Category Archives: Sacred Music 2019 Soloists

Jonathan Johnson, Tenor

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Rising young tenor Jonathan Johnson’s many recent engagements have included Anthony Hope in Sweeney Todd at Opera Omaha, The Prince in The Love of Three Oranges with Opera Philadelphia (where he was named as one of their Emerging Artists), Jonathan Dale in Silent Night with Utah Opera, Beppe in I Pagliacci with Opera Colorado, the title role in Candide with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Utah Symphony Orchestra, and Des Moines Metro Opera; Hervey in Anna Bolena at Canadian Opera Company, Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance and Lensky in Eugene Onegin at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and Fenton in Falstaff at San Diego Opera. He has also appeared with the Detroit Symphony in Messiah and with Cincinnati Symphony for Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri.

Hailing from Macon, GA, Mr. Johnson is a graduate of the Patrick G. & Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. He holds a Master’s degree and Professional Artist Certificate from the A.J. Fletcher Institute of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and earned a Bachelor of Music from Townsend School of Music at Mercer University.

Jonathan Johnson performed The Messiah with Camerata Chicago in 2019.

Jonathan Johnson performing with Camerata Chicago in 2019. Photo Credit Dan Andersen.

Gerard Sundberg, Baritone

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5B-g-sundberg-lg[11]-400Gerard Sundberg holds both Master of Fine Arts and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the University of Minnesota where he studied voice with Clifton Ware and Roy Schuessler.

He is presently Professor Emeritus of Voice at Wheaton Conservatory of Music (Wheaton, IL), where he taught studio voice and vocal pedagogy. Living in the Twin City, MN area, he is an adjunct voice professor at Bethel University. Dr. Sundberg is also an active church musician, and vocal and choral clinician.

His three recordings are “Singer on a Journey” including four sacred song cycles by Brahms, Beethoven, Vaughan Williams and Carlisle Floyd; “Songs for the Journey” and “Songs Through Endless Ages” including arrangements by Edwin Childs of hymns and gospel songs.

Gerard Sundberg performing with Camerata Chicago in 2019. Photo Credit Dan Andersen.

Performances for this 2021-22 season will include Handel Messiah with Chicago Camerata 12/10,11; Messiah with Atlanta Symphony TBA; Mahler Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer) with Wayzata Symphony (MN) TBA; Haydn Paukenmesse (Mass in time of War), Vaughan Williams Dona Nobis Pacem with Downers Grove Choral Society (Chicago) TBA; and The Peoria Bach Festival (IL), repertoire and dates TBA.

Robin Wiper, Soprano

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1S-robinwiper-0150x0180Robin Wiper is a local private vocal instructor with a checkered past.. She has her Masters Degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music and has had the blessing to learn from many famous Master Clinicians, Teachers and Coaches during her 25 -plus years of study, performance and teaching. She has studied acting, directing, pedagogy, movement and dance, and has twice been a Certified Actor Combatant in six weapons as a stage combat artist with the Society of American Fight Directors. Her students have gained entrance to fine schools and conservatories around the country. Currently residing as a stay-at-home, home schooling mother of four, she coaches and teaches voice lessons out of her home in Wheaton. She is also wife to Steve Wiper, who knows about her former secret life as an opera singer, among other things. Continue reading if interested.

Ms. Wiper, an aluma of the Lyric Opera of Chicago Apprentice Program, has had the pleasure of singing all over the world. She made her Lyric Opera debut as Suor Genovieffa in Suor Angelica as an apprentice. Her favorite roles with the Lyric have been varied from Papagena in The Magic Flute to the pants role of Oberto in Alcina. With the Lyric Opera she has also performed the title role of Lucia with the Grant Park Orchestra.

Ms. Wiper has also appeared at the Metropolitan Opera in New York (debut LuLu 2000) as well as with the New York City Opera (debut Orfeo1997) both onstage at Lincoln Center and on their National Tour (title role in The Daughter of the Regiment 1998-99). She was also featured in the role of Margaret in the opera Lizzie Borden as which was broadcast live from Lincoln Center. Other regional opera companies include Indianapolis, Atlanta, Cinncinnati, Cleveland, Memphis and Eugene. She made her European debut at the Spoleto Festival in Italy as Blondchen in Mozart’s the Abduction from the Seraglio.

A sought-after recitalist and oratorio performer, Ms. Wiper has performed with a variety of orchestras, including the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, the Atlanta Symphony and the Birmingham Symphony.

Equally at home in the world of musical theatre, Ms. Wiper has performed in professional and semi-professional companies in such roles as Fiona in Brigadoon, Lizzie in Baby, the Mistress/chorus/swing in Evita, Winthrop (yes, Winthrop) in The Music Man, and Liesl in The Sound of Music.

Asher Moses, Boy Soprano

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Asher Frederick Moses, age 9, has grown up in a musical family. The youngest of five siblings, he has enjoyed listening to them sing, play violin, viola, piano and drums. Since the age of five, he has been part of a children’s choir with live orchestra for One Way Ministries’ annual SHINE Concerts at Wentz Concert Hall, Naperville. Last year he soloed for a youth choir led by his voice teacher, Danielle York Miller. In February 2019, he was a finalist in the Sinfonietta Bel Canto Voice Competition. Asher’s favorite composers are Bach and Handel. He is homeschooled and enjoys studying the Bible, history and science. He is excited to be singing in Handel’s Messiah with Camerata Chicago!

Sarah Holman, Mezzo-soprano

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Sarah Holman, mezzo-soprano, recently performed Haydn’s Missa in tempore belli with the Rockford Symphony and was a featured soloist in Ivor Novello: A Celebration with the Kansas City World War I Museum and William Jewell College. She has performed with the Lake Forest Symphony, Chicago Master Singers, and DePaul Community Chorus. Her frequent concert repertoire includes Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Bach’s Cantata No. 147 Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, Elgar’s The Light of Life, Stanford’s Stabat Mater, Bruckner’s Mass in D minor, Dvořák’s Mass in D, Mozart’s Requiem, and Handel’s Messiah.

Operatic appearances have included Opera Southwest, Lyric Opera Cleveland, Chicago Chamber Opera, DuPage Opera, Muddy River Opera, City Opera of the Quad Cities, and Kansas Opera, and have included the roles of The Baroness in Vanessa, the Gian Carlo Menotti: A Tribute (Francis Menotti, director), Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible, Dorabella in Cosí fan tutte, The Mother in The Consul, Katisha in The Mikado, Lady Jane in Patience, Meg Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Beatrice in Beatrice and Benedict, and the title role of Regina. She enjoyed a long tenure in the Dean Wilder Singers, a vocal quartet which toured throughout the United States, Mexico, and Southern Korea performing opera, oratorio, and sacred literature.

As a recitalist, Dr. Holman has performed in numerous venues in the United States and Cambridge, Birmingham, and Northampton, England. She has been a featured artist and master teacher with the Southern Young Artist Opera Project in Bejing, China and Changhua and Teipei, Taiwan. She was a featured artist and master teacher with the Asian Opera Festival in Kunming, China, and at the Bel Canto Opera Workshop in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. A recipient of a Goldovsky Opera Directing Internship with Harrower Opera in Atlanta, Dr. Holman, Professor of Voice, has served as Director of Opera at Wheaton College Conservatory. She was a featured presenter at the International Congress of Voice Teachers 2017 conference in Stockholm, Sweden, and serves on the National Association of Teachers of Singing Foundation Board. She is delighted to be performing this season with Camerata Chicago.