FEATURED ARTISTS

MARY WILSON, soprano

Soprano Mary Wilson is acknowledged as one of today’s most exciting artists. Cultivating a wide-ranging career singing chamber music, oratorio, and operatic repertoire, her “bright soprano seems to know no terrors, wrapping itself seductively around every phrase” (Dallas Morning News). In demand on the concert stage, she has appeared with Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Detroit Symphony, and at the Hollywood Bowl. An exciting interpreter of Baroque repertoire, she has appeared with Philharmonia Baroque, American Bach Soloists, Boston Baroque, Grand Rapids Bach Festival, Bach Society of St. Louis, Baltimore Handel Choir, Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Carmel Bach Festival, and our own Bach Festival of Winter Park. With the IRIS Chamber Orchestra, she sang the world premiere of the song cycle Songs Old and New written especially for her by Ned Rorem.

On the opera stage, Ms. Wilson is especially noted for her portrayals of Susannah in Le Nozze di Figaro and Gilda in Rigoletto. She has appeared with Minnesota Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Arizona Opera, Tulsa Opera, and the Goodman Theatre.

An accomplished pianist, Ms. Wilson holds performance degrees from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, and Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Voice at the University of Memphis.

Sponsored by a generous gift by M. Elizabeth Brothers.

MEG BRAGLE, mezzo-soprano

Widely praised for her musical intelligence and “expressive virtuosity” (San Francisco Chronicle), American Meg Bragle has an international reputation as one of today’s most gifted and versatile mezzo-sopranos. She has sung with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, as well as with the symphony orchestras of Toronto, Calgary, San Antonio, Charlotte, and Nova Scotia. Frequently a featured soloist with Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the English Baroque Soloists, she has performed with them at the Leipzig Bachfest, the Prague Spring Festival, and the BBC Proms. Other performances include Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Handel’s Susannah, and multiple performances of Bach cantatas. Ms. Bragle has made several recordings with Apollo’s Fire, including Mozart’s Requiem and Handel’s Dixit Dominus and Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne

Ms. Bragle studied both violin and voice at the University of Michigan before earning a BA in Voice Performance and English, and she completed a master’s degree in Choral Conducting from Michigan State University. She is the recipient of several awards and recognitions from Symphony Magazine, the American Bach Society, the Carmel Bach Festival, and the Bethlehem Bach Festival.