Connecticut Master Chorale

Louise Fauteux - Soprano

Soprano Louise Fauteux is delighted to return once again to the Connecticut Master Chorale, previously appearing for the Vaughan Williams Benedicite in 2007. Louise Fauteux is a regular soloist in the northeast, most recently singing with Alarm Will Sound (NYC), the Westchester Concert Singers, Concora, the New Haven Oratorio Choir, and Opera Theatre of Weston (VT). In recent months she was twice featured on Channel 3’s Better Connecticut morning show, coaching weather forecaster Scot Haney in a vocal recording and also performing holiday music herself. In 2006 she closely followed the birth of her daughter with an English song recital sponsored by the New Haven Oratorio Choir and the Mozart Mass in D and Horatio Parker Hora Novissima for the Connecticut Master Chorale. Prior to that, she completed a year as Resident Artist for Dicapo Opera in New York City, covering the role of Violetta in La Traviata. For Dicapo Opera she was also soloist for a Venetian concert tour of the Mozart Requiem and Vivaldi Gloria. She has been heard in leading opera roles in The Impresario, The Magic Flute, Hansel and Gretel, Dido and Aeneas, Amahl and the Night Visitors, The Telephone and The Marriage of Figaro. For Un Ballo in Maschera with Connecticut Concert Opera, the Hartford Courant characterized Louise Fauteux as a "pert, boyish Oscar" with "clarion tone in her two showpiece arias and a soaring top in the great Act I ensemble."

Ms. Fauteux has been a featured soloist in Peer Gynt with the New York Philharmonic under Kurt Masur, a Carmel Bach Festival Fellow, and a national semifinalist for the MacAllister Awards. For information on upcoming performances such as the Hadyn Creation and Carmina Burana she welcomes visitors to her website at www.louisefauteux.com.

Joshua Kohl - Tenor

During the 2006-2007 season, tenor Joshua Kohl was a Resident Artist with Minnesota Opera, where he performed principal roles in each of the company’s first three shows: Serano in Rossini’s La Donna del Lago, Nathaniël/Spalanzani in Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann, and Al Joad in the World Premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath – a role he later reprised with Utah Opera. He recently won the Minnesota District and the Upper Midwest Region of the Metropolitan Opera’s National Council Auditions, earning a spot in the National Semi-Finals and the opportunity to sing on the Met stage. Last April, Josh appeared with Virginia Opera as Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance.

During the summer months, Josh was in residence with The Ohio Light Opera, appearing as Karl Franz in The Student Prince, Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance, and Adam in Der Vogelhändler. In previous seasons with OLO, Josh was seen as Richard in Maytime, Alfred in Die Fledermaus, Alvin in A Soldier’s Promise, Georges Dufayel in A Friend of Napoleon, The Duke of Dunstable in Patience, and Raoul Delacroix in The Violet of Montmartre. You can also hear Josh on OLO’s recordings of Maytime, The Violet of Montmartre, and A Soldier’s Promise. Additional recordings due to be released soon include OLO’s Der Vogelhändler and MN Opera’s The Grapes of Wrath.

In recent seasons, Josh has performed with Boston Lyric Opera as The Vain Man/The Snake in Rachel Portman’s The Little Prince, Lord Arthur Bucklaw in Donizetti’s Lucie de Lammermoor, and Tonio in Donizetti’s The Daughter of the Regiment (Opera New England Tour). In March of 2006, he sang the role of Prince Sou-Chong in Léhar’s The Land of Smiles with The Atlanta Lyric Theatre. Josh has collaborated with Operetta Foundation in bringing the gala Delights of Early Broadway to Los Angeles audiences, and he has worked with composer – and Scranton native – Richard Wargo on From the Bards of Ireland, a showcase of the composer’s Irish-inspired music, which he performed with his wife, Sarah, last November. In addition, Josh recently performed in Osaka, Japan as tenor soloist in the Nakanoshima International Music Festival.

A native of Wyomissing, PA, Josh attended Boston University (MM – 2005), where he performed the roles of Il Contino Belfiore in Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera, Joseph Brennan in Richard Wargo’s Ballymore, Part One: Winners, and Tybalt in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette. Before moving to Boston, he received a BM (magna cum laude – 2002) from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music where he performed the role of #5 – The Magic Object in Conrad Susa’s Transformations. In 2003, Josh was an Apprentice Artist with The Des Moines Metro Opera. He spent the summer of 2006 in San Francisco with the prestigious Merola Opera Program, an affiliate of San Francisco Opera. While there, he performed the role of #6 – The Prince in Transformations and appeared with the San Francisco Opera orchestra in the Grand Finale Concert.

Josh is currently an Artist Diploma candidate at Yale University. Upcoming engagements include the following: Alfred in Die Fledermaus and Torquemada in L’Heure Espagnole with Yale Opera; Tenor Soloist in Carmina Burana with Yale Symphony Orchestra; Tenor Soloist in Les Noces with Yale Camerata; Hoffmann (cover) in The Tales of Hoffmann and Troilus (cover) in Troilus and Cressida with Opera Theatre of St. Louis; Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore with Virginia Opera.

Dan Kempson - Baritone

A recipient of a 2007 Opera Index Encouragement Grant, baritone Dan Kempson is a Master’s candidate at Manhattan School of Music, where he studies with Mark Oswald. Performances for the 2007-2008 season include Guglielmo in the Opening Scene and Act One Finale of Così fan tutte with Manhattan School of Music Opera, recital performances of Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, and both Orff’s Carmina Burana and Gounod’s St. Cecilia Mass with the Connecticut Master Chorale and Orchestra.

Mr. Kempson recently spent the summer in residence with Seagle Music Colony, where he found great success as El Gallo in The Fantasticks. The Glens Falls Post-Star declared that his “resonant voice and enchanting manner immediately enthralled the audience”. While there, Mr. Kempson was also seen as Falada in Thomas Pasatieri’s The Goose Girl and Pritschitsch in The Merry Widow.

Upon graduation with his BM from Peabody Conservatory in May of 2007, Dan was awarded the Miriam Bernstein Memorial Prize, given to the outstanding opera performer among both the undergraduate and graduate students. During his time at Peabody Dan sang many roles, including Count Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), Dapertutto (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), Count Carl-Magnus (A Little Night Music), Ben (The Telephone), and Le Superintendent in Cendrillon. He also appeared as Ravenel in a concert performed of excerpts from Showboat with the Peabody Symphony Orchestra.

Other operatic roles include John Brooke in Mark Adamo’s Little Women at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia with Center City Opera Theatre. Dan also spent two summers in residence with the Intermezzo Opera Festival in Hartford, CT, where he performed Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), the Musiklehrer (Ariadne auf Naxos), and his first John Brooke. While there, he also covered the role of Harlekin in Ariadne and sang in a Lieder recital accompanied by Brian Zeger.

A frequent soloist in oratorio and concert, Mr. Kempson has sung the Fauré Requiem, Schubert Mass in G, Pergolesi Magnificat, Duruflé Messe cum Jubilo, and Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs, with groups such as the Peabody Combined Choirs, Johns Hopkins Choral Society, Old St. Paul’s Choir of Men and Boys, and the Arts at St. Matthew’s Concert Series. He is a recipient of Merit Scholarships from both Manhattan School of Music and Peabody Conservatory, was a Finalist in the 2006 International JS Bach Competition of Philadelphia, and received Third Place (Young Artist Division) at the 2006 Charles Lynam Competition. Mr. Kempson grew up in Wilton, CT.