Victoria Baroque: The Messiah

• Jennifer Turner, soprano
• Emma Parkinson, mezzo-soprano
• Benjamin Butterfield, tenor
• Nathan McDonald, bass
• David Stratkauskas, conductor

Hallelujah! Celebrate the exuberance of the season with a full Baroque orchestra and two of Victoria's premier chamber choirs.

Handel's masterpiece tells the story of Jesus' birth, death, and resurrection through stunning arias, choruses, and recitatives. One of the most famous and beloved works in the history of music, this performance will fill your heart with joy and wonder.

About Vox Humana Chamber Choir

https://voxhumanachoir.ca/

About Victoria Baroque

https://victoria-baroque.com/

About The Choristers of St. John the Divine (Victoria, BC)

The Choristers have a membership of around two dozen, and include Choral Scholars and professional section leads, as well as experienced choral singer volunteers from within the parish and from the wider community.

The repertoire – anthems, motets, mass and evening canticle settings – is drawn from the best of Anglican and Western church music of the last five centuries, including music by John Tavener, Mozart, William Byrd, Duruflé, Finzi, Howells, Michael Finnissy, and Tallis, amongst others. The Choristers also sing for special events such as the Nine Lessons and Carols for Christmas, and as the St. John's Chamber Choir, in highly-regarded concerts with the Victoria Baroque, with whom they have presented many significant 18th-century works, such as Handel's Dixit Dominus, various Bach cantatas and motets, and Bach's St. John Passion.

About Jennifer Turner, soprano

Jennifer Turner is a Victoria B.C. based soprano known for her expressive singing and powerful, ringing tone. A performer who sings with strong emotional intensity, Jennifer's warm and engaging presence has captivated audiences on the operatic and concert stages alike.

Jennifer is in demand as a concert soloist throughout Western Canada with engagements by Pacific Opera, Victoria Baroque, the Okanagan Festival Singers, the Victoria Philharmonic Choir, Opera Kelowna, Manitoba Underground Opera, the Sooke Philharmonic Orchestra, the Salt Spring Chamber Orchestra, and Choir, the Linden Singers, the Victoria Civic Orchestra and the Cowichan Consort. In 2018, Jennifer toured with Canadian baritone, Gino Quilico, along with collaborative pianist Robert Holliston for a lecture concert of opera excerpts representing historical Canadian singers.

Jennifer has performed with Pacific Opera Victoria in recital and on the main stage, making her solo debut in the role of Donna/Siren in Handel's Rinaldo. She has also sung in several productions as a chorus member. Jennifer received extensive operatic training through the Victoria Conservatory of Music Opera Studio including her role debut as Fiordiligi in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte under the stage direction of Glynis Leyshon and Maestro Giuseppe Pietraroia. She also performed the role of Countess in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro with stage director Julie McIsaac and Maestro Timothy Vernon.

Jennifer has been generously supported by the British Columbia Arts Council through an Early Career Development Grant and Professional Development Grants. She was a 2020 recipient of an Early Music Vancouver Scholarship to study with baroque specialist Nancy Argenta. While completing her MA in Cultural Studies at Queens University, she received a prestigious SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship to study the disciplining effects of singing technique on the body. With her academic background, Jennifer has a strong curiosity for bringing critical perspectives into classical music. Moreover, Jennifer is interested in new music having performed avant-garde compositions and premiered works by Canadian composers.

Jennifer holds a M.Mus from the University of Manitoba where she studied with Tracy Dahl, and a Diploma in Music Performance from the Victoria Conservatory of Music where she studied with Ingrid Attrot and Nancy Argenta. Outside of the performance world, Jennifer is an enthusiastic tennis player, cat lover, and aspiring pianist and conductor.

About Emma Parkinson, mezzo-soprano

Hailed as "an outstanding voice" (La Scena Musicale), Chinese-Canadian mezzo-soprano Emma Parkinson is a dynamic artist known for her versatility and expressiveness.

About Benjamin Butterfield, tenor

Benjamin Butterfield was born in Halifax and raised in Victoria, where his musical life started as a boy chorister at Christ Church Cathedral. Formal voice studies followed with Selena James at the Victoria Conservatory of Music while he was in attendance at the University of Victoria. He completed further studies at McGill University and the Banff Centre and received grants from the Canada Council to further his vocal studies with Diane Forlano in London and with the great Mozart tenor Leopold Simoneau.

He has performed with many of the world’s leading conductors including Sir Andrew Davis, James Conlon, Nicholas McGegan, Charles Dutoit, Leonard Slatkin, Bramwell Tovey, Seiji Ozawa, Bernard Labadie, Yannick Nezet-Seguin, Jeffrey Thomas, Trevor Pinnock, Bruno Weil, and Marc Minkowski.

About Nathan McDonald, bass

Commanding a repertoire spanning several centuries, from renaissance polyphony to modern opera, Nathan David McDonald, baritone, is often lauded for his vocal versatility. With a diverse musical background, including a degree in trumpet and seven years as a church Music Director, Nathan brings a wealth of experience and musicianship to his craft.

Active as an oratorio singer, Nathan has appeared with a variety of West Coast ensembles such as the Pacific Baroque Festival Orchestra, Victoria Philharmonic Choir, Cowichan Consort, and Vox Humana Chamber Choir. Recent highlights include Handel's Apollo e Dafne with Victoria Baroque led by Steven Divine; Bach's Magnificat with the Sooke Philharmonic and Victoria Choral Society; Bach's Christmas Oratorio with the Okanagan Festival Singers; the World Premiere of two new pieces at a Poetry and Song gala by East Van Opera; and Jean-Joseph de Mondonville's Cantate Domino at the Pacific Baroque Festival.

Nathan has presented recitals in Canada and the United States, and has sung professionally in choirs on 4 continents. A veteran of youth-oriented choral projects, Nathan has sung several times with the National Youth Choir of Canada and World Youth Choir, as well as the Carnegie Hall Chamber Choir (New York, NY), Weimar Bach Cantata Academy (Weimar, Germany), JSB Ensemble (Stuttgart, Germany), and Academia Internacional Teatro del Lago (Chile).

Operatic highlights include Nathan's 2016 mainstage debut with Pacific Opera Victoria (POV) as Fiorello in Rossini's Barber of Seville; solo chorus in the POV's school touring production of Mary's Wedding by Andrew Macdonald; performing the role of Marcello (2018) and Papageno (2017) in POV's Living Opera in schools program; and singing the role of Marcello in Puccini's La Bohème at Edmonton's NUOVA festival. Other operatic roles include Il Conte (Le Nozze di Figaro – Mozart), Dandini (La Cenerentola – Rossini), Don Alfonso (Cosi fan tutte – Mozart), Marco (Gianni Schicchi – Puccini), Colas (Bastien und Bastienne – Mozart), and Mr. Gobineau (The Medium – Menotti).

Nathan is a member of the Voice Faculty at the Victoria Conservatory of Music and the Canadian College of Performing Arts. He serves as Music Director/Kantor at Lutheran Church of the Cross, Victoria, and is mentored by soprano, Nancy Argenta.

About David Stratkauskas, conductor

David Stratkauskas is a native of Vancouver, where he completed his MA in Music Theory at the University of British Columbia, working under the notable theorist, Dr. William Benjamin. During and after his university studies, he was active as an organist and choir director, collaborative pianist and accompanist (working with such choirs as the Surrey Children's Choir and the Vancouver Bach Children's Choir), a jazz pianist, and a conductor of new music, appearing in festivals such as Sonic Boom. In 2003, inspired by his particular love for organ and choral music, David moved to London, where he was organist at St. Michael's Battersea and St. Mary Stoke Newington. Several of his choristers from St. Michael's went on to organ and choral scholarships at Cambridge colleges. In London he also worked as a choral conductor of community and children’s choirs, a jazz pianist, and a teacher.

David returned to Canada in 2010 to take the position of Organist at the Church of Saint John the Divine, Victoria, where he has helped build a vibrant music programme with several choirs and a thriving Choral and Organ Scholarship programme, performing works from the sacred choral canon, alongside new music, such as works by Michael Finnissy, Jonathan Harvey, Tamsin Jones, and Kimberley Farris-Manning. David has directed the St John's Chamber Singers and the Victoria Baroque Players in numerous performances of great Baroque works, including several of Bach's cantatas and motets, Handel's Dixit Dominus, Durufle's Requiem, and Bach's St. John Passion. He has worked with the Victoria Children's Choir since 2011, as conductor of the intermediate-level Recital Choir for many years, and most recently, as Artistic Director and conductor of the Concert Choir and Youth Choir divisions.

As an organ recitalist, he has played concerts in Vancouver, London (UK), and Victoria, including as a featured performer in Organ Festival Canada Online in July 2020, and on the Summer Organ Series at Christ Church Cathedral, which featured pieces by Canadian composers Tony Genge and Jocelyn Morlock (the latter, Premonition, commissioned in 2012 for David by Hugh Davidson).

David is married to Soile Stratkauskas, a baroque flutist and the Artistic Director and founder of the Victoria Baroque.