Vocal Soloist Biographies:

Teresa Wakim

With “a gorgeous, profoundly expressive instrument,” “a bejeweled lyric soprano with an exquisite top register,” and as “a marvel of perfect intonation and pure tone,” American soprano Teresa Wakim is perhaps best-known as “a fine baroque stylist.”

Upon completion of her studies at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and Boston University’s College of Fine Arts, she became a Choral Scholar with BU's illustrious Marsh Chapel Choir, was soon named a Lorraine Hunt Lieberson Fellow at Emmanuel Music in Boston, and then won First Prize in the International Soloist Competition for Early Music in Brunnenthal, Austria. The last several seasons have seen her make solo debuts at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Boston Symphony Hall, Grand Théâtre de Provence, Severance Hall in Cleveland, and Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA.

Recent concerts have included Bach's Wedding Cantata Weichet nur betrübte Schatten and Mendelssohn's Hear My Prayer with The Cleveland Orchestra, Bach's Mass in B Minor and St. John Passion with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Messiah with the Charlotte Symphony, Tucson Symphony, and San Antonio Symphony, Mozart's Exsultate Jubilate and Handel's Jephtha with the Handel & Haydn Society, and Haydn's Creation with New Bedford Symphony.

Although praised for her performances of Brahms and Mozart, as well as new music, Wakim’s affinity for the Baroque has brought her much success. She enjoys working with many of North America’s best period ensembles, including the Handel & Haydn Society, Boston Early Music Festival, Boston Baroque, Dallas Bach Society, Pacific Musicworks, Handel Choir of Baltimore, the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, Apollo’s Fire, Bourbon Baroque, and Tragicomedia.

Work on the operatic stage includes roles in Handel's Acis & Galatea (Galatea), Rameau's Les Indes Galantes (Zima), Monteverdi's Orfeo (Proserpina), Purcell's Dido & Aeneas (Second Woman), Lully's Psyche (Flore), Mozart's The Magic Flute (Pamina), Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio (Blonde), Charpentier's Acteon (Diane), Charpentier's Les Arts Florissants (La Musique), Charpentier's Les Plaisirs de Versailles (La Conversation), Handel's Alcina (Morgana), and Mendelssohn's Son & Stranger (Lisbeth).

Plans this season include Bach cantatas with San Francisco Symphony, Brahms' Requiem with Omaha Symphony, Handel’s Messiah with Alabama Symphony, and the Exsultate Jubilate with New World Symphony. Future operatic projects include roles of Fortuna and Giunone in Monteverdi's Il Ritorno d'Ulisse with Boston Baroque, and in Rameau's Les Indes Galantes, the role of Zima with Bourbon Baroque. In addition, she will be a featured artist at the Boston Early Music Festival Chamber Opera Gala, reprising her roles in Acis & Galatea, Dido & Aeneus, and Acteon.

With a prolific discography, she has been featured as soloist on four Grammy-Nominated albums with the Boston Early Music Festival and Seraphic Fire. She can also be heard on numerous discs with Blue Heron, Handel & Haydn Society, Apollo's Fire, and others.

Krisztina Szabó

Hungarian-Canadian mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabó has become highly sought after in both North America and Europe as an artist of supreme musicianship and stagecraft. The Chicago Tribune exclaimed, "Krisztina Szabó stole her every scene with her powerful, mahogany voice and deeply poignant immersion in the empress' plight" after her performance of Ottavia in L'incoronazione di Poppea. She made her Lincoln Center début as Dorabella in Così fan tutte at the Mostly Mozart Festival where she was praised in the New York Times for being "clear, strong, stately and an endearingly vulnerable Dorabella."

Krisztina Szabó’s 2013-14 season includes soloist in Messiah with the Grand Philharmonic Choir and Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony and Against the Grain Theatre, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni in a return to Vancouver Opera and Ljubica in Ana Sokolovic’s Svabda/Wedding in her Opera Philadelphia debut. She also sings in Janácek’s The Diary of One Who Disappeared in the “Soundings” series at Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas (TX), as soloist in a Mozart evening with the Ottawa Choral Society, as Second Harlot in Handel's Solomon with Les Violons du Roy, as the Flight Attendant in Airline Icarus with Soundstreams and as featured soloist with PluralEnsemble, Spain, under the baton of renowned composer-conductor, Peter Eötvös. In season 2012-13 she sang as Musetta in La bohème with Vancouver Opera; Giulietta/Stella in Les contes d’Hoffmann with Edmonton Opera; as soloist in Messiah with the Calgary Philharmonic; debuted with Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in Bach’s Mass in B Minor; with Vancouver Bach Choir in Adams’ El Niño; returned to Toronto Mendelssohn Choir as soloist in Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis; and to Queen of Puddings Music Theatre in a new work by Chris Paul Harmon.

Ms. Szabó exemplifies today’s modern singer: she is vocally versatile, possesses excellent stage prowess and paints vivid character portraits on both the opera and concert stages. She sings frequently at the Canadian Opera Company and has been seen in diverse roles, such as Le Pèlerin in L'amour de loin, Idamante (Idomeneo), Musetta (La bohème), The Double-Offred in the Time Before (The Handmaid's Tale) and Nancy (Albert Herring). In 2006 she helped christen the company’s new opera house in their critically acclaimed Ring Cycle as Wellgunde (Das Rheingold and Götterdämmerung), and Siegrune (Die Walküre) and returned to open their 06/7 season in the role of Dorabella (Così fan tutte). Canadian audiences have also seen Ms. Szabó as Sesto (La clemenza di Tito) and Musetta in La bohème with Vancouver Opera, Meg (Little Women) with Calgary Opera, Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia) with L'Opéra de Québec, Edmonton Opera and Calgary Opera, Second Lady (Die Zauberflöte) with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Bernard Labadie conducting, Nerone (Agrippina) with L'Opéra de Montréal, and as the title role in Iphigénie en Tauride with Opera Atelier.

Outside of Canada, Ms Szabó has performed a wide variety of roles including: Rosalind (The Mines of Sulphur) for the Wexford Festival Opera (company début), Countess (Le nozze di Figaro), Judith (Bluebeard's Castle) and Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni) - all with Chicago Opera Theater, Magnolia (Showboat) with L'Opéra National du Rhin, the title role in Charpentier's Médée with Le Concert Spirituel in Paris, The Queen of the Fairies in Ana Sokolovic's hilarious new opera, The Midnight Court, with Queen of Puddings Music Theatre's tour to England, Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel), Komponist (Ariadne auf Naxos) and Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro) with Stadttheater Klagenfurt, Bianca (Mercadante's Il giuramento) with Washington Concert Opera, and Dido (Dido and Aeneas) with Music of the Baroque.

Krisztina Szabó is a frequent performer of recital, concert and chamber repertoire. She has appeared as a soloist with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (Mozart's Mass in C Minor), Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (B minor Mass) L'Orchestre Symphonique de Québec (Bach's Mass in B Minor), the San Antonio Symphony (Handel's Messiah), the Talisker Players in Toronto for an evening of chamber music, the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir (Beethoven's Missa Solemnis and Mendelssohn's Elijah), the Elora Festival Orchestra (Verdi's Requiem), Les Violons du Roy’s United States tour of (Haydn's cantata Arianna a Naxos) , the Brooklyn Academy of Music (staged production of Bach's St. Matthew Passion) and the Oregon Symphony (Mozart Requiem). In recital, she has appeared with Ravinia Festival, Aldeburgh Connection, Music Toronto, Off Centre Music Salon and Music at Sharon. In addition, she has performed with Symphony Nova Scotia, Lanaudière Festival, Calgary Philharmonic, Orchestra London, Toronto Operetta Theatre, Esprit Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, Canadian Art Song Project, Festival of the Sound, Grand Teton Festival Soundstreams, Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, Waterside Music Festival, Stratford Summer Music Festival and Indian River Festival.

Ms, Szabó has appeared on television featured in CBC's "Opening Night" in concert with the Canadian Opera Company. On film, she can be seen as Zerlina with Dmitri Hvorostovsky in Don Giovanni Revealed: Leporello's Revenge, and she can be heard as the voice of Leanne in the new opera movie Burnt Toast. Krisztina Szabo can also be heard as a featured soloist in a recording with the Talisker Players "Where Words and Music Meet", Musica Leopolis CDs works of Lysenko, Stetsenko, and Stepovyi (3 different CDs) and Singing Somers Theatre (the works of Harry Somers).

Ms. Szabó finished her postgraduate studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, England, after completing her undergraduate degree at the University of Western Ontario studying with Darryl Edwards, with whom she continues to study. She has been the recipient of the Emerging Artist grant from Canada Council and was recently honoured by her home town of Mississauga with a star on the Music Walk of Fame in its inaugural year. Krisztina lives in Toronto with her husband, Kristian Clarke and their daughter, Phoibe Clarke.

Zachary Finkelstein

In the five years since Zach left his political consulting career, he has performed as a soloist at Carnegie Hall, Sadler's Wells, Lincoln Center, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Benaroya Hall and the New York City Center. Recently hailed by Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times as a “compelling tenor,” American-Canadian Zach Finkelstein made his New York City Opera debut in April 2013 as Mambre in Rossini’s Mosè in Egitto, a production dubbed by Tommasini as one of the Top 10 classical events of 2013.

In the 2014-2015 season, Zach makes his debut with the Seattle Symphony as tenor soloist in the 'Mozart Requiem' with Ludovic Morlot conducting. Zach will also sing Damon onstage with the Mark Morris Dance Group (MMDG) in their coast-to-coast production of Handel's 'Acis and Galatea'. The Philharmonia Baroque's Nic McGegan will conduct in the world premiere choreography at Berkeley, CA; the Handel and Haydn Society East Coast premiere in Boston, MA; as well as at Lincoln Center, NYC for the Mostly Mozart Festival; at the Krannert Center in Urbana, IL; and the Kauffman Theatre in Kansas City, MO. In November 2014, Zach will record his first album with the internationally renowned Berliner Philharmoniker's Scharoun Ensemble in Germany: the new music composition 'Threshold' for tenor and orchestra, by Prix-de-Rome winner and fellow Tanglewood alum Jesse Jones.

In 2013-2014 Zach toured Satie's monodrama Socrates- “beautifully sung”, according to the Daily Telegraph and “impeccably done” by the Seattle Times- and Beethoven's The Muir in London, UK and Seattle, WA with the Mark Morris Dance Group (MMDG). Other 2013-2014 engagements include Zach's Chicago debut with Nicholas Kraemer's 'Music of the Baroque'; Arvo Pärt's 'Stabat Mater' with the Art of Time Ensemble in Toronto; Handel's Messiah with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony; Mozart's 'C-Minor Mass' at Seattle's Benaroya Hall with the Northwest Chamber Chorus; Mozart 'Requiem' with the Seattle Chamber Singers; and Mozart's 'Coronation Mass' with Jordan de Souza's Ottawa Choral Society. As a recitalist this season, Zach will perform with Dan Anastasio, in Toronto with Rachel Andrist and sing Britten's 'Canticle V' and 'Birthday Hansel' at New York City's National Opera Center with harpist Tomina Parvanova.

In the 2012-13 season he also toured Socrates and The Muir with the Mark Morris Dance Group in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Purchase, NY, Princeton and Fairfax, VA. Previous MMDG engagements include productions of Stravinsky’s Renard at Lincoln Center and Thomson’s Four Saints in Three Acts. Other concert engagements in 2012-13 included premieres of new works for tenor and orchestra by Jesse Jones and John Liberatore; the Mozart Requiem with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Bach Magnificat and Saint-Saëns' Weihnachtsoratorium with the Toronto Classical Singers, Bach Cantata 60 with Metropolitan Opera conductor Matt Aucoin in Salem, MA , and Messiahs with both the Ontario Philharmonic and Julian Wachner's Trinity Wall Street in New York at Lincoln Center.

Last summer, Zach sang Sir Phillip Wingrave/Narrator in Banff Opera's production of Owen Wingrave, conducted by Guildhall's Dominic Wheeler, and performed Britten art song as a Britten Pears Young Artist in Aldeburgh, UK under the tutelage of Ian Bostridge. A Vocal Fellow for two summers at Tanglewood, he was singled out as a "remarkable tenor" for his performances in Knussen’s Higglety Pigglety Pop! at the Festival of Contemporary Music.

In the media, Zach has performed opera excerpts on CBC's 'Saturday Afternoon at the Opera' as well as Toronto's Classical 96.3 FM. John Terauds, music critic for the Toronto Star, recently profiled Zach as one of Toronto's “great tenors” on MusicalToronto.org. In their Summer 2013 issue, Opera Canada also profiled Zach as an 'Artist On Stage' and have reviewed him previously as a “lovely light tenor”. In February 2014, the Pacific Northwest's King FM 98.1 interviewed Zach on his performances of 'Socrates' with the Mark Morris Dance Group.

Mr. Finkelstein is currently with Dean Artists Management and holds an Artist Diploma (Voice) from the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Glenn Gould School in Toronto and a Bachelor of Arts (Honors) in Political Science from McGill University, in Montreal. He studies privately with Lorna Macdonald in Toronto, Canada.

Sumner Thompson

Praised for his “elegant style” (Boston Globe), Sumner Thompson is one of today’s most sought-after young baritones. His appearances on the operatic stage include roles in productions from Boston to Copenhagen, including the Boston Early Music Festival’s productions of Conradi’s Ariadne (2003) and Lully’s Psyché (2007), and several European tours with Contemporary Opera Denmark as Orfeo in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo.He has performed across North America as a soloist with Concerto Palatino, Tafelmusik, Apollo’s Fire, Les Boreades de Montréal, Les Voix Baroques, Pacific Baroque Orchestra, the King’s Noyse, Mercury Baroque, and the symphonies of Charlotte, Memphis, and Phoenix. Highlights include Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostri with Les Voix Baroques and Houston’s Mercury Baroque, Mozart’s Requiem at St. Thomas Church in New York City, a tour of Japan with Joshua Rifkin and the Cambridge Concentus, and a return to the Carmel Bach Festival.