Sunday, March 31, 2019 - 4:00 pm - Mechanics Hall

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

A highlight of many previous Music Worcester concert seasons, Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem is one of the most popular major choral works of all time. As part of his 10th season directing The Worcester Chorus, Chris Shepard will conduct The Chorus in a fully orchestrated performance of the masterpiece at historic Mechanics Hall. 

ABOUT THE SOLOISTS

Soprano Robyn Marie Lamp’s performances are earning her recognition and roles from rare Bel Canto gems to world premieres. Her voice has been described as “robust, easily produced, golden but warm rather than metallic." In the summer of 2017 she sang the role of Adele, and covered Metropolitan Opera soprano Angela Meade’s Imogene, in Bellini’s rarely heard Il pirata at Caramoor’s Music Festival. She was also seen in the title role of Ariadne auf Naxos in a reduced version of Strauss’ opera with south Florida’s Opera Fusion. Of her Adele, one reviewer wrote, “I was especially impressed by every phrase sung by Robyn Marie Lamp as Imogene’s confidante. I’d love to hear how she’d surge through a bel canto cavatina. Keep your ears peeled.” The 2017 - 2018 season will find Ms. Lamp appearing as the soprano soloist in Brahms’  Ein Deutsches Requiem  and making her debut with Orchestra Miami singing the First Lady in Mozart’s  The Magic Flute.
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In 2016, Ms. Lamp created the role of Romaine Patterson in Michael Ross’ politically charged opera Not In My Town in Opera Fusion’s world premiere production. The Palm Beach Arts Paper praised her “large and attractive voice, well-suited for her big aria…” and her “warmth and personality”.  She also took first place winner in the prestigious Lois Alba Aria Competition and was a finalist in the South East Region of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.

She has appeared as a Sarasota Opera Young Artist, covering Nedda in Pagliacci and performing scenes as Elettra (Idomeneo) and Natalia Petrovna (Hoiby’s A Month in the Country). In addition to her affinity for Bel Canto and contemporary roles, Ms. Lamp is an accomplished Mozartian, counting among her roles Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Fiordiligi (Cosi fan tutte), the soprano soloist in Vesperae solennes de confessore, and early in her training, Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro). Her repertoire also includes Mimì (La bohéme), Elvira from Verdi’s Ernani, Blanche de la Force (Dialogues of the Carmelites), and the title role in Anna Bolena.

Ms. Lamp’s work on the concert stage is critically acclaimed for “displaying a wonderful covered sound that blossomed richly as the music ascended.” (The Boston Musical Intelligencer). Her appearances have included Messiah, arias from Korngold’s ravishing  Die tote Stadt, Ralph Vaughan-Williams’ Dona nobis pacem, Haydn’s St. Nicolai and Lord Nelson Masses; Fauré’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, Vivaldi’s Gloria, and Seely’s Brave Souls & Dreamers in Boston, Baton Rouge, Newburyport, Delray Beach, and Fort Lauderdale.

Ms. Lamp holds a Master of Music degree from Louisiana State University and a Bachelor of Music from Florida Atlantic University. 

Mezzo-soprano  Sahoko Sato Timpone made her Carnegie Hall debut in Mendelssohn’s  Midsummer Night’s Dream  with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields conducted by Sir Neville Marriner and narrated by Christopher Plummer, and has since appeared in opera and concerts throughout North America, Asia and Europe.

Her 2016/17 season includes Zita in  Gianni Schicchi  and Opera Gala Concert with the Opera Camerata of Washington, concert at the American Musicological Society Conference in Vancouver, appearance in the New York premiere of Carlisle Floyd’s new opera,  Prince of Players , with the Little Opera Theatre of New York and soloist in Beethoven’s  Ninth Symphony  with the Canadian Chamber Orchestra of New York City.

During the 2015/2016 season, she made her Off-Broadway debut to critical acclaim as Ms. Sun-Yi Nam in  ¡Figaro 90210!  (Marcellina in  Le nozze di Figaro ) and as Mercédès in  Carmen  with PORTOpera. Her concert appearances included collaboration with pianist Thomas Grubb for the Art Song Preservation Society of New York.

Her previous engagements in the United States included Suzuki in  Madama Butterfly  with Syracuse Opera, Nevada Opera Theater, New Rochelle Opera and Opera Camerata of Washington, Cherubino in  Le nozze di Figaro  with Syracuse Opera and West Virginia Symphony, Dorabella in  Cosi fan tutte  with Baltimore Opera, Miss Todd in  The old maid and the thief  with Berkshire Opera, Pitti-Sing in  Mikado , Maddalena in  Rigoletto  and Hansel in  Hansel and Gretel  with Chautauqua Opera and Lucretia in  The Rape of Lucretia  at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City. As a concert soloist, she appeared with Seattle Symphony, Oregon Symphony and Chautauqua Symphony, sang in Verdi’s Messa di Requiem with the New York Choral Society and with the New York Symphonic Ensemble she has performed at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, the United Nations and Carnegie Hall.

She has often been invited to her native Japan to perform under Seiji Ozawa. She made her debut with Tokyo Opera Nomori in  Elektra , performed Cherubino at the Saito Kinen Festival, Orlofsky in  Die Fledermaus  with the Seiji Ozawa Ongaku-juku Opera and participated in their China – Japan tour. Other appearances in Japan included guest soloist with Sapporo Symphony and as Komponist in  Ariadne auf Naxos with Der Verein Japanisch-Deutscher Musikfreunde at the New National Theater in Tokyo. Additionally, Sahoko performed with the Singapore Symphony in Handel’s  Messiah  and the world premiere of  The Other Wise Man  by Stefania De Kennessey. She returned to Southeast Asia in 2004 and 2006 to teach masterclasses and to perform solo recitals and Baba in  The Medium  in Bangkok, Thailand.
She is also an active recitalist, with recent appearances at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie, Steinway Hall and the Munson Williams Proctor Art Institute in Utica, NY. As the winner of First Miguel Zanetti International Spanish Song Competition in 2008, she presented a solo recital of Andalusian music in Granada, Spain.

A native of Tokyo who grew up in Germany and the United States, Sahoko is a graduate of Manhattan School of Music and the New England Conservatory. She received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in performance from Rutgers University where she received Irene Alm Memorial Prize. She is also the recipient of the Nomura Cultural Foundation Grant, the Mary Wolfman Award at the NATS Competition in Boston and the Studio Artist Award from Chautauqua Opera. She will serve as the Assistant Professor of Voice at Florida State University starting in August, 2017.

Hailed as one of the leading exponents of the bel canto and lyric styles among today’s singers, Jorge Pita Carrerashas performed the lyric tenor repertoire to great praise in opera houses throughout the world. Mr. Pita’s voice has now naturally blossomed into the spinto verismo repertoire.

Mr. Pita’s appearances have taken him to the leading opera houses in Hamburg, Stuttgart, Linz, Amsterdam, London, Covent Garden, Oslo, Toulouse, Kiel, Basel, Nantes, Marseille, Liverpool, Glasgow, Dublin, Los Angeles, Leeds, Madrid, Barcelona, Toledo, Paris, Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Toronto, Tel Aviv, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Salzburg, Berlin, Edinburgh, Boston, Dallas, Denver, New York, among others. His accomplishments also extend to oratorio and concert performances and on the recital stage with major symphony orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic and the London Symphony Orchestra.

At age of 22, Mr. Pita became the youngest tenor to debut at the Vienna Staatsoper, singing Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly. Following this successful debut, he appeared in leading tenor roles in Macbeth, La Traviata, Falstaff, Rigoletto, Lucia di Lammermoor, and as the Italian Tenorin Der Rosenkavalier. Mr. Pita has become a favorite of many conductors, including Claudio Abbado, Zubin Mehta, Jose Lopez Cobo, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Anton Guadagno, John Mauceri, Nikolaus Hamoncourt, Antonio Pappano, Fabio Luisi and many others. Maestro Abbado invited Mr. Pita to record Schubert masses for Deutsche Grammophon, including the Mass in E-flat Major, the Mass in G dur, the Tantum Ergo in E-flat, and the Beethoven choral fantasy with Maurizio Pollini and Barbara Bonney. Other recordings include the Berlioz Requiem with the Moscow Philharmonic at the Chaise Dieu Festival, Verdi’s La traviata with the Arturo Toscanini Company in Paris, and Donizetti’s Poliuto for CBS Masterworks with Jose Carreras, Katia Ricciarelli, and the Vienna Philharmonic. Mr. Pita was chosen by maestro Claudio Abbado to sing the Beethoven Choral Fantasy for Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev with Pianist Evgeny Kissin and the European Youth Orchestra in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia.

In 2001 Mr. Pita was invited to sing the Verdi Requiem commemorating the 100th anniversary o f Giuseppe Verdi’s death at the London’s Barbican Hall with Maestro Antonio Pappano, Rene Fleming, Violeta Urmana, Rene Pape and the London Philharmonic for the BBC.

Mr. Pita began his vocal studies under the guidance of Placido Domingo and Joan Owen. He furthered his studies at Indiana University, where he studied with Jean Dies, Gabriella Tucci, Nicholas Rossi Lameni, James King, and Virginia Zeani. Mr. Pita has won the Boca Raton International Competition, the Pavarotti Competition, the Rosa Ponselle Competition, and the Palm Beach Opera Vocal Competition.

The 2017 season takes Mr. Pita back to Winter Opera St. Louis where he will perform the role of Don Jose in Carmen, Rodolfo in La boheme with Cleveland Opera, Otello in Otello with the Prolirica de Antioquia in Medellin, Colombia and a series of gala concerts throughout the United States and South America.

Roomful of Teeth's bass-baritone  Dashon Burton is a native of Bronx, NY. Praised for his “nobility and rich tone,” (New York Times) and hailed as “excellent,” (Akron Beacon Journal) and “robust,” (Cleveland Plain Dealer) he is active in a wide range of repertoire and feels privileged to have worked with artists and ensembles all across the U.S. as well as in Cameroon, Canada, Italy and Germany. Recent collaborations include Pierre Boulez, Masaaki Suzuki and Steven Smith. He began his professional studies at Case Western Reserve University and graduated from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music.

Immediately upon graduation, he was invited to join Cantus, a professional men’s classical vocal ensemble based in Minneapolis. The nine member ensemble travels across the United States performing concerts, teaching clinics about ensemble singing to students of all ages, and collaborating with renowned organizations and artists including the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Boston Pops, James Sewell Ballet and Bobby McFerrin. He appears on albums recorded with the ensemble, including the eponymous album, “Cantus,” which was singled out by National Public Radio as a top ten recording of 2007. After completing his tenure with Cantus in 2009, Dashon completed his Master of Music at Yale University’s Institute of Sacred Music, studying voice with Professor James Taylor. His solo repertoire includes such diverse works as Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610, Jesus in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Superintendent Bud in Britten’s opera Albert Herring, and Ned Rorem’s song cycle, War Scenes.  dashonburton.com