Candlelight: Handel’s Messiah
Saturday, December 17, 2022
Westview Presbyterian Church
Begins at 4:00pm
About the Concert
Celebrate the holiday season with our annual Candlelight concert, this year featuring the orchestra, chorus, and soloists in the moving and joyous Messiah oratorio by George Frederick Handel.
GEORGE FREDERIC HANDEL
Part I
Part II
Part III
Featured Artists
Dawna Rae Warren, Soprano
Soprano, Dawna Rae Warren is an Artist Diploma student at CU Boulder
under the tutelage of Jennifer Bird-Arvidsson. Her most recent credits
include: Lady with a Hand Mirror in Postcard From Morocco, Abigail in
The Crucible, Atalanta in The Tale of Serse , Barbarina in Figaro in Four
Quartets, Lucy in Threepenny Opera, Papagena and Königen der Nacht
in Die Zauberflöte , and Peep-Bo in The Mikado.
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On the concert stage she has appeared with the Baldwin Wallace Bach
Choir in the St. Matthew’s Passion, St. John’s Passion, and Brahms’
Ein Deutsches Requiem as well as with Cleveland City Music in Verdi’s
Requiem, and with the CU Boulder Choir as the guest soprano soloist in
BWV 172, Erschallet ihr Lieder, erklinget, ihr Saiten.
Elijah English, Counter Tenor
Elijah English, countertenor, is pleased to be making his debut with Longmont
Symphony Orchestra for this performance of Handel’s Messiah. His most
recent operatic roles include Joan of the Real (Kamala Sankaram’s Joan of the
City) with the CU New Opera Workshop, as well as Parpignol (Puccini’s La
Bohème) and Ottone (Handel’s Agrippina) with Eklund Opera.
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In the past year,
Elijah was awarded an Encouragement Award in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont
Competition for the Colorado-Wyoming District and was a finalist in the
Ekstrand Memorial Competition for graduate students.Elijah holds a bachelor
of music degree in choral music education from Appalachian State University
and is currently earning a master of music degree in voice performance and
pedagogy from the University of Colorado Boulder where he studies voice with
Professor Abigail Nims and Dr. John Seesholtz.
Joseph Gaines, Tenor
A highly energetic, vibrant, and extremely versatile singer and actor, tenor Joseph
Gaines has been described as “such an exuberant performer you couldn’t
help but smile” (The Minneapolis Star-Tribune). He created the role of Dan
Leno in Opera Philadelphia’s world premiere of ELIZABETH CREE, by the
Pulitzer Prize-winning duo of Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell; Opera News
wrote that the role “offered a field day to light tenor Joseph Gaines, who met
the challenge with vocal skill and superb physicality.”
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Gaines has been a regular guest artist at Pittsburgh Opera, Utah Opera, Central City Opera, Hawaii
Opera Theatre, Opera Colorado, and many others. As a concert soloist, he
has been featured with The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Detroit Symphony,
The Charlotte Symphony, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and many
period and chamber ensembles. Recent engagements include soloist with The
Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado,
as well as Stuart Ullman in THE SHINING with Opera Colorado (2022). He
returns to Opera Colorado in 2023 as the Emperor in TURANDOT. Gaines
studied singing at both the University of Houston and the Felix Mendelssohn
-Bartholdy Hochschule für Musik und Theater, Leipzig.
Sam Wetzel, Bass-Baritone
Sam Wetzel is a first year Masters student at CU Boulder studying under Andrew Garland. Growing up on a sheep ranch in rural Pennsylvania ingrained in him the type of dedication it takes to create beautiful art. Sam's voice has been described by Big Island Music as "Hav(ing) a resonance that (brings) the energy up from the floor throughout the theater - physically vibrating and moving the 'chi' in the room!". Recently, Sam has been seen as Marcello in CU’s production of La bohème. He has also been Jupiter in 𝘖𝘳𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘜𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥, Count Almaviva in 𝘓𝘦 𝘕𝘰𝘻𝘻𝘦 𝘥𝘪 𝘍𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘰, Melisso in 𝘈𝘭𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘢, and premiered...
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...the role of Dad in Jake Heggie's 𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢 99. Sam is also a member of the Colorado Bach Ensemble, and engages in the creation of art song regularly, notably performing Schubert's 𝘞𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘪𝘴𝘦 in recital with pianist Jason Aquila....
