Staff
Michael Beattie
Associate Conductor
Chorus Master

Eileen Behrens
Children's Choir Administrator

Shirley Blanchard
Development Director

John Harbison
Principal Guest Conductor

Leonard Matczynski
Executive Director
Artistic Administrator
Orchestra Personnel

Phoebe Payne
Director, Emmanuel Children's Choir

Andrew Albin
Office Assistant/Box Office Manager

Craig Smith
Artistic Director

 

Board of Directors

Thomas Stephenson
President

Jaylyn Olivo
Vice-President

Sally Rubin
Treasurer

Kate Kush
Clerk

Marion Bullitt
John Harbison
Dolores Johnson
Richard Knisely
David Kravitz
Ed Mark
Joan Nordell
Joy Pratt
Jonathan Rosoff
Toni Strassler

 

Emmanuel Music
Advisory Board
Belden Daniels
Rose Mary Harbison
Ellen Harris
Christopher Hogwood
David Hoose
Isaiah Jackson
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson
Larry Kessler
Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot
Robert Levin
Christopher Lydon
Errol Morris
Mark Morris
Cecily Morse
James Olesen
Jessie Anne Owens
Seiji Ozawa
Kathryn Schultz
Peter Sellars
Bishop Thomas Shaw
Russell Sherman
Sanford Sylvan
Christoph Wolff
Benjamin Zander

Emmanuel Music is a collective group of singers and instrumentalists who perform a wide range of music, from small chamber ensembles to large-scale works. Hailed by the Boston Globe and the New York Times for its continued excellence, the group was founded in 1970 by Craig Smith to perform the complete cycle of over 200 sacred cantatas of J.S. Bach in the liturgical setting for which they were intended. More about Emmanuel Music.

Craig Smith attended Washington State University and the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Since 1970, he has been artistic director of Emmanuel Music in Boston, and, from 1988-91, was the Permanent Guest Conductor of the Theatre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels. For 27 years with Emmanuel Music, Mr. Smith has conducted a Cantata of J.S. Bach each week as part of the Sunday worship service at Boston's Emmanuel Church. As artistic director of Emmanuel Music, Mr. Smith presides over a popular and critically acclaimed concert series which has included the Passions, Christmas Oratorio, and B minor Mass of Bach; Mozart and Handel operas; major symphonic works; chamber series surveying the complete vocal, piano and chamber works of great composers (currently Schubert); and world premieres and commissions by composer John Harbison. He has collaborated with stage director Peter Sellars in opera productions presented in the USA at Pepsico Summerfare, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Chicago Lyric Opera, the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, the American Repertory Theatre, and the Opera Company of Boston. Their productions of the three Mozart/da Ponte operas, Cosi fan tutte, Le Nozze di Figaro, and Don Giovanni were premiered at Pepsico Summerfare, later performed throughout the US and Europe, filmed with the Vienna Symphony for European and American television, and later recorded on video compact disc for Decca Records. As principal guest conductor of the Monnaie Theatre, Mr. Smith collaborated with choreographer Mark Morris for two seasons, and has since toured with these productions to Boston, Minneapolis, New York City's Lincoln Center, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Holland, Israel, and New Zealand. He has conducted the Vienna Symphony, the Dresden Stattskapelle, the Northern Sinfonia, and the Hong Kong Philarmonic. Mr. Smith made his Houston Grand Opera debut conducting Handel's Giulio Cesare directed by Nicholas Hytner. His work with Emmanuel Music has been the subject of numerous radio and television specials including National Public Radio's Performance Today, and CBS Sunday Morning. With Emmanuel Music, on the KOCH International label, he has recorded three highly acclaimed CD's of a capella music by Heinrich Schutz, and a recently completed CD which features works by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Harbison who is closely associated with Emmanuel Music. Mr. Smith has taught at Julliard, MIT, New England Conservatory, and currently is on the faculty of Boston University.

Leonard Matczynski studied viola with Martha Strongin Katz, formerly of the Cleveland Quartet, Heidi Castleman, and Karen Tuttle. He participated in chamber music studies with members of the Budapest, Cleveland, and Guarneri Quartets, as well as further advanced studies at the International Musician's Seminar in Prussia Cove, England with Sandor Vegh. He has been a member and soloist with many musical organizations, as well as guest artist at summer festivals at Aspen, Tanglewood, Marlboro, Monadnock Music, and Pepsico Summerfare. He is currently Executive Director and Artistic Administrator of Emmanuel Music in Boston. With Emmanuel Music he has produced over 200 cantatas of J.S. Bach, instituted a chamber series which surveys the complete piano, vocal and chamber works of great composers (currently Schubert), founded The Emmanuel Children's Choir which serves as Emmanuel Music's educational outreach to children from the many diverse neighborhoods of Boston, and formed a concert series that each year features operas, oratorios, symphonic works, world premieres by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Harbison, and collaborations with innovative choreographer Mark Morris and stage director Peter Sellars. He has arranged many tours of the United States and Europe with Emmanuel Music, and has co-produced six highly acclaimed compact discs by Emmanuel Music on the KOCH International Label: Three discs featuring music of Heinrich Schutz, two discs of works by J.S. Bach - one featuring cantatas, the other presenting The St. John Passion, and one compact disc of music John Harbison composed for Emmanuel Music. He serves on the faculty of the Walnut Hill School for the Arts, and New England Conservatory of Music.

Michael Beattie has established himself as a musician of exceptional versatility and through his work as keyboard player, vocal coach, and conductor has become a valued member of Boston's musical community. Beattie has conducted the Chorus and Orchestra of Emmanuel Music on many occasions as the group's Associate Conductor. He has toured Europe and this country as Assistant Conductor of Peter Sellars' controversial stagings of the Mozart/da Ponte operas. Recently he made his opera conducting debut in the Boston premiere of Handel's Rodelinda to critical acclaim. An accomplished continuo player, Beattie has performed as harpsichordist and organist with Emmanuel Music, Cantata Singers, Boston Cecelia, Handel and Haydn Society, and Boston Lyric Opera. He is founding member and harpsichordist of Favella Lyrica. Beattie has performed more than 150 of Bach's sacred cantatas at Emmanuel Church under such conductors as Seiji Ozawa, Christopher Hogwood, John Harbison, and Christoph Wolff, as well as Music Director Craig Smith. As a pianist, he has performed at the Athens, Banff, and Tanglewood music festivals. World premieres to his credit include works of John Harbison, Andrew Imbrie, Earl Kim, and Andy Vores. Beattie is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and Boston University. He has been on the faculties of Boston University, New England Conservatory/Emmanuel Music Bach Institute, and the Walnut Hill School. He records for KOCH International Classics.