MESSIAH SING-IN
NOVEMBER 30, 2024 / 7:30 PM / MAURICE ABRAVANEL HALL
DECEMBER 1, 2024 / 7:30 PM / MAURICE ABRAVANEL HALL
JESSICA RIVERO ALTARRIBA, conductor
STEPHANIE CHEE, AARON MCKONE, SARAH SCOFIELD, RODNEY SHARP II, Utah Opera Resident Artists
Utah Symphony Chorus
AUSTIN MCWILLIAMS , chorus director
Sinfonia
And the Glory of the Lord**
Behold, a virgin shall
G.Schirmer Baerenreiter
INTERMISSION
Part II
Behold
Part III
I know that my Redeemer liveth
Behold, I tell you
Worthy
For Ms. Altarriba’s bio, please see p. 53
Stephanie Chee
Originally from Sunnyvale, CA, soprano Stephanie Chee received her Master of Music degree from Rice University and her Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University. Recent roles include Lucia in The Rape of Lucretia and Valletto in L’incoronazione di Poppea. Stephanie was awarded an Encouragement Award in the San Francisco District of the 2023 Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition, an Emerging Talent Award in the 2023 Lotte Lenya Competition, first place in the 2022 Fox Valley Collegiate Voice Competition, second place in the 2022 Upper College Treble Voices Division of the National Student Auditions, and the Farwell Trust Award in the 2022 Musicians Club of Women Voice Competition. This summer, she joined the Manetti-Shrem Opera Program as a Vocal Fellow, covering Blonde in Die Entführung aus dem Serail and performing in scenes with the Festival Napa Valley Orchestra.
Aaron McKone
Aaron McKone has been deemed a “rising star” and praised for his “ardent tenor”. He is very excited to join Utah Opera for their 20242025 season. In past seasons, Aaron was a Studio Artist at Wolf Trap Opera, a resident artist with Opera Naples in Florida, and a vocal fellow at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina. He has also performed with Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in collaboration with Paris’ Opéra Comique and was a featured soloist with the National Orchestral Institute and Festival, the Lima Symphony in Ohio, and the York County Choral Society. Some notable roles Aaron has sung are Faust (Faust), Rinuccio (Gianni Schicchi), Laërte (Hamlet), Galileo (Galileo Galilei), and Eisenstein (Die Fledermaus). Aaron received his bachelor’s degree in Vocal Performance from Winthrop University and his master’s degree in Vocal Performance and Artist Diploma from The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Tom Baresel and Stuart Skelton. In his free time, Aaron enjoys spoiling his cat, Momo, reading fantasy novels, and playing board games with friends.
RESIDENT MEZZO-SOPRANO SPONSOR
CHARLES BOYNTON
Sarah Scofield
French American mezzo-soprano Sarah Scofield is a second-year Resident Artist with Utah Opera. She received her Master of Music from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in the spring of 2023 and was a winner of the Utah District of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition this past year. Sarah most recently appeared with Utah Opera as Myrtale (Thaïs) and as The Fox (The Little Prince). She also performed as the mezzo soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Utah Symphony. Her other recent roles include Narciso (Agrippina), Die Zweite Dame (Die Zauberflöte), and Messaggiera (L’Orfeo). Dedicated to accessibility in the arts, Sarah was recently a part of the LYNX Project’s Amplify Series, performing settings of texts by non-speaking autistic youth with the Cincinnati Song Initiative. Sarah also holds credits from Cincinnati Opera Fusion: New Works, Music Academy of the West, and Songfest. When not singing Sarah is likely to be found hiking with her dog Cricket or participating in citizen science initiatives.
Rodney Sharp II
American baritone, Rodney Sharp II, from Fort Worth, Texas holds a B.M. from Prairie View A&M University and a M.M. from Arizona State University. Some of Rodney’s favorite roles performed are Peter (Hänsel und Gretel), Gianni Schicchi (Gianni Schicchi), and Nick Shadow (The Rake’s Progress). He’s sang as a soloist in concert works like Mozart’s Requiem, Kodaly’s Missa Brevis, and Schubert’s Mass in G. Praised for his “…deep and robust voice combining strong vocalism and magnetic presence, he is a natural scene stealer.” Rodney is an advocate of classical music by African American composers and strives to present works representing the African American experience. Offstage, you can find Rodney in the kitchen cooking for people close to him or binge watching Rupaul’s Drag Race.
By Jeff Counts
Messiah
THE HISTORY – The commission opportunity that stalled the (presumed) flight back to the continent was nothing less than Messiah. Done for good with opera and the fickle tastes that governed its relevance, Handel found in Messiah a return to a more weatherproof genre (in England at least)—that of the oratorio. He completed the score during a 24-day fury in the late summer of 1741 and by the reactions of the Irish press during the rehearsals and 1742 Dublin premiere, it was clear that the quickness of its creation did not speak to a lack of assured quality or effectiveness. “The finest composition of music that ever was heard,” went one comment and another claimed, “Words are wanting to describe the exquisite delight it afforded the admiring and crowded audience.”
As much as the piece meant to Handel’s career at the time,
he couldn’t know it was destined for the truly rarified air of “official annual tradition” throughout the English-speaking world in the centuries to come. The practice of standing for the Hallelujah Chorus comes from a convenient, if completely speculative, legend. No one really knows for sure whether or not King George II stood for it in 1743, making it necessary for all of his subjects to do the same and inadvertently setting a precedent.
THE WORLD – Elsewhere in 1742, Swedish scientist
Anders Celsius created the first version of his temperature scale, Benjamin Franklin invented what was to become the “Franklin Stove,” and Russian Czarina Elizabeth cruelly ordered the expulsion of the Jews from her kingdom.
THE CONNECTION – Messiah is performed every season by the Utah Symphony as part of the traditional “sing-in.”