The MESSIAH
By G.F. Handel
CONCERT BY THE SHILOH SENIOR CHOIR
Thomas Dixon Tyler, Director/Conductor
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2009
5:00 P.M.
SHILOH BAPTIST CHURCH
1500 Ninth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001
This year’s performance of “Handel’s Messiah” by the Senior Choir of Shiloh Baptist Church, under the baton of Director/Conductor Thomas Dixon Tyler, features a dramatic visual American Sign Language interpretation. Organist Evelyn Simpson-Curenton, with orchestra and tympani, will accompany the choir in its musical reflection of the birth of Jesus Christ. Featured guest artists are Millicent Scarlett, soprano; Sylvia V. C. Twine, mezzo-soprano; Tenor Rodrick Dixon; and Charles E. K. Parris, bass-baritone.
Evelyn Simpson-Curenton, Organist
Roderick Taylor III, President
Meet Our Soloists
Millicent Scarlett, soprano, hails from Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada, and is an active performer in her native country. In February 2009, Ms. Scarlett performed songs composed by Kander and Ebb in the new Sidney Harmon Hall (Washington, DC) with Bowen McCauley Dance and Jeffery Watson in their production of A Smile to Hide the Pain, and with the Alexandria Symphony in a Celebration to Duke Ellington at the Alexandria, Virginia Birthday Celebration. In 2008, Ms. Scarlett debuted with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Philharmonic in Beethoven’s Ninth. In December 2008, she performed with the NIH Philharmonic in an Evening at the Opera. She has performed numerous recitals and concerts including her roles as Clara in Porgy and Bess with Opera Illinois; Melide in L’Ormindo and Sister Mathilde in Dialogues of the Carmelites with Opera International; Godeliva in Donaudy’s La Fiamminga; Dido in Dido and Aeneas; and Electra and Donna Anna with Opera Lafayette. She appeared as Inez in the world premiere of Free to Sing, an opera commissioned by Strathmore Hall.
Ms. Scarlett received her Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance at Brandon University in Canada. She later attended the University of Maryland (College Park), where she received her Masters of Music in Opera. She holds a certificate of study from the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. She has won numerous awards, notably the Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition, the Mid-Atlantic Region Metropolitan Opera Competition and was National Semi-finalist of the Metropolitan Opera Competition. Ms. Scarlett is currently on faculty at George Washington University.
Sylvia V. C. Twine, mezzo-soprano, is a native of Washington, DC. Her artistry has been described as “powerfully affecting” and her voice as “ravishing and lush.” She has appeared at the White House, Smithsonian Institution, DAR Constitution Hall and on concert stages throughout the U.S., Canada. Ms. Twine has made numerous appearances abroad in oratorios and operas including Verdi’s Requiem, Händel’s Messiah, Britten’s Albert Herring and Ravel’s L’enfant et les Sortileges. She also has appeared with the German-American Chorale and Orchestra of Hanau, West Germany, the Michigan Pops Orchestra, and the Georgetown Orchestra.
Ms. Twine participated with George Shirley and members of the Savannah Symphony Orchestra in the acclaimed 1998 premiere of Montage for Martin, a contemporary oratorio. She reprised that role in January 2005 at the Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Washington. Ms. Twine has performed under the baton of composer/conductors Donald McCullough and John Rutter. Her most recent performances include the Sylvia Lee Memorial Concert at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, and soloist with the National Spiritual Ensemble in concerts throughout the U.S.
Ms. Twine received her Master of Music degree from the University of Michigan and studied with noted tenor George Shirley. Her awards and honors include the 1993 Presser Foundation Award and Scholarship (Armstrong State College) and the 1996 Martin Luther King Spirit Award (University of Michigan). She was the winner of the 1997 North Central District Leontyne Price Vocal Arts Competition.
Tenor Rodrick Dixon’s dramatic stage presence and stunning vocal qualities have established him as one of the rising stars in opera, contemporary opera, oratorio, concert/recital, musical theater and television. He has debuted at the Los Angeles Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Detroit Opera, LA Philharmonic, Philadelphia Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Rackham Symphony Choir and Cleveland Symphony. Mr. Dixon has performed recitals and concerts with Soprano Alfreda Burke throughout the world.
His extensive television credits include PBS Specials, TV commercials, and appearances on NBC, ABC and CBS. Mr. Dixon’s recordings include Der Zwerg filmed at LA Opera, the CD of Of Truth and Vision for the Black Center for music research (Sony/BMG); PBS Great Performances Cook, Dixon & Young Volume One, Follow That Star Christmas CD (T.D. Jakes EMI); Liam Lawton’s Sacred Land (GIA); Rodrick Dixon Live in Concert, Chicago Olympic Bid Anthem “I Will Stand” for the 2016 Games, and Olympic Hall of Fame induction filmed for NBC (2009). Mr. Dixon will film a PBS special in Prague with his wife Alfreda Burke, and will perform in Rome, Assisi and Australia for the 2010 season.
Charles E. K. Parris, bass-baritone, is a member of the United States Army Field Band Soldiers’ Chorus based at Fort Meade, Maryland. In the short time he has been in that position, Mr. Parris has made a name for himself as a soloist, and currently is featured on the Field Band’s latest CD release titled Voices of Strength. In addition, Mr. Parris serves as one of the 12 professional Gentlemen of the Choirs at Washington National Cathedral, and has been presented numerous times as a soloist, most notably for a performance of Faure’s Requiem in May 2008.
Mr. Parris’ concert/oratorio solo credits include Handel’s Messiah, Durufle’s Requiem, Ich Habe Genug, and countless other cantatas by Bach. His stage credits include “Uberto” in Pergolesi’s La Serva Padrona, “Porgy” in Porgy and Bess, both with Tennessee State University Opera Workshop, “Jim/Undertaker” from Porgy and Bess with the Nashville Symphony, and the Lion from the Wiz with Salama Urban Ministries, Nashville.
Mr. Parris is a graduate of Tennessee State University, where he studied voice with Dr. Darryl Glenn Nettles; his principal teachers currently include the legendary Bass-Baritone Simon Estes, and Mark Oswald.
