Fall Concert 2023: Baroque Treasures
Welcoming our new director, Paul Flight, UCAC will introduce you to some wonderful, yet unfamiliar music from the Baroque period that you will really enjoy — a Magnificat by Johann Kuhnau and selected excerpts from the Missa Votiva by Jan Dismas Zelenka.
Kuhnau was J.S. Bach’s predecessor at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig and a fine composer of sacred choral works. His Magnificat is joyous, festive, and fun! Zelenka was a contemporary of Bach and worked at the court of the Elector of Saxony in Dresden. His music is delightfully quirky, energetic, and interesting, with fascinating fugues.
Most of the soloists for this concert have a UC connection! Bass Sepp Hammer, soprano Caroline Jou Armitage, and alto Celeste Winant are all alums. Celeste is also employed by the university. Soprano Rita Lilly is married to Nitash Balsara, a professor in the College of Chemistry. Only tenor Corey Head has no affiliation, sadly…unless we can talk him into applying to grad school?
Sunday, November 12th - 4 pm • First Congregational Church of Berkeley - 2345 Channing Way, Berkeley, CA
Tickets: $25 – $20 – $10 • Available at the door or online at: EVENTBRITE
Meet Our Soloists!
Rita Lilly, soprano
Rita Lilly has been lauded by The New York Times for “possessing a voice of strength, clarity, and virtuosity” and by the S.F. Classical Voice for “having a pure, silvery voice with plenty of color.” Specializing in classical, baroque, and early music, Rita has been a featured artist with the American Boychoir, American Classical Orchestra, Artek, Clarion Music Society, Concert Royal, Rebel, the Folger Consort, Sacabuche, and the New York Consort of Viols, among others. As the soprano of the Waverly Consort, she toured throughout the U.S. and abroad, including performances at Alice Tully Hall and Town Hall. Rita has been featured on live broadcasts on WNYC, WNCN, National Public Radio, and Radio-Canada.
Rita is a frequent soloist with some of the finest Bay Area groups, such as the Albany Consort, American Bach Soloists, California Bach Society, Chora Nova, Marin Oratorio, Sacramento Baroque, San Francisco Bach Choir and Soli Deo Gloria. She has been featured on the EMI, Musical Heritage, Naxos, and Newport Classic labels.
Rita is the Director of Sorella Girls Chorus, Music Director at Lafayette Christian Church, and has been the Director of Mills Women’s Choir since 2016. She is on the faculty of the Pacific Boychoir Academy and maintains an active vocal studio in her home.
Caroline Jou Armitage, soprano
Soprano Caroline Jou Armitage is known to Bay Area audiences for her “absolutely beautiful” performances sung with “pitch-perfect clarity and affecting intensity” (San Francisco Classical Voice). In May 2023, her dual roles in Rameau’s opera La Lyre Enchantée with Harmonia Felice were “brilliantly sung…with amazing clarity and commitment” (Berkeley Planet). At St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Belvedere, Caroline performs weekly as their soprano section leader and soloist. A multi-instrumentalist, she has performed on the harpsichord at the Berkeley Early Music Festival, and on Baroque violin with the Albany Consort and the San Jose Symphonic Choir. This season’s vocal performances include concerts with Boston Camerata on the East Coast, and solos with the Bay Choral Guild, the UC Alumni Chorus, and the California Bach Society. She studies voice with contralto Karen Clark and harpsichord with Tamara Loring.
Celeste Winant, mezzo-soprano
Celeste Winant has been a freelance professional classical vocalist since 2000. She works mostly in small vocal ensembles and chamber choirs. She sings alto in choirs, alto or second soprano in small ensembles, and anything for mezzo-soprano or contralto as a soloist. While she specializes in music composed before 1750 or after 1900, she is versatile, a quick study, and enjoys singing music from all periods. She has worked as a freelance church musician for many different Christian denominations, both as a section leader and as a soloist. She also enjoys singing folk music.
Celeste Winant performs regularly as an ensemble member with American Bach Soloists (Director: Jeffrey Thomas), Bach Collegium San Diego (Director: Ruben Valenzuela), Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale (since 2010; Directors: Nicholas McGegan/Richard Egarr), Vajra Voices (since 2010), and Volti (since 2007). Her voice has been described by San Francisco Classical Voice as “attractive”; “a true, rich alto.” Recent solo highlights include touring with San Francisco Lyric Opera's critically acclaimed production of David Lang's Pulitzer Prize-winning the Little Match Girl Passion in Odense, Denmark, and serving as a member of the vocal octet for Luciano Berio’s rarely-performed Sinfonia with the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra. Other ensembles with whom she has recently appeared as oratorio soloist include the Grace Cathedral Choir of Men & Boys, the Stanford University Singers, the UC Berkeley Chamber Chorus, and the UC Davis Choral Ensembles. She also was a Church musician at St. Ignatius Catholic Church of San Francisco (March 2010-December 2012). She currently lives in Berkeley, California.
Corey Head, tenor
Corey Head specializes in Early Music with a special affinity to J.S. Bach. His solo concert performances include The Evangelist in Bach’s St. John Passion, as well as tenor soloist in his Magnificat, Christmas Oratorio, B-Minor Mass, and many of his cantatas. Other major solo performances include Uriel in Haydn’s Creation, “The Evening” in Telemann’s Die Tageszeiten, tenor soloist in Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb, William Boyce’s Solomon: A Serenata, Handel’s Acis and Galatea, Beethoven’s Mass in C Major, and Mozart’s C Minor Mass.
Corey has performed as a soloist with many San Francisco Bay Area groups including Albany Consort, Bay Choral Guild, California Bach Society, Chora Nova, Marin Baroque, Marin Oratorio, Marin Symphony, San Francisco Choral Society, San Francisco Renaissance Voices, San Francisco Symphony, Stanford Choirs and Orchestras, and Viva La Musica. He performs regularly in the chorale with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chorale.
Sepp Hammer, baritone
Sepp Hammer’s voice has been described as showing “warm baritone gravity” (The Boston Globe). His concert engagements in recent seasons include the role of Jesus in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with California Bach Society, Eupolemus in Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus with Philharmonia Baroque, Bach's Schwingt freudig euch empor with Cantata Collective, Zelenka’s Gloria with Chora Nova, Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs with Contra Costa Chorale, and, with various ensembles, Charpentier Messe des Morts, Schütz Symphoniae Sacrae, Bach Magnificat, Bach B Minor Mass, Haydn Lord Nelson Mass, Schubert Mass in G Major, Brahms Requiem, Fauré Requiem, and Duruflé Requiem. On the opera stage, Sepp’s roles include Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas, the title role in Don Giovanni, Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro, the Speaker in The Magic Flute, and John Proctor in The Crucible. Sepp holds a master’s degree in vocal performance from New England Conservatory and is a member of the Philharmonia Baroque Chorale.
