Soprano Marina Mescheriakova, hailed by The New York Times as a "Russian soprano born to sing Verdi," appears regularly on the world's leading opera and concert stages, including the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Staatsoper Berlin, San Francisco Opera, Vienna State Opera, Bolshoi Theater of Moscow and Opéra National de Paris. She has distinguished herself by singing challenging soprano roles, in particular, those of Verdi. In fact, Verdi's Requiem has become her signature piece and she has performed it with the National Symphony Orchestra, Danish Radio Symphony and the Rotterdam, Israel and Oslo philharmonics. Mescheriakova has appeared with the BBC Symphony, Christoph Eschenbach and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and Lorin Maazel and the New York Philharmonic.
Robynne Redmon has performed leading roles with the Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Bavarian State Opera, San Francisco Opera and Berlin State Opera. She has worked with such esteemed conductors as Riccardo Muti, Zubin Mehta, Valery Gergiev, Christian Thielemann, Krzysztof Penderecki, Charles Dutoit and James Conlon. A respected interpreter of contemporary music, she has created the title role in the world premiere of Bright Sheng's Madame Mao for the Santa Fe Opera, and sung the American premiere of Mathis der Maler and the world premieres of Harvey Milk and Hugo Weisgall's Esther for New York City Opera. As an accomplished orchestral soloist, Redmon has appeared with the Israel Philharmonic and Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal; the Cincinnati, Seattle Memphis, Buffalo, Detroit symphonies; the Brooklyn and Buffalo philharmonics; the Minnesota Orchestra; and Choral Arts Society of Washington.
Marcus Haddock's beautiful voice and beguiling stage presence have earned him international distinction. He is a leading tenor with many of the finest companies in the world, including the Paris Opera, La Scala, Bavarian State Opera, Metropolitan Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the Liceu of Barcelona. Known for both the dramatic intensity and technical brilliance of his singing, Mr. Haddock's operatic repertoire includes a wide range of roles. Prominent among these is Don José in Carmen, which he sang in 2005-2006 at the Bavarian State Opera and, in his home state of Texas, at the Houston Grand Opera. The New York Times praised Haddock's Don José at the Glydenbourne Festival as "stylish"¦elegant" and "candid and natural," and The Independent called his performance a "knock-out." Mr. Haddock has also distinguished himself in the tile role of Les contes d'Hoffmann. He has sung Hoffmann at La Scala, the Orange Festival in southern France, the Paris Opera, the Dallas Opera; the Teatro Real de Madrid; and at the Vienna State Opera.
Oregon-born, award-winning baritone Clayton Brainerd has appeared in Europe, New Zealand, Canada, North and South America, Korea and Japan with Seiji Ozawa, Michael Tilson Thomas, Charles Dutoit, Zdenek Macal, Jeffery Tate, Jesus Lopez-Cobos and Christophe von Dohnanyi. Brainerd's versatility encompasses not only the Wagnerian repertoire of Wotan and Gunther in The Ring and the title roles in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, but also many roles in the Italian and French operatic repertoire, including Scarpia in Tosca, Commendatore inDon Giovanni, Villains in Hoffman, Golaud in Pelléas et Mélisande and Mephistopheles in The Damnation of Faust. Brainerd is also in great demand as a concert artist throughout the world, singing a vast repertoire from Baroque to modern. Brainerd was awarded the coveted Herald Angel Award from the Edinburgh Festival, which named him as one of the most outstanding performers at the festival.
Ludwig van Beethoven's Missa solemnis, one of the great musical settings of the Catholic liturgy, a far surpasses the norms of ecclesiastic composition. Its music draws on Beethoven's symphonic style, as well as other idioms, to suggest a spiritual vision that transcends any one doctrine. -- www.seattlesymphony.org
