We’re in Bethlehem for Bach at Noon this April in Central Moravian Church. Join us on April 11th, 2023 to hear members of The Bach Choir and Bach Festival Orchestra, conducted by Artistic Director and Conductor, Christopher Jackson. Featuring guest soloists Jessica Beebe, soprano; Kate Maroney, mezzo-soprano; James Reece, tenor; and instrumental soloists Loretta O’Sullivan, cello; Nobuo Kitagawa, oboe d’amore; and Mary Watt, oboe d’amore.

Dr. Jackson comes to us from Muhlenberg College, where he served as the Director of Choral and Vocal Activities. He is also a member of Skylark Vocal Ensemble, a professional choral ensemble where he serves as Director of Education, and The Thirteen, a Washington D.C. based choral ensemble. He was also the Conductor and Co-Founder of the Lycoming Baroque Choir and Orchestra where he conducted works by Bach and others.

Join us at Central Moravian!

Please note: 

Doors open at 11:30 am | Concert  begins at 12:10 pm

Click here to see the Bach at Noon program.

Soloists:

Jessica Beebe, soprano         

Lauded as having a “honey-colored tone” and “the most radiant solo singing” from Opera News, soprano Jessica Beebe is an affecting interpreter of repertoire from the Renaissance and Baroque to contemporary American opera. As a sought-after concert soloist, Ms. Beebe has performed as a soloist with several major orchestras and ensembles across the world including, The New York Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, The English Concert at the Barbican Theatre, The Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, The Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, The Folger Consort, Utah Symphony, Omaha Symphony Lancaster Symphony, The Washington Bach Consort, Piffaro, Gamut Bach Ensemble, Philadelphia Bach Collegium, and more. Her solo operatic highlights include premiering multiple operas by Jennifer Higdon, Lembit Beecher, and David Hertzberg with Opera Philadelphia, covering in Norway’s Bergen National Opera, and a Los Angeles Philharmonic debut in Meredith Monk’s opera, Atlas. Ms. Beebe is a member of Variant 6, The Crossing, Seraphic Fire, Clarion, Lorelei, Trio Eos, and The Thirteen and is on several GRAMMY nominated albums with The Crossing and Clarion Ensemble. Ms. Beebe is a voice faculty member at Franklin and Marshall College and Muhlenberg College and maintains a private voice studio from her home in Lansdale PA. For exciting upcoming performances please visit www.jessicabeebesoprano.com.

Kate Maroney, mezzo-soprano

is a versatile concert soloist in repertoire from Bach to the 21st century. She has appeared with the Metropolitan Opera, Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival, Bangor Symphony Orchestra, Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, Blue Hill Bach, Indianapolis Symphonic Choir, New York City Ballet, Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Seraphic Fire, Berkshire Choral Festival, Voices of Ascension, TENET Vocal Artists, Ekmeles, Carmel Bach Festival, Opera Grand Rapids, Beth Morrison Projects, Trinity Wall Street, LA Opera, Lincoln Center Festival, Oregon Bach Festival, Musica Sacra, Bach Collegium San Diego, Princeton Pro Musica, Bach Vespers Holy Trinity, Mark Morris Dance Group, Yale Choral Artists, American Opera Projects, The Crossing, and Clarion. Ms. Marony has collaborated closely with Philip Glass, David Lang, Michael Gordon, Martin Bresnick, Julia Wolfe, Missy Mazzoli, Nina Young, Dominick Argento, Christopher Cerrone, and Ted Hearne. She is on recordings with Albany, Naxos, and New Amsterdam Records, the Grammy winning recording of Ethel Smyth’s The Prison, and is soloist on recordings with Clarion, Seraphic Fire’s Hildegard von Bingen’s Ordo Virtutum, and a forthcoming recording with David Lang of the little match girl passion. She holds a D.M.A. from Eastman, degrees from SUNY Purchase and Yale, and teaches at Mannes and Yale. Kate resides in Brooklyn with musician-husband, Red Wierenga, and their son, Ossian. www.katemaroney.com

James Reese, tenor

brings his versatile and thoughtful singing to concert stages throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe. He regularly performs with world-class orchestras and ensembles, particularly in the field of baroque music. Among his collaborators are Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, American Bach Soloists, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Tafelmusik, The Sebastians, and the Boston Early Music Festival. He is also an active recitalist; he collaborates with pianist Daniel Overly in performances of song, and together, they made a recital debut at the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society in 2022. Mr. Reese also makes regular appearances with the leading art song presenter Lyric Fest, with whom he has performed four world premieres. The San Francisco Chronicle has praised his singing as “splendid,” and the Broad Street Review has written of his singing: “[Reese] was captivating…even more impressive than his vocal deployment was the narrative momentum he sustained throughout the performance.”

Loretta O’Sullivan, cello

has been acclaimed for her “scrupulous musicianship…gorgeous sound and stylistic acuity” (Washington Post) and is known for her incandescent presence. A longtime member of the Bach Festival Orchestra, Ms. O’Sullivan is also engaged in an international career of broad scope, including performances at Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Gewandhaus, La Fenice, the Kennedy Center, and Strathmore. Highlights include performances of Handel’s Messiah with the Rogue Symphony Orchestra; Rameau opera with Opera Lafayette in Washington, D.C., and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York; Bach’s Saint John Passion at Strathmore; French baroque cantatas in Philadelphia with Tempesta di Mare; live film scores for Hollywood’s silent movies for Early Music Columbus; and with her newest venture, OpenPage Ensemble, commissioning and performing works of 20th- and 21st-century composers. Her orchestral credits include the Atlanta, Dallas, and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestras, the Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra, and The National Philharmonic.

Nobuo Kitagawa, oboe 

is a graduate of Tokyo University of Arts and received Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from Yale University. He was the winner of the Woolsey Hall Competition, NHK Young Artists’ Audition, and Katz Young Musicians’ Competition, which sponsored his debut recital in New York City. He has appeared as a concerto soloist with Denver Symphony, Yale Philharmonia, Orchestra New England, and Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra. As an orchestra musician, he has performed with Orchestra New England, New Haven Symphony, Stamford Symphony, Princeton Symphony, and Orchestra of St. Luke’s and is currently the principal oboist of Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra. On Broadway, he was heard on Beauty and the Beast, Miss Saigon, and Phantom of the Opera and served as the principal oboist for the Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber National Tour. Mr. Kitagawa has recorded for Koch International, Delos, and New World Records. The Morning Call has described his sound as “sweet” and “velvety” that “simply melted into every corner of the hall.” He is on the faculty of Lafayette College, Muhlenberg College, and Kinhaven Adult Chamber Music Workshop. His YouTube channel has more than 800 instrumental exercise pieces and enjoys a large worldwide following. He publishes his work, including modern editions of works of Georg Philipp Telemann, on the online store NK Music Lab and is currently preparing an edition of Telemann’s Concerto for Two Oboes d’Amore and Cello, TWV 53:D3.

Mary Watt, oboe 

was principal oboist of the Bach Festival Orchestra for 35 years, and performed with The Choir at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. She can be heard as a soloist on many of its recordings. Ms. Watt received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Juilliard School. She performed with orchestras in the New York area including the Brooklyn Philharmonic, New Jersey Symphony, American Symphony Orchestra, Riverside Symphony, New Haven Symphony, and Hudson Valley Philharmonic. Ms. Watt was a member of the Quintet of the Americas, touring cities in the US and South America. She also played on Broadway with Cats and toured with The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber. She lives in Exeter, New Hampshire, and has performed with the New Hampshire Symphony, Vermont Symphony, Portland Symphony, the New England Bach Festival, Emmanuel Church in Boston, as well as other choral and chamber groups in New England. As a teacher of oboe, Ms. Watt began her career as assistant professor at Virginia Tech University. With the Quintet of the Americas, she was in residence at Northwestern University, and she currently teaches and coaches chamber music at Phillips Exeter Academy. Through her long association with the Kinhaven Music School in Weston, Vermont, she has taught hundreds of young oboists, and founded the Kinhaven Adult Chamber Music Workshop. She has given master classes at the Eastman School of Music, Northwestern University, University of New Hampshire, University of Massachusetts Amherst, and the University of Colorado Boulder.