2002 - 2003 Season
 

  

   

The 
Passion of Our Lord 
according to
 St. Matthew
 
 BWV 244 (1685-1750)

Johann Sebastian Bach

Part I

INTERMISSION

Part II
 

Lynn Sjolund, Conductor

 

Soloists
James Brown, Evangelist
Susan White, soprano
Heidi Vanderford, alto
James Brown, tenor
Michael Wing, Jesus
Donald Matthews, bass
 
 


  Character Parts
Rex White, Judas
Peter Nordquist, Peter
Eric Smith, Pilate, Priest II
Gerry Flock, Priest I
Kathy Gordon, Pilate's wife
Virginia VanNortwick, Maid I
Diane Newland, Maid II
Carol Snider, Leslie Hall, Mary Kay Harmon, Gay Cawthorne, Donna Barrett, Kathy Kroll, Soprano chorus
 
Obbligati
Katheryn McElrath, Pamela Hughes, flute
Kenton Gould, Karen Strand, oboe, oboe d'amore, english horn
Michelle Pauly, violin
  		Continuo
Michal Palzewicz, cello
David Miller, bass
Walker Kermode, bassoon
Andrea Brock, harpsichord
Linda Borecki, organ
Orchestra I
Michelle Pauly, concertmaster
Matt Fuller, Marilyn Hutchins, 1st violin
Larry Stubson, Janetta DeMott, 2nd violin
Duane Johnson, Jeanne Clausen, viola 
Michal Palzewicz, cello
David Miller, bass
Katheryn McElrath, flute I
Pamela Hughes, flute II
Kenton Gould, oboe I, oboe d'amore I, english horn I
Karen Strand, oboe II, oboe d'amore II, english horn II
Walker Kermode, bassoon
Linda Borecki, organ
  		Orchestra II
Carol Shive, Yo Etsuki, Marika Furnee,1st violin 
Gary Kroll, James Andrewes, 2nd violin
Pat Berlet, Juliet Luaders, viola
Beth Goldstein, cello
Jason Heald, bass
Stacey Scalfari, flute I
Valorie Emilio, flute II
Kristin Kessler, oboe I
Irene Fitch, oboe II
Andrea Brock, organ/harpsichord

Orchestra Contractor/Manager
Kenton Gould
 

Featured Musicians
 

James Brown, tenor, has sung many times under the musical direction of Lynn Sjolund. Their collaboration began at Loyola University in 1988 when James began his undergraduate study. Mr. Brown has sung several times with the Rogue Valley Chorale - including the Evangelist in Bach's St. John Passion at the inaugural performance in the Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater. A native of south Louisiana, James is an active proponent of early and new music. He has sung roles in such operas as Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Carmen, Eugene Onegin, Cosi fan Tutte, Die Zauberflöte, Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea, Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream and Conrad Susa's Transformations. Mr. Brown has appeared with such opera companies as New York City Opera, New Orleans Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Bronx Opera, Rogue Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Skylight Opera Theatre (Milwaukee), Aspen Opera Theater and The Spoleto Festival in Spoleto, Italy. James joined the roster of New York City Opera last season for Monteverdi's Il Ritorno d'Ulisse and John Phillip Sousa's The Glassblowers. Currently, James is a Doctoral student at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Mr. Brown holds degrees from Loyola University/New Orleans (where he studied with Medford's own Philip Frohnmayer) and the Juilliard School. Recent engagements include Rameau's Pygmalion with New York State Baroque, a recital tracing the evolution of Italian Song with lutenist James Smith with the New York Early Music Series and solo appearances at St. Bartholomew's Church on Park Avenue in New York City.
(Sponsored by Lynn and Doris Sjolund)
 
Heidi Vanderford, mezzo-soprano, is quickly garnering attention and roles across the United States. Her Eugene Opera debut was made in 2002 as Flora in La Traviata and her Cincinnati Opera debut was last summer as Dritte Magd in Elektra and Sister Lillianne in Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking (while also covering Mrs. De Rocher). During the 2000-2001 season, Ms. Vanderford performed Œnone in Rameau's Hippolytus and Aricia as well as covered the title roll in Offenbach's The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein with Opera Theatre of St. Louis, where she has been in residence the past three summers as part of its young artist program. With the IU Opera Theater, she has performed Dorabell in Così fan tutte, the title role in The Rape of Lucretia, the Fortune Teller in Arabella, and Cecilia March in Little Women. Ms. Vanderford is equally at home on the concert stage and, in 2001, performed Verdi's Requiem with the Rogue Valley Symphony. Upcoming engagements include her Opera Pacific debut as the Page in Salome and Inez in Il Trovatore. Also upcoming in 2003 will be a residency with Glimmerglass Opera as a member of the young American Artists program where she will cover the role of Queen Clementine in Offenbach's Bluebeard. In 2002, Ms. Vanderford was the winner of the Indianapolis Matinee Musicale Scholarship, an encouragement award recipient in the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions and, in 2001, was a finalist in the MacAllister Awards.
(Sponsored by Gary and Diane Newland)
Susan Olson-White is well-known to Rogue Valley audiences, where she has been a regular soloist for Rogue Opera, Rogue Valley Symphony and both the Rogue Valley Chorale and the Southern Oregon Repertory Singers. A native of Utah, she resides in Ashland and serves as soloist for the Christian Science Church of Medford. Her work for Rogue Opera includes the roles of Adina in L'Elisir d'Amore, Micaela in Carmen, and Gilda in Rigoletto. She has also sung many roles for the Programs for Youth, including Cinderella in La Cenerentola, the Witch in Hansel and Gretel, Rosina in The Barber of Seville and Mimi in La Boheme. As soloist with the Rogue Valley Symphony, Ms. White was featured in Haydn's The Creation and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. She has been a soloist for several years for the annual presentation of Handel's The Messiah and has done recital work for Friends of Music on the Oregon Coast, September Music and Western Oregon University. As soloist with the Rogue Valley Chorale, Ms White performed Bach's St. John's Passion for the opening of the Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater and was the soprano soloist in a quartet, other members of which were from the Budapest Opera, for a presentation of Kodaly's Te Deum in Vezprem, Hungary. She has studied and performed with the American Institute of Musical Studies held annually in Graz, Austria. Ms. White was an Oregon District Metropolitan Opera audition winner and a Northwest Region Megropolitan Opera finalist. She has been a regular participant in Brian Swingle's Opera Pops in Jacksonville and Eugene.
(Sponsored by Nancy and Bill Purdy)
 
Don Matthews was born in Detroit and is the son of a motion picture soundman. He attended college at Eastern Michigan University and toured with the Madrigal Singers, including two trips to the British Isles. In 1981, Don moved to Los Angeles to attend graduate school at USC. While in Southern California, he met the great French baritone, Martial Singher with whom he studied until Singher's death in 1990. In 1989, Don became a member of the San Francisco Opera chorus and remained there until 1991. He moved to Boston in the spring of '92, to study with Richard Cassilly at Boston University. Don continued to sing throughout the Northeast and in 1996 went to work as a radio broadcaster for WBUR and WGBH in Boston. In July of 1998, Mr. Matthews became the host of "First Concert" and "JPR Saturday Morning Opera" at Jefferson Public Radio, a position he held until November 2001. In September of 2001, he joined the faculty of the Music Department of Southern Oregon University, where he currently teaches voice. In 2000, Don appeared as Emile de Becque in Rogue Music Theatre's production of South Pacific and Chief Bromden in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest with Actor's Theater in Talent. He returned to the Rogue Music Theatre appearing in Kiss Me Kate in the summer of 2001 and Damn Yankees in 2002. In January 2002, he joined the Rogue Valley Chorale and has been a member of the Southern Oregon Repertory Singers since 1998. In the fall of 2002, Don sang with Rogue Opera in their "Opera in the Schools" program. He was also Lubmegohange in Dave Marston's The Waters of Love.
(Sponsored by Margaret Rowan)
 
Michael Wing, a Rogue Valley Chorale member in the group's early years, rejoined the Chorale when he returned to the Rogue Valley in 1998. Locally, he has also appeared with the Southern Oregon Repertory Singers and the Siskiyou Singers. He has soloed in production of Handel's Messiah, Brahms' German Requiem, Mozart's Requiem, and Vaughan Williams' Five Mystical Songs and Hodie. He has also sung leading roles in several operas, including La Traviata, The Little Match Girl, and Amahl and the Night Visitors. Michael earned his music degree at Yale University and the University of Oregon, where he studied under James Miller, Les Breidenthal, and Neil Wilson. He and his wife, Kathy, have given concerts of contemporary Christian music in Oregon and Southern California. Mr. Wing spent many years in Roseburg, where he directed the Roseburg Concert Chorale, Vintage Singers, and Centerstage at Umpqua Community College. He has been a clinician for several high school and church groups. Mr. Wing is the music instructor at St. Mary's School in Medford, where he directs instrumental and choral groups.
(Sponsored by Chuck and Karin Watson)
 
Michelle Pauly, Violin
Michelle is the Concertmistress of the Eugene Opera orchestra, a position she has held since 1983. She has also served as Concertmistress of the Rogue Valley Symphony and Principal Second with the Tucson Symphony. Her other orchestra experiences include the Peter Britt Festival, the Orquesta Sinfonica Veracruz, Mexico, Toledo Symphony, the Oregon Bach Festival, Oregon Mozart Players, Eugene Symphony and Sunriver Music Festival. This is her first performance with her "new" violin, made in Cremona, Italy in 1810 by Giovanni Baptista Ceruti. Michelle returned to school to get her law degree after being a professional musician for many years. She is a Deputy District Attorney for Jackson County.
 
Linda Borecki, Portative Organ
Linda has been the organist for the Chorale on many occasions. She is also the Minister of Music at Grace Lutheran Church, Ashland, and is a freelance consultant in ancient/future worship. She studied organ with Nancy LeRoi Nickel, Portland, and with Jörg-Neithardt Keller, Germany, and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Worship degree. Her long history with the Chorale includes organ/piano arrangement and performance of Mendelssohn's Eliijah, Bach's Magnificat, Haydn's The Seasons, and Vaughn Williams' Hodie, as well as playing organ continuo with the Chorale for the Bach B-Minor Mass and St. John Passion.
 
Michal Palzewicz, Cello
Michal hails from Warsaw, Poland, where he began studying the cello at age eight and won first prize in several youth cello competitions in Warsaw. At seventeen, together with his friends, he established the Elsner String Quartert which went on to play throughout Europe. While still in Poland, Michal studied cello performance at the Academy of Music in Warsaw. In 1996, the quartet received full scholarship to the Manhattan School of Music where Michal earned his bachelor of music degree. Michal has studied with a variety of teachers and, as part of the quartet, studied under the Amadeus Quartet, the Guarneri String Quartet and several others. Michal just relocated to Boston with his wife and dogs. He was previously the principal cellist of the North State Symphony in California.
 
Katheryn McElrath, Flute
Katheryn is a graduate of The Juilliard School in New York City, earning both a Bachelors and Master of Music Degree. Katheryn is the principal flutist of the Oakland East Bay Symphony and the principal flutist of the Rogue Valley Symphony. Katheryn has worked on various film and recording projects, including performing with Linda Ronstadt, and with Sir John Williams and the Skywalker Symphony on the re-recording of the Star Wars Trilogy. She has taught at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ and was a visiting professor of music at Mills College. This fall, she joins the adjunct faculty of Music at Southern Oregon University. Katheryn maintains an active teaching and coaching studio in Ashland and in her spare time tends 3 acres of Bordeaux wine grapes with her husband, Stan Shulster.
 
Pamela Hughes, Flute
Pamela currently resides in Bend, Oregon. She is a flutist with the Central Oregon Symphony, the Obsidian Opera Orchestra, and has performed solo recitals throughout the state. Prior to moving to Bend, she lived in Canberra, Australia, with her Australian husband and their two children. Pamela grew up in Medford and graduated from high school here. Her first symphony experience was with the Rogue Valley Symphony and she played five seasons with the Britt Festival Orchestra. She also enjoys singing and, as a high school student, was a member of the Rogue Valley Chorale. She is thrilled to have an opportunity to play in her hometown.
(Sponsored by Dr. William E. Matthews and Phyllis Skinner)
 
Kenton Gould, Oboe, Oboe D'Amore, English Horn
Mr. Gould is an adjunct faculty member at SOU where he teaches Oboe. He studied music performance at California State University at Long Beach from 1977 to 1983, where he was a student of Julliard graduate Greg Donovetsky. Mr. Gould was a member of the Air Force Band of the Northwest in Tacoma, Washington, and toured extensively with their woodwind quintet for 7 years. Currently the English Horn soloist with the North State Symphony in Chico, California, Mr. Gould has also studied with Ray Still, past Principal Oboist of the Chicago Symphony, and the Seattle Symphony oboists Bernard Shapiro and John DeJarnatt.
 
Karen Strand, Oboe
Karen is presently Professor of Oboe at Portland State University, a position she has held since 1989. She is active as a performer throughout the state of Oregon, as a member of the Portland Opera Orchestra, the Linfield Chamber Orchestra and as a participant in various music festivals such as the Oregon Bach Festival and the Oregon Coast Music Festival. Past affiliations include the Peter Britt Music Festival, Cascade Music Festival, Ernest Bloch Music Festival, and the Boise Philharmonic. Other performing engagements as a soloist and chamber musician include venues in San Jose, CA; Menorca, Spain; and Montreux, Switzerland. Ms. Strand studied at the University of Oregon and at the Eastman School of Music, as well as in Reading, England. She has recorded performances on Hanssler Verlag, Centaur, SubPop and Oregon Catholic Press.
 
Andrea Brock, Organ/harpsichord
Andrea is the choir director at South Medford High School, accompanist for the Rogue Valley Chorale, and recently the co-director (with Andrew, her husband) of music at Medford First Christian Church. She graduated from the University of Oregon in 1991, where she earned a degree in Music Education. After teaching music in Roseburg for three years, she returned to the U. of O. to get a Master's Degree in Music Education and Piano Performance-Accompaniment. She studied Piano Accompaniment in Lyon, France in 1995. Andrea was the winner of the Max Reisinger Award for Music Education at the University, and was recently awarded Teacher of the Year at South Medford High School.
 
  

    

To Order Tickets 
call the Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater
(541) 779-3000
or visit the Box Office at
23 S. Central Avenue, 
Medford, OR 97501

Single concert tickets:
   Adults - $25
    Youths & Students - $10
    

 

 

 

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