While Easter has passed, a different kind of resurrection is coming to Augustana College on Sunday, May 1.
George Frideric Handel’s “Messiah” returns to life on the Centennial Hall stage at Augustana (3703 7th Ave., Rock Island), after an absence of four years. The slightly abridged version of the oratorio is expected to last about two hours, starting 3 p.m.
The performance will be by the Augustana Oratorio Society, conducted by Jon Hurty, Augustana’s director of choral activities. Soloists are Joseph Barron, bass; Jesse Darden, tenor; Kelly Hill, alto; and Emily Truckenbrod, soprano (See program).
The Oratorio Society was formed in 1880 and currently consists of community members, Augustana students, and members of the Augustana Choir. The ensemble is celebrated for exploring the riches of choral-orchestral literature.
“We are looking forward to performing this great Masterwork again after four years,” Hurty said in a recent release. “The singers are enjoying the opportunity to delve back into Handel’s wonderful choruses, and we are all excited to share this well-known and beloved piece with our audiences.”
“I am excited to bring ‘Messiah’ back to the community,” he said. “Because it has not been performed by our current students, it has been a real joy to introduce them to this magnificent work.”
“I do not know one musician on the Centennial Hall stage who is not profoundly touched by the music and the message,” said Cynthia Lambrecht, Augustana instructor of oboe and English horn. “The opportunity to share this experience with colleagues, students and audience is a blessing.”
Though usually performed at the college in the Christmas season, the 2018 performance was on Palm Sunday, that spring. “Messiah” originally was written for the Easter season, and premiered on April 13, 1742, in Dublin. Augustana Professor Olof Olsson had seen “Messiah” in London in 1879 and formed the Augustana Oratorio Society to perform it in April 1881.
“It was conceived as an Easter piece in the first place,” Hurty has said. “There’s only a slice, from movement 12 to the end of the first part that’s really Christmas.” Below are bios for the main performers:
Conductor Jon Hurty
He is director of choral activities and Henry Veld Professor of Music. He directs the Augustana Choir, the Augustana Chamber Singers, serves as the conductor of the Augustana Oratorio Society and teaches conducting. Hurty is also co-director of music for Augustana Campus Ministries and is the conductor and artistic director of Augustana Choral Artists. Before coming to Rock Island, he was director of choral activities at Concordia University in Irvine, Calif.
Hurty completed his undergraduate degree in vocal performance at Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas, a master’s degree in choral conducting from California State University, Northridge, and a doctorate in choral conducting and literature from the University of Illinois. He has studied conducting with John Alexander, Don Moses, Chet Alwes and Ann Howard Jones.
Active as a guest conductor and clinician throughout the U.S. and abroad, he has served in this capacity in all-state, state, and regional festivals of the American Choral Directors Association, Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, National Association for Music Education, and many colleges and high schools.
He has guest conducted the Tian Kong Choir and served as guest professor at Huazhong Normal University in Wuhan, China. He has conducted his choirs in concerts throughout the United States as well as Austria, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Norway, Spain, and Sweden.
Bass-baritone Joseph Barron
His 2021-22 season includes a debut as Don Pizarro in “Fidelio” with Opera North Carolina, Bartolo in “Il barbiere di Siviglia” at Finger Lakes Opera, and his role debut as Colline with Charlottesville Opera. Recent debuts include Opera Hong Kong and New Orleans Opera as Leporello in “Don Giovanni,” Opera Carolina and Opera Grand Rapids as the title role in “Le nozze di Figaro,” Virginia Opera as Kaspar in “Der Freischütz,” Bard Summerscape as Basmanov in Dvorak’s “Dimitrij,” and the Berkshire Opera Festival as Sparafucile in “Rigoletto.”
Barron previously has joined the Metropolitan Opera, the San Francisco Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Pittsburgh Opera, and Arizona Opera. Recent concert engagements include his debut at Carnegie Hall, Handel’s “Messiah” with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the Eugene Symphony’s holiday pop concert, and Mozart’s “Requiem” with the Mulhouse Symphony Orchestra.
A native of Pittsburgh, he received his master of music at the Curtis Institute of Music and his bachelor of music from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.
Tenor Jesse Darden
Earlier this season, Darden made his debut with Lincoln Center Theater covering and performing the role of Mark in Ricky Ian Gordon’s critically acclaimed “Intimate Apparel,” and in concert with the Penn Square Music Festival.
Darden returned to Boston Lyric Opera in 2020 to portray the role of Roderick Usher in Philip Glass’ “The Fall of the House of Usher” after his critically acclaimed performances as Timothy in “Fellow Travelers” in 2019. He made his Union Avenue Opera debut in 2019 in the title role of Candide.
Darden spent his 2017 and 2018 summers as an apprentice artist with the Santa Fe Opera, performing several small roles, and covering the role of Robert Wilson in “Doctor Atomic.” He has completed apprenticeships with Chautauqua Opera and Opera North. He’s performed extensively with Boston Lyric Opera, Odyssey Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Dartmouth College, New York Festival of Song, the Rhode Island Civic Chorale and Orchestra, Piedmont Opera, Chautauqua Opera, and the Chautauqua Symphony.
Alto Kelly Hill
She’s returned home to Iowa — pursuing a doctorate of musical arts at the University of Iowa as recipient of the Iowa Performance Fellowship — after completing her M.M. and A.D. at the Yale School of Music. While living in New England, she performed leading operatic roles with the Opera Theater of Connecticut, Hartford Opera Theater, and Madison Lyric Stage, and sang as a soloist with The Hartford Symphony Orchestra, New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Waterbury Symphony Orchestra, and the Yale Philharmonia.
Hill has apprenticed with the Santa Fe Opera, Central City Opera, Cedar Rapids Opera Theater, and spent a summer as a Fellow at the Aspen Music Festival and School.
Regional operatic credits include the title role in “Carmen,” Madeline Mitchell in “Three Decembers,” Jo March in “Little Women” with the University of Iowa Opera Theater. She also made her hometown debut as Marcellina in Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro” with Opera Quad Cities, and returned to the Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre as Suzuki in “Madama Butterfly.”
Local concert work has included appearances with the Chamber Singers of Iowa City, Cornell College, and St. Ambrose University. She had the privilege of premiering Jacob Bancks’ opera, “Karkinos,” with the Quad City Symphony Orchestra, and will return this fall to appear in Jake Heggie’s “Two Remain: Out of Darkness.”
Hill also teaches at Augustana College and St. Ambrose University.
Soprano Emily Truckenbrod
She has appeared in recitals, concerts, and opera throughout the U.S. as well as in Italy, France, Austria, Honduras and Tanzania, East Africa. Lauded for her performances in oratorio and orchestral works, Truckenbrod has appeared as soloist with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Wichita Symphony, Tulsa Oratorio Chorus, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Quad City Symphony Orchestra, Richmond Symphony (Indiana), Handel Oratorio Society (Illinois), Collegium Vocale of St. Louis, Masterworks Chorale (Illinois), American Kantorei (St. Louis), LaFosse Baroque Ensemble (Iowa), and Concert Choir of Northeast Connecticut.
Truckenbrod has sung roles ranging from the Queen of the Night (“Die Zauberflöte”) to Oscar (“Un Ballo in Maschera”), among others. Most recently, Truckenbrod appeared with the St. Louis Opera Collective in staged adaptations of Juliana Hall’s “Sentiment,” Melissa Dunphy’s “Tesla’s Pigeon,” as well as in the role of Beatrice in Jake Heggie’s opera, “3 Decembers.”
She holds the doctor of musical arts and master’s degree from the University of Iowa. Truckenbrod is currently professor and the director of vocal studies at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville.
Tickets for “Messiah” are available online, at the door, or by calling 309-794-7306. Tickets are $21; or $16 for seniors; $11 for faculty and staff, and all students and children. To learn more about this event, click HERE.
