Tracey Engleman
Soprano

A recipient of the prestigious McKnight Artist Fellowship for Musicians, Ms. Engleman has performed operatic roles with the Minnesota Opera, Minnesota Concert Opera, Skylark Opera, Arbeit Opera, Music by the Lake, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. A particularly gifted performer of 20th century and contemporary music, Ms. Engleman has performed chamber music with Zeitgeist, the Chicago Chamber Musicians, the Tanglewood Music Center and the Boston Symphony and frequently premieres works by living composers. Her CD Lift me into Heaven Slowly featuring song cycles by Libby Larsen was released by Innova Records in 2017. Concert engagements include solo performances with the Minnesota Orchestra, the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Bel Canto Chorus, the Valley Chamber Chorale and the Rochester Symphony Orchestra, and as a frequent recitalist, she has performed at Orchestra Hall, Hope College, at the National Association of Teachers of Singing National Convention, Source Song Festival, and as part of the Schubert Club Courtroom Concert Series.

An alumni of the Tanglewood Music Center and the Art Song Festival of Cleveland, Ms. Engleman’s awards include Regional Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera Competition, 1st Place winner in the Austin Lyric Opera Young Artist Competition, Finalist in the Sun Valley Opera Competition, recipient of the Minnesota NATS Artist Award, and winner of the Milwaukee Bel Canto Chorus Regional Artist Competition. Equally passionate about teaching voice, Ms. Engleman is an Associate Professor of Music at St. Olaf College where she teaches voice and vocal pedagogy. View Tracey Engleman’s online portfolio.

Michelle Monroe
Mezzo Soprano

American Mezzo Soprano Michelle Monroe is praised for her “command of dramatic shape and musical details.” Michelle is sought after as a performer for concerts and oratorio, chamber music, and recitals. Having an affinity for contemporary American vocal music, Ms. Monroe recently gave the world premiere of Four Songs by award winning composer Jeremy Beck. Her recent concert work includes soloist for Magnificat by Imant Raminsh, Elijah by Mendelssohn, Dialogue of Self and Soul by James Stephenson, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. Michelle spent two summers as a member of Central City Opera’s Bonfils-Stanton Young Artist Training Program, winning the Opera Guild Sponsored Artist in 2021. A few of her favorite opera credits include Maddalena in Verdi’s Rigoletto with Central City Opera, Dorabella in Mozart’s Così fan Tutte with Music on Site, and Ruth in The Pirates of Penzance with Cedar Rapids Opera.

Michelle is looking forward to performing The Noise by Kimberly Osberg with the Northern Iowa Symphonic Band in April and a solo recital in May featuring Four Dickinson Songs by Lori Laitman and Les Nuits d’été by Berlioz. When she’s not singing, Michelle enjoys teaching voice, gardening, and being outside with her dogs. View Michelle Monroe’s online portfolio.

David Walton
Tenor

Praised for his “clean, clear voice,” David Walton dazzles stages across the country to critical acclaim as a versatile lyric tenor to watch. He recently sang Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance with “charismatic presence and a sweet pleasing tenor” (Cincinnati Business Courier) and Dorvil in Rossini’s La scala di seta with a “ringing high register” (concerto.net).

As a favorite tenor of bel canto, Mr. Walton has frequented such roles as Ernesto in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, Tonio in La fille du réigment, Ramiro in Rossini’s La Cenerentola and Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia. He has been described as “this production’s breakthrough performance” (PIONEER PRESS) and “the sweetest singing of the evening…a lyric tenor with strong Italianate stylings” (Star Tribune), “a 21st century Rossini tenor” (OPERA WAR HORSES), and “smooth, lyrical, and capable of scaling the heights” (VIRGINIA PILOT). Company appearances include Cincinnati Opera, Virginia Opera, Minnesota Opera, Opera Delaware, Syracuse Opera, Annapolis Opera, and the Glimmerglass Festival in a new production by Francesca Zambello where OPERA NEWS labeled him “genuinely funny.” Other operas include Rossini’s L’occasione fa il ladro and La scala di seta, Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and Die Entführung aus dem Serail, and Handel’s Acis and Galatea. View David Walton’s online portfolio.

Alan Dunbar
Baritone

Bass-baritone Alan Dunbar is a versatile performer, lauded for his beautiful tone and his nuanced musical and textual interpretation. Spanning repertoire from the 17th to 21st centuries, his performances include premieres of solo works by Libby Larsen, Justin Merritt, and Elliot Carter; as bass soloist in Bach’s passions and cantatas with Voices of Ascension, Bach Society of Minnesota, Bach Roots Festival, and Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra; numerous principal roles with Madison Opera (Magic Flute, Salome, Fellow Travelers, La Bohème, Barber of Seville, Dead Man Walking, She Loves Me); the title role of Britten’s Noye’s Fludde at Santa Fe Opera; and countless solo recitals across the US. Alan holds a BA in music theory/composition from St. Olaf College, and an MM and DM in vocal performance from Indiana University. Alan was a founding member of the Minnesota-based internationally acclaimed chamber vocal ensemble Cantus. He serves as Associate Professor of Voice at Winona State University. View Alan Dunbar’s online portfolio.

For this special performance combining Rochester Symphony Orchestra, our invited soloists and the Rochester Symphony Chorale, THE REQUIEM is set to be a grand finale for our 2022/2023 season.

FRANCESCA ANDEREGG, violinist                               
Biography 2022-2023 Season

Hailed by The New York Times for her “rich tone” and “virtuosic panache,” violinist FRANCESCA ANDEREGG consistently delivers insightful performances of both classical and contemporary scores. Through her inventive programming, active composer collaborations and precise, yet impassioned interpretations, she has earned renown as a musical explorer of the first order.

As a soloist, Francesa Anderegg has performed a wide variety of traditional and contemporary violin concerti with orchestras throughout the United States and South America. Following her 2008 Carnegie Hall debut, she has been presented in recital in distinguished national and international venues, among them The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, Brooklyn’s National Sawdust, The Arts Club of Washington, Chicago Symphony Center and Bógata’s Museo Nacional de Colombia. Ms. Anderegg’s festival appearances include the Tanglewood Music Center, National Music Festival, California’s Music in the Vineyards and Yellow Barn in Vermont.

Francesca Anderegg is also active in the recording studio, and her albums have been featured on radio programs throughout the United States and noted for “stunning virtuosity” (Fanfare Magazine), “lustrous tone” (The Strad Magazine) and “riveting listening experience” (Second Inversion). “Wild Cities” was selected as a favorite of 216 by New Music Box, and her most recent release, “Images of Brazil,” won praise as “the most delightful disc of Brazilian chamber music to come along in years” (Fanfare Magazine).

The continual search for unusual repertoire has made Francesca Anderegg a fierce advocate for new music. Since her 2007 New York City concerto debut in Ligeti’s Violin Concerto with The Juilliard Orchestra, she has championed the works of 20^th Century and living composers. She performed Daniel Schnyder’s jazz-influenced Violin Concerto with Orchestra for the Next Century and played Pierre Boulez’s orchestral and solo compositions, under the direction of the composer, at the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland. With her husband, the Venezuelan-American composer Reinaldo Moya, she has presented a series of his original works exploring magical realism and other fascinating elements of Latin American literature and imagination. In collaboration with the celebrated conductor Gemma New, Ms. Anderegg gave the August 2019 world premiere of Moya’s violin concerto, commissioned for her by Greenwood Music Camp and the Lakes Area Music Festival.

Francesca Anderegg holds an undergraduate degree from Harvard University and earned both master’s and doctoral degrees from The Juilliard School, where her teachers included Robert Mann, Ronald copes and Naoko Tanaka. She is a laureate of the Corpus Christi International String Competition and recipient of fellowships from both the McKnight Foundation and the Leonore Annenberg Fund. An enthusiastic educator and mentor of young musicians, Ms. Anderegg has been a guest teacher at universities throughout the United States and abroad and has taught at Michigan’s Interlochen Center for the Arts. Currently, she is Associate Professor of Violin at St. Olaf College in Minnesota.

www.francescaanderegg.com

We’re thrilled to welcome Maestro Steven Amundson, St. Olaf College Professor and Orchestra conductor emeritus, to Rochester Symphony to conduct concerts in February and March.

After Maestro Lantz’s farewell concert in December, we wanted to ensure our last concerts of the season were led by another Minnesota orchestral legend. You can experience the phenomenal program he’s planned at The Americas concert in February and The Requiem in March. During the February concert, Maestro Amundson will also welcome guest musician Francesca Anderegg on violin.

GUEST CONDUCTOR
Steven Amundson

Renowned conductor and composer Steven Amundson recently retired after serving 41 years on the faculty of St. Olaf College where he was conductor of the St. Olaf Orchestra. Under Amundson’s direction, the Orchestra has frequently appeared on NPR and PBS and twice won the American Prize among colleges and universities. The founding conductor of the Metropolitan Symphony, Amundson also served as music director of the Bloomington (MN) Symphony for 13 years and has appeared as conductor and clinician in 37 states and 15 countries.

In honor of 36 years of service to St. Olaf College as a Senior Development Officer and in gratitude for her commitment and service in philanthropy, Steve Amundson wrote an orchestral work for colleague Grace Schroeder Scott, which will be performed in February. The theme of the piece embraces the notion of living in gratitude as a means of enriching one’s life experience, something that resonates deeply with Amundson. As a title, he chose the Latin Gratia Viva—loosely translated Living in Gratitude. Join us at The Americas to hear this piece of Minnesota history. Read more about Maestro Amundson’s career in the St. Olaf Magazine.

Rochester Symphony welcomed Maestro Amundson to conduct for the remainder of the 2022/23 season because after 42 years at the helm of Rochester Symphony, Maestro Jere Lantz retired in December 2022.