HANDEL’S MESSIAH
Two Performances at Two Locations!
Saturday, Dec. 7 at 7 p.m.
First Lutheran Church
3604 Chatham Rd., Ellicott City
Sunday, Dec. 8 at 3 p.m.
St. Casimir Church
2800 O’Donnell St, Baltimore
FULL PROGRAM:
Handel’s Messiah
FEATURED SOLOISTS:
Elissa Edwards, Soprano*
Jessica Renfro, Alto
Dr. Min Jin, Tenor**
Lorenzo Zapata, Bass***
* The soprano soloist for this concert is endowed in perpetuity in memory and honor of the Rev. Andrea R. Hagen-Arndt
** The tenor soloist for this concert is endowed in perpetuity in honor of Pastor (Ret.) Dr. Otfried O. Arndt; given by the Rev. Andrea R. Hagen-Arndt
*** The bass soloist for this concert is endowed in perpetuity in memory of T. Herbert Dimmock, Jr.
Learn more about our Permanent Endowment Fund HERE
Tickets: $40 Regular / $42 Door
Elissa Edwards, Soprano
Soprano Elissa Edwards is an exponent of Early Music and hailed for her ‘pliant, seductive, free-ranging voice’ (Gramophone) and her ‘glistening tone’ (Early Music America). She is also a sacred music specialist and has been a featured soloist in many oratorio and cantata performances in the US and UK. Performance highlights include featured appearances at the Washington National Cathedral, the Barbara Strozzi Symposium at Princeton University, Gotham Early Music Series, Bach in Baltimore, American Harp Society, Amherst Early Music Festival, Yorkshire Baroque Soloists and The National Center for Early Music, UK. Ms. Edwards is the artist-in-residence of the Hammond-Harwood House Museum and is on the voice faculty at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
Ms. Edwards has won many awards and grants for her creative contributions to the field including the Maryland State Individual Artist’s Award, the National Endowment for the Humanities and Winterthur Museum & Library for her scholarly presentations of music. Her training includes studies at the Royal College of Music, London and performance degrees from Boston University (BM) and University of York, UK (MA). Her critically acclaimed album, Vago Desio, features cantatas and arias from Barbara Strozzi’s Opus 8 (Acis APL90277) is available to listen online. (www.elissaedwards.com)
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.
Lorenzo Zapata, bass
Argentine-American bass-baritone Lorenzo Zapata most recently received a vocal fellowship at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara performing in the west coast premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s “Cold Mountain” directed by James Darrah. His other recent performances include soloing in Bernstein’s MASS under Marin Alsop and working with composer Jake Heggie in a re-premiere of his opera Out of Darkness: Two Remain. Other recent performances include as Homecoming Soldier in The Falling and the Rising and Dulcamara in L’elisir d’amore. Mr. Zapata made his solo orchestral debut last Fall under Ed Polochik in Haydn’s Harmoniemesse, and also won first prize in the annual Peabody Song Competition last Spring where he also received his undergraduate degree in May 2019. Mr. Zapata is thrilled to be joining Herb Dimmock and Bach in Baltimore to make his Messiah debut.