Vocal Competition Winners Make Tafelmusik Debuts with Zelenka’s Missa omnium sanctorum, April 28 to May 1, 2016.

Toronto, April 6, 2016 … The winners of the inaugural Tafelmusik Vocal Competition — Kim Leeds, mezzo-soprano; Jacques-Olivier Chartier, tenor; and Jonathan Woody, baritone — make their Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber debuts as soloists in Jan Dismas Zelenka’s Missa omnium sanctorum under the direction Ivars Taurins. is the soprano soloist in the Zelenka mass, and will also be featured in J.S. Bach’s Cantata 202, "Wedding Cantata,” directed by Tafelmusik violinist Patricia Ahern. These concerts take place from April 28 to May 1, 2016 at Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, Jeanne Lamon Hall. The April 28 audience is invited to attend a post-performance Talkback (Q&A), and a Tafelscene 35 & Under Intermission Party on April 30 is free with ticket purchase. Leeds, Chartier, and Woody were named winners in the final round of the Tafelmusik Vocal Competition on January 16. Jury members Jeanne Lamon, Mary Morrison, Catherine Robbin, and Ivars Taurins selected the winners over two rounds of competition from a pool of 54 initial contestants. One of Bach’s most frequently performed cantatas, “Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten” (Wedding Cantata) is scored for oboe and strings with solo soprano, and contains some of the composer’s most exquisite and playful writing. The exuberant Missa omnium sanctorum includes some of Zelenka’s most masterful arias and choruses. “Like many of his German colleagues, Zelenka used stile misto (mixed style), combining the old and the new, the idiosyncratic with the conventional, the mannered with the well-ordered, the operatic with the sacred, and the galant with the Gregorian,” says Charlotte Nediger, Tafelmusik's harpsichordist, librarian, and programme editor. One of the leading interpreters of 17th- and 18th–century music, soprano Dorothee Mields is known for her unique timbre and moving interpretations. She performs regularly with , Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Tafelmusik, , RIAS Kammerchor, Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, L’Orfeo Baroque Orchestra, among others. Mezzo-soprano Kim Leeds is a recent graduate of the Boston Conservatory. She has appeared as a soloist in numerous concert performances, most recently in Mozart with the Philharmonic Society of Arlington, as Irene in Handel’s Theodora with Music at Marsh Chapel, in Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil and Zelenka’s Te Deum with Cantata Singers, and in Bach’s with Harvard Pro Musica. Québec tenor Jacques-Olivier Chartier is a recent graduate from Opéra de Montréal’s Young Artists Program. The 27-year-old has studied with at both the Musick Akademie der Stadt and the Britten Pears School of Music. He is a frequent guest artist with Les Violons du Roy and Vancouver Early Music, and recently toured with Orchestre Metropolitain under Yannick Nézet Séguin as in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. Bass-baritone Jonathan Woody is a member of the Grammy-nominated Choir of Trinity Wall Street, and has performed with New York Baroque Incorporated, Bach Collegium San Diego, Nashville Symphony, Carmel Bach Festival, Oregon Bach Festival, Opera Lafayette, New Amsterdam Presents, and Beth Morrison Productions, among others. He holds degrees from the University of Maryland, and McGill University. Listing Information: Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra & Chamber Choir present Zelenka & Bach, featuring the winners of the Tafelmusik Vocal Competition as soloists Dates + Times: Thu Apr 28, Fri Apr 29, Sat Apr 30 at 8pm Sun May 1 at 3:30pm

Full programme: Bach Cantata 202, “Wedding Cantata” Zelenka Missa Omnium Sanctorum

Ticket Prices: TSP: Regular: Start at $38| 65+: Start at $30 | 35 & Under: $15 - $81

Venue: Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, Jeanne Lamon Hall, 427 Bloor St. West

Box Office: Trinity-St. Paul’s 416.964.6337 | www.tafelmusik.org

Website: www.tafelmusik.org

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Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, founded in 1979, is one of the world’s leading period performance ensembles. The Tafelmusik Chamber Choir, under the direction of Ivars Taurins, was formed in 1981 to complement the Orchestra. The orchestra performs more than 50 concerts each year at home in Toronto, and travels extensively around the world. The choir and orchestra’s multi-platform recording label Tafelmusik Media was launched in January 2012, along with the Watch and Listen site. Tafelmusik’s discography of 80-plus CDs has been recorded on the Sony Classical, CBC Records, Analekta and Tafelmusik Media labels. Since 1991, Tafelmusik has received ten JUNO Awards and a Grammy Award nomination. Tafelmusik is the Baroque Orchestra-in-Residence at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto and operates annual artist training programmes, Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute and Tafelmusik Winter Institute. Tafelmusik has been led by Jeanne Lamon since 1981. In June 2014, Ms. Lamon stepped down as Music Director, and is continuing as Tafelmusik’s Chief Artistic Advisor until her successor is appointed.

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