Our Bethlehem Bach at Noon season continues on October 13th at Central Moravian Church. Gather with us for this free, inspiring concert series, a musical gift to our community. The October Bach at Noon is supported in part by a generous endowment gift from Mrs. Cornelius Ayer Wood Jr. in memory of The Rev. Cornelius Ayer Wood Jr., a member of the Choir’s Board of Managers from 1960 to 1977.

October’s Bach at Noon welcomes Dan McCarthy on historical instruments from the viola family and soprano Clara Rottsolk, a familiar voice to Bach Choir audiences and featured soloist on our recording of Mendelssohn’s version of Bach’s Saint Matthew Passion. McCarthy will perform Bach’s Sonata for Viola da Gamba in G Major, BWV 1027, on tenor viola, and the program also includes Tritt auf die Glaubensbahn, BWV 152, one of Bach’s few cantatas featuring the viola d’amore and part of the Choir’s spotlight concert at the 2027 Bachfest Leipzig.

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SOLOISTS

Multi-instrumentalist DAN MCCARTHY, is sought after as an expert and performer of a number of instruments that are sadly and conspicuously absent from the field of Historical Performance in the United States. He will be performing on both Vivaldi and Bach style violas d’amore with Washington Bach Consort, Clarion Music Society, and the Bach Choir of Bethlehem this season. ARTEK, Bach Vespers of New York City, Yale Institute of Sacred Music, and others will feature him on tenor viola. Tenor violin appearances include multiple Monteverdi Vespers this season with Washington Bach Consort and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music as well as The Fooles – A New York based violin consort. McCarthy was a part of the first class of Baroque violists ever to be accepted into the Historical Performance program at The Juilliard School, where he was also often featured in performances playing violin, viola d’amore, and viola da gamba. He has served as section violist with the Trinity Wall Street Baroque Orchestra, concertmaster of the Austin Baroque Orchestra, and tenor gambist with Parthenia. He has also toured extensively throughout North America, East Asia, and Europe with artists and groups such as Jordi Savall, Masaaki Suzuki, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, American Bach Soloists, and Tempesta di Mare. McCarthy is a distributor for Cordedrago strings based in Bologna, Italy.

LORETTA O’SULLIVAN, cello, praised by the New York Times as “an agile, eloquent player,” has played with many of this country’s leading ensembles and orchestras. On period instruments, these include the Four Nations Ensemble, Opera Lafayette, Aston Magna, Artek, the Haydn Baryton Trio, the Classical Quartet, the Genzinger Quartet, and the American Classical Orchestra. She is principal cellist of the Bach Choir of Bethlehem and has performed extensively with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. In concerts and recordings, she has given memorable performances of Bach, Biber, and Britten for solo cello; concertos of Vivaldi, Porpora, and Fiorenza; obbligato cello arias of J.S. Bach, Caldara, and Handel; and a wide range of chamber music. She recorded the complete Op. 5 sonatas of Francesco Geminiani, with the Four Nations Ensemble, for Orchid Classics. As principal cellist of Opera Lafayette, she has performed at Versailles, the Kennedy Center, and the Rose Theater and has recorded for Naxos. In 2025, the opera company performed and recorded the world premiere of Morgiane, ou Le Sultan d’Ispahan by Edmond Dédé. As principal cellist with the Bach Choir of Bethlehem, and featured artist in 2023, O’Sullivan played the C.P.E. Bach cello concerto in a minor, the Vivaldi concerto for two cellos, and Sarah Quartel’s Snow Angel for solo cello and children’s choir. On tour with the Bach Choir, she performed at the Leipzig Bach Festival. In 2024, she performed a set of movements of Bach and Britten solo cello suites, showing Bach’s influence on the great British composer. As part of A Musical Heart program, O’Sullivan plays for hospice patients at Lehigh Valley Health Network in Allentown, Pennsylvania. She has set music to the poetry of Francine Ringold and Marilyn Miller and to videos of artist Kathleen MacKenzie.

German-born recorder player Rainer Beckmann performs with a large variety of early music ensembles in the Philadelphia Tri-State area. He is a founding member of La Bernardinia Baroque Ensemble and New World Recorders. As featured soloist and guest musician, he regularly appears with groups including Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra Tempesta di Mare, Philadelphia Bach Collective, Brandywine Baroque, Camerata Ama Deus, Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra, The Bach Choir of Bethlehem, Piffaro: The Renaissance Band, and Vox Renaissance Consort. With recorder consorts Il Flauto Giocoso, Landini Consort, Ad Libitum, and others, he has extensively performed in Germany, the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Italy, Israel and Brazil. Rainer teaches at Amherst Early Music workshops, coaches the recorder players of Temple University’s Early Music Ensemble, and serves as the music director of the Philadelphia Recorder Society. He is a graduate of the Utrecht Conservatory in the Netherlands where he studied recorder and historical performance practice with Heiko ter Schegget, Baldrick Deerenberg and Marion Verbruggen.

Praised for his “handsome, light tone” (New York Times) and “heroic” performances full of “emotional intensity” (Gramophone), bass-baritone Brian Mextorf is in demand as a recitalist, concert singer, and ensemble performer. Recent seasons have included performances as soloist in Brahms’ Ein Deutches Requiem at Trinity Church in New York and with New Orchestra of Washington, Mozart’s Requiem at Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall, Haydn’s Missa in tempore belli and Schubert’s Mass in G at Carnegie Hall, Messiah with The Choir of Trinity Wall Street, and Raphael in Haydn’s Creation. A frequent collaborator with Brooklyn Art Song Society, recent recitals have included Barber’s Despite and Still, Wolf’s Michelangelo-Lieder, selections from Eisler’s Hollywooder Liederbuch, Ravel’s Don Quichotte à Dulcinée, Hannah Kendall’s Rosalind, and Jolivet’s Trois complaintes du soldat. Ensemble performances include a tour of South Korea with the American Soloist Ensemble, as well as appearances with the New York Philharmonic, New York City Ballet, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Grand Rapids Symphony, Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Musica Sacra, and The Clarion Choir. Other recent solo debuts have included Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater (La traviata) and National Sawdust (AIDS Quilt Songbook recital). A district and regional winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Brian has performed as soloist with Opera Theater of St. Louis, Virginia Opera, Opera Saratoga, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Richmond Symphony, and Virginia Symphony Orchestra. 

Daniel McDougall is a familiar face in the Bach Choir family, having been a proud member of Bach Festival Orchestra since 1995. He is the principal bassist of the Delaware Symphony Orchestra, PostClassical Ensemble, Washington Concert Opera, and assistant principal of the Philadelphia Ballet Orchestra. He’s played three seasons with the Santa Fe Opera, and performs regularly with Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Philly Pops, Opera Philadelphia, and others. Eclectic freelancing has placed him on stage with Julie Andrews, Luciano Pavarotti, Peter Gabriel, and The Who, to name a few. Following his performance of the Koussevitzky concerto with the Delaware Symphony, Gail Obenreder of the News Journal wrote: “He played the technically and physically demanding work with impressive – and expressive – technique and great delight, treating the audience to the unexpectedly lyrical qualities of this orchestral foundation instrument.” After graduating from Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music, he remained on staff and career studies faculty, most recently as Associate Dean of Student and Academic Affairs. He left in 2018 to focus more on performing and travel – beginning with a 14,000-mile road trip to Alaska with his Airstream trailer that summer.

“With a silken voice capable of extraordinary power” (San Diego Union-Tribune), soprano Clara Rottsolk’s solo appearances have taken her across the United States, the Middle East, Japan, and South America. She has appeared as a soloist with prominent modern orchestras and period instrument ensembles under the direction of conductors including Grete Pedersen, Nicholas McGeegan, Jos van Veldhoven, Sir John Rutter, Stephen Stubbs, Andrew Megill, and Ruben Valenzuela.  Also dedicated to chamber and recital repertoire, she performs with ensembles including Bach Collegium San Diego, TENET, Piffaro the Renaissance Wind Band, Colorado Bach Ensemble, Acronym, The Sebastians, Washington Bach Consort, and the Seattle Bach Festival. Frequently in demand as a festival soloist, her credits include Carmel Bach, Berkeley Early Music, Montréal Baroque, Spoleto USA, Winter Park Bach, St. Louis Bach, Indianapolis Early Music, Whidbey Island Music, and Boston Early Music.  Her solo recordings can be found on Chandos, Analekta, MSR Classics, and independent labels. Committed to supporting future generations of musicians, she serves as Assistant Professor of the Practice of Music in Voice at Duke University. 

NOBUO KITAGAWA, oboe  Nobuo Kitagawa is an oboist and educator. A graduate of the Tokyo University of the Arts, he holds a Master of Music and a Doctor of Musical Arts from Yale University. He is a recipient of the Woolsey Hall Competition, the NHK Young Artists’ Audition, and the Katz Young Musicians’ Competition, which sponsored his New York debut recital. As a performer, Kitagawa has appeared as a concerto soloist with the Denver Symphony, Yale Philharmonia, and Orchestra New England. He serves as Principal Oboe of
the Pennsylvania Sinfonia. His Broadway credits include The Phantom of the Opera, Beauty and the Beast, and Miss Saigon, and he served for two years as Principal Oboe on the national tour of The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber. His recordings are released on Koch International, Delos, and New World Records. In addition to his performing career, Kitagawa is an editor of Baroque music, preparing modern performing editions. His projects include oboe concertos and an orchestral suite by Telemann, as well as a premiere of Marcello’s Oboe Concerto in D Minor with the Valley Vivaldi series. He is the founder of NK Music Lab, a YouTube channel featuring over 900 instructional videos for woodwind, brass, and string players, offered in both English and Japanese. Accompanying the channel is the NK Music Lab online store (nkmusiclab.com), which offers sheet music and audio accompaniment tracks. Kitagawa holds faculty positions at Lafayette College and Muhlenberg College, where he teaches studio oboe, chamber music, and music theory. He also serves on the faculty of the Kinhaven Adult Chamber Music Workshop in Vermont.

KERRY HEIMANN, keyboards, has been president of the American Boychoir School and accompanied the choir’s almost 100 annual concerts, coordinating an extensive international touring and recording schedule. With degrees in organ performance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Heimann earned his doctoral degree in harpsichord and early music from Illinois, with a minor in choral conducting. His principal teachers have included Charlotte Mattax, Michael Farris, and Chet Alwes, and he received several awards, including the prestigious Theodore Presser Award and the Pi Kappa Lambda National Honor Society in Music. A widely sought-after accompanist, conductor, and collaborator, Heimann has played at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and Kennedy Center and performed at festivals throughout Europe and North America, such as the Spoleto Festival and the Festival de Lanaudière. He helped found the Baroque Artists of Champaign-Urbana and served as producer for Charlotte Mattax’s six CDs of harpsichord works. He has performed at national and regional conferences for the American Choral Directors Association, the Society for Seventeenth Century Music, and the Organization of American Kodaly Educators. In addition, Heimann serves as Operations Manager for Princeton University Concerts, Director of Music for Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Trenton, and Rehearsal Accompanist/Assistant Conductor of the Bach Choir of Bethlehem.