HANDEL’S MESSIAH
Julie Andrijeski | Director and Concertmaster
in collaboration with
The Cathedral of St. Philip Schola, Dale Adelmann | Director
Raha Mirzadegan | Soprano
Raquel Winnica Young | Alto
Karim Sulayman | Tenor
Mischa Bouvier | Bass
7:30pm, November 18th | The Cathedral of St. Philip, Atlanta
2:00pm, November 19th | The Cathedral of St. Philip, Atlanta
Now is your chance to hear Handel’s Messiah in its entirety! We’re sporting star talent and historical instruments to recreate the original composition as it premiered in Dublin in 1742. Artistic Director Julie Andrijeski shares leadership with Canon for Music Dale Adelmann as the ABO teams up with spectacular soloists Raha Mirzadegan, Raquel Winnica, Karim Sulayman, Mischa Bouvier, and the Cathedral of St. Philip Schola to deliver a uniquely moving performance of Handel’s greatest hit. Open the holiday season with this extraordinary event to charm the ravished Heart and Ear and bring exquisite Delight to all!
Guest Artists
Raha Mirzadegan
The soprano Raha Mirzadegan is a Persian-American musician based in New York. A lover of sacred music and polyphony, her repertoire spans the medieval chant of Hildegard von Bingen to premieres of new works by living composers.
In spring of 2022, Raha was a guest artist at Spoleto Festival USA, where she made her operatic stage debut with "stylish elegance and intensity" (Wall Street Journal) as the featured soprano in the world premiere of Unholy Wars—a baroque pastiche created by Karim Sulayman. Acclaimed for her "stirring, soulful tones" (The Post & Courier), this season Raha will again join The Clarion Choir for performances in New York City, and on tour with The English Concert and Harry Bicket.
Raha studied voice with Gran Wilson at the University of Maryland.
Raquel Winnica Young
Hailed by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as a “beautifully voiced singer-actor" and by the American Record Guide as a mezzo-soprano of “gorgeous expressive singing” Raquel Winnica Young was a finalist of the Vocal Art Song Discovery Series DC, two-time winner of the Pittsburgh Concert Society Major Artist Competition and a finalist for The American Prize in Art Song and Oratorio.
Specializing in Spanish and Latin-American baroque music, with a deep interest in the influence and transformation of the Spanish language and its origins across the centuries, Ms. Winnica Young's career has taken her to concert halls throughout the Americas and Europe. In the US, she has appeared in concert with Chatham Baroque, The Newberry Consort, The Rose Ensemble and Apollo’s Fire. With Les Délices she participated in an interdisciplinary project that honored the life of the Mexican poet and composer Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.
Raquel is also exploring the world of staging. As the opera director of the early music program at the 2021 FEMUSC Festival in Brazil, she adapted and directed Nozze di Fígaro. In 2022 she will direct a pastiche of Monteverdi’s and Gluck’s Orfeo.
Born in Córdoba, Argentina, Ms. Winnica Young holds a degree from the Instituto de Arte del Teatro Colon and an Artist Diploma from Duquesne University. She is currently finishing her Masters in Advanced Studies in Theatre at UNIR (Universidad Internacional de Rioja (Spain)). Ms. Winnica Young is Adjunct Faculty in Voice at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where she teaches Applied Voice and Vocal Repertoire.
Karim Sulayman
Lebanese-American tenor Karim Sulayman has garnered international attention as a
sophisticated and versatile artist, praised for his “lucid, velvety tenor and pop star charisma”
(BBC Music Magazine). The 2019 Best Classical Solo Vocal GRAMMY® Award winner, he
continues to earn acclaim for his programming and recording projects, while regularly
performing on the world’s stages in opera, orchestral concerts, recital and chamber music.
Recent career highlights include his sold out solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall, Hamburg’s
Elbphilharmonie, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Ravinia Festival, the Aldeburgh Festival, and
the world premiere of his critically acclaimed original production of Unholy Wars at the Spoleto
Festival USA. He has performed with the Chicago, Pittsburgh and National Symphony
Orchestras, the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, and has appeared in leading roles with
Drottningholms Slottsteater, Houston Grand Opera, Florentine Opera, New York City Opera,
and Boston Lyric Opera.
Karim won the GRAMMY® Award for his debut solo album, Songs of Orpheus. His second
solo album, Where Only Stars Can Hear Us, a program of Schubert Lieder, debuted at #1 on the
Billboard Traditional Classical Chart and has received international critical acclaim, including
being named “Critic’s Choice” by Opera News and included in the New York Times’ Best
Classical Music of 2020. His next album, with guitarist Sean Shibe, is slated for release in 2023.
Karim has appeared on PBS Great Performances and on the second season of Dickinson on
Apple TV+. He created a social experiment/performance art piece called I Trust You, designed
to build bridges in a divided political climate. A video version of this experiment went “viral” on
the internet, and was honored as a prize winner at the My Hero Film Festival.
Mischa Bouvier
Baritone Mischa Bouvier is widely regarded as a singer of keen musicality and unique beauty of tone, and continues to garner critical acclaim for a diverse career that includes concerts, recitals, staged works and recordings.
Mischa made his Lincoln Center debut at Alice Tully Hall in a performance of Jocelyn Hagen’s amass with Musica Sacra under the direction of Kent Tritle, and his Carnegie Hall debut at Weill Recital Hall in recital with pianist Yegor Shevtsov. Other notable performances include St. Matthew Passion (arias) with Iván Fischer and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Stern Auditorium; Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel (Jigger Craigin) with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops at Symphony Hall in Boston; Pärt’s Passio(Evangelisti) for the “collected stories” series at Zankel Hall, curated by David Lang; St. Matthew Passion (Jesus) at the Festival Casals de Puerto Rico, conducted by Helmuth Rilling; St. John Passion (Pilate and arias) with the Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys, under the direction of John Scott; Messiah with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Puerto Rico in San Juan, under the direction of Maximiano Valdés; Handel’s La resurrezione (Lucifer) with the Helicon Ensemble at Yale University and the Morgan Library & Museum; Fauré’s Requiem and Vaughan Williams’s Five Mystical Songs with the Princeton Glee Club; Gordon Getty’s Plump Jack (Bardolph and Chief Justice) at the Ángela Peralta Theater in Mazatlán, Mexico; Monteverdi’s L'Orfeo (Plutone) with Apollo’s Fire in Cleveland, Ann Arbor, and California; and the world premiere of El Mesías with Bach Collegium San Diego in Tijuana.
Mischa grew up in Alabama and lives on Long Island in New York.
Cathedral Schola
The Cathedral of St. Philip is well known for its broad tradition of choral music ministry. Some 40 adult volunteer singers, 12 staff singers, 25 choristers (children and youth), and three volunteer organists, along with our Organist and Artist-in-Residence, Organist and Associate Choirmaster, and Canon for Music provide music for approximately 225 Cathedral services and 75 weddings and funerals each year.
The Cathedral Schola is a highly skilled chamber choir of auditioned singers selected from the Cathedral Choir. The Schola sings Evensong, Choral Eucharists, and services of Lessons and Carols at 4 p.m. on most Sundays from September through May. The choir collaborates regularly with the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, who are entering their fourth season as artists-in-residence. Together with the Cathedral Choir, they have recorded three compact discs for Gothic Records which are available internationally via Gothic's distribution agreement with Naxos.