Rebecca Bailey, Publicity Coordinator/Writer

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 15, 2015

CONTACT:

Rebecca Bailey, Publicity Coordinator/Writer

Hopkins Center for the Arts, Dartmouth College

603.646.3991

Town-gown chorus sings its signature work, Messiah, November 17

Photos (from top): Members of Handel Society of Dartmouth College; photo by Rob Strong; soloists (L-R) Margot Rood, Ryland Angel, Gene Stenger and Paul Max Tipton.

HANOVER, NH—The Handel Society of Dartmouth College, America’s oldest town-gown choral society, returns to its namesake’s best known work, Messiah, with a line-up of guest soloists from among the finest young classical vocalists today. The concert takes place on Tues, Nov 17, 7 pm, in Spaulding Auditorium, Hopkins Center for the Arts.

The soloists include Grammy-winning British countertenor Rylant Angel, who previously performed at the Hop in April 2013 the title role of the new opera, Tesla in New York.

A radiant masterpiece, unrivaled in the oratorio literature, Messiah has grown steadily in popularity since it was first performed in Dublin in 1742, becoming a beloved Christmas tradition. With text from both the Old and New Testaments, and embodying Handel’s own experience of divine inspiration while writing it, Messiah is epic in proportion. Towering and tender, overpowering and personal, the work reinforced Handel’s already prodigious stature and sealed his immortality.

Formed 208 years ago to perform the works of great Baroque masters such as Handel, the Handel Society now performs an exhilarating range of choral and choral-orchestral music, from long-treasured masterworks to stunning contemporary pieces and new commissions. Messiah, however, remains a signature work that the ensemble performs regularly, the previous time in 2011. The ensemble will perform the complete work, Part 1-3, with 53 individual pieces for chorus, soloists and orchestra.

Joining the 100-member chorus of Upper Valley community members and Dartmouth faculty, staff and students are Margot Rood, soprano, hailed for her “luminosity and grace” by The New York Times; Ryland Angel, countertenor, of whose voice Opera magazine wrote, “Cradle one’s self in this delicious sound to imagine how the songs of the heavenly cherubs expressed similar enchantments”;
Gene Stenger, tenor, a Handel oratorio specialist who has been praised by the Cleveland Plain Dealer for his voice’s “sweet vibrancy”; and Paul Max Tipton, bass (“darkly lustrous voice”—Miami Herald).

Rood performs a wide range of repertoire across American stages but is especially known for Baroque music. A frequent soloist with Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society as well as like choruses around the country, she has also sung with the all-star classical vocal ensemble Seraphic Fire and was named a 2015-16 Lorraine Hunt Lieberson Fellow at Boston’s Emmanuel Music, where she is often featured in its nationally known Bach cantata series.

Angel has built an international reputation on both the opera and concert stage, in repertoire ranging from the Baroque to new operatic commissions at major opera houses, concert halls and festivals throughout Europe and the US. Recent concert appearances include Carmina Burana at New York’s Lincoln Center and London’s Southbank Centre and The Messiah with the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston, Singapore Symphony Orchestra and Musica Sacra at Carnegie Hall.

A specialist in the music of Bach and Handel, the Colorado-based Stenger has been a featured soloists with American Bach Soloists Academy; the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart under legendary Baroque conductor Helmuth Rilling, and many ensembles in his home state. Tipton’s repertoire ranges from Baroque to contemporary, with his interpretations of the Bach Passions being acclaimed in particular for their strength and sensitivity. Recent appearances include St. Luke’s in New York City, the New York Philharmonic’s first-ever Bach Festival and Handel’s Dettingen Te Deum at Carnegie Hall.

Founded in 1807 on the then isolated rural campus of Dartmouth, the Handel Society has long since grown beyond its original Baroque repertoire and now performs a wide selection of choral-orchestral masterworks for large ensemble. In recent years, major works included Bach's Matthäus Passion, Messe in h-moll, Johannes Passion, and Weihnachts Oratorium; Verdi’s Requiem; Haydn’s Schöpfungsmesse and Theresienmesse; Brahms’s Ein Deutsches Requiem; Belioz’s L’Enfance du Christ and Roméo et Juliette; Mendelssohn’s Elijah; Händel’s Messiah; Arvo Pärt’s Te Deum; John Adams’s Harmonium; Franz Schubert’s Mass in E-flat Major, Vaughn Williams’s Dona Nobis Pacem and Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms.

The group performs two concerts a year in the Hop’s Spaulding Auditorium and also has made numerous international concert tours, including a 10-concert tour of Europe in 2009 to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Handel’s death.

RELEVANT LINKS

https://hop.dartmouth.edu/Online/fall15handel

http://www.margotrood.com/

http://www.rylandangel.com/

http://www.genestenger.com/

http://paulmaxtipton.com/bio.html

Download high-resolution photos:

https://hop.dartmouth.edu/Online/default.asp?doWork::WScontent::loadArticle=Load&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::article_id=A14ACB33-679C-469F-9E07-5A08469894E7&sessionlanguage=&SessionSecurity::linkName=

CALENDAR LISTING:

Handel’s Messiah by Handel Society of Dartmouth College

The 100-member Handel Society of Dartmouth College returns to its namesake’s best known work, Messiah, with a full orchestra and guest soloists from among the finest young classical vocalists today: soprano Margot Rood, countertenor Ryland Angel, tenor Gene Stenger and Bass Paul Max Tipton. Robert Duff, director.

Tuesday, November 17, 7 pm

Spaulding Auditorium, Hopkins Center for the Arts, Hanover NH

Ticket price

Information: hop.dartmouth.edu or 603.646.2422

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Founded in 1962, the Hopkins Center for the Arts is a multi-disciplinary academic, visual and performing arts center dedicated to uncovering insights, igniting passions, and nurturing talents to help Dartmouth and the surrounding Upper Valley community engage imaginatively and contribute creatively to our world. Each year the Hop presents more than 300 live events and films by visiting artists as well as Dartmouth students and the Dartmouth community, and reaches more than 22,000 Upper Valley residents and students with outreach and arts education programs. After a celebratory 50th-anniversary season in 2012-13, the Hop enters its second half-century with renewed passion for mentoring young artists, supporting the development of new work, and providing a laboratory for participation and experimentation in the arts.