Charles Blandy, tenor has been praised as “unfailingly, tirelessly lyrical” (Boston Globe); “a versatile tenor with agility, endless breath, and vigorous high notes" (Goldberg Early Music Magazine); and for his “clear, focused, gorgeous tenor voice” (Worcester Telegram and Gazette). In 2017 he sang the Evangelist in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, with Emmanuel Music. He is a regular part of their ongoing Bach Cantata series. He appeared with Orchestra Iowa in Bach’s Mass in B minor; and appeared with Music of the Baroque in Mozart’s “Great” C minor Mass; and the B minor Mass with the Apollo Chorus of Chicago. Recent performances include Handel’s Messiah with Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra; the role of Belmonte in Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio with Emmanuel Music; Monteverdi's Il Ritorno d’Ulisse, Vespers of 1610, L’Orfeo, and works from the 8th book of madrigals with Boston Early Music Festival; Mozart’s Requiem with True Concord at Lincoln Center in New York; Bach’s B minor Mass with the American Classical Orchestra (NYC), also at Lincoln Center; and St. Matthew Passion with the American Bach Soloists (SF, CA). He has also appeared with the Bach Choir of Bethlehem, Handel and Haydn Society, Boston Baroque, Charlotte Symphony, Berkshire Choral Festival, and Pittsburgh Bach and Baroque. He appears on three new CD releases: Virgil Thomson’s Four Saints in Three Acts with Boston Modern Orchestra Project; J.C.F Fischer’s Vespers of 1701 with Exsultemus and Newton Baroque; and sacred music of Ross Lee Finney with the Harvard University Choir. In opera he was recently heard in John Harbison’s The Great Gatsby; as Tom Rakewell in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress; Tamino in Mozart’s Magic Flute; Lurcanio in Handel’s Ariodante; and Almaviva in Rossini’s Barber of Seville. In contemporary music, he premiered Rodney Lister’s chamber song cycle Friendly Fire with Collage New Music; appears on Boston Modern Orchestra Project’s new CD of Virgil Thomson’s Four Saints in Three Acts, and gave the US premiere of Rautavaara’s song cycle Die Liebenden. In recital, he has performed Schubert at the Token Creek Chamber Music Festival (WI); Schubert and Brahms with Boston Chamber Music Society; Janacek and Finzi at Monadnock Music (NH); and his recital of Rachmaninoff, Liszt, and Szymanowski was called “one of the most engrossing concerts in ages”. He gave recitals of modern American music in New York, Boston, London and Manchester UK, with pianist/composer Rodney Lister. He is the product of a strong public school arts program in Troy, NY; and graduated from Oberlin College with a BA in religion. He received his Master’s Degree from Indiana University. Further training was at Tanglewood, where he was awarded the Grace B. Jackson prize for excellence; and at the Britten-Pears School in Aldeburgh UK.
Lauren A. Cook, soprano is an active performer of art song, oratorio, musical theatre, and opera. Credits include appearances with Opera del West (Hansel und Gretel, Candide, Le Nozze di Figaro, and others), Anthem Theatre Company at the Boston Center for the Arts, Greater Worcester Opera, and Riverside Theatre Works. She collaborates frequently with Iris Winds and works extensively with contemporary opera composer and National Opera Association prize-winner Dan Shore. As an educator, Lauren encourages her students to develop healthy and technically solid instruments while understanding the musical, artistic, and expressive capabilities of the voice. Although comfortable across many genres, she focuses on classical singing and musical theatre, with a special interest in cross training musical theatre belt, “legit,” and classical techniques. She is currently on the faculty at the New School of Music in Cambridge, MA and is the primary voice teacher for the Harvard University Summer Chorus, as well an in demand clinician and lecturer for master classes and workshops. She has received advanced pedagogy training at the Shenandoah University CCM Institute and the Boston Conservatory Vocal Pedagogy Professional Workshop. Her students have gone on to university level vocal performance, musical theatre, and music therapy programs, including the Westminster Choir College, Shenandoah Conservatory, Manhattanville College, and the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, and currently perform in regional and local theatre, opera, and concert venues.
Elizabeth Eschen, mezzo-soprano is the Director of the Holden Voice Program and has an active career as a professional choral musician, soloist, and voice teacher in the Boston area and beyond. In town, she regularly performs with Boston Baroque, Cantata Singers, and the Brookline Consort; this past spring saw her Jordan Hall solo debut with Cantata Singers on their performance of Honegger’s Le Roi David. Liz has also sung with Quincy Choral Society (Bach BWV 6), Marsh Chapel Choir (Kallembach Most Sacred Body and Bach St. Matthew Passion), Newburyport Choral Society (Beethoven Mass in C), Harvard Choruses (Duruflé Requiem), Vox Futura recordings, Boston Lyric Opera, Ampersand, Lorelei Ensemble, Manhattan Chorale, and Juventas! One of her favorite projects has been travelling to Weimar for the past two summers to tour with the Bach Academy under the direction of Helmuth Rilling. She also can be heard on several recordings, most notably the American cast album recording of Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz’s Hunchback of Notre Dame. After making her professional opera debut in 2009 with OperaTampa in Puccini’s Suor Angelica, Liz divided her time between building a high school voice program and singing in Virginia, increasingly finding her home to be the intersection of choral music and vocal pedagogy. Liz believes in the synthesis of fact-based, current vocal pedagogy with personal transformation. Singers should understand how the instrument functions, become comfortable with assessing and organizing their own voice, and connect to their individual gifts of artistry and emotion. Developing this healthy relationship with one’s voice takes time, practice, love, and appropriate repertoire; it is a worthwhile and important journey. Elizabeth works with students of all ages and meets them wherever they are on that journey. She has found success with this philosophy on the voice faculties of Regis College, Randolph-Macon College, Fredericksburg Academy, and in her private studio. Her students have earned entrance into top voice programs and Honors choirs across the country. www.elizabetheschen.com
Bradford Gleim, baritone uses the human voice to create authentic connection. As an artist and mentor, he delves deeply into repertoire spanning six-hundred years, embracing a flexible vocal technique and sometimes unfamiliar approaches in the pursuit of emotionally attuned performances.Mr. Gleim’s artistic commitment and risk-taking have won him wide recognition. Praised by the Boston Globe for his “voluminous baritone” and “brilliant delivery,” he performs throughout the United States and Europe. On the concert stage he has appeared as soloist with distinguished ensembles, including the Handel and Haydn Society with Harry Christophers, Boston Baroque with Martin Pearlman, Emmanuel Music with Ryan Turner, and the spirited conductorless orchestra A Far Cry. In 2015 Mr. Gleim was featured soloist with Craig Hella Johnson and the renowned choir Conspirare on the Grammy Award-winning album The Sacred Spirit of Russia. He also sings with and serves as Artistic Advisor to the acclaimed ensemble Cut Circle (Jesse Rodin, Director). He has helped Cut Circle find a new sound for Renaissance music that will soon be hearable on an album of songs by Johannes Ockeghem (Musique en Wallonie, forthcoming January 2020). Bradford Gleim mentors others to discover their embodied voice. Moving fluidly among different vocal techniques and pedagogical traditions, he helps musicians access not only a variety of vocal colors, but also their potential for healing, personal growth, and body awareness. Mr. Gleim guides young singers in the Holden Voice Program at Harvard University, in the Applied Music Program at Brown University, and as Assistant Professor of Voice at Berklee College of Music. In his private practice, he offers unique intuitive instruction for vocalists and leads workshops and masterclasses. For more information visit bradfordgleim.com.
Nathan Reiff, tenor Active as a conductor, educator, and vocalist, Nathan Reiff is a candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Yale University and holds a Master of Music degree from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University. Reiff's work as a conductor has brought him before ensembles representing some of the broad diversity of the choral world, including the Young People's Chorus of New York City, the Yale Glee Club, the Yale Camerata, and the Ann Arbor Cantata Singers. Beginning in the 2017-2018 season, he will serve as Resident Conductor of the Harvard Glee Club and Instructor at Boston Conservatory at Berklee, where he will lead the Conservatory Chorale and Women's Chorus and teach courses on choral repertoire. Reiff's activity as a vocalist has included performances around the world with ensembles including Ghostlight Chorus, the Yale Schola Cantorum, and the Whiffenpoofs of Yale, as well as roles as featured soloist with the Yale Camerata, Pro Musica, and Baroque Opera Project. His teachers of conducting have included Jerry Blackstone, Jeffrey Douma, and Marguerite Brooks, and he has studied voice with Richard Lalli, Scott Murphree, and Judith Malafronte.
Megan Roth, mezzo-soprano. Known for her “rich character portrayals” and “versatile voice,” mezzo-soprano Megan Roth enjoys a varied career performing opera, oratorio, art song, and chamber music, with repertoire spanning from early to contemporary music.
Most recently, Megan “smoldered” in the role of Tisbe in La Cenerentola with Boston Midsummer Opera, receiving accolades as she “...vamped about with sufficient trashy glitter, bringing the angry coloratura across the footlights with comic menace.” Additional roles include Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Summer Garden Opera in Virgina and in Little Women with MassOpera, where she was praised for her “warm and sonically sumptuous Meg.” Other notable engagements include soloist in Copland’s In the Beginning with Vox Humana in Dallas, Texas, Handel’s Messiah with the Rhode Island Civic Chorale and Orchestra, and Dixit Dominus with the Metropolitan Chorale. As an active chamber musician, Megan performs with several renowned national ensembles including the GRAMMY® winning ensemble Conspirare out of Austin, Texas, GRAMMY® nominated Skylark Vocal Ensemble and True Concord, Lorelei Ensemble, and Yale Choral Artists. Megan is also the founder and artistic director of Calliope’s Call, a professional art song performance group based in New England, which presents unique and dynamic programs of art song by contemporary and new composers as well as traditional composers of the genre. A multi-faceted musician, Megan began her musical studies on the piano and violin and has over 15 years of experience teaching students of all skill levels, from college students to young children just starting out in their musical journey. Her voice students have won and placed in national competitions such as the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), Classical Singer Competition and the Hal Leonard Vocal Competition. Megan enjoys helping other musicians find their own unique path and enhance their lives through the joys of music. Ms. Roth holds an Artist Certificate in Opera and a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from Florida State University. She is also an accomplished violinist and holds a Bachelor of Music with honor in Violin Performance from DePaul University. www.meganroth.com
Marsha Vleck, soprano has been teaching in the Holden Voice Program since 1964. In addition to her teaching at Harvard, she was Instructor of Voice at University of Massachusetts at Lowell for ten years and has been Instructor of Voice at College of Holy Cross since 1981. Her students can be found singing and teaching both here and abroad. She holds a B.Mus from Oberlin College, an M.M. and the coveted Artist Diploma from New England Conservatory and completed Doctoral studies at Boston University. She studied and performed at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. In addition to appearing with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Boston and New York City, and many civic orchestras as an oratorio soloist, she has performed song recitals throughout the eastern U.S., Canada, Austria and Italy. In the Boston area, she was soloist with the Cantata Singers, the Harvard Choral Groups, Boris Goldovsky Opera, and the Boston Opera under Sara Caldwell, as well as many choral groups. As a member of the Boston Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), she served as Vice-President for six years. For four years she was a board member of Youth Pro Musica. Many of her students have been soloists for the choral groups as well as other musical groups on campus. Those include the Harvard Orchestra, House opera performances and Gilbert and Sullivan. Former students have been accepted to graduate music programs at New England Conservatory, Oberlin Conservatory, Indiana University, Penn State, NYU, and Syracuse University to name a few. Other students are singing professionally in the United States and Europe.
Lauren A. Cook, soprano is an active performer of art song, oratorio, musical theatre, and opera. Credits include appearances with Opera del West (Hansel und Gretel, Candide, Le Nozze di Figaro, and others), Anthem Theatre Company at the Boston Center for the Arts, Greater Worcester Opera, and Riverside Theatre Works. She collaborates frequently with Iris Winds and works extensively with contemporary opera composer and National Opera Association prize-winner Dan Shore. As an educator, Lauren encourages her students to develop healthy and technically solid instruments while understanding the musical, artistic, and expressive capabilities of the voice. Although comfortable across many genres, she focuses on classical singing and musical theatre, with a special interest in cross training musical theatre belt, “legit,” and classical techniques. She is currently on the faculty at the New School of Music in Cambridge, MA and is the primary voice teacher for the Harvard University Summer Chorus, as well an in demand clinician and lecturer for master classes and workshops. She has received advanced pedagogy training at the Shenandoah University CCM Institute and the Boston Conservatory Vocal Pedagogy Professional Workshop. Her students have gone on to university level vocal performance, musical theatre, and music therapy programs, including the Westminster Choir College, Shenandoah Conservatory, Manhattanville College, and the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, and currently perform in regional and local theatre, opera, and concert venues.
Elizabeth Eschen, mezzo-soprano is the Director of the Holden Voice Program and has an active career as a professional choral musician, soloist, and voice teacher in the Boston area and beyond. In town, she regularly performs with Boston Baroque, Cantata Singers, and the Brookline Consort; this past spring saw her Jordan Hall solo debut with Cantata Singers on their performance of Honegger’s Le Roi David. Liz has also sung with Quincy Choral Society (Bach BWV 6), Marsh Chapel Choir (Kallembach Most Sacred Body and Bach St. Matthew Passion), Newburyport Choral Society (Beethoven Mass in C), Harvard Choruses (Duruflé Requiem), Vox Futura recordings, Boston Lyric Opera, Ampersand, Lorelei Ensemble, Manhattan Chorale, and Juventas! One of her favorite projects has been travelling to Weimar for the past two summers to tour with the Bach Academy under the direction of Helmuth Rilling. She also can be heard on several recordings, most notably the American cast album recording of Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz’s Hunchback of Notre Dame. After making her professional opera debut in 2009 with OperaTampa in Puccini’s Suor Angelica, Liz divided her time between building a high school voice program and singing in Virginia, increasingly finding her home to be the intersection of choral music and vocal pedagogy. Liz believes in the synthesis of fact-based, current vocal pedagogy with personal transformation. Singers should understand how the instrument functions, become comfortable with assessing and organizing their own voice, and connect to their individual gifts of artistry and emotion. Developing this healthy relationship with one’s voice takes time, practice, love, and appropriate repertoire; it is a worthwhile and important journey. Elizabeth works with students of all ages and meets them wherever they are on that journey. She has found success with this philosophy on the voice faculties of Regis College, Randolph-Macon College, Fredericksburg Academy, and in her private studio. Her students have earned entrance into top voice programs and Honors choirs across the country. www.elizabetheschen.com
Bradford Gleim, baritone uses the human voice to create authentic connection. As an artist and mentor, he delves deeply into repertoire spanning six-hundred years, embracing a flexible vocal technique and sometimes unfamiliar approaches in the pursuit of emotionally attuned performances.Mr. Gleim’s artistic commitment and risk-taking have won him wide recognition. Praised by the Boston Globe for his “voluminous baritone” and “brilliant delivery,” he performs throughout the United States and Europe. On the concert stage he has appeared as soloist with distinguished ensembles, including the Handel and Haydn Society with Harry Christophers, Boston Baroque with Martin Pearlman, Emmanuel Music with Ryan Turner, and the spirited conductorless orchestra A Far Cry. In 2015 Mr. Gleim was featured soloist with Craig Hella Johnson and the renowned choir Conspirare on the Grammy Award-winning album The Sacred Spirit of Russia. He also sings with and serves as Artistic Advisor to the acclaimed ensemble Cut Circle (Jesse Rodin, Director). He has helped Cut Circle find a new sound for Renaissance music that will soon be hearable on an album of songs by Johannes Ockeghem (Musique en Wallonie, forthcoming January 2020). Bradford Gleim mentors others to discover their embodied voice. Moving fluidly among different vocal techniques and pedagogical traditions, he helps musicians access not only a variety of vocal colors, but also their potential for healing, personal growth, and body awareness. Mr. Gleim guides young singers in the Holden Voice Program at Harvard University, in the Applied Music Program at Brown University, and as Assistant Professor of Voice at Berklee College of Music. In his private practice, he offers unique intuitive instruction for vocalists and leads workshops and masterclasses. For more information visit bradfordgleim.com.
Nathan Reiff, tenor Active as a conductor, educator, and vocalist, Nathan Reiff is a candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Yale University and holds a Master of Music degree from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University. Reiff's work as a conductor has brought him before ensembles representing some of the broad diversity of the choral world, including the Young People's Chorus of New York City, the Yale Glee Club, the Yale Camerata, and the Ann Arbor Cantata Singers. Beginning in the 2017-2018 season, he will serve as Resident Conductor of the Harvard Glee Club and Instructor at Boston Conservatory at Berklee, where he will lead the Conservatory Chorale and Women's Chorus and teach courses on choral repertoire. Reiff's activity as a vocalist has included performances around the world with ensembles including Ghostlight Chorus, the Yale Schola Cantorum, and the Whiffenpoofs of Yale, as well as roles as featured soloist with the Yale Camerata, Pro Musica, and Baroque Opera Project. His teachers of conducting have included Jerry Blackstone, Jeffrey Douma, and Marguerite Brooks, and he has studied voice with Richard Lalli, Scott Murphree, and Judith Malafronte.
Megan Roth, mezzo-soprano. Known for her “rich character portrayals” and “versatile voice,” mezzo-soprano Megan Roth enjoys a varied career performing opera, oratorio, art song, and chamber music, with repertoire spanning from early to contemporary music.
Most recently, Megan “smoldered” in the role of Tisbe in La Cenerentola with Boston Midsummer Opera, receiving accolades as she “...vamped about with sufficient trashy glitter, bringing the angry coloratura across the footlights with comic menace.” Additional roles include Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Summer Garden Opera in Virgina and in Little Women with MassOpera, where she was praised for her “warm and sonically sumptuous Meg.” Other notable engagements include soloist in Copland’s In the Beginning with Vox Humana in Dallas, Texas, Handel’s Messiah with the Rhode Island Civic Chorale and Orchestra, and Dixit Dominus with the Metropolitan Chorale. As an active chamber musician, Megan performs with several renowned national ensembles including the GRAMMY® winning ensemble Conspirare out of Austin, Texas, GRAMMY® nominated Skylark Vocal Ensemble and True Concord, Lorelei Ensemble, and Yale Choral Artists. Megan is also the founder and artistic director of Calliope’s Call, a professional art song performance group based in New England, which presents unique and dynamic programs of art song by contemporary and new composers as well as traditional composers of the genre. A multi-faceted musician, Megan began her musical studies on the piano and violin and has over 15 years of experience teaching students of all skill levels, from college students to young children just starting out in their musical journey. Her voice students have won and placed in national competitions such as the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), Classical Singer Competition and the Hal Leonard Vocal Competition. Megan enjoys helping other musicians find their own unique path and enhance their lives through the joys of music. Ms. Roth holds an Artist Certificate in Opera and a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from Florida State University. She is also an accomplished violinist and holds a Bachelor of Music with honor in Violin Performance from DePaul University. www.meganroth.com
Marsha Vleck, soprano has been teaching in the Holden Voice Program since 1964. In addition to her teaching at Harvard, she was Instructor of Voice at University of Massachusetts at Lowell for ten years and has been Instructor of Voice at College of Holy Cross since 1981. Her students can be found singing and teaching both here and abroad. She holds a B.Mus from Oberlin College, an M.M. and the coveted Artist Diploma from New England Conservatory and completed Doctoral studies at Boston University. She studied and performed at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. In addition to appearing with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Boston and New York City, and many civic orchestras as an oratorio soloist, she has performed song recitals throughout the eastern U.S., Canada, Austria and Italy. In the Boston area, she was soloist with the Cantata Singers, the Harvard Choral Groups, Boris Goldovsky Opera, and the Boston Opera under Sara Caldwell, as well as many choral groups. As a member of the Boston Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), she served as Vice-President for six years. For four years she was a board member of Youth Pro Musica. Many of her students have been soloists for the choral groups as well as other musical groups on campus. Those include the Harvard Orchestra, House opera performances and Gilbert and Sullivan. Former students have been accepted to graduate music programs at New England Conservatory, Oberlin Conservatory, Indiana University, Penn State, NYU, and Syracuse University to name a few. Other students are singing professionally in the United States and Europe.
