Soloists

Verdi: Messa da Requiem
Sunday, May 23, 2010; 4PM
Palace Theatre, 61 Atlantic Street, Stamford, CT 06901
Call the Palace Theatre directly for tickets to this performance at 203-325-4466.

To listen to exciting sound clips of our soprano, click this link: http://www.valeriebernhardt.com/clients/bernhardtv/nav/frameset.shtml

To listen to our mezzo singing the LIBER SCRIPTUS from the VERDI, click this link:
http://guybarzilayartists.com/upload/audio_Quintero.mp3

Valerie Bernhardt, Soprano

Soprano Valerie Bernhardt has a long and rapidly growing list of operatic performances to her credit. After earning two graduate degrees in voice from The Juilliard School, she trained in several opera programs and earned career grants in numerous opera competitions. This season she appears on the roster of the Metropolitan Opera as a cover in From the House of the Dead by Janáček. This past summer she made her German operatic debut as Abigaille in Verdi’s Nabucco.
Ms. Bernhardt made her Carnegie Hall debut with Eve Queler’s Opera Orchestra of New York in Donizetti’s Adelia and her New York City Opera debut in Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen. She covered the role of Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello and the title role of Anna Bolena with the Opera Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall. She also made several appearances at Carnegie Hall with the St. Cecilia Chorus and Orchestra to perform Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem, Mozart’s Requiem, and C.P.E. Bach’s Magnificat. She performed as Mimi in Puccini’s La Bohème with the Pittsburgh Opera and the Boheme Opera of New Jersey, and in numerous other performances, notably at Carnegie Hall with the St. Cecilia Chorus and Orchestra. She is on the voice faculty of Montclair State University in Upper Montclair, New Jersey.

Ann McMahon Quintero, Mezzo-Soprano

Mezzo-Soprano Ann McMahon Quintero has been praised for her exceptionally warm, smooth mezzo. An honors graduate in music from Northwestern University, where her performances included Ravel’s Shéhérazade and Bach’s Magnificat and Mass in B Minor. She began the 2009-10 season with her first performances of Verdi’s Requiem with the Cathedral Choral Society in Washington DC’s National Cathedral. She has sung Auntie in Peter Grimes at the Washington National Opera and Dame Quickly in excerpts of Falstaff at the National Endowment for the Arts Opera Honors Inaugural Awards Concert at the Kennedy Center.
Ms. Quintero has performed extensively abroad. She is an accomplished oratorio soloist with frequent performances nationwide. She was a 2002 Grand National Finalist in the prestigious Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and made her first appearance on the company’s stage in the Grand Finals Concert under the direction of Maestro Julius Rudel. Her list of awards and grants is extensive—she was a 2006 winner of the Sara Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation, the second place winner of the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation’s International Vocal Competition, plus several others.

John Chandler Bernard, Tenor

Tenor John Chandler Bernard has a varied repertoire and is noted for his thoughtful interpretive gift. His performances garner critical acclaim, such as at Light Opera Oklahoma in Tulsa for his roles of Henrik in A Little Night Music and Marco in The Gondoliers. His performance of Lindoro in L’Italiana in Algieri at Dicapo Opera Theatre moved Judith Malafronte of Opera News to write, “John Bernard negotiated his killer arias with finesse and skill, all while mincing garlic, stirring sauce and tossing pizza dough….”
In 2009 Mr. Bernard was the soloist in Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle at the glorious St. Thomas Church on Fifth Avenue in New York City. He also sang in Handel’s Judas Maccabeaus at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church and in Mozart’s Tito and Idomeneo with the Hudson Valley Singers. Mr. Bernard has performed with the Glimmerglass, Sarasota, Utah, El Paso, Toledo, Boston Lyric, Ohio Light, Maine Grand, and Longwood Operas and the Boston Academy of Music. He has had roles in Little Women, The Merry Widow, Le Nozze di Figaro, Goyescas, The Pirates of Penzance and others. His is indeed an extensive and varied musical career.

Kevin Deas, Bass

Bass Kevin Deas has gained international acclaim as one of America’s leading basses. His signature portrayal is of the title role in Porgy and Bess, which he has sung with several major orchestras and in music festivals nationwide. This season he appears in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Rochester and Buffalo Philharmonics, the Brahms Requiem with the Hartford Symphony, the Messiah with the Minnesota Orchestra and Musica Sacra, and Verdi’s Requiem with the Vermont Symphony.
In the 2008/09 season Mr. Deas returned to the New York Philharmonic in Ravel’s L’enfant et Les Sortilèges under Lorin Maazel, then sang in the world premiere of Derek Bermel’s The Good Life with the Pittsburgh Symphony under Leonard Slatkin. Other return engagements brought Mr. Deas to the Atlanta, Pacific, Virginia, Boston Baroque, and Winnipeg Symphonies. He also has a varied list of recordings that includes Dave Brubeck’s To Hope! with the Cathedral Choral Society.