Featured Musicians – Bach Christmas Oratorio

November 24, 2019

Nicole Estima, soprano

With poise and creativity, soprano Nicole Estima is proving to be a versatile presence on the concert stage. Recent performances include various concerts as a soprano soloist with Newton Baroque (Celebrating Clara Schumann, Liederabend, Vermeer’s Concert 1664, Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, Pergolesi Stabat Mater, Clara Schumann at 200), Purcell’s The Tempest with The Henry Purcell Society of Boston and the Arcadia Players and Händel’s Sampson with the Sounds of Stow Chorus and Orchestra. Past season performances include productions of Purcell’s King Arthur, Come Ye Sons of Art Away, and A Cecilian Celebration concert with the Henry Purcell Society of Boston; also with Newton Baroque in concert with world-renowned early music soprano María Cristina Kiehr. On the operatic stage Nicole has performed the roles of Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflöte) with Bethesda Summer Music Festival in Maryland and First Lady (Die Zauberflöte) with Opera Tampa.  Other opera roles include Madame Herz (Der Schauspieldirektor) and Gretel (Hansel und Gretel) as well as performing as a featured artist with the St. Petersburg Opera Company. With a distinct passion for new music, Nicole worked closely with the composer Baljinder Sekhon III to premier his starkly beautiful and ominous composition There Are No Words at Carnegie Hall in New York. Nicole was also heard on RTE Radio (Irelands National Television and Radio Broadcaster) premiering Irish composer Geoff Shiel’s Islands, a striking work for soprano and orchestra. A native of Florida, Nicole holds a Master of Music degree from the University of South Florida.

Deborah Rentz-Moore

American mezzo-soprano Deborah Rentz-Moore has been praised for her “deep, radiant clear tone” (Early Music America) and her “effortlessly warm and resonant mezzo, with exquisite control over vibrato” (Boston Classical Review). She enjoys frequent solo collaborations with The Boston Camerata, Emmanuel Music and Aston Magna and has been featured with celebrated ensembles such as The Boston Early Music Festival, Handel & Haydn Society, The Bach Sinfonia, Magnificat Baroque, Voices of Music and the Mark Morris Dance Group. She is thrilled to be making her second appearance with Sounds of Stow.
A member of Emmanuel Music’s famed weekly Bach cantata series since 1999, Ms. Rentz-Moore garnered critical acclaim in the role of Joacim in their 2014 Boston premiere of Handel’s Susanna, as well as in the title role in Mozart’s Apollo et Hyacinthus in 2016. Her 2017-2018 season included a concert of voice and viols with Aston Magna, in addition to The Boston Camerata’s Mediterranean Christmas, Liberty and Love, and Liberty Tree. 2018 appearances include the critically-lauded The Orphic Moment, by Matt Aucoin, for contralto and chamber orchestra at Emmanuel Music and “A Bernstein Celebration” at The University of Rhode Island. Her 2018 performance in “Leonardo da Vinci: A Musical Odyssey” with the Voices of Music was honored as “Best chamber music performance” by San Francisco Classical Voice. Upcoming season highlights include Medieval Christmas music (“Puer Natus Est”), Renaissance/early Baroque music of Italy (“Gloria!”), early American music (“City on the Hill”) with The Boston Camerata and Bach and Harbison with Emmanuel Music.
Recordings include: Aston Magna’s “L’Orfeo: favola in musica 1607” (Centaur), “Cozzolani: Concerti Sacri (1642),” “Cozzolani: Messa Paschale,” “J.S. Bach: Cantatas 62, 45, 140 and 192,” “Cozzolani: Salmi a Otto Voci (1650)” (all on Musica Omnia), “The Golden Harvest” (Glissando), “Feliz Navidad: Christmas from Spain and New Spain,” (Meridian), “The Rose of Sharon” (Harmonia Mundi) and David Patterson’s “#Ferguson” (Albany Records).
Holding a Master of Music in Voice performance from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Arts in Music (voice) and Environmental Science from Skidmore College, Ms. Rentz-Moore has taught on the voice faculty of the University of Rhode Island and the Seacoast Academy of Music, conducted Shaker music manuscript research at Hancock Shaker Village, served as one of the contributing editors of two Shaker music books and an arts-based educational curriculum, and taught vocal music to students ages 5- 18, both as part of school programs and in her voice studio.

Jason Wang, tenor

Jason Wang, tenor, performs a wide range of repertoire with many of Boston’s leading ensembles such as Boston Baroque, Boston Lyric Opera, the Schola Cantorum of Boston, and Emmanuel Music. He has recently appeared as a soloist in Haydn’s Theresienmesse and Part-Songs, Handel’s Messiah, Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 (with the Sounds of Stow Chorus & Orchestra), and with the King’s Chapel Choir in Handel’s Nisi Dominus. His previous concert work includes performances with Boston Baroque, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the Mark Morris Dance Group as part of the Fleet Bank Celebrity Series, the Marsh Chapel Choir and Collegium, as a soloist with the Boston University Baroque Orchestra conducted by Martin Pearlman, and with the Cambridge Concentus under the direction of Joshua Rifkin.

Mr. Wang has appeared with Emmanuel Music in performances of John Harbison’s The Great Gatsby. For three seasons Mr. Wang performed with Opera Boston, appearing in their productions of Shostakovitch’s The Nose and Offenbach’s The Grande Duchesse of Gérolstein among others. Additional operatic engagements have included performances with the Boston University Opera Institute, the Handel and Haydn Society, Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras in Verdi’s Rigoletto, and with Boston Lyric Opera in Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer.  Mr. Wang is a graduate of Cornell University and the Boston University College of Fine Arts and can be heard on recordings released on the Albany and Linn labels.

James Dargan, baritone

James Dargan is a polymath creative artist, athlete, polyglot, musician and writer, raised in the Deep South and–after a childhood spent at the Duke University String School and NC School of the Arts–educated in New and Old England.
While at Boston University, James studied violin with Nicholas Kitchen (the first violinist of the acclaimed Borromeo Quartet, still in residence at NEC), and completed bachelor’s degrees in Literature, Religion, and Musicology, all the while singing and acting in various choirs and stage productions, fencing, and writing his thesis under the aegis of his advisor, the late poet Geoffrey Hill.
While in the UK, James studied English Literature in the graduate programme at Leeds University, continued to play the violin, and began to find his voice as a singer, working as a Lay Clerk in the Choir of the renowned York Minster.
After York, James returned to Boston, where he’s sung with groups as diverse as The Choir of the Church of The Advent, Boston Baroque, and Lowell House Opera, continued to play and teach violin, and added composition and outreach work to his portfolio. He also studied voice with Dr. Lynn Eustis, Neil Semer, and Peter Harvey, and recently attended the prestigious Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute in Toronto, on a full scholarship.
James has just moved to New York, where he sings in the professional choir of Marble Collegiate Church, freelances around Manhattan, and continues to pursue social justice through the arts.

Margot Law, soprano

Margot Law, soprano, holds a Bachelor of Music from the Crane Conservatory at the State University of New York at Potsdam, where her major instrument was flute. At home in New York, she was a student of Harold Bennett, principle flutist with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.

Margot studied voice with Robert Gartside of Boston University and has since given recitals in New England, New York, England, France and Germany, specializing in the art songs of the Belle Époque. She holds a Master of Theatre Education from Emerson College in Boston, with a concentration in technical theatre. A past president of Sounds of Stow, Margot has been teaching theatre and music for thirteen years at the Willow Hill School in Sudbury, Massachusetts and has been directing students and adults in plays and musicals for almost 50 years.

Kyle Spraker is the Principal Trumpet of the Cape Symphony, a devoted Teaching Artist at the Cape Conservatory, and the Director of Community Outreach and Education for both organizations.

Kyle Spraker, trumpet

As a musician, Kyle has performed with orchestras, chamber ensembles, big bands, rock bands, recording sessions for movies & video games, and is frequently featured as a soloist (often with Cape Symphony). His career has taken him all over the world, performing and teaching throughout the United States, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Central and South America. Notable performances and ensembles include: The Boston Philharmonic with Benjamin Zander, Plácido Domingo at the Wang Theater, Kyushu Symphony in Japan, American Youth Symphony with John Williams, and recently, conducting (or at least pretending to) the Cape Youth Orchestra with Black Violin.

Kyle earned a Master’s Degree from the New England Conservatory (2010), where he focused on performance, studying with members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra: Benjamin Wright and Steven Emery.

Before moving to the east coast, Kyle earned a Bachelor’s Degree from CSU- Long Beach, where he studied with members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic: Jim Wilt and Christopher Still. He has also been a fellow at Spoleto Festival USA, National Orchestral Institute, Idyllwild Festival, and the Castleton Festival under the baton of legendary conductor, Lorin Maazel.