Event Calendar
BEETHOVEN’S NINTH
Saturday, April 13, 2024, 7:30 pm
SEASON FINALE! Living music at its most sublime. The “Ode to Joy” speaks to our wish to all get along with our fellow humans. The tune turns up everywhere, but it is best heard the way genius Beethoven imagined but never heard himself due to his tragic deafness. Beethoven’s greatest work has inspired countless others including our own Music Director/Conductor Diane Wittry to compose her own “Ode to Joy” Fanfare and for the Allentown Symphony to commission a world premiere by rising star composer Joe Jaxson. Plus hear Florence Price’s tender Andante cantabile for String Orchestra and Adolphus Hailstork’s Fanfare on “Amazing Grace.”
Diane Wittry, conductor
Meredith Hoffmann-Thomson, soprano
Margaret Mezzacappa, mezzo-soprano
Matthew Swensen, tenor
Enrico Lagasca, bass-baritone
Allentown Symphony Chorus | Eduardo Azzati, Chorus Master
El Sistema Lehigh Valley Fellowship of the Strings Ensemble
ADOLPHUS HAILSTORK Fanfare on “Amazing Grace”
FLORENCE PRICE Andante cantabile
JOE JAXSON Overture for the 21st Century - “Joy of the Soul" World Premiere
DIANE WITTRY “Ode to Joy” Fanfare
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9 “Choral”
ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES
Meredith Hoffmann-Thomson, Soprano
American soprano, Meredith Hoffmann-Thomson, with her opulent and virtuosic voice, has been a regular soloist with the Salzburger Landestheater over the past three seasons, performing in a multitude of productions such as Elettra in Idomeneo and First Lady in Die Zauberflöte as well as modern works and oratorios with conductors Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla and Adrian Kelly.
Ms. Hoffmann-Thomson's operatic experience ranges from roles such as Donna Anna and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni (Shanghai; Munich; Salzburg), and Vitellia in La Clemenza di Tito (Salzburg, Fiesole) to the title roles in Aida, Tosca (Salzburg) and Ariadne auf Naxos (St. Louis, Missouri), Sharon Graham in Terrence McNally's Meisterklasse (Eggenfelden, Germany), Antonia in The Tales of Hoffmann (New Hampshire), Musetta in La Bohème (Sarasota, Florida) and Anne Truelove in The Rake's Progress (Montréal). In the concert arena she has appeared as soloist in the Verdi Requiem, both in Switzerland (La Chaux-de-Fonds) and Germany (Landsberg am Lech), Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder in Genoa, Italy, Vivaldi's Laudate pueri dominum (St. Gellert Festival, Szeged) as well as Rossini's Petite messe solennelle (Salzburger Landestheater). Other performed concert repertoire includes Beethoven's 9th Symphony, Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem, Bruckner's Te Deum, Mozart's Requiem and Handel's Messiah.
In April 2012 Ms. Hoffmann-Thomson took home the grand prize in the international competition Concours FLAME in Paris, France. She has also received awards with the Palm Beach National Competition (Florida) and the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. As a member of the Sarasota Opera ensemble in 2005, she was awarded the illustrious Richard F. Gold Career Grant from the Shoshana Foundation for outstanding performance throughout the season.
She began her musical education with piano and bassoon and received her first vocal education from McGill University (BM) while studying with Lucile and Dr. Robert Evans. Ms. Hoffmann-Thomson completed her Master's Degree in voice performance at The Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria and additionally was a member of the international opera studio "Gerard Mortier" at the Salzburger Landestheater.
Margaret Mezzacappa Mezzo-Soprano
The American mezzo-soprano, Margaret Mezzacappa, studied at the Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory of Music, In 2012, she was in her third year as a resident artist at Philadelphia’s Academy of Vocal Arts, where she has performed roles in many opera productions, including Verdi roles as Mistress Quickly in Falstaff and Cuniza in Oberto, as well as Juno in George Frideric Handel’s Semele, La Zia Principessa in Puccini’s Suor Angelica and Elizabeth Proctor in Robert Ward’s The Crucible.
In 2011, Margaret Mezzacappa won the Licia Albanese–Puccini Foundation International Vocal Competition, received first prize in the Gerda Lissner Foundation Competition, second prize in the Palm Beach Opera Vocal Competition, third prize at the Loren L. Zachary Foundation Competition, and fourth prize in the Giulio Gari Foundation International Vocal Competition. She is a 2012 winner of the George London Award. In March 2012, she was named one of five winners of the Metropolitan Opera’s 2012 National Council Auditions. The winners were selected from nine finalists who performed arias with the Met Orchestra led by Andrew Davis. Host of the concert was bass-baritone Eric Owens, a 1996 winner who is now enjoying a major career. The Grand Finals Concert was recorded for broadcast at a later date on public radio stations across the USA.
Margaret Mezzacappa made her Carnegie Hall debut in Benjamin Britten’s Spring Symphony in May 2012 and in L.V. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Philadelphia Orchestra in June 2012. In July 2012, she sang the tormented gypsy Azucena in Verdi’s Il Trovatore with Opera New Jersey.
Matthew Swensen, Tenor
Praised for his “wonderfully sweet toned, lyric tenor voice that is an instrument of great beauty...“ (Classical Review) German born tenor Matthew Swensen has emerged as one of the most versatile and charismatic tenors of his generation. After making his European debut with the Bayerische Rundfunk Orchestra in München at 24 years old, he went on to make his operatic debut the same year as Tamino at Oper Frankfurt. The unique sound of his voice and his vibrant stage presence allow him to combine an active opera career with numerous concert performances; highlights in recent seasons include his debut as Ferrando (Cosi fan Tutte) with Zubin Mehta conducting, Don Giovanni (Don Ottavio) and Die Lustige Witwe (Camille) at Oper Frankfurt, Fenton in Verdi’s Falstaff in Florence with John Eliot Gardiner, concert debuts at the Het Concertgebouw, Elbphilharmonie, Wigmore Recital Hall and the Berlin Philharmonic. Matthew Swensen is a graduate of the Juilliard School in New York. In the 2022-23 season, Matthew will make his role debut as Tom Rakewell in Stravinsky’s The Rakes Progress in Florence, Almaviva in Barbiere di Siviglia in New Orleans, and return to Prague for more performances of The Flying Dutchman.
Enrico Lagasca, Bass-Baritone
Filipino-American bass-baritone Enrico Lagasca’s nascent career already comprises 16 oratorios, 17 new-music works, seven opera roles, 13 song cycles and collections and four Grammy Award-nominated recordings.
Concert repertoire is where he spends much of his time, but two hybrid presentations of frame his 2022-2023 season: Tyshawn Sorey’s Monochromatic Light (afterlight) directed by Peter Sellers at the Park Avenue Armory and the New York Philharmonic’s premiere of Julia Wolfe’s multi-media unEarth. Between the ensemble work in those two world premieres, he sings bass solos in Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass with Voices of Ascension, Handel's Messiah at Ann Arbor's University Musical Society and Carnegie Hall with Musica Sacra, Bach's Christmas Oratorio at Washington Bach Consort, and Mendelssohn's Walpurgisnacht with the St. Louis Symphony.
As much as the great sacred works of Bach, Handel, Haydn and Mozart remain in his bones, Enrico is increasingly inclined to seek out music by living composers such as Wolfe, Jonathon Dove, Caroline Shaw, and Reena Esmail. He has sung Sarah Kirkland Snider's Mass for the Endangered, Jake Heggie's The Moon is a Mirror and Nico Muhly's The Last Letter. Joby Talbot's Path of Miracles will figure repeatedly in his 2022-2023 season, along with Craig Johnson's Considering Matthew Shepard - the latter reflecting Enrico’s particular interest in works that address the LGBTQ+ community. He is a member of the Kaleidoscope Vocal Ensemble, which is dedicated to diversity and social justice.
Opera roles include Collatinus in Britten’s Rape of Lucretia and Lorenzo in Bellini’s I Capuleti e I Montecchi. His need to take risks onstage has led him to forward-looking directors such as Thaddeus Strassberger, RB Schlather and Kevin Newbury.
A graduate of New York’s Mannes School of Music, Enrico lives in New York City with his domestic partner of several years.
Joe Jackson, Composer
Recent premieres include “Within the Flux” (2023) for Sax Quartet and Percussion, “Treeflowers” (2023) performed by the Sandbox Percussion Quartet, “Persevering” (2022) for Chamber Orchestra commissioned by the Seattle Collaborative Orchestra. “Mountain Stars” (2022) for solo cellist Sarah Kapps and “The Light of Stars” (2022) for Baritone voice and piano were both premiered at the 2022 Wintergreen Music Festival.
Born in NY (b.2000) and raised in Staunton, VA, the Jackson household was filled with the euphonious sounds of Smooth Jazz, Soul, R&B, and more thanks to his father; whereas on his mother’s side was Classical and Christian Gospel. Having grown up with these genres blended every which way contributed to Joe developing a strong ear for music and sound. Joe earned his B.M. in Composition at James Madison University in 2022, studying with professors Eric Guinivan and Jason Haney. Now in Graduate School at UT Austin, studying with Professors Donald Grantham, Yevgeniy Sharlat, Omar Thomas, and Sam Lipman, Joe aims to work in multiple mediums (Band, Orchestra, Chamber, Film, etc.) to create a diverse and multi-faceted portfolio writing everything from beginning band to experimental foley however championing his want to collaborate and connect with mass audiences.
In 2018, his wind ensemble piece, “Fanfare and Celebration” was selected for recognition at the VMEA (Virginia Music Educators Association) Composition Festival during its annual conference. Joe's piece, "Fanfare and Overture for Orchestra" was recently selected by the Concerto Chamber Orchestra 2020 Call for Scores as one of its winners for their upcoming season. During the summer of 2020 Joe has participated in NYU’s Film Scoring Workshop where he worked with successful Film and TV composers Mark Snow and Michael A. Levine. Joe was also selected as one of the ten composers for the modern chamber group “Five by Five's" 2020 Call for Scores and Ideas. Joe has attended numerous institutes and festivals such as the SPLICE Institute and the Wintergreen Music Festival having masterclasses and seminars with faculty composers Gilda Lyons and Daron Hagen. Joe’s piece, “Persevering” has been performed by the Juventas Mew Music Ensemble in Boston and by the JMNew Music Ensemble in Harrisonburg, Virginia. “Persevering” was also named an honorable mention in the newEar 2020-2021 Composition Contest, chosen as a Finalist in the 2021 Press Start Inaugural Composer Competition as well as Finalist in the 2021 Inaugural Jessie S. Yee Memorial Commission Competition. Joe's new work for string orchestra "Prologue" has been selected as the winner of the 2021 JMU New Music for Strings Competition and was premiered by the JMU Symphony Orchestra in April 2022. Also in April, Joe’s new work for wind ensemble, “Safety, A Fluttered Heart” has been selected as the winner of the 2021 JMU New Music for Wind Ensemble Competition and was premiered by the JMU Symphonic Band.
Joe has composed original music for the Donald Heiter Community Center's 2021 Radio Dramas: "Natalie and the Chocolate Factory," streamed through their "Sweeten Your Spirit" podcast during their annual Chocolate Festival, and "Tarrstown Tales: Kris's Time-Traveling Lewisburg Adventure" for their annual Celebration of the Arts, and "Michael's Star" for the Heiter Center's "Rock and Read" Reading Marathon & Fundraiser Event.
In addition to composing, Joe takes pleasure in arranging music. In August 2020, Joe arranged the instrumental for the newly released single, "Rooftop" by recording artist, Georgia Saunders.
Dana Zimbric, Conducting Fellow
Dana Zimbric, award-winning conductor and visionary music educator is on a mission to reshape classical music for today's discerning audiences.
Since 2010, Zimbric has held the position of Artistic Director/Conductor at the California Chamber Orchestra in Temecula, CA. Under her leadership, the Orchestra has garnered accolades and grants from prestigious institutions like the California Arts Council, Women's Philharmonic Advocacy, and Partners in Performance. Their forte lies in delivering accessible chamber orchestra experiences, forging meaningful educational partnerships with area school districts, and co-producing the widely acclaimed Classics at the Merc series in collaboration with the City of Temecula at the historic Old Town Temecula Community Theater.
A sought-after guest conductor, Ms. Zimbric has directed numerous orchestras throughout California. Her illustrious career has included conducting roles with Orchestra Nova San Diego (formerly the San Diego Chamber Orchestra), San Diego Youth Symphony, Avanti (Youth) Chamber Orchestra, and the University of Wisconsin Chamber and Symphony Orchestras.
Ms. Zimbric has her Bachelor of Music from the University of Wisconsin, a Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and coursework toward a Master of Arts in Teaching degree through Point Loma Nazarene University. She resides in San Diego with her husband and two talented daughters.
