Baltimore, MD (PRWEB) November 12, 2012
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO), Concert Artists of Baltimore and conductor Edward Polochick continue their tradition of ushering in the Christmas season with an all-star performance of Handels Messiah on Friday, December 7, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Soloists include soprano Yulia Van Doren, mezzo-soprano Abigail Nims, tenor Sean Panikkar and baritone Tyler Duncan. This season marks the 30th anniversary of the BSOs collaboration with Maestro Polochick and the Concert Artistis of Baltimore Symphonic Chorale in performing this popular classic. Please see below for complete event details.
Following the tradition of Handel, Polochick conducts the entire work from the harpsichord, requiring unfaltering concentration from Polochick and his fellow musicians. Maestro Polochick asserts that he enjoys each successive performance even more than the last. Every year we find new insights, and tweak a few of our old ideas. It would be almost impossible to recreate this Messiah anywhere else. Please see below for complete program details.
Edward Polochick, conductor/harpsichord
Edward Polochick is artistic director of Concert Artists of Baltimore, an all-professional orchestra and all-professional vocal ensemble of seventy musicians, which is celebrating its 26th season. 2012-2013 also marks his 15th season as music director of Lincolns Symphony Orchestra in Nebraska. From 1979-1999 he was on the staff of the Baltimore Symphony as director of the Symphony Chorus and since 1979 he has been at the Peabody Conservatory as associate conductor of the orchestra, director of choral ensembles and opera conductor. An accomplished pianist and harpsichordist, he has appeared as piano soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.
Since winning the Leopold Stokowski Conducting Award and conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra he has attracted attention as an orchestral, operatic and choral conductor. His appearances have included the Baltimore Symphony, Houston Symphony, Chautauqua Symphony, the Opera Company of Philadelphia, the Aalborg Symphony of Denmark, Omaha Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, Daejeon Philharmonic in Korea, St. Petersburg Symphony in Russia and the State of Mexico Symphony Orchestra in Toluca, Mexico.
Mr. Polochick resides in Baltimore, where he is often asked to share his knowledge and love of music at various lecture series, adjudications and radio broadcasts. He received the Peggy and Yale Gordon Achievement Award and in 2000 he was made an honorary member of the Baltimore Music Club. In 2002 he was awarded the Johns Hopkins University Distinguished Alumnus Award, one of only three Peabody alumni to be so honored. In 2003-04 he was named Baldwin Scholar at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland, where he held lectures, demonstrations and panels on the creative act of music. Maestro Polochick is also a regular panelist on Face The Music, a review of recordings hosted by Jonathan Palevsky of WBJC-FM. In 2011 he adjudicated an international vocal competition in Caiazzo, Italy.
Concert Artists of Baltimore Symphonic Chorale
Founded by Edward Polochick and now in its 25th season, Concert Artists of Baltimore (CAB) consists of a professional chamber orchestra and professional chamber chorus. The full ensembles are featured in the Classy Classics series, with performances at The Miriam A. Friedberg Hall at the Peabody Institute, and the Patricia and Arthur Modell Performing Arts Center at the Lyric.
CAB also offers a chamber music series, Music at the Mansion, with performances at The Engineers Club, Garrett-Jacobs Mansion in Baltimore. This series showcases smaller forces, such as a quartet, and often features unique repertoire.
CAB is frequently hired for performances throughout the region by other organizations, including the Lyric Opera Baltimore, Moscow Ballet, The Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, Temple Oheb Shalom, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, McDaniel College, St. Louis Church, The Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., The Visionary Arts Museum, Elizabethtown College, Catholic Charities and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
When larger forces are needed, such as when the singers of Concert Artists perform Messiah with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra each year, the chorus expands to the Concert Artists Symphonic Chorale.
Yulia Van Doren, soprano
Hailed as a hugely appealing, obviously important talent, Yulia Van Doren is sought after for her ability to tackle the most demanding and varied repertoire. In recent seasons, she debuted with Los Angeles Philharmonic in Shostakovichs Orango; sang St. Theresa in Four Saints in Three Acts with the Mark Morris Dance Group; performed Nielsens Symphony No. 3 at the Bard Festival; and sang Bachs B Minor Mass with Music of the Baroque. Recent opera performances include Dorinda in Orlando at the Mostly Mozart, Ravinia, and Tanglewood Festivals; Mereo in Scarlattis Tigrane for Op?ra de Nice, and Betsy in Monsignys Le Roi et le Fermier at the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, and Op?ra Royal de Versailles (recorded for Naxos).
In the 201213 season, she will travel to the Netherlands for Handels Alexanders Feast and Acis and Galatea and to Walt Disney Concert Hall to perform the Brahms Requiem with the Los Angeles Master Chorale. She will also debut with the Baltimore and Toronto Symphonies (Messiah), Nashville Symphony (Elijah), and Pasadena Symphony (Mahler Symphony No. 4).
Abigail Nims, mezzo-soprano
Abigail Nims has established herself as a musician of integrity and versatility through her performances of repertoire spanning from Bach, Handel and Mozart to Crumb, Ligeti and contemporary premieres. In 2012-13 she debuts with the BSO, with Adrian Symphony in Berlioz Les Nuits dete, with Florentine Opera as Nancy in Brittens Albert Herring and Virginia Opera as Prince Orlovsky in Die Fledermaus. She made her debut in season 2011-12 with Atlanta Opera as Veruca Salt in Peter Ashs The Golden Ticket, a role which she created at the operas workshop performances in New York City through American Lyric Theater in the 2008-09 season. She also sang as soloist in Messiah at Carnegie Hall with the Masterwork Chorus and as Octavian in selections from Der Rosenkavalier in a return to Quad City Symphony Orchestra.
Her discography includes performances of Martin Bresnicks song cycle Falling, featured on the composers compilation album Every Thing Must Go (Albany Records, 2010) and the role of Veruca Salt in Peter Ashs The Golden Ticket (Albany Records), fall 2012.
Awards include second prize in the 2007 Fritz and Lavinia Jensen Foundation Competition, the Anna Case MacKay Memorial Award from Santa Fe Opera, an honorable mention in the 2006 American Bach Society Competition, recipient of the 2007 Deans Prize from Yale School of Music and finalist in the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation.
Sean Panikkar, tenor
Sean Panikkar is known for his surpassing musicality and passion, commanding self-confidence and gorgeous expression. The American artist of Sri Lankan heritage made his Metropolitan Opera debut with James Levine in Manon Lescaut and his European operatic debut in Mozarts Za?de at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in a production directed by Peter Sellars and conducted by Louis Langr?e.
Highlights of the current season include The Magic Flute at Chicago Opera Theater, Don Giovanni at Pittsburgh Opera, Otello and La rondine at the Metropolitan Opera, and the artists first La boh?me with Fort Worth Opera.
Past appearances include Rom?o et Juliette, Ariadne auf Naxos, and Lucia di Lammermoor at the Metropolitan, B?atrice et B?n?dict at Opera Boston, Les p?cheurs de perles at Pittsburgh Opera, Nabucco with Washington National Opera, Eugene Onegin at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, The Last Savage at San