Handel’s Messiah

Jessica McCormack — Soprano

Soprano, Jessica McCormack holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of North Texas, a Master of Music from Southern Methodist University, and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Toronto. She was selected as an Emerging Leader by the National Association of Teachers of Singing and has presented for the National Opera Association and the Pan-American Vocology Association on issues related to vocal health. She served as Coordinator of Voice Studies and Associate Professor of Voice at Indiana University South Bend (tenured in 2017), and Assistant Professor of Music at Wittenberg University. She held visiting positions with the Conservatory at Baldwin-Wallace University, West Texas A & M University, the University of Notre Dame and she enjoyed teaching at the Interlochen Center for the Arts for three summers. Internationally, Dr. McCormack has lectured and presented masterclasses in Thailand, Hong Kong, Canada, the Czech Republic and France.

She has performed as soloist in over a dozen countries and has been featured with the Fort Worth, South Bend, New Brunswick, and Springfield (Ohio) symphonies, the Bach Society of Dayton and the Monadnock Chorus in North America. She is an avid recitalist and chamber musician, and she also serves as a devoted church musician through her position as Music Director for Saints Mary and Joseph Parish in Salem, NH.

Since moving to New England, Dr. McCormack has directed her career to work with Pre-Collegiate musicians and she recently completed the Certificate in School Management and Leadership from Harvard. She is currently the Director of Music for Austin Prep, an independent, Augustinian Catholic school north of Boston. She enjoys baking, reading mystery novels, visiting independent coffee shops and traveling with her husband, Dr. Thanuka Wickramarathne.

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JR Fralick — Tenor

JR Fralick has enjoyed great success in opera, orchestral works, recitals, and cabaret. He performed operatic roles with regional companies in the United States as well as Italy and recorded Barber’s A Hand of Bridge with the Moscow Philharmonic in Russia. He has been a soloist with the Jerusalem Symphony, the Kansas City Symphony, the Toledo Symphony, and has sung Handel’s Messiah more than 70 times throughout the U.S. and most recently in South Africa.

Dr. Fralick is a popular recital artist at many universities and various arts organizations, including the exclusive Franz Schubert Institut in Austria, and in 2016 he made his U.K. and South Africa recital débuts. While the music of Benjamin Britten and Russian songs and arias are his specialties, he has developed a passion for cabaret and other popular styles; he has been the featured singer in theater and dance programs at Cleveland Fusion-Fest, Cleveland Public Theatre, and in the Cleveland Playhouse’s Cabaret Samplers. He is a regular guest artist with the Austin-based “Classical Band” REVEL and has sung Britten’s Five Canticles in recital many times with Todd Wilson and members of the Cleveland Orchestra. For two decades he has sung with the American Chamber Vocal Ensemble with Jessica McCormack, Rebecca Folsom, Tod Fitzpatrick, and Valerie Trujillo.

JR Fralick studied music education at Friends University, music history at Kansas State University, Vocal Performance and Pedagogy at The Ohio State University, and earned Vocology Certification at the National Center for Voice. He currently teaches voice and coordinates the Vocal Pedagogy Emphasis at Baldwin Wallace Conservatory in Cleveland, Ohio. Dr. Fralick has also taught at Millikin University in Illinois, the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival in Alaska, and the InterHarmony International Music Festival in Italy. He is an active member of NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing), PAVA (Pan American Vocology Association) and has served on the Board of Cleveland’s Art Song Festival. He regularly gives master classes and workshops on singing, vocal pedagogy, and Russian music. Dr. Fralick loves food and travel, having eaten in 31 different countries. He resides in Cleveland, Ohio, with his partner Jeremy Rettger and their two adorable miniature dachshunds, Feronia and Minerva.

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Stephen Lancaster — Baritone

“A fine storyteller” (American Record Guide), “varied in tone and alive to feeling” (Fanfare Magazine), baritone Stephen Lancaster engages audiences through a diverse repertoire of vocal music. Winner of the Nico Castel International Master Singer Competition and The American Prize for men in art song and oratorio, he has been featured as a soloist in venues around the world, including Carnegie Hall, Chicago Cultural Center, Chiang-Kai Shek Memorial Hall, and Centro Cultural de Belém.

A passionate recitalist, Lancaster has performed programs for Musique dans le Grésivaudan, Festival Musique d’Uzerche, Les Grandes Heures de Saint-Emilion, Atlantic Music Festival, and Brooklyn Art Song Society. His solo discography includes Le Menu des Mélodies with pianist Martin Katz (Centaur), Sacred Song with organist Kevin Vaughn (Albany), and Dichterliebe & Liederkreis, Op. 39 with fortepianist Laure Colladant (Blue Griffin). His recital on the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series was broadcast live by WFMT Chicago.

Concert credits include the Fauré & Duruflé Requiems at Carnegie Hall presented by Distinguished Concerts International New York; Carmina Burana with Lisbon Summer Fest; Five Mystical Songs with UMS Choral Union; Le bal masqué with South Bend Symphony; The Bells and Belshazzar’s Feast with Holland Symphony. Operatic appearances include roles with Eugene Opera, Apotheosis Opera, and Arbor Opera Theater.

He performs with the Grammy award winning vocal ensemble Conspirare and the Sphinx Organization’s EXIGENCE vocal ensemble and serves as an Associate Professor of the Practice in voice at the University of Notre Dame.

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Andrew Jennings — Conductor

Andrew Jennings is the Director of Liturgy and Music for the United States Province of the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ. In addition to providing musical leadership for PHJC liturgies and events, Andrew also directs the Ancilla Domini Community Choir in various performances throughout the year. His efforts to provide unique and meaningful music to the area have brought groups such as Capella Artemisia from Bologna, Italy, New Millennium Duo from Louisville, Kentucky, the Chorale from Valparaiso University, and the Chorale from Taylor University to perform in Ancilla Chapel. Having a varied musical background, Andrew was a member of The Vocal Project, a Louisville-based chamber ensemble focusing on 20th and 21st century compositions and was a founding co-director of the Notre Dame Children’s Choir. He was guest conductor of the festival choir for Celebrate, Lament, Hope; an Ecumenical Hymn Festival Commemoration the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation at First United Methodist Church in South Bend, Indiana and has volunteered as music director for the South Bend Civic Theater. He teaches a class on music of the Catholic Rite at the University of Notre Dame and co-teaches the Spiritual Companioning Program at Lindenwood Retreat and Conference Center. Andrew has articles published by The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology and History of Hymns.

Andrew holds the degrees of Master of Sacred Music in Choral Conducting from the University of Notre Dame, Bachelor of Arts in Organ Performance from Indiana University Southeast, and is a candidate for the Doctor of Pastoral Music at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University. He has studied conducting under Carmen Helena-Tellez, Mark Doerries, and Mariana Farah, and organ with Janet Hamilton. When not being musical, Andrew enjoys cooking, visiting friends and family scattered throughout the country, and spending time with his dog Pérotin and cat Léonin.

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