Artists

• Masaaki Suzuki

  Conductor

  Since he founded Bach Collegium Japan in 1990, Masaaki Suzuki has established himself as a leading authority on J.S. Bach. As the ensemble’s music director, he regularly takes them to major venues and festivals in Europe and the US, building a reputation for the expressive refinement and truth of his performances.

  In addition to working with renowned period ensembles, such as the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Suzuki conducts diverse repertoire — including works by Brahms, Britten, Fauré, Mahler, Mendelssohn, and Stravinsky — with orchestras such as the Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France and the Bavarian Radio, Danish National Radio, Gothenburg, and Yomiuri Nippon symphony orchestras. This season he visits the Montreal Bach Festival, San Francisco Symphony, Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, and Lahti Symphony Orchestra, as well as the New York Philharmonic.

  Suzuki’s discography on BIS features all of Bach’s major choral and complete harpsichord works. In 2018 Bach Collegium Japan concluded the epic 65-volume recording of the complete sacred and secular cantatas begun in 1995, and recently released the Gramophone Award–winning recordings of the St. John and St. Matthew Passions.

  Bach Collegium Japan was one of three ensembles to perform the cantata cycle at Leipzig’s Bachfest, where they also performed Mendelssohn’s Elijah. Their tours have brought them to US venues including New York City’s Alice Tully Hall and San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall. This autumn they tour Europe, appearing in Wrocław, Cologne, Vienna, Dusseldorf, Lausanne, Paris, Antwerp, Madrid, and The Hague; this winter they visit the US and Canada.

  Also an organist and harpsichordist, Masaaki Suzuki recently recorded Bach’s solo works for both instruments. Born in Kobe, Japan, he graduated from Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music with a degree in composition and organ performance, and went on to study at Amsterdam’s Sweelinck Conservatory under Ton Koopman and Piet Kee. Founder and professor emeritus of Tokyo University of the Arts’s early music department, from 2009 until 2013 he served on the choral conducting faculty at the Yale School of Music and Yale Institute of Sacred Music, where he remains principal guest conductor of Yale Schola Cantorum. He is the recipient of the Leipzig Bach Medal (2012), Royal Academy of Music Bach Prize (2013), and Germany’s Das Verdienstkreuz am Bande des Verdienstordens der Bundesrepublik (2001).

  Learn more about Masaaki Suzuki

• Sherezade Panthaki

  Soprano

  Soprano Sherezade Panthaki enjoys ongoing international collaborations with many of the world’s leading conductors, including Nicholas McGegan, Masaaki Suzuki, Martin Haselböck, Mark Morris, Nicholas Kraemer, Matthew Halls, Stephen Stubbs, and Gary Wedow. Recent seasons have included performances with the New York Philharmonic, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Bach Collegium Japan, Wiener Akademie (Austria), NDR Hannover Radiophilharmonie (Germany), Los Angeles Philharmonic, Boston Early Music Festival, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra (Canada), Minnesota Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Houston Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Mark Morris Dance Group, St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue (New York), The Choir and Orchestra of Trinity Wall Street, and Voices of Music. Panthaki is no stranger to Classical and modern concert repertoire, and is in high demand for her interpretations of works by Mozart, Haydn, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Poulenc, and Orff, as well as numerous new-music premieres. Her discography includes the recently released recording of Handel’s Joseph and his Brethren with McGegan and Philharmonia Baroque, solo Bach cantatas with the Cantata Collective, and Graupner’s opera Antiochus und Stratonica with the Boston Early Music Festival. Born and raised in India, Sherezade Panthaki holds graduate degrees with top honors from the Yale School of Music and the University of Illinois, and a bachelor’s from West Virginia Wesleyan College. She is a founding member and artistic advisor of the Kaleidoscope Vocal Ensemble, the newly established vocal octet celebrating racial and ethnic diversity in performances and educational programs of early and new music. Panthaki is a frequent guest clinician and masterclass leader across the United States. She has taught voice to graduate music students at Yale University, and currently heads the vocal program at Mount Holyoke College.

  
  Learn more about Sherezade Panthaki

• Reginald Mobley

  Countertenor

  American countertenor Reginald Mobley is highly sought after for his interpretations of Baroque, Classical, and modern repertoire. He regularly appears as guest with a wide range of Baroque ensembles, festivals, and orchestras in the United States, appearing at venues such as Carnegie Hall and Walt Disney Concert Hall with organizations including Agave Baroque, Seraphic Fire, Bach Collegium San Diego, San Francisco Early Music Society, Opera Lafayette, Chatham Baroque, Washington Bach Consort, Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, Early Music Vancouver, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Early Music Seattle, and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, as well as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and New York Philharmonic. In Europe, Mobley has been invited to perform with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra, Holland Baroque, Academy of Ancient Music, OH! in Poland, and Orchester Wiener Akademie. He recently performed the role of Ottone in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea in the Budapest Festival Orchestra’s production at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, MUPA (Budapest), and at Teatro di Vicenza. Reginald Mobley’s recordings have received great acclaim. His most recent release is the Grammy Award–nominated American Originals with Agave Baroque ensemble, recorded with Acis Productions. His solo recording debut with ALPHA Classics is scheduled to be in June 2023.

  
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• Leif Aruhn-Solén

  Tenor

  Swedish tenor Leif Aruhn-Solén has been a sought-after singer on the world’s concert and opera stages for more than two decades. He has a passion for the Baroque, often performing the demanding Evangelist parts in J.S. Bach’s passions and Handel’s works spotlighting tenor. He has had success in lead roles in Baroque operas as well as those by Haydn, Mozart, Rossini, and contemporary composers. Leif Aruhn-Solén started his vocal performance studies at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, followed by studies at Oberlin College, where he graduated from the artist diploma program in 2001. He has performed with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Malmö Symphony Orchestra, Les Arts Florissants, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, Freiburger Barockorchester, and Concert Spirituel. On the operatic stage he has sung at Israeli Opera, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Opéra national de Montpellier, Royal Opera in Stockholm, Pinchgut Opera (Sydney), and Opera Queensland. Aruhn-Solén’s recent operatic engagements include the title role in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo with Andrew Lawrence King, Göteborg Baroque, Vasa Baroque, and the Finnish Baroque Orchestra. His extensive discography includes the newly released Bach: Tenor Arias (on Nilento Records), Handel Arias (Edition Lilac), the two complete operas Ifigenia in Aulide by Martín y Soler and Aminta, il rè pastore by Mazzoni (Harmonia Mundi K617), Charpentier’s Judicium Salomonis (Virgin Classics), and Songs of the Heart (Sterling).

  
  Learn more about Leif Aruhn-Solén

• Jonathon Adams

  Baritone

  Born in amiskwaciwâskahikan (Edmonton, Canada), Jonathon Adams is a Cree-Métis, Two-Spirit baritone. They have appeared as a soloist with Masaaki Suzuki, Philippe Herreweghe, Vox Luminis, Ricercar Consort, Servir Antico, Tafelmusik, and B’Rock Orchestra at Opera-Ballet Flanders. In 2021 Adams was named the first-ever artist-in-residence at Early Music Vancouver. In addition to making their New York Philharmonic debut in Handel’s Messiah, their future solo engagements include Messiah with the San Francisco Symphony; concerts with TENET Vocal Artists, Toronto Consort, il Gardellino, Ensemble Arion, and Washington Bach Consort; and recitals with lutenist Lucas Harris. Adams’s recent career highlights include the co-creation of Wreckonciliation with Marion Newman and Yvette Nolan for Amplified Opera, a fellowship with the Netherlands Bach Society, performances with Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra in China and Japan, and J.S. Bach’s St. John Passion in the Chapelle Royale at the Château de Versailles. Jonathon Adams has led workshops at University of British Columbia and Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance, and for the Festival Montréal Baroque. In the 2022–23 season they have become the first Indigenous artist-in-residence at the University of Toronto’s Early Music Department. Adams attended The Royal Academy of Music and the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. They studied with Nancy Argenta, Emma Kirkby, and Edith Wiens.

  
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• Handel and Haydn Society Chorus
       Jonathan Cohen, Artistic Director

  Chorus

  Boston’s Grammy-winning Handel and Haydn Society (H+H) performs Baroque and Classical music with a freshness, vitality, and creativity that inspires all ages. H+H has been captivating audiences for 208 consecutive seasons (the most of any performing arts organization in the United States), reflecting its singular success at converting new audiences to this extraordinary music, generation after generation. After 13 years as artistic director, Harry Christophers has been named H+H’s conductor laureate. Jonathan Cohen has recently been announced as his successor, to begin in the fall of 2023. H+H performed the Hallelujah! chorus from Handel’s Messiah in the Society’s first concert, in 1815, gave the American premiere in 1818, and ever since has been a musical and civic leader in the Boston community. Today, H+H’s Orchestra and Chorus delight more than 50,000 listeners annually with a nine-week subscription series at Boston’s Symphony Hall and other leading venues. Through the Karen S. and George D. Levy Education Program, H+H supports seven youth choirs of singers in grades 2–12, and provides thousands of complimentary tickets to students and communities throughout Boston, ensuring the joy of music is accessible to all. H+H’s numerous free community concerts include an annual commemoration, in collaboration with the Museum of African American History, of the original 1863 Emancipation Proclamation concert on December 31 of every year. H+H has released 16 CDs on the CORO label and has toured nationally and internationally. In all these ways, H+H fulfills its mission to inspire the intellect, touch the heart, elevate the soul, and connect all of us with our shared humanity through transformative experiences with Baroque and Classical music.

  
  Learn more about Handel and Haydn Society Chorus
       Jonathan Cohen, Artistic Director