted period instrument players for three separate concert programs. In 2010, Redeemer moved its part in the festival to the church’s current East Austin location on Alexander Avenue. At that time, the orchestra not only began to accompany the Redeemer Choir but also began its own orchestral concerts under the direction of conductor Mark Dupere. The name Musica Redemptor Orchestra was first adopted and has recently been changed to Philharmonie Austin, and has since played annual orchestra concerts featuring repertoire of the baroque and classical periods. The development of the orchestra more recently expanded in size for the performance of Mendelssohn’s Elijah, a work requiring an orchestra of 45 players.

Mark Dupere, conductor

Mark Dupere is Associate Professor of Music at Lawrence University, where he is the Director of Orchestral Studies. He is a passionate educator and hopes to impart a love of music-making and active engagement with audiences in the performance of music from all periods. He currently conducts the Lawrence Symphony and Chamber Orchestras.

As a cellist, Mark performed throughout Europe with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Haagsche Hofmuzieck, and Ani-ma Eterna Brugge and was an apprentice with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in London. Mark was a “Emerging Artist” at the Victoria Bach Festival, performed in the Leipzig Bach Competition, and most recently was named a national finalist in the American Prize in Conducting. Mark holds degrees in cello from the University of Texas at Austin and the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, the Netherlands, and a Doctorate in Orchestral Conducting from Michigan State University.

Emily Dupere, concertmaster

Emily Dupere, Australian violinist, has performed as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player throughout Europe, the USA, and Australia. She has collaborated with artists such as Malcolm Bilson, Bart van Oort, Petra Somlai, Elizabeth Wallfisch, Shunske Sato, Jaap ter Linden, Sigiswald Kuijken, Maasaki Suzuki, Jos van Immerseel, and Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Emily studied under Paul Wright at the University of Western Australia, graduating with first class honors and was awarded the Lady Callaway Medal for the most outstanding graduate. She completed her studies in baroque violin at The Royal Conservatoire in The Hague with Ryo Terakado, Kati Debretzeni, and Walter Reiter.

In Australia, Emily performed with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, as an Emerging Artist with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, and with the award-winning Sartory String quartet. In Europe she performed with many groups including The Wallfisch Band (UK), Les Passions de l’âme (Switzerland), Les Inventions (France), Haagsche Hofmuziek (NL), Collegium Musicum Den Haag (NL), The English Baroque Soloists (UK), Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique (UK), Bach Collegium Japan, and Anima Eterna Brugge (Belgium). Emily’s particular interests include the sacred music of Bach and classical and romantic chamber music on period instruments.

Brahms Symphony No. 4
Brahms Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn
Mendelssohn Hebrides Overture

Philharmonie Austin
Mark Dupere, conductor

{$30 General | $25 Senior 60+ | $5 Student}

Philharmonie Austin is Austin's premier period instrument orchestra.

In 2002, Redeemer Presbyterian Church began a ten-year collaboration with First Presbyterian Church in its annual St. Cecilia Music Festival. Each year, the two churches contracted period instrument players for three separate concert programs. In 2010, Redeemer moved its part in the festival to the church’s current East Austin location on Alexander Avenue. At that time, the orchestra not only began to accompany the Redeemer Choir but also began its own orchestral concerts under the direction of conductor Mark Dupere. The name Musica Redemptor Orchestra was first adopted and has recently been changed to Philharmonie Austin, and has since played annual orchestra concerts featuring repertoire of the baroque and classical periods. The development of the orchestra more recently expanded in size for the performance of Mendelssohn’s Elijah, a work requiring an orchestra of 45 players.

Mark Dupere, conductor

Mark Dupere is Associate Professor of Music at Lawrence University, where he is the Director of Orchestral Studies. He is a passionate educator and hopes to impart a love of music-making and active engagement with audiences in the performance of music from all periods. He currently conducts the Lawrence Symphony and Chamber Orchestras.

As a cellist, Mark performed throughout Europe with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Haagsche Hofmuzieck, and Ani-ma Eterna Brugge and was an apprentice with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in London. Mark was a “Emerging Artist” at the Victoria Bach Festival, performed in the Leipzig Bach Competition, and most recently was named a national finalist in the American Prize in Conducting. Mark holds degrees in cello from the University of Texas at Austin and the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, the Netherlands, and a Doctorate in Orchestral Conducting from Michigan State University.

Emily Dupere, concertmaster

Emily Dupere, Australian violinist, has performed as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player throughout Europe, the USA, and Australia. She has collaborated with artists such as Malcolm Bilson, Bart van Oort, Petra Somlai, Elizabeth Wallfisch, Shunske Sato, Jaap ter Linden, Sigiswald Kuijken, Maasaki Suzuki, Jos van Immerseel, and Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Emily studied under Paul Wright at the University of Western Australia, graduating with first class honors and was awarded the Lady Callaway Medal for the most outstanding graduate. She completed her studies in baroque violin at The Royal Conservatoire in The Hague with Ryo Terakado, Kati Debretzeni, and Walter Reiter.

In Australia, Emily performed with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, as an Emerging Artist with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, and with the award-winning Sartory String quartet. In Europe she performed with many groups including The Wallfisch Band (UK), Les Passions de l’âme (Switzerland), Les Inventions (France), Haagsche Hofmuziek (NL), Collegium Musicum Den Haag (NL), The English Baroque Soloists (UK), Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique (UK), Bach Collegium Japan, and Anima Eterna Brugge (Belgium). Emily’s particular interests include the sacred music of Bach and classical and romantic chamber music on period instruments.

Director of Music, Church of the Holy Trinity, Philadelphia
Artistic Director, Ensemble VIII

{no charge for admission}

Hailed as a “fresh voice on New York’s musical scene” (The New Yorker), Donald Meineke is an organist, conductor, tenor, and the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Ensemble VIII. He maintains an active career as a recitalist, lecturer, conductor, and singer performing with local, national, and international ensembles.

Meineke serves as the Director of Music and organist for the historic Church of the Holy Trinity (Episcopal) on Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia, known fondly as the birthplace of the Christmas carol “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” composed as a collaboration between the priest and organist in 1868. He has served as Cantor of The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity in New York City where he led the twice Grammy®-nominated Bach Choir and Players in the internationally renowned Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity series. His Bach Choir’s recording of Samuel Capricornus’ Jubilus Bernhardi, in collaboration with string ensemble ACRONYM, received critical acclaim and was on Colorado Public Radio’s December 2017 “Top 5 Must Have New Recordings” list. His recordings of Capricornus and Bach Vespers have been featured on classical music stations nationally and internationally, including KMFA’s Ancient Voices and WXXI’s With Heart and Voice, and he has appeared as a guest artist on Columbia University-WKCR’s Bachfest. 

He was the Co-Founder and Director of the 2014 Early Music Festival: NYC which featured over thirty concerts by dozens of local and national ensembles to critical acclaim. Meineke served as a choirmaster for Maestro Helmuth Rilling for many years, preparing choirs across Europe and South America for performances of the major choral and orchestral works by Bach, Mozart, and others.

Christmas Lessons from the Scriptures
The Carols of Christmas
The Redeemer Choir
George Dupere, Chief Musician
Michael Phillips, organist
Christmas Eve, Saturday, December 24, 2023, at 4:00 and 6:00 pm

{no charge for admission}

The King’s College Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols was first held on Christmas Eve 1918. It was planned by Eric Milner-White, who at the age of thirty-four had just been appointed Dean of King’s after experience as an army chaplain, which had convinced him that the Church of England needed more imaginative worship. The music was then directed by Arthur Henry Mann, Organist 1876-1929. The choir included sixteen trebles as laid down in King Henry VI’s statutes, but until 1927 the men’s voices were provided partly by Choral Scholars and partly by older Lay Clerks, and not, as now, by fourteen undergraduates.

A revision of the Order of Service was made in 1919, involving rearrangement of the lessons, and from that date the service has always begun with the hymn “Once in Royal David’s City.” In almost every year some carols have been changed and some new ones introduced by successive Organists: Arthur Henry Mann; Boris Ord, 1929-57; Harold Darke (his substitute during the war), 1940-45; Sir David Willcocks, 1957-73; Philip Ledger, 1974-82 and, from 1982, Stephen Cleobury. The backbone of the service, the lessons and the prayers, has remained virtually unchanged.

The original service was, in fact, adapted from an Order drawn up by E.W. Benson, later Archbishop of Canterbury, for use in the wooden shed, which then served as his cathedral in Truro, at 10 p.m. on Christmas Eve 1880. A.C. Benson recalled: “My father arranged from ancient sources a little service for Christmas Eve—nine carols and nine tiny lessons, which were read by various officers of the Church, beginning with a chorister, and ending, through the different grades, with the Bishop.” The suggestion had come from G.H.S. Walpole, later Bishop of Edinburgh.

Almost immediately other churches adapted the service for their own use. A wider frame began to grow when the service was first broadcast in 1928 and, with the exception of 1930, it has been broadcast annually, even during the Second World War, when the ancient glass (and also all heat) had been removed from the Chapel and the name of King’s could not be broadcast for security reasons. Sometime in the early 1930s the BBC began broadcasting the service on overseas programs. It is estimated that there are millions of listeners worldwide. Recordings of carols by Decca and EMI have also served to spread its fame.

In these and other ways the service has become public property. From time to time the College receives copies of services held, for example, in the West Indies or the Far East, and these show how widely the tradition has spread. The broadcasts, too, have become part of Christmas for many far from Cambridge. One correspondent writes that he heard the service in a tent on the foothills of Everest; another, in the desert. Many listen at home, busy about their own preparations for Christmas. Visitors from all over the world are heard to identify the King’s College Chapel as “the place where the Carols are sung.”

Wherever the service is heard and however it is adapted, whether the music is provided by choir or congregation, the pattern and strength of the service, as Dean Milner-White pointed out, derive from the lessons and not the music. “The main theme is the development of the loving purposes of God…” seen ‘through the windows and words of the Bible’. Local interests appear, as they do here, in the bidding prayer, and personal circumstances give point to different parts of the service. Many of those who took part in the first service must have recalled those killed in the Great War when it came to the famous passage “all those who rejoice with us but on another shore and in a greater light.” The center of the service is still found by those who “go in heart and mind” and who consent to follow where the story leads.

Christmas Lessons from the Scriptures
The Carols of Christmas
The Redeemer Choir
George Dupere, Chief Musician
Michael Phillips, organist
Christmas Eve, Saturday, December 24, 2023, at 4:00 and 6:00 pm

{no charge for admission}

The King’s College Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols was first held on Christmas Eve 1918. It was planned by Eric Milner-White, who at the age of thirty-four had just been appointed Dean of King’s after experience as an army chaplain, which had convinced him that the Church of England needed more imaginative worship. The music was then directed by Arthur Henry Mann, Organist 1876-1929. The choir included sixteen trebles as laid down in King Henry VI’s statutes, but until 1927 the men’s voices were provided partly by Choral Scholars and partly by older Lay Clerks, and not, as now, by fourteen undergraduates.

A revision of the Order of Service was made in 1919, involving rearrangement of the lessons, and from that date the service has always begun with the hymn “Once in Royal David’s City.” In almost every year some carols have been changed and some new ones introduced by successive Organists: Arthur Henry Mann; Boris Ord, 1929-57; Harold Darke (his substitute during the war), 1940-45; Sir David Willcocks, 1957-73; Philip Ledger, 1974-82 and, from 1982, Stephen Cleobury. The backbone of the service, the lessons and the prayers, has remained virtually unchanged.

The original service was, in fact, adapted from an Order drawn up by E.W. Benson, later Archbishop of Canterbury, for use in the wooden shed, which then served as his cathedral in Truro, at 10 p.m. on Christmas Eve 1880. A.C. Benson recalled: “My father arranged from ancient sources a little service for Christmas Eve—nine carols and nine tiny lessons, which were read by various officers of the Church, beginning with a chorister, and ending, through the different grades, with the Bishop.” The suggestion had come from G.H.S. Walpole, later Bishop of Edinburgh.

Almost immediately other churches adapted the service for their own use. A wider frame began to grow when the service was first broadcast in 1928 and, with the exception of 1930, it has been broadcast annually, even during the Second World War, when the ancient glass (and also all heat) had been removed from the Chapel and the name of King’s could not be broadcast for security reasons. Sometime in the early 1930s the BBC began broadcasting the service on overseas programs. It is estimated that there are millions of listeners worldwide. Recordings of carols by Decca and EMI have also served to spread its fame.

In these and other ways the service has become public property. From time to time the College receives copies of services held, for example, in the West Indies or the Far East, and these show how widely the tradition has spread. The broadcasts, too, have become part of Christmas for many far from Cambridge. One correspondent writes that he heard the service in a tent on the foothills of Everest; another, in the desert. Many listen at home, busy about their own preparations for Christmas. Visitors from all over the world are heard to identify the King’s College Chapel as “the place where the Carols are sung.”

Wherever the service is heard and however it is adapted, whether the music is provided by choir or congregation, the pattern and strength of the service, as Dean Milner-White pointed out, derive from the lessons and not the music. “The main theme is the development of the loving purposes of God…” seen ‘through the windows and words of the Bible’. Local interests appear, as they do here, in the bidding prayer, and personal circumstances give point to different parts of the service. Many of those who took part in the first service must have recalled those killed in the Great War when it came to the famous passage “all those who rejoice with us but on another shore and in a greater light.” The center of the service is still found by those who “go in heart and mind” and who consent to follow where the story leads.

Ensemble VIII
Chris Oelkers, organist
Donald Meineke, artistic director

{$30 General | $25 Senior 60+ | $5 Student}

Plan now to attend this inspiring evening to celebrate the beauty of Advent and Christmas with the voices of Ensemble VIII. Director Donald Meineke will lead a choir of 18 singers in this reenactment of the well-known Christmas Eve services at King’s College Chapel, first performed in 1918. The singers will read the traditional lessons and the audience will be invited to sing the carols of the season.

Ensemble VIII is a world-class vocal ensemble whose mission is to perform vocal music of the Renaissance and Baroque at the highest artistic level with a keen attention to scholarship and historically informed performance practices.

Ensemble VIII comprises some of the nation’s most accomplished and outstanding early musicians. Under the direction of artistic director Donald Meineke, these artists bring to the extremely challenging music of the Baroque and Renaissance superior technical abilities and experience in performing stunning and exacting repertoire.

Ensemble VIII’s ambition is to make the vast canon of Renaissance and Baroque vocal music accessible and fresh to Austin and Central Texas audiences. The ensemble offers a rare opportunity to hear superb specialists in early music perform at the highest degree of technical precision and dramatic intensity.

Chris Oelkers, Organist

Chris Oelkers was born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. A recipient of numerous scholarships and awards, he studied organ and church music at the University of Manitoba, the Toronto Conservatory of Music, and the University of Kansas, where he studied with Michael Bauer and James Higdon. He was Cathedral Organist at St. Mary’s Cathedral, Winnipeg, and later Director of Music for the First Congregational Church of Topeka, Kansas.

From 1998-2005, Chris was Principal Organist and Associate Music Director for Village Presbyterian Church in suburban Kansas City, where he presided over the organ concert series, as well as the Annual Handbell Festival. Chris served as adjudicator for the Carlene Neihart Organ Competition, judging performances in both repertoire and improvisation. During this time, Chris was organist and accompanist for the Festival Singers of Atlanta and later the Festival Singers of Kansas City. He played organ and piano on several CDs, including a recording of the landmark Laudes Organi by Zoltan Kodaly. Chris also served as accompanist for the Kansas City Chorale under the Direction of Charles Bruffy, most notably in a concert performance of the Duruflé Requiem. In 2004, he was commissioned by the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art to provide a live soundtrack for a screening of the 1914 film His Majesty the Scarecrow of Oz.

In August of 2005, he joined the ministry team at St. Louis King of France Catholic Church in Austin, and from 2009–16 served as Director of Music for that parish. In 2016, Chris answered a call to serve as Director of Music and Organist for the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Austin, where he oversees a thriving music ministry in a fast-growing parish.

Chris is active as a recitalist and has given many performances in the United States, Canada, and Europe, most notably at the St. Thomas Church, Leipzig; Tewkesbury Abbey, Gloucestershire; St. Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh; and St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City. He was a semifinalist and finalist in the American Guild of Organists National Competition in Organ Improvisation. Chris was featured on the Great Organ Series at the University of Texas and was Guest Artist on KMFA 89.5 FM radio’s weekly broadcast of Pipeworks. When not occupied as a church musician, he directs the Austin Saengerrunde, a German choir representing the oldest ethnic society in Austin, dating to 1879. Chris and his family live in Austin.

Donald Meineke, Artistic Director

Hailed as a “fresh voice on New York’s musical scene” (The New Yorker), Donald Meineke is an organist, conductor, tenor, and the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Ensemble VIII. He maintains an active career as a recitalist, lecturer, conductor, and singer performing with local, national, and international ensembles.

Meineke serves as the Director of Music and organist for the historic Church of the Holy Trinity (Episcopal) on Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia, known fondly as the birthplace of the Christmas carol “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” composed as a collaboration between the priest and organist in 1868. He has served as Cantor of The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity in New York City where he led the twice Grammy®-nominated Bach Choir and Players in the internationally renowned Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity series. His Bach Choir’s recording of Samuel Capricornus’ Jubilus Bernhardi, in collaboration with string ensemble ACRONYM, received critical acclaim and was on Colorado Public Radio’s December 2017 “Top 5 Must Have New Recordings” list. His recordings of Capricornus and Bach Vespers have been featured on classical music stations nationally and internationally, including KMFA’s Ancient Voices and WXXI’s With Heart and Voice, and he has appeared as a guest artist on Columbia University-WKCR’s Bachfest. 

He was the Co-Founder and Director of the 2014 Early Music Festival: NYC which featured over thirty concerts by dozens of local and national ensembles to critical acclaim. Meineke served as a choirmaster for Maestro Helmuth Rilling for many years, preparing choirs across Europe and South America for performances of the major choral and orchestral works by Bach, Mozart, and others.

Johann Sebastian Bach: Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140
Georg Frideric Handel: Concerto Grosso in B-flat Major, HWV 313, Op. 3, No. 2   
Antonio Vivaldi: Gloria

Soloists: Jessica Beebe, soprano; Doug Dodson, countertenor; Steven Brennfleck, tenor; Edward Vogel, bass
The Redeemer Choir
Philharmonie Austin
Mark Dupere, conductor

{no charge for admission}

Mark Dupere, conductor

Mark Dupere is Associate Professor of Music at Lawrence University, where he is the Director of Orchestral Studies. He is a passionate educator and hopes to impart a love of music-making and active engagement with audiences in the performance of music from all periods. He currently conducts the Lawrence Symphony and Chamber Orchestras.

As a cellist, Mark performed throughout Europe with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Haagsche Hofmuzieck, and Ani-ma Eterna Brugge and was an apprentice with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in London. Mark was a “Emerging Artist” at the Victoria Bach Festival, performed in the Leipzig Bach Competition, and most recently was named a national finalist in the American Prize in Conducting. Mark holds degrees in cello from the University of Texas at Austin and the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, the Netherlands, and a Doctorate in Orchestral Conducting from Michigan State University.

Jessica Beebe, soprano

Lauded by Opera News as “evocative and ethereal”, “a honey-colored tone”, and "the most radiant solo singing", soprano Jessica Beebe is steadily gaining international attention as an affecting interpreter of repertoire spanning over four centuries, ranging from Renaissance music to contemporary American opera. In recent seasons, she has appeared as a guest soloist in concert with The New York City Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, The Los Angeles Philharmonic at Walt Disney Hall, The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Raymond Leppard; The Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra; the Princeton Festival Orchestra; The English Concert under Harry Bicket, Bourbon Baroque, Piffaro The Renaissance Wind Band; The Folger Consort; the Delaware Symphony Orchestra; the Utah Symphony under the baton of Craig Jessop, and several other orchestras and ensembles.

Ms. Beebe's vast solo concert and oratorio repertoire includes such major works like Monteverdi's Vespro della beata vergine; Vivaldi's In furore iustissimae iræ and Gloria; Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater; J. S. Bach's Mass in B minor, St. Matthew Passion, St. John Passion, Christmas Oratorio, and a wide range of cantatas; Handel's Messiah, Dixit Dominus, Samson, Semele, Jepthe, and Judas Maccabaeus; Mozart's Mass in C minor, Coronation Mass, Vespers, and Requiem; Haydn's Die Schöpfung, The Seasons, Te Deum, Lord Nelson Mass, and Harmoniemesse; Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem; Fauré's Requiem; Vaughan Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem; Delius' Requiem; and Orff's Carmina Burana. She has also performed late 20th & 21st-century works such as John Adam's El Niño; Andrea Clearfield's Alleluia; Donald McCullough's Song of the Shulamite; John Rutter's Requiem and Mass for the Children; and Richard Einhorn's Voices of Light.

In the realm of opera, Ms. Beebe has performed a variety of roles including Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro (the role of her 2015 debut with the Princeton Festival), Zerlina in Don Giovanni, and Despina in Così fan tutte; Gluck's Euridice and Humperdinck's Gretel; 20th-century roles such as the First Niece in Peter Grimes with Princeton Opera Festival, and the First Daughter in Akhnaten with Indianapolis Opera, and in 17th-century repertoire, the commanding roles of La Gloire in Lully's Alceste and Purcell's Dido. Highlights of her operatic activity including covering the role of Lila in the 2016 East Coast premiere of Jennifer Higdon's Cold Mountain, and joining Norway's Bergen National Opera to cover the role of the Angel in Netia Jones' hi-tech staged production of Messiah. In 2017, she helped to create the role of Luna in the world premiere of David Hertzberg's The Wake World with Opera Philadelphia and in 2018 she covered Winnie in Lembit Beecher's Sky on Swings. In 2019, Ms. Beebe debuted with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the west coast debut of Meredith Monk's opera, Atlas. Beebe is a frequent performer of contemporary opera and is currently workshopping new operas with Opera Philadelphia by Jennifer Higdon and Missy Mazzoli.

Ms. Beebe is a member of GRAMMY winning ensemble The Crossing, GRAMMY nominated Clarion Society, GRAMMY nominated Seraphic Fire, founding member of Variant 6, Lorelei Ensemble, Trio Eos and Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia.

A native of the Philadelphia suburbs, Jessica Beebe earned her Bachelor of Music from the University of Delaware, her Master of Music in Early Music from Indiana University, and a Performance Certificate from London's Royal College of Music. Ms. Beebe is on faculty at both Franklin and Marshall and Muhlenberg Colleges. https://www.jessicabeebesoprano.com/

Doug Dodson, countertenor

Possessing a “beautiful, ringing, and agile countertenor” (Boston Classical Review), Doug Dodson brings sensitive musicality and strong dramatic instincts to repertoire ranging from the baroque to the contemporary. Praised as a “vivid countertenor” by the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Dodson’s current and upcoming seasons feature a wide variety of exciting engagements throughout the United States.

In the 2022-23 season, Mr. Dodson makes his debut with Arts on Alexander in Austin, TX, performing parts IV-VI of Bach's Christmas Oratorio. He returns in the spring to sing his first complete St. John Passion of Bach. He will also be featured as a soloist in sections of the Christmas Oratorio and Bach’s Ascension Oratorio with Seraphic Fire (Miami, FL), and in Herr, wende dich und sei mir gnädig, a rarely heard cantata by Johann Christoph Bach with Atlanta's premier professional choral ensemble Kinnara in their exciting first collaboration with the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra. He was also happy to return to the operatic stage in Pegasus Early Music’s production of Monteverdi’s Orfeo as alto soloist and chorus.

Mr. Dodson's previous season in 2021-22 included performances of Handel's Messiah with the South Dakota Symphony in Sioux Falls, SD, and Bourbon Baroque in Louisville, KY. He also was featured as a soloist with Seraphic Fire in several Bach cantatas and a world premiere for men’s choir and countertenor soloist by Ilana Perez Velázquez, in Britten's Rejoice in the Lamb with the Summer Singers of Atlanta, and embarked on a tour of the UK with TENET Vocal Artists to commemorate the 450th anniversary of the birth of composer Thomas Tomkins, including performances in Cambridge, Oxford, Ely, Stratford-upon-Avon, and Edinburgh.

The 2019-20 season was unfortunately cut short due to the covid pandemic, but did include some exciting solo opportunities for Mr. Dodson, including Bach’s Cantata 106 (Actus tragicus) with Seraphic Fire in collaboration with the Aspen Music Festival and conducted by Robert Spano, and Schütz’ Musikalische Exequien with Boston’s Back Bay Chorale.

In the 2018-2019 season, Mr. Dodson appeared as an alto soloist in Handel’s Messiah with New York City’s TENET Vocal Artists, in a unique unconducted performance featuring just twelve singers and the collaborative instrumental ensemble The Sebastians. He also joined TENET as an alto soloist in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, and appeared as the alto soloist in Messiah with the Handel Society of Dartmouth College. Additionally, Mr. Dodson created the role of Arion in the American premiere of Jonathan Dove’s Arion and the Dolphin with the Harvard Summer Chorus, and sang the countertenor solo in Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms with the Greater Newburgh Symphony Orchestra of Newburgh, NY.

Notable past engagements include the role of The United Way in the American premiere of Tod Machover’s highly anticipated new opera Death and the Powers, an innovative collaboration between the MIT Media Lab and The American Repertory Theatre performed at the A.R.T. (Boston, MA) and Chicago Opera Theatre, under the baton of Gil Rose. The world-premiere audio recording of this opera was released in 2021. Other operatic role creations include Ignis in the world premiere of Per Bloland’s opera Pedr Solis and Farinelli the Rooster in Ken Ueno’s Gallo with Guerilla Opera. The Boston Globe called his aria in Gallo “show-stopping” and Lloyd Schwartz (for New York Arts) praised his “impressive and uninhibited” countertenor. An accomplished Handelian, Mr. Dodson has been featured as the alto soloist in Messiah with the Charlotte Symphony and the South Dakota Symphony (among many others), and has performed the operas of Handel, Monteverdi, and Purcell and the cantatas and oratorios of Bach with such organizations as Boston Baroque, Aldeburgh Music, the Aspen Music Festival, the Handel and Haydn Society (Boston, MA), Seraphic Fire (Miami, FL), TENET Vocal Artists (New York, NY), Pacific MusicWorks (Seattle, WA), Pegasus Early Music (Rochester, NY), and the Henry Purcell Society of Boston.

Mr. Dodson is a dedicated ensemble singer and appears regularly with many esteemed choral ensembles throughout the country, including the prestigious Handel & Haydn Society, Seraphic Fire, Skylark, and Kinnara. He has been featured on four GRAMMY-nominated recordings by Skylark and the South Dakota Chorale.

His discography includes the United Way on the world-premiere recording of Tod Machover’s Death and the Powers, the Voice of the Angel on the world-premiere recording of James Kallembach’s The Most Sacred Body, as Perforated on the world-premiere recording of Nicholas Vines’ Loose, Wet, Perforated, and as a soloist in works by Charpentier and Sances on Viva Italia recorded with the Duke Vespers Ensemble.

Mr. Dodson has degrees from the University of South Dakota (Vermillion) and the University of Missouri - Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance, and was a proud member of the prestigious Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme in conjunction with Aldeburgh Music in Aldeburgh, UK. He also appears as a regular panelist on the critically acclaimed opera podcast OperaNow! and made his television debut in 2018 as a contestant on season 35 of Jeopardy!, where he was a three-day champion.. https://dougdodson.com/

Steven Brennfleck, tenor

Praised by the New York Times as a “stand out” performer, tenor Steven Brennfleck has been consistently acknowledged for his consummate artistry, vocal flexibility, and moving interpretations on the operatic and concert stage. He has received recognition from Classical Singer Magazine’s AudComps, Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions | District Winner ‘06, ‘09, & ’10, and the Mildred Miller International Voice Competition. His operatic credits include performances with American Opera Projects, Glimmerglass Opera, OrpheusPDX, Portland Opera, Spoleto Festival USA, The Tanglewood Festival and others in roles such as Roderick Usher in Philip Glass’ The Fall of the House of Usher, Don Ramiro | Cenerentola, Tamino | Die Zauberflöte, Laurie in Adamo’s Little Women, Madwoman in Britten’s Curlew River, Gonsalve in Ravel’s L’Heure Espagnol, Henrik | A Little Night Music, and Tobias Ragg | Sweeney Todd.

On the concert stage, Mr. Brennfleck has been hailed for his “Outstanding presence and clear, lyric voice” (Texas Classical Review) and “elegant” musicianship (The Baltimore Sun). He is a passionate interpreter of early music and regularly appears with some of the country’s top Baroque musical organizations in works by Bach, Handel, Monteverdi, the French hautre-contre repertory among others. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2012 and finds himself equally at home with art song as well as new and contemporary works. Mr. Brennfleck is a featured artist on recordings of Philip Glass’ Orphée with the Portland Opera and Charles Wuorinen’s cantata It Happens Like This among others. He has collaborated with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, American Bach Soloists, Ars Lyrica Houston, Austin Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Bach Ensemble, LA International New Music Festival, Philadelphia’s Lyric Fest, the MET Chamber Ensemble and the Victoria Bach Festival. In addition to his performance schedule, Mr. Brennfleck is a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique, presenting masterclasses for musicians throughout the United States and abroad. www.stevenbrennfleck.com

Edward Vogel, bass

Praised for his “clarion tone” (Chicago Classical Review) and “commanding and animated” presence (Seen & Heard International), baritone Edward Vogel possesses a diverse repertoire spanning ten centuries. Recent solo appearances have included Handel’s Messiah, Israel in Egypt, and Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine with GRAMMY®-winning Apollo’s Fire under the direction of Jeannette Sorrell; and Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Dona Nobis Pacem, Bach’s Mass in B minor, and Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem with GRAMMY®-nominated True Concord Voices and Orchestra, under the direction of Eric Holtan. The 2023-2024 season will see his solo debut with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, reprising his role in Israel in Egypt with Jeannette Sorrell. In 2019 he made his international solo debut in Bach’s Mass in G Major at Snape Maltings, UK, under the direction of Philippe Herreweghe. Highly in-demand as an ensemble singer, Mr. Vogel has performed with Bach Collegium Japan, and Paul Hillier’s Theatre of Voices in the world premiere of David Lang’s the writings at Carnegie Hall.

An avid recitalist, Edward finds passion in delivering sensitive, intimate performances of both art song and genres that go beyond the traditional classical canon. A two-time Vocal Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, he has honed his craft by coaching with champions of art song including Dawn Upshaw, Roger Vignoles, and the late Sanford Sylvan. His musical interests have led to engaging and diverse recitals of repertoire ranging from music of medieval Iberia to British art songs of the twentieth century.

Edward received his Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music, where he studied with tenor James Taylor. During his time at Yale, he appeared regularly as a soloist with the Yale Schola Cantorum and the Yale Voxtet, most notably in Haydn’s Missa in Angustiis at Lincoln Center with David Hill, and on an album of Christmas music by Heinrich Schütz released on the Hyperion label. Additionally, Mr. Vogel holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame, where he studied with baritone Stephen Lancaster. Prior to his studies at Notre Dame, Edward sang for ten years with the Trinity Choir of Men and Boys in New Haven, Connecticut, where he received extensive training under the direction of R. Walden Moore, with whom he continues to collaborate. edwardvogelmusic.com

Johann Sebastian Bach: Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140
Georg Frideric Handel: Concerto Grosso in B-flat Major, HWV 313, Op. 3, No. 2   
Antonio Vivaldi: Gloria

Soloists: Jessica Beebe, soprano; Doug Dodson, countertenor; Steven Brennfleck, tenor; Edward Vogel, bass
The Redeemer Choir
Philharmonie Austin
Mark Dupere, conductor

{no charge for admission}

Mark Dupere, conductor

Mark Dupere is Associate Professor of Music at Lawrence University, where he is the Director of Orchestral Studies. He is a passionate educator and hopes to impart a love of music-making and active engagement with audiences in the performance of music from all periods. He currently conducts the Lawrence Symphony and Chamber Orchestras.

As a cellist, Mark performed throughout Europe with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Haagsche Hofmuzieck, and Ani-ma Eterna Brugge and was an apprentice with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in London. Mark was a “Emerging Artist” at the Victoria Bach Festival, performed in the Leipzig Bach Competition, and most recently was named a national finalist in the American Prize in Conducting. Mark holds degrees in cello from the University of Texas at Austin and the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, the Netherlands, and a Doctorate in Orchestral Conducting from Michigan State University.

Jessica Beebe, soprano

Lauded by Opera News as “evocative and ethereal”, “a honey-colored tone”, and "the most radiant solo singing", soprano Jessica Beebe is steadily gaining international attention as an affecting interpreter of repertoire spanning over four centuries, ranging from Renaissance music to contemporary American opera. In recent seasons, she has appeared as a guest soloist in concert with The New York City Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, The Los Angeles Philharmonic at Walt Disney Hall, The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Raymond Leppard; The Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra; the Princeton Festival Orchestra; The English Concert under Harry Bicket, Bourbon Baroque, Piffaro The Renaissance Wind Band; The Folger Consort; the Delaware Symphony Orchestra; the Utah Symphony under the baton of Craig Jessop, and several other orchestras and ensembles.

Ms. Beebe's vast solo concert and oratorio repertoire includes such major works like Monteverdi's Vespro della beata vergine; Vivaldi's In furore iustissimae iræ and Gloria; Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater; J. S. Bach's Mass in B minor, St. Matthew Passion, St. John Passion, Christmas Oratorio, and a wide range of cantatas; Handel's Messiah, Dixit Dominus, Samson, Semele, Jepthe, and Judas Maccabaeus; Mozart's Mass in C minor, Coronation Mass, Vespers, and Requiem; Haydn's Die Schöpfung, The Seasons, Te Deum, Lord Nelson Mass, and Harmoniemesse; Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem; Fauré's Requiem; Vaughan Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem; Delius' Requiem; and Orff's Carmina Burana. She has also performed late 20th & 21st-century works such as John Adam's El Niño; Andrea Clearfield's Alleluia; Donald McCullough's Song of the Shulamite; John Rutter's Requiem and Mass for the Children; and Richard Einhorn's Voices of Light.

In the realm of opera, Ms. Beebe has performed a variety of roles including Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro (the role of her 2015 debut with the Princeton Festival), Zerlina in Don Giovanni, and Despina in Così fan tutte; Gluck's Euridice and Humperdinck's Gretel; 20th-century roles such as the First Niece in Peter Grimes with Princeton Opera Festival, and the First Daughter in Akhnaten with Indianapolis Opera, and in 17th-century repertoire, the commanding roles of La Gloire in Lully's Alceste and Purcell's Dido. Highlights of her operatic activity including covering the role of Lila in the 2016 East Coast premiere of Jennifer Higdon's Cold Mountain, and joining Norway's Bergen National Opera to cover the role of the Angel in Netia Jones' hi-tech staged production of Messiah. In 2017, she helped to create the role of Luna in the world premiere of David Hertzberg's The Wake World with Opera Philadelphia and in 2018 she covered Winnie in Lembit Beecher's Sky on Swings. In 2019, Ms. Beebe debuted with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the west coast debut of Meredith Monk's opera, Atlas. Beebe is a frequent performer of contemporary opera and is currently workshopping new operas with Opera Philadelphia by Jennifer Higdon and Missy Mazzoli.

Ms. Beebe is a member of GRAMMY winning ensemble The Crossing, GRAMMY nominated Clarion Society, GRAMMY nominated Seraphic Fire, founding member of Variant 6, Lorelei Ensemble, Trio Eos and Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia.

A native of the Philadelphia suburbs, Jessica Beebe earned her Bachelor of Music from the University of Delaware, her Master of Music in Early Music from Indiana University, and a Performance Certificate from London's Royal College of Music. Ms. Beebe is on faculty at both Franklin and Marshall and Muhlenberg Colleges. https://www.jessicabeebesoprano.com/

Doug Dodson, countertenor

Possessing a “beautiful, ringing, and agile countertenor” (Boston Classical Review), Doug Dodson brings sensitive musicality and strong dramatic instincts to repertoire ranging from the baroque to the contemporary. Praised as a “vivid countertenor” by the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Dodson’s current and upcoming seasons feature a wide variety of exciting engagements throughout the United States.

In the 2022-23 season, Mr. Dodson makes his debut with Arts on Alexander in Austin, TX, performing parts IV-VI of Bach's Christmas Oratorio. He returns in the spring to sing his first complete St. John Passion of Bach. He will also be featured as a soloist in sections of the Christmas Oratorio and Bach’s Ascension Oratorio with Seraphic Fire (Miami, FL), and in Herr, wende dich und sei mir gnädig, a rarely heard cantata by Johann Christoph Bach with Atlanta's premier professional choral ensemble Kinnara in their exciting first collaboration with the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra. He was also happy to return to the operatic stage in Pegasus Early Music’s production of Monteverdi’s Orfeo as alto soloist and chorus.

Mr. Dodson's previous season in 2021-22 included performances of Handel's Messiah with the South Dakota Symphony in Sioux Falls, SD, and Bourbon Baroque in Louisville, KY. He also was featured as a soloist with Seraphic Fire in several Bach cantatas and a world premiere for men’s choir and countertenor soloist by Ilana Perez Velázquez, in Britten's Rejoice in the Lamb with the Summer Singers of Atlanta, and embarked on a tour of the UK with TENET Vocal Artists to commemorate the 450th anniversary of the birth of composer Thomas Tomkins, including performances in Cambridge, Oxford, Ely, Stratford-upon-Avon, and Edinburgh.

The 2019-20 season was unfortunately cut short due to the covid pandemic, but did include some exciting solo opportunities for Mr. Dodson, including Bach’s Cantata 106 (Actus tragicus) with Seraphic Fire in collaboration with the Aspen Music Festival and conducted by Robert Spano, and Schütz’ Musikalische Exequien with Boston’s Back Bay Chorale.

In the 2018-2019 season, Mr. Dodson appeared as an alto soloist in Handel’s Messiah with New York City’s TENET Vocal Artists, in a unique unconducted performance featuring just twelve singers and the collaborative instrumental ensemble The Sebastians. He also joined TENET as an alto soloist in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, and appeared as the alto soloist in Messiah with the Handel Society of Dartmouth College. Additionally, Mr. Dodson created the role of Arion in the American premiere of Jonathan Dove’s Arion and the Dolphin with the Harvard Summer Chorus, and sang the countertenor solo in Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms with the Greater Newburgh Symphony Orchestra of Newburgh, NY.

Notable past engagements include the role of The United Way in the American premiere of Tod Machover’s highly anticipated new opera Death and the Powers, an innovative collaboration between the MIT Media Lab and The American Repertory Theatre performed at the A.R.T. (Boston, MA) and Chicago Opera Theatre, under the baton of Gil Rose. The world-premiere audio recording of this opera was released in 2021. Other operatic role creations include Ignis in the world premiere of Per Bloland’s opera Pedr Solis and Farinelli the Rooster in Ken Ueno’s Gallo with Guerilla Opera. The Boston Globe called his aria in Gallo “show-stopping” and Lloyd Schwartz (for New York Arts) praised his “impressive and uninhibited” countertenor. An accomplished Handelian, Mr. Dodson has been featured as the alto soloist in Messiah with the Charlotte Symphony and the South Dakota Symphony (among many others), and has performed the operas of Handel, Monteverdi, and Purcell and the cantatas and oratorios of Bach with such organizations as Boston Baroque, Aldeburgh Music, the Aspen Music Festival, the Handel and Haydn Society (Boston, MA), Seraphic Fire (Miami, FL), TENET Vocal Artists (New York, NY), Pacific MusicWorks (Seattle, WA), Pegasus Early Music (Rochester, NY), and the Henry Purcell Society of Boston.

Mr. Dodson is a dedicated ensemble singer and appears regularly with many esteemed choral ensembles throughout the country, including the prestigious Handel & Haydn Society, Seraphic Fire, Skylark, and Kinnara. He has been featured on four GRAMMY-nominated recordings by Skylark and the South Dakota Chorale.

His discography includes the United Way on the world-premiere recording of Tod Machover’s Death and the Powers, the Voice of the Angel on the world-premiere recording of James Kallembach’s The Most Sacred Body, as Perforated on the world-premiere recording of Nicholas Vines’ Loose, Wet, Perforated, and as a soloist in works by Charpentier and Sances on Viva Italia recorded with the Duke Vespers Ensemble.

Mr. Dodson has degrees from the University of South Dakota (Vermillion) and the University of Missouri - Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance, and was a proud member of the prestigious Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme in conjunction with Aldeburgh Music in Aldeburgh, UK. He also appears as a regular panelist on the critically acclaimed opera podcast OperaNow! and made his television debut in 2018 as a contestant on season 35 of Jeopardy!, where he was a three-day champion.. https://dougdodson.com/

Steven Brennfleck, tenor

Praised by the New York Times as a “stand out” performer, tenor Steven Brennfleck has been consistently acknowledged for his consummate artistry, vocal flexibility, and moving interpretations on the operatic and concert stage. He has received recognition from Classical Singer Magazine’s AudComps, Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions | District Winner ‘06, ‘09, & ’10, and the Mildred Miller International Voice Competition. His operatic credits include performances with American Opera Projects, Glimmerglass Opera, OrpheusPDX, Portland Opera, Spoleto Festival USA, The Tanglewood Festival and others in roles such as Roderick Usher in Philip Glass’ The Fall of the House of Usher, Don Ramiro | Cenerentola, Tamino | Die Zauberflöte, Laurie in Adamo’s Little Women, Madwoman in Britten’s Curlew River, Gonsalve in Ravel’s L’Heure Espagnol, Henrik | A Little Night Music, and Tobias Ragg | Sweeney Todd.

On the concert stage, Mr. Brennfleck has been hailed for his “Outstanding presence and clear, lyric voice” (Texas Classical Review) and “elegant” musicianship (The Baltimore Sun). He is a passionate interpreter of early music and regularly appears with some of the country’s top Baroque musical organizations in works by Bach, Handel, Monteverdi, the French hautre-contre repertory among others. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2012 and finds himself equally at home with art song as well as new and contemporary works. Mr. Brennfleck is a featured artist on recordings of Philip Glass’ Orphée with the Portland Opera and Charles Wuorinen’s cantata It Happens Like This among others. He has collaborated with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, American Bach Soloists, Ars Lyrica Houston, Austin Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Bach Ensemble, LA International New Music Festival, Philadelphia’s Lyric Fest, the MET Chamber Ensemble and the Victoria Bach Festival. In addition to his performance schedule, Mr. Brennfleck is a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique, presenting masterclasses for musicians throughout the United States and abroad. www.stevenbrennfleck.com

Edward Vogel, bass

Praised for his “clarion tone” (Chicago Classical Review) and “commanding and animated” presence (Seen & Heard International), baritone Edward Vogel possesses a diverse repertoire spanning ten centuries. Recent solo appearances have included Handel’s Messiah, Israel in Egypt, and Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine with GRAMMY®-winning Apollo’s Fire under the direction of Jeannette Sorrell; and Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Dona Nobis Pacem, Bach’s Mass in B minor, and Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem with GRAMMY®-nominated True Concord Voices and Orchestra, under the direction of Eric Holtan. The 2023-2024 season will see his solo debut with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, reprising his role in Israel in Egypt with Jeannette Sorrell. In 2019 he made his international solo debut in Bach’s Mass in G Major at Snape Maltings, UK, under the direction of Philippe Herreweghe. Highly in-demand as an ensemble singer, Mr. Vogel has performed with Bach Collegium Japan, and Paul Hillier’s Theatre of Voices in the world premiere of David Lang’s the writings at Carnegie Hall.

An avid recitalist, Edward finds passion in delivering sensitive, intimate performances of both art song and genres that go beyond the traditional classical canon. A two-time Vocal Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, he has honed his craft by coaching with champions of art song including Dawn Upshaw, Roger Vignoles, and the late Sanford Sylvan. His musical interests have led to engaging and diverse recitals of repertoire ranging from music of medieval Iberia to British art songs of the twentieth century.

Edward received his Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music, where he studied with tenor James Taylor. During his time at Yale, he appeared regularly as a soloist with the Yale Schola Cantorum and the Yale Voxtet, most notably in Haydn’s Missa in Angustiis at Lincoln Center with David Hill, and on an album of Christmas music by Heinrich Schütz released on the Hyperion label. Additionally, Mr. Vogel holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame, where he studied with baritone Stephen Lancaster. Prior to his studies at Notre Dame, Edward sang for ten years with the Trinity Choir of Men and Boys in New Haven, Connecticut, where he received extensive training under the direction of R. Walden Moore, with whom he continues to collaborate. edwardvogelmusic.com

Organist, Freiburg Cathedral, Germany
Professor of Organ, The University of Freiburg

{no charge for admission}

We welcome back Matthias to Redeemer where he served as organist 2014-2016. This is his fourth appearance in the Holbrook Organ Series.

Matthias Maierhofer studied organ, early music and church music at the universities of Graz, Freiburg, Leipzig, and at the Schola Cantorum in Basel. Among his teachers were Arvid Gast, Andrea Marcon, Kurt Neuhauser and Martin Schmeding.

In 2007, Matthias Maierhofer was the winner of one of the most renowned international organ competitions: the Pachelbel Competition in Nuremberg. He was also a prize winner at the International Franz Schmidt Organ Competition in Kitzbühel in 2008, at the International Bach Competition in Arnstadt in 2007, at the International Organ Concours in Nijmegen in 2006 and at the International Organ Competition in Vilnius in 2003. Since then, regular concert activities have taken him to important concert venues and festivals in Europe, the USA, Russia, Japan and South Korea. As a soloist and continuo player, Matthias Maierhofer has performed with ensembles such as the Dresdner Kreuzchor, the Thomanerchor Leipzig, the Staatskapelle Dresden and the Staatskapelle Halle. At the Freiburger Münster he performs weekly with the Domsingknaben, the girls' choir, the cathedral Domkapelle and the cathedral choir. He was involved in CD productions and publications by Edition Helbling, recordings are available for various radio stations and through the labels Ambitus, Ambiente and Spektral.

From 2009 to 2013, Matthias Maierhofer led an organ class at the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University of Music and Theater in Leipzig.

In 2013 Matthias Maierhofer was appointed as the successor to Prof. Dr. Gerre Hancock to the professorship for organ and church music at The University of Texas at Austin. There he was named a Dean's Fellow in 2015 for outstanding educational achievements and was awarded the Ducloux Fellowship of the College of Fine Arts.

Matthias Maierhofer has been a professor of organ at the Musikhochschule in Freiburg since 2016 and also works as cathedral organist at the Münster ‹Unserer Lieben Frau› in Freiburg. As artistic director of the Freiburg Cathedral organ concerts, he is responsible for one of the leading international organ concert series.

Students from his organ class have received over 50 national and international awards in important competitions, scholarship programs and foundations in recent years, including: the St. Albans International Organ Competition (GB), International Organ Competition in Miami (USA), Silbermann Competition Freiberg (Germany), Mendelssohn Competition Berlin (Germany), International Organ Competition «Organ without Borders» Dudelange (Luxembourg), Daniel Herz Competition Brixen (Italy), International Organ Competition Korschenbroich (Germany), The London Organ Competition (GB), Maria Hofer Competition Kitzbühel (Austria), Rheinberger Competition Vaduz (Liechtenstein), Faszination Organ Competition Mannheim (Germany), International Lazlo Spezferatti Competition Verona (Italy), Prix International Boellmann-Gigout Strasbourg (France), International Suisse Organ Competition St. Maurice (Switzerland). Furthermore, students of Matthias Maierhofer have been awarded the Deutschlandstipendium, the DAAD scholarship, the E.T.A. Hoffmann Scholarship, the Albertus Magnus and Hildegardis Scholarship, the Rosenberg Scholarship and the Recruitment Fellowship of the University of Texas and have also been accepted into the funding programs of the Cusanus Foundation, the Bucerius Foundation, the German Foundation for Music Life and the German National Academic Foundation.

Organist, Covenant Presbyterian Church, Nashville

{no charge for admission}

Samuel Metzger was born in Rochester, NY, but from an early age grew up in northern Arizona where his father was a missionary to the Navajo Indians. Early studies were at Northern Arizona State University in Flagstaff, where he was accepted into the Preparatory School of Music as a student of Dr. Marilyn Brandon. In high school he studied with Dr. Roy Johnson at the University of Arizona, Tucson.

Mr. Metzger began undergraduate studies in 1990 at Arizona State University where he was a student of Robert Clark. There he studied on a Regents Scholarship and at graduation was named “Most Outstanding Undergraduate in Performance.” In 1995 he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship and began studies with Jon Laukvik at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Stuttgart, Germany. He was awarded a second Fulbright Scholarship and in 1997 graduated with a degree of Künstleriches Aufbaustudium (KA). Mr. Metzger then went on to study with Marie-Claire Alain in St. Germain-en-Laye, France.

In January 2003, Mr. Metzger became Senior Organist at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church (PCA), Fort Lauderdale, FL, the late Dr. D. James Kennedy, Senior Pastor. Services were broadcast on the Coral Ridge Hour, a TV program that was broadcast throughout the USA and internationally to 202 countries. Samuel then served as Director of Music at Second Presbyterian Church (EPC), Memphis TN.

Samuel is currently Organist & Music Associate at Covenant Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Nashville, TN. Mr. Metzger is heard regularly around the country in concert. He has recorded seven CDs; more information may be found at metzgermusic.com.

Premier choral ensemble from England
Barnaby Smith, artistic director

{Ticket prices: $30 General | $25 Senior 60+ | $5 Student}

The 2023 Grammy-nominated British vocal ensemble VOCES8 is proud to inspire people through music and share the joy of singing. Touring globally, the group performs an extensive repertory both in its a cappella concerts and in collaborations with leading musicians, orchestras, conductors and soloists. Versatility and a celebration of diverse musical expression are central to the ensemble’s performance and education ethos which is shared both online and in person.

VOCES8 has performed at many notable venues since its inception in 2005 including Wigmore Hall, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Cité de la Musique Paris, Vienna Konzerthaus, Tokyo Opera City, NCPA Beijing, Sydney Opera House, Mariinsky Theatre Concert Hall, Victoria Concert Hall Singapore, Palacio de Bellas Artes Mexico City amongst many others. This season they perform over 100 concerts in the UK and across Europe, in Israel and the USA – a welcome return to touring after the covid restrictions.

The group’s entrepreneurial and community spirit and its innovative approach are fostered by the Co-Founders of VOCES8, brothers Paul and Barnaby Smith. The pandemic has provided the impetus for VOCES8 to further transform its already exceptional offerings, nurturing a new audience community providing hope, resilience and a chance to engage with classical music in new ways. Pioneering initiatives include ventures such as the LIVE From London digital festivals and the VOCES8 Digital Academy.

LIVE From London was created as a specific response to the pandemic. Winning praise for its collaborative approach from artists, press and audiences around the world, the team has delivered five digital festivals to date, broadcasting 70 concerts and selling 150,000 tickets in over 75 countries. The VOCES8 Digital Academy is an online choral programme for high schools, colleges and individuals featuring live interaction with members of the ensemble, live and recorded lectures, and video resources to learn and perform music from the renaissance to today.

Alongside this online work on its own platforms VOCES8 is heard regularly on albums, international television and radio. The ensemble is a Decca Classics artist and alongside that releases projects on its own label, VOCES8 Records. The latest Decca Classics album is “The Lost Birds” featuring music by Christopher Tin which is nominated for a Grammy at the 2023 Awards. New projects with Eric Whitacre, Paul Simon and Taylor Scott Davis are being released in 2023.

Accolades:

“The singing of VOCES8 is impeccable in its quality of tone and balance. They bring a new dimension to the word ‘ensemble’ with meticulous timing and tuning.”

— GRAMOPHONE MAGAZINE

“VOCES8 are the Rolls-Royce of British a cappella ensembles”

— THE ARTS DESK

“The slickest of the lot…fans of a cappella ought to hear this.”

— RECORD REVIEW, BBC RADIO 3

Early Music Ensemble from Belgium
Cantatas of J. S. Bach
Lionel Meunier, artistic director

{Ticket prices: $30 General | $25 Senior 60+ | $5 Student}

Since its foundation in 2004, the vocal ensemble Vox Luminis–led by bass Lionel Meunier –has been internationally praised for its unique sound, both with a cast of soloists and in larger productions. Vox Luminis specializes in English, Italian and German repertoire from the 17th and early 18th centuries, bringing to life not only well-known masterpieces, but also rare gems. A core of vocal soloists is supplemented, depending on the repertoire, with an extensive continuo, solo instruments or a complete orchestra. In 2012, Vox Luminis won the Recording of the Year at the prestigious Gramophone Awards. Since then, the group has made multiple recordings with Ricercar, Alpha Classics, Ramée and Musique in Wallonie, and has won numerous international prizes including ‘Klara Ensemble of the Year 2018’, BBC Music Magazine ‘Choral Award Winner 2018’, 3 ‘Diapasons d’Or’ and several ‘Preis der Deutschen Schalplattenkritik’. In 2019 the ensemble received another Gramophone Music Award in the ‘Choral’ category for its recording of Buxtehude: Abendmusiken. Every year Vox Luminis gives around 70 concerts at major concert halls and festivals worldwide, including Bozar Brussels, deSingel Antwerp, Auditorio Nacional Madrid, L’Auditori Barcelona, Wigmore Hall London, Philharmonie Berlin, Lincoln Center New York, Zaryadye Hall Moscow, Festival of Flanders and Festival de Wallonie, Festival de Saintes, Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht, Musikfest Bremen, Bachfest Leipzig, Aldeburgh Festival and Boston Early Music Festival. Vox Luminis is artist in residence at Concertgebouw Brugge. Recently, the ensemble launched a structural collaboration with the renowned Freiburger Barockorchester.

Lionel Meunier: Internationally renowned as the founder and artistic director of the awardwinning Belgian vocal ensemble Vox Luminis, French conductor and bass Lionel Meunier is widely regarded as one of the most dynamic and highly acclaimed artistic leaders in the fields of historical performance and choral music active today. Praised for his detailed yet spirited interpretative approach, he is now increasingly in demand as a guest conductor and artistic director with choirs, ensembles, and orchestras worldwide. Lionel’s international breakthrough came in 2012 with Vox Luminis’ Gramophone Recording of Year award for their recording of Heinrich Schütz’ Musicalische Exequien. Under his leadership, Vox Luminis has since embarked on extensive concert tours throughout Europe, North America, and Asia; established multiseason artistic residencies at Wigmore Hall, Aldeburgh Festival, Utrecht Early Music Festival, and Concertgebouw Bruges; and recorded over a dozen critically acclaimed albums. Their recording of Buxtehude won them their second Gramophone Award, for 2019 Choral Recording of the Year. As a guest conductor, Lionel has worked with Netherlands Bach Society, Danish National Vocal Ensemble, Netherlands Chamber Choir, and the Boston Early Music Festival Collegium and has led projects with Vox Luminis in collaboration with Juilliard 415, Orchestra B’Rock, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, and L’Achéron, among many others. Lionel maintains a close relationship with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and Consort, returning regularly to lead collaborative projects with Vox Luminis that cover a wide repertoire. Their first recording together will appear in 2021. Future projects include his debut with the Shanghai Symphony and returns to the Boston Early Music Festival and Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and Consort. Born in France, Lionel was trained as a singer and recorder player and began his career as a bass in renowned ensembles such as Collegium Vocale Ghent, Amsterdam Baroque Choir, and Capella Pratensis. In 2013, he was awarded the title of Namurois de l’Année (Namur Citizen of the Year) for culture in the Belgian town of Namur, where he lives with his family.

Accolades:

“The refinement of Vox Luminis is never anything less
than sublime.”
Gramophone

“Vox Luminis’s main strength lies in the capability of all its members
to step forward as soloists.”
Opera Magazine

“The superbly sensitive continuo group were also a huge contributory factor
in the success of the concert.“
Early Music Review

Organist & Associate Director of Music, Park Cities Presbyterian Church, Dallas

{no charge for admission}

Known for his innovative concert programs, Dr. Davy is a prizewinning organist who has performed across the country. He is currently the Organist and Associate Music Director at Park Cities Presbyterian Church in Dallas, TX. Dr. Davy received his M.M. and D.M.A. from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where he studied with internationally renowned organists David Higgs, Edoardo Bellotti, and Michel Bouvard. While at Eastman he was awarded the Barnes Prize, the Cochran Prize, and the prestigious Performer’s Certificate. Prior to his studies at Eastman, he received his B.A. in Organ Performance and Classical Languages from Asbury College, in Wilmore, Kentucky. He was a semifinalist in the American Guild of Organists National Young Artist Competition in Organ Performance (2010), and the first prize winner at the Albert Schweitzer International Organ Festival (2008). He and his wife Laura have five children, John, Irene, Margaret, William, and Sophie.

Concert Organ Recitalist & Composer
Professor of Organ & Composition, the University of Texas at San Antonio
{no charge for admission}

S. Andrew Lloyd, whose music has been described as “monumental, hair-raising, and leaving you agape in awe” (Classical Music Sentinel), is a concert organist and composer, and the Bess Hieronymus Endowed Fellow and Assistant Professor of Organ and Composition at the University of Texas at San Antonio, as well as the 2019/2020 Marlin K. Jensen Artist in Residence at the University of Utah, having previously worked at the University of North Texas.

Lloyd’s compositions have been performed all over the world including the Cathédrale de Notre Dame de Paris, the National Cathedral in Washington DC, Riverside Church New York, Trinity Church and Methuen Hall Boston, the Salt Lake Tabernacle, Moscow Catholic Cathedral in Russia, venues in South Africa and Switzerland, and the 2016 and 2018 National AGO Conventions in Houston and Kansas City respectively.

Lloyd’s works have been performed by many notable ensembles and performers including Ryan Chatterton and the Choral Artists of Fort Worth, Jerry McCoy and the Fort Worth Chorale, Salt Lake Tabernacle organist Richard Elliott, Steve Durtschi and the Cantorum Chamber Choir, baritone Jeffrey Snider, violinist Julia Bushkova, tenor William Joyner, and soprano Jennifer Youngs.

A recording of Lloyd’s monumental art mass, Christus was released in 2017 on the Neumark label, and featured on Pipedreams public radio in December of 2018.

As an active recitalist, Andrew Lloyd has performed at venues throughout the United States including: the Salt Lake Tabernacle, the Eccles Organ Festival at the Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City, St. John the Evangelist and MusicFest Northwest in Spokane, WA, and as a presenter at the 2015 Southwest Regional AGO Convention in Fort Worth.

Originally from Spokane, WA, Lloyd (b. 1979) earned degrees from the University of North Texas (DMA) the University of Kansas (MM), and Brigham Young University (BM). He studied with the notable composers and organists Forrest Pierce, Jon Nelson, Andrew May, James Worlton, James Higdon, Jesse Eschbach, Douglas Bush, and Janet Ahrend.

LOVE. AMEN! - A concert about the cosmos of love
Premier choral ensemble from Leipzig, Germany
{Ticket prices: $25 General | $20 Senior | $5 Student}

A perfect blend of sound, precision, lightness and wit. These are the hallmarks of Calmus, now one of the most successful vocal groups in Germany. The ensemble has forged a refined sound which few groups achieve. The wide range of sound colors, the joy in performing that musicians convey on the concert platform, and their varied and imaginative programs are praised by the press time and time again. These five Leipzig musicians have won a whole string of international prizes and competitions, including the OPUS KLASSIK, the ECHO KLASSIK and Supersonic Award, and the reach of their activities is constantly expanding, taking them throughout Europe as well as to North and South America. In 2010 the quintet made its debut at Carnegie Hall, New York.

The musicians are tireless in their quest to discover new repertoire. Shaped by the centuries-old tradition of great German boys' choirs, they are naturally at home in the vocal music of the Renaissance, the Baroque and the Romantic. The music of our own time is also a real passion. In all their ventures, there are frequently interesting partnerships with musicians such as the Lautten Compagney Berlin, the Raschèr Saxophone Quartet, Hamburger Ratsmusik and the Frankfurt Radio Bigband. As this often means totally new repertoire in the area of contemporary music, over the years Calmus has commissioned numerous new works from composers including Bernd Franke, Steffen Schleiermacher, Wolfram Buchenberg, Mathew Rosenblum, Bill Dobbins, Michael Denhoff and Harald Banter, and the group has given many world premieres. It goes without saying that they revel in singing pop, folk and jazz, as well as chansons and golden oldies from the 1920s.

Part of their work is devoted to encouraging the up-and-coming generation, so teaching and workshops are part of their regular schedule, both at home in Leipzig and on their travels. It’s no wonder that Calmus is gaining more and more fans worldwide.

The Passion of Christ according to Saint Mark

The Passion Readings
The Redeemer Choir
George Dupere, conductor
Michael Phillips, organist

Choral music by…

• Johann Sebastian Bach

• Pablo Casals

• Orlando Gibbons

• Heinrich Graun

• Max Reger

{no charge for admission}

Soloists
Chorus (ensemble viii and members of the Redeemer Choir)
Philharmonie Austin
25-member ensemble playing period instruments
Mark Dupere, conductor
{no charge for admission}

Mark Dupere, conductor

Associate Professor of Music at Lawrence University, where he is the Director of Orchestral Studies. He is a passionate educator and hopes to impart a love of music-making and active engagement with audiences in the performance of music from all periods. He currently conducts the Lawrence Symphony and Chamber Orchestras as well the Fox Valley Youth Orchestra. As a cellist, Mark performed throughout Europe with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Haagsche Hofmuzieck, Anima Eterna Brugge and was an apprentice with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in London. Mark was a “New Young Artist” at the Victoria Bach Festival, performed in the Leipzig Bach Competition, and most recently named a national finalist in the American Prize in Conducting. Mark holds degrees in Cello from the University of Texas at Austin, Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, The Net herlands and a Doctorate in Orchestral Conducting at Michigan State University.

Kyle Stegall, tenor (Evangelist)

Kyle Stegall’s performances around the world have been met with accolade for his “blemish-free production” (Sydney Morning Herald), “lovely tone and ardent expression” (NY Times), as well as his “lively and empathetic delivery” (San Francisco Classical Voice). An artist who communicates equally well on concert, opera, and recital stages, his performances are characterized by an unfailing attention to style and detail, and a penetrating directness of communication.

Mr. Stegall’s successful solo debuts in Japan, Australia, Vienna, Italy, Singapore, and Canada as well as on major stages across America have been in collaboration with many of the world’s most celebrated artistic directors including Manfred Honeck, Joseph Flummerfelt, William Christie, Stephen Stubbs, and Nicholas McGegan, among others.

Heard frequently as evangelist and tenor soloist in the passions and cantatas of J.S. Bach, Mr. Stegall made his Lincoln Center debut as the evangelist in the St. John Passion under the direction of The Bach Collegium Japan’s artistic director, Masaaki Suzuki. In demand as a symphonic soloist, Mr. Stegall’s seasons often include the oratorios of Handel and Haydn, the great masses of Mozart and Beethoven, and works from the Bel Canto and 20th century concert canon.

Holding a special relationship with the music of Benjamin Britten, Mr. Stegall was twice invited to participate as a fellow at the Aldeburgh Music Festival, in the composer’s hometown of Suffolk, England. There, he performed in recital and studied Britten song and Schubert lieder under the guidance of Ian Bostridge and Malcolm Martineau. Kyle has been heard in recital singing all of the composer’s cycles for tenor, including Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings.

A dedicated proponent of the song recital, Mr. Stegall personally curates recitals each season which reveal the vast colors and emotional range the collected repertoire has to offer. Recent recitals have included the complete sacred works for tenor and piano by Britten (presented by the Yale Center for British Art), English and French song in the 20th century, and Schumann and his contemporaries with fortepianist Eric Zivian at the Valley of the Moon Music Festival.

Praised for possessing an “ability to absorb viewers into the action, something which is rarely achieved in opera,” (SF Classical Voice), Mr. Stegall's stage skills have made him a popular choice for the leading lyric tenor roles in the works of Mozart as well as in operas of the Bel Canto era. 

Mr. Stegall is a proud alumnus of the universities of Missouri, Michigan, and Yale.  

Dimitri German, baritone (Jesus)

Dimitri German is a bass-baritone from Chicago and a graduate of Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music. A frequent soloist and member of the Grammy Award-winning ensemble, The Crossing, he is a featured soloist on four of their eight Grammy-nominated recordings. A frequent concert soloist, Dimitri has recently appeared with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Waukegan Symphony Orchestra, and the Bach Choir of Bethlehem in Pennsylvania. Dimitri regularly sings with the Chicago Symphony Chorus, and has performed with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Grant Park Symphony Chorus, Chicago Opera Theater, Music of the Baroque, William Ferris Chorale, and Constellation Men’s Ensemble.

John Buffett, bass, (Pilate)

Baritone John Buffett enjoys a versatile career lending his “warm tone and ringing top notes” (Salt Lake Tribune) to music from the early baroque through 20th and 21st century.  Recent solo engagements include Bach’s “St. John Passion” with the Oregon and Charlotte Bach festivals, Copland’s “Old American Songs” with the Pacific Symphony, and Handel’s Messiah with Seraphic Fire.

Buffett has been a featured soloist with the Pacific Symphony, the Utah, San Antonio, Winston-Salem, and Syracuse Symphonies, The Mark Morris Dance Group, The Pacific Chorale, and the Rochester Philharmonic.  He has also been a featured performer with many leading Early Music Ensembles including: Apollo’s Fire, Ars Lyrica, Bach Collegium San Diego, The Boston Early Music Festival, Con Gioia, The Charlotte Bach Academy, The Oregon Bach Festival, and Tesserae Baroque.  In the Opera house, Buffett has performed numerous roles with Utah Opera, Sarasota Opera, Opera Memphis, Utah Festival Opera, San Diego Baroque, and The Ohio Light Opera.  Also an accomplished Chamber musician, he regularly performs with some of America’s best choral ensembles like Seraphic Fire, The Santa Fe Desert Chorale, and the Los Angeles Master Chorale.

Solo appearances at the Tanglewood Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival and the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center highlight other important performances.  Buffett, currently on voice faculty at CSU Long Beach’s Bob Cole Conservatory of Music, and for the Professional Choral Institute at the Aspen Music Festival, received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Eastman School of Music.

johnbuffett.com

Jolle Greenleaf, soprano

Soprano Jolle Greenleaf is one of today’s foremost figures in the field of early music. Balancing a career as a leading soloist and an innovative impressaria, she is in great demand as a guest artist and instructor, and she serves as artistic director of the New York City-based early music ensemble TENET Vocal Artists.

Originally from California, Ms. Greenleaf attended the University of California at Santa Barbara before moving to New York City and completing a Masters in Music at Mannes College of Music. She lived abroad in Amsterdam and studied at the Royal Conservatory in the Hague, the Netherlands before returning to New York City to launch a career devoted to solo and small ensemble singing.

Ms. Greenleaf has been hailed by The New York Times as a “golden soprano” and “a major force in the New York early music-scene.” She is a celebrated interpreter of the music of Bach, Buxtehude, Handel, Purcell and, most notably, Claudio Monteverdi. Her “crisp, sensuous voice” (The New Yorker) has been praised for its “purity and beguiling naturalness” (The Oregonian) and “intriguing beauty” (The Boston Globe) .

“A treasured staple in New York,” Ms. Greenleaf was named the artistic director of TENET Vocal Artists in 2009, where she sings and directs the ensemble in repertoire spanning the Middle Ages to the present day. Her flair for imaginative programming has been lauded by The New York Times as “adventurous and expressive,” as well as “smart, varied and not entirely early.” She spearheaded TENET’s Green Mountain Project, whose annual performances of Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 from 2010-2020 were universally acclaimed. She appears with TENET Vocal Artists at distinguished New York City venues including Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York’s Society for Ethical Culture, Columbia University’s Italian Academy, and St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue.

Ms. Greenleaf has performed as a soloist in venues throughout the U.S., Scandinavia, Europe, and Central America for important presenters including Vancouver Early Music Festival, Denmark’s Vendsyssel Festival, Costa Rica International Music Festival, Puerto Rico’s Festival Casals, Utrecht Festival, at Panama’s National Theater, and San Cristobal, the Cathedral in Havana, Cuba.

Doug Dodson, countertenor

Possessing a “beautiful, ringing, and agile countertenor” (Boston Classical Review), Doug Dodson brings sensitive musicality and strong dramatic instincts to repertoire ranging from the baroque to the contemporary.  Praised as a “vivid countertenor” by the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Dodson’s current and upcoming seasons feature a wide variety of exciting engagements throughout the United States.

In the 2018-2019 season, Mr. Dodson appeared as an alto soloist in Handel’s Messiah with New York City’s TENET Vocal Artists, in a unique unconducted performance featuring just twelve singers and the collaborative instrumental ensemble The Sebastians. He also joined TENET as an alto soloist in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, and appeared as the alto soloist in Messiah with the Handel Society of Dartmouth College. Additionally, Mr. Dodson created the role of Arion in the American premiere of Jonathan Dove’s Arion and the Dolphin with the Harvard Summer Chorus, and sang the countertenor solo in Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms with the Greater Newburgh Symphony Orchestra of Newburgh, NY.

In 2017-2018, Mr. Dodson made his mainstage solo debut with Boston’s Handel & Haydn Society in Cantata 147 (“Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben”) as well as his solo debut with Boston Baroque as Nireno in Handel’s Giulio Cesare. He appeared as the Spirit in Dido and Aeneas with Pegasus Early Music (Rochester, NY), Cupid in Venus and Adonis with the Oregon Bach Festival, Speranza in L’Orfeo with Pacific MusicWorks (Seattle, WA), the alto soloist in Bach’s St. John Passion with the Oregon Bach Festival, the countertenor soloist in Hail, Bright Cecilia with the Henry Purcell Society of Boston, and the Soprano III soloist in the modern premiere of the surviving movements of Alessandro Melani’s Oratorio on the Life of St. Theodora with Reed College Collegium as part of their fringe festival performance in conjunction with the Boston Early Music Festival,

During that season Mr. Dodson also joined Guerilla Opera in the role of Perforated in Nicholas Vines’ new opera Loose, Wet, Perforated, a role which he recorded for commercial release on Navona Records. Reviewing the world premiere recording, Opera News praised him as a  “sleazy Perforated, inserting sappy pop-inspired scoops into his angular vocal line and breaking out in manic, cackling repetitions of a single pitch.” Gwen Bennett of Music Trust E-Zine commended him for “deliver[ing] his role with crystalline clarity and, at times, a certain amount of irony.”

In the 2016-2017 season, Mr. Dodson performed the Voice of the Angel in composer James Kallembach’s The Most Sacred Body, a new oratorio commissioned by Music at Marsh Chapel, which he subsequently sang on the piece’s world-premiere recording released on Gothic Records.  Other solo debuts included alto soloist in Bach’s Mass in B Minor with the Master Chorale of South Florida, Vivaldi’s Gloria with the Newburyport Choral Society, and Handel’s Messiah with the South Dakota Symphony.

Notable past engagements include the role of The United Way in the American premiere of Tod Machover’s highly anticipated new opera Death and the Powers, an innovative collaboration between the MIT Media Lab and The American Repertory Theatre performed at the A.R.T. and Chicago Opera Theatre, under the baton of Gil Rose. Mr. Dodson created the role of Ignis in the world premiere of Per Bloland’s opera Pedr Solis with Guerilla Opera. Mr. Dodson also created the role of Farinelli the Rooster in Guerilla Opera’s world premiere production of Ken Ueno’s 2014 opera Gallo with Guerilla. The Boston Globe called his aria “show-stopping” and Lloyd Schwartz (for New York Arts) praised his “impressive and uninhibited” countertenor. An accomplished Handelian, Mr. Dodson performed the alto solos in Messiah with Music at Marsh Chapel, Kansas City Baroque Consortium, and Handel Choir of Baltimore, and also appeared as Athamas in Semele with the Handel Choir of Baltimore. He has also performed the alto solos in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with Spire Chamber Ensemble (Kansas City), the role of Isaac in Britten’s Canticle II -- Abraham and Isaac with Music at Marsh Chapel, Oberon in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Lowell House Opera (Harvard University), and many others.

Mr. Dodson is a dedicated ensemble singer and appears regularly with several esteemed choral ensembles throughout the country, including the prestigious Handel & Haydn Society, Seraphic Fire, Skylark, and the South Dakota Chorale.

His discography includes the Voice of the Angel on the world premiere recording of James Kallembach’s The Most Sacred Body, as Perforated on the world premiere recording of Nicholas Vines’ Loose, Wet, Perforated, and as a soloist in works by Charpentier and Sances on Viva Italia released on MSR Classics.  

Mr. Dodson has degrees from University of South Dakota (Vermillion) and the University of Missouri - Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance, and was a proud member of the prestigious Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme in conjunction with Aldeburgh Music in Aldeburgh, UK. He also appears as a regular panelist on the critically acclaimed opera podcast OperaNow! and made his television debut this year as a contestant on season 35 of Jeopardy!, where he was a three-day champion.

Steven Brennfleck, tenor

Praised by the New York Times as a “stand out” performer, tenor Steven Brennfleck has been consistently acknowledged for his consummate artistry, vocal flexibility, and moving interpretations on the operatic and concert stage. He has received recognition from Classical Singer Magazine’s AudComps, Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions | District Winner ‘06, ‘09, & ’10, and the Mildred Miller International Voice Competition. His operatic credits include performances with American Opera Projects, Glimmerglass Opera, OrpheusPDX, Portland Opera, Spoleto Festival USA, The Tanglewood Festival and others in roles such as Roderick Usher in Philip Glass’ The Fall of the House of Usher, Don Ramiro | Cenerentola, Tamino | Die Zauberflöte, Laurie in Adamo’s Little Women, Madwoman in Britten’s Curlew River, Gonsalve in Ravel’s L’Heure Espagnol,

Henrik | A Little Night Music, and Tobias Ragg | Sweeney Todd.

On the concert stage, Mr. Brennfleck has been hailed for his “Outstanding presence and clear,

lyric voice” (Texas Classical Review) and “elegant” musicianship (The Baltimore Sun). He is a passionate interpreter of early music and regularly appears with some of the country’s top Baroque musical organizations in works by Bach, Handel, Monteverdi, the French hautre-contre repertory among others. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2012 and finds himself equally at home with

art song as well as new and contemporary works. Mr. Brennfleck is a featured artist on recordings of Philip Glass’ Orphée with the Portland Opera and Charles Wuorinen’s cantata

It Happens Like This among others. He has collaborated with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, American Bach Soloists, Ars Lyrica Houston, Austin Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Bach Ensemble, LA International New Music Festival, Philadelphia’s Lyric Fest, the MET Chamber Ensemble and the Victoria Bach Festival. In addition to his performance schedule, Mr. Brennfleck is a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique, presenting masterclasses for musicians throughout the United States and abroad.

www.stevenbrennfleck.com