Completion of the Oratorio Cycle: Bach’s Ascension Oratorio
collaboration with Ensemble Caprice

with soloists:

Linh Kauffman, soprano

Praised as “vocally and dramatically powerful” by the Washington Post and “radiant” by the Saint Paul Pioneer Press, soprano Linh Kauffman enjoys an active career in opera, oratorio, and recital. Her most recent performances include Joshua with the Panama National Symphony, Carmina Burana for the Prague Choral Festival, Mahler Symphony No. 2 with the Minnesota Orchestra, Festival Musique en l’Île de Paris, and the early music festivals of Panama and Urbino.

Ms. Kauffman has also appeared with the Oregon Bach Festival, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Lyra Baroque Orchestra and the symphonies of Pittsburgh, Akron, Richmond and the Quad Cities. An active chamber musician, she has appeared with the Bach Society of Minnesota, Seraphic Fire, Spire Chamber Ensemble, The Rose Ensemble, and Consortium Carissimi.

Ms.  Kauffman  made  her  Latin  American  debut  in  Mozart’s  Apollo  et  Hyacinthus  at  the  Teatro Nacional de Panamá. Other appearances include Carmina Burana with Minnesota Dance Theatre, Ariadne auf Naxos with Minnesota Opera, and Acis and Galatea and Orfeo ed Euridice for the Twin Cities Early Music Festival.

A native of Connecticut, Ms. Kauffman earned music degrees from Carnegie Mellon University, University of Maryland, and University of Minnesota. She  also  studied  at  the  Weill  Institute  at  Carnegie  Hall  and the Salzburg  Mozarteum.  She teaches at Macalester College and Augsburg University and is Associate Artistic Director of Antiqva Panamá.

Nerea Berraondo, alto

Nerea Berraondo has performed principal opera roles such as Adrastro and Creusa in Demofonte (Gluck) at Theatre an der Wien in Vienna; Lucio in Catone in Utica (Vivaldi) at Theatre des Champs Elysees in Paris. Ms. Berraondo has worked with early music conductors and orchestras including Eduardo López Banzo, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Alan Curtis, Marcelo di Lisa, Josetxu Obregón, and Marian Rosa Montagut. Recently she has recorded Biagio Marini’s vocal music with her Ensemble Aldatu on the Arsis recording label and Demofonte by Gluck with Il Complesso Barocco conducted by Alan Curtis. Ms. Berraondo has won international prizes and competitions including Juventudes Musicales de España and Julián Gayarre International Singing Competition. In 2012 she was bestowed a Merit Award by the Centro Nacional de Difusión Musical (CNDM). She shared that season with soloists Ceclia Bartoli and Jordi Savall.

Nicholas Chalmers, tenor

Heralded by the Washington Post as “exciting and dulcet,” Nicholas Chalmers, tenor, is thrilled to once again sing with the Minnesota Bach Society. He has sung with The Rose Ensemble, the Minnesota Bach Ensemble, Glorious Revolution Baroque, The Singers-Minnesota Choral Artists, and the Minnesota Chorale. Recent solo engagements include Oratory, Magnum Chorum, the Church Music Association of America, the St. Mark’s Cathedral Concert Series, and the Schubert Club. Last spring, Nicholas concluded his Master’s studies in Choral Conducting at the University of Minnesota, where he conducted several campus ensembles and held a Teacher’s Assistant position in the music theory department. Nicholas is in his fifth year as the Director of Music at Chesterton Academy in Edina and recently accepted the position of Director of Music and Liturgy at Annunciation Church in South Minneapolis. He is also Artistic Director of the Mirandola Ensemble, which presents programs of rarely performed early music from the Medieval and Renaissance eras strategically juxtaposed with the compositions of 20th and 21st century composers.

Aaron Larson, bass

In the past few year Aaron Larson has popped up around the Twin Cities singing the works of J.S. Bach, often with organizations such as the Bach Society of Minnesota, Oratory Bach Ensemble, the Lyra Baroque Orchestra, and ELM ensemble.  Other recent performances include Einhorn’s The Passion of Joan of Arc with the Oratorio Society of Minnesota, Kortekangas’s Seven Songs for Planet Earth with the Masterworks Chorale of Augsburg University, the world premiere of Paulus’s When Church Bells are Ringing with the Minnesota Orchestra, J.S. Bach’s Mass in B Minor with VocalEssence, and many appearances with the Waverly Consort.

Ensemble Caprice

An award-winning baroque ensemble based in Montreal, Canada. For more info, please click here.

Repertoire:

BWV 166 Wo gehest du hin?

BWV 29 Wir danke dir, Gott

BWV 11 Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen (Ascension Oratorio)

Edina Chorale will join us for Friday’s performance and organist Crystal Rossow will join us for Sunday’s performance.

Click for tickets to the concert in Montreal on April 29, 2018.