BAROQUE OKTOBERFEST
FEATURING BACH’S CANTATA 20 & TELEMANN’S TAFELMUSIK II
Sunday, October 6 at 4 p.m.
Christ Lutheran Church, 701 S. Charles Street, Baltimore
This concert was part of Bach in Baltimore’s 2018-2019 Season. View the full season in our Archives.
FULL PROGRAM:
Bach’s Cantata 20: O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort
Telemann’s Tafelmusik II: Ouverture Suite in D major
FEATURED SOLOISTS:
Kristen Dubenion-Smith, Alto
Matthew Loyal Smith, Tenor
Phillip Collister, Bass*
STUDENT VOICE EXCHANGE:
Maryland State Boys Choir
* The bass soloist for this concert is endowed in perpetuity in honor of Dr. Phillip Sticha
Learn more about our Permanent Endowment Fund HERE
Can’t make it to Munich this fall? Don’t worry! Bach in Baltimore opens its 2019-2020 season with a taste of the rich and delicious German Baroque music traditions in our Baroque Oktoberfest concert, featuring Bach’s rousing Cantata 20 that begins with a march fit for a king and showcases a spirited chorus, a trio of oboes, bright brass aria for trumpet, and solos for alto and tenor. It is paired with Telemann’s lively Tafelmusik II: Ouverture Suite in D major, which represents the peak of sixteenth-century courtly table music. It is a perfect way to kick off our season of the Baroque Greatest Hits.
Join us immediately after the concert to enjoy some great beer and German wursts with the Maestro and members of the Bach in Baltimore Choir!
Concert Tickets: $25 Regular / $27 Door
Food Vouchers: $10, good for one wurst and one beverage (alcoholic or non-alcoholic)
Kristen Dubenion-Smith, mezzo-soprano
Kristen Dubenion-Smith, mezzo-soprano, enjoys an active performing career in oratorio and sacred vocal chamber music, specializing in music of the medieval, renaissance and baroque eras.
Highlights from recent seasons include Handel’s Israel in Egypt and Vivaldi’s Gloria with the Washington National Cathedral Baroque Orchestra, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and St. Matthew Passion with the Washington Bach Consort, and Bach’s St. John Passion with The Dryden Ensemble. Ms. Dubenion-Smith is a past American Bach Soloists Academy participant and Virginia Best Adams Fellow at the Carmel Bach Festival.
2022-2023 season solo highlights are BWV 170 with Chatham Baroque, Venus and Adonis with Bach Collegium San Diego, the Monteverdi Vespers with both Apollo’s Fire and the Washington National Cathedral Baroque Orchestra, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the Washington Bach Consort, Handel’s Messiah with Ensemble Altera, BWV 3 with Bach in Baltimore, and an international tour of Handel’s Solomon with The Clarion Choir and The English Concert.
Ms. Dubenion-Smith joined the Choir of Men and Boys/Girls at the Washington National Cathedral in the fall of 2016 as the first woman to be offered a position in this choir. She had previously served as cantor since 2010. In her time with the Cathedral Choir, she has sung for liturgies, commemorations, and events of national importance – most recently, the State Funerals of President George H. W. Bush and Senator John McCain, the internment of Matthew Shepard, and Presidential Inauguration Ceremonies and Prayer Services.
Originally from Michigan, Ms. Dubenion-Smith attended Alma College (Bachelor of Music) before moving to Maryland to complete her studies at The Peabody Conservatory of Music (Master of Music) in Baltimore.
Phillip Collister, bass
Phillip Collister, bass-baritone, has performed frequently as soloist with Bach in Baltimore as well as solo engagements with the Handel Choir of Baltimore, Washington Chamber Orchestra, the Washington Bach Consort, Maryland Handel Festival, the Bach Sinfonia, and internationally at the Handel Festival in Halle, Germany. He has performed at Carnegie Hall with his professional ensemble Trio Montage who performed newly commissioned works for voice, clarinet, and piano. He maintains an active solo recital and concert schedule as well. Collister has directed, conducted, or produced numerous operas, operettas, musicals and concerts. From 2009-2016 he served as the Music Director of Young Victorian Theatre Company in Baltimore, and from 2001-2006 Collister was the producing artistic director and music director for the Maryland Arts Festival. He has also served as the conductor of the opera studio at the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival. Collister serves as the Chairperson of the Department of Music and Professor of Voice/Opera at Towson University where he has been a member of the music faculty since 1998.
Maryland State Boychoir
Founded in 1987 by Frank Cimino with just 14 boys, the mission of The Maryland State Boychoir has remained clear: to foster the boychoir tradition by offering talented boys opportunities to sing and build self-esteem, self-discipline and character. Thirty years later, the Boychoir still embraces that goal.
Today, The Maryland State Boychoir (MSB), Maryland’s “Official Goodwill Ambassadors,” is comprised of approximately 130 choristers, ages 7 to 20, who represent a wide range of ethnic, socioeconomic, and religious backgrounds. They come from nine Maryland counties, Baltimore City, and the D.C. suburbs.
The Maryland State Boychoir is a diverse group of talented boys who love to sing. Qualified applicants are accepted regardless of their families’ financial means and are not discriminated against on any basis. Prior musical training is not expected, but an audition is required. Auditions are held in the fall, winter and spring for potential members who are not required to have prior music training. A qualified applicant is any boy who loves to sing, is committed to the organization, and can sing in tune with a pleasant voice.
Not only do choristers receive training in voice lessons and music theory, they also develop friendships with boys from varied backgrounds, build self-esteem and self-discipline through hard work and dedication, and develop a sense of community through their commitment to the organization.
Matthew Loyal Smith, tenor
Matthew Loyal Smith has been a frequent soloist with ensembles in the United States and Canada including the National Philharmonic, Choral Arts Society of Washington, Washington Chorus, City Choir of Washington, Washington Bach Consort, Artek, Choralis, the Cathedral Choral Society, the Washington Concert Opera, Choral Artists of Sarasota, the Niagara Symphony Orchestra, the Pennsylvania Chamber Orchestra, and the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia.
His wide concert repertoire includes all of Bach’s major works and many of his cantatas. Other highlights are his performances of Handel’s Messiah, many works of Haydn and Mozart, recitals of art songs from Britten and Finzi, Rachmaninoff’s Vespers, Monteverdi’s Vespers 1610, Debussy’s L’enfant prodigue, and numerous premieres of new compositions.
His operetta and operatic roles have included Kaspar in Amahl and the Night Visitors, the Mayor in Albert Herring, The Prologue in The Turn of the Screw, Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore (cover), Mozart in Mozart and Salieri, Torquemada in L’heure Espagnol, Frederic in Pirates of Penzance, and Baron Zsupàn in Countess Maritza.
Mr. Smith studied vocal performance with Beverley Rinaldi and Christine Anderson while earning a B.M. in Voice from the Cleveland Institute of Music and a M.M. in Opera from Temple University. He received the Carmel Bach Festival’s Adams Fellowship for performance and study of the music of Bach. He has performed with the Metropolitan Opera Chorus and currently serves as a member of The US Army Chorus.