Past Fellows

We are extremely grateful to the Rowland Foundation for their support of Emmanuel Music’s Community Connections program.

Lorraine Hunt Lieberson Fellows

Over 150 artists perform each year with Emmanuel Music.  The Community Connections Program features three of these talented performers each season for special career opportunities within the concert and cantata series and as part of our community collaborations.  Below are past Lorraine Hunt Lieberson Fellows at Emmanuel Music.

 

2009-2010 Lorraine Hunt Lieberson Fellows

Soprano, Susan Consoli, has been a soloist with Emmanuel Music since 2005. Her active career in oratorio, opera and recital have led her throughout the United States and abroad. She has worked under such notable conductors as Grant Llewellyn, Bruno Weil, Laurence Cummings, William Jon Gray, Craig Smith, John Harbison, John Finney, Tom Hall and Ryan Turner as well as director/choreographer Chen Shi-Zheng and choreographer Tero Saarinen. Ms. Consoli has been a soloist with the Carmel Bach Festival since 2004. She can be heard on the Handel & Haydn Society recording of All is Bright for Avie Records. Ms. Consoli is a member of the voice faculty at both Phillips Academy of Andover and Phillips Exeter Academy.

Mezzo-soprano Thea Lobo has appeared as a soloist with such musical organizations as Firebird Ensemble, Europäisches Musikfest Stuttgart, Brandeis New Music Concerts, New Gallery Concert Series, Boston Early Music Festival, Callithumpian Consort, and Chorus pro Musica, and under such conductors as Helmut Rilling, Martin Pearlman, and Stephen Stubbs. Ms. Lobo completed her Master’s degree in 2009 at Boston University, where she performed the role of Third Lady in Mozart's The Magic Flute and Ino in Eccles’s Semele. She was also recently seen as L'Enfant in MetroWest Opera's production of L'Enfant et les Sortilèges, and on tour in Japan with Cambridge Concentus performing Bach’s St. Matthew Passion solo-voice under the direction of Joshua Rifkin.

Oboist Jennifer Slowik performs regularly with Cantata Singers and the Orchestra of Indian Hill, and has served as Principal Oboist with Opera Boston and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. She has also appeared with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Chamber Music Society, Alea III, the Vermont Mozart Festival and North Shore Music Theater. A committed advocate of new music, Ms. Slowik has worked closely with composers Robert Ceeley and Alla Cohen, with Boston's Dinosaur Annex, Auros Group for New Music, New York's Sequitur Ensemble, and Alarm Will Sound. She is a founding member of the award-winning woodwind quintet Southspoon Winds. Ms. Slowik is on the faculty of St. Mark's School in Southboro, MA.

 

2008-2009 Lorraine Hunt Lieberson Fellows

Matthew Anderson has been praised for the warm tenor voice and polished musicality he brings to the repertoire of oratorio, opera, and musical theater.  An accomplished interpreter of Baroque and early music, Anderson has twice been a national finalist and prizewinner in the American Bach Society Vocal Competition.  He has appeared as a soloist with Emmanuel Music, the Handel & Haydn Society, Back Bay Chorale, Musicians of the Old Post Road, Williamstown Early Music, and the Concord Chorus.  Anderson made his Boston Symphony Hall and Tanglewood Festival debuts in Carousel with the Boston Pops.  He holds a degree in Classics from Harvard University and in Voice from the New England Conservatory. 

Violinist Heidi Braun-Hill has been featured as a guest artist on chamber music series presented by Emmanuel Music, Winsor Music, the Chameleon Arts Ensemble, Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music, and the Warebrook Contemporary Music Festival.  Since 1999, she has been a soloist in Emmanuel Music’s Bach Cantata Series, having performed over 150 cantatas. Ms. Braun-Hill has made guest appearances as concertmaster with many orchestras, including the Chamber Orchestra of Boston and the Vermont Symphony Orchestra.  She is a graduate of Boston University and is currently on the music faculty at Phillips Exeter Academy.

Pianist Brett Hodgdon, a versatile collaborative artist and coach, has performed both song and instrumental recitals at venues including The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Jordan Hall at New England Conservatory, Aspen Music Festival, and Token Creek Chamber Festival. He recently premiered John Harbison’s Milosz Songs for soprano and piano with NEC’s Contemporary Ensemble. Mr. Hodgdon received his MM and BM degrees from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and is currently a doctoral candidate at the New England Conservatory.

 

2007-2008 Lorraine Hunt Lieberson Fellows
In 2007, the Emmanuel Music Fellowship program was renamed in honor of Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, who began her career with Emmanuel Music and continued to perform with us throughout her career.

Soprano Kristen Watson, praised for her “silver-spun tone” and “winning stage presence,” has appeared as a soloist with Emmanuel Music on several occasions as part of the ongoing Bach Cantata Series.  Anticipated to “become a valuable presence in the early-music world” (Richard Dyer, Boston Globe), she recently garnered acclaim for her performances as soloist in Handel’s Messiah, as well as Purcell’s Fairy Queen and Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 in productions that toured Ravinia, Tanglewood, and Disney Hall.  Opera audiences have also heard Ms. Watson in productions with the Boston Lyric Opera, Opera New England, Opera Boston and the Boston University Opera Institute.

Tenor Jason McStoots, tenor, has been hailed as one of the "new generation of New England singers" and described by critics as "particularly outstanding" with "a perfect light-opera voice," "sweet, appealing tone and real acting ability." He is a soloist with the Bach Cantata Series of Emmanuel Music and has also appeared in their concert and opera performances. Mr. McStoots has established himself on the operatic stage, in the concert hall, and in the recital hall. His broad repertoire includes music ranging from Mozart operas to Handel oratorios and from Britten's Canticles to Floyd's Susannah.

Cellist Rafael Popper-Keizer has been hailed by the New York Times as "imaginative and eloquent", and praised by the Boston Globe for his "dazzling dispatch of every bravura challenge" and "melodic phrasing of melting tenderness."  Mr. Popper-Keizer maintains an active and diverse career as chamber musician, soloist, and orchestral section leader. He enjoys affiliations with Emmanuel Music, Winsor Music, and Boston Musica Viva, and has performed with the Borromeo and Muir String Quartets, the Museum of Fine Arts Trio and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. 

 

2006-2007 Community Connections Fellows

Mezzo-soprano Paula Murrihy sang the title role in Emmanuel Music’s January 2007 performance of Handel’s Ariodante.  A frequent singer and soloist on the Bach Cantata Series, Paula has performed opera and oratorio roles with Santa Fe Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Handel and Haydn Society, Opera Theatre of St. Louis and the Boston Symphony Orchestra in addition to recital performances at the Aldeburgh Festival (UK), Tanglewood Music Center, and the Marilyn Horne Foundation Masterclass Series at Carnegie Hall, New York.

Harpsichordist Michael Sponseller played in 2006-2007 season’s performance of Ariodante in addition to regular performances on the Bach Cantata series.  He performed in Emmanuel Music’s production of BWV 82 and 199 with Lorraine Hunt Leiberson in the U.S. and Europe.  He has appeared with the Handel and Haydn Soceity, Smithsonian Chamber Players, American Bach Solosits, New York Collegium, and Apollo’s Fire. Past winner of the American Bach Soloists Competition and the Jurow International Harpsichord Competition, he holds the distinction of being a two-time prizewinner at the Festival of Flanders International Harpsichord Competition (Bruges).

Soprano Jessica Tarnish debuted with Emmanuel Music in 2007 in the title role of Alcina.  Ms. Tarnish also performed that season with the New England String Ensemble and in Moses und Aron with the Boston Symphony Orchestra with James Levine conducting.  She has been a regional finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and a national finalist in the Lotte Lenya Competition.  A Young Artist this past summer at Central City Opera, she performed the roles of Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Sarah in The Ballad of Baby Doe, and fortuna in L’Incoronazione di Poppea.

 

2005-2006 Fellows

Mezzo-soprano Krista River has appeared as a soloist with the Boston Symphony, the Santa Fe Symphony, Handel & Haydn Society, the Florida Orchestra, the Charlotte Symphony, Emmanuel Music, the North Carolina Symphony andthe Pittsburgh Bach and Baroque Ensemble. Winner of the 2004 Concert Artists Guild International Competition and a 2007 Sullivan Foundation grant recipient, her opera roles include Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia. Annio in La clemenza di Tito, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Anna in Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins, and Nancy in Britten’s Albert Herring. For Ms. River’s New York Recital debut at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the New York Times praised her "shimmering voice…with the virtuosity of a violinist and the expressivity of an actress.”  Ms. River began her musical career as a cellist, earning her music degree at St. Olaf College.  She resides in Boston and is a regular soloist with Emmanuel Music’s renowned Bach Cantata Series.

Tenor Charles Blandy is a versatile lyric tenor, equally at home in Mozart and Bach as in the most challenging contemporary music. At Emmanuel Music in Boston, he has sung Tamino in Alice Goodman’s English translation of The Magic Flute, conducted by Craig Smith, and the role of Lurcanio in Handel’s Ariodante.  Mr. Blandy was a finalist in the 2005 Oratorio Society of New York solo competition. He is often a soloist with the Cantata Singers in Boston, with whom he appeared in Bach’s St. John Passion, under guest conductor John Harbison.  He teaches in Harvard University’s Holden Voice Program and at Tufts University. In 2003 and 2004, he was a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, where he was awarded the Grace B. Jackson prize. He received his Master’s Degree from Indiana University, where he studied voice with Alan Bennett and Lieder with Leonard Hokanson, and has studied at the Britten-Pears School in Aldeburgh, England. In Chicago he studied with Ronald Combs and Winifred Brown. He is a native of Troy, NY, and graduated from Oberlin College with a BA in religion.

Soprano Alice Tillotson began her association with Emmanuel Music in 2002 as a soloist in the choir for the Bach Cantata Series.  She is the recipient of the 2002 American Traditions Competition Oxnard Gold Medal, Savannah, GA, and has also appeared with the Brevard Music Center, the Spartanburg Philharmonic, Florida State Opera, and the Boston University Opera Institute.  Her operatic roles include Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Coloratura Soprano in Postcard from Morocco, and Eurydice in Orpheus in the Underworld.  Equally at home with the musical theatre repertoire, she has performed Maria in Sound of Music, Tuptim in The King and I, and Cinderella in Into the Woods. Of her performance as Susannah in Le Nozze di Figaro, The Boston Globe noted that she "…is a natural stage personality who breathed life into her character." In addition to performing onstage, she has worked as guest stage director and choreographer for several productions including Peter Pan, Annie, Robert Kapilow’s Green Eggs and Ham, and The Secret Garden.

Violinist Rose Drucker performs regularly with the Orchestra of Emmanuel and Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, where she currently serves as principal second violin. Recent chamber music engagements have included performances in New York and the Banff Centre for the Arts with the Arneis String Quartet as well as concerts and outreach with Winsor Music, Sarasa Ensemble and Emmanuel Music's Community Connections program. Ms. Drucker has performed throughout Europe and South America on tours with the Festival Ensemble of Stuttgart and Youth Orchestra of the Americas, playing in a wide variety of venues from Lucern and Salzburg to Bogota and Buenos Aires. A native of Tucson, Arizona, Rose attended Boston University where she earned a Master of Music degree as a student of Peter Zazofsky, and holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of Arizona. She has also performed with the New World Symphony and participated in the National Orchestral Institute and Round Top Festival.