Meet the Soloists: Choral Classics 2024
Michelle Areyzaga—Soprano
Praised for her “radiant and all-encompassing soprano” (Chicago Tribune), Michelle Areyzaga performs a diverse range of orchestral, oratorio, opera, and chamber repertoire. As a “consummate vocal actress” (Fanfare), she is held in high regard throughout the United States and abroad for her “appealing, expressive soprano” (New York Times).
Michelle has appeared as soloist with orchestras and festivals across the country including the Chicago Symphony, Chicago Philharmonic, Buffalo Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, Phoenix Symphony, Rhode Island Philharmonic, Richmond Symphony, Colorado Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Wichita Symphony, Flint Symphony, Fort Wayne Symphony, Cheyenne Symphony, Hartford Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Toledo Symphony, Rochester Symphony; the Ravinia, Oregon Bach, Blossom, and Grant Park music festivals.
Abroad, Ms. Areyzaga has performed with the Orquesta Sinfónica de México, Orquesta Filarmónica de Montevideo, and Uruguay’s Orquesta Sinfónica del Sodre. She sang in Costa Rica’s first performance of Bach’s B Minor Mass with the National Symphony Orchestra under conductor John Nelson. She appeared as soloist in Vaughan Williams’ Mass in G Minor at England’s York Minster Cathedral, Ely Cathedral, and St. Mary’s Church in Oxford. At Paris’s L’église de la Madeleine, she was soloist in Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass with the orchestra of London’s Royal Academy of Music and the St. Charles Singers.
Michelle has sung leading roles for New York City Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, Opera Birmingham, and other regional companies. Some of her favorite roles include Micaela (Carmen), Cio-Cio-San (Madama Butterfly), Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro), Musetta (La Bohème), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) and Cunegonde (Candide). Her staged portrayals have consistently garnered high praise such as “sensational” for her performances of Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi (The Chicago Reader) and “stunning” as Bubikopf in Der Kaiser von Atlantis (Opera Magazine, London).
Highly respected for her work as an avid chamber musician and recitalist, Michelle has been a repeat guest of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the New York Festival of Song, the Avalon String Quartet, The Lincoln Trio, and has been a member of the Chicago Ensemble since the beginning of her career.
Renowned for her artistry with new music and contemporary composers, Ms. Areyzaga has been honored to perform and record multiple world-premieres for composers Gwyneth Walker, Lita Grier, Stacy Garrop, Fabio Luisi, and Gustavo Leone. Her most recent art song album, Were I With Thee, features all contemporary American art songs with texts by women, including world-premiere recordings of works by Wayland Rogers and Gwyneth Walker. Artsong Update praised Were I With Thee as “one of the finest art song CDs ever… a ground-breaking art song CD of twenty-first century sensibility.”
As a lifelong champion of Leonard Bernstein’s music, Michelle toured Bernstein on Broadway for six years together with Leonard Bernstein’s daughter, Jamie. Ms. Areyzaga was named Musical Ambassador of the Ravinia Festival’s Bernstein at 100 Centennial Celebration.
Ms. Areyzaga is artist faculty at Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University and Loyola University Chicago. Michelle is passionate about guiding and inspiring her private voice students through her knowledge of vocal literature, technique, and her training as a life coach.
Tetyana Vakhnovska—Mezzo-Soprano
Tetyana Vakhnovska, renowned, state-awarded Ukrainian mezzo-soprano, immigrated to the United States in 2022. She graduated from National Academy of Music in Lviv and was a leading opera singer at the National Opera in Lviv, Ukraine for over 15 years.
Tetyana toured internationally with concerts and opera productions in Poland, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, France, China and the United States. She credits her high achievements to working with well-recognized European directors and conductors while performing leading parts for mezzo-soprano as Carmen (Bizet's "Carmen"), Azucena (Verdi's "Il Trovatore"), Ulrika (Verdi's "Un Ballo in Maschera"), Amneris (Verdi's "Aida"), Suzuki (Puccini's "Madame Butterfly"), Fenena (Verdi's "Nabucco"), Maddalena (Verdi's "Rigoletto"). Also in her repertoire are the Mozart "Requiem", Verdi "Requiem", Rossini "Petite Messe Solennelle", Mahler Symphony #2, Beethoven Symphony #9, Bach "St. Matthew Passion", Pergolesi "Stabat Mater", Haydn "The Seven Last Words of Christ", and Dvořák "Stabat Mater".
She performed as a soloist in Beethoven's 9th Symphony with the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra (music director and conductor Dr. Stephen Alltop). In cooperation with "Revived Soldiers Ukraine", the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America gave concerts in New York and Chicago where Tetyana was an Honored Artist of Ukraine. She has performed concerts in support of Ukraine at the Holy Name Cathedral, Alice Millar Chapel, and the Ukrainian National Museum (Chicago IL). Tetyana is a piano and voice teacher at Bel Canto Music Academy (Burr Ridge IL) and Knight Music Academy (North Barrington IL) where she works with both children and adults as students.
Martin Luther Clark—Tenor
Third-year Ryan Opera Center tenor Martin Luther Clark holds a master’s degree in opera from the Curtis Institute of Music. Among his roles there were the First Sailor/Dido and Aeneas, Tobias Ragg/Sweeney Todd, and Don Ottavio/Don Giovanni. Also on the East Coast, he sang Vaudemont/Iolanta and King Charles/The Maid of Orleans with Russian Opera Workshop (2019 summer season). The previous year, he was heard as a Central City Opera Apprentice Artist and as tenor soloist at the Library of Congress, where he sang both published and unpublished works of Leonard Bernstein for the centennial celebration of the composer’s birth. Other appearances have included Lyric Opera of Kansas City (Resident Artist), University of North Texas Opera (numerous roles and galas), The Dallas Opera, Charlottesville Opera, Opera in Concert, Opera North, and Wolf Trap Opera. Originally from Marshall, Texas, Clark has received an Encouragement Award from the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition (2018).
For Lyric’s 2020/21 virtual programming, Clark performed in Lawrence Brownlee and Friends: The Next Chapter, Creating The Factotum, Sole e Amore, Magical Music Around the World, and Rising Stars in Concert.
In 2021/22 for the company he appeared in Sunday in the Park with Lyric’s Rising Stars and performed First Armored Man/The Magic Flute and Adult William and Chicken Plucker/Fire Shut Up in My Bones.
In Lyric's 2022/23 season, he appeared in the world premiere of The Factotum. Other company debuts include Detroit Opera, Opera Omaha (both in X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X) and Tulsa Opera (Into The Woods).
Bill McMurray—Baritone
With more than forty operatic roles to his credit, baritone Bill McMurray has been described as “a baritone with warm, rich tones and superb stage presence” by the Durham Herald Sun. Such roles include “Figaro” in Il Baribiere di Sivigila,“Count Almaviva” in Le nozze di Figaro and “Escamillo” in Carmen. Walter Marini of the New Buffalo Times is quoted as saying his portrayal of “Marcello” in Puccini's La Boheme as “a powerful actor who brings great elegance to the role. His singing is as fine as anything being heard in major opera houses today.”
He has sung with noted companies like Florida Grand Opera, Opera North, Knoxville Opera, Skylight Music Theater, Opera Company of NC, Mobile Opera, Opera Carolina, Central City Opera and Opera on the James. Recent engagements include his return to Chicago Opera Theater to perform the role of “Mr Gedge, the Vicar” in Albert Herring, his debut with Opera San Antonio as “Marullo” in Rigoletto, “Ibn Hakia” in Tchaikovsky's Russian opera Iolanta, “The Father” in the Midwest premiere of Stefan Weisman's opera The Scarlet Ibis, the Narrator in The Snowman with the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra and as the bass soloist in Handel's Messiah with the Apollo Chorus. Other solo highlights include a Porgy and Bess concert, as well as performances of the Mozart Requiem with the Chicago Bar Association and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in his debut with South Bend Symphony Orchestra.
The 23-24 season will feature a return to Opera San Antonio to sing the “Pirate King” in Pirates of Penzance, Messiah performances with Michigan City and the Apollo Chorus, his debut with Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra, baritone soloist in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Illinois Philharmonic and the baritone soloist in the Bruckner Te Deum.
Equally successful on the concert stage, Bill has sung solos in sacred works such as Händel's Messiah, Haydn's The Creation, Mozart's Mass in C Minor and Mendelssohn's Elijah. He has also been the featured soloist in Vaughan Williams' Five Mystical Songs, Aaron Copland's Old American Songs and the Faure Requiem. He was the baritone soloist in Michael Tippett's oratorio A Child of Our Time, conducted by Barbara Schubert with the University of Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Other solo orchestral appearances include the New Philharmonic Orchestra, Elmhurst Orchestra and Choral Society, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Skokie Valley Symphony, Elgin Symphony, Chicago Civic Orchestra and Waukegan Symphony. At the Ravinia Festival he was the bass soloist in the final movement of Haydn's Creation, conducted by former Metropolitan Opera Music Director, James Levine. He is a previous first place winner of the National Association Teachers of Singing competition and was one of eight singers selected to the Winners Circle of The Classical Music Vocal Competition. In 2021 Bill received a Grammy award as a member of the Chicago Symphony Chorus for their work on the recording of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 13, Babi Yar.