NEC Philharmonia, NEC Symphonic Choir + David Loebel: Pärt, Mozart

Arvo Pärt | Fratres (1977)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | "Great" Mass in C Minor, K. 427

Kyrie
               Josie Larsen '25 AD, soprano
Gloria
     Gloria in excelsis Deo
     Laudamus te
               Yeonjae Cho '24 AD, soprano
     Gratias agimus tibi
     Domine Deus
               Shiyu Zhuo '24 MM, Ruoxi Peng '25 GD, soprano
     Qui tollis
     Quoniam
               Josie Larsen, Yeonjae Cho, soprano
               Suowei Wu '25 MM, tenor
     Jesu Christe
     Cum Sancto Spiritu
Credo
     Credo in unum Deum
     Et incarnatus est
               Josie Larsen, soprano
Sanctus
Benedictus
               Yeonjae Cho, Josie Larsen, soprano
               Suowei Wu, tenor
               Hyungjin Son '24 MM, baritone

Tonight's soloists

Yeonjae Cho is a Korean lyric coloratura soprano who has performed in numerous operas, including the roles of Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte, Norina in Don Pasquale, Eurydice in Orphée aux Enfers, Diana in L’arbore di Diana, Setsuko in An American Dream, Aminta in Il Re Pastore, Mrs. Jenks in The Tender Land and Erste Dame in Die Zauberflöte. This season, she will be featured as Diana in La Calisto and Adele in Die Fledermaus at the NewEngland Conservatory. She has also performed the roles of Lucia from Lucia di Lammermoor, Tytania from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Zerlina from Don Giovanni in the NEC Perkin Opera Scenes Program. Last April, sheperformed as a soprano soloist in the East Coast premiere of Gabriela Lena Frank’s Conquest Requiem with NEC Philharmonia and Symphonic Choir inBoston’s Symphony Hall. Additionally, she was named as a Boston District Winner by the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition and has been awarded NEC’s Wendy Shattuck Presidential Scholarship in 2023. She earned the bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the Seoul National University with honors, and she earned a Graduate Diploma at New England Conservatory. She is currently pursuing an Artist Diploma at New England Conservatory under the tutelage of Bradley Williams.

A current Artist Diploma student of Bradley Williams at NEC, Josie Larsen is a lyric soprano from Sammamish, Washington. She completed her Master of Music degree at New England Conservatory and her Bachelor of Music degree at Brigham Young University, both in Vocal Performance. Recently, Josie took the NEC stage as the Governess in The Turn of the Screw. Her upcoming Operatic performances at NEC include Mimi in La bohème and Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus with Robert Tweten. Additionally, she is excited for an upcoming performance of Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 by Villa-Lobos with Hugh Wolf. Josie’s greatest joy from performing comes from the opportunity it provides to connect with others from all around the world in any language.

Ruoxi Peng is a Chinese soprano currently studying under the guidance of MaryAnn McCormick at New England Conservatory, where she is pursuing a Graduate Diploma in Vocal Performance. Ruoxi completed both her Master of Music and Bachelor of Music degrees at New England Conservatory. Last April, Ruoxi played Britomarte in NEC's Spring Main Stage production of Soler's L'arbore di Diana, and in May she made her role debut as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte with Mass Opera.  This was followed in July by her performance of Despina in Così fan tutte with Utah Vocal Arts Academy.  Later this month she will be performing the role of Diana in NEC’s Main Stage production of La Calisto.  She has also sung the roles of Zerlina, Serafina, Carolina, and Nellie in NEC’s Perkin Opera Scenes programs and has participated in various other NEC performances, including the Liederabend and Song and Verse recital series.  Ruoxi recently won the Mozart Prize in UVAA’s Opera Competition, 2nd Place in the Mass Opera Vocal Competition and was the Semi-Finalist in the Camille Coloratura Awards.

Baritone Hyungjin Son, a native of South Korea, is an active opera, oratorio, and concert singer. Mr. Son has performed the roles of Uncle Bonze, Madama Butterfly; Don Giovanni, Don Giovanni; Doristo, L’arbore di Diana; Don Alfonso, Così fan tutte; Mr. Putnam, If I were you; “Pa” Zegner, Proving up; and Sir Thomas, Mansfield Park. He has also performed as a soloist for Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem with the BU Symphony Orchestra at Boston’s Symphony Hall. As a studio artist at Aspen Music Festival, he covered the role of Ford in Falstaff, with international bass-baritone Bryn Terfel in the title role and covered the title role in Don Giovanni as well. He was named an Encouragement Winner in 2020 and a district winner in 2022 in the Boston district of Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and he was named in the national semi-finals of Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. He is pursuing master’s degree at New England Conservatory under the tutelage of Bradley Williams. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance from Seoul National University, and a graduate certificate from Opera Institute of Boston University. Recently, Mr. Son made his debut as Uncle Bonze in Madama Butterfly with Detroit Opera and Boston Lyric Opera.

Suowei Wu is a tenor from Wenzhou, China. He is currently in hs first year of study for the Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance under the guidance of Bradley Williams. Prior to his graduate studies, he completed his Bachelor of Music degree at Xinghai Conservatory of Music in Guangzhou, China, under the tutelage of Chuangliang Wang and Xiaomeng Zhang. A recipient of the National Scholarship award in China, Suowei was also a recipient of the academic honors scholarship award at Xinghai Conservatory of Music for three consecutive years and a Silver prize winner of the Wenzhou Young Singers Young Prix Competition. He was previously a tenor lead singer at Xinghai Conservatory of Music’s Chamber Choir.

Chinese soprano Shiyu Zhuo has been honing her skills in vocal performance for the past several years and is currently studying for her Master of Music degree at New England Conservatory. In the 2022-2023 season, Ms. Shiyu made her debut at The Wiener Musikverein as Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel. In addition to her performance tonight as a soloist in Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, this year at NEC she will perform in the Liederabend series, will sing the role of Calisto in the November production of La Calisto, conducted by Robert Tweten, and will make her house debut as Musetta in La Bohème in February at NEC’s Jordan Hall.

NEC Philharmonia and NEC Symphonic Choir