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 their singing and support in the Divine Services. The ensemble is made up entirely of volunteers from the congregation. They sing over 100 services each year. Since 2002, they have also participated in an annual Festival of Music in December. They are adding a second festival in the spring of 2022. Among other major works, they have 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, George Dupere began a ten year collaboration with James Brown of First Presbyterian Church in the annual St. Cecilia Music Festival. Each year they contracted a period instrument orchestra. In 2010, Redeemer, for their part in the festival, moved to the current location on Alexander Avenue in East Austin. At this time, the orchestra not only accompanied the Redeemer Choir but began their own orchestral concerts under the direction of Mark Dupere. The name, Musica Redemptor Orchestra, was adopted and the ensemble has played annual orchestra concerts as well as accompanying the Redeemer Choir. Before the onslaught of COVID-19, the development of the orchestra culminated in the performance of Mendelssohn’s Elijah, a work requiring an orchestra of 45 players. 

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.

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

Jennifer Paulino, soprano, has been praised as “graceful yet powerful” and “sensitive and clear” by San Francisco Classical Voice.  Her singing career has taken her to Australia, Europe, and across the U.S. singing recitals, oratorios, and chamber music. Jennifer is currently a leading interpreter of baroque music in the San Francisco Bay Area, and appears regularly with local period ensembles.  More frequently, she is performing the major oratorio works of Bach, Handel, Mozart, Haydn, Mendelssohn, Vaughn Williams, and Poulenc, regionally and nationally. Jennifer is also passionate about collaborating with living composers, and has premiered works by Stacy Garrop, Lansing McLoskey, Shawn Kirchner, and Preben Antonsen, among others.  

When she’s not performing classical music, she’s singing and composing with her husband’s band Noam Dagger.  

Jennifer was raised in Atlanta and Houston, and credits her Texas public school music education for providing the strong foundation necessary for becoming a professional musician.

Born on St Cecilia's day, the Grammy-nominated British counter-tenor Ryland Angel has built an international reputation on both the opera and concert stage in repertoire ranging from the Baroque to new operatic commissions at major opera houses, concert halls, and festivals throughout Europe and the USA. He has performed in Monteverdi’s Orfeo, Gavin Bryars’s Doctor Ox’s Experiment (English National Opera), Fairy Queen (Barcelona), Gluck’s Orfeo (Koblenz), Amadigi (Karlsruhe), Venus and Adonis (Flanders Opera), Dido and Aeneas (Opera Comique), The Play of Daniel (Spoleto), and Ballet Comique de La Royne (Geneva).

Angel has sung on over 80 recordings including music of Buxtehude, Charpentier, Scarlatti, Stradella, Spears, O'Regan, Handel, Monteverdi, Purcell, Bach, and on the film soundtracks of Jack Reacher, Zoolander 2, Freedom, Le Petit Prince, La Peau, Henry 4th, Machete, The Mystery of Dante, Gemini Man and the PBS TV special Heavenly Voices. Recent engagements include Doux Mensonges (Opera National de Paris), Agrippina (NYCO), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Florentine and Kansas Opera), Julius Caesar (Utah and Colorado Opera), Sant Alessio with William Christie (Paris, London, New York), Carmina Burana (Lincoln Center/Prague Proms), St. John Passion (Saint Thomas Church and Mechanics Hall), Classics and Rock (Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra) and Messiah (Boston Symphony Hall & Carnegie Hall).

Recent and upcoming recordings include The Flaming Fire (MSR), Heart and Soul (Centaur) and Now Fatal Change (NMC), La Sposa (Solo Luminus), Le Nozze in Baviera (Naxos), Archivo de Guatemala (Naxos), Chant Electronique (Chesky), Justinian Intonations (Neuma), Bleed for the Throne (SXSW) and a recital at the National Gallery with Parthenia Viol consort. Recent creations include Tesla, Fantini Futuro, The Call, Including Words and The Chant Project.

Daniel Buchanan, tenor, is a multifaceted artist active as a singer, actor, composer, pianist, and music educator.  Last season, 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, 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, Abby. 

Edward Vogel, baritone, described by Opera News as “accomplished, stylistically informed,” and “sonorous,” finds his passion in performing early music, oratorio, and art song. Possessing a diverse solo repertoire spanning nearly ten centuries, his sensitive interpretations have been heard onstage with such orchestras as Apollo's Fire; the New Haven Symphony Orchestra; Juilliard415; and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, as well as in intimate recital settings across the eastern United States. He has sung as a soloist under the baton of conductors including Masaaki Suzuki, David Hill, Nicholas McGegan, and Jeannette Sorrell.

An avid choral singer who began his musical training as a boy soprano, Edward has appeared with international ensembles such as Theatre of Voices; Bach Collegium Japan; True Concord Voices and Orchestra; and the Yale Schola Cantorum, with whom he has participated in recordings on the Hyperion label.

Edward completed his Master of Music degree at the Yale School of Music, where he studied under tenor James Taylor, and was a member of the Yale Voxtet program. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame. He can be contacted via his website, edwardvogelmusic.com.