Guest Artists
Alexander Schimpf, Piano
Over the past few years Alexander Schimpf has risen to prominence by impressively winning a series of competitions. He won the 2008 German Music Competition (a distinction no pianist had earned 14 years previous to that), earned First Prize at the 2009 International Beethoven Competition in Vienna, and most recently emerged as the first German pianist ever to win First Prize at the 2011 Cleveland International Piano Competition. His final round performance at Severance Hall with the Cleveland Orchestra was given a standing ovation and additionally honored with the Audience Favorite Prize. Since winning these notable awards, Alexander Schimpf's career has gained momentum with regular appearances at important music centers around the world. In 2011 alone he is giving debut recitals at the Vienna Konzerthaus, Berlin's Konzerthaus and in Zankel Hall at New York's Carnegie Hall.
Born in Göttingen, Germany in 1981, he initially studied piano with Wolfgang Manz in Hannover and subsequently studied with Winfried Apel at the Musikhochschule Dresden as well as with Bernd Glemser in Würzburg. Pianists Cécile Ousset and Janina Fialkowska also played an important role in his artistic development.
Amanda Carr, Vocalist
Amanda Carr is a multi-styled vocalist/pianist that began early on in her teens in the rock and pop genre, but has in recent years focused on fresh interpretations of the Great American Songbook. For over three decades she's performed and recorded both in the U.S. and Italy. She and her CD's have received critical acclaim from a tough bevy of reviewers. Her 2005 recording, TENDER TRAP debuted on the National Jazz Charts at 55 and received 4-stars from All Music Guide. Her follow-up recording in 2007 was a feature story by Nat Hentoff in The Wall Street Journalwhich catapulted her to global exposure with sales and airplay as he hailed her, "...a true jazz singer in a time of wannabes". She's also featured in Hentoff's book, "At the Jazz Band Ball: 60 Years on the Jazz Scene" (2010-University of California Press)
Among her varied performances, she stars in "A Tribute to Peggy Lee and Benny Goodman" a big band show that has traveled to various cities nationwide completing a 30-date 2008-09 touring season. Amanda has been featured with The Artie Shaw Orchestra, Harry James Band and has also appeared with the Glenn Miller Band among her many other guest vocal appearances including guest soloist with the Boston Pops Orchestra. She's headlined at the EuroJazz Festival in Italy along with James Moody and George Mraz, and recorded "Live in San Giorgio" with Trio Martinale from Turin.
Andrew Garland, Bass
American baritone Andrew Garland has been saluted by The New York Times as having a "distinctly American presence" with a "big voice" who is "an able and comfortable performer, and a sincere one," and by Opera News as having "coloratura [which] bordered on the phenomenal as he dashed through the music's intricacies with his warm baritone, offering plenty of elegance and glamour in his smooth acting."
The baritone begins the 2009 – 2010 with a return engagement to Boston Lyric Opera as Dancairo in Carmen. On the concert stage he'll sing Carmina Burana with the Quad Cities Symphony and Vaughan Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem with the Plymouth Philharmonic. A highlight of the previous season was his Carnegie Hall solo recital debut where he premiered several works by living American composers. Opera News Online said of his performance that he "has a lean, fine-grained, vibrant baritone, presents himself with a tautly focused concentration....his natural twinkle and comic timing were on display... [he was] utterly engaging." In addition to the recital, he performed Handel's Messiah with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, Handel's Samson with the Dartmouth Handel Society, and Meyerbeer's Les Hugenots with the Bard Festival.
Betsy Burleigh, Artistic Director
Appointed Artistic Director of the Providence Singers in July 2011, Betsy Burleigh also serves as Music Director of the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh and Chorus pro Musica (Boston, MA).
An active guest conductor, Ms. Burleigh has led the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra,the Akron Symphony, the Canton Symphony, and conducted the Rhode Island Philharmonic and the Providence Singers performance of Handel's Messiah in December of 2011. Theater engagements have included music direction at Opera Cleveland and the Cleveland Public Theater. Also active as a clinician and festival conductor, she most recently led Cincinnati's October Festival Choir in Haydn's Theresienmesse.
Deborah Rentz-Moore, Mezzo-Soprano
Hailed for her "deep, honeyed voice" mezzo-soprano Deborah Rentz-Moore performs with some of the most celebrated ensembles in North America, including the Handel & Haydn Society, Emmanuel Music, The Boston Camerata, Ensemble Très., The Boston Early Music Festival, Aston Magna, New York Collegium, Magnificat and the Mark Morris Dance Group.
A specialist in early music, she also performs opera, oratorio, chamber music and contemporary music. Solo appearances include Dido in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, alto solos of Messiah with Worcester Chorus, Spanish chamber music with Musicians of the Old Post Road, Shaker music with The Boston Camerata and Tero Saarinen Dance Company, baroque holiday music with Très., and alto solos of Israel in Egypt with The Newton Choral Society, St. John Passion with Masterworks Chorale and Mass in Time of War with Berkshire Concert Choir. This month, Aston Magna Chamber Series will feature Ms. Rentz-Moore in a chamber music program of Purcell and Handel.
Jonah Ellsworth, Cello
“Any praise of Jonah’s technical abilities is likely to be an understatement. He is completely assured and intensely musical.”
~Boston Musical Intelligencer
Jonah Park Ellsworth is seventeen years old and attends the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School where he is a 12th grader. He started playing the cello at age 5. Jonah is a student of Natasha Brofsky at the New England Conservatory of Music Preparatory School. Jonah recently won first place in the NEC Concerto Competition high school division and subsequently performed Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations with the YPO in Jordan Hall as well as perform with them as soloist on their European Tour in June of 2011. His performance of the Tchaikovsky with YPO in Slovakia, prompted the critic from Boston Musical Intelligencer to write, “cellist Jonah Ellsworth, performed Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations in Bratislava. Any praise of Jonah’s technical abilities is likely to be an understatement. He is completely assured and intensely musical; each of the variations had a distinctive character and tone color. I was particularly impressed with his sensitivity to the interaction with the orchestra, the hallmark of natural chamber musician (a quality that is evident in his sectional leadership, as well). This is a young man on the verge of an international career.”
Katherine Chi, Piano
"Katherine Chi, a most elegant player...Chi's performance was delightful polished technique, satisfying phrasing, a lovely knack for making each and every note sing out."
~mlive.com
Pianist Katherine Chi, firmly established as one of Canada's fastest rising stars, has performed throughout Europe and North America to great acclaim. "Ms Chi displayed a keen musical intelligence and a powerful arsenal of technique" wrote The New York Times about her New York recital debut. In 2009 Katherine Chi returns to New York for a Lincoln Center recital engagement and makes concerto appearances with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Victoria Symphony Orchestra, the Mexico City Philharmonic and on U.S. tour with I Musici de Montreal. Other engagements include Philadelphia, Toronto, Stuttgart, Vancouver, Winnipeg and Boston where Ms. Chi will perform Stockhausen's Mantra at the Gardner Museum.
Kristen Watson, Soprano
Soprano Kristen Watson, hailed by critics for her "blithe and silvery" tone and "winning stage presence," has made solo debuts with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra of New York City, the Mark Morris Dance Group, Boston Baroque, the Handel & Haydn Society, and Emmanuel Music, at such venues as the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Tanglewood, Ravinia, and Boston's Symphony Hall. Anticipated to "become a valuable presence in the early-music world" (Richard Dyer, Boston Globe), Ms. Watson was recently granted the Lorraine Hunt Lieberson Fellowship with Emmanuel Music, as well as awards from the American Bach Society Vocal Competition (Finalist), Oratorio Society of NY Solo Competition (Semi-Finalist), Concert Artists Guild Competition (Semi-Finalist), the Joy in Singing Competition (Semi-Finalist), and the Louisville Bach Society Vocal Competition (3rd Place).
Opera audiences have recently heard Ms. Watson as the "Voice of the Fountain" in Osvaldo Golijov's acclaimed new opera Ainadamar with Opera Boston, directed by Peter Sellars. She has performed in additional productions with Boston Lyric Opera, Boston University Opera Institute, Intermezzo Opera, and the Opera Theater of Pittsburgh in such roles as Tytania in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Adele in Die Fledermaus, Polly Peachum in The Beggar's Opera and Monica in The Medium.
Matthew Anderson, Tenor
Matthew Anderson has been praised for the warm tenor voice and polished musicality he brings to the repertoire of oratorio, opera, and musical theater.
Mr. Anderson was the 2nd Prize winner in the 2010 Oratorio Society of New York Solo Competition. He has also been a prizewinner in the American Bach Society Vocal Competition and a finalist in the Liederkranz Art Song Competition. He sings regularly as a soloist in Boston's renowned Emmanuel Music Bach Cantata Series and has appeared as a soloist with the Handel and Haydn Society, Carmel Bach Festival, Cantata Singers, Back Bay Chorale, Musicians of the Old Post Road, Williamstown Early Music, Masterworks Chorale, Musica Maris, and Boston Modern Orchestra Project.
Michael Ludwig, Violin
Hailed by Strad Magazine for his "effortless, envy-provoking technique... sweet tone, brilliant expression, and grand style," Michael Ludwig enjoys a multi-faceted career as a soloist, recording artist, and chamber musician. A highly sought-after soloist, he has performed on four continents, including appearances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Boston Pops, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, collaborating with such conductors as JoAnn Falletta, Sir Georg Solti, and John Williams among others.
Recent performances have taken Ludwig to Japan, China, the Czech Republic, Portugal, Lithuania, Canada, Mexico, and Carnegie Recital Hall in New York. His future engagements include appearances in Spain, Israel, Great Britain, Germany, Poland and the United States.
Michael Ludwig's critically acclaimed discography includes recordings with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, and Virginia Symphony Orchestra. Fanfare magazine writes: "His phrasing is so sensitive—knowing just where to place the slightest emphasis, where to lighten bow pressure ever so slightly to achieve delicate chiaroscuro effects, where to intensify and where to relax his vibrato—it could serve as an object lesson to every budding violinist." And BBC Music Magazine praises his "persuasive playing, silky tone, sensitivity to colour and flair for 'golden-age' style."
Paul Guttry, Bass
Bass-baritone Paul Guttry enjoys a varied career combining opera, oratorio, and a specialization in early music. Mr. Guttry has concertized throughout the U.S. and internationally with Sequentia, the Boston Camerata, Chanticleer, and the Ensemble for Early Music. In Boston, he has appeared as soloist with Emmanuel Music, Boston Modern Opera Project, Handel & Haydn, Chorus Pro Musica, Boston Early Music Festival, Cantata Singers, Boston Cecilia, Cambridge Bach Ensemble, and Collage New Music.
Paul is a founding member of Blue Heron, a Renaissance choir, which has recently appeared at the Berkeley Early Music Festival, at Washington's Dumbarton Oaks, and in New York at the Cloisters and in the prestigious "Music Before 1800" series. He appeared as Osmin in Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio at the Connecticut Early Music Festival in June.
Teresa Wakim, Soprano
“Teresa Wakim has a bejeweled lyric soprano, with an exquisite top register and a delicate feeling for Baroque phrasing.”
~The Boston Globe
With “a voice of lambent beauty,” soprano Teresa Wakim’s performances of opera, oratorio and chamber music have garnered her wide acclaim. Hailing from New England, she won first prize in the Internationaler Solistenwettbewerb fur Alte Musik in Brunnenthal, Austria. Noted engagements for 2010-2011 included Handel’s Messiah with the San Antonio Symphony, Bach’s St. John Passion with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Handel’s Alexander’s Feast in Boston with Masterworks Chorale, as well as performances in the Boston Early Music Festival’s Chamber Opera Series, and with Boston Cecilia.