This program segment is generously sponsored by Tim Schimmel

SEE TRANSLATIONS AND PROGRAM NOTES

Johann Sebastian Bach 
St. John Passion, BWV 245
VII. Von den Stricken meiner Sünden ("To Unbind me from the snares of my sins")
Kaitlyn Townsend, alto

Johann Sebastian Bach
Mass in B Minor, BWV 232
IVd. Agnus Dei
Sarah Hamilton, alto; Tracey Schimmel Reed, piano

Johann Sebastian Bach
Cantata BWV 106, Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit ("God's Time is the Very Best Time")
IIIa. In deine Hände befehl' ich meinen Geist (‘Into Your hands I commit my spirit")
Kaitlyn Townsend, alto; Tracey Schimmel Reed, piano

Johann Sebastian Bach
Cantata BWV 62, Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland
5. Wir ehren diese Herrlichkeit ("We honor this Godliness")
Kaitlyn Townsend, soprano; Sarah Hamilton, alto; Tracey Schimmel Reed, piano

Johann Sebastian Bach
Cantata BWV 176, Es ist ein trotzig und verzagt Ding "Every Mortal Heart is a defiant and faint-hearted thing"
V. Ermuntert euch, furchtsam und schüchterne Sinne ("Rouse yourselves, fearful and timid spirits")
Kaitlyn Townsend, alto; Tracey Schimmel Reed, piano

Johann Sebastian Bach
Cantata BWV 114, Ach, lieben Christen, seid getrost ("Ah, beloved Christians, be comforted")
V. Du machst o Tod, ("Oh Death You make me no longer afraid")
Sarah Hamilton, alto; Tracey Schimmel Reed, piano

Johann Sebastian Bach
Mass in B Minor, BWV 232
Ib. Christe Eleison 
Kaitlyn Townsend, soprano; Sarah Hamilton, alto; Tracey Schimmel Reed, piano

Kaitlyn Townsend is regarded highly for her work with Baroque and early music.  Noteworthy appearances include performing with The Governor’s Musick in Colonial Williamsburg, soloist for Dan Forrest’s Requiem for the Living (Shenandoah Valley Choral Society), and as the mezzo-soprano soloist for Vivaldi’s Gloria in D major (Mary Baldwin University, Dr. Craig Robertson, conductor). 

Other recent solo appearances have featured Ms. Townsend as a soloist with the Baroque Performance Institute (Oberlin, OH), the Baroque Opera Workshop (Queens, NY; with Christa Patton, conductor) Virginia Baroque Academy (with Arthur Haas) and in the role of Susan in Alice Parker’s opera, Singers Glen. Ms. Townsend performs regularly with Rocktown Choral Artists (Douglas Byler, conductor) and Staunton’s Bach Around the Clock Festival Choir (Paul Weber, conductor). Ms. Townsend has also performed with Richmond’s Red Letter Consort (Charles Humphries, conductor) and Madison Baroque (with Dr. Jon Gibson). 

A graduate of the James Madison University's School of Music, Ms. Townsend has studied privately with Brenda K. Witmer, Dr. Carrie Stevens and Kathy Gardner. Vocal coaches have included Dame Emma Kirkby, James Taylor, Dan Taylor, Julianne Baird, Judith Malafronte, and Barbara Hollinshead.

Sarah Hamilton, mezzo-soprano, is a private voice teacher in the Shenandoah Valley. She grew up in the area, falling in love with singing while performing with the Shenandoah Valley Children's Choir and studying voice under Jill Cockburn. Sarah holds a B.A. in Vocal Performance from Messiah College (Grantham, Penn.) where she studied voice under Elaine Henderson, and an M.M. in Vocal Pedagogy from the Shenandoah Conservatory (Winchester, Va.) where she studied voice with Dr. Phillip Sargent. Sarah currently continues her vocal studies with Cynthia Vaughn. She has also attended the CCM Vocal Pedagogy Institute, becoming one of the few private teachers in the area trained to teach contemporary commercial styles.

Sarah has performed as the alto soloist for large oratorio works such as Arthur Honnegger’s King David (Messiah University Choral Arts Society), Michael Tippett’s A Child of Our Time (Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival), and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and St. John’s Passion (Roanoke Baroque). Keeping her toes in the opera world, she portrayed the role of Dorothée in Massenet’s opera Cendrillon during her time at Shenandoah Conservatory. Over the last two years, she performed at the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival Leipzig Service, singing the alto solos in Jesu, nun sei gepreiset BWV 41, and Ach, lieben Christen, seid getrost, BWV 114. She also performed as the alto soloist in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and Mahler’s 2nd Symphony, Movement 2 for EMU’s Music Department Galas in 2023 and 2024. In March 2024, she joined the Bach Around the Clock Chamber Choir. She continues to perform annually as the alto soloist at the Mennonite Community Sing-Along of Handel's Messiah, Part 1.

Sarah has run her own voice studio since 2014, training nearly two hundred singers in both classical and contemporary voice. Her students have played leading roles in local musical productions and have gone on to study performance and musical theater at schools like the University of South Carolina and the University of Michigan. She has also invested deeply in the local arts community, serving for three years on the board of the Shenandoah Valley Children's Choir (2019-2022) and as a board member for the Virginia chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing for 6 years (2018-2024).

Pianist Tracey Schimmel Reed enjoys an active career as a collaborative performer in the Shenandoah Valley and beyond. She holds the principal pianist position with the acclaimed Shenandoah Valley Children’s Choir, most recently performing at Carnegie Hall for the 2023 International Youth Choir Festival.  Ms. Reed has also performed regularly for National Association for Teachers of Singing conferences, the Southeast Horn Workshop, the Mid-Atlantic Flute Convention, and the James Madison University Kodály Institute.

A regular at music festivals, Ms. Reed has shared the stages of the Staunton Music Festival, the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival, and the Forbes Center for the Performing Arts, home to JMU's Contemporary Music Festival. Opera credits include Mozart's Der Schauspieldirektor, Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, and Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors.

Ms. Reed received her music degrees from James Madison University’s School of Music: a B.M. in Collaborative Piano Performance and Coaching, and a Masters of Music in Piano Performance, studying with piano professors Drs. Lori Piitz and Gabriel Dobner.

During the school year, Ms. Reed’s work involves rehearsing, coaching and performing with musicians of all levels, particularly undergraduate and graduate Music majors studying at JMU’s School of Music. Recitals performed on the Forbes stages feature a wide array of compositions, stretching from Baroque to Contemporary music styles, vocal as well as instrumental.  

Along with coaching and performing, Ms. Reed has collaborated with JMU’s choral ensembles The Madison Singers and JMU/ VMRC’s Intergenerational Choir.  Ms. Reed is also honored to have served as a founding pianist with the Crozet Chorus, an inclusive, intergenerational community choir.