The Five Cities Baroque Festival

FOUR DAYS TO GO!

We wrap up this week's edition of our series with Bass-Baritone Troy Castle!

Recognized for his “robust” bass-baritone voice (The Greenville News) and the regional and national success of his voice students, Dr. Troy Castle’s performance output includes numerous leading roles for the opera, musical theatre, and concert stage, as well as many collaborative and solo recitals encompassing a broad range of literature. His accolades include national recognition from The American Prize organization, the National Opera Association, the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), and the College Music Symposium. In May of this year, he performed the baritone solos in Dan Forrest’s Creation at Carnegie Hall, reprising his April 2024 performance of the work’s NYC premiere at the Lincoln Center. Troy currently resides in Decatur, IL, where he serves as Professor of Music and Coordinator of Vocal Studies at Millikin University. He is the 2024 recipient of Millikin’s “Faculty & Artistic Achievement Award.”

Come hear Troy in action during our closing performances of The Five Cities Baroque Festival: Handel’s “Israel in Egypt” (Springfield performance) and The Five Cities Baroque Festival: Handel’s “Israel in Egypt” (Decatur performance) next weekend - both performances, of course, free and open to the public.

Today's installment of our is on baritone Constantine Novotny!

Constantine Novotny is a baritone residing in Detroit, MI. Constantine has performed with a variety of ensembles including the Apollo's Fire Baroque Orchestra, American Bach, American Classical Orchestra, The Five Cities Baroque Festival, Spire Chamber Ensemble, Audivi, Bach Charlotte, and Ensemble Altera, among others. With the American Bach Soloists, Constantine has performed Bach’s St. Matthew Passion one-on-a-part as the Choir II Bass, and also been featured in a concert at San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral singing selections from Mondonville’s Cantate Domino. In February 2024, Constantine performed the world premiere of song cycle Another Shore, Another Country composed by Michael Malis using the poetry of C.P. Cavafy as part of the Pro Musica Detroit concert series. While residing in New York City, he was a staff chorister in the St. James Compostela Choir and the Choir of St. Luke in the Fields. He also was a regular substitute for the St. Thomas Choir of Men and Boys. Constantine holds a Master of Sacred Music degree from the University of Notre Dame. He was previously the 2013-2015 Samuel Ramey Opera Fellowship recipient during his graduate studies at Wichita State University, and also holds a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from Oakland University in Rochester, MI. He is currently the Minister of Music at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in White Lake, MI.

If you caught the first two Festivals in 2023 and 2024, you already know how thrilling it is to hear Constantine do his thing. You won't want to miss his work in The Five Cities Baroque Festival: Handel’s “Israel in Egypt” (Springfield performance) and The Five Cities Baroque Festival: Handel’s “Israel in Egypt” (Decatur performance) - free and open to the public, of course.

Today's installment of our series is on tenor--and Friend of the Festival--Mike Williams!

Tenor Mike Williams has made himself known as an in-demand church musician and choral singer in the greater New York and Philadelphia areas. Mike currently serves as a Gentleman of the Choir in the world-renowned Choir of Men and Boys at Saint Thomas Church on Fifth Avenue. He recently made his debut as the Evangelist in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Illinois Bach Academy under the direction of Dr. Andrew Megill. A graduate of Westminster Choir College of Rider University, he has performed a wide range of concert works including Haydn’s “Die Jahreszeiten” (Choir) with the The Philadelphia Orchestra, Bach’s “Johannes passion” (solo) with the Illinois Bach Festival, Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 9” (solo) with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra as well as Bernstein’s Candide (choir) where he shared the stage with narrators Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan. He has performed under the baton of Yannick Nezet Seguin, Christian Macelaru, Dame Jane Glover, Nathalie Stutzmann, and Sir Simon Rattle.

Mike will be singing in the chorus and as one of our cadre of tenor soloists at our closing performances of The Five Cities Baroque Festival: Handel’s “Israel in Egypt” (Springfield performance) and The Five Cities Baroque Festival: Handel’s “Israel in Egypt” (Decatur performance) - like all of our events next week, free and open to the public. Don't miss him!

Today's is on one of our absolute stalwarts--a singer who's been with us from the beginning--mezzo-soprano Gabrielle Timofeeva López.

Gabrielle Timofeeva López is a mezzo-soprano from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Based in Chicago since 2022, she sings frequently in diverse choral settings ranging from early to new music. She is a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Chorus, Grant Park Music Festival Chorus, and Saint James Cathedral Choir, and sings with choral ensembles such as Music of the Baroque, Stare At The Sun, Bella Voce, Vox Madonna, Eco Voice - Voice of the Earth, and Chicago Opera Theater. As a soloist, she has worked in opera and zarzuela productions, performing lead and supporting roles, and has sung in chamber and symphonic settings performing classical works, from Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Handel’s Messiah, and Mozart’s Great Mass in C Minor, to world premieres of contemporary works by Guarionex Morales Matos, and others. In this capacity she has featured with organizations such as the Chicago Philharmonic and The Five Cities Baroque Festival in Illinois, as well as the Orquesta Sinfónica de Puerto Rico, Orfeón San Juan Bautista, Álea 21, and others, in Puerto Rico. She is an alum of the Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico - Página Oficial where she received a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance in 2020, and also of the Miami Music Festival, Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute, and American Bach Academy.

Gabrielle will be thrilling this year's audiences as the mezzo soloist at The Five Cities Baroque Festival: Handel’s “Israel in Egypt” (Springfield performance) and The Five Cities Baroque Festival: Handel’s “Israel in Egypt” (Decatur performance), coming up in less than two weeks. If you heard her at previous Festivals, you already know you won't want to miss her. If you haven't - you'll want to be there! As always, all events are free and open to the public.

Rehearsals are underway and we are 8 days out from the opening of The Fourth Five Cities Baroque Festival! With a week to go, our series turns to some of the voices you'll hear at the climactic activities of our week - The Five Cities Baroque Festival: Handel’s “Israel in Egypt” (Springfield performance) and The Five Cities Baroque Festival: Handel’s “Israel in Egypt” (Decatur performance). First up this week is soprano Andréa Walker!

Andréa Walker, soprano, is hailed as “luminous” and (Washington Classical Review) and “a force to be reckoned with” (Seen and Heard International). Dedicated to heartfelt and dramatic historically informed performance, she appears across the country with ensembles including GRAMMY® Award-winning Apollo's Fire Baroque Orchestra, Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, Pegasus Early Music, NYS Baroque, Harmonia Stellarum Houston, and Ars Lyrica. As a recitalist, she has performed alongside keyboardist Mikhail Grazhdanov (Duo CPE) at the Early Music Seattle Beyond Baroque festival, Cornell Center for Historical Keyboards, Boston Early Music Festival, and Early Music America Summit. Other recent solo engagements include her Lincoln Center debut in Telemann's Der Tag des Gerichts with Masaaki Suzuki/Juilliard415 and the 2025 Carmel Bach Festival, where she was a Virginia Best Adams vocal fellow. Andréa received a Doctorate of Musical Arts in historical performance practice from Case Western Reserve University and holds degrees in vocal performance from the Yale Institute of Sacred Music and University of Houston.

Andréa will be the soprano soloist at both performances of "Israel in Egypt," and we promise you won't want to miss her in action - especially since all events are free and open to the public. It's coming!

This weekend's is on Monteverdi's German counterpart (and inspiration for some of Bach's work), Heinrich Schütz.

Schütz and Monteverdi actually share an interesting historical overlap - their connections with Giovanni Gabrieli due to their residences in Venice in the 1610s. In addition to Gabrieli’s duties as organist and composer at Venice's famous Basilica di San Marco, he also spent the last three years of his life instructing a young Schütz in the art of polychoral composition. This was crucial to Schütz's role that he played, along with Monteverdi, in helping to usher in the nascent Baroque period in the early 17th century.

His work bears the footprints not only of Gabrieli’s teaching, but of the great musical changes that were afoot in Europe at the time, including a hugely-expanded harmonic palette, early use of basso continuo, and gestures toward modern tonality. There is no direct evidence that Schütz and Monteverdi ever met each other, but if not, they came tantalizingly close, as Schütz ended his stay in Venice and headed back north upon Gabrieli’s death, which also set in motion the chain of events that would bring Monteverdi to San Marco the next year.

We'll be featuring a couple of stunning motets by Schütz on Five Cities Baroque Presents: Baroque Artists of Champaign Urbana to go along with a pair of Bach's cantatas. You won't want to miss this one!

We wrap up this week's series with our co-conductor of our opening concert, Baroque Artists of Champaign Urbana Artistic Director and The Five Cities Baroque Festival Board Member Sarah Riskind!

Sarah Riskind is a choral conductor, composer, and fiddler based in Peoria, Illinois. As Music Director of the Baroque Artists of Champaign-Urbana since 2021, she has highlighted stunning repertoire from many historical periods, from pairing Dietrich Buxtehude with Caroline Shaw to exploring the meaning of canon in a concert entitled The Three Bs (featuring music by Margaret Bonds, Harry T. Burleigh, and Lili Boulanger). She is the Director of Traditional Music at Willow Hill United Methodist Church and has also spent many summers as choral director and faculty at The ’s summer programs for creative musicians in Dublin, New Hampshire. Previously, she was the Director of Choral Activities at in central Illinois, where she received the T. A. Abbott Award for Faculty Excellence from the Higher Education and Leadership Ministries of the Disciples of Christ. As a composer, Dr. Riskind has a large catalogue of choral music, chamber music, and art songs, including many settings of Jewish texts and a four-movement Oz Cantata for chorus, soloists, and string quartet. In addition to her work in classical music, she is a fiddler and vocalist in the Peoria-based Irish band . She holds a DMA in Choral Conducting from , an MM in Choral Conducting from , and a BA in Music from . www.sarahriskind.com

Sarah will be sharing conducting duties at Five Cities Baroque Presents: Baroque Artists of Champaign Urbana, as well as singing in the Festival Chorus at The Five Cities Baroque Festival: Handel’s “Israel in Egypt” (Springfield performance) and The Five Cities Baroque Festival: Handel’s “Israel in Egypt” (Decatur performance). All events, as always, are free and open to the public!

Today's is on the bass of the quartet you'll hear at Five Cities Baroque Presents: Baroque Artists of Champaign Urbana, Jack Bertrand!

Jack Bertrand, baritone, is a music educator, conductor, and performer with a background spanning choral, instrumental, and theatrical disciplines. He holds a Master of Music in Choral Conducting from Michigan State University and has completed doctoral coursework in music education at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Jack has appeared as both a soloist and ensemble singer in a wide range of repertoire, most recently at the University of Illinois and with the Baroque Artists of Champaign Urbana. Recent roles include George in The Wedding Singer and ensemble in Head Over Heels. He also serves in arts leadership, including work with the Baroque Artists of Champaign-Urbana, where he has contributed to organizational development and programming. Jack is thrilled to be in his second year performing with The Five Cities Baroque Festival.

In addition to our opening concert, you can hear Jack in action with the Festival Chorus at The Five Cities Baroque Festival: Handel’s “Israel in Egypt” (Springfield performance) and The Five Cities Baroque Festival: Handel’s “Israel in Egypt” (Decatur performance) - all free and open to the public!

Today's installment in our series shines a light on our very own Artistic Director, Nate Widelitz!

Holding degrees from the USC Thornton School of Music (BM, Vocal Arts) and Yale School of Music (MM and DMA, Choral Conducting), Nate Widelitz has sung under the batons of Zubin Mehta, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Gustavo Dudamel and collaborated with the New York Philharmonic and LA Phil Orchestras and The Cleveland Orchestra. A The Fulbright Program Scholar to Bulgaria, he has earned credits on PBS, on the Deutsche Grammophon label, and in numerous films.

Between 2016 and 2020, Nate concluded successful tenures as a tenor with the Los Angeles Master Chorale and Assistant Conductor of Pacific Chorale. Between 2020 and 2024, he completed his DMA coursework, was appointed Associate Director of Choral Activities at the Millikin University School of Music, and founded The Five Cities Baroque Festival in Central Illinois. In 2025, Nate completed his DMA degree, relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area, and began his tenures as Artistic Director of both the and the .

Nate will be on both singing and conducting duties during Five Cities Baroque Presents: Baroque Artists of Champaign Urbana, The Five Cities Baroque Festival: Handel’s “Israel in Egypt” (Springfield performance), and The Five Cities Baroque Festival: Handel’s “Israel in Egypt” (Decatur performance). All events are free and open to the public - don't miss them!

We continue our series with the next featured soloist at Five Cities Baroque Presents: Baroque Artists of Champaign Urbana, mezzo-soprano Emma Kathleen Lloyd!

Mezzo-soprano Emma Kathleen Lloyd (they/them) is an Urbana-based performer and worker. Trained as a historian and medievalist, Emma especially enjoys singing early and Baroque music. This led them to Baroque Artists of Champaign Urbana, with whom they serve as board secretary. Emma also serves as a staff singer with the Canterbury Choir at the Chapel of St. John the Divine in Champaign. Though Emma has studied as a soloist with Dr. Ollie Watts Davis and Dr. Emily Venturella, they are passionate about choral singing. Emma believes that singing in a choir is a unique community-building experience in a society that primacies individuality and productivity. In BACH, we build community as we playfully work our way through tough sections of music, as we learn from others in our group about theory or technique, and as we literally breathe together in time. When we perform historical music, it allows also to build community not just with our present audiences, but also with performers and audiences of the past. Through our shared sonic experience with historical people, we are given a window into our shared humanity. Emma is grateful to perform with both BACH and The Five Cities Baroque Festival Chorus this week and hopes we all get glimpses of the joy that this special music brings.

Emma will also be lending their talents to the chorus at The Five Cities Baroque Festival: Handel’s “Israel in Egypt” (Springfield performance) and The Five Cities Baroque Festival: Handel’s “Israel in Egypt” (Decatur performance). As always, all events are free and open to the public!