BRAHMS
Ein
deutsches
Requiem

Soprano Soloist

Jennifer Gliere

Jennifer Gliere, soprano, from Cincinnati, Ohio, has been described as “a sensitive artist who knows how to turn a phrase while giving urgent meaning to the text.” She has appeared in recital and oratorio in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Ukraine, and throughout the United States. She has given two recital tours in Mexico, performing in live festivals and events around the country as well as giving master classes to several youth choirs and appearing in television and radio studios. Her repertoire runs the gamut from Barbara Strozzi chamber music and cantatas, early Baroque zarzuelas, Handel’s Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day, Bach’s B Minor Mass/Magnificat, and Rossini’s Stabat Mater to Luigi Dallapiccola’s Canti di Prigionia and Poulenc’s Gloria. She has sung under the batons of Leon Botstein, James Conlon, Jesús López Cobos, Paul O’Dette, and Erich Kunzel, among others. Summer 2019 found her in Russia, performing recitals in Ekaterinburg and Moscow. Equally at home on the concert and operatic stages, Gliere has most recently garnered rave reviews for her portrayal of Violetta in La traviata; OperaWire noted that she was a “delicate powerhouse... displaying vocal effervescence as good as any champagne.” Other acclaimed roles include Musetta in La bohème, Suzel in Mascagni’s L’amico Fritz, and Gilda in Rigoletto. She has been involved with productions at the Boston Early Music Festival, Bard Opera Theatre, Regina Opera, and Amore Opera. Favorite operatic credits at home and abroad include Le nozze di Figaro, and The Telephone/Old Maid and the Thief.

Bass Soloist

Andrew Martens

Andrew Martens, bass, is a versatile performer, equally comfortable on both the operatic and concert stages. Highlights of his career include Francesca Zambello’s The Nose by Shostakovich and Balthasar in Schumann’s Genoveva for the Bard Summerscape. He made his Carnegie Hall debut as Ramphis in Aida and Alvaro in Verdi’s Alzira with New York Grand Opera. Also at Carnegie Hall, he sang the Soothsayer with the American Composers Orchestra in Samuel Barber’s Antony and Cleopatra. Seiji Ozawa selected him to play Swallow in Peter Grimes at its 50th Anniversary Celebration of Peter Grimes at Tanglewood. His long association with Hudson Opera Theatre includes the Villains in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Méphistophêlès in Faust, Sparafucile in Rigoletto, Colline in La Bohème, Ramfis in Aïda, Sarastro in The Magic Flute, Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Don Bartolo in Le Nozze di Figaro, Gremin in Eugene Onegin, one of The Three Bassos, and soloist in the Mozart, Brahms and Verdi Requiems, as well as many others. And, on occasion, when he is not singing a principal role, he has been gracious enough to lend his opulent voice to the bass section of the chorus. He is well-known in Latvian communities around the US and abroad as a major proponent of Latvian folk music, having given numerous recitals of traditional Latvian folk songs, some of which date back well over a thousand years.

Organist / Conductor

Ron De Fesi

Ron De Fesi, conductor, organist. Ron has been the artistic director of the Hudson Opera Theatre since its founding in 1977 (yes, 47 years)! A student of world-renowned conductor Sixten Ehrling while at the Juilliard School, Maestro De Fesi also attended the Hochschule für Musik in Munich, Germany completing 

specialized study in Baroque and Classical performance practice. He has been artistic director and principal conductor for several organizations, including the Tri-State Regional Opera, the Family Opera of New Jersey, the Delaware Valley Opera, the First Coast Opera and the Ballet Theatre of Westches-ter.  He has directed and/or conducted over 350 productions, and figures he has about 350 more to go. In his career as a basso cantate, he has sung over 100 differ-ent roles, of which his favorites are Phillip II in Don Carlo, the title role in Gianni Schicchi, Fiesco in Simon Boccanegra, Zac-caria in Nabucco, and Boris in Boris Godu-nov. Also a gifted orchestrator and arranger, his operatic and ballet reduc-tions continue to be heard globally as well as his arrangements for numerous instru-mental ensembles of everything from classics to pops.  A church organist since the age of fourteen, he also plays the cello and the piano and teaches voice. Many of his students have become professional singers in the operatic, musical theatre, and pop genres, and even one in country music. He has been the musical director of Laudamus Children’s Chorus in New York City, and is the Organist and Director of Choristers at the Grace United Methodist Church in Newburgh, NY. ...and no, he doesn’t sleep much!