Divine Bach & Handel

Sunday, March 10, 2019 | 2:00 P.M.
Bucksbaum Center for the Arts, Grinnell, Iowa (map)

Saturday, March 16, 2019 | 7:30 P.M.
St. Paul Conservatory of Music Concert Hall, St. Paul (map)

Sunday, March 17, 2019 | 3:00 P.M. Please note day and time
Christ United Methodist Church, Rochester (map)

Pre-concert talk begins 30 minutes prior to concert time.

Maria Jette, soprano
Angela Young Smucker, mezzo-soprano
Roy Heilman, tenor
Thomas Meglioranza, baritone
and the Grinnell Singers led by John Rommereim

With star soloists, Georg Frideric Handel’s demanding Dixit Dominus, and a rare performance of J.S. Bach’s Mass in A Major, this will be a memorable concert. Lyra welcomes back the talented young voices of the Grinnell Singers to bring these pieces to life.

REPERTOIRE:

George Frideric Handel
Dixit Dominus

Johann Sebastian Bach
“Lutheran” Mass in A Major, BWV 234

Guest Soloists

Soprano MARIA JETTE’s wide-ranging career has encompassed everything from early Baroque opera to world premieres, in the United States and abroad. Her orchestral resumé includes The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Houston, Kansas City, San Luis Obispo, Santa Rosa, Charlotte, Buffalo, Grand Rapids, Austin, Marin and San Antonio Symphonies, New York Chamber Symphony, Portland Baroque Orchestra and Musica Angelica; plus Berkshires Opera, Roanoke Opera, Sacramento Opera, and the sadly defunct Ex Machina Antique Music Theatre in her home base of Minneapolis-St. Paul. There, she’s often heard with VocalEssence (led by conductor Philip Brunelle), Chamber Music Society of Minnesota, Minnesota Sinfonia, The Schubert Club, and the Lyra Baroque Orchestra.

A regular guest over many seasons at the San Luis Obispo Mozart and Oregon Bach Festivals, the Maverick Chamber Series and the Oregon Festival of American Music, she’s often heard nationally on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion.

Maria is an ecumenical recitalist: her programs range from songs of Grieg or Fauré through Edwardian parlor music and Latin American chamber music, liberally interspersed with Tin Pan Alley and the Great American Songbook. She’s performed her own productions of Seuss/Kapilow’s Green Eggs & Ham and Gertrude McFuzz for over fifty thousand kids throughout the country, with pit bands, symphony orchestras, and even just piano and train whistle!

For more information– including her two recordings with pianist Dan Chouinard–In Our Little Paradise: Lyrics of PG Wodehouse and The Siren’s Song: Wodehouse and Kern on Broadway—please visit www.mariajette.com.

ANGELA YOUNG SMUCKER has earned praise for her “rich, secure mezzo-soprano” (Chicago Tribune). Her performances in concert, stage, and chamber works have made her a highly versatile and sought-after artist. She has been recognized for her fine artistry in the repertoire of J.S. Bach and has performed all of his major works, as well as numerous cantatas.

Ms. Smucker is a regular soloist with the Bach Collegium San Diego and the long-standing Bach Cantata series at Grace Lutheran Church in Chicago. She has been a featured soloist under the direction of Bach scholars Helmuth Rilling and Hermann Max, and has performed at Leipzig’s St. Thomaskirche with the Leipzig Baroque Orchestra. She was also a Virginia Best Adams Master Class Fellow (Carmel Bach Festival) and has been a featured soloist for the Oregon Bach Festival Discovery Series, as well as Master Class in Conducting.

Concert work from past seasons includes Mozart’s Coronation Mass (Music of the Baroque), Mendelssohn’s Elijah (Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Oregon Bach Festival), Haydn’s Creation (Oregon Bach Festival), Bolcom’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience under the baton of Philip Brunelle, Mozart’s Requiem, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Handel’s Israel in Egypt, and Duruflé’s Requiem. She has also appeared on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion, WFMT’s Impromptu, and WTTW’s Chicago Tonight. Ms. Smucker is a founding member of the Haymarket Opera Company, Chicago’s 17th and 18th century opera troupe, and has worked extensively as a chamber artist. She holds degrees from Valparaiso University and the University of Minnesota.

Tenor ROY HEILMAN frequently sings in a broad spectrum of styles from the Renaissance to the present but has primarily made a name for himself as tenor soloist in the music of the Baroque and Classical eras. Having been taught to be a versatile musician, he has also premiered many new works.

Heilman has been associated with many excellent ensembles, including the Rose Ensemble, the Lyra Baroque Orchestra, the Oregon Bach Festival Berwick Chorus, Vox Humana, Glorious Revolution Baroque, and the recently Grammy-nominated South Dakota Chorale. As a singer of Baroque music, he spends much of his time singing in small ensemble settings with period instruments. With the Twin Cities’ Consortium Carissimi, he recorded three albums of pieces by Italian Baroque composers Carissimi and Graziani, which were released on the Naxos label in 2016. Also in 2016 with Consortium Carissimi, he performed the title role in Bernardo Pasquini’s opera Il Tirinto, which had lain dormant since the seventeenth century.

Heilman last appeared with Lyra in 2017, as tenor soloist in a rare performance of Carl Heinrich Graun’s Der Tod Jesu, with guest conductor Simon Carrington. Other recent performances include Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610, Britten’s St. Nicolas, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, and J.S. Bach’s Easter Oratorio, St. John Passion, and Mass in B Minor.

Heilman received his musical training from Gustavus Adolphus College, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Music with Honors in Performance, and from The New England Conservatory of Music, with a Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance. He lives in Minnesota with his wife and two children, where he is usually caught up in musical or outdoor pursuits. He can always be found at RoyHeilman.com.

THOMAS MEGLIORANZA is an award-winning baritone, with the Walter W. Naumburg and Concert Artists Guild competitions among his accolades. Highlights from recent seasons include an all-Hugo Wolf recital at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival, performances of Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin with pianist Reiko Uchida, Winterreise with fortepianist David Breitman, the role of Lord Henry in Lowell Liebermann’s The Picture of Dorian Gray with Odyssey Opera, the role of Wreck in Bernstein’s Wonderful Town with the Seattle Symphony, and Bach’s solo bass cantatas with the Lyra Baroque Orchestra.

In addition to Messiahs, Carmina Buranas, and Bach passions with many orchestras in the United States, Meglioranza has sung Copland’s Old American Songs with the National Symphony, Eight Songs for a Mad King with the LA Philharmonic, Bach cantatas with Les Violons du Roy, and John Harbison’s Fifth Symphony with the Boston Symphony. His operatic roles include Pierrot in Die tote Stadt, Chou En-Lai in Nixon in China, and Prior Walter in Peter Eötvös’ Angels in America. With pianist Reiko Uchida, he has given recitals around the world and recorded albums of Schubert lieder, Winterreise, and Fauré’s La bonne chanson. His discography also includes orchestral songs of Virgil Thomson with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, songs of Louis Karchin with the Orchestra of the League of Composers, and Bach cantatas with the Taverner Consort.

Meglioranza was born in Manhattan, grew up in northern New Jersey, and graduated from Grinnell College and the Eastman School of Music.

The GRINNELL SINGERS, under the direction of JOHN ROMMEREIM, are a group of people who are diverse in terms of their backgrounds, interests, and talents, but who are united in their love of singing and their dedication to the choral art. They perform music from a variety of traditions and locales—from Brahms to Bluegrass, and from Renaissance England to twenty-first century New York. They work hard to craft the very best musical performances, and as they pursue these high ideals, they are committed to fostering an environment that is welcoming and supportive for each and every member. The ensemble regularly contributes to the community in the form of volunteer projects.

Each year, the Grinnell Singers complete a concert tour during the first week of spring recess. In past years, they have completed tours to Finland, Estonia, Russia, the Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey. Last year’s tour took them to New Orleans, with concerts along the way in Des Moines, Lawrence, Kansas City, Tulsa, Dallas, and New Orleans. Their last project with Lyra was Carl Heinrich Graun’s Der Tod Jesu in 2017.