Bio Category: 2526 praetorius vespers

Matthew Dexter is a bass-baritone from McKinney, Texas. Currently a member of the prestigious Voxtet at Yale University’s School of Music, he has performed the roles of Mícha in The Bartered Bride, Bartolo in Marriage of Figaro, and Zúñiga in Carmen. As a vocal fellow at Spoleto Festival USA, Matthew has sung in multiple choral concerts, appeared in the world premiere of Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels’ Pulitzer Prize-winning opera Omar in 2022, and covered the role of the old doctor in Samuel Barber’s Vanessa in 2023. In addition to receiving the audience favorite award, he placed third in the James Toland Vocal Arts competition and recently participated in Houston Grand Opera’s Young Artist Vocal Academy.

With a voice described as “beautiful, ringing, and agile” (Boston Classical Review), countertenor Doug Dodson is known throughout the country as a sought-after soloist and ensemble singer. Doug’s solo appearances include performances with Boston’s Handel & Haydn Society, the Aspen Music Festival, Boston Baroque, the Oregon Bach Festival, Chicago Opera Theater, and the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra. Equally comfortable in early and contemporary repertoire, Doug has been featured as a soloist in world and American premieres of pieces by living composers Jonathan Dove, Tod Machover, Per Bloland, and Ken Ueno, and world-premiere recordings of pieces by Nicholas Vines and James Kallembach.

Doug appears regularly with many of the nation’s premier choral groups, including the Handel & Haydn Society, Seraphic Fire, Skylark, and Kinnara. Originally from Spearfish, SD, he has earned degrees in anthropology from the University of South Dakota and in vocal performance from the University of Missouri – Kansas City.

Born into a musical family, Michael Jones is a GRAMMY® award-winning international soloist, chamber musician and clinician. Noted as singing “particularly beautifully” by the Chestnut Hill Local (Philadelphia), Michael has appeared as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Choral Arts Philadelphia, Academy of Sacred Drama, Haverford University Choir and Orchestra, Disney’s All-American College Band and Peoria Area Civic Chorale, among several others. Michael has sung at the Finnish National Opera House, Lincoln Center’s Merkin Hall, Los Angeles’ Disney Hall, and Philadelphia’s Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center, to name a few.

In addition to his extensive solo career, Michael also regularly performs with some of the nation’s finest choral ensembles. Most notably, Michael sings with two GRAMMY® award winning groups, The Crossing and Conspirare, as well as Santa Fe Desert Chorale, True Concord Voices and Orchestra, Opera Philadelphia, Apollo’s Fire, Variant 6, ekmeles, Les Canards Chantants, Madison Choral Project, Music of the Baroque, William Ferris Chorale, Grant Park Opera Chorus, Constellation Men’s Ensemble, Bridge Ensemble, Vocal Arts Ensemble of Cincinnati, Alium Spiritum and Chorosynthesis. Michael has been a finalist in callbacks with Chanticleer and Cantus and was one of eight, internationally, selected to audition for Voces8 in spring of 2019.

Michael studied at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music for his bachelors in jazz trumpet. While there, he was under the tutelage of David Adams, Kim Pensyl, Dr. Scott Belck, and Rick VanMatre. For his graduate degree, he attended Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music for a masters in jazz trumpet, studying with Victor Goines, Donald Nally, Brad Mason, and Keven Keys.

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In short time, tenor, Matthew Newhouse, has established himself as a powerful storyteller in concert and historical performance.

A sought after soloist, Matthew is incredibly excited for his debuts with the Tucson Symphony and the Utah Symphony this season for their respective performances of Handel’s Messiah and Mozart’s Requiem. In May, Matthew premiered to great acclaim in Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium performing emmy-winner Jeff Beal’s reimagined film score to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Matthew’s evocative storytelling lends well to narratorial roles and has been heard as Evangelist in Heinrich Schütz’s Weihnnachtshistorie with Harmonia Stellarum and in J.S. Bach’s Weihnnachtsoratorium with Yale Schola Cantorum. Other recent soloist engagements include Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang (Norfolk Chamber Festival), Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 (Bach Akademie Charlotte) and J.S. Bach’s Magnificat (TENET Vocal Artists).

Equally accomplished as an ensemble singer, Matthew is a core member of The Leonids and 4th Wall Ensemble NYC. Matthew has ongoing collaborative relationships with Apollo’s Fire, Artefact Ensemble, Harmonia Stellarum, Clarion Choral Society, TENET Vocal Artists, Evergreen Ensemble, and The Thirteen. He attributes this chamber singing success partially to his time inaugurating the first cohort of US Voces8 Scholars, a training programme devised by British vocal sensations, Voces8.

Matthew’s accolades corroborate his musical prowess. He is the proud winner of the 2019 Semper Pro Music Competition where he gave his Carnegie Hall debut in Weill Recital Hall. Matthew was honored to be a Fellow for the Virginia Best Adams Masterclass at the 2023 Carmel Bach Academy. He is the 1st prize winner of the 2019 TEXOMA NATS Regional competition. Matthew competed and successfully advanced to the second round of the International J.S. Bach Competition Leipzig to much acclaim.

A seasoned scholar, Matthew has devout interest in Nordic Art Song Literature (especially that of Iceland) and Margaret Bond’s extensive vocal repertoire. Matthew served as a research assistant in Song Helix’s efforts to creative a Nordic Song Compendium. He strives to incorporate Icelandic and Danish song into his own vocal exploits. Matthew has conducted extensive research on Margaret Bonds and her relationship with Langston Hughes and her recently resurfaced cantata Simon Bore the Cross.

Matthew holds a Master of Music in Early Music Voice from the Yale School of Music and a Bachelor of Music in Applied Music: Voice from Baylor University. When not singing, you can find Matthew baking bread, bubbling curries, or taking extensive hikes in nature.

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