Classics Series
Mozart Requiem
Guest Artists
Carrie Hennessey, soprano
Known for her ability to bring great musical and theatrical depth to her performances, lyric soprano Carrie Hennessey is a powerful, talented artist. Sheʼs been described as being “as gripping an actress as she is a singer” with “vivid stage presence”.
Recently Ms. Hennessey made a triumphant debut with Cinnabar Theater as Emmeline, in the West Coast Premiere of Tobias Pickerʼs opera of the same name. She brought “exquisite vocal purity and range to the title role” and was “nothing short of sensational”. With West Bay Opera as Mimì (La Bohème) , she was said to be “..possessed of a full, powerful lyric soprano, which delivers Pucciniʼs arias and duets richly. Her “Mi chiamano Mimì” (Yes, they call me Mimì) in Act 1 is gorgeous". On only one dayʼs notice, Ms. Hennessey made her debut with the Modesto Symphony Orchestra, as soprano soloist in Mahlerʼs Symphony No. 4, to great acclaim.
In the 2010/2011 season, Ms. Hennessey will sing Cio-Cio San with Livermore Valley Opera. She also appears as soprano soloist with Grand Rapids Symphony in Carl Orffʼs Carmina Burana, with the Pacific Symphony in Handelʼs Messiah. With the Oakland East Bay Symphony in the Brahms Requiem, Hennessey brought “bright tone and elegant legato”. She has also appeared with Townsend Opera Players as Hanna (The Merry Widow), and with Sacramento Opera as Giannetta (LʼElisir dʼAmore) and Edith in (Pirates of Penzance), and as soprano soloist in Stravinskyʼs ballet Pulcinella at the Mendocino Music Festival. Ms. Hennessey has also had the great privilege to perform with members of the Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra in Heitor Villa-Lobosʼ Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 for Voice and Eight Cellos.
Cybele Gouverneur, mezzo-soprano
“whose chocolate-rich voice has been impressing audiences...” made her San Francisco Opera debut alongside Natalie Dessay in the 2008 summer in Graham Vick's production of Lucia di Lammermoor. In the 2008-2009 season, this Venezuelan-American mezzo took on the title role in the 25th Anniversary production of Bizet's Carmen for Opera San José, where as Principal Artist in Residence from 2007-2009 she sang the roles of Charlotte (Werther), Maddalena (Rigoletto), Second Lady (Die Zauberflöte), Olga (Eugene Onegin), and Dorabella (Cosí fan tutte).
Ms. Gouverneur continues her ever-expanding repertoire in performances with la Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar de la Juventud this spring and in future performances of Beethoven's Ninth with the Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra and Verdi's Requiem with the Modesto Symphony Orchestra. Her commanding stage presence and consummate artistry have been evident in appearances that include Proserpine in Marc-Antoine Charpentier's La Descente D'Orphée aux Enfers with Collegium Musicum and Ars Lyrica of Houston and other roles such as the title role in Massenet's Chérubin, Minsk Woman in Jonathan Dove's Flight, and Cherubino in John Corgliano's The Ghosts of Versaille. Other engagements include performances with Orchestra X of Houston in Orchestra X presents P.D.Q. Bach in Houston: We have a Problem! featuring Prof. Peter Schickele and the Caramoor Music Festival in their concert of traditional Spanish Christmas Carols.
Opera News recently wrote, “Cybele Gouverneur sang wonderfully, easily encompassing the role's large range, her voice has a certain richness and stately grandeur to it that seem better suited to Dalila than to Charlotte. Gouverneur grew increasingly passionate in the final acts, bringing gorgeous, full tone to the letter scene.” And the San Jose Mercury News declared, “Making her company debut in a leading role, Gouverneur's voice was luxurious, richly layered and with reserves of power. It's the kind of voice that can carry a production.”
A versatile performer, Ms. Gouverneur has concertized throughout the United States and Europe, singing oratorio, chamber music and recital, and has appeared as featured soloist in such works as Mozart'sRequiem, Bach's Magnificat and Dvorak's Mass in D Major. She has also presented contemporary music with the OneWorld Symphony in their “New Composer Series” and the Riverside Opera Ensemble in a showcase of The Count of Monte Cristo under the guidance of Nathan Matthews.
She has completed apprentice programs with Caramoor International Music Festival, Centro Studi Italiani in Urbania, Italy and the New York Vocal Institute. Ms. Gouverneur is a graduate of Manhattan School of Music, Mannes College of Music and the University of Houston.
Ms. Gouverneur has been a winner of the Associated Music Teachers League of New York Competition, the National Association of Teachers of Singing Award, and has been a grant recipient of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund.
Chad Johnson, tenor
Chad A. Johnson was born in Muskegon, Michigan. He began his musical studies in the vocal music department of Mona Shores High School and then went on to Western Michigan University, The University of Kentucky and the American Institute of Musical Studies, Opera Studio in Graz, Austria. He is a student of renowned soprano, Virginia Zeani.
In 2001, Chad joined the young artist program of the Chicago Opera Theater. Over the next two seasons he performed in the operas ensembles and covered the role of the Male Chorus in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia. That May, Chad joined the Santa Fe Opera’s Apprentice Artist Program for Singers and was then invited to join the Young Artist Ensemble at the Florida Grand Opera. During the 2002/03 and 2003/04 seasons Chad sang many roles including the Second Jew in Salome, Benvolio in Roméo et Juliette, Gastone in La Traviata, Joszef in the North American premier of Ede Donath’s Szulamit and Pong in Turandot. The following summer, Chad sang the role of Harry, the miner in La fancuilla del West at Glimmerglass Opera, as a member of the Young American Artists Program.
Chad has also been active as a concert soloist. He has performed with the Atlanta Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Tanglewood Festival Orchestra, the Boston Pops, Sun Valley Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Chamber Orchestra and Master Chorale, Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, AIMS Festival Orchestra, the Symphony of the Americas and the New World Symphony. He has been a featured soloist in such works as Mozart's Requiem and Coronation Mass, Handel's Messiah, Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music, Bach’s Magnificat, Orff's Carmina Burana and numerous recitals and concerts.
Chad has received prizes from the Young Patronesses of the Florida Grand Opera Vocal Competition, NATS regional and state vocal competitions, the Anna Sosenko Artist Assist Trust and the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts. Most recently, Chad won the Four Cities District Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and was the Second Place Winner of the Great Lakes Region Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and first prize in the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation Competition.
Chad has worked with numerous directors including Peter Sellars, Mark Lamos, Bernard Uzan, Diane Paulus and Renata Scotto. He has also worked with many of today’s great conductors such as James Levine, Yves Abel, Richard Buckley and Robert Spano.
Some career highlights include Ferrando in Cosi fan tutte with the Tanglewood Music Center under the baton of Maestro James Levine, Gėrald in Lakmė with Minnesota Opera and Florida Grand Opera, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni with New Orleans Opera, Ruggero in La Rondine with Lyric Opera San Diego and Paolino in Il matrimonio segreto.
Michael Dean, bass-baritone
American bass-baritone Michael Dean is in demand worldwide in both concert and operatic repertoire, appearing with many of the leading opera houses and orchestras of the U.S. and Europe. The New York Times lauded his "strong appealing bass-baritone," while the San Jose Mercury News considered him "the standout, his voice a penetrating wake-up call."
He has made frequent appearances at New York City Opera, where he has performed the title role in The Marriage of Figaro, Leporello in Don Giovanni, George in Of Mice and Men, and Papageno in The Magic Flute. Recent appearances have also included Jason McFarlane in the "Live From Lincoln Center" broadcast of Lizzie Borden; the title role in Don Giovanni and Silva in Ernaniat the Landes theater in Linz, Austria; Figaro in Antwerp, Belgium, Of Mice and Men at Arizona Opera, and Colline in La Bohème in Strasbourg and Berlin. Dean has also received critical praise for his numerous recordings of baroque opera, including Agrippina, Ottone, Dido and Aeneas, Radamisto, Giustino, and Serse.
Season 2011/12 promises debuts with I Musici de Montreal in Messiah and Modesto Symphony in Mozart’s Requiem, a work he repeats in his return to the Louisiana Philharmonic.
Highlights of Dean’s 2010/11 season included appearances with the Calgary Philharmonic, Pacific Symphony and Louisiana Philharmonic, all in Messiah, as well as a Mozart Requiem with Quad City Symphony and Mercury Baroque in Houston and Missa Solemnis with Richmond Symphony.
Dean’s 2009/10 season is filled with Messiah performances, among others with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Baltimore Symphony and Alabama Symphony.
His 2008/09 season continued the close collaboration forged with conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto the season before, this time in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and Handel’s Messiah with the Louisiana Philharmonic, Creation with the Orquesta Sinfonica National de Mexico, and Lord Nelson Mass with the Huntsville Symphony. He also sang St. Matthew Passion with the Richmond Symphony as well as Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Quad City Symphony.
During season 2007/08, Dean returned to the Pittsburgh Symphony for Messiah, a work he later repeated in his debut with the Houston Symphony and Monterey Symphony, and sang both Haydn’s Creation and the Brahms Requiem with the Louisiana Philharmonic under Carlos Miguel Prieto, with whom he also appeared at the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería, Mexico.
Dean’s other recent orchestral highlights include his debut with the New York Philharmonic in the world premiere of Aaron Kernis’ Garden Of Light, conducted by Kurt Masur, returning the following year for Street Scene, conducted by Leonard Slatkin, Handel’s Alexander’s Feast with Choral Arts Society of Washington at the Kennedy Center, Beethoven Symphony No. 9 with Omaha Symphony, Mozart Requiem with Oregon Symphony and Amarillo Symphony, Rossini Stabat Mater with Sacramento Choral Society and Messiah with the Baltimore Symphony. He also sang Bach's St. Matthew Passion at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., Handel's Messiah with the San Antonio Symphony, Haydn's Creation in Sarasota, and Mozart's Requiem with the Buffalo Philharmonic. Previously he appeared with Handel's Messiah at Carnegie Hall, Haydn's Creation at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.; Bach’s Magnificat with the Toronto Symphony; Carmen with the Buffalo Philharmonic, and an evening of Bach Cantatas at Disney Hall with Helmut Rilling conducting the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.
Michael Dean is currently a member of the Voice Faculty of UCLA.