John Scherch, Bass

Praised by Opera News for his “resonant bass outstanding among his peers,” John T.K. Scherch is a regular presence in the Baltimore music community. He attended Peabody Conservatory for his graduate studies, performing the roles of Frank Maurrant (Street Scene), Don Alfonso (Così fan tutte), and Giove (La Calisto), and has also performed with Bel Cantanti Opera in Silver Spring as Luther and Crespel (Les contes d’Hoffmann), Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte), and Luka Zinovich (Sadko), and will perform the role of Vasily Sobakin in The Tsar’s Bride this May. He has also appeared with The In Series in Washington as a bass soloist in Verdi’s Requiem. He has also been a bass soloist in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with Concert Artists of Baltimore and Messiah with Bach in Baltimore. John has appeared with the Caramoor Music and Arts Festival as a chorister and with Pittsburgh Festival Opera in the role of Vanuzzi in Strauss’s Die schweigsame Frau. He was a finalist in the 2018 Bach Choir of Bethlehem vocal competition and is a winner of the George R. Woodhead prize in voice from Peabody. He is also the evening host on WBJC, Maryland’s Classical Music Station, where he also hosts the Friday night request program, Listener’s Choice. For more information, visit his website, johntkbass.com.

Sara MacKimmie, soprano

Sara MacKimmie is a Washington, DC-based soprano who specializes in ensemble singing and early music. Recent highlights include Vivaldi Gloria with the Lansing Symphony Orchestra, several oratorios with the Academy of Sacred Drama in New York, Couperin’s Leçons de ténèbres with the Denver Early Music Consort, music from the court of Henry VIII with Mountainside Baroque, and several engagements with New York Baroque Incorporated, with whom she has sung at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and for the San Diego Early Music Society. She also performs with Kinnara Ensemble, The Thirteen, the Peabody Consort, Washington DC Chantry, and the Washington Bach Consort and serves as a chorister at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.