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Choir
The members of the St. Thomas More Choir lead the music of the liturgy at the 10:00 and 11:15 Masses each Sunday from October through May, as well as the major solemnities of the liturgical year. As solo cantors, they provide leadership at the 5:45 and 12:30 masses each weekend and during the summer, as well as at wedding and funeral masses.
Jeanne Ommerle, Soprano Melissa Fogarty, Soprano Michael Brown, Tenor Aaron James, Baritone
Jeanne Ommerle, Soprano
Jeanne Ommerle, Soprano, has sung in the St. Thomas More Choir since 1999. She has received the warmest acclaim from critics and audiences, as in The New York Times' description -- "a polished artist of international caliber whose expressive, velvety soprano one could enjoy for hours."
Ms. Ommerle's opera and concert credits include the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke's, National Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Opera, Opera Company of Boston, The Dallas Opera, Lake George Opera Festival, Boston's Handel & Haydn Society, Early Music Festival and the Burgett Ensemble, Cincinnati May Festival, the Washington and Baltimore Choral Societies, Monadnock Music and the Newport Music Festival. She has worked with conductors Roger Norrington, Christopher Hogwood, James Conlon, Seiji Ozawa, Thomas Dunn, Richard Westenburg, Sarah Caldwell, William Fred Scott, Gunther Schuller, Sylvain Cambreling, Nicholas McGegan, Craig Smith, James Bolle and Simon Preston. Ms. Ommerle has sung numerous performances of Handel's L'Allegro for the Mark Morris Dance Group, including the world premiere at the Theatre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels. She returned to the Monnaie as Despina in Cosi fan tutte and for a concert of Mozart arias. At the presentation of the McDowell Colony Medal to the late Leonard Bernstein, she was featured in a program of his songs.
Ms. Ommerle was Susanna in the Peter Sellars/Pepsico Summerfare production of Le nozze di Figaro which traveled to Vienna, Paris and Barcelona, and which was broadcast on PBS Great Performances and internationally. Her other roles include Adina in L 'Elisir d'Amore, Norina in Don Pasquale, Musetta in La Boheme, Adele in Die Fledermaus, Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier, Oscar in Un Ballo in Maschera, Gretel in Hansel and Gretel, Nanetta in Falstaff, and Mozart's Zerlina, Despina, Konstanze, and Ilia.
A native of Kansas, Jeanne Ommerle has been the recipient of grants from the Sullivan Foundation, and has recorded for Albany Records, Koch International, GM Recordings, and Northeastern.
Melissa Fogarty, Soprano
Soprano MELISSA FOGARTY has been singing at St. Thomas More since 1997. Hailed as "outstanding" by The New York Times and given "high marks" by The Wall Street Journal, Melissa's wide range of experience has taken her from leading child performer at the Metropolitan Opera and New York City Opera to the concert stage, where as an adult she has been a featured soloist with orchestras and ensembles including the New York Collegium, Concert Royal, ARTEK and Seattle Baroque Orchestra. Her opera roles include Oscar in Un Ballo in Maschera, Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro, and Gretel in Hansel and Gretel.
Melissa has won numerous awards and fellowships, most recently a 2006 OMA for her recording "Handel: Scorned & Betrayed" on Albany Records. Past fellowships include the Adams Fellowship at the Carmel Bach Festival and the Giorgio Cini Foundation Fellowship for study in Venice.
This season she is making inroads performing contemporary music, performing David Del Tredici's "Miz Inez Sez" with the composer at his 70th Birthday Festival at Sarah Lawrence College, and his recent work "Paul Revere's Ride" with Canticum Novum. Melissa will make her debut with renowned contemporary music ensemble Sequitur in 2007, performing music of Louis Andriessen.
Michael Brown, Tenor
Tenor Michael Brown has been singing at St. Thomas More Church since 1989. He began singing in a church choir of men and boys in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. After hearing the baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau sing Schubert, he decided on a career in singing and attended the Manhattan School of Music, and later the Mannes College of Music.
He has appeared with the New York City Opera, the Wolftrap Opera and the Glimmerglass Opera. He has toured extensively with the a cappella sextets Talisman and The Western Wind and has appeared in the Connecticut Early Music Festival, the Long Island Baroque Ensemble, Music Before 1800 and The American Bach Soloists. With the ensemble Artek he has performed at the Bloomington Early Music Festival, Regensburg and Edinburgh Festivals and toured with The Mark Morris Dance Group. . Accompanied by Harvey Burgett, he has sung Schubert's Winterreise and songs by Schumann and Burgett on the MOREMusic Series. He has performed with his wife, soprano Phyllis Clark, in scenes from The Quiet American by Wendy Griffiths and in songs of Christopher Berg, and has performed and taught in Tokyo, Japan.
He practices the Japanese martial art ai-ki-do at New York Aikikai with the enthusiastic encouragement of his daughters, Jenny and Sarah.
Aaron James, Baritone
Born and raised in Wichita Kansas, Lyric Baritone Aaron James has sung with the St. Thomas More Choir since 1996. He has appeared with the Opera Companies of Santa Fe, Zurich, Lucerne, Basil, Bregenz, Lenz, New England Lyric, New Jersey Lyric, Boston Lyric, and San Francisco. Symphonic appearances include the New York Philharmonic, Zurich, Vienna Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Kansas City, El Paso, Omaha, Sioux City, Saint Luke's, and the Brooklyn Philharmonic.
Specializing in contemporary music, Aaron recently sang two world premieres; Linda Kernahans' A Single Thread, for Baritone Matin and Cello, and the highly successful Les Vepres des Jeanne II by Jean-Louis Petit, recorded for Musica Viva on Ethereal Records. The recording of Les Vepres topped the French Classical Charts for nine months, and in Europe for over a year.
Mr. James made his Radio debut over New York's WQXR, singing Copland's American Songs, and Bernstein's Songfest. Appearing at every major Concert Hall in New York City, he made his Carnagie Hall debut singing in Carmina Burana. At the Brooklyn Academy of Music he sang Socrate by Eric Satie, accompanied by famed composer Ned Rorem. He's appeared as Melchior in the original Lincoln Center production of Amahl and the Night Visitors, and his Town Hall debut heard Copland's Old American Songs.
Current recording projects include Solos and Duets for Schola Hebreica in an eight-year recording project produced by the Milken Archives for the Naxos label. He can also be heard on Delos, Deutche Gramophone, and New World Recordings. His latest CD, Entre Nous, an all French album for HB Records, includes portions of a live recital for the MOREMusic Concert series here at St. Thomas More Church.
Aaron is also an ensemble and solo artist with several of New York City's leading Professional Choral organizations, including Voices of Ascension and Sacred Music in A Sacred Space. He also sings regularly with the all-male choir of Shearith Israel, the oldest Jewish congregation in America, founded in Manhattan in 1654.
His latest recording project, Pompeii, a new musical by Dorothy Papadakos is due for release in early 2007.
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