BACH | ADVENT CANTATAS
Cantata No. 36 Schwingt freudig euch empor
Cantata No. 225 Singet dem Herrn (instrumental transcription)
Cantata No. 147 Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben
Redeemer Choir & Soloists
Philharmonie Austin
Mark Dupere, conductor
No charge for admission
Philharmonie Austin is a period instrument orchestra that has been bringing exciting performances to Austin for over ten years, previously under the name Musica Redemptor. Under the direction of conductor Mark Dupere, the group explores repertoire ranging from early Baroque to late Romantic music and is comprised of many of the country's finest players of old instruments. Philharmonie Austin is privileged to come under the umbrella of Arts on Alexander and to enjoy its long and happy collaboration with the Redeemer Choir. Notable performances have included Bach's Christmas Oratorio, Handel's Messiah and Mendelssohn's Elijah. The orchestra has explored a vast range of instrumental works, including the complete Orchestral Suites and Brandenburg Concertos of Bach, Rameau's Dardanus Suite, Handel's Water Music, Mendelssohn String Symphonies, and Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and Fourth Piano Concerto. Drawing on the wealth of research and knowledge into performance practice of each period, the group seeks to bring its audience performances that enliven the soul as it strives to get to the heart of the composer's intentions and communicate this to a new generation.
Mark Dupere, Conductor
Mark Dupere is Associate Professor of Music at Lawrence University, where he is the Director of Orchestral Studies. He currently conducts the Lawrence Symphony Orchestra and Philharmonie Austin, as well as making guest appearances with Regional and National Honor Youth Orchestras. As a cellist, Mark performed throughout Europe with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Haagsche Hofmuzieck, Anima Eterna Brugge, and as an apprentice with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in London. Mark was an “Emerging Artist” at the Victoria Bach Festival, performed in the Leipzig Bach Competition, and was recently named a national finalist for the American Prize in Conducting. Mark holds degrees in Cello from the University of Texas at Austin and the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, The Netherlands, and a Doctorate in Orchestral Conducting from Michigan State University.
Jessica Beebe, Soprano
Lauded by Opera News as “evocative and ethereal,” “a honey-colored tone,” and "the most radiant solo singing," soprano Jessica Beebe is steadily gaining international attention as an affecting interpreter of repertoire spanning over four centuries, ranging from Renaissance music to contemporary American opera.
In recent seasons, she has appeared as a guest soloist in concert with the New York City Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Walt Disney Hall, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Raymond Leppard, the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, the Princeton Festival Orchestra, the English Concert under Harry Bicket, Bourbon Baroque, Piffaro The Renaissance Wind Band, the Folger Consort, the Delaware Symphony Orchestra, the Utah Symphony under the baton of Craig Jessop, and several other orchestras and ensembles.
Ms. Beebe's vast solo concert and oratorio repertoire includes such major works as Monteverdi's Vespro della beata vergine; Vivaldi's In furore iustissimae iræ and Gloria; Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater; J. S. Bach's Mass in B minor, St. Matthew Passion, St. John Passion, Christmas Oratorio, and a wide range of cantatas; Handel's Messiah, Dixit Dominus, Samson, Semele, Jepthae, and udas Maccabaeus; Mozart's Mass in C minor, Coronation Mass, Vespers, and Requiem; Haydn's Die Schöpfung, The Seasons, Te Deum, Lord Nelson Mass, and Harmoniemesse; Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem; Fauré's Requiem; Vaughan Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem; Delius' Requiem; and Orff's Carmina Burana. She has also performed late 20th & 21st-century works such as John Adam's El Niño; Andrea Clearfield's Alleluia; Donald McCullough's Song of the Shulamite; John Rutter's Requiem and Mass for the Children; and Richard Einhorn's Voices of Light.
In the realm of opera, Ms. Beebe has performed a variety of roles including Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro (the role of her 2015 debut with the Princeton Festival), Zerlina in Don Giovanni, and Despina in Così fan tutte; Gluck's Euridice and Humperdinck's Gretel; 20th-century roles such as the First Niece in Peter Grimes with the Princeton Opera Festival and the First Daughter in Akhnaten with Indianapolis Opera; and in 17th-century repertoire the commanding roles of La Gloire in Lully's Alceste and Purcell's Dido. Highlights of her operatic activity including covering the role of Lila in the 2016 East Coast premiere of Jennifer Higdon's Cold Mountain and joining Norway's Bergen National Opera to cover the role of the Angel in Netia Jones' hi-tech staged production of Messiah. In 2017, she helped to create the role of Luna in the world premiere of David Hertzberg's The Wake World with Opera Philadelphia and in 2018 she covered Winnie in Lembit Beecher's Sky on Swings. In 2019, Ms. Beebe debuted with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the west coast debut of Meredith Monk's opera Atlas. Beebe is a frequent performer of contemporary opera and is currently workshopping new operas by Jennifer Higdon and Missy Mazzoli with Opera Philadelphia.
Ms. Beebe is a member of Grammy-winning ensemble The Crossing, Grammy-nominated Clarion Society, Grammy- nominated Seraphic Fire, a founding member of Variant 6, Lorelei Ensemble, Trio Eos, and Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia.
A native of the Philadelphia suburbs, Ms. Beebe earned her Bachelor of Music from the University of Delaware, her Master of Music in Early Music from Indiana University, and a Performance Certificate from London's Royal College of Music. Ms. Beebe is on faculty at both Franklin and Marshall and Muhlenberg Colleges. https://www.jessicabeebesoprano.com/
Clara Osowski, Alto
Mezzo-soprano Clara Osowski, who sings "from inside the music with unaffected purity and sincerity" (UK Telegraph), is an active soloist and chamber musician hailed for her "rich and radiant voice" (UrbanDial Milwaukee). She was a Metropolitan Opera National Council Upper-Midwest Regional Finalist, the winner of several competitions including Bel Canto Chorus Regional Artists Competition of Milwaukee, the Houston Saengerbund Competition, several time runner-up in The Schubert Club Bruce P. Carlson Scholarship Competition, and third place in the Madison Handel Aria Competition. Recognized for her excellence in Minnesota, Clara was a recipient of the prestigious 2018-2019 McKnight Artist Fellowships for Musicians administered by MacPhail Center for Music.
In international competition with pianist Tyler Wottrich, in March of 2017, Clara became the first ever American prize winner when she placed second at Thomas Quasthoff's International Das Lied Competition in Heidelberg, Germany. Later that year, the duo was also one of four to reach the finals in the very prestigious Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation Song Competition in London, and Clara was awarded the Richard Tauber Prize for the best interpretation of Schubert Lieder. She recently won the Radio-Canada People’s Choice Award and third place in the song division at the 2018 Concours Musical International de Montréal.
Recent performance highlights include her debut with Minnesota Opera as Mrs. Herring in Britten’s Albert Herring, and active as a recitalist, she stepped in for Susanna Philips in The Schubert Club International Artist Series Recital with Eric Owens. She has also been a feature recitalist at the Enlightenment Festival of Seraphic Fire, The Pablo Center of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, The Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts, and several universities. She has collaborated with many chamber musicians, including pianist Wu Han, The Lydian String Quartet, VocalEssence Ensemble Singers, the Minneapolis Guitar Quartet, Accordo, and Dark Horse Consort. Clara’s passion for contemporary music is exhibited in the song-cycles and chamber music she has premiered or commissioned by numerous composers including James Kallembach, Libby Larsen, David Evan Thomas, Linda Kachelmeier, Reinaldo Moya, Carol Barnett, and Juliana Hall.
Orchestral performance highlights include her soloist debuts of Bach's St. Matthew Passion with the Bel Canto Chorus of Milwaukee, B Minor Mass with the Back Bay Chorale of Boston, Christmas Oratorio with Bach Society of Minnesota, Mozart’s Requiem with Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Mahler's Symphony No. 2 with Tulsa Signature Symphony, Bernstein’s Jeremiah with Mid-Columbia Symphony, and Dominick Argento's orchestral song cycles Casa Guidi and A few words about Chekhov with the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra of Minneapolis.
Active also as an educator, Clara has enjoyed giving masterclasses and convocations at several universities, including Syracuse University, Muhlenberg College, Seattle University, Concordia College (Moorhead), and North Dakota State University. She was also the guest artist in residence at Indiana State University's 50th Contemporary Music Festival celebrating the music of Libby Larsen. Clara also served on the faculty at the Aspen Music Festival's Professional Choral Institute in partnership with Seraphic Fire, and has been a panelist for SongFest and the Lakes Area Music Festival.
Previous season highlights include her Wigmore Hall debut recital with Julius Drake, debuts with Kansas City Symphony and Handel and Haydn Society, a premiere oratorio with the National Lutheran Choir by Steve Heitzig, and a premiere orchestral song cycle by Carol Barnett with the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. Please visit the schedule for more information.
In addition to performing, Clara serves as the Artistic Director of Source Song Festival, a week-long art song festival in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This festival strives to create and perform new art song, and cultivate an educational environment for students of song, including composers, vocalists, and collaborative pianists. In addition to her solo work, she participates in a number of ensembles, including Lumina Women’s Ensemble, Lorelei Ensemble, and Seraphic Fire.
Kyle Stegall, Tenor
Kyle Stegall’s flexible and stylish artistry has been a powerful presence on concert and opera stages around the world. Celebrated for the astonishing diversity of his repertoire, he lends the same penetratingly emotive artistry to music spanning Bach evangelists, leading tenor roles in the works of Mozart and the masters of the Bel Canto era, and operatic world premieres.
Acclaimed for bringing new music to life, Mr. Stegall’s forthcoming album of song sets by living composers for Centaur Records will include Harry Sdraulig’s ”Visions of Judgement,” Adolphus Hailstork’s “Four Romantic Love Songs,” Anne Cawrse’s “Songs of Sorrows,” Rosephanye Powell’s “Miss Wheatley’s Garden,”and B.E. Boykin’s “Desert Songs.” Kyle was lauded for “delivering the entire role with tonal sweetness and expressive urgency” (San Francisco Chronicle) when he created the role of Tomasso in Laura Schwendinger’s Artemisia, in a production supported by the National Endowment for the Arts.
On the concert stage, Mr. Stegall has performed as guest soloist with ensembles across the world under celebrated conductors such as William Christie (Les Arts Florissants), Manfred Honeck (Pittsburgh Symphony), Masaaki Suzuki (Bach Collegium Japan), Matilda Hofman (Left Coast Chamber Ensemble), Stephen Stubbs (Boston Early Music Festival), Mark Dupere (Philharmonie Austin), Matthew Dirst (Ars Lyrica), Nic McGegan (Philharmonia Baroque), Dana Marsh (Washington Bach Consort), and Kathleen Allan (Amadeus Choir), among many others.
Known especially for his portrayals of the Bach evangelists, Mr. Stegall studied under legendary evangelist singer James Taylor at the Institute for Sacred Music at Yale University. There, he was a member of the highly-selective Artist Diploma program, which admits and graduates no more than two artists per year. He was given Yale’s Margot Fassler Performer’s Award following his debut at Lincoln Center Manhattan singing evangelist in Bach’s St. John Passion. Performances of Bach’s Weihnachts-Oratorium, Matthaeus-Passion, and Johannes-Passion pepper every season, along with performances of cantatas with the American Cantata Collective project, which aims over its seasons to perform the complete cantata cycles of J.S. Bach in a historically-informed consort arrangement.
In the opera theater, Mr. Stegall’s repertoire is distinguished for its breadth and his stagework for its depth. Whether performing repertoire of the early Baroque, the leading tenors of Mozart and Bel Canto masterpieces, or character tenors in the works of Wagner, Kyle is a popular choice for his ability as a singer-actor to “absorb viewers into the action so that they became characters in the drama themselves, something which is rarely achieved in opera” (San Francisco Classical Voice).
His staged performances have been hailed for their clear and affecting character and sonority:
“An appealing hero, his voice arcing beautifully in the top register and his acting full of youthful ardor” (OperaWire).
“Tenor Kyle Stegall’s voice rang out clearly, even though the venue doesn’t have ideal acoustics.” (The Opera Tattler)
“Kyle Stegall, a tall tenor with a clear and appealing voice, sang gracefully and with meaning.” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch).
Mr. Stegall’s flexible singing makes him a popular artist for stagings of Baroque gems. His most recent recording with Boston Early Music Festival of Henri Desmaret’s Circé was recorded for Radio Bremen Studios and then premiered with stage direction by Gilbert Blin at the Cutler Theatre. Artistically and vocally secure in the haute-contre repertoire of the French Baroque, Mr. Stegall was written up by Opera News when he was engaged as a guest artist with the Juilliard School to sing the title role in their production of Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie, for the “clarity and urgency” brought to the role as “a handsome, dashing Hippolyte,” while Musical America called Kyle “a first-rate, genuine haute-contre.”
A committed recitalist, Mr. Stegall was twice invited to be a performance fellow with the Britten-Pears Programme at the Aldeburgh Music Festival. There, he studied Schubert song with Christoph Prégardien and Britten song with Ian Bostridge. He has since performed all works by Britten written for tenor and piano, as well as the Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, notably under the direction of Maestro Kathleen Allan. Mr. Stegall and fortepianist Eric Zivian hold a long-standing relationship with the Valley of the Moon Music Festival, where they have performed a wide-range of underrepresented Romantic chamber repertoire. Their album Myrtle and Rose drew international attention, launching the duo’s reputation as distinctive interpreters of song, Gramophone calling Kyle “a passionate and engaged communicator.”
Fortunate to have been mentored by such artists as Caroline Helton, Martin Katz, Ann Harrell, and Ted Taylor, Mr. Stegall commits himself to the development of young artists through masterclasses and vocal coaching. He is a proud alumnus of the Universities of Yale, Michigan, and Missouri. https://www.kylestegall.com/
Edward Vogel, Bass
With a voice described as “velvet-toned” (BBC Music Magazine) and praised for his “appealing, midweight baritone” (The New York Times) and “forthright agility and bold declamation” (Musical America), baritone Edward Vogel possesses a diverse repertoire spanning ten centuries. Highlights of the 2023-2024 season include solo appearances with Grammy-winning Apollo’s Fire under the direction of Jeannette Sorrell, solo debuts with the Jacksonville and Tucson Symphonies, and his solo debut with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in Handel’s Israel in Egypt, for which Musical America praised him as “one of the evening’s highlights.” Other recent solo appearances include Handel’s Messiah and Monteverdi’s Vespers with Apollo’s Fire and Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Dona Nobis Pacem, Bach’s Mass in B minor, and Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem with Grammy-nominated True Concord under the direction of Eric Holtan. In 2019 Edward made his international solo debut in Bach’s Mass in G Major at Snape Maltings, UK, under the direction of Philippe Herreweghe.
Highly in demand as an ensemble singer, Mr. Vogel has performed with groups including Bach Collegium Japan and Paul Hillier’s Theatre of Voices in the world premiere of David Lang’s the writings at Carnegie Hall.
An avid recitalist, Edward finds passion in delivering sensitive, intimate performances of both art song and genres that go beyond the traditional classical canon. A two-time Vocal Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, he has honed his craft by coaching with champions of art song, including Dawn Upshaw, Roger Vignoles, and the late Sanford Sylvan. His musical interests have led to engaging and acclaimed recitals of repertoire ranging from music of medieval Iberia to British art songs of the 20th century.
Mr. Vogel holds degrees from the Yale School of Music and the University of Notre Dame. https://edwardvogelmusic.com/