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REQUIEM
AND EXSULATE, JUBILATE
Andrea Lauren Brown, soprano
Jody Kidwell, mezzo-soprano
Kenneth Garner, tenor
Ed Barra, bass
AMA DEUS ENSEMBLE, CHORUS AND ORCHESTRA
Valentin Radu, conductor
PROGRAM NOTES - EXSULTATE, JUBILATE, K.165 (1773)
Mozart was only a f |
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REQUIEM
AND EXSULATE, JUBILATE
Andrea Lauren Brown, soprano
Jody Kidwell, mezzo-soprano
Kenneth Garner, tenor
Ed Barra, bass
AMA DEUS ENSEMBLE, CHORUS AND ORCHESTRA
Valentin Radu, conductor
PROGRAM NOTES - EXSULTATE, JUBILATE, K.165 (1773)
Mozart was only a few days shy of his seventeenth birthday when he composed Exsultate, jubilate for soprano and orches¬tra. He gave it the title “motet.” Although the term today is used to mean a Renaissance or Baroque vocal work, in Italy at the time of its composition, “motet” was commonly used for a cantata for voice and orchestra.
Mozart wrote the work for the great castrato Venanzio Rauzzini which explains the usual range from high to very low notes and the coloratura style required to perform it. Mozart had met Rauzzini when the singer created the title role of Lucio Silla. It is quite probable that Rauzzini supplied Mozart with the text which is written in a Bavarian style of Latin. Rauzzini was a singer at the court in Munich to which the words can be traced. Mozart was stimulated by the musical environment of Milan (as opposed to the restrictive one he had to face in Salzburg), and no doubt jumped at the chance to compose a fine work for such a celebrated singer.
Exsultate, jubilate had its premiere in the Church of San Antonio in Milan on January 17, 1773 with Rauzzini singing. It is composed in an Italian style with three distinct movements. The opening Allegro is a vibrant scoring of “Exsultate, jubilate.” The second movement begins with a recitative, “Fulget amica,” of great and pure religious feeling and leads to the Andante, “Tu virginum corona.” The final movement, the famous Presto on the word “Alleluja,” is full of showy operatic touches, yet maintains the great joy of the work.
Although Exsultate, jubilate has often been associated with the Nativity, Mozart did alter the work on two occasions for it to fit other religious holidays. Two later versions of the motet were discovered in 1978 in small church libraries in towns outside of Salzburg.
--Joseph Truskot
REQUIEM Mozart wrote the Requiem mass in D minor,K. 626, in 1791. It was his final composition and is also one of his most powerful and best recognized works, not only for its music, but also for its obscure compositional history. The work is scored for soprano, alto, tenor and bass soloists and choir, and a small classical orchestra comprising two basset horns (a type of tenor clarinet), two bassoons, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, and strings.
At the time of Mozart’s death, the fifth of December 1791, he had only completed the opening movement, Requiem aeternam, in all of the orchestral and vocal parts (although recent evidence suggests that a few bars of orchestration were added in by someone else). The following Kyrie (a complicated double fugue), and most of the Sequence (from Dies Irae to Confutatis), are complete only in the vocal parts and the continuo, though some of the prominent orchestral parts were briefly indicated—such as the violin part of the Confutatis and the musical bridges in the Recordare.
The last movement of the Sequence, the Lacrimosa, breaks off after only eight bars and was unfinished. The following two movements of the Offertorium were again partially completed—Domine Jesu Christe in the vocal parts and continuo and the Hostias in the vocal parts only. In the 1960s a sketch for an Amen fugue was discovered, which would have concluded the Sequence after the Lacrimosa (a few scholars dispute that this Amen fugue was intended for the Requiem, but the majority of Mozart scholarship believes that it was).
Mozart had been commissioned anony¬mously to write the Requiem, by intermediaries acting for the eccentric Count von Walsegg-
Constanze Mozart Josef von Eybler
Stuppach, and received half of the payment in advance; his widow Constanze was keen for the incomplete work to be finished. Josef von Eybler was one of the first composers to be asked to complete the score, and had worked on the movements from the Dies Irae up to the Lacrimosa. In addition, a striking similarity between the openings of the Domine Jesu Christe movements in the requiems of the two composers suggests that Eybler at least looked at later sections.
Following his work, von Eybler felt unable to complete the remainder, and gave the manuscript back to Constanze. The task was then given to another junior composer, Franz Xaver Süssmayr, who borrowed some of Eybler’s work in making his completion. Süssmayr added his own orchestration to the movements from the Kyrie onward, completed the Lacrimosa, and added several new move¬ments which would normally comprise a requiem: Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei. He then added a final section, Lux aeterna by adapting the opening two movements which Mozart had written to different words which complete the requiem mass, which according to both Süssmayr and Mozart’s wife was done according to Mozart’s direc¬tions. Whether or not that is true, some people consider it unlikely that Mozart would have repeated the opening two sections if he had survived to finish the work completely.
There is some possibility that other com¬posers may have helped Süssmayr, or that he might have discovered sketches by Mozart among the papers for the Requiem. The elder composer Maximilian Stadler is suspected of having completed the orchestration of the Domine Jesu for Süssmayr. The Agnus Dei is also thought by some scholars to have been based on instruction or sketches from Mozart, because of its similarity to a previous mass by Mozart. Many of the arguments dealing with this matter, though, center on the perception that if part of the work is high quality, it must
Mozart on his deathbed, with Franz Xaver Süssmayr
have been written by Mozart (or from sketches), and if part of the work contains errors and faults, it must have been all Süssmayr’s doing. The ongoing debate is whether or not this is a fair way to judge the authorship of the parts of the work.
Many Mozart scholars also agree that had Mozart lived to finish the work, he would have
composed new music for the “cum sanctis” conclusion to the Requiem instead of simply recycling the Kyrie fugue sequence from the beginning and using new text. The completed score, initially by Mozart but largely finished by Süssmayr, was then dispatched to Count Walsegg, complete with a counterfeited signature of Mozart, and dated 1792. The various complete and incomplete manuscripts eventually turned up in the 19th century, but many of the figures involved did not leave clear statements on record as to how they were involved in the affair.
Despite the controversy over how much of the music is actually Mozart’s, the quality of the music itself has overridden many concerns—particularly the opening seven bars for orchestra alone, the powerful Dies Irae, the stark contrast between pure power and sublime harmony in the Confutatis, and the speed and wonder emoted by the Kyrie.
MYTHS SURROUNDING THE REQUIEM Despite its acclaim and recognition, the Requiem is perhaps one of the most mysterious pieces Mozart composed—around which many legends have grown (thanks largely to Peter Shaffer’s play Amadeus and the movie
made from it). They are, as follows: MYTH: A strange messenger requested a requiem mass that appears to be for Mozart’s own funeral. REALITY: The work was commissioned by Count Walsegg-Stuppach. He did use a messenger, and it appears that he wanted to take credit for the work himself. Although scholars differ on whether or not Mozart was aware of this— it is possible that the Count paid Mozart extra money to allow his music to be used for this purpose.
MYTH: Antonio Salieri helped to complete the Requiem on the deathbed of Mozart. REALITY: The work was completed by Süss¬mayr, at Constanze’s urging. There is nothing to suggest that Salieri had anything to do with any part of the Requiem.
MYTH: Mozart actively worked on the work up to the moment he died. REALITY: In the last days of his life he had become too sick (his hands were swollen) to work on it any more. He did have the Requiem, as far as it went, sung to him on one of his last days (reportedly the Lacrimosa moved him to tears), and there is a report of him trying to voice drum parts at the very end of his life, but the portrayal in Amadeus of Mozart working through the night just before he died cannot be accurate.
MYTH: The work was played at Mozart’s own funeral. REALITY: Mozart had a small funeral on 6 December 1791, and was buried in a communal grave. A memorial service on 10 December 1791 was organized by Mozart’s friend and librettist, Emanuel Schikaneder, at which one of the completed movements (the Introït) might have been performed; we do not know what music was, in fact, played.
MYTH: Everything after the Lacrimosa was composed by Süssmayr. REALITY: Although the Lacrimosa breaks off incomplete after 8 bars, as noted above, the vocal and continuo of the Domine Jesu and the vocal parts of the Hostias are in Mozart’s hand. The
complexity of the Domine Jesu, with its frequent use of counterpoint and three fugues, would not likely be the work of Süssmayr, given the nature of the “Hosanna” fugue which he did compose.
Exultate, jubilate, K. 165
solo soprano, orchestra
TRACK 1 - ARIA
Exsultate, jubilate, o vos animae beatae. Exult, rejoice, o happy souls. Dulciacantica canendo, cantui vestro And with sweet music, let the heavens resound, respondendo, psallant aethera cum me. making answer, with me, to your song.
TRACK 2 - RECITATIVE
Fulget amica dies, jam fugere et nubila The lovely day brightens, now clouds and storms et procellae; exortus est justis inexspectata quies. have fled and a sudden calm has arisen for the just. Undique obscura regnabat nox, Everywhere dark night held sway before, but now surgite tandem laeti, qui timuistis adhuc, at last, rise up and rejoice, ye who are not feared, et jucundi aurorae fortunatae and happy in the blessed
dawn with frondes dextera plena et lilia date. full hand make offering of garlands and lilies.
TRACK 3 ARIA
Tu virginum corona, tu nobis pacem dona, And Thou, O Crown of Virgins, grant us peace, Tu consolare affectus, unde suspirat cor. and assuage the passions that touch our hearts.
TRACK 4 – ARIA Alleluja. Alleluia Andrea Lauren Brown, soprano
Valentin Radu, Conductor
Andrea Lauren Brown, Soprano; Jody Kidwell, Mezzo-Soprano; Kenneth Garner, Tenor; Ed Bara, Bass.
Requiem, K. 626
solo quartet, chorus, orchestra
TRACK 5 - CHORUS
Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine, Eternal rest grant them, O Lord, Et lux perpetua luceat eis. and let perpetual light shine upon them. To Thee Te decet hymnus, deus, in Sion, et tibit redetur is due a song of praise, God, in Sion, and to Votum in Jerusalem; exaudi orationem meam: Thee a vow shall be made in Jerusalem; grant my Ad te omnis caro veniet. Requiem aeternam... prayer: to Thee all flesh shall come. Eternal rest... Kyrie eleison. Christe eleison. Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Kyrie eleison. Lord, have mercy on us.
TRACK 6 - CHORUS
Dies irae, dies illa, solvet saeclum in favilla, The day of wrath, that day of grief will change the Teste David cum Sybilla. world to glowing ash, as David and the Sybill tell. Quantus tremor est futurus, How great a quaking shall there be, when on that Quando judex est venturus, day the judge shall come to weigh man’s deeds
Cuncta stricte discussurus. in every detail.
TRACK 7 - SOLO QUARTET
Tuba mirum spargens sonum per sepulchra
regionem, coget omnes ante thronum.
Mors stupebit et natura, cum resurget creatura,
judicanti responsura.
Liber scriptus proferetur, in quo totum continetur,
unde mundus judicetur.
Judex ergo cum sedebit, quidquid latet
apparebit, nil inultum remanebit.
Quid sum miser tunc dicturus? Quem patronem
rogaturusa, cum vix justus sit securus?
The trumpet blast will call through the regions of the dead, summoning all before the throne. Death and nature will be dazed, when from their graves all men rise to answer the judge’s charge. The Book of Life will be open, in which each act is found, on which the world shall face its judge. When the judge then takes his place, what lies hid will come to light; no act will be unpunished. What shall I, poor wretch, reply? On what patron shall I call when the just man is barely secure?
TRACK 8 - CHORUS
Rex tremendae majestatis, qui salvandos, King of fearful majesty, who freely saves all salvas gratis, salva me, fons pietatis. that need Thee, Fount of love, save me.
TRACK 9 - SOLO QUARTET
Recordare, Jesu pie, qudo sum causa tuae viae,
ne me perdas ille die.
Quaerens me sedisti lassus,
redemisti crucem passus;
tantus labor non sit cassus.
Juste judex ultionis, donum fac remissionis,
ante diem rationis. Ingemisco tamquam reus,
culpa rubet vultus meus; supplicanti parce Deus.
Qui Mariam absolvisti, et latronem exaudisti,
mihi quoque spem dedisti.
Preces meae non sunt dignae, sed tu, bonus,
fac benigne, ne perenni cremer igne.
Remember, loving Jesus, for me you walked your
life’s hard way. Do not condemn me that dread day.
Searching for me, you sit weary, you redeemed
me by suffering death on the cross;
let such a deed not be in vain.
Judge the avenging judge, grant remission before
the day of reckoning. I groan like a guilty man,
red-faced with shame; spare a suppliant, O God.
You who absolved the Magdalene and the thief
have also given me hope.
My prayers are unworthy, but in your goodness,
grant that I do not burn in the eternal fire.
Inter oves locum praesta, et ad hoedis Put me among your sheep, separate me from the me sequestra, statuens in parte dextra. goats and set me at your right hand.
TRACK 10 - CHORUS
Confutatis maledictis, fammis acribus addictis; When the accursed are stunned and fed to the voca me cum benedictis. bitter flames, call me, among the blessed. Oro supplex et acclinis, cor contritum quasi cinis, I pray, supplicating on my knees, my heart contrite gere curam mei finis. as the dust; safeguard my fate.
TRACK 11 - CHORUS
Lacrimosa dies illa, qua resurget ex favilla, On that mournful day, from the dust shall rise the judicandus homo reus. Huic ergo parce Deus. guilty to judgement. But spare them, O God. Pie Jesu, Domine, dona eis requiem. Amen. Merciful Jesus, Lord, grant them rest. Amen.
TRACK 12 - CHORUS / SOLO QUARTET
Domine Jesu Christe! Rex gloriae! Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory, Libera animas omnium fidelium defunctorum deliver the souls of all the faithful departed, from de poenis inferni et de profundo lacu: the pains of Hell and the bottomless pit. Deliver Libera eas de ore leonis, ne absorbeat eas them from the lion’s mouth and let them not fall into Tartarus, ne cadant in obscurum: darkness nor be swallowed up in the abyss: sed signifer sanctus Michael repraesentet eas but let St. Michael, your standard-bearer, lead them in lucem sanctam, quam olim Abrahae into the holy light, which you once promised to promisisti et semini ejus. Abraham and all his seed.
TRACK 13 - CHORUS
Hostias et preces tibi, Domine, laudis offerimus. Lord, we offer this sacrifice of prayer and praise.Tu suscipe pro animabus illis, quarum hodie Receive it for those souls we commemorate today
memoriam facimus; fac eas, Domine, de morte Allow them, O Lord, to cross from death into the transire ad vitam, quam olim Abrahae promisisti life which once you promised to Abraham and et semini ejus. to his seed.
TRACK 14 - CHORUS
Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth: Holy, holy, holy, Lord, God of hosts: pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria tua. Heaven and earth are filled with Thy glory. Hosanna in excelsis! Hosanna in the highest!
TRACK 15 - SOLO QUARTET / CHORUS
Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosana in excelsis! Hosanna in the highest!
TRACK 16 - CHORUS / SOLO SOPRANO
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the mundi, dona eis requiem sempiternam. world, grant them eternal rest. Lux aeterna luceat eis, Domine, Let perpetual light shine upon them, Lord, ever in cum sanctis tuis in aeternum, quia pius es. the company of Thy saints, as Thou art forgiving. Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, and let et lux perpetua luceat eis. perpetual light shine upon them.
TRACKS AND TIMES:
Exsultate, jubilate, K. 165
Solo Soprano and Orchestra
1 ARIA: Exsultate, jubilate (4:39)
2 RECITATIVE: Fulget, amica dies (0:38)
3 ARIA: Tu virginum corona (6:05)
4 ARIA: Alleluja (2:45)
Andrea Lauren Brown, soprano
Valentin Radu, Conductor
Andrea Lauren Brown, Soprano; Jody Kidwell, Mezzo-Soprano; Kenneth Garner, Tenor; Ed Bara, Bass
Requiem in D, K. 621
Solo Quartet, Chorus and Orchestra
5 CHORUS/SOPRANO Requiem (7:00)
6 CHORUS: Dies irae (1:43)
7 SOLO QUARTET: Tuba mirum (3:43)
8 CHORUS: Rex tremendae (2:05)
9 SOLO QUARTET: Recordare (5:45)
10 CHORUS: Confutatis (2:36)
11 CHORUS: Lacrymosa (3:07)
12 CHORUS/QUARTET: Domine Jesu (3:11)
13 CHORUS: Hostias (3:21)
14 CHORUS: Sanctus (1:39)
15 SOLO QUARTET: Benedictus (5:18)
16 CHORUS/SOPRANO Agnus Dei (9:01)
“...conductor Valentin Radu approached the work with an awareness of the tone painting, the drama and even theatricality of the writing…He built relationships to challenge the mind and ear.” PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
“Volcanic… A fine connoisseur of the Baroque.” DIE PRESSE, Vienna “Radu conducted his singers with a sure hand…” THE NEW YORK TIMES
VALENTIN RADU, Founder, Artistic Director and Conductor of the Ama Deus Ensemble and Vox Renaissance Consort, has led numerous orchestras and vocal ensembles in Europe and the U.S., including the Hungarian National Philharmonic, Bucharest, Arad, Oradea Philharmonics, the Budapest Chamber Orchestra and the Romania National Radio Orchestra. In 1996 he con¬ducted the Bucharest Philharmonic in Handel’s Messiah, and in 1997 led the Romanian National Radio Orchestra in Handel’s Acis and Galatea (both English language premieres). He has conducted Vox Ama Deus in various programs ranging from motets and madrigals to authen¬tically staged Renaissance operas performed on original instruments. Since 1997, he has led the Ama Deus Ensemble and Maestro Dan Grigore, legendary Romanian pianist, in their annual Viennese Gala concerts in Philadelphia and the Ama Deus Ensemble in its yearly Good Friday performances at Cathedral Basilica of SS Peter and Paul in Philadelphia.
Valentin Radu and the Ama Deus Ensemble have recorded for a number of labels, featuring such masterpieces as Handel’s Messiah, Acis and Galatea, Water Music and Royal Fireworks, Vivaldi’s Gloria and Magnificat and Bach’s B Minor Mass and Magnificat. Their discography also includes: A Baroque Christmas, A European Christmas, A Renais¬sance Noel on the PolyGram label, and Glad Tidings, released on both the Warner label and Sony Classics.
Born in Romania, Valentin Radu began his music studies at age four. At six he made his first concert debut. In 1973, at 16, he won the prestigious Rome Piano Competition, and in 1979, the Saarbrucken Organ Competition. In 1980, he won the silver medal (gold was not awarded!) at the Bach International Competition in Leipzig. Maestro Radu holds Doctoral and Masters degrees from the Juilliard School and a Bachelor of Music degree from the Bucharest Academy of Music. In 1976, he founded and conducted Juvenes Musici, a chamber orchestra under the auspices of the Bucharest Philharmonic. In 1980 he founded “The Juilliard Bach Players” chamber orchestra and initiated the “Bach at Juilliard” concert series at New York’s Lincoln Center. In 1984 Valentin Radu was invited to inaugurate and later (in 1985) make the first and only LP solo recording on the newly re-built organ of the Imperial Chapel of Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna. The original instrument, built in 1721, was the one on which Mozart himself performed during his 12 years as Vienna’s Court Musician.
In addition to being a classical music scholar and artist, Valentin Radu is equally accomplished in jazz performance as a conductor and a solo performer. In December 1998, he conducted the 97-member Bucharest Philharmonic in a Gershwin Centennial Gala concert, featuring the Rhapsody in Blue (Dan Grigore, soloist), An American in Paris, and Porgy and Bess. In November 1999, Radu conducted the Arad Philharmonic in a centennial concert featuring works by Duke Ellington and George Gershwin. Since May 2000, Maestro Radu has conducted extraordinary jazz concerts in Bucharest, with his “Sound” jazz group, featuring singer Teodora Enache and Romanian jazz legend Johnny Raducanu.
In May 1999, Radu participated in the historic visit to Romania of Pope John Paul II. In September 2004, he was invited to be the sole performer at a special U.N. gala in New York honoring the President of Romania. In December 1997, Radu was awarded the Golden Apple by New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. In February 1999, the Romanian Music Critics’ Association named him “1998 Musician of the Year.” In April of 2003, Radu was bestowed the title of Honorary Citizen of the City of Bucharest by the mayor of his native town, who is presently Romania’s President.
On December 20, 2005, Valentin Radu received the highest civil award of Romania: The Grand Officer of the Order of Cultural Merit (Romanian equivalent of The French Legion of Honor or British Knighthood), in recognition of his life achievement in the arts and his efforts as “Cultural Ambassador” of Romania. Radu became the seventh, and youngest, recipient of this most prestigious award in the history of Romania.
ANDREA LAUREN BROWN, soprano, a native of Wil¬mington, Delaware, holds a Master of Music degree in Voice Pedagogy and Performance from West¬minster Choir College and a Bachelor of Music degree from West Chester University where she graduated summa cum laude. Ms. Brown was awarded the Austrian-American Society’s First Prize Scholarship to study at the Internationale Sommer-akademie of the Universität-Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria in 2002. She was an Eastern Regional Finalist for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and received first and second place national awards from the Music Teachers National Association of Music and the Orpheus National Music Competition. In 2003 she won the International Competition of the ARD in Munich.
Andrea Brown made her operatic debut at age 17 in Libby Larsen’s A Wrinkle of Time. She is at home in a wide range of music, has a large background in music, and sings both opera and concert repertoire. Since moving to Germany in 2003, Ms. Brown has sung in numerous cham¬ber music concerts and worked under directors including Frieder Bernius and Thomas Hengel¬brock. She has recorded a number of solo recital programs as well. Her radio recordings include early baroque music of Bassani, Cifra, Fontei, Gagliano and Purcell, and chamber music of Beethoven, Schubert, Larcher and Hindemith.
Brown is a featured soloist on award winning CDs: Handel’s Dixit Dominus on BMG; a Schütz program for Harmonia Mundi France and a forthcloming ECM recording of Larcher’s song cycle My Illness is the Medicine I Need.
Andrea Brown has recently toured throughout Europe. Her Verdi Requiem in Stuttgart under Kay Johannsen earned glowing reviews: “a winning performance: at the end opera took over the church, as soprano Andrea Brown sang the Libera me as if she were Azucena in Trovatore.”
Other recent engagements included Poulenc’s Gloria and Bach’s Magnificat with the Munich Bach Choir under Hans Joerg Albrecht, Händel’s Judas Maccabeus with “La Banda” under Philipp Amelung, and her debut at the Utrecht Early Music Festival with the Weser Renaissance Ensemble under Manfred Cordes. At the end of 2005, she toured Messiah with frequent collaborator Thomas Hengelbrock. She appeared as Galatea with the Ama Deus Ensemble in February 2006 in Handel’s Acis and Galatea at Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center.
In 2006, Brown appears in the Bach Saint Matthew Passion with the Freiburg Bach Choir and Orchestra under Hans Michael Beuerle; makes a debut with the Münchner Kammer¬orchester singing Mozart arias under the direction of Christoph Poppen; and appears at the Heinrich Schiff’s Mondsee Festival where she will sing and record the world premiere of Schubert’s opera Sakontala. She then debuts at the Theater an der Wien as a modern, aspiring Pamina in the world premiere of I Hate Mozart by Bernhard Lang.
In her studies, Ms. Brown found inspiration from a number of celebrated American singers including Julianne Baird and Lorie Gratis, (both frequently-recorded performers with Ama Deus), as well as her teachers Joy Vandever and Laura Brooks Rice.
JODY KIDWELL, mezzo soprano, was a winner in the the third Luciano Pavarotti Competition, and was chosen by him to appear in Luisa Miller filmed by PBS. Later Gian Carlo Menotti directed her in his Saint of Bleecker Street, her portrayal of Desideria heralded by critics as “haunting... steamy... intense.” As Zulma in The Opera Company of Philadlephia’s L’Italiana in Algeri, Ms. Kidwell was heard and seen on WHYY’S Philadelphia Performs series. Other roles include Carmen, Isabella in L’Italiana in Algeri, Olga in Eugene Onegin Maddalena in Rigoletto, and. Ms. Kidwell has appeared with Opera Columbus as Aldonza/Dulcinea in Man of La Mancha, Czipra in The Gypsy Baron, and Dido in Dido and Aeneas with the Lehigh Chamber Symphony in Allentown. Equally at home on the concert stage, Kidwell has performed with Peter Nero and the Philly Pops at the Academy of Music, The Philadlephia Orchestra at The Mann Music Center, North Carolina Symphony, Las Vegas Philharmonic, National Symphonies of Bogota, Columbia and San Jose, Costa Rica, and the Ama Deus Ensemble. Ms. Kidwell sang Mrs. McLean in Opera Company of Philadlephia’s 2003-04 Susannah and reprised her role with Opera Columbus in 2005. Other recent performances include the Messiah with Vox Ama Deus, Verdi’s Requiem in the historic Fulton Opera House in Lancaster, PA with the Lancaster Symphony, and Beethoven’s Mass in C with Vox Ama Deus at the Kimmel Center in the Perelman Theater and Mrs. Peachum in The Threepenny Opera with Opera Columbus
KENNETH GARNER, tenor, is an accomplished artist who currently performs almost exclusively in oratorio. He has been a member of the all-professional core of The Philadelphia Singers since 1977, appearing regularly as soloist with the ensemble. A review of a Handel’s Messiah performance with The Singers hailed the artist: “tenor Kenneth Garner sang “’Ev’ry valley shall be exalted’ with angelic brilliance.” He is a regularly sought-after soloist with The Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra, the Ama Deus Ensemble and The Philadelphia Chamber Chorus and has also appeared with The Phila-delphia Orchestra, The Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia, The Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia, The Bach Festival of Philadelphia, Choral Society of Montgomery County and other regional performing arts organizations. He is an acclaimed interpreter of the music of J. S. Bach, having performed solos in the Passions, B Minor Mass, Magnificat and many of the cantatas. Mr. Garner also specializes in the oratorios of Handel, Mozart, and Haydn.Since January 1980, he has been tenor soloist at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Chestnut Hill, in Philadelphia. Ken Garner has also appeared in over thirty operatic roles with The Opera Company of Philadelphia, The Penn¬sylvania Opera Theatre, Lake George Opera, Chautauqua Opera Company, the Corfu International Festival and The Friends of French Opera in New York City. Mr. Garner is a graduate of The Academy of Vocal Arts and Temple University.
ED BARA, bass, has performed with numerous ensembles as a soloist and recording artist. He has been heard in 14 countries in venues including Saint Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, The National Cathedral in Washington D.C., Carnegie Hall and Radio City Music Hall, NY, and the Basilica of SS Peter and Paul, The Academy of Music, and The Kimmel Center, Philadelphia.
Mr. Bara’s opera highlights include the title role of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Colline in La bohème, Crespel in The Tales of Hoffmann, Sparafucile in Rigoletto, and The Pirate King from Pirates of Penzance with Opera Delaware, Boheme Opera in Trenton, NJ, and Sylvan Opera, to name a few. He has been heard on the musical theater stage in Oliver!, Camelot, Two by Two, among many others, totaling over seventy roles of opera, theater, musical theater, and oratorio. His comic work as Doolittle in My Fair Lady was hailed as...”a hysterical blend of Stanley Hol¬loway, and Jackie Gleason.” His solo concert and oratorio performances have been called “...dark, rich, expressive singing…” and “powerful, but with enough grace as to understand every word.” He often appears as soloist with the Ama Deus Ensemble on the stage of the Kimmel Center.
The bass-baritone’s recordings including the Bach B Minor Mass, Mozart Requiem, Beethoven Missa Solemnis, Handel Messiah, and the Dvorak Requiem.
With his wife Jennifer, he is co-founder and director of an early music performing ensemble specializing in feasts of the renaissance. Mr. Bara is also choir director at Peace Lutheran Church near Perkasie. He currently teaches voice at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA.
THE AMA DEUS ENSEMBLE
SOPRANO: Kristen Conrad, Kemper Florin, Jennifer Graf, Tatyana Halitskaya ALTO: Lois Babbitt, Elizabeth Francisco, Bronwyn Fix-Keller, Fran Bjorneby Kraemer, Betty Prescod, Tatyana Rashkovsky TENOR: Frank Henzel, Dennis Kalup, Douglas Rowland, Kent Schauble, David Sharp, Dana Wilson BASS: Michael Eberhard, Todd Florin, Matthew Francisco, Daniel Schauble
VIOLIN: Thomas DiSarlo (CONCERTMASTER), Robert
Spates, Lauren Alter, Christopher Halls, Thomas Jackson,
Cathleen Jeffcoat
VIOLA: Patricio Diaz, Geoffrey Baker CELLO: Vivian Barton-Dozor, Anthony Pirollo
BASS: Marc Seidenberg, Joseph Whitt CLARINET: Christopher DiSanto, Karen DiSanto BASSOON: Norman Spielberg, Robert Grossman HORN: Jane Richter, Michael Johns TRUMPET: Elin Frazier, Daniel Orlock TROMBONE: Brian Pastor, Michael Purdy,David Cianci TIMPANI: Randall Rudolph
CREDITS: Produced by John Ostendorf/ Recording Engineer: Stephen J. Epstein |
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