Composed in 1734, Weihnachtsoratorium (Christmas Oratorio), BWV 248, celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ with a monumental work. Structured in six cantatas, it narrates the nativity story through a blend of scripture, poetry, and music. Each cantata corresponds to a specific feast day within the Christmas season, starting from Christmas Day to Epiphany. Bach’s masterful use of instrumentation, contemplative winds, exuberant trumpets, and sophisticated continuo, showcases his profound ability to blend theological depth with musical beauty. The oratorio is notable for its lyrical brilliance, as the text seamlessly fits the musical patterns that continue to resonate with audiences today.

Gene Stenger will be performing both the Evangelist , and tenor arias in all six cantatas of this performance

In what has become the Washington Bach Consort’s signature work, you can enjoy this performance in the spectacular Music Center at Strathmore for what The Washington Post praises as a “splendid” and “joyful” rendering of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. Of all seasonal offerings, this work is uniquely focused on the complete story of the Nativity. The Bach Consort is one of very few ensembles in the nation to present this beloved European tradition annually.

Gene Stenger will be performing both the Evangelist, and tenor arias for this performance.

Jennifer Check, soprano

Fleur Barron, mezzo-soprano

Gene Stenger, tenor

Darren Stokes, bass-baritone

JoAnn Falletta, conductor

Virginia Symphony Chorus

JoAnn Falletta finishes her final season as Music Director with a history-making performance celebrating Beethoven’s 250th Year, in performances presented by the Virginia Arts Festival. For these concerts, Falletta will be joined by renowned pianist Olga Kern, who will perform Beethoven’s well-known “Emperor” Concerto. Kern is the recently appointed Connie and Marc Jacobson Director of Chamber Music for the Virginia Arts Festival. Following intermission, Falletta will be joined by four soloists and full VSO Chorus for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, the “Choral” Symphony.

Jennifer Check, soprano

Fleur Barron, mezzo-soprano

Gene Stenger, tenor

Darren Stokes, bass-baritone

JoAnn Falletta, conductor

Virginia Symphony Chorus

JoAnn Falletta finishes her final season as Music Director with a history-making performance celebrating Beethoven’s 250th Year, in performances presented by the Virginia Arts Festival. For these concerts, Falletta will be joined by renowned pianist Olga Kern, who will perform Beethoven’s well-known “Emperor” Concerto. Kern is the recently appointed Connie and Marc Jacobson Director of Chamber Music for the Virginia Arts Festival. Following intermission, Falletta will be joined by four soloists and full VSO Chorus for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, the “Choral” Symphony.

Jennifer Check, soprano

Fleur Barron, mezzo-soprano

Gene Stenger, tenor

Darren Stokes, bass-baritone

JoAnn Falletta, conductor

Virginia Symphony Chorus

JoAnn Falletta finishes her final season as Music Director with a history-making performance celebrating Beethoven’s 250th Year, in performances presented by the Virginia Arts Festival. For these concerts, Falletta will be joined by renowned pianist Olga Kern, who will perform Beethoven’s well-known “Emperor” Concerto. Kern is the recently appointed Connie and Marc Jacobson Director of Chamber Music for the Virginia Arts Festival. Following intermission, Falletta will be joined by four soloists and full VSO Chorus for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, the “Choral” Symphony.

Gene will be performing the role of Uriel (tenor soloist) in Haydn’s Creation with the Mineola Choral Society.

More details TBA

Andrew Megill, conductor 

Dark Horse Consort, cornetti & sackbuts 

Sarah Brailey, soprano

Nola Richardson, soprano

Geoffrey Williams, countertenor

Paul Scholtz, haute-contre

Gene Stenger, tenor 

Dann Coakwell, tenor

Sumner Thompson, quintus (high-baritone)

Joshua Copeland, baritone

Paul Max Tipton, base-baritone

Trevor Stephenson, harpsichord

Andrew Megill, conductor 

Dark Horse Consort, cornetti & sackbuts 

Sarah Brailey, soprano

Nola Richardson, soprano

Geoffrey Williams, countertenor

Paul Scholtz, haute-contre

Gene Stenger, tenor 

Dann Coakwell, tenor

Sumner Thompson, quintus (high-baritone)

Joshua Copeland, baritone

Paul Max Tipton, base-baritone

Trevor Stephenson, harpsichord

Gene will be returning to St. Peter’s Lutheran Church this year to sing the role of the Evangelist in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion in a liturgical setting on Good Friday with Bach Collegium at Saint Peter’s, and Saint Peter’s Choir under the direction of Balint Karosi.

More details TBA

Sherezade Panthaki, soprano

Sara Couden, alto

Gene Stenger, tenor

Paul Max Tipton, baritone

Marguerite Brooks, conductor

Gene will be returning to his hometown of Pittsburgh, PA, and will be joining Chatham Baroque to perform as the tenor soloist in BWV 93 Wer nur den lieben Gott läβt walten for this year’s annual Bach Birthday celebration concert.

More details TBA

Orchestra Seattle & Seattle Chamber Singers

William White, conductor

Gene Stenger, Evangelist

José Rubio, Jesus

Arwen Myers, soprano

Laura Beckel Thoreson, mezzo-soprano

Brendan Tuohy, tenor

Zachary Lenox, baritone

Columbia Choirs, Steve Stevens, artistic director

“The place where brothers and strangers are one…”
– Jalal al-Din Rumi, 13th-c. Persian poet

Premiered last year to sold-out crowds, Jeannette Sorrell’s evocation of Old Jerusalem blends music and poetry from the Jewish, Christian, Arab, and Armenian quarters of the Old City. Selections from Monteverdi’s great Vespers of 1610 echo with Arabic love songs and rapturous singing of Jewish cantors. The performers, including musicians of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian backgrounds, join in celebration of brotherhood and sisterhood.

“The place where brothers and strangers are one…”
– Jalal al-Din Rumi, 13th-c. Persian poet

Premiered last year to sold-out crowds, Jeannette Sorrell’s evocation of Old Jerusalem blends music and poetry from the Jewish, Christian, Arab, and Armenian quarters of the Old City. Selections from Monteverdi’s great Vespers of 1610 echo with Arabic love songs and rapturous singing of Jewish cantors. The performers, including musicians of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian backgrounds, join in celebration of brotherhood and sisterhood.

“The place where brothers and strangers are one…”
– Jalal al-Din Rumi, 13th-c. Persian poet

Premiered last year to sold-out crowds, Jeannette Sorrell’s evocation of Old Jerusalem blends music and poetry from the Jewish, Christian, Arab, and Armenian quarters of the Old City. Selections from Monteverdi’s great Vespers of 1610 echo with Arabic love songs and rapturous singing of Jewish cantors. The performers, including musicians of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian backgrounds, join in celebration of brotherhood and sisterhood.

“The place where brothers and strangers are one…”
– Jalal al-Din Rumi, 13th-c. Persian poet

Premiered last year to sold-out crowds, Jeannette Sorrell’s evocation of Old Jerusalem blends music and poetry from the Jewish, Christian, Arab, and Armenian quarters of the Old City. Selections from Monteverdi’s great Vespers of 1610 echo with Arabic love songs and rapturous singing of Jewish cantors. The performers, including musicians of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian backgrounds, join in celebration of brotherhood and sisterhood.

“The place where brothers and strangers are one…”
– Jalal al-Din Rumi, 13th-c. Persian poet

Premiered last year to sold-out crowds, Jeannette Sorrell’s evocation of Old Jerusalem blends music and poetry from the Jewish, Christian, Arab, and Armenian quarters of the Old City. Selections from Monteverdi’s great Vespers of 1610 echo with Arabic love songs and rapturous singing of Jewish cantors. The performers, including musicians of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian backgrounds, join in celebration of brotherhood and sisterhood.

“The place where brothers and strangers are one…”
– Jalal al-Din Rumi, 13th-c. Persian poet

Premiered last year to sold-out crowds, Jeannette Sorrell’s evocation of Old Jerusalem blends music and poetry from the Jewish, Christian, Arab, and Armenian quarters of the Old City. Selections from Monteverdi’s great Vespers of 1610 echo with Arabic love songs and rapturous singing of Jewish cantors. The performers, including musicians of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian backgrounds, join in celebration of brotherhood and sisterhood.

This year the world celebrates the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth — a sign of how much impact he has had on humanity. Another sign is the fact that one work, composed in 1824, is still used today across the globe as a rallying message of unity — a call to be our best selves. That work is the incomparable Ninth Symphony, and the Choral Fantasy is often considered its forerunner.

At its premiere, Beethoven himself played the piano part and the opening solo gives us an inside look at his creative improvisational style. Jeffrey Biegel will take on that role, coming off his debut with True Concord this past November with Jake Runestad’s Dreams of the Fallen.

Beethoven was at a high point of his creative genius at the time he wrote the Mass in C Major, the ambitious forerunner to Missa Solemnis.

Johannes Brahms’s Alto Rhapsody, Op. 53 for contralto, male chorus and orchestra, was written as a wedding gift and unrequited love letter for Robert and Clara Schumann’s daughter, Julie.

Brahms used verses from Harzreise im Winter, a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe inspired by the writer’s ascent of the Harz mountains. Goethe was a novelist, playwright, natural philosopher, scientist, artist and diplomat whose great drama, Faust, is considered to be a near-perfect commentary on the condition of modern man.

Goethe reached the summit, in deep snow, with the landscape below him shrouded in clouds. The gorgeous Alto Rhapsody teems with passion and angst, all highlighted by alto soloist Emily Marvosh.

Eric Holtan, conductor

This year the world celebrates the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth — a sign of how much impact he has had on humanity. Another sign is the fact that one work, composed in 1824, is still used today across the globe as a rallying message of unity — a call to be our best selves. That work is the incomparable Ninth Symphony, and the Choral Fantasy is often considered its forerunner.

At its premiere, Beethoven himself played the piano part and the opening solo gives us an inside look at his creative improvisational style. Jeffrey Biegel will take on that role, coming off his debut with True Concord this past November with Jake Runestad’s Dreams of the Fallen.

Beethoven was at a high point of his creative genius at the time he wrote the Mass in C Major, the ambitious forerunner to Missa Solemnis.

Johannes Brahms’s Alto Rhapsody, Op. 53 for contralto, male chorus and orchestra, was written as a wedding gift and unrequited love letter for Robert and Clara Schumann’s daughter, Julie.

Brahms used verses from Harzreise im Winter, a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe inspired by the writer’s ascent of the Harz mountains. Goethe was a novelist, playwright, natural philosopher, scientist, artist and diplomat whose great drama, Faust, is considered to be a near-perfect commentary on the condition of modern man.

Goethe reached the summit, in deep snow, with the landscape below him shrouded in clouds. The gorgeous Alto Rhapsody teems with passion and angst, all highlighted by alto soloist Emily Marvosh.

Eric Holtan, conductor

This year the world celebrates the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth — a sign of how much impact he has had on humanity. Another sign is the fact that one work, composed in 1824, is still used today across the globe as a rallying message of unity — a call to be our best selves. That work is the incomparable Ninth Symphony, and the Choral Fantasy is often considered its forerunner.

At its premiere, Beethoven himself played the piano part and the opening solo gives us an inside look at his creative improvisational style. Jeffrey Biegel will take on that role, coming off his debut with True Concord this past November with Jake Runestad’s Dreams of the Fallen.

Beethoven was at a high point of his creative genius at the time he wrote the Mass in C Major, the ambitious forerunner to Missa Solemnis.

Johannes Brahms’s Alto Rhapsody, Op. 53 for contralto, male chorus and orchestra, was written as a wedding gift and unrequited love letter for Robert and Clara Schumann’s daughter, Julie.

Brahms used verses from Harzreise im Winter, a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe inspired by the writer’s ascent of the Harz mountains. Goethe was a novelist, playwright, natural philosopher, scientist, artist and diplomat whose great drama, Faust, is considered to be a near-perfect commentary on the condition of modern man.

Goethe reached the summit, in deep snow, with the landscape below him shrouded in clouds. The gorgeous Alto Rhapsody teems with passion and angst, all highlighted by alto soloist Emily Marvosh.

Eric Holtan, conductor

Gene will be performing as the tenor soloist in BWV 144 at Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, New York under the baton of Ruben Valenzuela.

The nine-day reign of Henry VII’s great-granddaughter ended with one of English history’s notorious beheadings when Mary Tudor’s supporters claimed the crown in 1553. This co-production of Odyssey Opera and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project brings the poignant story of Lady Jane Grey to Boston audiences in a world premiere by Arnold Rosner, a composer whose work is both genre busting and intensely emotional.

Megan Pachecano, soprano: LADY JANE GREY

James Demler, bass-baritone: EARL OF ARUNDEL

David Salsbery Fry, bass: EARL OF PEMBROKE

Aaron Engebreth, baritone: JOHN DUDLEY

Krista River, mezzo-soprano: LADY DUDLEY

Eric Carey, tenor: GUILFORD DUDLEY

William Hite, tenor: HENRY GREY

Rebecca Krouner, mezzo-soprano: FRANCES GREY

Stephanie Kacoyanis, contralto: LADY MARY

Gene Stenger, tenor: MINSTREL

Gil Rose, conductor

A co-production with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project

Semi-staged, Sung in English

Mary Hangley, soprano

Amanda Lynn Bottoms, mezzo-soprano

Gene Stenger, tenor

James Wright bass

JoAnn Falletta, conductor

Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus

Mary Hangley, soprano

Amanda Lynn Bottoms, mezzo-soprano

Gene Stenger, tenor

James Wright, bass

JoAnn Falletta, conductor

Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus

More details TBA

Led by Robert Mealy

Sopranos: Jolle Greenleaf, Molly Netter, Sarah Yanovitch

Altos: Tim Keeler, Kate Maroney, Elisa Sutherland

Tenors: Andrew Fuchs, Gene Stenger, Gregório Taniguchi

Basses: Michael Maliakel, Paul Max Tipton, Jonathan Woody

Led by Robert Mealy

Sopranos: Jolle Greenleaf, Molly Netter, Sarah Yanovitch

Altos: Tim Keeler, Kate Maroney, Elisa Sutherland

Tenors: Andrew Fuchs, Gene Stenger, Gregório Taniguchi

Basses: Michael Maliakel, Paul Max Tipton, Jonathan Woody

Nola Richardson, soprano

Kate Maroney, mezzo-soprano

Gene Stenger, tenor

Andrew Garland, baritone

James Kim, conductor

Nola Richardson, soprano

Kate Maroney, mezzo-soprano

Gene Stenger, tenor

Andrew Garland, baritone

James Kim, conductor