In my previous soloist installment, I introduced soloists for Chorale’s upcoming St. John Passion who actually reside in Chicago. Some of our soloists, all specialists in this repertoire, fly or drive in to perform with us.
Our concertmaster, Robert Mealy, is one of America’s most prominent Baroque violinists. The New York Times recently commented in a review that “Mr. Mealy seems to foster excellence wherever he goes, whether as director of the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, concertmaster of the Trinity Baroque Orchestra in New York, or at The Juilliard School, as director of the historical performance program.” While still an undergraduate, he was asked to join the Canadian Baroque orchestra Tafelmusik; after graduating he began performing with Les Arts Florissants. Since then, he has recorded and toured with many ensembles both here and in Europe, and served as concertmaster for Masaaki Suzuki, Nicholas McGegan, Helmuth Rilling, Paul Agnew, and William Christie, among others. As a recitalist, he has appeared at Carnegie Hall, the Smithsonian Museum, and on series across America. A devoted chamber musician, he co-directs Quicksilver, whose début recording was hailed as “breakthrough CD of the year” by the Huffington Post. Mr. Mealy is Director of the distinguished Historical Performance Program at The Juilliard School; prior to that, he was on the faculty of the Yale School of Music. He taught at Harvard for over a decade, where he founded the Harvard Baroque Chamber Orchestra. In 2004, he received Early Music America’s Binkley Award for outstanding teaching and scholarship. He has recorded over 80 CDs of early music on most major labels. He still likes to practice.
Robert Mealy, Concertmaster
Tenor Steven Soph returns for his fourth appearance with Chorale, singing the Evangelist. A "superb vocal soloist" (The Washington Post), Steven performs music spanning the medieval to modern day. This season, Steven debuts with the Charlotte and Winston-Salem Symphony Orchestras in Handel's Messiah, Mobile Symphony Orchestra in Mozart's Requiem, Apollo's Fire as Evangelist in Bach's Christmas Oratorio, the Elmhurst Symphony as the Evangelist in Bach's St. John Passion, and the Baldwin Wallace University Bach Festival as the Evangelist in Bach's St. Matthew Passion. Steven returns to the Baltimore Choral Arts Society for Mozart's Requiem and Britten's Serenade; to the Bach Society of St. Louis, Apollo Chorus of Chicago, Charlotte Bach Festival, and Chicago Chorale as the Evangelist in Bach's St. John Passion; and to New York City's Voices of Ascension for Bach's Mass in B-minor. A long-time member of Miami's Seraphic Fire, Steven will sing the role of Acis in Handel's Acis and Galatea.
Steven holds degrees from the University of North Texas and Yale School of Music and studied at Yale’s Institute of Sacred Music with renowned tenor James Taylor. Steven was an American Bach Soloists Academy Artist, a Carmel Bach Festival Adams Fellow, and an Oregon Bach Festival Young Artist.
Steven Soph, Tenor
The bass arias, and the part of Pilate, will be sung by Daniel Fridley.
Daniel is a third year doctoral student in the Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) Historical Performance Practice program, studying with Ellen Hargis and Dean Southern. His "wide palette of colors" (Parterre Box) and "spotless, resonant bass" (Cleveland Classical) lends itself well to a wide variety of genres and styles. He obtained his Masters of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) in 2017. Last summer he was a Studio Artist with Teatro Nuovo, a summer program specializing in historically performed bel canto opera, singing Pretore in Rossini'sLa gazza ladra. The previous summer he was a Studio Artist with Central City Opera. This summer he returns to Teatro Nuovo, covering Maometto Secondo in Rossini’s Maometto Secondo.
Recent performances include Sarastro in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (CIM); Handel's Messiah(Bourbon Baroque); Thésée in Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie (CIM and CWRU joint production); Fiorello in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia (Cleveland Opera Theater); "Dangerous Love," a program of fiery 17th-century Italian music (Newberry Consort); Dottore Grenvil in Verdi's La traviata (The Cleveland Opera); Jesus in Bach's St. John Passion (Atlanta Baroque); Leporello in Mozart's Don Giovanni (La Musica Lirica); and Polyphemus in Handel'a Acis and Galatea (CWRU).
Daniel Fridley, Bass