Long Live the Queen

Saturday, April 7 at 7:30 pm

Zilkha Hall / Hobby Center For The Performing Arts

This regal program commemorates two beloved female patrons with J. S. Bach’s rarely heard Trauerode, written for the 1717 funeral of Christiane Eberhardine of Saxony, and Handel’s 1713 Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne. Both works call for multiple soloists, chorus, and unusually expressive orchestral forces, including two violas da gamba and lutes in the Bach cantata and an echo trumpet at the beginning of Handel’s ode. A stellar array of soloists and the award-winning UH Moores School Concert Chorale join the ensemble for some noble and hauntingly beautiful music.

SOLOISTS & FEATURED ARTISTS

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Dominique McCormick is a lyric soprano from Long Island, New York. She is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Aaron Copland School of Music and the Conservatoire National de Région Boulogne-Billancourt in France. Performing in the United States and Europe, her roles include: Gretel in Humperdinck’sHansel and Gretel; Laetitia in Menotti’s The Old Maid and the Thief; Susanna in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro; Sola Myrrhis, in Messager’s Coup de Roulis; Lady Marian in De Koven’s Robin Hood; Hanna Glavari in Lehar’s The Merry Widow. As soloist, works include: Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater; Mozart’s Mass in c minor and Requiem, Brahm’s Requiem; Handel’s Messiah and Dixit Dominus; Bach’s Mass in b Minor, Magnificat, and St. Matthew’s Passion; Poulenc’s Gloria; Mendelssohn’s Psalm 42 and Lauda Sion; Recitalist for Les Musicales de Normandie; and Les Nuits de Cheronne. Currently completing her doctoral dissertation in music, Dominique is happy to be newly relocated to the Houston area and is overjoyed to be performing with Ars Lyrica. 

Countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen has quickly been identified as one of opera and early music’s most promising rising stars. In 2017, he was named a winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, First Prize Winner of the Houston Grand Opera Eleanor McCollum Competition, a Sara Tucker Study Grand recipient from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation, and numerous other prizes. This season, he is a member of the Houston Grand Opera Studio – the first countertenor in the Studio's history – and next season, he will continue his training by joining the San Francisco Opera as an Adler Fellow. This season at HGO, he performed in productions of Handel’s Giulio Cesare and Strauss’ Elektra. Additional performances of the season include engagements with American Bach Soloists, The Dallas Opera, Cincinnati Opera, and recitals around the United States. In summer 2018, his first commercial recording will be released- the world premiere recording of Kenneth Fuchs' "Poems of Life" with the London Symphony Orchestra (Naxos). www.aryehnussbaumcohen.com

Born on St Cecilia's day, the Grammy-nominated British counter-tenor Ryland Angel has built an international reputation on both the opera and concert stage, in repertoire ranging from the Baroque to new operatic commissions at major opera houses, concert halls and festivals throughout Europe and the USA. He has performed in Monteverdi’s Orfeo, Gavin Bryars’s Doctor Ox’s Experiment (English National Opera), Fairy Queen (Barcelona), Gluck’s Orfeo (Koblenz), Amadigi  Karlsruhe), Venus and Adonis (Flanders Opera), Dido and Aeneas (Opera Comique), The Play of Daniel (Spoleto), and Ballet Comique de La Royne (Geneva). Angel has sung on over 70 recordings including music of Buxtehude, Charpentier, Scarlatti, Stradella, Spears, O'Regan, Handel, Monteverdi, Purcell, Bach and on the film soundtracks of Jack Reacher - never go back, Zoolander 2, Freedom, Le Petit Prince, La Peau, Henry 4th, Machete, The Mystery of Dante and the PBS TV special Heavenly Voices. Recent engagements include Doux Mensonges (Opera National de Paris), Agrippina (NYCO), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Florentine and Kansas Opera), Julius Caesar (Utahand Colorado Opera, Boston Baroque), Sant' Alessio (Paris, London, New York), Carmina Burana (Lincoln Center and Prague Proms with CNSO), St. John Passion (Saint Thomas and Worcester Chorus), Classics and Rock (Seoul Philharmonic), Tesla (Dartmouth), Striggio with Le Concert Spirituel (Edinburgh Festival), Acis and Galatea (Houston) and Messiah (Handel and Haydn Society, Masterworks Chorus, Musica Sacra). Recent recordings include The Flaming Fire (MSR), Heart and Soul (Centaur) ,La Sposa dei cantici (Solo Luminus) and Now Fatal Change (NMC). Ryland is a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study at the Universityof Minnesota and has talk masterclasses around the world including some atUNT, Conservatoire of Toulouse, Princeton high school andConspirare Youth choirs. RylandAngel.com. 

Tony Boutté is described in the current issue of Opera News as “possessed of a radiant, communicative tenor." A native of Louisiana, Tony has traveled extensively, here and abroad, including New York, London, Paris and Los Angeles. Tony has sung with such established ensembles as Les Arts Florissants, Les Talens Lyriques, Tafelmusik, Musica Angelica and Ars Lyrica Houston. His extensive recording catalog includes works by Lully, Handel and Bach, as well as world premier recordings by Philip Glass, Douglas Cuomo and Michael Gordon. Upcoming releases include Fauré songs (Edition Peters Sounds) and music of Boismortier (Centaur) with Arcanum Ensemble. Tony recently joined the faculty of Sam Houston State University, and is excited to be joining the thriving cultural life of Houston. For more info, visit www.tonyboutte.com.

Baritone Mark Diamond debuted with Ars Lyrica last season in Bach’s Coffee Cantata. Mr. Diamond is a graduate of the Houston Grand Opera Studio where performances included Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia and Marcello in La bohème, and has since returned to sing Count Carl-Magnus in A Little Night Music. Last season Mr. Diamond debuted with the French opera theaters of Limoges, Caen, and Reims. He is the first prize Winner of the 2010 Eleanor McCollum Competition as well as the recipient of the Richard F. Gold Career Grant from Glimmerglass Festival and the Sarah Tucker Study Grant.