FULL PROGRAM:
Bach St. John Passion
FEATURED SOLOISTS:
Melissa Wimbish, soprano*
Rebecca Printz, alto**
Joseph Regan, tenor
Carl Dupont, bass***
David Dimmock
Eric Carey, evangelist
* The soprano soloist for this concert is endowed in memory of Anne Hortense Pruitt Dimmock.
** The alto soloist for this concert is endowed in memory of Linda D. Sadler, Given by Family & Friends.
*** The bass soloist for this concert is endowed in memory of T. Herbert Dimmock, Jr.
Learn more about our Permanent Endowment Fund HERE.
Celebrate Bach in Baltimore’s 35th Anniversary! Join Maestro T. Herbert Dimmock, the Bach in Baltimore Choir and Orchestra, and soprano, alto, tenor, and bass soloists for Bach’s towering masterpiece: St. John Passion. In Bach’s setting of the Passion according to St. John, we find all the musical forms of the high Baroque being utilized—full of pageantry, drama, color, and wonder.
Since the first century A.D., Christians have ritually read and reenacted the Passion of Christ, the story of his suffering and death on the cross. Through the Medieval and Renaissance periods, the music which accompanied the Passion story became increasingly complex, as an elaborate, contrapuntal style replaced plainsong chants. Even through the tumult of the Protestant Reformation, these rituals maintained a central role in Christian worship, with the reformer Martin Luther noting that “It was not without reason that the fathers and prophets wanted nothing else to be associated as closely with the Word of God as music.”
It comes as no surprise that Bach took this heritage of setting the passion story to musical heights of expression heretofore undreamed of. On top of his inspired music, he imbued his passions with powerful emotional reactions to the story as it unfolded and added theological insights worthy of the greatest preachers the world has ever known.
Join us in celebrating our 35th Anniversary of making beautiful music for our community.
Rebecca Printz, mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-Soprano Rebecca Printz has performed as a Bach soloist with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Tanglewood Music Center, and Boston’s Emmanuel Music. Rebecca recently participated in Yellow Barn’s summer music festival, where she performed chamber works by Salvatore Sciarrino, George Benjamin, and Brett Dean, among others. She has also spent two summers at the Marlboro Music festival, where she performed a number of seminal chamber works, including Chausson’s “Chanson Perpétuelle”, Bach solo alto cantata BWV 170, “Vergnügte Ruh”, and the Brahms’s Liebeslieder Walzer. Rebecca is a recent graduate of Boston University’s Opera Institute, where her roles included Baba the Turk in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, Hannah After in Laura Kaminsky’s chamber opera As One, and the title role in Dolores Claiborne by Tobias Picker. Her concert work in Boston included a performance with Winsor music as the soloist in Bach’s cantata BWV 82, “Ich habe genug”, and John Harbison’s chamber work “The Seven Ages” with Collage New Music. Rebecca earned her graduate degree at Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where role highlights included Madame de la Haltière in Massenet’s Cendrillon, Paquette in Candide, and Zita in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi. Rebecca earned her undergraduate degree at Oberlin College and Conservatory, where she sang the title role in Benjamin Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia.
Melissa Wimbish, soprano
In the world-premiere of Josephine with UrbanArias, “… the afternoon belonged to Melissa Wimbish, who was creating the role of Josephine Baker … Beautifully prepared, vocally stunning, and theatrically riveting, Wimbish effortlessly held the audience in her hand throughout this one-woman show.” (Washington Post) In 2016, she made her Carnegie Hall solo recital debut after winning the prestigious NATS Artist Award. Career highlights include Mysteries of the Macabre and Candide with Baltimore Symphony, Paul’s Case with UrbanArias and Prototype Festival, Nimue in Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Camelot, Carmina Burana and A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Washington Ballet at The Kennedy Center, and Mozart’s Requiem with Richmond Symphony.
Her work is relentless in variety, spanning classical, contemporary, and popular styles. In the 2020-21 season, Wimbish self-directed a groundbreaking recital for the INVISION recital series and sang the roles of Alberto Gonzales in Melissa Dunphy’s Gonzales Cantata as well as Pamina in a brand new production of The Magic Flute, set to a revamped script and libretto by an all-Black creative team and cast. In addition to returning to UrbanArias for the 2021-22 season, Melissa will make her soloist debut with the Vermont Symphony, workshop Jessica Meyer’s 20 Minutes of Action with Sandbox Percussion Ensemble at Yellow Barn’s Chamber Music Residency, and compete at Stockhausen Courses in Kürten. She co-leads the Baroque pop duo, Outcalls, whose song “No King” was named one of Baltimore Sun’s Most Defining Songs of 2017. Outcalls was awarded a Baker Artist Award in 2021 and will release their third studio album, Greatest Hits, in fall 2021.
Eric F. Carey, tenor
Noted for his “silken tenor”(Opera News), Eric Finbarr Carey is the most recent winner of the Meyerson Zwanger award and 2nd prize in the New York Oratorio Society competition at Carnegie Hall.
This season he presents a varied repertoire of the renaissance to music being written today. This season in concert Carey will be the tenor soloist in Bach St. John Passion with Princeton Pro Musica conducted by Maestro Ryan Brandau, and will sing Evangelist in the same piece with Bach in Baltimore. As a 2022-23 artist with Bach in Baltimore he will sing as tenor soloist in various Bach Cantatas, and present two recitals with the group. He was tenor soloist in the world premiere of the lost mass of Orlandini and Händel’s Dixit Dominus with Upper Valley Baroque, where he returns this spring as soloist in Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610. He will perform and record the world premiere of Andrew Faulkenberry’s oratorio The Crooked Cross in 2023.
An Avid recitalist with “captivating vocal quality”(Operawire), he will sing a series of solo recitals this spring with pianist partner Bethany Pietroniro in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and the Hudson Valley, and will also present a recital of Monteverdi, Händel, Caccini and Air de Cour with Theorbist Richard Stone of Tempesta di Mare.
A specialist in the music of Benjamin Britten, this fall Carey sang in two of his operas: the role of Peter Quint in The Turn of the Screw with Opera Baltimore, and the Tempter in Enigma Opera’s The Prodigal Son, as well as concert performances with Boston Symphony Orchestra Chamber Players in Britten’s Canticle V. This spring he will sing Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings with Concerts in the Village. Carey was a two time fellow at the Britten-Pears Programme in Aldeburgh, UK with mentorship from Mark Padmore and Roderick Williams.
Carey made notable debuts in the 2020/21 season on both the concert and operatic stages. He appeared as the tenor soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Andris Nelsons in Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, with Emmanuel Music in Bach’s B Minor Mass, and Odyssey Opera with a “very strong performance”(Gramophone UK) which was “an oasis of lyricism” (Bachtrack) in the world premiere of The Chronicle of Nine. Carey has held residencies in the Renée Fleming Song Studio at Carnegie Hall, the Britten-Pears Festival Young Artist Program, and Tanglewood Music Center as a two time fellow.
At Tanglewood, he had the pleasure of working extensively with Dawn Upshaw, Margo Garrett, and Alan Smith. As a second-year fellow, he was featured in the American premiere of Richard Ayres’s The Cricket Recovers conducted by Thomas Adés and a concert of Bach Cantatas with John Harbison. Other performances include Les illuminations with The Orchestra Now, and Tom Rakewell (The Rake’s Progress), Alfredo (La traviata), Thibodeau (Dolores Claiborne) and Schoolmaster (The cunning little vixen) with the Opera Institute at Boston University, where he was in residence. Awards include 2nd place in the Gerda Lissner Song Competition, the Grand Finals at the Joy in Singing Competition, and First Place at both the Sparks and Wiry Cries Song Slam Competition and the Bard College Conservatory of Music Concerto Competition. He also received a grant from Boston University as one of the winners of the 2020 Kahn grant. He holds degrees from Bard College, Boston University, and Peabody Conservatory/The Johns Hopkins University. He is currently based in Philadelphia.
Joseph Regan, tenor
Joseph Regan is thrilled to be returning to the Bach in Baltimore Concert Series this season. Mr. Regan is a highly sought after performer whose singing has taken him all over the Eastern Seaboard and parts of Europe. Recent highlights from the opera stage include a turn as Azaël from Debussy’s L’Enfant Prodigue for Lyric Opera of Baltimore, Don José in Opus Concert Theater’s production of Carmen, and Pinkerton from Madame Butterfly with Loudon Lyric Opera. Mr. Regan is frequently engaged as a tenor soloist. He is particularly well known for his singing of Bach and Handel with numerous performances of Handel’s Messiah as well as Bach’s Passions and Cantatas to his credit. Recent highlights include the regional premiere of the concert oratorio Barbara Allen with Shepherd University Masterworks and Gerald Finzi’s A Farewell to Arms with Live Arts Maryland. In addition to multiple turns as the tenor soloist for Bach’s St. John Passion, Mr. Regan recently made his debut as the Evangelist. Mr. Regan also deeply enjoys singing art song, in particular French Mélodies. This intimate and personal form allows him to more deeply explore the connection between text, music, emotional intent, and its impact on the listener.
He earned his BM and MM from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University and his DMA from University of Maryland, College Park.
Carl Dupont, bass
Carl DuPont is an artist, innovator, and educator dedicated to Transformational Inclusion and Care of the Professional Voice. His “rich, nuanced baritone” (Columbus Underground) has held center stage in performances at The Glimmerglass Festival, Opera Carolina, Opera Columbus, First Coast Opera, Toledo Opera, Opera Saratoga, Sarasota Opera, Cedar Rapids Opera, El Palacio de Bellas Artes, Opera Company of Brooklyn, The IN Series, Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, and Leipzig Opera. Recent roles include Hawkins Fuller in Fellow Travelers, Don Basilio in The Barber of Seville, and Leporello in Don Giovanni. His articles can be found in The Laryngoscope and the Voice and Speech Review. DuPont can be heard on the world premiere recordings of the Caldara Mass in A Major, The Death of Webern, and his solo album, The Reaction. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music (BM), Indiana University (MM), and the University of Miami (DMA), he currently serves on the faculties of the Johns Hopkins University’s Peabody Institute, the Carey School of Business executive education division, and the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival; he is the co-artistic lead for the Kennedy Center’s Washington National Opera Initiative. This season he makes a role and company debut as Stephen Kumalo in Lost in the Stars with the Annapolis Opera Company, returns to Bach in Baltimore as the bass soloist in St. John’s Passion, sings the baritone solo in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra, and reprises the title role in Mendelssohn’s Elijah for the Baltimore Choral Society.
David Dimmock, Bass-Baritone
Bass-Baritone David Dimmock is a graduate of Oberlin College. He has performed extensively the works of J. S. Bach, including the St. John and St. Matthew Passions, Magnificat, Easter Oratorio, Christmas Oratorio and over 30 of Bach’s cantatas. Local solo concert appearances have included the Handel Choir of Baltimore, the Harford Choral Society, and the Bach Concert Series. Additionally, he has appeared as soloist in San Francisco, New York, and Washington D.C. He is featured as soloist on three CD’s of the Handel Choir of Baltimore, and has performed in over 75 operas with the Baltimore Opera Company, Baltimore Concert Opera and Washington Concert Opera. Now retired from a career as project manager at Northrop Grumman, David enjoys playing saxophone, flute and clarinet in local jazz big bands and in community theater pit orchestras.
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