CHRISTMAS CONCERT
Handel’s Messiah
Sunday, December 3 at 4 p.m.
Emmanuel Episcopal Church, 811 Cathedral Street, Baltimore, MD 21201
This concert was part of Bach in Baltimore’s 2017-2018 Season. View the full season in our Archives.
FULL PROGRAM:
Handel’s Messiah
FEATURED SOLOISTS:
Jessica Beebe, soprano
Jessica Renfro, alto
Dr. Min Jin, tenor
Andrew Pardini, bass
Celebrate Christmas with Bach in Baltimore’s performance of the beloved holiday rite of the season, Handel’s glorious Messiah. Though initially composed for Easter celebrations, today Handel’s Messiah is an awe-inspiring tradition of the Christmas season. This Bach in Baltimore concert features a sublime quartet—soprano Jessica Beebe; alto Jessica Renfro; tenor Min Jim, and bass Andrew Thomas Pardini.
Admission: $25 in advance, $30 at the door
Dr. Min Jin, tenor
Tenor Dr. Min Jin has a versatile and wide-ranging career as a leading operatic tenor, recitalist, conductor, and voice professor. Praised for his easy lyricism, emotional intensity, and extraordinary top notes, Dr. Jin has delighted audiences throughout the world. He has appeared at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center as a recitalist, opera performer, and oratorio soloist with choral societies. His past opera performances include leading roles in La Boheme, Lucia di Lammermoor, Romeo et Juliette, Carmen, L’elisir d’amore, The Magic Flute, La Rondine, La Traviata, Tosca, Manon, Werther, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and La Vera Costanza. He has performed with the New Jersey State Opera, Ann Arbor Opera, Aspen Opera, Rochester Mercury Opera, Dicapo Opera, Academic Opera, Mannes Opera, Eastman Opera, Grand Valley State University, Kwang Ju City Opera, and Po Hang City Opera.
As an oratorio and chamber music soloist, he has been featured in Carmina Burana and Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings with the Finger Lake Music Festival and the Grand Valley State University. Other featured solo engagements have included Haydn’s Creation and The Seasons, Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Requiem, Dubois’ The Seven Last Word of Christ, Mendelssohn’s St. Paul and Elijah, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, Mass in C Major and Symphony No. 9, Frank’s Mass in A Op. 12, and Schubert’s Mass No. 2 in G and Mass in A flat with orchestras in the U.S. and around the world.
He was a first prize winner of the Artist International Music Competition, Korean Music Association Competition, and a winner of the Heida Hermann International Voice Competition, the Oratorio Society Voice Competition, and a finalist in the Caruso International Voice Competition.
Dr. Jin holds a D.Mus.A. degree in vocal performance from the Eastman School of Music. He served as a principal conductor for the Tedeum Choir in Chicago and as the orchestra conductor at the Central Wesleyan Church in Holland. As a studio voice teacher, many of Dr. Jin’s students are awarded at voice competitions, festivals, and young artist programs at the national and international levels. He currently works as an assistant professor of voice at Towson University.
Jessica Renfro, alto
Alto Jessica Renfro holds a B.M. from the University of Connecticut and a M.M. from the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. She has performed with Baltimore Opera, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Dicapo Opera, Opera Vivente, Jacksonville Lyric Opera, Mid-Atlantic Symphony, Bay-Atlantic Symphony, and many others in opera and concert works alike. Her opera credits include multiple appearances as Angelina in La Cenerentola, Dorabella in Così fan tutte, Nancy in Albert Herring, and Hansel in Hansel and Gretel, as well as the roles of Carmen in Carmen, Dido in Dido and Aeneas, Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, Romeo in I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Concepcíon in L’heure Espagnole, and Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus.
Also an accomplished concert artist, Ms. Renfro has appeared as the soloist in Mahler’s Rückertlieder, Crumb’s Madrigals, Books I-IV, and Rorem’s Evidence of Things Not Seen, as well performing as the alto soloist in many sacred works including Mozart’s Requiem and “Grand” C minor Mass, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass and Paukenmesse, Bach’s Magnificat and BWV 82, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Handel’s Messiah, and the Duruflé Requiem.
In December, Ms. Renfro will play Hansel in Hansel and Gretel with Boheme Opera New Jersey.
Jessica Beebe, soprano
Lauded as an “expressive, rich soprano who performs with heart-rending passion” and as having a “honey-colored tone” from Opera News, Jessica Beebe enjoys an active performing career worldwide, recently giving her Carnegie Hall solo debut with The New York City Chamber Orchestra.
As a concert soloist, she has appeared in most major works of the Baroque and Classical eras with some of the world’s leading orchestras and Baroque ensembles including The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra with Raymond Leppard, The Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, The Royal College Orchestra London with Laurence Cummings, The Princeton Festival Orchestra, Philadelphia Bach Collegium, The Philadelphia Orchestra with Yannick Nezet-Seguin, Piffaro-The Renaissance Band, and the Folger Consort in D.C. Ms. Beebe has also performed leading roles in such operas as Dido and Aeneas, Così Fan Tutte, Don Giovanni, Hansel and Gretel, Le nozze di Figaro, Peter Grimes, Orfeo ed Euridice, and the Philadelphia premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s Grammy-nominated opera, Cold Mountain with Opera Philadelphia.
In addition to her solo and operatic career, Ms. Beebe is also an avid choral singer, performing with Variant Six, Ensemble Eos, Tempesta di Mare, Choral Arts of Philadelphia, as well as premiering numerous works with the Grammy-nominated group, The Crossing. Ms. Beebe also performs frequently abroad, recently giving concerts in Russia and the U.K. with the Grammy-nominated Clarion Ensemble, as well as a staged production of Messiah with Bergen National Opera.
Andrew Pardini, bass
Extolled by The Baltimore Sun for his “robust work” and DC Metro Theater Arts for “a heart-stopping, high voltage bass-baritone (sic) voice,” Andrew Thomas Pardini continues to win audiences with his vibrant tone and thrilling character portrayals. Pardini recently made his company and role debuts with Dayton Opera as Il Principe Yamadori and Il Commissario Imperiale in Madame Butterfly, and Un Araldo in Otello, in addition to serving as resident baritone as part of its prestigious 2015-16 Artists-In-Residence Program. Upcoming engagements include Second Prison Guard in Dead Man Walking at Townsend Opera and Fresno Grand Opera, and Reporter #3 in Shadowboxer at Center Stage. Pardini holds a M.Mus. in opera performance from the University of Maryland – Maryland Opera Studio, under the tutelage of Dominic Cossa and François Loup, and a B.Mus. in vocal performance from the University of Southern California – Thornton School of Music, studying with Gary Glaze. A native of Modesto, California, Pardini is based in the Greater Washington, DC/Baltimore area.
For more information, please visit andrewthomaspardini.com.