Christmastime in Brevard

Mezzo-Soprano Jennifer D’Agostino received her Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Voice Performance with a minor in Opera Production. She completed her Master’s Degree as a member of the Knoxville Opera Studio with the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, and her Bachelor’s Degree from Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory of Music. 

Jennifer was reviewed as a singer with “beauty and expression” in her performance of Hindemith’s When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Choral Union and Symphony. Other performances have included solo engagements with Canton Symphony Orchestra, Canton Symphony Chorus, Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra, UW-Madison Choral Union and Symphony, and Knoxville Opera. She has performed internationally as a soloist in Rossini’s Messa di Gloria in Pesaro with Benton Hess and under the baton of Eduoardo Mueller at AIMS in Graz, Austria. She studied baroque gesture and performance in Early Music Vancouver’s ‘Compleat Singer’ Baroque Vocal Programme, has participated in The Madison Early Music Festival and the Baldwin-Wallace Art Song Festival. She directed & premiered the role of ‘Ethyl Wormvarnish’ in Jerry Hui’s opera Wired for Love, which can be heard on Spotify. In concert, Jennifer has performed as a soloist in Faure’s Requiem, Saint-Saens’ Requiem, Handel’s Israel in Egypt, Handel’s Messiah, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis and Mass in C Major, Bach’s Christ lag in Todesbanden, Vivaldi’s Magnificat, Mozart’s Mass in C minor and Vesperae de Dominica, and Robert Kyr’s The Passion According to the Four Evangelists. She frequently performs song literature and is drawn to new and diverse repertoire. 

Jennifer is active in the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS). She was on the board of the New York Singing Teacher’s Association (NYSTA) and was the Editor-In-Chief of VOICEPrints, NYSTA’s scholarly journal for the past 5 years. She was an active board member of the Knoxville Opera, where she served as the Chair of the 2022 Rossini Festival. She has presented at the Lilly Conference, NATS Conferences, and the National Collegiate Honors Conference. She has held teaching positions at Alverno College, Beloit College, Pellissippi State Technical Community College, Walsh University, and the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. Her current research interests include Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Cognitive interventions in the voice studio, Shame in the performing arts, and Post-performance depression. She is currently teaching Applied Lessons, Voice Pedagogy, Voice Class, Song Literature, and graduate courses in opera and song literature at Georgia Southern University.

Michael Roemer, a diverse baritone with “robust sonority,” has performed with many arts organizations across the United States as a soloist on both the operatic and concert stage and as an ensemble artist of Chicago a Cappella and the Lyric Opera of Chicago Chorus.

Highlights from Michael’s concert and operatic repertoire have included Haydn’s Missa in tempore belli and Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Canton Symphony Orchestra, Massanet’s Thais with the William and Mary Symphony Orchestra, Handel’s Messiah with the Carolina Philharmonic, Puccini’s La Bohème with La Musica Lirica, and Poulenc’s Les Mamelles de Tirésias with Des Moines Metro Opera.

Michael received his master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where in addition to his vocal studies, also collaborated as a pianist in chamber and chorus works. He has held positions as a pianist for many organizations, including Cleveland Chamber Choir, Chicago Opera Playhouse, and Light Opera Works.

Michael’s most recent vocal performances include Knoxville Opera’s Music Theater Marathon and other outreach events, the inaugural Madison New Music Festival virtual concert, and an encore appearance in the Mead Witter School of Music’s annual Schubertiade.