Singing Bach and Handel
A master of vocal pedagogy, Dr. Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek discusses the challenges, and rewards, of singing Bach and Handel’s music.
Program
Bach and Handel are rightly considered to be the greatest composers of the Baroque era and their vocal works are especially revered. Using the Festival Chorus' concert pieces as examples, Dr. Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek discusses the challenges, and rewards, of singing their music. What are the differences and similarities in their vocal writing and text setting? We will examine the musical and rhetorical devices each composer utilizes and discuss possible approaches to interpretation and communication.
Featured
Dr. Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek, mezzo-soprano, is a singer, conductor, educator, and composer. She was a member of the world-renowned vocal quartet Anonymous 4 from 2000-2015. She recorded twelve award-winning CDs with the group, including American Angels which twice topped Billboard’s classical music charts, and The Cherry Tree, one of the top selling classical CDs of 2010. Anonymous 4′s performance of the Irish lament “Caoineadh” on Christopher Tin’s album Calling All Dawns, with Jacqueline as featured soloist, led to a Grammy for Best Classical Music Crossover Album. She is currently Artistic Director of ModernMedieval Voices, a women’s ensemble dedicated to creating programs that combine early music with new commissions. Dr. Horner-Kwiatek has a D.M.A. from The Juilliard School and is on the performance faculty at Princeton University, where she teaches voice, directs the Early Music Princeton Singers and is Associate Director of the Certification Program in Consort Singing. She is also on the voice faculty at New York University. She is in demand as a clinician and gives masterclasses, ensemble technique workshops, and vocal pedagogy for composers seminars all over the USA. Her website is ModernMedieval.org.
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