Handel Week Festival 2012 Performers

Dennis E. Northway, Artistic Director

Dr. Dennis E. Northway (HW 2000 - 2012) is a very active professional musician. He is presently the parish musician at Grace Episcopal Church, where he conducts five choirs. He is a member and past dean of the venerable Chicago Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, former panelist for the Illinois Arts Council, and was chorus master and conductor at Light Opera Works for nearly fifteen years. He has been music director at St. Patrick's High School in Chicago, choral director at London Middle School in Wheeling and associate professor and director of choral activities at VanderCook College of Music, Chicago. In addition, he was a founder of Fleur de Lys, a professional chamber choir originally dedicated to the music of the Romantic Age, a former artistic director of the Park Forest Singers and conductor and Artistc Director of the Lutheran Choir of Chicago. He is currently chairing the 2012 convention for the Organ Historical Society, has served as chorusmaster for the Chicago Folks Operetta, and is now a consultant and technician at the Buzzard Organ Company in Champaign, Illinois.

Thomas Yang, Concertmaster

Thomas Yang (HW 2000 - 2012) is Handel Week's founding concertmaster. He has been concertmaster for the Lake Forest Symphony, Chicago Sinfonietta, and Illinois Chamber Symphony. He is a member of the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra and has performed with Chicago Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Symphony II, Basically Bach and other orchestral organizations.

He founded Chicago Musical Connection, a musical contracting agency and has performed with and contracted for Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Natalie Cole and John Denver. He is one of five founding board members of Metropolis Symphony Orchestra and first violinist of the Chicago Musical String Quartet.

Henriët Fourie

Henriët Fourie, a native of South Africa, now lives in Chicago where she is in demand as a soloist onstage and as a collaborator with chamber musicians and composers. From the opera stage to the concert hall in styles from early music to new music, she feels equally at home.

Some of her most notable solo oratorio appearances include Gloria (Vivaldi), Oratorio de Noël (Saint-Saëns), Coronation Mass in C Major, K. 317 (Mozart) and Carmina Burana (Orff). On the opera and musical theater stage she has performed the roles of Monica (The Medium), Adele (Die Fledermaus), Fortune (Coronation of Poppea), and Lady Merril (Once Upon a Mattress). She also recently performed George Crumb's 20th century masterpiece Ancient Voices of Children.

As an active performer and enthusiast of new music, Henriët joined the Chicago-based group, Fused Muse Ensemble, who gave their debut concert in 2009 and was chosen as critics pick by TimeOut Chicago magazine.

Since moving to Chicago in 2009 Henriët has enjoyed performing Renaissance & Baroque music while serving as Cantor and Chorister at St Michael in Old Town Church, as chorister at St John Cantius Church, and as a freelance musician.

Henriët holds Bachelor of Arts degrees in Vocal and Piano Performance cum laude, as well as an Artist Certificate in Vocal Performance from the College of Charleston (SC). She earned a Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance with distinction from DePaul University (IL) where she studied with Julia Bentley.

Nicci Krebasch

Nicci Krebasch (HW 2002 - 2004, 2006, 2011 - 12) of Wood Dale is an original member of the Handel Week Chorus and sang with New Classic Singers at College of DuPage and New Oratorio Singers, Techney. She sings solo recitals and is cantor for Grace Episcopal Church and performed in Bach's Magnificat and Faure's Requiem with the Northwest Choral Society.

Amy Anderson de Jong

Mezzo-soprano Amy Anderson de Jong of Oak Park returns to the Handel Week Festival this year. Before moving to New York City, where she met and married bass David de Jong of St. Catharine's, Ontario, she received both Bachelor's and Masters of Music degrees from Northwestern University, Evanston. She gave a Dame Myra Hess recital at the Chicago Cultural Center which was broadcast on WFMT radio. She has received the American Opera Society Award, The Union League Club Scholarship, the Farwell Award from the Musician's Club of Women and the Lynne Harvey Award. She is the alto soloist on a CD of Mozart's Requiem with the St. Clement Choir and Orchestra.

Her work in opera, song recital and oratorio has taken her throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. and to Europe and Asia. Career highlights include the role of Martha in the world premiere of Patience and Sarah at the Lincoln Center Festival, performances as mezzo soloist in Mozart's Solemn Vespers and Duruflé Requiem at Carnegie Hall, and the Liebeslieder Waltzes with the American Symphony at Avery Fisher Hall in New York City. She was also featured in the North American premiere of the Rimsky-Korsakov opera May Night with the Sarasota Opera, and has been the alto soloist in Handel's Messiah and Mendelssohn's Elijah at Symphony Center in Chicago. Operatic credits range from baroque works such as Monteverdi's Orfeo to standard repertoire including the title role in Carmen, Rosina in The Barber of Seville, Lucretia in the Rape of Lucretia, Charlotte in Werther and Maddalena in Rigoletto. She has also appeared in several new operas, including Patience and Sarah by Paula Kimper with American Opera Project and Steel Grin by Peter Aglinskas with Chicago Opera Theater.

She enjoys performing concert and song repertoire and has worked with American composer William Bolcom in a recital of his music in New York City, has been a guest artist with the contemporary chamber music group Continuum, and featured at the Aldeburgh Festival in England, the Lincoln Center Festival, Opera Delaware, theWest Virginia Symphony, Aspen Opera Theatre, Glimmerglass Opera, the Ashlawn-Highland Festival, Waco Opera, the Pacific Music Festival in Japan, Chicago Opera Theater, and Sarasota Opera. A founding member of the vocal trio, Times Three (Timesthree.org), she has performed with symphonies across the US and Canada including: The Baltimore Symphony, the Charleston Symphony, Long Beach Symphony and the Edmonton Symphony. In addition to a WWII swing program, Times Three has a Christmas show which they debuted with the Cape Symphony in Cape Cod in 2006. She currently lives in Oak Park with her husband David and two children, Evan and Sonja.

Peder Reiff

Tenor Peder Reiff has been praised and admired for his naturally warm and clear voice, astonishing range, musicianship, and stage presence. He has recently been seen in a variety of roles, ranging from the tenor soloist in Carmina Burana with the Music Institute of Chicago, to Borsa in the Quad Cities Opera production of Rigoletto, and as a chorus member with Music of the Baroque, the Chicago Symphony, the Grant Park Symphony, and the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

An accomplished concert and oratorio artist, Peder has most recently been seen as a tenor soloist in A Taste of Italy, with Elgin Opera and with Music of the Baroque as the tenor soloist in Mozart's Vespers. Other concert work includes performances with the Music Institute of Chicago, Fort Wayne Symphony, Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, Opera Illinois, and the Crystal Lake Symphony, as well as numerous other orchestras and symphonies throughout the United States.

On the opera front, Peder has been seen performing throughout the country with companies such as Chamber Opera Chicago, Opera Illinois, L'Opera Piccola, Opera for the Young, the Chautauqua Opera Company, and the Seagle Music Colony. Favorite roles include Nemorino in The Elixir of Love, Ferrando in Così fan tutte, and Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus.

Philip Kraus

Mr. Kraus has been on the roster of the Lyric Opera of Chicago since 1990 performing numerous roles including Dulcamara in L'Elisir d'amore, Dr. Bartolo in The Barber of Seville, and Harashta in The Cunning Little Vixen. Next season he is scheduled to sing the Bailiff in Werther. He recently joined the roster of the Los Angeles Opera singing Baron Duphol in La Traviata opposite René Fleming and Elizabeth Futral. The performance with Ms. Fleming was recorded for a Decca DVD release. A specialist in the Baroque repertoire, Mr.Kraus has made yearly appearances with the Handel Week Festival singing solo work in The Dettingen Te Deum, Esther, Judas Maccabaeus, Messiah, Siroe, Ezio, Acis and Galatea, Rodelinda and Israel in Egypt. Kraus has also made a specialty of the Purcell masques appearing in The Fairy Queen and King Arthur with Music of the Baroque. Mr. Kraus is equally at home in the light opera and Broadway repertoire. Considered a specialist in Gilbert and Sullivan, Mr. Kraus received high accolades from the press for his performances of Sir Joseph Porter in H.M.S. Pinafore at the Cleveland Opera and Major General Stanley in The Pirates of Penzance at Michigan Opera Theater. Mr. Kraus has also been featured on numerous pops concerts with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra featuring the music of Rodgers and Hammerstein, Cole Porter, George Gershwin, and Stephen Sondheim. Mr. Kraus has also been a frequent guest of choral ensembles including the Bel Canto Chorus of Milwaukee, Chicago's Apollo Chorus, the Bach Festival of Winter Park, Music of the Baroque, and the Calvin College Oratorio Society.

Josefien Stoppelenburg

Josefien Stoppelenburg (soprano) studied at the Conservatory of Amsterdam. She received further vocal training through (international) master classes, including Laura Sarti, Helmuth Kretschmar, Henk Smit, Eva Blahová, Ingrid Kremling and recently James Bowman.

She is a regular soloist in oratorio performances in the Netherlands and Germany. She has performed Haydn's Creation, Monteverdi's Marian Vespers, Bach's St. John Passion and several cantatas, Mozart's Requiem, Handel's Messiah, Poulenc's Gloria, as well as works by Gounod, Rossini, Zelenka, Schubert and Janacek.

With her sister Charlotte (alto/mezzo) she performs in a duo Unique Harmony of Two Voices. They won in 1997 the Princess Christina Competition and have worked since then with orchestras such as the North Dutch Orchestra, Amsterdam Promenade Orchestra, National Philharmonic Orchestra and Camerata Amsterdam.

Kimberly McCord

Soprano Kimberly McCord has been described by Opera magazine as possessing "the ideal mix of drama, power and sensitivity." Besides playing the title role in our Rodelinda, she has also sung Dalila at Handel Week's Samson and performed in two concerts of solo cantatas. She appeared with the Alabama Symphony in Bach's St. Matthew Passion.

Kimberly has appeared with Music of the Baroque in Mozart's Solemn Vespers and was also heard in MOB's performance of Bach's St. Matthew Passion. In November she sang in their concert of Handel's Dixit Dominus and Vivaldi's Gloria.

After receiving a Fulbright grant to study Baroque music in London with Dame Emma Kirkby, Kimberly lived in Europe for eight years. Baroque operas performed there include Médée in Lully's Thesée with William Christie conducting, on tour through Europe, Dido in Dido and Aeneas with the Gabrieli Consort and Créuse in Médée (Charpentier) at the Dartington Festival, England.

Kimberly has recorded the Bach Magnificat and Oster Oratorium for Deutsche Grammophon with the Gabrieli Consort, Paul McCreesh conducting. Other oratorio performances include Messiah with the Croydon Bach Society in London, Handel's Israel in Egypt with the Dutch Bach Society and the Fauré Requiem also in the Netherlands.

Since returning to the States, Kimberly has appeared as Fiordiligi in Mozart's Così fan tutte for Milwaukee Opera Theatre. Kimberly was heard with Columbia Chorale in Verdi's Requiem and Mozart's Requiem. She is currently a member of the chorus of Lyric of Opera of Chicago.

Kimberly is also an accomplished recitalist having performed throughout England and the Netherlands. She maintains a private teaching studio in Oak Park and participates in the outreach teaching program with Music of the Baroque at Kelly High School in Chicago.

David Portillo

Texas tenor David Portillo has established a reputation as an accomplished vocalist with uncommon technical facility. David splits this past summer between Don Ottavio with Opera Theatre of St. Louis and Rinuccio in Gianni Schicci with the Castleton Festival in Virginia. David joins the roster of Teatro alla Scala this fall, where he covers the role of Don Ottavio. His other engagements for the 2011-2012 season include his house debut as Almaviva with Tulsa Opera, his role debut as Belmonte in Die Entfëhrung aus dem Serail with Pittsburgh Opera, his role debut as Renaud in Gluck's Armide presented by the Metropolitan Opera and Juilliard School, and his return to Opera Theatre of St. Louis as Ferrando in Così fan tutte. Future seasons include his role and house debut as Lord Percy in Anna Bolena with Minnesota Opera, Don Ottavio with Opera Company of Philadelphia, Tonio in La fille du regiment with Fort Worth Opera, and a return to the Lyric Opera of Chicago. David recently sang Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Pittsburgh Opera, Ferrando in Così fan tutte for Virginia Opera, Tonio in La fille du regiment for Dayton Opera, and returned to the Lyric Opera of Chicago to sing Trin in La Fanciulla del West and cover Hyllus in Hercules. David's performance as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni with Fort Worth Opera was heralded by Opera News as "passionate and fully-fleshed, not the ineffective blusterer of many productions."

That same year, he returned to Wolf Trap Opera Company as Narciso in Il Turco in Italia and Francis Flute in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream. He also took the concert platform as soloist for Haydn's Creation, Beethoven's Symphony No.9, and Verdi's Requiem for the Colorado Music Festival, Phoenix Symphony, and Elmhurst Symphony, respectively. A graduate of the Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago, he performed Gastone in La Traviata and the Sailor in Tristan und Isolde for the company. He has also covered Fenton in Falstaff, Nadir in Les p'cheurs de perles, and Conte Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia.

David is also an alumnus of both the Merola Opera Program at San Francisco Opera and Wolf Trap Opera in Washington, D.C. where his performances were met with public and critical acclaim. His Ferrando prompted the Baltimore Sun to comment, "David Portillo proved particularly promising. The tenor's soft notes had a tenderness not often encountered today among young singers; he is capable of truly lyrical vocalism." Other roles to his credit include Albert Herring, Alfredo in La Traviata, Sam Kaplan in Street Scene and the Chevalier de la Force in Dialogues of the Carmelites.

A versatile recitalist, David has appeared with Steven Blier and also performed a Schwabacher Debut Recital under the auspices of the San Francisco Opera Center. In response, the San Francisco Chronicle found that "his tenor rang out clearly and brightly, his diction was exemplary, and he moved with easy assurance from the 17th century to the 20th and through realms in between."

David is the recipient of numerous prizes for his artistry, including a 2009 Shoshana Foundation Grant, 2009 American Opera Society of Chicago Award, 2009 Sullivan Foundation Encouragement Award, 2008 Winner of the Men's Prize of the Union League of Chicago Young Adult's Music Competition, and 2009 Winner of the Bel Canto Scholarship Foundation Competition. He is also a two-time recipient of a Shouse Career Development Grant from the Wolf Trap Foundation.

David de Jong

David de Jong is a singer with a wide range of interests and musical experience. On the stage, his roles include Frére Laurent (Roméo et Juliette) with Opera Northeast, Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte) at the Snape Proms (UK), Angelotti (Tosca) with National Lyric Opera, The Bonze (Madama Butterfly) with Connecticut Grand Opera, 1st Nazarane (Salome) with Shreveport Opera and Opera de las Americas, Simone and Amantio (Gianni Schicchi) and Talpa (Il Tabarro) with Metro Lyric Opera, Doctor Grenvil (La Traviata) with Lake George Opera, Dubrovsky Sr. (Dubrovsky) with Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts, and Sergeant of Police (Pirates of Penzance) with Opera North. David has also been a soloist with the Toronto Chamber Society, Symphony Hamilton, and a member of the Tafelmusik Chamber Choir. Off-Broadway, he appeared in a New York City Center Encores! production of Bloomer Girl and a one-man show, Caliban with Vital Theatre. He has sung with his wife, Amy Anderson de Jong and Times Three with the Cape Cod Symphony.

David grew up the son of an organist in a musical family in Canada. Choral singing was a constant involvement from an early age and continues today. That, combined with a childhood interest in puppetry and theater eventually drew him to opera. Other interests led him first to a Physics degree from McMaster University, but he went on to pursue vocal studies at the University of Toronto. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana (M. Mus.) where he performed numerous roles and appeared in John Wustman's Schubert Recital Series, and the Professional Studies program at the Manhattan School of Music. David lives in Oak Park with his wife, Amy, and two children.

Kaye L. Clements

Kaye L. Clements (HW 2001 - 2004, 2006, 2012) of Oak Park, flute and recorder virtuoso, is an active performer and teacher throughout the Chicago area. She is principal flute and frequent soloist with the Chicago Chamber Orchestra and has played flute and/or recorder with many other area ensembles, including Music of the Baroque, Lyric Opera Orchestra and Chicago Symphony. She performs regularly with Bach Week, Evanston, and appeared on WFMT's "Live from Studio One." She holds degrees in flute performance and music history from Roosevelt University's Chicago College of the Performing Arts and two years of doctoral work in musicology at the University of Chicago. She has served on the performance faculties of Concordia University and Roosevelt University and is associate professor of flute and music history and chair of the General Education Studies Department at VanderCook College of Music in Chicago. She founded and maintains her own private studio, The Flute Group, in the western suburbs.

Tracy Watson

Tracy Watson (HW 2000, 2012) has sung numerous featured roles throughout the US and Europe. She has portrayed many leading rolls at the Theater Oberhausen and has been a featured soloist at the gala opening of Nordrhein Westfalen Festival. She has also performed at the Whitewater-Sorg Opera Companies, Hawaii Opera Theater, Chicago Opera Theater, Light Opera Works, Chamber Opera of Chicago, and the Memphis Symphony Orchestra. She was a member of Lyric Opera's Center for American Artists. She has been soloist with the Grant Park Music Festival, the Flagstaff Symphony, Princeton Pro Musica, the Elgin and West Suburban Choral Unions, Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra, the Lake Geneva Opera Festival, the Bach Society of St. Louis, Evanston Symphony, the Sheboygan Symphony, the Fox Valley Symphony, and the Symphony of Oak Park & River Forest. She has appeared on the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series on WFMT-FM, Chicago. A recipient of many honors, she was awarded first vocal prize in the American Opera Society of Chicago Competition and the Lynne Harvey Award.

See the Handel Week Festival's past performers here.