REFLECTIONS AND RENEWAL
FEATURING HOLLIS THOMS’S ADAM & EVE, BACH’S CANTATA 165, AND MOZART’S EINE KLEINE NACHTMUSIK
Sunday, November 3 at 4 p.m.
Christ Lutheran Church, 701 S. Charles Street, Baltimore
$5 Validated Parking at the Charles/Light St. Garage
This concert was part of Bach in Baltimore’s 2018-2019 Season. View the full season in our Archives.
PROGRAM:
Hollis Thoms’s Adam & Eve, World Premiere
Bach’s Cantata 165: O heilges Geist- und Wasserbad
Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik (allegro)
FEATURED SOLOISTS:
Sarah Bleasdale, Soprano
Maria Sheehan, Alto
Kristopher Jean, Tenor
Jason Thoms, Bass
STUDENT VOICE EXCHANGE:
Archbiship Curley High School Schola
Bach in Baltimore is overjoyed to welcome back contemporary composer Hollis Thoms in the world premiere performance of his newest opera, Adam and Eve, featuring returning soloists Jason Thoms as Adam; Sarah Bleasdale as Eve; and Kristopher Jean and Maria Sheehan as Satan/Serpent. The original opera will be paired with Bach’s Cantata 165: O heilges Geist- und Wasserbad, a watery and poetic piece that conjures images of purification of the soul through baptism and the Adam and Eve story. We conclude the concert with Mozart’s effervescent instrumental favorite Eine kleine Natchmusik.
Tickets: $25 Regular / $27 Door
Kristopher Jean, tenor
Kristopher Jean is making his fourth appearance with Bach in Baltimore this season. He has appeared in numerous stage productions throughout the United States and abroad. In 2017, he made his solo debut at Carnegie Hall in Bach’s Cantata 80. His operatic roles include Borsa in Rigoletto, Fairfax in The Yeoman of the Guard, Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet, Rinuccio and Gherardo in Gianni Schicchi, Lord Arturo Bucklaw in Lucia di Lammermoor, Lutz in The Gondoliers, and Dr. Blind in Die Fledermaus. He has soloed in works by Maryland composer and librettist Hollis Thoms, creating the role of Cipriano Ferrandini in The Moustache; the Narrator in Passion, premiered by Bach in Baltimore in March 2011; and the tenor soloist in Isaac that was premiered by Bach in Baltimore in October 2012. In 2004, he joined the Lourdes Singers from Miami’s Our Lady of Lourdes Academy in the one-act opera Bernadette in Paris, France. In addition, he was an ensemble member in The Heights Players production of Ragtime in 2006. In constant demand as a soloist and ensemble singer, Kristopher is a section leader and soloist at Christ Church Bronxville in New York under the direction of Vaughn Mauren; and has performed with such notable arts organizations as the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra, Key West Pops Orchestra, Civic Chorale of Greater Miami, Master Chorale of South Florida, Florida Grand Opera, Troupers Light Opera, Regina Opera Company, and MidAmerica Productions.
Hollis Thoms, composer
Composer Hollis Thoms has spent his professional career as a teacher of music and English, a school administrator, and an active composer. He has had over 40 articles published in educational journals and written about 170 compositions for a variety of ensembles: operas, oratorios, symphonies, chamber works, sacred and secular vocal and choral works.
Mr. Thoms received a BA from Concordia University-Chicago, MM in composition from Northwestern, finished the course work for the PhD in composition from the Eastman School of Music, has an EdS in educational administration from the University of Toledo, and an MALA from St. John’s College, Annapolis. He has been the recipient of a number of fellowships: Joseph Klingenstein Fellowship to Columbia University Teachers College, an Alden B. Dow Creativity Fellowship, and a Fulbright Teacher Exchange to Scotland. In addition, he was selected to participate in the summer seminar for principals at Harvard University Graduate School of Education. His major compositions are in special collections at the Maryland State Archives, Folger Shakespeare Library, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford, England and the Church Music Center-Concordia University-Chicago.
The Bach Concert Series has previously premiered four of Mr. Thoms’ works: Passion, based on the Gospel of Nicodemus, the Gospel of John and other religious poetry, on March 27, 2011; Isaac, based on the Abraham and Isaac Story, on October 7, 2012; for the 500th anniversary of the nailing of the 95 theses, a Luther opera, “And did the world with devils swarm,” on November 4 and 5, 2017; and Adam and Eve, based on John Milton’s Paradise Lost, on November 3, 2019. In 2018, a book entitled Memoirs: Through Music and Texts was published, which describes Mr. Thoms’ compositional journey.
Read Susan Brall’s interview with Hollis Thoms in the Maryland Theatre Guide.
Learn more at hollisthoms.com.
Jason Thoms, bass
Dr. Jason Thoms is the Director of Choral Activities at Bismarck State College in Bismarck, North Dakota. He is also the Founder and Artistic Director of the Dakota Pro Musica and host of Dakota Sings a radio show on North Dakota choirs, composers, and choral music. Dr. Thoms is a professional bass soloist and chorister and has sung with many of the top choral ensembles in the US usually as an octavist in Russian Orthodox music. Recently, Dr. Thoms sang as a professional chorister for three commercial recording projects of Orthodox music in Boston, MA; Wilkes Barre, PA; and Belgrade, Serbia. Dr. Thoms has been a soloist for Bach in Baltimore concerts for over a decade.
Sarah Bleasdale, soprano
Sarah Marvel Bleasdale is a regular performer with Utopia Opera in New York City, where she recently appeared in Sondheim’s Assassins as Sarah Jane Moore, and the Opera at Bard Summerscape, where she has sung in productions as diverse as Schreker’s Der Ferne Klang, Taneyev’s Oresteia, and Ethel Smyth’s The Wreckers. She is pleased to be working with Hollis Thoms again. She previously appeared in the premiere of his opera Conversations. Recordings include the Israel Philharmonic’s Sacred Service by Bloch which was recorded live in Jerusalem in 2008; Trinity Choir’s recording of Handel’s Messiah for the Naxos label; and the soundtrack of the film Halo: The Fall of Reach. A graduate of Yale University and the School of Music of the University of Arizona, she apprenticed with the Sarasota Opera and played Madame Giry in the German company of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera.
Talia Maria Sheehan, alto
Talia Maria Sheehan has been a professional vocalist and music instructor for over twenty years. Her musical background and performance experience is very broad, including rock lead vocals, jazz and classical piano, operatic soprano, and ethnic and classical ensemble singing. She has sung with the likes of the Berlin and New York Philharmonics and in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and the Philadelphia Academy of Music. She was a founding member and administrator of the Patriarch Tikhon Russian-American Music Institute. As such she developed curricula, taught online music instruction, and managed tours and recordings all with a focus on sacred music in the Russian Orthodox tradition. She currently works as a teacher of voice, conducting and music theory, both privately and at St. Tikhon’s Seminary and Monastery in South Canaan, Pennsylvania. There she has coached and conducted a children’s choir, a women’s choir, and the community mixed choir. Her instruction synthesizes age-appropriate choral vocal technique, with an early music influence; systematic Kodály-based music pedagogy; and the latest in educational technology for both a virtual and in-person setting.
Archbishop Curley Schola
The Archbishop Curley Schola is comprised of current Curley students who are invited to become members based on music acuity and demonstrated dedication. The Schola rehearses after school two days each week. The Schola specializes in the performance of a capella music and consists of approximately fourteen (14) students. Days and dates of Schola rehearsals are listed in the Choral Program Directory following the Schedule of Performances and Special Rehearsals.