Concert Program

Paula Fagerberg, Harp, lives in Alpharetta. She is co-founder of the touring and recording ensemble Armonia Celeste, which was a finalist in the 2011 Early Music America/Naxos recording competition. She also  performs at early music festivals around the country, and has appeared as a guest artist with ensembles including Chatham Baroque, the Dallas Bach Society, and the American Bach Soloists. Ms. Fagerberg has performed at the U.S. Embassy in Stockholm, given a concert on antique pedal harps at Oxford University, and toured Perú and Bolívia playing the Spanish arpa de dos órdenes, the Baroque harp played in today’s concert. Paula was featured in the recent PBS documentary Harp Dreams as an expert on the history of the harp. She attended graduate school at Indiana University’s Early Music Institute, and holds a degree in historical harp performance from Clayton State University, where she was named a Spivey Scholar and The University System of Georgia Outstanding Scholar.

Daniel Zuluaga, Guitar is from Colombia, and teaches at Claremont University. He divides his time between San Diego and Montreal, and performs throughout the US and Latin America. The Washington Post praised him for his “rhythmic vitality and fine sense of color”. San Francisco Classical Voice lauded his accompaniment as “exemplary” and full of “great inventiveness”. He has been nominated to various prizes, including an Opus by the Quebec Council for Music, a Juno, and the ADISQ award from Quebec’s music industry. He regularly performs as a guest artist with ensembles such as Ensemble Elyma, B’Rock, Clarion Society, Musica Angelica, Portland Baroque Orchestra, San Diego Bach Collegium, Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado, Al Ayre Español, and American Bach Soloists, among others. A winner of numerous awards including a Fulbright Fellowship for studies in Spain, he is preparing a solo album on the Baroque guitar collection of François Le Cocq.

Danny Mallon, Percussion teaches at Mannes College of Music in New York City. For three years he has been a musical ambassador for the US Department of State and toured Southeast Asia and the Middle-East. He has performed with the period orchestra Le Concert Des Nations at Alice Tully Hall and the Library of Congress, with The Baltimore Consort, Ensemble Galilie, Rebel, Apollo’s Fire, the NY Collegium, the Rose Ensemble, Artek, and AmorArtis Chorus and Baroque Orchestra. He has recorded three albums with Chatham Baroque, and albums with Pifaro, the Baltimore Consort, Brio, the Da Capo Chamber Players, and Charleston Pro Musica. They toured France five times and were the subject of a PBS documentary in 2002. Festival appearances include Spoletto, the International Festival of Latin American Renaissance and Baroque Music in Bolivia, and the Festival of Baroque Music in San Louis Potosi, Mexico. Mr. Mallon is also a prolific recording studio musician in New York, playing in many styles for radio, television, film scores and albums by leading jazz artists.

José Lemos, Counter-Tenor lives in Connecticut, and is from Brazil. Since receiving the First Prize of the 2003 International Baroque Singing Competition of Chimay in Belgium, and Tanglewood music fellowships in 2003 and 2004, he has performed leading roles in Baroque operas with many leading ensembles across Europe and the USA, including at the Zürich Opernhaus, Teatro Real de Madrid, Théâtre des Champs-Élisées in Paris, Royal Festival Hall in London, Carnegie Hall, and Avery Fisher Hall. A guest member of the Baltimore Consort, he performs with American and European early music ensembles including L’Arpeggiata, Brandywine Baroque, Boston Baroque, Magnificat (San Francisco), NY State Baroque, Chatham Baroque, and Quartetto Brio. He charms audiences in recitals with his renditions of Brazilian and Sephardic songs with Uruguayan guitarist Marco Sartor. Mr. Lemos records with Dorian/Sono Luminus. He holds a Masters Degree in Opera Performance from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.

Nell Snaidas, Soprano lives in New York. She has been praised by the New York Times for her “beautiful soprano voice, melting passion” and “vocally ravishing” performances. Nell has been a soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Apollo’s Fire and The Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra (as well portraying roles in several of their main-stage operas) in venues ranging from the Hollywood Bowl to Tanglewood. Of Uruguayan-American descent, her specialization in Italian and Spanish Baroque music has taken her all over the globe. She has recorded for Sony Classical, Dorian, Sono Luminus and Naxos and was featured on CBC radio as one of the leading interpreters of Spanish Renaissance and Sephardic song. This season she was named the Co-Artistic Director of the new concert series, GEMAS: Early Music of the Americas in New York City. Her most recent CD The Kingdoms of Castille, with the group El Mundo, was nominated for a Grammy award in 2012.

“Comfort Ye” and “Every Valley” from Handel’s Messiah, 1742 Dublin Score
Aaron Sheehan, Tenor
November 30, 2012, First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta
with the Georgia Tech Chamber Choir
Jerry Ulrich, Director

“Rejoice Greatly” from Handel’s, Messiah, 1742 Dublin Score
Teresa Wakim, Soprano
November 30, 2012, First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta
with the Georgia Tech Chamber Choir
Jerry Ulrich, Director

The number and instrumentation of musicians we use changes from concert to concert, depending on the pieces of chamber orchestra music that we select. For instance, from time to time we might need orchestra members or featured soloists on Baroque flute, recorder, bassoon, lute or theorbo, viola da gamba, singers, or even Baroque dancers.

This time around we are about to perform Handel’s Messiah on Friday and Sunday. I though I’d post the lineup of professional performers for these concerts, and tell you where each of them lives.

First Violins

• Julie Andrijeski, Concertmaster and Artistic Director, Cleveland, Ohio
• Valerie Arsenault, Tallahassee, Florida
• Stephen Redfield, Hattiesburg, Mississippi
• Evan Few, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Second Violins

• Gesa Kordes, Tuscaloosa, Alabama (originally from Germany)
• Martie Perry, Bloomington, Indiana
• Ute Marks, Atlanta, Georgia (originally from Germany)

Violas

• Melissa Brewer, Tallahassee, Florida
• Elena Kraineva, Bloomington, Indiana (originally from Russia)

Cellos

• Katherine Rietman, New York, New York
• David Ellis, Cleveland, Ohio

Bass

• Melanie Punter, Tallahassee, Florida

Oboes

• George Riordan, Murfreesboro, Tennessee
• Lara Lay, Madison, Alabama

Trumpets

• Barry Bauguess, Wilkesboro, North Carolina
• Rick Murrell, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Harpsichord

• Webb Wiggins, Oberlin, Ohio

Organ

• Daniel Pyle, Atlanta, Georgia

Timpani

• Charles Settle, Atlanta, Georgia

Vocal Soloists

• Teresa Wakim, Boston, Massachusetts
• Katherine Growdon, Boston, Massachusetts
• Aaron Sheehan, Baltimore, Maryland
• Mischa Bouvier, New York, New York

As you can see, it takes a lot of resources and determination to bring together the best musicians from around the country to fill out the roster and join with the small number of true Baroque experts we have living here in Atlanta. But it’s the only way to give Atlanta the best in historically-informed Baroque music. That’s what the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra has been committed to doing since 1998. Join us at our concerts. If you love the music as much as we do, you might consider getting involved as a patron, a volunteer, or on our Board of Directors.

The Atlanta Baroque and the Georgia Tech Chamber Choir present the complete, original 1742 Dublin version of Handel’s Messiah with world-renowned vocal soloists who represent the best in the new generation of Baroque music performance. We’re excited to interpret Handel’s masterpiece with a lineup of singers unprecedented in accomplishment and musicianship. Leading the production will be Jerry Ulrich, conductor of the choir, and ABO Artistic Director Julie Andrijeski.

You won’t want to miss these concerts. Buy your tickets today!
Buy Tickets for Friday, November 30, 7:30 pm, First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta
or
Buy Tickets for Sunday, December 2, 4:00 pm, Roswell Presbyterian Church

Teresa Wakim

Soprano Teresa Wakim, from Boston, sings with a voice of “extraordinary suppleness and beauty”, said the New York Times. She performs with the Handel and Haydn Society, and was featured soloist on four Grammy-nominated albums. She has toured Europe and the United States with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, and won first prize in the International Soloist Competition for Early Music in Austria. Teresa has been featured on the stages of Lincoln Center, Alice Tully Hall, and Boston Symphony Hall, and performed lead roles in operas including The Magic Flute, The Abduction, and Acis and Galatea. She has performed with more Baroque chamber groups across the nation than we can name. Teresa holds music degrees from Oberlin and Boston University, and has studied in Lisbon, Salzburg, Vancouver, Lausanne, and Venice.

Katherine Growdon

Alto Katherine Growdon, from Boston, performed Messiah to critical acclaim with the American  Bach Soloists in 2006.  Lauded for her “heartrending emotion and excellent control” by San Francisco Classical Voice, she has performed with renowned early music chamber groups throughout the Northeast. Katherine is known for her exceptional versatility on stage across an impressive range of three centuries of operatic roles, from the Baroque through Mozart, Bizet, Puccini, and even Stephen Sondheim. She has performed with San Francisco Lyric Opera, Portland Opera, Carmel Bach Festival, and is the recipient of fellowships at Tanglewood. Katherine has a Master of Music from San Francisco Conservatory.

Aaron Sheehan

Tenor Aaron Sheehan, from Baltimore, performs across the United States, South America and Europe, and is known as a first-rate interpreter of the oratorios and cantatas of Bach and Handel. “Superb: his tone classy, clear, and refined, encompassing fluid lyricism and ringing force”, said the Boston Globe. His recordings have also been Grammy-nominated. Aaron is known equally for Baroque opera, concert and chamber work, having performed with innumerable Baroque music groups across our nation, and in early music festivals including those of Boston, San Francisco, Vancouver, Houston, Tucson, and Washington. Aaron holds a Masters in Early Voice Performance from Indiana University. Today he teaches at Boston University, Wellesley College, and Towson University.

Mischa Bouvier

Bass Mischa Bouvier, from New York, is known for his keen musicality and remarkable communicative powers. Praised for his “rich timbre” and “fine sense of line” by the New York Times, he has won awards from the American Bach Soloists, Oratorio Society of New York, and Concert Artists Guild. Mischa has performed with Baroque ensembles and symphony orchestras across the US, while also being an advocate for new music by emerging composers in New York. His opera roles cover Handel to Gilbert and Sullivan to Philip Glass — and we must mention that he’s sung in concert with Sting in his performance of the music of John Dowland. Mischa has a Masters of Music from Cincinnati Conservatory, and trained at the Lyric Opera Cleveland, the International Masterclass for Music in Zurich, the Carmel Bach Festival and the Tanglewood Music Festival.

On Sunday, September 23, 2012, the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra presented Telemann’s Tafelmusik Production II. In addition to being a smash musical success, the eighteen musicians came up with an original idea that they executed themselves to make the concert even more wonderful. Let me tell you about it.

Hi, this is Wheat Williams. I volunteer to do publicity and marketing, among other tasks including maintaining this web site and blog for the Atlanta Baroque.

Telemann’s Tafelmusik series was music written to accompany banquets. It’s light and upbeat and it lifts the spirits. To Telemann’s credit, though, it’s more than just background music. There’s some excellent musicianship involved, and plenty of that was on display.

Just a couple of weeks before the concert, members of the orchestra came up with a great idea, which they all worked together to implement. As usual, we needed to perform Telemann’s “album” of music in the sanctuary of  Roswell Presbyterian Church, where there’s no opportunity for eating. But the orchestra decided to cater the intermission in the lobby and provide free food for the 115 people in attendance. Up in the balcony of the lobby, Julie Andrijeski on violin, Daniel Pyle on Lautenwerk, and Brent Wissick on viola da gamba serenaded the banquet with one of Telemann’s sonatas. The members of the orchestra each brought their own dishes prepared for the event, adding a personal touch with some home cooking. Director Julie Andrijeski even brought a dish prepared with produce from her own garden all the way from Cleveland, Ohio. The orchestra members mingled, ate, talked and relaxed with the audience. Then trumpeter Barry Bauguess blew the call for the intermission to end and the concert to resume, where more sparkling musicianship brought the afternoon to a delightful conclusion.

Gemütlichkeit is an old German word that doesn’t translate directly into English. You might say it means “friendliness” but I think it conveys the sense of well-being that you experience when you are among friends, or when you are at home. The musicians in the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra extended their Gemütlichkeit to everybody lucky enough to attend. We gratefully thank Roswell Presbyterian’s Director of Music, Bruce Graham, his wife and other volunteers, for encouraging and facilitating, and Roswell Pres as a whole for giving us the ideal venue to bring our music to the community.

It’s traditional in Germany to sing “Ein Prosit der Gemütlichkeit”, “A Toast to Gemütlichkeit“. Welcome to one and all.