Performance

Handel Society of Dartmouth College

November 15, 2022

This event occurred as part of the 22/23 Hop Ensemble season. This is an archived view.

A unique collection of sweeping choral music.

22/23 Hop Ensemble

Accompanied by a full orchestra and four guest soloists, the choral society fills the air with the sublime sounds of two of Mozart's treasured works, including Te Deum KV 141 for choir and orchestra—written by the music master at the early age of 13—and the evocative Coronation Mass KV 317 for soli, choir and orchestra, as well as Britten's profound Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings.

Generously supported by the Gordon Russell 1955 Fund and Friends of the Handel Society.

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Mary Bonhag, soprano
Mary Bonhag is an "extraordinary" singer (Classical Voice N. America), sought after for her impeccable musicianship and "supple expressive voice" (San Antonio News), specializing in the sacred music of J.S. Bach. She is both a new-music specialist and a singer deeply devoted to sacred music across the ages. Mary was featured in Resonant Bodies Festival, and has sung with 21st Century Consort and San Francisco Contemporary Players. Mary recently premiered a new chamber opera by Susan Botti, River Spirits. In 2010, Mary co-founded Scrag Mountain Music with her husband, composer/bassist Evan Premo, to organize chamber music residencies and innovative and affordable concerts around Vermont. After studies at University of Michigan and Bard College (under Dawn Upshaw's mentorship), she was invited to residencies at SongFest, Fall Island and Tanglewood. At the latter, she was honored with the Grace B. Jackson Prize and her performances were received with great acclaim.

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Sophie Michaux, alto
Praised for her "warm, colorful mezzo" (Opera News), Sophie Michaux has become one of the Northeast's most versatile and compelling singers, at home in an eclectic span of repertoire ranging from grand opera to French cabaret songs. Sophie's recent engagements include collaborations with the Boston Early Music Festival, Blue Heron, the Lorelei Ensemble, Bach Collegium San Diego, Palaver Strings, Ruckus, Lowell Chamber Orchestra as well as a solo recital of Barbara Strozzi's music at the Fondazione Cini, Venice, Italy. She won the second prize at the 2021 Handel Aria Competition in Madison WI, the William Grogan Award at the 2022 Lyndon Woodside Oratorio-Solo competition. She has sung under the baton of Andris Nelsons, Thomas Adès, Leonardo García Alarcón and Lidiya Yankovskaya, among others. This season, she will premiere Her Story by Julia Wolfe with the Boston, Chicago, Nashville and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras, with the Lorelei Ensemble.

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Gene Stenger, tenor
Hailed as an "impressive tenor" (The New York Times) who sings with "sweet vibrancy" (The Cleveland Plain Dealer) Gene Stenger is one of the country's most called upon Bach specialists who is also heralded for his performances of oratorios by Handel, Haydn, Mendelssohn and Mozart. Gene's 2022-2023 season includes solo debuts with both the Helena Symphony (Handel's Messiah), and Canticum Novum (Bach's Mass in B Minor) and returning solo appearances with the Buffalo Philharmonic (Mozart's Coronation Mass), Eastern Connecticut Symphony (Britten's Serenade) and more. Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Gene holds degrees from Yale University's School of Music and Institute of Sacred Music, Colorado State University and Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Music. He currently resides in New Haven, Connecticut, where he serves as instructor of voice at Yale University.

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Chris Talbot, bass
Bass-baritone Christopher Talbot is a sought-after soloist and ensemble singer hailed for his "voice of warmth and strength" (Classical Review). With a special affinity for music of the baroque era, Christopher is at home performing a wide variety of musical genres, from medieval polyphony to experimental 21st-century works. Highlights of the 2022-23 season include the Monteverdi Vespers with Apollo's Fire, Bach's Magnificat with The Thirteen and Handel's Dixit Dominus with New Hampshire's Upper Valley Baroque. Previously Chris appeared as a vocal fellow with Bachakademie Charlotte and received a coveted spot in the masterclass at the Internationale Bachakademie in Stuttgart, Germany, where he studied with baritone Peter Harvey. He received his MM from Yale University's Institute of Sacred Music voice program and a BA from Drew University. While at Yale he became involved with the New Muses Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to researching and performing works by underrepresented composers, and recently performed in the group's inaugural concert in New York City. A native of Massachusetts, Chris began singing at age 8 as a boy soprano in the choirs of All Saints, Worcester. He currently lives in Philadelphia with his wife and two cats.

Program

The Project

Hopkins Center for the Arts
presents

Handel Society of Dartmouth College

Filippo Ciabatti, conductor

and

Erma Mellinger, assistant conductor and vocal coach

with
Mary Bonhag, soprano
Sophie Michaux, alto
Gene Stenger, tenor
Christopher Talbot, bass

Tuesday, November 15, 7:30 pm

Spaulding Auditorium • Dartmouth College • 2022

Generously supported by the Gordon Russell 1955 Fund and Friends of the Handel Society.

Program

Approximate duration: 90 minutes

Te Deum in C major, K. 141 W. A. Mozart (1756-1791)

Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, Op. 31 Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)
     Prologue
     Pastoral
     Nocturne
     Elegy
     Dirge
     Hymn
     Sonnet
     Epilogue

Gene Stenger, tenor
Michael Lombardi, horn

Intermission

Mass No. 15 in C major, K. 317 “Coronation Mass” W. A. Mozart
     Kyrie
     Gloria
     Credo
     Sanctus
     Benedictus
     Agnus Dei

Mary Bonhag, soprano
     Sophie Michaux, alto
     Gene Stenger, tenor
     Christopher Talbot, bass

Program Notes

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Te Deum in C major, K. 141

W. A. Mozart was born on January 27, 1756, in Salzburg, and died on December 5, 1791, in Vienna. As the original manuscript of his C major Te Deum is lost, its date of composition is unclear, but the earliest set of parts dates to the 1770s. It was probably written and first performed around 1770 in Salzburg. The score calls for SATB chorus accompanied by four trumpets (sometimes performed on two oboes and two trumpets), timpani and a string section notably missing the violas; bassoon and organ join the cellos and double basses on the basso continuo, and three trombones optionally double the lower vocal parts.

The Latin hymn Te Deum laudamus (“O God, we praise you”) is ancient indeed, being among the oldest Christian hymns still in use. Legend attributes its composition to Saints Ambrose and Augustine, who supposedly improvised the hymn in antiphony at the latter’s baptism; later scholarship pointed to St. Nicetas of Remesiana. Though its authorship is still hazy, the Te Deum certainly dates to the fourth century, and possibly earlier. It remains in regular use in the Liturgy of the Hours and has long been a favorite choice of composers writing for celebratory public events, including royal coronations.

Mozart’s Te Deum, though written when the composer was only 13 years old, is nevertheless a mature and compelling work. Already he had been appointed Konzertmeister at the court of the archbishop of Salzburg, where he met and learned from Michael Haydn, whose own Te Deum provided a model for his apprentice’s work. The result is a piece of robust construction that closes with a dazzling double fugue.

Benjamin Britten
Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, Op. 31

Benjamin Britten was born in Lowestoft, Suffolk, England, on November 22, 1913; he died on December 4, 1976, in Aldeburgh, Suffolk. Britten composed the Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings in 1943; Peter Pears sang its premiere at Wigmore Hall in London on October 15 of that year with Dennis Brain on the horn and Walter Goehr conducting. The score of the song cycle calls (believe it or not) for solo tenor, solo horn and string orchestra.

In 1942, after three years of self-imposed exile in the United States, Benjamin Britten returned to England with the tenor Peter Pears, his lifelong romantic and musical partner. Pacifists and conscientious objectors to the war, the couple had endured increasing antagonism in the press and accusations of neglect of duty to their homeland. Once Britten and Pears arrived back home, though, they found welcoming audiences and a string of artistic successes which culminated in the triumphant premiere of Britten’s opera Peter Grimes.

Commencing those flourishing wartime years was a work which, while more modest in scope, offered an enthralling glimpse of the murky vocal and instrumental atmospheres to be fully revealed in Grimes. In the Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, written for Pears and British horn virtuoso Dennis Brain, Britten spun a selection of night-themed English poetry into a novel synthesis of song cycle and concerto. The six nocturnal poems, each from a different author, range in date from the 15th through the 19th centuries.

The Prologue and Epilogue frame the whole crepuscular cycle with a striking pair of movements for solo horn. In these distant clarion calls, the horn is instructed to play only harmonics (changing pitch not with the valves, but with the air and lips alone, like a bugle). The resulting intervals, especially for ears accustomed to the equal-tempered tuning of modern instruments, may sound otherworldly, but this celestial bugle proves the perfect herald for the dusky songs which follow.

First comes a leisurely sunset in “Pastoral”, Britten’s setting of “The Evening Quatrains” by the 17th-century poet Charles Cotton. This unhurried meditation provides ample time for a masterclass in word-painting: as shadows stretch across the meadow, there’s a clever musical analogy for each fanciful form their distortions suggest. After the last sparkling echo of Elfland horns fades in Tennyson’s glittery “Nocturne” (“Blow, bugle, blow”), though, the atmosphere of the Serenade darkens suddenly.

In the central pair of songs, “Elegy” and “Dirge,” the pastoral fantasy of the Merry England evening shatters to reveal a sinister and saturnine nightfall. In the first, a setting of William Blake’s eternally cryptic “The Sick Rose”, the horn weeps and howls in minor seconds at the bizarre scene of corruption narrated by the tenor. The second, equally disquieting, sets the traditional 15th-century “Lyke Wake Dirge”, whose text warns of the dangers encountered on the soul’s journey to purgatory: Those who were uncharitable in life are duly rewarded with fire and thorns pricking “to the bare bane.” The tenor is stony and bloodless in its high insistent proclamation, the melody unchanging stanza to stanza—apparently unmoved by the funeral fugue-march seething in the strings and horn.

Ben Jonson’s “Hymn to Diana” leaps off the page into a highly virtuosic concerto-aria, prefiguring the moonlit flight of the escaping hart. Then at last, in Keats’s “Sonnet”, to soothest, sweetest sleep. Offstage, a final celestial horn call (Epilogue) sounds from a place beyond consciousness.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mass No. 15 in C major, K. 317 “Coronation Mass”

Mozart completed his “Coronation” mass on March 23, 1779, having written it at the behest of the archbishop of Salzburg for use in the city’s cathedral. It premiered there on April 4 (Easter Sunday) of that year. Its performance at the coronation of Francis II as Holy Roman Emperor began a century-long Austrian tradition of use at royal and imperial investitures, resulting in the current nickname. The score calls for soprano, alto, tenor, and bass soloists with SATB chorus and an orchestra of two oboes, two horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, and violins I and II, with bassoon, cellos, double basses, and organ
on the basso part. As in his Te Deum, the violas are again absent.

In January of 1779, Mozart returned to his Salzburg hometown after three wandering years of fruitless job-searching in Germany and France. Unhappy with his low salary at the archbishop’s court and the lack of support for operas in the city, he craved greener (and more metropolitan) pastures than Salzburg. For now, though, he was stuck. Never one for resignation, he put all his considerable energies into a new organist position under the archbishop, for whom he performed daily at court, chapel or cathedral, directed the cathedral’s choirboys, and composed at a characteristically heroic pace.

The C-major “Coronation” mass, written for Easter of that year, is the most enduring work of all Mozart’s pre-Vienna church music. Restrained as he was by the archbishop’s strict (and seemingly contradictory) demands that the mass be brief yet fittingly grand for the Easter ceremony, he evidently found the exact right balance. Clocking in at under a half hour, the mass is wonderfully celebratory, gleaming with festive brass and timpani, rich choral passages, and gallant solo turns for each member of the vocal quartet. Most compelling are the suddenly hushed Adagio at “Et incarnatus” near the middle of the spirited Credo and the soprano’s aria-like Agnus Dei solo.

Texts and Translations

Te Deum
Te Deum laudamus: te Dominum confitemur.
Te æternum Patrem omnis terra veneratur.
Tibi omnes Angeli; tibi cæli et universae potestates.
Tibi Cherubim et Seraphim incessabili voce proclamant:
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth.
Pleni sunt cæli et terra majestatis gloriæ tuæ.
Te gloriosus Apostolorum chorus;
Te Prophetarum laudabilis numerus;
Te Martyrum candidatus laudat exercitus.
Te per orbem terrarum sancta confitetur Ecclesia:

Patrem immensæ majestatis;
Venerandum tuum verum et unicum Filium;
Sanctum quoque Paraclitum Spiritum.
Tu Rex gloriæ, Christe.
Tu Patris sempiternus es Filius.
Tu ad liberandum suscepturus hominem, non horruisti Virginis uterum.
Tu, devicto mortis aculeo, aperuisti credentibus regna cælorum.
Tu ad dexteram Dei sedes, in gloria Patris.
Judex crederis esse venturus.
Te ergo quæsumus, tuis famulis subveni, quos pretioso sanguine redemisti.
Æterna fac cum sanctis tuis in gloria numerari.

Salvum fac populum tuum, Domine, et benedic hæreditati tuæ.
Et rege eos, et extolle illos usque in æternum.
Per singulos dies benedicimus te.
Et laudamus nomen tuum in sæculum, et in sæculum sæculi.
Dignare, Domine, die isto sine peccato nos custodire.
Miserere nostri, Domine, miserere nostri.
Fiat misericordia tua, Domine, super nos, quemadmodum speravimus in te.
In te, Domine, speravi: non confundar in æternum.

O God, we praise you; O Lord, we acclaim you.
Eternal Father, all the earth reveres you.
All the angels, the heavens and the pow’rs of heaven,
Cherubim and Seraphim cry out to you in endless praise:
Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts,
Heaven and earth are filled with the majesty of your glory.
The glorious choir of Apostles sings to you,
The noble company of prophets praises you,
The white-robed army of martyrs glorifies you,
Holy Church throughout the earth proclaims you,

Father of boundless majesty,
With your true and only Son, worthy of adoration,
And the Holy Spirit, Paraclete.
You, O Christ, are the King of glory,
You are the Father’s everlasting Son;
When you resolved to save the human race, you did not spurn the Virgin’s womb;
You overcame the sting of death and opened wide the Kingdom of Heaven to those who put their faith in you.
You are seated at the right hand of God in the glory of the Father.
We believe you are the Judge who is to come.
And so we beg you, help your servants, redeemed by your most precious blood.
Number them among your saints in eternal glory.

Save your people, Lord, and bless your inheritance.
Shepherd them and raise them to eternal life.
Day by day, we bless you and praise your name for endless ages evermore.
Be gracious, Lord, on this day, and keep us from all sin.
Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy.
May your mercy be upon us, Lord, as we place our trust in you.
In you, O Lord, I rest my hope: let me never be put to shame.

Kyrie
Kyrie eleison.
Christe eleison.
Kyrie eleison

Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy

Gloria
Gloria in excelsis Deo.
Et in terra pax hominibus bonæ voluntatis.
Laudamus te; benedicimus te;
adoramus te; glorificamus te.
Gratias agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam tuam.
Domine Deus, Rex coelestis, Deus Pater omnipotens.
Domine Fili unigenite Jesu Christe.
Domine Deus, Agnus Dei, Filius Patris.
Qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
Qui tollis peccata mundi, suscipe deprecationem nostram.
Qui sedes ad dextram Patris, O miserere nobis.
Quoniam tu solus Sanctus, tu solus Dominus,
tu solus Altissimus, Jesu Christe.
Cum Sancto Spiritu
in gloria Dei Patris.
Amen.

Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to people of good will.
We praise you, we bless you, we adore you, we glorify you,
we give you thanks for your great glory,
Lord God, heavenly King, O God, almighty Father.
Lord Jesus Christ, Only Begotten Son,
Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father,
you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us;
you take away the sins of the world, receive our prayer;
you are seated at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us.
For you alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord,
you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit,
in the glory of God the Father.
Amen.

Credo
Credo in unum Deum, Patrem omnipotentem,
factorem caeli et terrae, visibilium omnium et invisibilium,
Et in unum Dominum Iesum Christum,
Filium Dei unigenitum, et ex Patre natum, ante omnia saecula,
Deum de Deo, lumen de Lumine, Deum verum de Deo vero,
genitum, non factum, consubstantialem Patri:
per quem omnia facta sunt.
Qui propter nos homines et propter nostram salutem descendit de caelis.
Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine,
et homo factus est.
Crucifixus etiam pro nobis sub Pontio Pilato;
passus et sepultus est,
et resurrexit tertia die, secundem Scripturas,
et ascendit in caelum, sedet ad dexteram Patris.

Et iterum venturus est cum gloria, iudicare vivos et mortuos,
cuius regni non erit finis.
Et in Spiritum Sanctum, Dominum et vivificantem:
qui ex Patre Filioque procedit.
Qui cum Patre et Filio simul adoratur et conglorificatur:
qui locutus est per prophetas.
Et unam, sanctam, catholicam et apostolicam Ecclesiam.
Confiteor unum baptisma in remissionem peccatorum.
Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum,
et vitam venturi saeculi. Amen.

I believe in one God, the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.
I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven,
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins
and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Sanctus
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth.
Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria tua.
Osanna in excelsis.

Holy, holy, holy Lord God of hosts,
Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.

Benedictus
Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini.
Osanna in excelsis.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.

Agnus Dei
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona nobis pacem.

Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world: have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world: grant us peace.

About the Artists

The recipient of the 2020 American Prize in Conducting (college/university division), Filippo Ciabatti, a native of Florence, Italy, is the Director of Orchestral and Choral Programs at the Hopkins Center for the Arts, Dartmouth College, and the Artistic Director of the Upper Valley Baroque Ensemble. Additionally, in 2022, he will serve as Interim Music Director of Opera Company Middlebury.

As guest conductor, Mr. Ciabatti has appeared with numerous opera companies and orchestras in Europe and North and South America, including Opera North (New Hampshire), Lyric Theatre at Illinois, Aurora Festival Orchestra (Sweden), Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Toscana dei Conservatori (Italy), Park ICM Orchestra (Missouri), Universidad Central Orchestra (Colombia), and the Concord Orchestra (Massachusetts). In 2020, he served as cover conductor for the Music Director of the Portland Symphony Orchestra (Maine). At the Hopkins Center, he conducted members of the Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra in a collaboration with the Martha Graham Dance Company.

As a conductor, Mr. Ciabatti has collaborated with artists including Philadelphia Orchestra concertmaster David Kim, baritone Nathan Gunn, cellist Gabriel Cabezas, pianist Sally Pinkas, flutist Luciano Tristaino, and mandolinist Carlo Aonzo. An advocate for contemporary music and collaborations between musical genres, he premiered a secular oratorio composed by renowned jazz composer Taylor Ho Bynum and commissioned a cello concerto by composer Noah Luna, aired during the NPR show From the Top. In 2018, he led a Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra tour to Italy, performing Mahler’s Fifth Symphony in prominent venues and festivals, in collaboration with the Orchestra Toscana dei Conservatori.

In 2018, he was invited to be a Conducting Fellow at the Aurora Music Festival (Sweden), under the direction of Jukka-Pekka Saraste. During the festival, he conducted Hannah Kendall’s 2017 composition, The Spark Catchers, in the Konserthuset Stockholm.

As a collaborative pianist and vocal coach, Mr. Ciabatti is on the faculty of Camerata de’ Bardi, the Young Artists Program of Teatro Grattacielo in New York City, and the summer opera programs “Opera Viva!” in Verona (Italy) and “Scuola Italia per Giovani Cantanti Lirici” in Sant’Angelo in Vado (Italy). In 2021-2022, he served as Music Director of the Young Artists Program of Opera Middlebury. He has played for masterclasses of Renée Fleming, Nathan Gunn, Isabel Leonard, William Matteuzzi and Donald George. In Italy, he worked as vocal coach for the Cherubini Conservatory, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and Florence Opera Academy.

Mr. Ciabatti holds advanced degrees in piano, choral conducting and orchestral conducting from Italy and the United States.

Mezzo-soprano Erma Mellinger has been a principal artist with many opera companies across the United States including the Cleveland Opera, the Florida Grand Opera, the Dallas Opera, the Pittsburgh Opera Theater, the Fresno International Grand Opera, Opera Maine and the Chautauqua Opera. Her roles, in over 30 operas include Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Dorabella in Così fan tutte, Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, Ottavia in L’incoronazione di Poppea, and Preziosilla in La forza del destino. She has performed with Sherrill Milnes, James Morris and Diana Soviero and has sung Master Classes with Frederica Von Stade and Mignon Dunn. Conductors with whom she has worked include: Harry Bicket, Stephen Lord, John DeMain and Willie Waters.

Hailed for her, “rich, vibrant, creamy voice,” Ms. Mellinger is also at home on the concert stage appearing as soloist with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Monterey Symphony and the Florida Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Mellinger appeared as soloist with the Handel Society of Dartmouth College in tours of England, France, Germany and Italy, performing in venues including Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

Ms. Mellinger has been a member of the Dartmouth College faculty since 1996. In addition to her duties as voice instructor (Senior Lecturer), she serves as the Assistant Director and Vocal Coach of the Handel Society and the Glee Club. Ms. Mellinger presents solo recitals and chamber music concerts on campus through the ChamberWorks Series. Ms. Mellinger is a former director of Cantabile, a Women’s Chorus based in Vermont and New Hampshire. In addition, Ms. Mellinger has directed church choirs and has served as both Stage Director and Music Director for numerous community theater productions. She is a sought-after clinician in the field of vocal production, having most recently worked with the University Chorus and Chamber singers of Brandeis University.

Ms. Mellinger earned her Bachelor of Music Degree with Highest Distinction (First in Class) from Northwestern University. She received the Performer’s and the Opera Certificates as well as a Teaching Excellence Award while at the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester where she earned her Master of Music Degree and began her Doctor of Musical Arts Degree before embarking on her singing career.

Mary Bonhag is an “extraordinary” singer (Classical Voice N. America), sought after for her impeccable musicianship and “supple expressive voice” (San Antonio News), specializing in the sacred music of J.S. Bach. She is both a new-music specialist and a singer deeply devoted to sacred music across the ages. Mary was featured in Resonant Bodies Festival, and has sung with 21st Century Consort and San Francisco Contemporary Players. Mary recently premiered a new chamber opera by Susan Botti, River Spirits. In 2010, Mary co-founded Scrag Mountain Music with her husband, composer/bassist Evan Premo, to organize chamber music residencies and innovative and affordable concerts around Vermont. After studies at University of Michigan and Bard College (under Dawn Upshaw’s mentorship), she was invited to residencies at SongFest, Fall Island and Tanglewood. At the latter, she was honored with the Grace B. Jackson Prize and her performances were received with great acclaim.

Originally from New York City, hornist Michael Lombardi is an active performer and music educator throughout the country. Now based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, he performs with the New Mexico Philharmonic, Santa Fe Symphony, and the Arizona Opera. Before relocating to the Southwest, he performed regularly with the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Dicapo Opera Theatre and the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, as well as guest appearances with the U.S. Army Band at West Point and several rock bands, most notably, The Who. He has also performed in many Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, including Les Miserables, Miss Saigon and Disney’s Frozen. Michael received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Music Performance from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queen’s College, having studied with hornists Dale Clevenger, Jeff Nelsen, David Jolley and Rick Seraphinoff. When not playing the horn, Michael enjoys carpentry, rock climbing, ecstatic dancing and hiking with his longtime dog friend, Sarge, short for Sergeant Pepper.

Praised for her “warm, colorful mezzo” (Opera News), Sophie Michaux has become one of the Northeast’s most versatile and compelling singers, at home in an eclectic span of repertoire ranging from grand opera to French cabaret songs. Sophie’s recent engagements include collaborations with the Boston Early Music Festival, Blue Heron, the Lorelei Ensemble, Bach Collegium San Diego, Palaver Strings, Ruckus, Lowell Chamber Orchestra as well as a solo recital of Barbara Strozzi’s music at the Fondazione Cini, Venice, Italy. She won the second prize at the 2021 Handel Aria Competition in Madison WI, the William Grogan Award at the 2022 Lyndon Woodside Oratorio-Solo competition. She has sung under the baton of Andris Nelsons, Thomas Adès, Leonardo García Alarcón and Lidiya Yankovskaya, among others. This season, she will premiere Her Story by Julia Wolfe with the Boston, Chicago, Nashville and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras, with the Lorelei Ensemble.

Hailed as an “impressive tenor” (The New York Times) who sings with “sweet vibrancy” (The Cleveland Plain Dealer) Gene Stenger is one of the country’s most called upon Bach specialists who is also heralded for his performances of oratorios by Handel, Haydn, Mendelssohn and Mozart. Gene’s 2022-2023 season includes solo debuts with both the Helena Symphony (Handel’s Messiah), and Canticum Novum (Bach’s Mass in B Minor) and returning solo appearances with the Buffalo Philharmonic (Mozart’s Coronation Mass), Eastern Connecticut Symphony (Britten’s Serenade) and more. Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Gene holds degrees from Yale University’s School of Music and Institute of Sacred Music, Colorado State University and Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Music. He currently resides in New Haven, Connecticut, where he serves as instructor of voice at Yale University.

Bass-baritone Christopher Talbot is a sought-after soloist and ensemble singer hailed for his “voice of warmth and strength” (Classical Review). With a special affinity for music of the baroque era, Christopher is at home performing a wide variety of musical genres, from medieval polyphony to experimental 21st-century works. Highlights of the 2022-23 season include the Monteverdi Vespers with Apollo’s Fire, Bach’s Magnificat with The Thirteen and Handel’s Dixit Dominus with New Hampshire’s Upper Valley Baroque. Previously Chris appeared as a vocal fellow with Bachakademie Charlotte and received a coveted spot in the masterclass at the Internationale Bachakademie in Stuttgart, Germany, where he studied with baritone Peter Harvey. He received his MM from Yale University’s Institute of Sacred Music voice program and a BA from Drew University. While at Yale he became involved with the New Muses Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to researching and performing works by underrepresented composers, and recently performed in the group’s inaugural concert in New York City. A native of Massachusetts, Chris began singing at age 8 as a boy soprano in the choirs of All Saints, Worcester. He currently lives in Philadelphia with his wife and two cats.

Handel Society of Dartmouth College and Orchestra Members

Handel Society of Dartmouth College
Filippo Ciabatti, music director
Erma Mellinger, assistant conductor and vocal coach

Soprano
Jennifer Bates
Alice Bennett
Breanna Boland ’23 *
Eugenia Braasch
Kate Caldwell
Susan Cancio-Bello +
Katina Christensen ’25
Melissa Dillier
Jennifer Eastman
Julianne J. Harden
Jackie Kalan T’23
Elizabeth Keeley
Rebecca Maggi
Aurora Martin
Dawna Neron
Janet Poisson
Donna Ron
Gerri Smith
Dorothy Stalnaker
Carolyn Ten Eyck

Tenor
Brian Clancy +
Scot Drysdale
Stephen Dunn
Jon Felde
Ed Felstead
Greg Johnson
Joel Lazar
Robert Maurer
Rick Read
Cole Seagroves ’25
Ashton Todd
Samuel Xiong ’24

Alto
Carol Barr
Lynda Butler
Kate Chamberlin
Kathy Christie
Susannah Clark
Ora Cullen ’24
Anne Felde +
Diana Flanagan
Linda Fowler
Anna Gado ’90
Melissa Herman
Mardy High
Emilia Hitchcock
Alicia Hodge
Erica Ko
Patty Ko
Kristi Medill
Cathleen Morrow
Rosemary Orgren
Catrinka Randall
Jules Reed ’23
Jo Shute
Elisa Sullivan
Ulrike G. K. Wegst

Bass
Wynter Alford ’22 **
Gregory Bazylewicz
Samuel Bonasso ’24
William Braasch
Matthew Dempsey ’23
Tyler Harwell
Paul Hecht
Wesley Liao ’24
Colby Lish ’25
Christopher Smith ’25
David Thron
Jack van Hoff
Allan Wieman +
Andrea Zoller

+Denotes Section Leader
*Denotes Glee Club Student Manager
**Denotes Handel Society Student Manager

Orchestra

Violin 1
Omar Chen Guey **
EmmaLee Holmes-Hicks
Kathy Andrew
Matt Vera
David Horak

Violin 2
Mina Lavcheva *
Sean Larkin
Leah Zelnick
Tudor Dornescu
Théo Payen

Viola
Ashleigh Gordon *
Anna Griffis
Rebecca Hallowell
Marcia Cassidy

Cello
Megan Koch *
Jeremy Harman
Velleda Miragias
Lev Mamuya

Bass
Nick Browne *
Paul Horak

Oboe
Michelle Farah *
Mary O’Keefe

Horn
Michael Lombardi *
Patrick Kennelly

Trumpet
Peter Everson *
Kenny Piatt

Trombone
Wes Hopper *
Skye Dearborn
Zachary Haas

Timpani
Nic Cannizzaro *

** Concertmaster
* Principal

The Ritual of Breath Is the Rite to Resist

2022/23 Season

This season, the arts are everywhere. As the Hop's iconic building undergoes renovation and expansion, our offerings will be popping up in venues all across campus and the Upper Valley. View our...

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