Ticketed event: $25 General / $20 Senior
PROGRAM
Handel Messiah | Part I – The Nativity
Bach Orchestral Suite No. 1
The Redeemer Choir
The Redeemer Choir was formed in the late 1990’s by then Chief Musician Leonard Payton and taken up by George Dupere in the fall of 2001. The choir serves Redeemer Presbyterian Church through its singing and support in the Divine Services. The ensemble is made up entirely of volunteers from the congregation who sing over 100 services each year. Since 2002, the choir has also participated in an annual Festival of Music in December and adds a second festival this season in the spring of 2022. Among other major works, it has sung Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, various Bach cantatas, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Handel’s Messiah and Utrecht Te Deum, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, and Mendelssohn’s Elijah.
Musica Redemptor Orchestra
In 2002, Redeemer Presbyterian Church began a ten year collaboration with First Presbyterian Church in its annual St. Cecilia Music Festival. Each year, these churches contracted period instrument players for three separate concert programs. In 2010, Redeemer moved its part in the festival to the church’s current East Austin location on Alexander Avenue. At that time, the orchestra not only began to accompany the Redeemer Choir but also began its own orchestral concerts under the direction of conductor Mark Dupere. The name Musica Redemptor Orchestra was adopted, and it has since played annual orchestra concerts featuring repertoire of the baroque and classical periods. The development of the orchestra more recently expanded in size for the performance of Mendelssohn’s Elijah, a work requiring an orchestra of 45 players. For the 2022-2023 season, it is our hope to extend these concerts, performing repertoire of the 19th century.
Mark Dupere, conductor, is Assistant Professor of Music at Lawrence University, where he is the Director of Orchestral Studies. He is a passionate educator and hopes to impart a love of music-making and active engagement with audiences in the performance of music from all periods. He currently conducts the Lawrence Symphony and Chamber Orchestras as well the Fox Valley Youth Orchestra.
As a cellist, Mark performed throughout Europe with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Haagsche Hofmuzieck, and Anima Eterna Brugge and was an apprentice with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in London. Mark was a “New Young Artist” at the Victoria Bach Festival, performed in the Leipzig Bach Competition, and most recently was named a national finalist in the American Prize in Conducting. Mark holds degrees in Cello from the University of Texas at Austin, Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, The Netherlands, and a Doctorate in Orchestral Conducting at Michigan State University.
Emily Dupere, orchestra leader, is an Australian violinist who has performed as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player throughout Europe, the USA, and Australia. She has collaborated with artists such as Malcolm Bilson, Bart van Oort, Petra Somlai, Elizabeth Wallfisch, Shunske Sato, Jaap ter Linden, Sigiswald Kuijken, Maasaki Suzuki, Jos van Immerseel, and Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Emily studied under Paul Wright at the University of Western Australia, graduating with first class honors and was awarded the Lady Callaway Medal for the most outstanding graduate. She completed her studies in baroque violin at The Royal Conservatoire in The Hague with Ryo Terakado, Kati Debretzeni, and Walter Reiter.
In Australia, Emily performed with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, as an Emerging Artist with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, and with the award-winning Sartory String quartet. In Europe she performed with many groups including The Wallfisch Band (UK), Les Passions de l’âme (Switzerland), Les Inventions (France), Haagsche Hofmuziek (NL), Collegium Musicum Den Haag (NL), The English Baroque Soloists (UK), Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique (UK), Bach Collegium Japan, and Anima Eterna Brugge (Belgium). Emily is the concertmaster of Musica Redemptor Orchestra in Austin, TX and she also coaches chamber music at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. Her particular interests include the sacred music of Bach and classical and romantic chamber music on period instruments.
George Dupere is in his twenty-first year as Chief Musician at Redeemer where he provides oversight for liturgy and music and more recently serves as Artistic Director for Arts on Alexander. Prior to his move to Austin, he served as Minister of Music and Worship for over twenty years at Camelback Bible Church in Paradise Valley, Arizona. While there, he oversaw the development of a vibrant music program and the construction of a new sanctuary. He also produced two CDs, one of Mendelssohn’s Elijah and the other a collection of choral anthems entitled Songs of Triumph.
Building upon the work of predecessor Leonard Payton at Redeemer, George has continued to provide oversight of the Divine Services, the development of the Redeemer hymnal, and the development of the Redeemer Choir.
George’s undergraduate degrees were taken at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and at Bethel University in St. Paul. His graduate studies began at the University of Minnesota and Westminster Choir College and were completed in 1993 at Arizona State University. George’s doctoral dissertation explored the relationship of choral singing and architectural acoustics.
Solo Artists
Elizabeth Ann McGee, soprano, originally from Houston and currently living in Dallas, holds her Bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from the University of North Texas. Elizabeth has been on three European tours as a featured soloist and, most recently, has premiered a new choral work in Ireland.
Recently she has been featured as a soloist on BBC Radio with The Incarnation Choir’s album Choral Evensong for Eastertide, after which she completed a week long residency at York Minster Cathedral. She was also featured as a soloist on the world’s first ever choral NFT, Betty’s Notebook, with Verdigris Ensemble.
Next to her solo activities, Elizabeth has performed with Orpheus Chamber Singers, Verdigris Ensemble, Denton Bach Society, Dallas Chamber Choir, Lake Houston Chamber Singers, Lumedia Musicworks, Highland Park Chorale, Incarnatus, Boston Early Music Festival, Victoria Bach Festival, & Ensemble VIII. Elizabeth currently works as a soprano staff singer at Church of the Incarnation in Dallas under the direction of Scott Dettra.
Karen Knudsen Stanley, mezzo-soprano, grew up in a large musical family and started performing with her seven sisters at age two, began playing piano at age four, and cello at age ten. Her solo singing career was born at age fourteen when she emerged from the orchestra pit to sing the alto solos in Handel’s Messiah.
In addition to the Redeemer Artes Festival of Music, her frequent solo and professional ensemble engagements include Phoenix Chorale, Kansas City Chorale, Phoenix Symphony, Tucson Masterworks Chorale, Arizona Bach Festival, True Concord Voices and Orchestra (formerly Tucson Chamber Artists), Apollo Master Chorale, and Tucson Symphony. Ms. Stanley lives in Gilbert, Arizona, with her incredible husband and two children.
Daniel Buchanan, tenor, is a multifaceted artist active as a singer, actor, composer, pianist, and music educator. He made his European debut singing St. John Passion with Finland’s Kuninkaantien Muusikot and performed the role of Nemorino in The Elixir of Love at the Portland Opera. Other recent performances include the Portland Chamber Orchestra (Messiah), Portland Opera (Madama Butterfly), Walla Walla Symphony, a tour of the Greek Islands with Cappella Romana, the title role of Werther with Opera Theater Oregon, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Newport Symphony, and Mozart’s Mass in C Minor at the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival.
For three years, he performed regularly with the Houston Grand Opera, including the roles of Tonio in The Daughter of the Regiment, Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville, and The Witch in Hansel and Gretel. Other opera roles include Ferrando in Così fan tutte, the title role in Albert Herring, and Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni. Mr. Buchanan enjoys frequent appearances with the Oregon Bach Festival (St. John Passion, Christmas Oratorio), Southwest Florida Symphony, Bach Society of Houston (St. Matthew Passion, Brockes Passion), Santa Fe Desert Chorale, and Houston Chamber Choir (B Minor Mass).
Since 2005, Mr. Buchanan has sung with the internationally-acclaimed vocal ensemble Conspirare, based in Austin, Texas. With the group, he recorded the Grammy-nominated release A Company of Voices, which was aired nationally on PBS. Conspirare was a featured choir at the Wold Symposium on Choral Music in Copenhagen in 2008. He is also a founding member of Opera Vista, an innovative opera company based in Houston, Texas. Presenting a festival of contemporary opera every year, Opera Vista has become a vibrant addition to the arts community. With the company, he sang in Amy Beach’s Cabildo, including performances at the French Quarter Music Festival in New Orleans.
Mr. Buchanan has served on the voice faculties of the Conservatory of Music at Wheaton College and Lone Star College. He is also the founder and primary instructor of an active voice studio called Resound NW. He lives in Portland, Oregon, with his wife and two children.
Aaron Harp, bass, has been praised by the Dallas Morning News for his “appealingly rich baritone” and “sensitive singing.” He is building a reputation around the nation as a stylistic performer of early music. Recent solo engagements include performances of J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, St. John Passion, Mass in B minor, and Christmas Oratorio, Handel’s Messiah, and Mozart’s Requiem.
He has performed with many noted ensembles across the country, including Santa Fe Desert Chorale, The Thirteen, Colorado Bach Ensemble, Bach Society Houston, Dallas Bach Society and Orpheus Chamber Singers. He has been featured in performances at Bachfest Leipzig, Boston Early Music Festival, Berkeley Early Music Festival, and American Bach Soloists Festival.
Aaron is currently on faculty at Wofford College in South Carolina as the Director of Choral and Vocal Studies. He holds a doctorate in choral conducting from the University of Colorado Boulder and a master’s degree in vocal performance and choral conducting from the University of North Texas where he studied with Jennifer Lane and Stephen Morscheck. Originally from Texas, Aaron and his wife and three daughters now reside in Spartanburg, South Carolina.