Meet Our Dvorak Soloists

On May 1, 2021, at 7 PM ET, St. George’s Choral Society will debut our online concert featuring music of Dvorak. Tickets are available online for $10, and also allow access to the concert after the debut.

Here are our talented soloists and host:

Naomi Lewin, host, served as an announcer at WQXR in New York for six years, after cutting her radio teeth at WGUC in Cincinnati, Ohio and WKYU Bowling Green, Kentucky. At WQXR, she hosted afternoon drive-time classical music, and led debates on hot topics in the music world as host of the podcast Conducting Business. She also emceed live events – both audio and video – and produced recorded specials ranging from Stephen Foster: America’s Bard to Nutcracker Sweets. Radio audiences around the world heard her host opera broadcasts from the Glimmerglass Festival. https://www.naomilewin.com/

Soprano Elizabeth Van Os is one of New York City’s most dynamic performers, making waves not only as soloist and ensemble member but also as a co-founder of the non-profit Pleiades Project. For her efforts, opera-zine parterre noted her “striking impression,” with additional praise from Voce di Meche for her “lovely, affecting” voice and “justifiable passion.” Born Elizabeth Smith, she holds performance degrees from the Eastman School of Music and Brigham Young University in Idaho. Learn more by visiting elizabethvanos.com.

Miriam Kushel has been described as "brilliantly confident" in Opera News. She has performed as a studio artist at Sarasota Opera where she covered the roles of Elizabeth in Don Carlos and the title role of Tosca and with Opera New Jersey as cover for Magda Sorel in Menotti's The Consul. NYC appearances have included the title role of Suor Angelica with dell’Arte Opera Ensemble, Chelsea Opera's On Rosenstrasse (world premier), Amela in Un Ballo in Maschera for renowned opera diva Martina Arroyo, and the world premiere of Great Expectations, in a role written for her. Miriam has performed with Glimmerglass Opera, New York Lyric Opera Theatre, Bard Summerscape, Motor City Lyric Opera, and Ohio University (as a guest artist). Past roles include Lady Billows (Albert Herring), Mrs. Grose (Turn of the Screw), Mother (Hansel and Gretel), Mother (Amahl and the Night Visitors), Old Lady (Candide), Queen (The Goose Girl), Clara (Signor Deluso), Forrester’s Wife/Owl (Cunning Little Vixen, in Czech) and Terentia (The Beautiful Bridegroom, NY premier).

Christopher Carter, tenor, studied under Randall Scarlata and earned a performance degree from West Chester University of Pennsylvania. While attending graduate school at the University of Toronto, he studied with Mary Morrison. Chris has performed with the Toronto International Bach Festival (under the direction of Helmuth Rilling), the Toronto Bach Consort (Yannick Nézet-Seguin), the Festival Ensemble with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (under Peter Ouindjian). Chris has performed and toured throughout southern Germany singing Benjamin Britten’s “War Requiem” with the Festival Ensemble Stuttgart, under the direction of Helmuth Rilling. In the same year, as a member of the Choir of St. James Cathedral (Toronto), he was a performance soloist at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, South Africa. Chris has also been an active singer in the New York City metro area for 12 years, performing at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Trinity Wall Street, and Bard College.As a professional chorister, Chris has been a member of St. Bartholomew’s Choir since 2010.

Praised by The New York Times as having a “beautiful sound,” Filipino-American bass-baritone Enrico Lagasca performs oratorio, opera, chamber music, and recitals with repertoire from early to contemporary music both as soloist and chorister across the United States and internationally. In New York, Enrico regularly performs as soloist and chorister with the Choir of Trinity Wall Street, Choir of St. Ignatius Loyola, Bach Choir of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, St. Thomas Choir of Men and Boys, Musica Sacra, Cathedral Choir of St. John the Divine, Bard Festival Chorus, New York Choral Artists, TENET Vocal Artists, Clarion Music Society, and The Metropolitan Opera Chorus. Across America, Enrico performs with the Santa Fe Desert Chorale in New Mexico, Conspirare and Ensemble VIII in Austin, Texas, Skylark Vocal Ensemble and Kaleidoscope Vocal Ensemble in Massachusetts, Bach Collegium San Diego in California, Spire Vocal Ensemble in Kansas City, Missouri, The Thirteen in Washington D.C., and Seraphic Fire in Miami, Florida. In 2013, he was a finalist in the Das Lied International Song Competition in Berlin, Germany and in 2015 in the 24th International Vocal Arts Competition Le Centre Lyrique in Clermont-Ferrand, France. In 2019, he was selected to be a participant in the inaugural of Renee Fleming's Song Studio at Carnegie Hall.

Meet the Soloists

Learn more about the soloists for our performance of Dvorak's Requiem on Sunday, November 19 at 2:30 pm:

Praised by The Washington Post for her “clarion” voice with “a wealth of shades," French and Canadian soprano Chloé Olivia Moore makes her role debut this season as as Liù in Turandot with both Dayton Opera and Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre, and sings performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with both The Orchestra Now and the Rogue Valley Symphony. Last season she sang Nedda in I pagliacci (Dayton Opera), Donna Anna in Don Giovanni (Bar Harbor Music Festival), and made her Kennedy Center debut in the Art Song Discovery Series; with Vocal Arts DC. Other recent performances include: Leïla in Les pêcheurs de perles (Dayton Opera) and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni (Castleton Festival). While a Resident Artist at the prestigious Academy of Vocal Arts she performed numerous roles including: Violetta in La Traviata, Manon Massenet’s Manon, Tatyana in Eugene Onegin, Adina in L'elisir d’amore, Mélisande in Pelléas et Mélisande, Antonia in Les contes d’Hoffman, Garcias in Don Quichotte, Zdenka in Arabella, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, and Ms. Brown in the world premiere of The Scarlet Letter. On the concert stage, Ms. Moore has performed Rossini’s Stabat Mater, Poulenc’s Gloria, Mozart’s Requiem, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Haydn’s Creation. Ms. Moore has won top prizes with the George London Foundation (George London Award), Gerda Lissner Foundation (1st Prize), Giulio Gari Foundation (2nd Prize), Liederkranz Foundation (3rd Prize, Opera Division), Loren Zachary Vocal Competition (3rd Prize), and in her native Canada with the Prix Jeune Espoir Lyrique Canadien with Les Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques.

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Hailed as a “vibrant stage personality” matched with a “sizable creamy mezzo,” Carla Jablonski’s vocal versatility has captivated audiences across the globe. Ms. Jablonski was most recently praised for inhabiting the title role in Dido and Aeneas with “impressive sophistication.” She returns to The Metropolitan Opera this season to sing in productions of Cavalleria Rusticana, Parsifal and Verdi’s Requiem. She also sings as soloist in Dvorak’s Requiem. Past seasons include her role debut as Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte followed by performances of the Secretary in The Consul with Florida Grand Opera, with whom she also sang Annina in La Traviata and 3rd Lady in Die Zauberflöte. Previously, she’s sung various roles with Wolf Trap Opera, Opera Santa Barbara, Central City Opera, and Chautauqua. Equally at home on the concert stage and an advocate of new music, Ms. Jablonski made her Lincoln Center debut at Alice Tully Hall singing Five Songs by Charles Ives arranged for orchestra by John Adams, followed by her Carnegie Hall debut as the alto soloist in Handel’s Messiah. She also has sung as a featured soloist with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, New York Festival of Song, Caramoor International Music Festival, and American Opera Projects, among others. She holds a Master of Music from The Juilliard School and a Bachelor of Music from Manhattan School of Music and is a recipient of a Drama Desk Award.

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Praised by Opera News for his “galvanizing presence,” this season tenor Jonathan Tetelman makes his New Orleans Opera debut as Marco in Chadwick and Barnet’s Tobasco. He also joins both the Berkshire Opera Festival and Gulf Shore Opera for Duca in Rigoletto, the Metropolitan Opera’s roster for their production of Norma, and sings Dvorak’s Requiem with St. George’s Choral Society. Last season, Mr. Tetelman sang his first performances of Rodolfo in La bohème with the Fujian Grand Theatre in China, joined the Milan Festival Orchestra in Lake Como, Italy for Verdi’s Requiem, the Orchestra Now for Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius, and made his Carnegie Hall debut with the New England Symphonic Ensemble for Mozart’s Coronation Mass. Additionally, he joined St. George’s Choral Society for Dvorak’s Stabat Mater, Gulf Shore Opera for concert performances including selections of Alfredo in La Traviata, Rodolfo in La bohème, Duca in Rigoletto, and was a finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions New York District. Other recent performances include: Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus(Martina Arroyo Foundation); Gnecchi’s Cassandra (Teatro Grattacielo); and Steven Sankey in Weil’s Street Scene, Freddy Eynsford-Hill in My Fair Lady, and Alfredo in La Traviata (Opera North). Mr. Tetelman is the First Prize winner in the 2016 New York Lyric Opera Competition, 2016 prize-winning finalist in the Mildred Miller (Opera Theater of Pittsburgh) Competition, and was a semi-finalist in both the Giulio Gari International Vocal Competition and the Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition.

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A recipient of the prestigious Lenore Annenberg Fellowship in the Arts, baritone Alex Lawrence made his Vancouver Opera debut in the 2017 season as the title role in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, and will debut the role of Il Conte in the same opera in the 17/18 season with Opera Naples. Formerly a member of the ensembles of Theater Basel and Opernhaus Zürich, Lawrence made his European debut in Switzerland singing The Hunter in Rusalka, Moralès in Carmen and L’Ami in Debussy’s rarely performed La Chute de la Maison Usher. Since then, he went on to make several further role debuts in Zürich, including Silvio in Pagliacci under Alexander Vedernikov, Ned Keene in Peter Grimes under Erik Nielsen, and the three baritone roles of Bohuslav Martinu’s rarely performed Juliette, under Fabio Luisi. Previous noteworthy engagements included his principal role debut with the Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown, NY, singing Belfiore in Verdi’s King For a Day, of which The New York Times noted the debut of a “sensational” new talent. In 2014, Lawrence performed in a high profile gala concert for the 85th Anniversary of the Ópera de Bellas Artes alongside legendary tenor Franzisco Araiza, soprano Maria Katzarava and bass Eric Halfvarson. He made his Lucerne Festival debut as Don Quixote in Manuel De Falla’s El Retable del Maese Pedro conducted by Clement Power, performed as the baritone soloist in Mendelssohn’s Die Erste Walpurghisnacht with the Orchestra Symphonique de Mulhouse, and debuted the role of Sam in Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti for the opening festival of Opernhaus Zürich’s 2012/13 season. A 2007 B.M. graduate of Northwestern University, Alex Lawrence received an Artist Diploma from the Academy of Vocal Arts in 2011, and has been a top prizewinner in several major international competitions.

Our 2017-2018 Season

It's almost time to start singing once more. Our bicentennial year comes to an exciting close with our fall concert of the Dvořák Requiem. We welcome new members. Contact info@stgeorgeschoralsociety.org to set up an audition and join in the celebration. 

Keep singing with us as we close out the season with a new collaboration and our annual Summer Choral Festival.

Fall Concert with Orchestra
Sunday, November 19 at 2:30 PM
Church of the Incarnation, Madison Avenue at 35th Street
Dvořák: Requiem, opus 89

For the final program of our bicentennial year, we present a choral masterpiece: Dvořák’s Requiem. The connection between composer Antonín Dvořák and St. George’s Choral Society is rich and interesting, including a link with American icon Harry Burleigh. This program includes a complete performance of the Requiem, a piece St. George's Choral Society debuted in America in 1892. For full orchestra, large chorus and soloists, it is a fitting conclusion to the bicentennial celebration of St. George’s Choral Society.

Spring Concert with Orchestra
Sunday, April 29 at 2:30 PM
Church of the Incarnation, Madison Avenue at 35th Street
Verdi: Requiem

St. George’s Choral Society joins forces with another group of highly skilled amateurs, the Greenwich Village Orchestra, in a performance of Verdi’s Requiem. Led by Music Director Barbara Yahr, this 70-person orchestra has brought orchestral music to New York City for more than 25 years. Barbara Yahr and Matthew Lewis have been discussing the possibility of a collaborative program for some time now and it seems this Verdi program is the perfect fit. The Verdi Requiem offers many rewarding elements, for both choral singers and orchestral players. This monumental work is always an audience favorite.

Summer Choral Festival
Saturday, June 16 at 7:00 PM
Rehearsals begin June 5
Church of the Incarnation, Madison Avenue at 35th Street
Bach: Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden, BWV 230
Schubert: Mass in C, D 452

The Summer Festival is a program of works for choir and strings. Bach’s motet, Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden, BWV 230, is the only one not scored for double chorus. Singers will enjoy performing this contrapuntal masterpiece in German. The choral works of Bach are a great way to get a choir to exercise their agility and clarity! The Schubert Mass in C is a refreshing alternative to his popular Mass in G. Full of lyricism, brilliance, and charm, this piece is a delight to sing, and a refreshing program for any audience. The combination of these two works will be an enticing program for summer singers.

Notes on Our Spring 2017 Concert

On April 30, 2017 at 2:30 pm, we perform Dvořák's Stabat Mater. 

Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904) started composing his setting of the Stabat Mater in 1876 and completed it a year later. The death of his daughter, Josefa, drew the composer to this poetic and somewhat mystical text. The death of his surviving two children followed, bringing the composer back to complete the piece in 1877. These tragic losses resulted in this moving and highly emotional work we hear today.

Dvořák’s Stabat Mater is not harmonically complex, nor is it a difficult work to appreciate. It is, rather, immediately accessible to the listener (and performer). While these are often trademarks of Dvořák’s music, they are especially clear in this piece. The result is a piece that feels personal, often intimate, with folk-like qualities that make it sound familiar, even for first-time listeners. The only repeated thematic material is found in the first and last movements. Otherwise, each movement is a world unto itself, with no thematic relationship to anything around it. This makes the recall of the opening material even more striking when heard at the beginning of the last movement.

The vocal writing, especially for the soloists, is unique. Dvořák requires singers of ample voice to meet the vocal challenges of the phrases and to balance with the chorus and orchestra, but he also requires that these four soloists sing together as an ensemble. The second movement quartet is an example of sophisticated writing for a vocal ensemble, as are the opening and closing movements.

St. George’s Choral Society returns to its history with our performance of this piece. Dvořák has played such an important part in the choir’s existence, including the US premiere of the Requiem, along with early performances of the Stabat Mater in New York City when the work was relatively new. It is truly a wonderful way to celebrate 200 years of choral music!