Jonita Lattimore

Jonita Lattimore
Soprano

Critics praise Chicago-born soprano Jonita Lattimore for her “dusky low notes and effortless clarion range” (Chicago Tribune) and declared, “hers is a voice to rejoice about” (Sun Herald). USA Today deemed her latest CD, Only Heaven, “the most distinctive music heard all season,” evoking “spine chills and teary eyes” (Ft. Worth Star-Telegram). A documentary on the production of that live performance was shown on THINK TV, the Dayton , Ohio public television station. She has performed in the U.S. at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Tulsa Opera, Houston Grand Opera, and Grant Park Music Festival. She has appeared on stages in Paris, Vienna, Edinburgh, Italy, Poland, and Israel, had leading roles in Porgy and Bess , Bizet's Carmen, Le Nozze di Figaro, Faust, and Die Zauberflote. Recent oratorio and symphonic performances include a concert of operatic arias and spirituals; Dvorak, Brahms and Verdi Requiems; Beethoven's Ninth Symphony; singing Puccini with the Chicago Sinfonietta, and appearing in Boston 's The Three Sopranos series. WTTW's Artbeat Chicago broadcast a profile entitled Home Grown Diva! and featured her on Opera Philes . Her performances in the Dame Myra Hess Recital Series and box-office opening of Ravinia's 2000 season were broadcast live over WFMT. She also serves as adjunct professor of voice on the faculty of Roosevelt University 's Chicago College of the Performing Arts.

Robert Sims

Robert Sims
Lyric Baritone

Robert Sims, the Gold Medal winner of the American Traditions Competition, has been hailed by critics for his "rich luxuriant tone”, "energetic performances" and "convincing stage presence”.

Mr. Sims is highly regarded for his "moving" and "authentic" interpretations of spirituals, and has given recitals of spirituals throughout the United States , Europe and Asia . He made his Carnegie Hall recital debut this season and has performed in recital at the Smithsonian Institute, the Los Angeles African-American Museum , Grace Cathedral in San Francisco , the Chicago Historical Society, the Latour de France International Music Festival in Latour , France and the American Church in Paris . Recently he has been traveling on a 150-city recital tour across the United States under the auspices of Community Concerts and Live On Stage.

Robert Sims has appeared with many symphony orchestras in the United States , and recently, made his debut in Japan with the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra touring Japan , where his performance of Bernstein's Opening Prayer was nationally televised. He was also featured in Classical Singer Magazine highlighting his recital tours and his varied concert career.

He has been televised internationally from the Crystal Cathedral, home of The Hour of Power, and was featured on the PBS special Artbeat Chicago. He also has performed with the Chautauqua, Yachats, Grant Park, Big Arts, and the Ravinia Music Festivals, and has toured with the late William Warfield, George Shirley, and Benjamin Matthews in Three Generations, a celebration of Spirituals and Folk Songs.

The Spiritual Suite I'm a Soldier, for Baritone and Orchestra, written for Mr. Sims by Lena McLin and Jan Bach, and was recently its Savannah premiered by the performer in the U.S.

After winning the Friedrich Schorr Opera Award, Mr. Sims appeared in Massenet's Cendrillon, which won the National Opera America Award. He made his Goodman Theater debut under the direction of Frank Galati, and sang the role of Dr. Malatesta in Don Pasquale with Opera Carolina, and was seen in Romeo et Juliette and Die Zauberflöte with Tri-Cities Opera.

Mr. Sims’ artistry is highlighted on three compact discs produced by Canti Classics: Soul of Singer, Sims Sings Copland and Spirituals, and Three Generations. He is also featured on two recordings: Deep River , and Gotta Home In Dat Rock produced by Moses Hogan and his Chorale.

Mr. Sims is an alumnus of Oberlin Conservatory, SUNY Binghamton, Northwestern University , and Music Academy of the West.

www.RobertSims.com

Audio Samples on the web

Jessye Wright

Jessye Wright
Mezzo-Soprano

Mezzo-soprano Jessye Wright is admired for her rich, colorful voice – a rare instrument with both brilliance and depth – as well as her impeccable musicianship and striking stage presence. She is among just four mezzos earning distinction as an “Upwardly Musical Artist on the Move” in Symphony magazine’s 2005 Guide to Emerging Artists.

Jessye is next scheduled to perform Carmen at the Ravinia Music Festival with Opera Theatre North, Suzuki in Madama Butterfly with Chattanooga Opera, Verdi’s Requiem with Sioux City Symphony Orchestra, and Mozart’s Requiem with internationally acclaimed conductor, Maestro Edvard Tchivzhel, and the Fort Wayne Philharmonic.

A recent recipient of a sizeable grant from the Metropolitan Opera, Jessye just made her Carnegie Hall debut in a performance featuring solos from the Messiah. This season’s engagements include an Opera Gala performance for Toledo Opera; Hansel in Hansel and Gretel with Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra; the White Cat, Dragonfly and Shepherd in Ravel’s L’Enfant et Les Sortilèges with the Chicago Cultural Center; and Beethoven’s Ninth with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic. In addition to performing Third Lady in Magic Flute at the Ravinia Music Festival, she appeared in the world premiere of Mae Cohen’s9/11 and made her European debut as a featured soloist in the Festival Internazionale di Musica in Tuscany , Italy .

Other notable operatic engagements include Nicklausse and the Muse in Les Contes d'Hoffman, Orlovsky in Die Fledermaus, Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro, the VIP’s Girlfriend in the Chicago premiere of The Overcoat, and Pitti-Sing in The Mikado with Nashville Opera. Highlights from recent seasons include Third Lady in Magic Flute with Chattanooga Opera, Charlotte in A Little Night Music with Muddy River Opera, Maddalena in Rigoletto and Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia with L’Opera Piccola in Chicago, and Beethoven’s Ninth with Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra. Jessye was a soloist in Paul McCartney’sLiverpoolOratorio and a televised Christmas concert, both with the Saginaw Symphony in Michigan.

This highly talented young vocalist has sung with a number of other prestigious opera companies in Des Moines, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, and Aspen. A past national semifinalist in the Metropolitan Opera Council Auditions, Jessye received the Ardis Krainik Memorial Prizein Voice from Chicago’s National Bel Canto Foundation, and recently won 2 nd place in the 2005 International Classical Singer Competition.

www.jessyewright.com

Audio Samples on the web

Jonathan Beyer

Jonathan Beyer
Baritone

Jonathan Beyer is a 24 year old baritone from Orland Park, IL. He was last seen on the Metropolitan Opera stage, singing in the National Grand Finals Concert. This was an honor given to 9 singers from 19,000 applicants. Currently in the Opera Program at the Curtis Institute of Music, he studies with Marlena Malas.

He began his musical studies at the Boston Conservatory as a composition major. He completed his undergraduate and graduate work at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University as a vocal performance major. While at CCPA, Jonathan studied with Judith Haddon, David Holloway, and Richard Stilwell. Roles at Roosevelt include Ottone in Monteverdi’s “Coronation of Poppea” and Count Almaviva in Mozarts “Le Nozze di Figaro.” The past three summers found Jonathan performing at the Chautauqua Institution. There he performed in recital with Craig Rutenberg, Mikael Elison, and Brian Zeger. He also performed the Musiklehrer in Strauss’ “Ariadne auf Naxos,” Marcello in Puccini’s “La Boheme,” and Nick Shadow in Stravinsky’s “The Rake’s Progress.” He returns this summer to sing Papa Germont in “La Traviata” and Don Alfonso in “Cosi fan tutte.” Jonathan spent two seasons as a young artist with the Chicago Opera Theater. He has performed in their productions of Handel’s “Agrippina,” Britten’s “A Death in Venice,” and Rossini’s “Il Viaggio a Reims.” He returns to COT this spring to cover the role of Richard Nixon in John Adam’s “Nixon in China.” He has also sung in operas and recitals through the Chicago Cultural Center.

In addition to being a winner at the Chicago NATS competitions, Jonathan was the 2004 Grand Prize Winner of the Bel Canto Foundation and as reward studied with famed tenor Carlo Bergonzi. He later returned to Italy to perform in a televised concert at the Teatro di Verdi. In 2005, he was the First Place Winner of the Lola Fletcher Grant from the American Opera Society, First Place Winner of the Union League Civic and Arts Foundation, Top Prize at the Marian Anderson Competition, and was the 2005 recipient of the Anna Sossenko Grant. At the Curtis Institute, he has performed the roles of Papageno in “Die Zauberflote,” Sid in “Albert Herring,” the Sorceress in “Dido and Aeneas,” and the Emperor of China in Stravinsky’s “Le Rossignol.”

Fareed Haque

Fareed Haque
Guitar

Guitar virtuoso Fareed Haque enjoys a career that spans the spectrum of musical styles. Moving easily between jazz and classical guitar, Fareed's versatility has created a demand for him with prominent jazz and classical artists including Paquito D'Rivera, Dave Holland, Sting, Joe Henderson, Joe Zawinul, Javon Jackson, Cassandra Wilson, Kurt Elling, Lester Bowie, Arturo Sandoval, Robert Walter, Carl Denson, Medeski, Martin and Wood, Kahil el Zabar, Defunckt, Ramsey Lewis, Nigel Kennedy, Edgar Meyer, Robert Conant, , Stephen Stubbs, Frank Bungarten, members of the Vermeer Quartet and many symphony orchestras in the U.S. and abroad. He has performed all of the major guitar concertos, is an active transcriber of baroque as well as South American music and has had numerous modern works dedicated to him

Fareed has also released seven recordings as a leader: "Voices Rising" and "Manresa" on Sting's Pangaea label, and "Sacred Addiction," "Opaque," and "Deja Vu," on the prestigious Bluenote label, as well as "Singh Song" available on Haven Records. His most recent, the critically acclaimed Cosmic Hug is available on Magnatude Records

Haque has been featured on WTTW's ArtBeat, Ben Sidran's New Visions, Michelob Presents Sunday Night with David Sanborn on NBC, his own Lonesome Pines Special for PBS, and on BET cable jazz channel. Fareed has twice been selected Talent Deserving Wider Recognition in Downbeat magazine. In 1989, Fareed joined the faculty of Northern Illinois University, where he currently holds an associate professorship in jazz and classical guitar studies.

Born in 1963 to Pakistani father and Chilean mother, extensive travels, especially long stays in Spain, France, Iran, Pakistan and Chile, exposed Haque to different musics from a very early age. This natural eclecticism has become the hallmark of Fareed's music. The 1981 Recipient of North Texas State University's Jazz Guitar Scholarship, Haque spent a year studying with renowned jazz guitarist and pedagogue Jack Peterson. Fareed's growing interest in the classical guitar led him to transfer to Northwestern University, where he completed his studies in classical guitar under David Buch, John Holmquist and Anne Waller.

In 2001 Fareed co-founded the jam super-group Garaj Mahal, joined George Brooks' group Summit, featuring Zakir Hussein and Steve Smith and continues to record and tour with the Fareed Haque Group. More recently Fareed has become a staple of the 'Jamband' scene and was voted 'Most Valuable Player' at the 2002 High Sierra Music Festival.

In 2004 Fareed composed and performed his Lahara Double Concerto for Sitar/Guitar and Tabla. The work was premiered by The Chicago Sinfonietta, under the baton of maestro Paul Freeman, at Orchestra Hall in Chicago, featuring tabla virtuoso Ustad Zakir Hussain, to whom the work is dedicated. 2005 promises even more activity as a composer. Fareed has been commissioned to compose a classical guitar concerto for the Fulcrum Point Ensemble, to premiere May 06.

www.Fareed.com

Zhu Ge Zeng
Soprano

Zhu Ge Zeng
Soprano

Soprano Zhu Ge Zeng is a native of Hunan Province , China . She pursued voice and operatic studies at Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada for two years, and presently resides in Chicago , Illinois .

Ms. Zeng sang the title role of the world premiere of “ Iron Road ” by Chan Ka Nin, in Toronto in April of 2001. Ms. Zeng’s other operatic credits include the roles of Gretel in Hansel und Gretel, Venus in Lully’s Thesee, Mazzata in Purves Smith’s LeChien de Watteau, Iris in Hoiby’s The Tempest, and the Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflote. She also appeared in the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio Presentation of Sartorio’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto.

She excels in the coloratura and lyric operatic repertory, in roles such as Zerbinetta, Olympia , Oscar, Morgana, and Adele. She brings to her performing a natural and compelling stage presence as well.