2627 st matthew – Apollo's Fire

ARYSSA LEIGH BURRS

Mezzo-soprano ARYSSA LEIGH BURRS is hailed for her “rich sound and thoughtful musical ideas” while “transcending vocal styles and genres with flexibility and ease” (DC Theater Arts). Recent and upcoming soloist engagements include, Nerone (Poppea, InSeries Opera), Bach’s St. John Passion (Clarion Music Society, The Thirteen), Messiah (The Thirteen), Minerva (Return of Ulysses, InSeries Opera), Wassail! (Apollo’s Fire), BWV 7 (Bach Choir of Bethlehem), and in May 2025, Copland’s In The Beginning (Cathedral Choral Society). Aryssa performs with ensembles such as The Crossing, The Thirteen, Clarion Music Society, and Ensemble Altera. Aryssa’s comfort in various styles is best heard as a founding member of Lyyra, the internationally touring, 6-voiced women’s ensemble from the Voces8 Foundation, which was recently signed to Warner Classics. Lyyra is making strides in the vocal world by promoting women’s voices while performing a wide range of genres for diverse audiences.

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JACOB PERRY

JACOB PERRY, tenor, is lauded for his stylish interpretations of early music. As a soloist, he lends his graceful sense of phrasing and luminous tone to engagements with the American Classical Orchestra, Apollo’s Fire, Bach Collegium San Diego, Philharmonia Baroque, Portland Baroque, Tafelmusik, Tempesta di Mare, and Washington Bach Consort. In 2024, he was nominated for a GRAMMY® Award as a soloist on Apollo’s Fire’s recording of Handel’s Israel in Egypt. Deeply immersed in vocal chamber music, Jacob performs with ensembles including Les Canards Chantants, Blue Heron, and TENET. Career highlights include his recent solo debut with the New York Philharmonic singing Handel’s Israel in Egypt, headlining the inaugural festival of Western Early Music at the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music with Les Canards Chantants, and English Orpheus—a tour-de-force exploration of love songs and poems from the Elizabethan, Restoration, and early 18th-century periods he performed with Tempesta di Mare.

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CARINE TINNEY

Scottish–Maltese soprano Carine Tinney has established herself as a compelling presence on the international stage, with a repertoire spanning oratorio, early music, lieder, and opera. Widely admired for the clarity, expressive depth, and stylistic refinement of her Baroque interpretations, she performs regularly throughout Europe, Asia, and the United States.

She collaborates with many of today’s leading period ensembles, including Bach Collegium Japan, De Nederlandse Bachvereniging, Vox Luminis, Pygmalion, and InAlto. Her work with distinguished conductors such as Helmuth Rilling, Johanna Soller, Joshua Rifkin, Raphaël Pichon, Jeannette Sorrell, Emmanuelle Haïm, John Butt, and Jonathan Cohen reflects her strong artistic presence within the international early music scene.

In the United States, Carine has appeared at the Berkeley Early Music Festival, performed Bach’s St Matthew Passion with the Quad City Symphony Orchestra under Mark Russell Smith, and sung Handel’s Messiah with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. In 2027, she returns to the United States for a nationwide tour of Bach’s St Matthew Passion with Apollo’s Fire, the internationally acclaimed Cleveland-based Baroque orchestra founded and directed by Jeannette Sorrell.

A core member of the leading medieval and Renaissance ensemble Sollazzo since 2019, she performs regularly across Europe, North America, and Asia. The ensemble’s recording Ni Dufay, Ni Binchois: The Works of Johannes Pullois was awarded a Diapason d’Or, confirming their reputation as one of the most distinctive and innovative voices in early music today.

Her operatic repertoire encompasses both lyric and dramatic roles. Highlights include Pamina in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte at the Landestheater Detmold, the title role in Massenet’s Cendrillon, and the Voice from Heaven in Verdi’s Don Carlo at the Bayerische Staatsoper. She made her debut at the Opéra de Lille in Purcell’s The Indian Queen under Emmanuelle Haïm. Highlights of the 2026/27 season include her role debut as Oberto in Handel’s Alcina at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, alongside an international tour with Vox Luminis as Dido in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, with performances in major European cultural centres including Amsterdam, Paris, and London.

Carine has received numerous scholarships and international distinctions, including awards from the Hugo Wolf Academy International Competition for Liedkunst (Stuttgart), the Alumni/ASTA Competition for Lied Singing, and the BECA Bach Scholarship (Barcelona). In 2021, she served as Artist in Residence at the Zentrum für Alte Musik in Cologne.

She completed her Bachelor’s degree at Edinburgh Napier University before earning two Master’s degrees in Lied and Opera at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold, studying under Gerhild Romberger and Manuel Lange.

“The U.S.A.’s hottest baroque band.” –CLASSICAL MUSIC MAGAZINE (UK)