Ensemble Biographies
Lidarti’s Esther, March 2 & 3, 2019
SOLOISTS
Esther
Alicia DePaolo, soprano, has received critical acclaim for her “perfect combination of clarity and warmth.” She holds a master’s degree in Early Music Vocal Performance from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University and a bachelor’s degree from Smith College. Alicia has worked with such distinguished directors as Nigel North, William Jon Gray, Ivars Taurins, Stanley Ritchie, Drew Minter, and Jeffrey Thomas, appearing as a soloist in the United States, Canada, and Italy in a variety of works including Biber’s Missa Salisburgensis, Charpentier’s Missa Assumpta est Maria, J.S. Bach’s Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Faure’s Requiem, and Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostri. Opera and oratorio roles include “Fatime” in Rameau’s Les Indes Galantes, “Castitas” in Hildegard von Bingen’s Ordo Virtutum, “Israelite Man” in Handel’s Judas Maccabeus, “La Nymphe des Tuileries” in Lully’s Alceste, and “Mercury” in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas.
Donna israelita
Elise Groves, soprano, has been praised for her "clarion tone” and "transcendent and soulful" singing. A dedicated and versatile soloist and chamber musician, her repertoire ranges from Medieval to new compositions, with a special focus on the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Recent solo performances include Mozart's Requiem and Coronation Mass with The Choir of the Church of the Advent, Bach's St. Matthew Passion with Brown University and St. John Passion with Ensemble Musica Humana, and ensemble appearances with The Tallis Scholars, Vox Vocal Ensemble, Handel and Haydn Society, True Concord Voices & Orchestra, Exsultemus, and The Bach Project. A native Oregonian, she received a B.A. and M.A. in Music Education from Oregon State University and an M.M. in Early Music Performance from the Longy School of Music. When Elise isn't singing, you can find her continuing her lifelong search for the perfect cup of hot chocolate. www.elisemgroves.com
Ahasveros
Elijah Hopkin is a founding member of the Genesis Chamber Singers, based on Boston's South Shore. He has also performed with Cappella Clausura, Canto Armonico, the Quilisma Consort, Tapestry, and the Copley Singers. His roles include the Sailor in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Nanki-poo in the Mikado, Gastone in La Traviata, and Testo in Monteverdi’s Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda. He completed his MM in Early Music vocal performance in May of 2014 at the Longy School of Music of Bard College and hails from Idaho, where he completed his BMA in vocal performance at BYU-Idaho.
Mordocai
Corey Dalton Hart, tenor is an active performer of opera, oratorio, and art song repertoire. With a passion for American song, he is a regular recitalist along the east coast, having premiered new works in both New York City and Boston. Corey’s opera credits include works by Mozart, Bizet, Ravel, and Knussen. On the concert stage, he has been a featured soloist with the American Symphony Orchestra, the Albany Symphony, the Bard Baroque Ensemble, and The Orchestra Now. As a chamber musician, Corey performs with Boston Baroque and the renowned choir at the Church of the Advent. He was also recently named an American Scholar of VOCES8, one of the world’s most versatile vocal ensembles. Corey holds degrees from Furman University and the Bard College Conservatory of Music and is currently working on his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in vocal performance and pedagogy from the New England Conservatory of Music. Corey is a student of Bradley Williams.
Haman
Jacob Cooper, baritone hails from Colorado, and has performed in and around Boston for almost 20 years. He enjoys regular participation and occasional solos with local ensembles such as Handel and Haydn, Boston Baroque, Odyssey Opera, lends his talents to recordings and other projects with Vox Futura, and sings weekly services with Church of the Advent. In July, Jacob sang the role of Aeneas in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas with Blue Hill Bach.
Chorus
* indicates choral soloist
Soprano i
Soprano Agnes Coakley Cox* specializes in early music, with particular interests in the early Baroque and historical performance practices such as gesture and original pronunciation. She is co-director of the Boston-based ensemble for seventeenth-century music, In Stile Moderno, which launched its first full season in 2018–2019. Agnes is also a regular member of the Choir of the Church of the Advent, and appears with ensembles including DC-based chamber choir The Thirteen and the Schola Cantorum of Boston.
MaryRuth Lown, soprano, is a graduate of Boston University (M.M. Historical Performance) where she studied voice with Aaron Sheehan. Praised by The Boston Musical Intelligencer for her “clear soprano” and “tasteful dramatic interpretation”, Ms. Lown is most often found performing early and new music as a soloist and chorister. A choral scholar with Music at Marsh Chapel under the direction of Scott Allen Jarrett, Ms. Lown has been featured as a soloist in the “Bach Experience” cantata series, Bach’s Passions, multiple Handel oratorios, and the recording of James Kallembach’s Most Sacred Body (Gothic Records). She is also the soprano soloist in the Boston Modern Orchestra Project’s recording of Jeremy Gill’s Before the Wresting Tides. Ms. Lown has been a featured soloist with the Arcadia Players, Bach Akademie Charlotte, the Handel Society of Dartmouth College, the Harvard Early Music Society, the Orchestra of Whitman College, the Boston Art Song Society, and the Henry Purcell Society of Boston. Onstage, she has performed multiple roles in Cavalli’s Erismena and the role of Pallas in Lully’s Cadmus et Hermione with the Amherst Early Music Festival. Ms. Lown sings frequently with the Handel and Haydn Society Chorus, and has been developing her sound as a choral artist through the US VOCES8 Scholars Program (2017-2019) and the Seraphic Fire Professional Choral Institute at the Aspen Music Festival (2018). A native of South Carolina and a resident of Boston, she received a B.M.E. (K-12, Choral) from Winthrop University in 2014, where she studied with Dr. Jennifer Hough.
Soprano ii
Katie Hoyer is a Boston-based mezzo-soprano who has studied with Jane Bryden, Dominique LaBelle, and Kendra Colton. Katie has performed throughout the Greater Boston Area with Brookline-based Winsor Music, and currently serves as the alto section leader and soloist at St. Michael's Church in Marblehead, MA, under the direction of Dr. Douglas Major. Katie has appeared as a soloist in Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Mendelssohn’s Hear My Prayer, Vaughn Williams’ Five Mystical Songs, and as a founding member of the Summer Chamber Music on the Hill series in Marblehead, MA. During the 2018-2019 concert season, Katie appeared as a soloist with the Salem Philharmonic Orchestra, and gave the premiere of Douglas Major’s song cycle on the poetry of Nathaniel Hawthorne with soprano Sarah Hunter and Dr. Major accompanying. Katie is a graduate of Smith College in Northampton, MA, and was the 2013 winner of the college’s Concerto Competition and recipient of the Judith Raskin Memorial Prize for the outstanding senior voice student.
Bass
Baritone Ethan Sagin has garnered attention for his “rich, expressive” singing and “truly dashing” presence on stage. Ethan’s interest in contemporary and rarely-performed works has led him to develop an eclectic repertoire, including five world premieres in operas by living composers, leading roles in the North American premieres of Dvořák’s Šelma sedlák and an acclaimed production of Salieri’s La grotta di Trofonio at Harvard University, and revivals of Irving Berlin’s musicals Watch Your Step and Yip Yip Yaphank with American Classics. Ethan has performed with ensembles throughout the New England region, including Boston Lyric Opera, Boston Baroque, Boston Camerata, Canto Armonico, Choir at Church of the Advent, Copley Singers, Lowell House Opera, Opera del West, Opera51, and the Philharmonic Society of Arlington. Ethan is a graduate of the Longy School of Music of Bard College, where he received advanced degrees in Opera Performance, and he has appeared as a young artist with Opera Theater of Pittsburgh, American Bach Soloists, and the Nahant Music Festival.
Orchestra
Harpsichord/Conductor
Dylan Sauerwald is a distinctive historical keyboardist and conductor. At the keyboard, he has been praised for his “fleet fingers” and “sophisticated playing,” (Capriccio) and as a conductor, his productions have been called “heart-wrenching and self-reflecting” (OperaWire). Mr. Sauerwald has performed in venues from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art to Taipei's National Recital Hall, and his playing is featured in the BBC historical drama Poldark. As a recording artist, Mr. Sauerwald can be heard on the New Focus, Coro, and Urtext labels, as soloist and continuo player on the harpsichord, organ, fortepiano, and lautenwerck performing works from the 16th century to the 21st. A champion of early opera, he has led productions of rarely-performed works acclaimed as “refined and flexible,” (Boston Globe) “fearless,” (Voce di Meche) and “a remarkable musical experience” (OperaWire). He is in demand as a guest conductor, appearing with Sunshine City Opera, the Cantanti Project, Dorian Baroque, Ensemble Musica Humana, and others. Mr. Sauerwald directs Polyphemus, an early music collective and concert series in lower Manhattan, and is Director of Music at the New Dorp Moravian Church.
Violin 1
Jane Starkman, violinist and violist, performs on both baroque and modern instruments in many ensembles in the Boston area and beyond. In Boston you might see her in the Handel + Haydn Society, Boston Baroque, Aston Magna, La Donna Musicale, and many other ensembles. She has also performed with the Smithsonian Chamber Players, American Bach Soloists, Basel Sinfonieorchester, as well as many other groups. In addition to her extensive performing activities Ms. Starkman teaches in the Historical Performance program at Boston University where she directs the Boston University Baroque Orchestra, Wellesley College and Oberlin College’s Baroque Performance Institute. She has also been a guest clinician at the Massachusetts Suzuki Festival and the New England Conservatory of Music. Ms. Starkman received degrees from the New England Conservatory of Music and continued her studies at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis and in New York with William Lincer.
Fascinated and deeply inspired by the relationship between music, movement, and dance, violinist and Dalcrozian-in-training Sylvia Schwartz is a passionate chamber musician in both modern and historical performance practices. A native of Boston, Sylvia has performed with L’Esprit Baroque, Eudaimonia, Harvard Baroque Chamber Orchestra, Harvard Early Music Society, New Bedford Symphony, New England Classical Singers, Eudaimonia, Lizzie and the Flakjackets, and the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras throughout California and New England, in Ontario, Estonia, Latvia, and at Shostakovich Hall in St. Petersburg, Russia. Sylvia holds a M.M. in Violin Performance from the Longy School of Music, where she studied violin with Laura Bossert and early music with Dana Maiben, Na’ama Lion, Vivian Montgomery, and Ryan Turner. She also holds a B.S. in Engineering from Olin College. Sylvia teaches violin and Dalcroze-inspired musicianship classes at Vienna Music Institute in Irvine, California, and for the Irvine Unified School District, where she was Acting Orchestra Director for the three string orchestras of Woodbridge HS in Fall 2018.
Viola
Emily Rideout enjoys an active performing career on both modern and Baroque viola. She was twice winner of the Boston University Bach Competition, and has appeared as guest with the Muir, Emerson, and Avalon String Quartets. She appears with ensembles ranging from period-instrument groups Boston Baroque and the Handel and Haydn Society, to the Grammy-nominated Boston Modern Orchestra Project and A Far Cry. Emily is also an avid folk musician, having appeared as fiddle player in the band Three Tall Pines and Fort Point Ramblers. Ms. Rideout holds a Doctorate from Boston University, and degrees from Stony Brook University and Moravian College.
Cello
Cellist Sarah Freiberg is a tenured member of the Handel and Haydn Society. Other engagements have included Music at Eden’s Edge, Boston Baroque, San Francisco's Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, Blue Hill Bach and Portland (Oregon) Baroque. She is a corresponding editor of and frequent contributor to STRINGS magazine. Sarah's numerous recordings include solo sonatas by Guerini and Laurenti. She teaches in the Historical Performance department at Boston University as well as at the Powers Music School and the Amherst Early Music Festival, and previously taught at University of California-Davis and California State University-Fresno.
Flute 1
Na’ama Lion is well known as a versatile performer on early flutes. She has explored medieval music, playing with “Sequentia”; Renaissance consort music with “Tres doulx”; 18th and 19th century music with numerous groups, including Boston Baroque, Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra, Handel and Haydn Society, Arcadia Players, Grand Harmonie, and more. She is a committed performer of new music, and plays with the crossover group “Rumbarroco”. Na’ama holds a Doctoral degree from Boston University, teaches at the Longy School of Music and directs a chamber music program at Harvard College. Na’ama has recorded for Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, Telarc and private labels.
Oboe 1
Sarah Huebsch Schilling is in demand as a period oboist and performance practice specialist. Sarah performs with period instrument groups throughout the Americas including Washington Bach Consort, Forgotten Clefs, Chatham Baroque, Bourbon Baroque, Grand Harmonie, and Festival Internacional de Música Sacra. She is the director of the Early Music Workshop at the Interlochen College of Creative Arts. Recently, Sarah presented lecture-recitals on early nineteenth-century improvised ornamentation at conferences at Oxford, Indiana University, and University of Oregon.
Horn 1
A native of Norwalk, CT, Liam Hanna is a horn player, educator, and scholar based in Boston.Liam is a versatile musician on both modern and natural horn who has performed with many ensembles in the greater New England area including concerts as guest principal with the Norwalk and New Bedford Symphony Orchestras as well the Hartford Independent Chamber Orchestra. On natural horn Liam has appeared in several projects with ensembles in Hartford, CT as well as Amherst and Boston, MA. An advocate of contemporary music, Liam has performed on several recordings of newly commissioned works on the Naxos and MSR Classics labels in addition to numerous collaborative projects with non-classical musicians released independently. As a soloist, Liam was the winner of the 2017 IHS Northeast Horn Workshop Concerto Competition and a semifinalist in the Paranov Concerto Competition. An active educator, Liam has provided instruction to students of all ages through institutions such as the Hartford Symphony’s education department, UMass Amherst and Greenwood Music Camp. Liam has also partnered with several public schools to provide lessons and coaching to numerous students. Liam is also a history enthusiast and has worked in the subject as a research assistant in musicology at Harvard University and as a teaching assistant at The University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Prior to moving to Boston, Liam completed his undergraduate studies in Horn Performance and Music History at The Hartt School (BM/BM ’15) and graduate studies at The University of Massachusetts, Amherst (MM ’17). His primary teachers include, David Wakefield, Joshua Michal, and Barbara Hill Besides music, other passions include reading, cooking, running, and exploring Boston.
Horn 2
Currently Fourth Horn with the Plymouth Philharmonic Orchestra and the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, Marina Krickler has also performed with A Far Cry, the Canadian Opera Company, and the Vermont Symphony Orchestra. In addition, she has appeared with the period ensemble Grand Harmonie. Ms. Krickler is the co-founder of Andromeda Quintet, a brass chamber ensemble dedicated to creating adventurous listening experiences for audiences of all ages. Her recent solo work includes performances with Haffner Sinfonietta, and Symphony Nova.
Ms. Krickler enjoys teaching students of all ages, and has presented masterclasses in both the United States and Canada. She holds faculty appointments at the All Newton Music School, Dana Hall School of Music, and Wellesley Public Schools.
Originally from Calgary, Alberta, Ms. Krickler spent her formative years playing piano and flute before being drawn to the horn at the age of sixteen. She holds a Master of Music in Performance from The Boston Conservatory, a Bachelor of Music in Performance from the University of Toronto, and a Music Performance Diploma from Mount Royal University. Her teachers and mentors have included Joan Watson, Eli Epstein, Gabe Radford, and Laurie Matiation. In addition to her formal education, she is an alumna of the National Academy Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Young Artists Program, and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada.