Carmina Burana by Carl Orff
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Nänie by Johannes Brahms
Spring 2008 Concert Soloists
Louise Fauteux - Soprano
Jeffrey Mandelbaum - Countertenor
Dan Kempson - Baritone
Louise Fauteux - Soprano
Soprano Louise Fauteux is delighted to return once again to the Connecticut Master Chorale, previously appearing for the Vaughan Williams Benedicite in 2007. Louise Fauteux is a regular soloist in the northeast, most recently singing with Alarm Will Sound (NYC), the Westchester Concert Singers, Concora, the New Haven Oratorio Choir, and Opera Theatre of Weston (VT). In recent months she was twice featured on Channel 3’s Better Connecticut morning show, coaching weather forecaster Scot Haney in a vocal recording and also performing holiday music herself. In 2006 she closely followed the birth of her daughter with an English song recital sponsored by the New Haven Oratorio Choir and the Mozart Mass in D and Horatio Parker Hora Novissima for the Connecticut Master Chorale. Prior to that, she completed a year as Resident Artist for Dicapo Opera in New York City, covering the role of Violetta in La Traviata. For Dicapo Opera she was also soloist for a Venetian concert tour of the Mozart Requiem and Vivaldi Gloria. She has been heard in leading opera roles in The Impresario, The Magic Flute, Hansel and Gretel, Dido and Aeneas, Amahl and the Night Visitors, The Telephone and The Marriage of Figaro. For Un Ballo in Maschera with Connecticut Concert Opera, the Hartford Courant characterized Louise Fauteux as a "pert, boyish Oscar" with "clarion tone in her two showpiece arias and a soaring top in the great Act I ensemble."
Ms. Fauteux has been a featured soloist in Peer Gynt with the New York Philharmonic under Kurt Masur, a Carmel Bach Festival Fellow, and a national semifinalist for the MacAllister Awards. For information on upcoming performances such as the Hadyn Creation and Carmina Burana she welcomes visitors to her website at www.louisefauteux.com.
Jeffrey Mandelbaum - Countertenor
Jeffrey Mandelbaum is fast becoming known for his powerful and elegant countertenor voice, and for his dynamic stage presence. He is especially sought after as an interpreter of the operas and oratorios of Handel. He made his debut at Virginia Opera last season as Narciso in Agrippina, and was dubbed a “first-class countertenor” by the Washington Post.
He recently made his debut at Opera Pacific in Cyrano de Bergerac, and covered the title role in Handel’s Flavio at New York City Opera, where he was also engaged for Il Ritorno d’Ulisse and Hansel and Gretel. Current opera highlights include the title role in Giulio Cesare with One World Symphony; Tolomeo in Cesare with Connecticut Opera Theater; Mulholland in Hause’s Man: Biology of a Fall at NYC’s Kumble Theater; the title role in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice with One World Symphony, and with West Side Opera; the title role in Handel’s Choice of Hercules with Big Apple Baroque; and a tour of the medieval opera Daniel and the Lions, with Early Music New York.
Recent concert work includes Messiah with Allentown Symphony, Norwalk Symphony, American Classical Orchestra, and Westchester Oratorio Society; Orff’s Carmina Burana with Greater Bridgeport Symphony, Connecticut Master Chorale, and Cappella Cantorum; Bach’s Magnificat in the Vermont Mozart Festival; Handel’s Esther with Canterbury Choral Society; Judas Maccabeus with Amor Artis Baroque Orchestra; and Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms with Mendelssohn Choir of Connecticut.
Mr. Mandelbaum is a 2003 Winner of the Metropolitan Opera Competition NY Districts, and has sung Bach cantatas with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, performed at the Spoleto Festival USA in Meredith Monk’s Quarry, was engaged for Philip Glass’s Galileo at BAM, and portrayed Mars in La Purpura de la Rosa at the Amherst Early Music Festival.
He sang Bach’s alto cantata Geist und Seele with the baroque orchestra Musica Viva, and starred in two productions of George Quincey’s Home and the River with Encompass New Opera Theatre, where he also premiered Quincey's Tale of a Tell-Tale Heart, the lead of which was written for him. He has given recitals at St. John the Divine, St. Paul’s Chapel in the Trinity Church NoonDay Concert series, St. Peter’s Church, Midtown Concerts at St. Francis of Assisi, Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims, St. Ann’s, and on tour in Tuscany.
Mr. Mandelbaum received a B.A. with Honors in Interdisciplinary Performance from Oberlin College, and a Master of Music degree in Historical Performance-Voice from the Mannes College of Music. He coached in baroque style with Drew Minter and Julianne Baird, and studies vocal technique and artistry with Linda Monssen. More information about Mr Mandelbaum can be found at www.jeffreymandelbaum.com.
Dan Kempson - Baritone
A recipient of a 2007 Opera Index Encouragement Grant, baritone Dan Kempson is a Master’s candidate at Manhattan School of Music, where he studies with Mark Oswald. Performances for the 2007-2008 season include Guglielmo in the Opening Scene and Act One Finale of Così fan tutte with Manhattan School of Music Opera, recital performances of Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, and both Orff’s Carmina Burana and Gounod’s St. Cecilia Mass with the Connecticut Master Chorale and Orchestra.
Mr. Kempson recently spent the summer in residence with Seagle Music Colony, where he found great success as El Gallo in The Fantasticks. The Glens Falls Post-Star declared that his “resonant voice and enchanting manner immediately enthralled the audience”. While there, Mr. Kempson was also seen as Falada in Thomas Pasatieri’s The Goose Girl and Pritschitsch in The Merry Widow.
Upon graduation with his BM from Peabody Conservatory in May of 2007, Dan was awarded the Miriam Bernstein Memorial Prize, given to the outstanding opera performer among both the undergraduate and graduate students. During his time at Peabody Dan sang many roles, including Count Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), Dapertutto (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), Count Carl-Magnus (A Little Night Music), Ben (The Telephone), and Le Superintendent in Cendrillon. He also appeared as Ravenel in a concert performed of excerpts from Showboat with the Peabody Symphony Orchestra.
Other operatic roles include John Brooke in Mark Adamo’s Little Women at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia with Center City Opera Theatre. Dan also spent two summers in residence with the Intermezzo Opera Festival in Hartford, CT, where he performed Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), the Musiklehrer (Ariadne auf Naxos), and his first John Brooke. While there, he also covered the role of Harlekin in Ariadne and sang in a Lieder recital accompanied by Brian Zeger.
A frequent soloist in oratorio and concert, Mr. Kempson has sung the Fauré Requiem, Schubert Mass in G, Pergolesi Magnificat, Duruflé Messe cum Jubilo, and Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs, with groups such as the Peabody Combined Choirs, Johns Hopkins Choral Society, Old St. Paul’s Choir of Men and Boys, and the Arts at St. Matthew’s Concert Series. He is a recipient of Merit Scholarships from both Manhattan School of Music and Peabody Conservatory, was a Finalist in the 2006 International JS Bach Competition of Philadelphia, and received Third Place (Young Artist Division) at the 2006 Charles Lynam Competition. Mr. Kempson grew up in Wilton, CT. More information about Mr. Kempson can be found at www.dankempson.com