Praised for her “stunning voice”, soprano Dana Lynne Varga was the first place winner in the 2016 Classical Singer National Vocal Competition. Dana continues to amass accolades for her numerous operatic roles that include Musetta in La bohéme, Fiordiligi in Cosi fan tutte, and Anna Maurrant in Street Scene. Ms. Varga sings regularly with Boston Lyric Opera, and has performed with Opera Boston, Connecticut Lyric Opera, and the Aldeburgh (Britten-Pears) Festival, among others. An avid concert soloist, highlights of Dana Varga’s recent concert and oratorio performances include the Beethoven Mass in C in Tanglewood’s Ozawa Hall, the Dvořák Te Deum in NEC’s Jordan Hall, and the Fauré Requiem and Neilsen’s Symphony No. 3 with the Springfield Symphony. She has performed the Vaughan Williams’ Sea Symphony and Dona Nobis Pacem as well as the Brahms Requiem with the Metropolitan Chorale, Beethoven’s Mass in C and Handel’s Israel in Egypt with the Newton Choral Society, the Vivaldi Gloria and Handel’s Messiah with the New England Classical Singers and the Bach Magnificat,Mozart Requiem and Mendelssohn St. Paul with the Choral Art Society. In addition to her recent Classical Singer Competition win, Dana won second place in the 2016 Rochester Oratorio Society Classical Idol Competition and was a semifinalist in the 2016 Oratorio Society of New York Competition. Ms. Varga was awarded the 2012 St. Botolph Emerging Artist Grant for excellence in music. Her recent engagements have included the solos in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the Rhode Island Civic Chorale and Orchestra and Schubert’s Mirjam Siegesgesang with the Commonwealth Chorale, as well as professional ensemble in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress with Boston Lyric Opera.
Sonja DuToit Tengblad • Soprano
Commended by the Boston Globe for her “crystalline tone and graceful musicality,” soprano Sonja DuToit Tengblad is a versatile performer with credits spanning the Renaissance era through the most current composers of our time. Recent highlights include Vivaldi’s Juditha triumphans devicta Holofernis bolbarie (Abra and Ozias), Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria (La Fortuna and Giunone; Grammy-nominated recording with Linn Records) and Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (First Lady) with Boston Baroque. A champion of new music, Ms. Tengblad curated Modern Dickinson (with Seattle Opera regular Eric Neuville and Austin Chamber Music director Michelle Schumann), a program featuring all 21st century settings of Emily Dickinson’s poetry that was named the #3 Best Arts Event in Austin, TX 2015 and was nominated for 4 Austin Critic’s Table Awards (www.moderndickinson.com). She has premiered many roles and works including the Boston premiere of Kati Agócs’ Vessel for three solo voices and chamber ensemble, and Agócs’ world premiere of The Debrecen Passion (written for the Lorelei Ensemble) for which she was a featured soloist, both performed and recorded with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. Recent engagements included performances with BeatSong, her recital project with percussionist Jonathan Hess, featuring world premieres by Matthew Peterson (ASCAP Nissim Prize winner, 2013), and Emmy award-winning composer Kareem Roustom. Ms. Tengblad performs with the Grammy-winning ensemble Conspirare out of Austin, Texas; the Yale Choral Artists, and Boston’s Blue Heron, Lorelei Ensemble, Handel and Haydn Society, and Boston Baroque. Upcoming highlights include the Lorelei Ensemble’s appearances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall and Carnegie Hall, and solo engagements such as Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Boston Philharmonic and Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the Landmarks Orchestra.
Stefan Reed • Tenor
Stefan Reed is delighted to return to sing with Coro Allegro. Originally from Glasgow, Virginia, Mr. Reed is currently based in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, and is enjoying an active chamber music, oratorio and recording career with performances and projects in New England and throughout the country. Mr. Reed’s voice has been characterized as an “intense, focused, lyric tenor” (Miami Herald), his performances have been described as “dramatically expressive and technically impressive.” (Boston Musical Intelligencer). He performs regularly with Boston Baroque, Blue Heron, Conspirare, the Handel and Haydn Society (H&H) and Seraphic Fire. Recent solo engagements include Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Bach’s Mass in B Minor and Magnificat with H&H; Purcell’s King Arthurwith the Henry Purcell Society of Boston; Schubert’s Mass in G with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra; Britten’s Cantata Misericordium with Coro Allegro; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Arcadia Players and the Worcester Chorus; Handel’s Messiah with the Concord Chorus and Orchestra; Mozart’s Requiem and Haydn’s Missa in tempore belli with the Dedham Choral Society; Bach’s Mass in B Minor with Boston Cecilia; as well as Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine 1610, Mozart’s Requiem, and Purcell’s King Arthur with the Miami-based ensemble Seraphic Fire and the Firebird Chamber Orchestra. Other performance highlights include Mozart’s Requiem, and Schumann’s Paradise and the Peri with the Back Bay Chorale, and numerous performances with the Mount Vernon Symphony, Marsh Chapel Choir and Collegium, the Tanglewood Chamber Music Ensemble, and both the Boston and Maryland Masterworks Chorales. Mr. Reed spent two summers as a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Festival. He holds performance degrees from the New England Conservatory and George Mason University.
Thomas Jones • Bass
Thomas Jones has a performance career spanning more than three decades and continues to appear with orchestras, opera companies, choral ensembles, pops concerts and on recital series throughout North America, Europe and the West Indies. He has been teaching voice and vocal performance through the Office for the Arts at Harvard University for 26 years. Richard Buell of The Boston Globe called the vocal and stage presence of Thomas Jones “irresistible.” Anthony Tommasini of The New York Times proclaims that Mr. Jones sings “with plush sounds and musical vigor.” Solo engagements include Santa Fe Symphony, The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, San Francisco’s Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Boston’s Handel & Haydn Society, The Apollo Chorus of Chicago, The San Francisco City Chorus and Orchestra, The Vancouver Chamber Choir and The Canadian Broadcast Orchestra, The Phoenix Bach Choir, The Phoenix Chamber Orchestra, New York’s St. Cecilia Orchestra, Baltimore Choral Arts Society, The Pacific Chorale and The Pacific Symphony in Southern California, The Louisville Bach Society at The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts, The Masterworks Chorus and Orchestra of Washington, DC, The Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic Orchestra, The Bucks County Choral Society and The Philadelphia Festive Arts Orchestra under conductor Robert Page. Festival appearances include Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Berkshire Choral Festival, The Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival, Great Waters Music Festival and Monadnock Music. Opera companies include Boston Lyric Opera, The Harrisburg Opera Company of Pennsylvania and Opera New England. In the Boston area, appearances include The Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, Boston Civic Orchestra, The Back Bay Chorale, Coro Allegro, The Worcester Symphony, The Nashua Symphony, The Masterworks Chorale, and Cape Cod Symphony. Mr. Jones has appeared with well over 150 choruses throughout the US, appearing under the baton of notable maestros such as Christopher Hogwood, Nicholas McGegan and Thomas Dunn.
Darryl Hollister • Piano
Darryl Hollister was born in Detroit, Michigan. He attended Michigan State University, where he studied with Ralph Votapek and Deborah Moriarty. He received his Master’s Degree from New England Conservatory of Music, working with Patricia Zander.
Touring with the program “Sharing a New Song,” Mr. Hollister performed as accompanist and soloist in performances in Russia, Georgia, Estonia, Ukraine, and Armenia.
Mr. Hollister is an active accompanist and performer with many well-known choral groups in the Boston area and in Nashua, N.H., he regularly performs with Coro Allegro, the Dedham Choral Society, the Heritage Chorale in Framingham, and the Choruses of Commonwealth School.
Mr. Hollister is considered one of the leading interpreters of African classical piano music. He has premiered works of many outstanding African composers such as Akin Euba, Joshua Uzoigwe, Fred Ovonoversuoke, and many others. He has performed recitals of African and African-American piano music in Pittsburgh, Washington D.C., Saint Louis, and London and Cambridge, England. He with flutist Wendy White has recorded a CD entitled African Art Music for Flute.
He has toured throughout the Caribbean, South Africa, and England with soprano Dawn Padmore in recitals of African and African-American music. He is founder of the world music ensemble Mundial which will give their inaugural concert in the fall featuring works of African and African-American composers.
