This will be the world premiere of Ben Yee-Paulson’s art song Annabel Lee based from the famous poem by Edgar Allen Poe about a tragic, all-consuming love between the narrator and a maiden named Annabel Lee, set in a "kingdom by the sea". The poem describes their love as so powerful that angels became envious, causing a wind to chill and kill Annabel Lee. The narrator's grief is eternal, and he continues to lie beside her tomb, believing their souls are inseparable.

Baritone Soloist

With: New England Conservatory

Händel's Messiah recounts the life of Jesus in three parts: Part I tells of the prophecy of the Messiah, his birth, and his earthly ministry; Part II covers the Passion, death, resurrection, and Ascension, culminating in the Hallelujah Chorus; and Part III celebrates humanity's redemption and the final triumph of Christ, including the resurrection of the dead. The text, compiled by Charles Jennens, draws from the King James Bible and prophets like Isaiah, with Händel's music often mirroring the text through "word-painting".

Messiah Sing: Part 1 and Hallelujah Chorus

Bass Soloist

With: First Parish Church

Claudio Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610 is a monumental collection of sacred music that combines traditional Vespers liturgical texts with innovative, elaborate new works, showcasing a grand fusion of old and new styles for its time. The piece includes settings of five Marian psalms, the hymn "Ave maris stella," and the Magnificat, interwoven with instrumental interludes and solo motets based on biblical texts, creating a work of unprecedented scale and theatrical grandeur for its time.

Baritone Soloist

With: Wellesley Hills Congregational Church

World Premiere by Ted Whalen: The Listeners, a poem by Walter de la Mare, is a haunting and atmospheric poem that explores themes of loneliness, isolation, and the nature of reality. Compared to de la Mare's other works, The Listeners is a more restrained and subtle poem. It explores similar themes of loneliness and isolation, but it does so in a more understated and atmospheric way. The poem's setting and language are carefully crafted to create a sense of mystery and wonder. In the poem, the speaker, a solitary traveler, knocks on the door of an old house, but no one answers. He persists, but the only response he receives is from a host of "phantom listeners" who stand in the moonlight, listening to his voice but remaining silent and still.

Baritone Soloist

With: Wellesley Choral Society

Get ready for the ultimate opera showdown at the 2nd annual northeast gala opera competition.

Come join us for a night of extraordinary talent at the Dante Alighieri Society of Massachusetts. Witness 20 singers from all over the region showcase their vocal prowess in a friendly yet fierce competition. Whether you're a seasoned opera aficionado or just looking for a fun night out, this event is sure to impress. Don't miss out on this unforgettable evening of music and passion.

Baritone Soloist

With: The Dante Alighieri Society of Massachusetts

Herbert Howells' Requiem, written for unaccompanied choir, is a deeply personal work that blends traditional Latin texts from the Mass with English-language psalms like Psalm 23, offering a unique expression of grief, hope, and spiritual solace following the composer's son's death. The Requiem is known for its "pure Howellsian gold," a distinctive style combining Tudor polyphony with 20th-century harmony, and its emotional resonance, moving from intense sorrow to profound hope.

Baritone Soloist

With: Wellesley Hills Congregational Church

O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, BWV 60

Bass Soloist

With: Wellesley Hills Congregational Church

Mendelssohn's setting of Psalm 42, subtitled "Wie der Hirsch schreit" (Like as the hart pants), is a highly regarded sacred composition for choir and orchestra. Composed in 1837, Mendelssohn considered it his "very best sacred composition". The piece is known for its vivid musical imagery, particularly the depiction of the deer's thirst for water, which mirrors the psalmist's longing for God.

Baritone Soloist

With: Bach, Beethoven & Brahms Society

This new folk opera from composer Steven Bergman (“Jack the Ripper: The Whitechapel Musical”) and lyricist John Shea tells the tale of Molly, a single mom living a dead-end life, with her dead-end step-father, Donald. When her sister, Suzannah and current boyfriend, Slim, return home from the road immersed in a drug-filled haze, Molly learns that Donald and Suzannah are conspiring against Molly and Slim. Under the influence of meth, Suzannah and Donald plot to get rid of Slim so that they can be together romantically, threatening Molly if she doesn’t help them. A haunting string-based score provides the background for this desperate drama, ripped from the headlines.

Performed as: Slim/Judge

With: Fringe PVD

This new folk opera from composer Steven Bergman (“Jack the Ripper: The Whitechapel Musical”) and lyricist John Shea tells the tale of Molly, a single mom living a dead-end life, with her dead-end step-father, Donald. When her sister, Suzannah and current boyfriend, Slim, return home from the road immersed in a drug-filled haze, Molly learns that Donald and Suzannah are conspiring against Molly and Slim. Under the influence of meth, Suzannah and Donald plot to get rid of Slim so that they can be together romantically, threatening Molly if she doesn’t help them. A haunting string-based score provides the background for this desperate drama, ripped from the headlines.

Performed as: Slim/Judge

With: Fringe PVD

This tragic story revolves around the lustful Duke of Mantua, his hunch-backed court jester Rigoletto, and Rigoletto's daughter Gilda. The opera's original title, La maledizione (The Curse), refers to a curse placed on both the Duke and Rigoletto by the Count Monterone, whose daughter the Duke has seduced with Rigoletto's encouragement. The curse comes to fruition when Gilda falls in love with the Duke and makes the ultimate sacrifice to save him from the assassin hired by her father.

Whether you’re a seasoned opera lover or a curious newcomer, this is your chance to experience one of opera’s most iconic works right in the heart of the city.

Performed as: Rigoletto (Cover)

With: Boston Summer Opera

This tragic story revolves around the lustful Duke of Mantua, his hunch-backed court jester Rigoletto, and Rigoletto's daughter Gilda. The opera's original title, La maledizione (The Curse), refers to a curse placed on both the Duke and Rigoletto by the Count Monterone, whose daughter the Duke has seduced with Rigoletto's encouragement. The curse comes to fruition when Gilda falls in love with the Duke and makes the ultimate sacrifice to save him from the assassin hired by her father.

Whether you’re a seasoned opera lover or a curious newcomer, this is your chance to experience one of opera’s most iconic works right in the heart of the city.

Performed as: Rigoletto (Cover)

With: Boston Summer Opera

The Theresienmesse (Therese Mass) is the fourth of the six great masses that Haydn composed toward the end of his career.  It was written to commemorate the name day of the Princess Marie Hermenegild of Esterházy, but, for reasons that have always been unclear, it soon became known as the Theresienmesse, linking it to the Empress Marie Therese. The Theresienmesse is an extraordinarily beautiful work with fugues, arias, florid bel canto lines, and dramatic contrasts.

Bass Soloist

With: Masterworks Chorale

Mozart's Requiem is a choral masterpiece whose genesis is shrouded in mystery – one that makes the piece all the more fascinating and emotionally stirring. Mozart died at the age of 35, before he could complete the work. He was only able to complete the Requiem and Kyrie movements, and managed to sketch the voice parts and bass lines for the Dies irae through to the Hostias. Before his death, Mozart’s pupil Süssmayer, to whom the composer had given detailed instructions about finishing it, copied the entire completed score in his own hand - making it virtually impossible to determine who wrote what. Regardless of who wrote which parts of the Requiem, it’s still one of the most profound and important choral works of all time. And as Beethoven once said about the piece: “If Mozart did not write the music, then the man who wrote it was a Mozart.”

Bass Soloist

With: Masterworks Chorale

Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit, “Actus Tragicus”, BWV 106

Bass Soloist

With: Wellesley Hills Congregational Church

The Mass in B minor is as lofty in design, scope and expression as anything written by the hand of man. It's one of several instances in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach in which a piece is created as an ideal type, rather than crafted for a practical use. As such, it represents an attempt to both summarize the tradition of the mass in a single perfect specimen and leave a statement on the nature of sacred music as a bequest to the future.

Bass Soloist

With: Wellesley Hills Congregational Church

How should a society punish a man who functions under his own malevolent moral code? Often considered the greatest opera ever composed, Mozart’s masterpiece combines comedy, drama, and supernatural elements to capture the downfall of a serial womanizer. From its thrilling overture to its breathtaking final scene, Don Giovanni explores issues of amorality, power, and justice that are just as relevant to today they were to eighteenth-century viewers.

Performed as: Don Giovanni

With: Opera51

A one-act opera by Gian Carlo Menotti, tells the story of a poor, crippled shepherd boy named Amahl and his mother who are visited by the Three Kings on their way to Bethlehem. The opera explores themes of poverty, faith, generosity, and miracles, culminating in Amahl being healed of his disability.

Performed as: King Balthazar

With: New England Conservatory

The Duruflé Requiem arouses the senses: its essence is mystical. Mysticism usually implies the protagonist's separation from society – some kind of "release of self" in a lonely journey seeking the divine. The achingly beautiful chants upon which the Duruflé is based are filled with the lonely cries of 6th- and 7th- century "mystics." The melodies are archaic and intended to be harmonically bare. Woven within the new, modally harmonic landscape of the Requiem, Duruflé captures and creates a mysterious aura, befitting the mystery of death.

Bass Soloist

With: Wellesley Hills Congregational Church

A young couple is brutally killed, and the convicted murderer, Joseph De Rocher, sits on death row. Sister Helen Prejean agrees to be his spiritual adviser. As she meets his family, and the families of his victims, she begins questioning every attitude she has about how human beings treat each other. Based on real-life events, Jake Heggie’s music and Terrence McNally’s libretto explore the nature of friendship and forgiveness in the most profound ways.

Performed as: Motorcycle Cop/Guard 1

With: Miami Music Festival

A young couple is brutally killed, and the convicted murderer, Joseph De Rocher, sits on death row. Sister Helen Prejean agrees to be his spiritual adviser. As she meets his family, and the families of his victims, she begins questioning every attitude she has about how human beings treat each other. Based on real-life events, Jake Heggie’s music and Terrence McNally’s libretto explore the nature of friendship and forgiveness in the most profound ways.

Performed as: Motorcycle Cop/Guard 1

With: Miami Music Festival

Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte—His last opera to be produced before his untimely death at age 35—is a remarkable combination of musical and dramatic styles, from the earthly to the otherworldly. The story begins as a magical rescue mission, a plot outline that would have been familiar to Viennese audiences of the popular theater, but soon transforms into a fable of enlightenment and humanity. With its narrative of inner development and illumination, Die Zauberflöte imagines a world of peace, brotherhood, and love.

Performed as: Der Sprecher (The Speaker)

With: Miami Music Festival

Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte—His last opera to be produced before his untimely death at age 35—is a remarkable combination of musical and dramatic styles, from the earthly to the otherworldly. The story begins as a magical rescue mission, a plot outline that would have been familiar to Viennese audiences of the popular theater, but soon transforms into a fable of enlightenment and humanity. With its narrative of inner development and illumination, Die Zauberflöte imagines a world of peace, brotherhood, and love.

Performed as: Der Sprecher (The Speaker)

With: Miami Music Festival