A Baroque Christmas

As he embarks on his sixth decade on the podium, Nic McGegan—long hailed as “one of the finest baroque conductors of his generation” (The Independent) and “an expert in 18th-century style” (The New Yorker)—is recognized for his probing and revelatory explorations of music of all periods. The 2019–20 season marked the end of his 34-year tenure as Music Director of Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chorale, for which he is now Music Director Laureate. He is Principal Guest Conductor of the Pasadena Symphony and Hungary’s Capella Savaria.  At home in opera houses, McGegan shone new light on close to twenty Handel operas as the Artistic Director and conductor at Germany‘s Göttingen Handel Festival for 20 years (1991-2001), and the Mozart canon as Principal Guest Conductor at Scottish Opera in the 1990s. He was also Principal Conductor of Sweden’s Drottningholm Court Theatre from 1993-1996.

Best known as a baroque and classical specialist, McGegan’s approach—intelligent, infused with joy and never dogmatic, along with an ability to engage players and audiences alike—has made him a pioneer in broadening the reach of historically informed practice beyond the world of period ensembles to conventional symphonic forces. His guest-conducting appearances with major orchestras—including the New York, Los Angeles, and Hong Kong Philharmonics; the Chicago, Dallas, Milwaukee, Toronto, Sydney, and New Zealand Symphonies; the Philadelphia Orchestra; the Royal Northern Sinfonia and Scottish Chamber Orchestras; and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw—often feature Baroque repertoire alongside Classical, Romantic, 20th-century, and even brand-new works. He has led performances of Mendelssohn, Sibelius, Britten, Bach, and Handel with the Utah Symphony; Poulenc and Mozart with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra; and the premiere of Stephen Hough’s Missa Mirabilis with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, paired with Haydn, Brahms, and Mendelssohn. He collaborates frequently with the Mark Morris Dance Group, including the premiere productions of Rameau’s Platée and Handel’s Acis and Galatea.

His 19–20 guest bookings in North America included his returns to the Cleveland Orchestra and the Houston, Baltimore, St. Louis, and New Jersey Symphonies. He also resumed his long tradition of concerts at the Hollywood Bowl with an all-Mozart program in fall 2019, and rejoined the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in the autumn for a program of Rameau, Mozart, and Schubert. Abroad, McGegan led the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and made guest appearances with the Szczecin and Wroclaw Philharmonics. Summer festival appearances included his annual visit to Aspen and La Jolla. Finally, Mr. McGegan visited the Juilliard School to conduct multiple concerts in New York. The plan to take one of those programs, Handel’s Rinaldo, abroad to Göttingen in honor of the Handel Festival’s centenary was a victim of the COVID-19 pandemic and postponed to the 2021 season.

McGegan’s prolific discography includes more than 100 releases spanning five decades. Having recorded over 50 albums of Handel, McGegan has explored the depths of the composer’s output with a dozen oratorios and close to twenty of his operas. Since the 1980s, more than twenty of his recordings have been with Hungary’s Capella Savaria on the Hungaroton label, including groundbreaking opera and oratorio recordings of repertoire by Handel, Monteverdi, Scarlatti, Telemann, and Vivaldi. Recently, the collaboration has produced albums of Kraus, Mendelssohn, Schubert, a 2-CD set of the complete Mozart violin concerti, and Haydn’s Symphonies 79, 80, and 81. McGegan has also released two recent albums with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra under the BIS label: Josef Mysliveček’s Complete Music for Keyboard with soloist Clare Hammond and an album of early horn concertos with soloist Alec Frank-Gemmill. His extensive discography with Philharmonia Baroque includes two GRAMMY nominees, Handel’s Susana and Haydn’s Symphonies 104, 88, and 101.

Mr. McGegan is committed to the next generation of musicians, frequently conducting and coaching students in residencies and engagements at Yale University, the Juilliard School, Harvard University, the Colburn School, Aspen Music Festival and School, Sarasota Music Festival, and the Music Academy of the West. He has been awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Music by the San Francisco Conservatory of Music; an honorary professorship at Georg-August University, Göttingen; and in 2016 was the Christoph Wolff Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Harvard. McGegan’s fun and informative lectures have delighted audiences at Juilliard, Yale Center for British Arts, American Handel Society, and San Francisco Conservatory.

English-born, Nic McGegan was educated at Cambridge and Oxford. He was made an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) “for services to music overseas.” Other awards include the Halle Handel Prize; the Order of Merit of the State of Lower Saxony (Germany); the Medal of Honor of the City of Göttingen, and a declaration of Nicholas McGegan Day, by the Mayor of San Francisco in recognition of his work with Philharmonia.

American soprano Angela Meade is the winner of both the Metropolitan Opera’s 2012 Beverly Sills Artist Award and the 2011 Richard Tucker Award. In 2008 she joined an elite group of history’s singers when, as Elvira in Verdi’s Ernani, she made her professional operatic debut on the Met stage. Since then she has fast become recognized as one of today’s outstanding vocalists, excelling in the most demanding heroines of the 19th-century bel canto repertoire as well as in the operas of Verdi and Mozart.

The 2018–19 season began with Ms. Meade joining forces with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Orchestre Métropolitain for a special performance of Verdi’s Requiem in memory of Jacqueline Desmarais. Domestic opera engagements included a role debut as Margherita in the Robert Carsen production of Boito’s Mefistofeleat the Metropolitan Opera, a company debut with Seattle Opera as Leonora in Verdi’s Il Trovatore, and a return to the Dallas Opera as Alice Ford in Verdi’s Falstaff. Internationally, Ms. Meade returned to Spain in the title role of Rossini’s Semiramide for Asociación Bilbaina de Amigos de la Ópera and revived her portrayal of Leonora in Verdi’s Il Trovatore at Teatro de la Maestranza de Sevilla. Her schedule also included a return to the Palacio de la Opera in A Coruña, Spain and the Sinfónica de Galicia for a concert of operatic highlights, a recital and masterclass with Vancouver’s The Singer Behind the Song series as well as a return to Verdi’s Requiem in Dublin, Ireland, with the RTÉ National Symphony conducted by Michele Mariotti. Ms. Meade ended the season with a gala concert in her debut at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, Italy.

In the 2017–18 season, Meade sang the title roles in Bellini’s Norma and Rossini’s Semiramide (broadcast Live in HD in theaters worldwide) at the Metropolitan Opera, Handel’s Alcina with Washington National Opera, and Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur with Oper Frankfurt. In addition, she sang the role of Giselda in Verdi’s I Lombardi at Teatro Regio di Torino and stepped in as a last-minute replacement as Leonora in performances of Il Trovatore with Deutsche Oper Berlin. Concert performances included Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Yannick Nézét-Séguin and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Seattle Symphony. She gave recitals in Philadelphia, Santa Fe, and Waterford (VA).

During the 2016–17 season, Meade joined the Teatro Real in Madrid as Lucrezia in concert performances of Verdi’s I due Foscari, opposite Plácido Domingo and Michael Fabiano, conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado. She returned to Madrid later in the season to sing the title role in Norma and also returned to the Met for Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, conducted by Plácido Domingo. Ms. Meade gave concert performances of Rossini’s Ermione under the baton of the late Alberto Zedda with the Russian National Orchestra in Moscow, the Opéra de Lyon orchestra in Lyon and in Paris at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. She also returned to the Caramoor Music Festival in their opening night gala and later in the season as Imogene in Bellini’s Il Pirata. Later, she returned to Spain to sing at the Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville in the title role of Donizetti’s Anna Bolena and to Bilbao for Lina in Verdi’s Stiffelio, a debut role. In concert, she sang with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra under Gustavo Dudamel for Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass, made her Japanese debut in Tokyo with the NHK Symphony in Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 conducted by Paavo Järvi, joined the Metropolitan Opera for their 50^th Anniversary at Lincoln Center celebration concert, made her Houston Grand Opera debut in Verdi’s Requiem under conductor Patrick Summers, performed Martinu’s The Epic of Gilgamesh with the Grant Park Music Festival, as well as Washington Concert Opera’s 30^th Anniversary gala, and presented a solo recital with Performance Santa Fe.

Since her momentous Met debut, Meade’s numerous returns to the storied New York house include starring in the title roles of Norma and Sir David McVicar’s new Anna Bolena; as Leonora in Il trovatore; as Alice Ford in a new Falstaff under James Levine, as seen around the world in the Met’s Live in HD series and released on DVD by Decca Classics; and as Mozart’s Countess in Le nozze di Figaro. She also reprised Verdi’s Elvira in a production seen both in the Met’s Live in HD series and as a Great Performances at the Met presentation on PBS-TV. At Carnegie Hall, she headlined Bellini’s rare gem Beatrice di Tenda and appeared in Rossini’s Moïse et Pharaon, while at Lincoln Center she sang Giselda in I Lombardi with the Opera Orchestra of New York.

Other highlights of recent seasons include debuts at the Vienna State Opera as Elena in Verdi’s I vespri siciliani; Deutsche Oper Berlin and Oper Frankfurt, in concert performances of Verdi’s I due Foscari and Puccini’s Edgar, respectively; Italy’s Teatro Regio di Torino as Mathilde in a new production of Guglielmo Tell; Los Angeles Opera and Cincinnati Opera as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni; and, in her first fully-staged title portrayal of Norma, at Washington National Opera, where she was subsequently honored as “2013 Artist of the Year.” She was catapulted to prominence in a 2010 concert performance of Norma at the Caramoor International Music Festival, where she has also triumphed as Hélène in Verdi’s Les vêpres siciliennes, and in the title roles of Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia and Rossini’s Semiramide. In 2010, Meade made her European operatic debut at The Wexford Festival in the title role of Mercadante’s rarely heard Virginia.

On the concert stage, Meade has appeared in recital at the Kennedy Center, and as soloist with the New York Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony, Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain, Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony, and Seattle Symphony, among others. Conductors with whom she has collaborated include Roberto Abbado, Marin Alsop, Marco Armiliato, Maurizio Benini, Will Crutchfield, Thomas Dausgaard, Plácido Domingo, Charles Dutoit, Riccardo Frizza, Manfred Honeck, Sebastian Lang-Lessing, James Levine, Fabio Luisi, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Gianandrea Noseda, Donald Runnicles, Gerard Schwarz, and Osmo Vänskä.

A native of Washington State and an alumna of the Academy of Vocal Arts, Ms. Meade has triumphed in an astounding number of vocal competitions: 57 in all, including many of the opera world’s most important prizes. In addition to being a winner at the 2007 Met National Council Auditions, as documented in The Audition, a film that was subsequently released on DVD by Decca, she was also the first singer to take first prize in both the opera and operetta categories of the prestigious Belvedere Competition.

American mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges, known for her “plush-voiced mezzo-soprano” (The New York Times), has been heralded as “a rising star” (Los Angeles Times), gracing the world’s top opera and concert stages.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the cancellation of Ms. Bridges’s engagements in the title role of Carmen at The Metropolitan Opera and Canadian Opera Company, she has emerged at this unique moment as a leading figure in classical music’s shift toward conversations of inclusion and racial justice in the performing arts. Bridges led a highly successful panel on race and inequality in opera with the Los Angeles Opera that drew international acclaim for being a “conversation of striking scope and candor” (The New York Times). Bridges also performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel for two episodes of the digital SOUND/STAGE series. Other upcoming highlights of Bridges’s 20-21 season include her role debut as Giovanna Seymour in Anna Bolena at Dutch National Opera.

Highlights from her 2019 – 2020 season included her highly-acclaimed debut at The Metropolitan Opera as Nefertiti in a sold-out run of Philip Glass’ opera Akhnaten, as well as a house and role debut with Washington National Opera as Dalila in Samson et Dalila.  Bridges was also originally scheduled to sing the title role of Carmen at Dutch National Opera and was scheduled to make her debut with the Festival d’Aix-en-provence singing Margret in a new production of Wozzeck, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, which were unfortunately cancelled due to the pandemic.

Other recent career highlights include her sold-out Carnegie Hall Recital debut, her role debut of Kasturbai in Satyagraha at LA Opera, her Los Angeles Master Chorale debut, and her debuts at Dutch National Opera and the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. In addition, Ms. Bridges made her Carmen role debut at the San Franciso Opera, creating the role of Josefa Segovia in the world premiere of John Adams’ Girls of the Golden West at San Francisco Opera, her debut as Preziosilla in La Forza del Destino with Opernhaus Zürich, and performances as Carmen in the world premiere of Bel Canto, an opera by Jimmy Lopez, based on the novel by Ann Patchett at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Bridges is a recipient of the prestigious 2018 Sphinx Medal of Excellence Award, a 2016 Richard Tucker Career Grant, first prize winner at the 2016 Francisco Viñas International Competition, first prize winner at the 2015 Gerda Lissner Competition, a recipient of the 2013 Sullivan Foundation Award, a 2012 Marian Anderson award winner, the recipient of the 2011 Sara Tucker Study Grant, the recipient of the 2009 Richard F. Gold Grant from The Shoshana Foundation, and the winner of the 2008 Leontyne Price Foundation Competition. J’Nai completed a three-year residency with the Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago, represented the United States at the prestigious BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition and was a Young Artist at the Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown, New York.

A native of Tacoma, Washington, she earned her Master of Music degree from Curtis Institute of Music, and her Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance from the Manhattan School of Music.

Opera News praises tenor Chad Shelton for one of his trademark roles, claiming that his “Don José was the dramatic heart of this production; this was a performance that grew in complexity as he struggled to reconcile the forces of loyalty, lust and fate. Shelton owned the final scene, as his character descended into despair fueled by psychotic obsession. His bright tone amplified the intensity of the last gripping moments.” In the 2020–21 season, he returns to the Metropolitan Opera as Father Grenville in Dead Man Walking. His return to Utah Opera and to the role of Erik in Der fliegende Holländer have been postponed due to the COVID-19 as has the Goossens version of Handel’s Messiah with the Houston Symphony, with which he will now sing a concert of classical holiday favorites. Also cancelled by the pandemic was his role debut as Herod in Salome in his return to Houston Grand Opera, at which he sang the Witch of Endor in Saul in the earlier part of the season as well as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with Inland Northwest Opera.

He has joined the Opéra National de Lorraine numerous times, including for the title role of Idomeneo, Giasone in Cherubini’s Medea, Don José in Carmen, Jack in Gerald Barry’s The Importance of Being Earnest, Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Guido Bardi in Eine florentinische Tragödie, Lechmere in Owen Wingrave, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, and the title role of Candide. He is a frequent leading presence with Houston Grand Opera and has joined the company previously for Pollione in Norma, Aegisth in Elektra, Don José in Carmen, Froh in Das Rheingold, Cavaradossi in Tosca, Alfredo in La traviata, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Fredrik Egerman in A Little Night Music, Camille in Die lustige Witwe, Janek in The Makropolous Case, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Captain Vere in Billy Budd, and Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore. Acclaimed for his performances of contemporary works, he recently triumphed in leading tenor roles in the world premiere of O’Regan’s The Phoenix and Chairman Mao in Adams’ Nixon in China with the company, following his debut of the latter with San Diego Opera. He also created the roles of Nico in Lysistrata and Laurie in Little Women (released on the Ondine label and broadcast on PBS), both by Mark Adamo, Charles II in Floyd’s Prince of Players—also sung with Florentine Opera–as well as Ulises in Catán’s Salsipuedes in addition to singing Arcadio in the latter composer’s Florencia en el Amazonas, all with Houston Grand Opera as well. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut and a return as Roderigo in Otello and has also joined the company for its productions of Elektra and Cyrano de Bergerac.

He has also sung Sir Edgar Aubry in Der Vampyr and the Prince in The Love of Three Oranges with Grand Théâtre de Genève, Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Théâtre de Caen; Tamino in Die Zauberflöte with Grand Théâtre de Genève, Opera Pacific; further performances of to the title role of Idomeneo with Théâtre de Caen and Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg; Erik in Der fliegende Holländer with Boston Lyric Opera; Pollione in Norma with North Carolina Opera, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with Opéra National de Bordeaux and Lyric Opera Baltimore; Don José in Carmen with Opéra-Théâtre de Metz, Seiji Ozawa Music Academy, Austin Opera, Portland Opera, Utah Opera, Festival Classique at the Hague, Pensacola Opera, and Opera Pacific; and Alfredo in La traviata with Austin Lyric Opera, Arizona Opera, Utah Opera, Nevada Opera, Opera Pacific, Central City Opera, Hyogo Performing Arts Center in Japan, and Pensacola Opera. He has also joined Central City Opera for a host of other roles including further performances of Laurie in Little Women, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Fernando in Granados’ Goyescas, Cavaradossi in Tosca, and Reverend Paris in the Crucible.

Other career highlights include Pilade in Ermione and further performances of Nico in Lysistrata and Laurie in Little Women with New York City Opera; E. Porter Alexander in the world premiere of Glass’ Appomattox with San Francisco Opera; Hindley in Floyd’s Wuthering Heights with Florentine Opera; Duca in Rigoletto and Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor with Austin Lyric Opera; Roméo in Roméo et Juliette with Madison Opera; Alfred in Die Fledermaus and Jacquino in Fidelio with Dallas Opera; Leo in Blitzstein’s Regina with Lyric Opera of Chicago and Florida Grand Opera. He has also sung Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail with Opera Australia and Portland Opera; Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni with Opera Colorado; and Ferrando in Così fan tutte with Arizona Opera, Kentucky Opera, and at the Hyogo Performing Arts Center. His contemporary repertoire also includes further performances of Little Women with Central City Opera, Chautauqua Opera, and Opera Omaha; Tom Rakewell in The Rake’s Progress with the Teatro Municipal de São Paulo and Lyric Opera of Kansas City; Sam in Floyd’s Susannah with Chautauqua Opera; and George in Danielpour’s Margaret Garner with Cincinnati Opera and the Opera Company of Philadelphia.

Mr. Shelton is equally in demand as a concert soloist and has joined the Minnesota Orchestra for Mozart’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Janáček’s The Diary of One Who Vanished, as well as the title role in concert performances of Candide. His performances of Respighi’s Belkis, Queen of Sheba Suite and Argento’s Le tombeau d’Edgar Poe, also with the Minnesota Orchestra, have been released on the Reference label. He has sung Siegel’s Kaddish with the Houston Symphony; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Utah Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, and Colorado Music Festival and Mozart’s Requiem with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir; Verdi’s Requiem with the Brussels Philharmonic; Handel’s Messiah with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra and the Houston Symphony; and a gala concert of opera favorites with the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra.

He is the recipient of a Richard Tucker Foundation Career Grant and the Richard F. Gold Career Grand from the Shoshana Foundation. He holds a Master of Music degree and Artist diploma from the Yale University School of Music and a Bachelor of Music degree from Louisiana State University.

Morris Robinson is considered one the most interesting and sought-after basses performing today.

Mr. Robinson regularly appears at the Metropolitan Opera, where he is a graduate of the Lindemann Young Artist Program. He debuted there in a production of Fideli and has since appeared as Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte (both in the original production and in the children’s English version), Ferrando in Il Trovatore, the King in Aida, and in roles in Nabucco, Tannhäuser, and the new productions of Les Troyens and Salome. He has also appeared at the San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Dallas Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Seattle Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Theater of St. Louis, Teatro alla Scala, Volksoper Wien, Opera Australia, and the Aix-en-Provence Festival. His many roles include the title role in Porgy and Bess, Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte, Osmin in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Ramfis in Aida, Zaccaria in Nabucco, Sparafucile in Rigoletto, Commendatore in Don Giovanni, Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlos, Timur in Turandot, the Bonze in Madama Butterfly, Padre Guardiano in La Forza del Destino, Ferrando in Il Trovatore, and Fasolt in Das Rheingold.

Also a prolific concert singer, Mr. Robinson’s recently made his debut with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in performances of the Mahler Symphony No. 8 with its music director, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyl. His many concert engagements have included appearances with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (where he was the 2015–2016 Artist in Residence), San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony, L’Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, Met Chamber Orchestra, Nashville Symphony Orchestra, São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, New England String Ensemble, and at the BBC Proms and the Ravinia, Mostly Mozart, Tanglewood, Cincinnati May, Verbier, and Aspen Music Festivals. He also appeared in Carnegie Hall as part of Jessye Norman’s HONOR! Festival. In recital he has been presented by Spivey Hall in Atlanta, the Savannah Music Festival, the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Mr. Robinson’s solo album, Going Home, was released on the Decca label. He also appears as Joe in the DVD of the San Francisco Opera production of Show Boat, and in the DVDs of the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Salome and the Aix-en-Provence Festival’s production of Mozart’s Zaide.

This season, Mr. Robinsons returns to both the Michigan Opera Theater and the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Haggen in Twilight: Gods, an innovative production of Gotterdämmerung created by Yuval Sharon. He also sings Sparafucile in a special performance of Rigolettto produced by the Tulsa Opera. He is also a member of the Atlanta Opera’s Company Players for the 20–21 season where he will appear in various concerts, recitals, and educations outreach events throughout the year.

An Atlanta native, Mr. Robinson is a graduate of The Citadel and received his musical training from the Boston University Opera Institute. He was recently named Artistic Advisor to the Cincinnati Opera.