Soloists for British/American Connection Concert

Jonathan William Moyer maintains a dynamic career as organist, pianist and conductor. He is the music director and organist of the Church of the Covenant in Cleveland, OH, where he directs a semiprofessional choir, handbells, children’s music program, and concert series. He has performed throughout the northeastern United States, Europe, and Japan, and critics have described his playing as "ever-expressive, stylish, and riveting." In September 2008, he won second prize in the Sixth International Musashino Organ Competition in Tokyo, Japan, and in 2005 he was one of four finalists in the St. Albans International Organ Competition. During 2008 he performed Olivier Messiaen’s complete organ works in four recitals at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Baltimore. Writing in The Baltimore Sun, Tim Smith said of his second recital: "Moyer revealed the composer's musical genius as vividly as his spiritual richness, taking full advantage of the cathedral's Shantz organ. . . . Passages of rapt reflection were shaped with a keen sense of import." Moyer, a student of Donald Sutherland, is a doctoral candidate in organ at the Peabody Conservatory of Music where he has received both a graduate performance diploma in organ and a master's degree in piano.

Emily Noël, soprano, has been recognized for her "strikingly lovely voice" (Washington Post) and "accomplished" stage acting (Baltimore Sun).  She made her professional debut at age sixteen with the Maryland Lyric Opera and has since sung a diverse repertoire of operatic roles with American Opera Theater, Peabody Opera Theater, Annapolis Opera, Opera Vivente, and Opera Theater of Northern Virginia.  Opera highlights include leading roles in Cavalli's La Calisto and La Didone, Charpentier’s David et Jonathas,Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, and Monteverdi's L'Orfeo.  Ms. Noël enjoys an active oratorio and recital career and has recently appeared with Barefoot Baroque, Aoede Consort, The Peabody Consort, The New York Classical Guitar Society, The Seattle Academy of Baroque Opera, The Bach Sinfonia, and the Handel Choir of Baltimore.  Oratorio credits include Mozart's Coronation Mass, Respighi's Laud to the Nativity, Bach's Magnificat, and Handel's Israel in Egypt.  She holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a Master of Music from the Peabody Conservatory, with advanced studies at the Eastman School of Music.  She currently serves as an artist/teacher in voice at Franklin & Marshall College.

Kristen Dubenion-Smith, mezzo-soprano, maintains an active performance career in oratorio, opera, and recital.  She has been praised for her “warm alto sound” (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) and voice of “sweet clarity” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette).  Recent engagements include performances with the Catacoustic Consort of Cincinnati, Ohio, the Handel Choir of Baltimore, Magnificat of San Francisco, the Berkeley Early Music Exhibition, the Indianapolis Early Music Festival, the Bach and Baroque Ensemble of Pittsburgh, the Peabody Renaissance Ensemble, the Baltimore Consort, and Baltimore’s Shakespeare Festival.  Ms. Dubenion-Smith has performed more than a dozen operatic roles in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Chicago, New York City, Bloomington, Indianapolis, and Princeton.  Some of her more notable roles include Endimione in La Calisto, Hecuba in La Didone, and Cupid in Venus and Adonis with American Opera Theater and La Baronne in Chérubin with New Jersey Opera Theater.  Upcoming engagements include performances of Italian music from the convent with the Catacoustic Consort of Cincinnati and Bach Cantatas with the Bach and Baroque Ensemble of Pittsburgh.  A native of Michigan, she is a graduate of Alma College and the Peabody Conservatory.

David Kirkwood, tenor, has been praised for his “stylish phrasing” (Baltimore Sun) in the Baltimore Opera’s 2008 Artscape production of Ravel’s L’Heure Espagnole.  He has been prominently featured in Peabody Opera Theatre productions as Peter Quint in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, Tamino in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Gastone in Verdi's La Traviata, and as Ferrando in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte.  Additionally Kirkwood has been a soloist with the Johns Hopkins Chamber Orchestra and the Handel Choir of Baltimore.  His recent engagements include Stravinsky's In Memoriam Dylan Thomas under Leon Fleisher at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia and the Evangelist in Bach's St. John's Passion at Peabody with the Baltimore Baroque Band.  A Texan native, Kirkwood is a student of William Sharpe at the Peabody Conservatory where he received his Master of Music degree and is currently completing his DMA.

Jason Widney, baritone, has performed throughout the Baltimore area and is at home on the opera, concert, and recital stages.  His opera credits include Wagner in Gounod’s Faust with the Baltimore Concert Opera, Don Inigo in Ravel’s L’Heure Espagnole with the Baltimore Opera Company, and Sir Bertie Bland in the world premiere of The Alien Corn by Thomas Benjamin.  As a concert soloist, Widney has sung with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in Uematsu’s Distant Worlds: The Music from Final Fantasy, Anne Arundel Community College in Handel’s Chandos Anthem No. 9, and at Pine Street Presbyterian Church in Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem and Fauré’s Requiem.  A specialist in art song repertoire he has given recitals on the Village Music Series in 2006 and 2007 and was recently invited to Lebanon Valley College, his alma mater, where he performed a program of Britten, Poulenc, Fauré, and Brahms.  Widney received a Master of Music degree from the Peabody Conservatory where he studied with John Shirley-Quirk.  He has performed with Opera Vivente, Opera AACC, and sings frequently with the Handel Choir of Baltimore both as a soloist and member of the chorus.