PRINCIPAL SOPRANO SOLOIST:  London’s The Independent said of JENNIFER BATES “…the songs were sung with such passion, such conviction that I thought I could never forget those words.”  Highlights of Ms. Bates’ recent seasons include debuts in both Avery Fisher Hall in Zemlinky’s Der Zwerg with the American Symphony Orchestra under Maestro Leon Botstein, and Carnegie Hall, singing Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass with the New England Symphonic Ensemble. Her European engagements have included Elgar’s The Kingdom with Maestro Leonard Slatkin and the Philharmonia (London) in the Three Choirs Festival, Haydn’s Creation with Robert Tear at the Dartington International Summer Festival, Fauré’s Requiem with Sir David Willcocks at Royal Albert Hall, and Verdi’s Requiem at Windsor Castle under Benedict Gunner. She has also appeared with the Masterworks Chorale in Boston, under Allen Lannom, and the Orchestra of London and the London Pro Arte Orchestra. Her repertoire spans the gamut, ranging from Bach, Monteverdi and Couperin to the more avant-garde works of Schönberg, Eisler, Berg, and Peter Maxwell Davies. Ms. Bates was a Chamber Music Fellowship recipient at the Aspen Festival, and a Scholar at the Stearns Institute for Singers at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago. Jennifer is currently pursuing a DMA at SUNY Stony Brook.

PRINCIPAL TENOR SOLOIST: American tenor JOHN KAWA  is an active performer in concert and opera throughout the New York Metropolitan area, both as a soloist and an ensemble member.  The 2008-2009 season was his first as Principal Tenor Soloist at Bach Vespers and he is pleased to have returned for this season in the same capacity.  In addition to becoming the soloist for Bach Vespers last season, Mr. Kawa was engaged by the American Classical Orchestra for the role of Sandor in their spring staging of Grétry’s Zémire et Azor.  That same spring, John was the tenor soloist for The Concert Choir of St. Barnabas (Greenwich, CT) in their performance of Handel’s Alexander’s Feast.  His solo concert repertoire also includes Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, Joby Talbot’s Path of Miracles, Saint-Saens’s Christmas Oratorio, Stravinski’s Les Noces, Handel’s Messiah, Mendelssohn’s Elijah and numerous Bach cantatas and oratorios.  Besides the role Sandor, John has sung the roles of Idomeneo, Orpheus in Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld, and Valére in Mechem’s Tartuffe, among others.  As a student, he had the joy of working under Kirke Mechem directly in a staged workshop of his most recent opera, Pride and Prejudice.  The 2009-2010 season is his third year with the Bach Choir at Holy Trinity Lutheran and fourth year in New York.  He frequently works with such groups as The Choir of Saint Ignatius, The Concert Chorale of New York, The New York Virtuoso Singers, The Saint Andrew Chorale, The Russian Chamber Chorus of New York, New York City Ballet, American Symphony Orchestra, and various others.  Previously, he has performed at the Magnolia Baroque Festival in Winston-Salem, NC, the Illuminations! Summer Festival in Manteo, NC, and with the Macon Symphony Orchestra, in central Georgia.  Mr. Kawa holds a Bachelor of Music in vocal performance from Mercer University in Macon, GA and a Master of Music in opera performance from the North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, NC where he was a recipient of the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute Fellowship.

PRINCIPAL BASS SOLOIST:  JOE DAMON CHAPPEL, a native of Nashville, is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester.  At Eastman, he was a William Warfield Scholar and had many solo credits with the Eastman Chorale and the Eastman Opera Theater.  His career has demonstrated proficiency in a wide range of musical genres, from early music to opera and musical theater.  He has performed with groups such as Bachworks, NY Collegium, Early Music New York, Les Gouts-Reunis, Vox Vocal Ensemble and The Tiffany Consort (founding member). He was hailed by the New York Times as a “warm bass anchor…” and after his first Verdi Requiem, The State of Columbia, SC wrote “Chappel’s ‘Mors Stupebit’ kept the audience hanging on every breathy syllable, filling the hall with his strength even in the softest moments.”  He was a member of the Carolina Chamber Chorale (C3) at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC and was bass soloist in world premieres by several American composers, including Dan Locklair and Anthony Davis.  In October 2004, Mr. Chappel sang his first Verdi Requiem with the South Carolina Philharmonic, Nicholas Smith, conductor.   Subsequently, he and Maestro Smith have worked on several projects, including a Verdi Requiem at the Bollington Festival (UK), the Palmetto Opera’s production of Marriage of Figaro (as Figaro), and a return to the South Carolina Philharmonic as soloist in Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast. A champion of music new and/or rarely heard, Mr. Chappel is frequently heard as a soloist in world premieres of newly written or newly discovered works.  In February 2007, he made his Lincoln Center debut as bass soloist in the world premiere of South Carolina composer Andrew Fowler’s Directions for Singing.   In 2006, he gave the New World premiere of a recently unearthed Kuhnau mass for solo bass and strings, and in 2002 Mr. Chappel sang the role of the Pilot in the world premiere of Anthony Davis’ Restless Mourning, written in the wake of the events of 9/11/01.  In February 2008, Mr. Chappel will give the world premiere performance of Joelle Wallach’s Firefighter’s Prayer at Powell Hall as part of the Saint Louis Symphony’s “On Stage at Powell” recital series.  On the opera stage, Mr. Chappel has performed the roles of Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro), Mustafa (L’Italiana in Algieri), Frere Laurent (Romeo et Juliette), Mr. Gobineau (The Medium), Giove (La Calisto), Angelotti (Tosca), Sparafucile and Monterone (Rigoletto).   He has participated in productions by One World Symphony, Dicapo Opera, the American Singers’ Opera Project, New Hampshire Opera, Connecticut Grand Opera, the Bollington Festival (UK), Opera at Eau Claire, and Palmetto Opera.   A specialist in the sacred cantatas and Passions of Bach, he has also performed Bach’s secular cantatas, including Phoebus und Pan, the Coffee and Peasant Cantatas at the lunchtime concert series of Trinity Church Wall Street.  A believer in the power of educational outreach, Mr. Chappel has performed roles in A Band of Angels and The Orphan Singer, two children’s musicals created by the New York City based company, Making Books Sing, and most recently as Noye in the Eau Claire High School (SC) production of Noye’s Fludde. During the ’07-08 season, Mr. Chappel can be heard in St. Louis, New York, Lubbock, Myrtle Beach, and Rochester (NY) in productions that include La Traviata (Verdi), St. Matthew Passion (Bach), Christ lag in Todesbanden (Bach) and Requiem (Durufle).  His teachers have included Tracy Prentice, Carol Webber, and Gary Kendall.

Born on St. Cecilia's Day, Countertenor RYLAND ANGEL was a chorister at Bristol Cathedral and a lay-clerk at Chester Cathedral.  He trained as a lawyer before deciding to pursue a professional career as a singer in 1991 when he started studying with David Mason.  Since then, Mr. Angel has received a Grammy nomination and has performed with William Christie, Rene Jacobs, Ivor Bolton, Roy Goodman, Christophe Rousset, Philippe Herreweghe, Christophe Coin, Gabriel Garrido, Cantus Köln, Le Concert Spirituel, Le Parlement de Musique, the Ensemble of Early Music of New York and Ensemble La Fenice.  Recently he performed The Fairy Queen with Boston Baroque as well as performances of Venus and Adonis by Desmarest conducted by Christophe Rousset at Opera de Nancy and a return engagement with the William Byrd Ensemble in Paris joining them additionally at the Boston Early Music Festival.   Other recent engagements have included: Tolomeo Guilio Cesare with Opera Colorado and Boston Baroque and concerts with the New York Collegium and  Messiah with Musica Sacra in a Carnegie Hall debut; plus Adrasto in Sant Alessio with Les Arts Florissants at Lincoln Center, Barbican (UK), Caen, Luxembourg, Theatre des Champs Elysées (Paris)  (DVD on EMI/Virgin Veritas). He sang on the movie “Henry IV” coming out early next year and also sang in Le Petit Prince.  He performed Giove in The Return of Ulysses Monteverdi -Christophe Rousset -Toulouse opera, Paris Cite de la Musique, and the Leipzig festival. Mr. Angel has performed with the English National Opera in Monteverdi's Orfeo, Buggen in Purcell's The Fairy Queen and Fritz in the world premiere of Gavin Bryars' Doctor Ox’s Experiment, directed by Atom Egoyan. He sang the title role in Handel's Amadigi di Gaula in Karlsruhe with Roy Goodman, Bertarido Rodelinda with Il Combattimento in the Carre Theatre Amsterdam and Zephyr Apollo and Hyacinth with the Classical Opera Company in London.  Other opera engagements include the title role in Gluck's Orfeo in Koblenz, the title role in Marazzoli's San Tomaso with Cantus Köln, Venus and Adonis at Flanders Opera with René Jacobs, Dido and Aeneas at the Opera Comique in Paris, King Arthur and Acis and Galatea with Deller Consort, Peri's Euridice with Opéra Normandie, The Play of Daniel in Paris and Tokyo, Jupiter in Ballet Comique de La Royne in Geneva and "Love Divine" in a staged version of Caldara's Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin at Le Louvre, Paris. He has performed Monteverdi's Selva Morale with William Christie and Les Arts Florissants, the world premiere of Doux Mensonges at the Opéra National de Paris Palais Garnier with Jiri Kylian and William Christie, as well as an appearance at London's South Bank Centre in Carmina Burana conducted by Mark Ermler.  Mr. Angel sang in Tolomeo with Muziektheater Transparant in Antwerp, the title role in Radamisto for Opera Theatre of St. Louis, in concert performances of Handel's Israel in Egypt with Graeme Jenkins in Dallas, The Play of Daniel for the Spoleto Festival in Italy and Athamas Semele for Oper Köln.  He has also appeared in Agrippina with New York City Opera, and as Oberon A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Florentine Opera under Steuart Bedford.  He recently returned to English National Opera as Buggen The Fairy Queen, a part he has also sung for the Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona. Other engagements include recordings of Charpentier Te Deum with Le Concert Spirituel, Scarlatti Cantatas with Les Folies Francaises, works of Clarke and Purcell with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and Nicholas McGegan and Messiah with both the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra conducted by Lim Yau.  He has sung Tolomeo Guilio Cesare for Utah Opera, and Oberon A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and made his debut with the Philharmonia Baroque of San Francisco in a Scarlatti program conducted by Nicholas McGegan.   Recordings include: "Counter-tenor Duets and Song" -Purcell (Deux-elles); Te Deum - Charpentier (Glossa); The Cecilian Vespers -D. Scarlatti (Avie); "Totus Amore" -Solo Cantatas of Scarlatti, Stradella and Bassani (Deux Elles); Ballet Comique de La Royne -Beaujoyeaux (K317); Messe des Morts -Charpentier (Naxos); "Motets of Lorenzani" (Naxos); "A Baroque Christmas" (Ex Cathedra); "A Bohemian Christmas" (Ex Cathedra); Polish Baroque -Pekiel and his contemporaries (Ambronay editions); Recital CD with Fort Worth Early Music (now Texas Camerata); Venus and Adonis -Desmarest (Ambroisie); O magnum Mysterium -Tiffany Consort (MSR Classics - Grammy nominated); "In Sure and Certain Hope" -N. White (MSR classics); "Ryland Angel" -Ryland Angel (EMI) (appearances on 'Good Morning America' and PBS); "The New Voice of Christmas" (KOCH).  DVD's and Films: Sant' Alessio (EMI/Virgin); Le Petit Prince (IMax); The Fairy Queen (Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona); Etoiles -Dancers of the Paris Opera Ballet; "Heavenly Voices" (EMI/PBS TV special). 
Plus, coming soon:  a new CD of "Buxtehude and Bach for Countertenor" with Rick Erickson and the Bach Players, early next year.

PRINCIPAL ALTO SOLOIST, JASON ABRAMS is rapidly becoming one of the rising stars in the next generation of countertenors. Praised by Opera News for his "honeyed, rock-solid countertenor" and the Boston Globe for an "uncommon beauty of timbre and acting skill," the young American countertenor continues to garner acclaim for his stunning and nuanced performances. In 2009-10, Jason Abrams joins New York City Opera for its production of Esther, performs the role of Sandman in Hänsel und Gretel with Austin Lyric Opera, and appears as featured soloist in a concert with String Orchestra of the Rockies. Mr. Abrams' engagements in the 2008-09 season included his first performances of Athamas in Semele with Florentine Opera, under the baton of Jane Glover; his return to Central City Opera to sing mainstage performances of Eustazio and family performances of Gofreddo, both in Rinaldo; and Mike Teavee in the workshop premiere of Peter Ash's The Golden Ticket. He also returned to New York City's Holy Trinity Bach Choir to perform a number of the composer's works including his Magnificat and Cantata No. 30. In the 2007-08 season, Jason Abrams sang Nireno in Giulio Cesare with Florida Grand Opera and joined the Lyric Opera of Chicago for its production of the same opera. He also sang "L'umana fragilita" and Pisandro in Il ritorno d'Ulisse in a return to the Greenwich Music Festival, and joined the roster of New York City Opera for Purcell's King Arthur. Other recent performances include Arnalta in L'incoronazione di Poppea with Central City Opera, Arsamene in Xerxes as a guest artist with Pittsburgh Opera Center, Nireno in Giulio Cesare with Boston Baroque and Connecticut Opera Theater, and Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream at Tanglewood Music Center. Previously as a Fellow at the prestigious Tanglewood Music Center, he sang performances of Bach's Cantata No. 53: "Schlage doch" with the Mark Morris Dance Group, Luciano Berio's Sinfonia conducted by Robert Spano, and Britten's Canticle IV: Journey of the Magi. He recently appeared with the Holy Trinity Bach Choir as soloist for a number of works including Bach's St. Matthew Passion, Easter Oratorio, and Cantata No. 22. Mr. Abrams' extensive oratorio experience also includes Bernstein's Chichester Psalms with the Providence Chorale, Bach's St. John Passion with the New Hampshire Master Chorale, Bernstein's Choruses for the Lark with the Newton Choral Society, Monteverdi's 1610 Vespers with the Tiffany Consort, Handel's Messiah with the Catalina Chamber Orchestra, The Christmas Story with the Waverly Consort, concerts of arias and duets with the Boston Civic Symphony, and Orff's Carmina Burana as a guest artist at Tufts University. He has also previously joined Greenwich Music Festival for staged performances of Handel's Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne. Jason Abrams received the John Moriarty Encouragement Award from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions' New England Region and an Encouragement Award from the Sullivan Foundation in 2007. He is a former first place winner of both the Connecticut Opera Guild Competition and the National Association of Teachers of Singing competition in the Boston Region. He received an Encouragement Grant from the Fritz & Lavinia Jensen Foundation and the Starkey Young Artists Award from Central City Opera. Jason Abrams holds a graduate diploma from the New England Conservatory where he sang Endymione in La Calisto, Nerone in L'Incoronazione di Poppea, and Orfeo in Orfeo ed Euridice. He has also joined the Boston University Opera Institute as a guest artist for performances of Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream. He holds a Master of Music degree from the University of Arizona and a Bachelor of Music degree from James Madison University.

Rising young baritone DREW SANTINI, a native of Stratford, Ontario, is currently a first year graduate student at The Juilliard School where he studies with Marlena Malas and is the recipient of the Otto Lehmann, Joan and Robert Arnow and the Ben Holt Scholarships. Mr. Santini received his bachelor of music degree from the Manhattan School of Music where he most recently performed the role of Lockit in Benjamin Britten's The Beggar's Opera,  praised by the New York Times for having done “lively and engaging work.”. For the past two summers he has appeared as Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Le Premier Ministre in Cendrillon and Guido Contini in Nine: the Musical at the Elardo Young Artist Program in Bruges, Belgium. This past year, Mr. Santini had the honor of singing in the NYC workshop and reading of Stephen Schwartz's first opera Séance on a Wet Afternoon under the direction of Mr. Schwartz himself and his artistic team including conductor Valery Ryvkin and music director Charity Wicks. Other recent solo engagements include Jesus in Bach's St. Matthew Passion, Mozart's Coronation Mass and Regina Coeli, Haydn's Seven Last Words, Handel's Messiah and the Fauré Requiem. Mr. Santini won first place in voice at the National Musical Festival in Canada and went on to be the recipient of the Grand Award after competing against all other first place winners in each instrumental category. Dedicated to the art of recital and concert singing Mr. Santini has appeared with orchestras in Canada, in the United States, in Europe and in Peru.

Admired for her “powerful and expressive vocals” by The Capital Times, soprano SARAH BRAILEY enjoys a varied career in opera and oratorio.  Recent operatic roles include Nedda in I Pagliacci, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Nella in Gianni Schicchi, First Lady in The Magic Flute and Beth in Adamo’s Little Women.  Highlights of Sarah’s oratorio repertoire include the Mozart Requiem and Vesperae Solennes de Confessore, Britten Rejoice in the Lamb, Faure Requiem, Haydn Theresienmesse, Telemann Der Tag des Gerichts and Buxtehude Membra Jesu Nostri.  Sarah holds a Masters Degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she studied under Paul Rowe with the support of a Paul J. Collins Distinguished Graduate Fellowship. While in Madison, she also performed the role of Sharon in Terrence McNally’s Master Class, starring alongside renowned actress Angela Iannone.  Sarah received her Bachelor of Music degree, graduating with distinction, from the Eastman School of Music where she created the role of Jane Bennet in a world premiere adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.  Sarah has participated in master classes with Sumi Jo, Tafelmusik, Richard Hundley, and William Florescu.  She currently resides in New York City, where she studies with Scott Flaherty.

Mezzo-soprano KATHERINE MARONEY is finishing her doctoral studies at the Eastman School of Music in the studio of Robert Swensen. While working on her DMA, she has maintained a dynamic career in opera, early music, and oratorio venues in upstate New York and along the East Coast, as well as actively working as a Teaching Assistant for Eastman. Kate received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from SUNY Purchase in 2004, and from the Yale School of Music in 2006. In 2005, Kate made her international debut in Milan, Italy with the Orchestra Sinfonica Milano di Guiseppe Verdi, singing Hermia in a semi-staged version of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and she returned to Milan to sing roles in nine one-act operas over a four-concert series in 2006. Recent performances include a Baroque music recital, programmed by Paul O’Dette and presented in Naples, Florida, at various venues in Rochester, NY, and as part of the Boston Early Music Festival. She appeared last season as the Mother in the Mercury Opera Rochester production of Amahl and the Night Visitors, under the musical direction of Benton Hess, and she will return to Rochester to perform again with Mercury for an opera outreach project during the Fall 2009. Other recent opera roles include Dido with Eastman Collegium under Paul O’Dette, Prince Orlofsky and Dorabella, on Lake Kezar, Maine, and Desirée Armfeldt with the Eastman Opera Theater.  She performs frequently with “Voices,” a professional chamber choir founded in Rochester by Dr. William Weinert, singing solos in pieces such as Schütz’s Musicalische Exequien and Charpentier’s Reniement de St. Pierre. With Dr. Weinert conducting the Eastman Philharmonia and Chorale, Kate was the alto soloist in Bach’s B-Minor Mass and Mozart’s Vespers and she performed as the soloist in Bach’s Magnificat and Cantata No. 154 with the Rochester Magnificat Ensemble. Other solo engagements include Handel’s Messiah with the Syracuse Master Works Chorale, Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky and Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass with the Geneseo Festival Orchestra and Chorale.  She has appeared as soloist with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Empire State Lyric Theater, Musica Nova, Music and Arts at Christ and Holy Trinity, Westport, and the Rochester Bach Festival. Kate is interested in striving to make Baroque music as accessible and enjoyable as possible to modern audiences of all backgrounds, and is in the process of establishing an early music group with fellow colleagues who are all recent graduates of Eastman.

Tenor TONY BOUTTÉ made his professional operatic debut as Orfeo in the groundbreaking Monteverdi Cycle produced by Skylight Opera of Milwaukee. Since then he has appeared in a wide range of roles, including Ottavio in Don Giovanni conducted by Stuart Bedford, Acis in Handel’s Acis & Galatea with soprano Elizabeth Futral, and Gandhi in the Philip Glass opera Satyagraha, produced by Festspielhaus St. Pölten (Austria). As an oratorio and concert singer, Tony has performed with top-notch ensembles, including Les Arts Florissants, Tafelmusik, Les Talens Lyriques, Opera Lafayette, Washington Bach Consort, New York Collegium, Violons du Roy, Boston Baroque, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and Musica Angelica. In recent years, Tony has performed in numerous premiers, including Michael Gordon’s Chaos, Betsy Jolas’ Motet III, Bang on a Can’s Carbon Copy Building, In the Penal Colony by Philip Glass, and Douglas Cuomo’s Arjuna’s Dilemma. Tony has recorded a wide range of material, from Bach’s St. John Passion (Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra) and operas by Lully (Armide) and Sacchini (Oedipe à Colone) to world premier recordings of Carbon Copy Building and Arjuna’s Dilemma. Tony also regularly performs and records with Brandywine Baroque on the Plectra label. His festival appearances include Salzburg, Aspen, Bard, Schleswig-Holstien, Settembre, Aldeburgh Festival, Versailles Autumn Festival and Tage Alte Muzik Regensburg. Tony made his Carnegie Hall debut in December 2006 singing Handel’s Messiah with Masterwork Chorus. Upcoming projects include roles with the critically acclaimed American Opera Theater and concert appearances of Bach, Mozart and Handel around the country. A Louisiana native, Tony graduated from Louisiana Tech University with a bachelor's degree in Voice and Tuba. He went on to receive a Master's Degree and Performance Certificate from Eastman School of Music, studying with Jan DeGaetani and Marcia Baldwin. Tony then studied in England at the Britten-Pears School for Advanced Musical Studies, working with Sir Peter Pears on works by Benjamin Britten. While there Tony was selected to perform the world premier of Everyone Sang, a recently found orchestral song by Benjamin Britten. Recently, Tony completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at University of Maryland, studying with François Loup. He is currently on the voice faculty of University of Miami’s Frost School of Music.

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