2019 Season Finale
Jean Sibelius - Finlandia
Maurice Ravel - Piano Concerto in G Major
Ludwig Van Beethoven - Symphony No. 9
On Friday, April 26 at the Todd Performing Arts Center at Chesapeake College the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra will conclude its 2018-19 season with a Grand Finale concert. Maestro Julien Benichou will conduct a stellar program of works, including: Finlandia by Jean Sibelius, the Piano Concerto in G Major by Maurice Ravel, and Ludwig Van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.
Ravel’s masterful Piano Concerto in G Major will be performed by Irish pianist Michael McHale, who gripped the Philadelphia Enquirer with a performance described as “…brimming with rhythmic vitality and a symphonic sense of scope…”
The 9th Symphony’s iconic, timeless message of humanity and joy will feature a superstar cast of soloists: Allysa Packard, soprano; Jordan Swett, alto; Israel Lozano, tenor; and Kevin Short, bass. The final movement’s famed “Ode to Joy” will be performed by a 100-person choir comprised of members from the Carter Legacy Singers and the Southern Delaware Chorale.
Tickets are $50 and can be purchased online using the button below, by phone at 888.846.8600, or at the box office (open 1 hour before each performance - subject to availability).
“ …McHale played with cool authority and understated panache as one expected from a young pianist whose international career is in serious take-off mode…”
About Our Soloist:
Belfast-born Michael McHale has established himself as one of Ireland’s leading pianists and has developed a busy international career as a solo recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber musician.
He has performed as a soloist with the Minnesota, Hallé, Moscow Symphony and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestras, City of London Sinfonia, London Mozart Players and all five of the major Irish orchestras, and performed at the Tanglewood and Tokyo Spring Festivals, Wigmore Hall, London, Berlin Konzerthaus, Lincoln Center, New York, Symphony Hall, Boston and Pesti Vigadó in Budapest.
Michael’s début solo album The Irish Piano was released in 2012 by RTÉ lyric fm and selected as ‘CD of the Week’ by the critic Norman Lebrecht. More recent solo releases include Schubert: Four Impromptus on Ergodos, Miniatures and Modulations on Grand Piano, and a first orchestral album Irish Piano Concertos featuring works by John Field and Philip Hammond with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and conductor Courtney Lewis. His discography of over twenty albums includes releases on Delos, Nimbus Alliance, Champs Hill, and seven duo recital albums on Chandos with Michael Collins. The début album of the McGill/McHale Trio Portraits on Cedille featuring special narrations by Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali was released in 2017 and immediately entered the Top 25 US Billboard Classical Chart. Upcoming releases include a recording of Strauss’s ‘Burleske’ with the BBC Symphony Orchestra on Chandos, and a recording of two new works by Cliff Eidelman with the London Symphony Orchestra.
Michael McHale rehearses with the Jacksonville Symphony and Courtney Lewis. Ravel - Piano Concerto in G Major, Mvt. III
Winner of the Terence Judd/Hallé Award in 2009, Michael was also awarded the Brennan and Field Prizes at the 2006 AXA Dublin International Piano Competition, the 2005 Camerata Ireland/Accenture Award, and in 2016 a Major Individual Award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. He studied at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Cambridge University and the Royal Academy of Music, and his teachers and mentors include John O’Conor, Réamonn Keary, Christopher Elton, Ronan O’Hora and Barry Douglas.
In 2017 Michael was invited to become a Patron of the Ulster Youth Orchestra, and in 2018 he was appointed as a part-time professor of piano for undergraduate and postgraduate students at the Cork School of Music in Ireland.
Michael collaborates regularly with Sir James Galway, Michael Collins, Patricia Rozario, Dame Felicity Lott and Camerata Pacifica.
Beethoven Symphony No. 9 Vocal Soloists
Allysa Packard - Soprano
Allysa Packard most recently performed in Potomac Vocal Institute’s inaugural season of their opera workshop Lady Parts as First Lady in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, under the direction of Christopher Ocasek and Julia Mitzner. Allysa has been able to perform various roles and scenes in programs including Countess/Le nozze di Figaro at the Estates Theater with the Prague Summer Nights Festival, Madame Lidoine/Dialogues des Carmélites, and Vitellia/La clemenza di Tito with the Maryland Opera Studio, Ottavia/L’incoronazione di Poppeawith Opera NEO in San Diego, and covering Lauretta/Gianni Schicchi with Utah Festival Opera. In 2017 she originated of the role of Lilac in a new work opera entitled The Young Kingcomposedby Martin Hennessey.She has won various awards, most recently receiving 3rd Place in the Dorothy Lincoln-Smith Competition (NSAL DC Chapter) and has been a soloist in Bach’s St John’s Passion and Mass in B Minor.Allysa received her Bachelor of Music from Utah State University, and recently completed her Master of Music as a soprano in the Maryland Opera Studio at the University of Maryland. Allysa currently studies with soprano Arianna Zukerman.
Israel Lozano - Tenor
Tenor Israel Lozano, from Madrid, Spain, started his Studies with soprano Emelina Lopez and tenor Alfredo Kraus. Studying at the Superior School of Music and Queen's Superior School of Music in Spain, Mr. Lozano made his operatic debut at the age of 22 as Il Conte di Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Sivigliaby Rossini, and at the National Symphony Auditorium of Madrid. He holds a G.P.D in Opera from Peabody Conservatory of John Hopkins University with tenor Dr. Stanley Cornett. In 2002/04 he completed the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program and prepared, covered and sung roles at the Washington National Opera under the artistic direction of Plácido Domingo.
Mr. Lozano sang in a televised Concert Gala with tenor Plácido Domingo (Operalia Concert Winners) in the Isle of Mainau, Germany, after receiving the unprecedented three prizes in the Plácido DomingoInternational Operalia Competition 2003. The prizes included Opera, Zarzuela, and the prestigious "Prize of the Audience."
Mr. Lozano’s repertoire includes Tenor's Lyric roles in La Traviata, Manon of Massenet, Elisir d’Amore, The Magic Flute, Lucia di Lammermoor, Die Fledermaus, Don Giovanni, La Bohème, Rigoletto...in addition to roles in Zarzuela, Spanish Lyric-Operatic Music Mr. Lozano's Repertoire.
In the United States he has sang principal roles at the Baltimore Opera, Washington National Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Carnegie Hall in New York City and with the National Symphony Orchestra of the US.
In Europe, in 2004 he made his debut with the Teatro Real in Madrid singing the role of Belfiore in Il Viaggio a Reims, and Alfredo in La Traviata at the Ludwigsburg Festival in Germany.
Performnaces include Paco in the Spanish opera La vida breve with Opera Carolina, Sarasota Opera, Teatro Real of Madrid, Washington National Opera, Teatro Liceu of Barcelona and a Concert Gala with the Baritone Joan Pons. Other engagements included his debut as Rodolfo in La Bohème with Los Angeles Opera and Palm Beach Opera and concert tours in Spain and Mexico, the National Symphony Auditorium of Madrid, “Duca di Mantova” in “Rigoletto” and “Edgardo” en “Lucia di Lammermoor” and the debut at the “Theather au der Wien” (Vienna).
Others engagements included "Duca di Mantova" in Rigoletto (Concerlirica), "La Boheme" with "Bangkok Opera"and "Edgardo" in "Lucia di Lammermoor" with Florida Grand Opera, "Amadeu" de Albert Boadella, Alfredo ("La "Traviata") with the Simón Bolivar Young People´s Orchestra conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, and composer Daniel Catán´s "Il Postino" performed at the Theater an der Wien and in Teatro Municipal of Santiago of Chile with Placido Domingo
(More information at )directed by José Luis Cortés in which Mr. Lozano sings the role of Rodolfo. Upcoming soon will be a film of "The Bohemians" recorded between New York City and Los Angeles City
Carter Legacy Singers
Jordan Swett - Alto
Mezzo-soprano,Jordan Swett recently completed her Master’s in Music at the University of Maryland, College Park, where she was a member of the Maryland Opera Studio. She studies under the tutelage of world-renowned mezzo-soprano, Delores Ziegler. She just completed a successful run of performances as the Third Lady and Third Knabe in the Lyric Opera Studio Weimar’s production of “Die Zauberflöte” in the August 2018. Ms. Swett has also recently made her role and program debut as Mercédès in the Washington Opera Society’s June production of “Carmen.” She was most recently seen in roles that include Mère Marie in “Dialogues des Carmélites,” in the spring of 2018, as Sesto in the Maryland Opera Studio’s fall 2017 production of “La clemenza di Tito,” and in the ensemble and covering roles with the Maryland Opera Studio’s spring 2017 season. She was also a featured soloist in various scenes in the Maryland Opera Studio’s Scenes performance. She premiered the role of The Weaver in the world premiere of “The Young King,” a new work commissioned and written for herself and her classmates in the Maryland Opera Studio. She has premiered many original compositions.
Ms. Swett was honored to attend the Chautauqua Voice Institute for the Summer 2017. She has also spent two summers in Arezzo, Italy, where she attended the Oberlin in Italy summer program for the 2015 and 2016 seasons, studying and performing roles such as Ottavia in “L’incoronazione di Poppea,” Arsamene in “Serse,” and Paride in “Paride ed Elena.”
While completing her Bachelors in Music at the University of Connecticut, she had the opportunity to be in the choruses of the UConn Opera Theater’s productions of “Die Zauberflöte,” “Il Barbiere di Siviglia,” and “L’elisir d’amore.” She covered the roles of L’enfant in “L’enfant et les sortilèges,” Hansel in “Hansel and Gretel,” and Prince Orlofsky in “Die Fledermaus.” Ms. Swett performed the roles of Mrs. Jaffett in “Noye’s Fludde,” The Squirrel in “L’enfant et les sortilèges,” The Sandman in “Hansel and Gretel,” and Sally in “Die Fledermaus” while her tenure with the UConn Opera Theater.
Ms. Swett will next be seen in the Aspen Summer Music Festival Summer 2019 season, covering the role of Marcellina in “Le nozze di Figaro,” and Petra in “A Little Night Music.” For more information, please visit: https://www.jordanswett.com/
Kevin Short - Bass
Versatile American bass-baritone Kevin Short is thrilling audiences around the globe in a wide range of repertoire ranging from the depths of Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Monteverdi’s L’Coronazione di Poppea to Verdi’s Attila, Carmen’s Escamillo and Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer.
A sampling of his North America appearances include performances with the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Washington Opera, Seattle Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Opera Pacific, Florida Grand Opera, Opera Festival of New Jersey, Sarasota Opera Company, Spoleto Opera Festival, Canadian Opera Company, Vancouver Opera, Edmonton Opera, Santa Fe Opera, and the Opera de las Americas.
His European and Asian credits include appearances with multiple opera companies, orchestras, and festivals. A few of which include Paris’ Opera Comique, Welsh National Opera, Kazan State Theater-Russia, Theatre Caen, Grand Theatre du Luxembourg, Oper der Stadt Köln, Stadttheater Stuttgart, Theater Aachen, Theater Basel, Theater Bern, Theater St. Gallen, Teatro Nacional de Sao Carlos, Savonlinna Festival-Finland; Bregenzer Festspiele-Austria, Baden-Baden Festspiele-Germany, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence-France, Festival Montpellier-France, l’Opéra de Rouen-France, l’Opéra de Reims-France, Saito Kinen Festival in Matsumoto, Japan and festivals in Beijing, China; Hanoi, Vietnam; and Granada, Valencia, and Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
Kevin also enjoys an active concert and recital schedule and has worked with the Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, National Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Handel and Haydn Orchestra-Boston, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands Filharmonisch Orkest, Swiss and Italian RAI Orchestra, Radio France Orchestra, Marseille Philharmonie, Gulbenkian Orchestra-Lisbon, Portugal, Parma Reggio Emilia Orchestra, Malta Philharmonic, Thüringen Symphony Orchestra-Germany, Jena Symphony-Germany,Moscow Philharmonic, St. Petersburg Symphony, Russia, Omsk Philharmonic-Russia, Siberian State Symphony, New Japan Philharmonic, Hiroshima Symphony, the Kazan Symphony for the opening of the Universiade Games in Kazan, Russia, and the Winter Olympics Festival Orchestra for the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.
Kevin received his training at Morgan State University, B.S., the Curtis Institute of Music, M.M., and the Juilliard School of Music’s American Opera Center. While attending these institutions he was a prize winner in numerous competitions and garnered many awards. A few highlights include the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Internazionale Concorso per Voce Verdiane, the Rosa Ponselle International Vocal Competition, the Bruce Yarnell Competition for Basses and Baritones, the Liederkranz Competition, and awards from the Sullivan Foundation, Opera Index, Shoshana Foundation, and the George London Foundation.
100+ Person Choir Comprised of members from the Carter Legacy Singers and The Delaware Chorale - You Won’t Want to Miss this Triumphant ‘Ode To Joy’!
Southern Delaware Chorale