Music Worcester Will Perform Bach's Mass in B Minor in May

Music Worcester will present Bach’s Mass in B Minor, widely considered one of the seminal works in all of classical music, at Mechanics Hall on Sunday, May 5 at 4pm.  Tickets and information on all Music Worcester events available at musicworcester.org.

Music Director Chris Shepherd will lead The Worcester Chorus, along with the Orchestra of Emmanuel Music and featured soloists sopranos Susan Consoli and Kendra Colton; Krista River, alto; Matthew Anderson, tenor; and bass David McFerrin in this performance of Bach’s magnum opus.

“We simply cannot wait for this concert on May 5,” stated Adrien Finlay, Music Worcester Executive Director, “as it brings together the work Dr. Chris Shepard focused on for his dissertation and the legendary music forces of Emmanuel Music, both their Orchestra and these five acclaimed soloists who will also appear. This performance has been several years in the making and will also serve as an announcement of a much larger, multi-year Bach project starting this fall.” 

The Worcester Chorus of Music Worcester has the unique distinction of being one of the oldest on-going choral groups in the United States. Founded in 1858, (just a year before the first public performance of the complete Mass in B Minor,), the 100-member group includes both amateur and professional singers from Worcester County, northern Connecticut, and the Boston area. 

Now in his fifteenth year as artistic director & conductor of The Worcester Chorus, Chris Shepard, also serves as the music director for CONCORA, Connecticut's oldest professional and The Masterworks Chorus in New Jersey.  His choirs have collaborated with a number of orchestras, such as the Juilliard Orchestra, the Orquestra Sinfónica Nacional de Mexico, and the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, and performed in such noted venues as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and Radio City Music Hall in New York, as well as the Royal Festival Hall in London.  Chris spent a dozen years in Sydney, Australia, where he founded the Sydneian Bach Choir and Orchestra. 

Through its performing, teaching, mentoring, and scholarly activities, Emmanuel Music occupies a unique niche: a living laboratory for the music of J. S. Bach. Under Artistic Director Ryan Turner, Emmanuel Music finds new and creative ways for audiences and musicians to engage with the artistic, spiritual, and humanistic aspects of the music of J. S. Bach, the cornerstone of their musical output for its first fifty years.

Susan Consoli has led an active and versatile career throughout the United States and abroad from Bach to Harbison to Gershwin. Ms. Consoli made her Carnegie Hall debut performing Handel’s Messiah under the direction of Chris Shepard with Masterwork Chorus. This marks her 19th season singing with Emmanuel Music.

Kendra Colton is a versatile singer who performs repertoire from Baroque opera and oratorio to contemporary music. She appears regularly in solo recital, chamber music concerts, and with symphony orchestras. Ms. Colton has developed a niche for herself in the oratorio and sacred works of Bach (recording 6 CDs of cantata arias and duets), Handel, Mozart, Haydn, Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Brahms. 

Winner of the 2004 Concert Artists Guild International Competition and a 2007 Sullivan Foundation grant recipient, mezzo-soprano Krista River has appeared as a soloist with the Boston Symphony, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the North Carolina Symphony, Handel & Haydn Society, the Charlotte Symphony, Odyssey Opera, and Boston Baroque.

Matthew Anderson has appeared at the Aldeburgh Festival as a soloist in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and at the Carmel Bach Festival, where he was featured as a 2010 Virginia Best Adams Fellow. Mr. Anderson has twice won prizes in the American Bach Society Competition and received second prize in the Oratorio Society of New York Solo Competition.

Baritone David McFerrin’s opera credits include Santa Fe Opera, Seattle Opera, the Rossini Festival in Germany, and numerous roles with Boston Lyric Opera and other local companies. As concert soloist he has sung with the Cleveland Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, Handel and Haydn Society, and in recital at the Caramoor, Ravinia, and Marlboro Festivals. 

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