Meet the Soloists: March 2022
We are thrilled for these three uniquely gifted artists to join us on March 26 and 27 for A Time to Remember & Reimagine. Read about these extraordinary vocalists, enjoy a preview of their glorious voices (YouTube playlist below), then come hear them bring life to the works of Fauré and Lloyd!
YouTube playlist:
ARTIST BIOS
Maeve Höglund, soprano (Lloyd)
The New York Times praised Maeve Höglund as “a striking soprano,” and Opera News quoted her having “a wealth of dynamic control and formidable florid technique.”
“All Lucias are judged by their mad scene, but from the moment Höglund offered us her ‘Regnava nel silenzio’ in the first act, we were promised good things to come… she has a seamless column of sound, and an instrument flexible enough to take on what is some of the most demanding coloratura singing in all of opera… Höglund’s singing is compelling but so is her acting, which was more restrained, but as effective, as another great actress-singer and interpreter of the role, Anna Netrebko.” – DC Metro Theatre Arts
“The cast is headed by soprano Maeve Höglund as Lola…. she emerges as a superstar who encompasses brilliant high notes and chesty low ones with strong dramatic flair and believable acting.” said of performance in David Hertzberg’s, The Wake World.
In the 2018-19 season, Ms. Höglund sang Leïla in Les pêcheurs de perles with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor and in concert as Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail with Maryland Lyric Opera, and Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel with the Oregon Symphony. She was also awarded a career grant from The Opera Awards Foundation.
Ms. Höglund made her Opera Philadelphia debut in the 2017-18 season as Lola in the world premiere of David Hertzberg’s award-winning opera The Wake World. She also made her Michigan Opera Theatre debut as Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, and was soloist in Messiah with Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. She returned to the role of Susanna later in the season with Opera Maine, and joined the Maryland Lyric Opera Studio as an artist in residence.
Recordings include: David Hertzberg’s opera, The Wake World, released by Tzadik Records, Stefan Weisman’s opera, Darkling, released by Albany Records, as well as a collection of works for the voice by Mira J. Spektor, Summer and Winter Songs, released by Navona Records.
Distinctions include winner of an Opera Awards Foundation Grant, Giulio Gari Foundation Scholarship, Gerda Lissner Award recipient and Bel Canto Vocal Scholarship Competition winner.
Eva Martinez, soprano (Fauré)
Eva Rae Martinez is a junior at Manhattan School of Music studying classical voice with Shirley Close. In her time at MSM, Eva has had the opportunity to perform Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with orchestra, Mozart’s Requiem as the soprano soloist, scenes from L’elisir d’amore (Adina), and scenes from Bellini’s I puritani (Elvira). She was also able to perform as Juliette in scenes from Gounod’s Romèo et Juliette this past summer at the Sewanee Summer Music Festival Operafest. Eva is a finalist of the National YoungArts Competition in Miami, Florida, a Schmidt Vocal Competition Finalist in New York City, a Presidential Scholar in the Arts Semifinalist, and a recipient of the Bruce Montgomery Foundation for the Arts Springboard Grant. This summer, Eva is looking forward to performing her first role as Susanna in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro at Luke Housner’s Summer Opera Workshop at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, PA. The winner of the Choral Society’s 2019 Voices of the Future competition, Eva is thrilled to be the soprano soloist in the Fauré Requiem.
Jean Bernard Cerin, baritone
Praised for his “burnished tone and focused phrasing,” (Chestnut Hill Local) baritone Jean Bernard Cerin has charmed audiences throughout the United States, France, Austria, and his native Haiti. A gifted recitalist, he won the Gerard Souzay Prize for best performance of a French Mélodie at the Joy in Singing International Song Competition in 2018. On the concert stage, Jean Bernard has appeared with leading early music ensembles throughout the United States including Cleveland’s Les Délices, American Bach Soloists in San Francisco, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society’s Gamut Bach Ensemble, Piffaro Renaissance Wind Ensemble, Louisville’s Bourbon Baroque, and the Philadelphia Bach Festival. This season, Jean Bernard debuts with the Greater Bridgeport Symphony in CT, Classical Uncorked in Seattle, and the Berkeley Early Music Festival in California. Closer to home, in Pennsylvania, he has several concerts with Philadelphia Choral Arts, Night Music, and the Bucks County Choral Society.
Jean Bernard is a member of Kuwento Mizik, a classical crossover piano vocal duo. The duo won Best Performance of a Folk Song at the 2021 Canto Latino International Song Competition. They have performed their stories and music at venues all over the country including the Detroit Institute of Art and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. This season, they are releasing their first album “Lua Nova”, a program of mostly original arrangements of folk and popular ballads from Brazil, Haiti, the Philippines, Iran, India, and the United States.
As a researcher, Jean Bernard is interested in Haitian classical music and music of the African diaspora. He launched the Lisette Project in 2021, which is a digital humanities initiative focused on early Haitian classical music beginning with the oldest song in Haitian Creole, "Lisette quitté la plaine." He is producing a documentary about the song premiering in spring 2022. Jean Bernard recently joined the African Diaspora Music Project as an Assistant Editor and is co-writing a chapter on Haitian classical music performance in the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Arrangement Studies.
Jean Bernard serves as an assistant professor at Lincoln University in Southern Pennsylvania and will be joining the faculties of the Collaborative Piano Institute in Baton Rouge and the Chamber Music Collective in Berkeley California next summer. He completed his doctorate at the University of Michigan, holds a Master of Music from the New England Conservatory in Boston, and a Bachelor of Arts from St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia.