Das Lied

Pamela Dellal

Pamela Dellal, a celebrated mezzo-soprano, has been acclaimed for her "exquisite vocal color," and "eloquent phrasing" by critics. Her performance venues include Symphony Hall, the Kennedy Center, and the Royal Albert Hall, showcasing a broad repertoire from 12th-century pieces to contemporary operas. Dellal debuted at the Kennedy Center in the B-minor Mass and made her Lincoln Center debut in Messiah, performing under notable conductors like Seiji Ozawa and William Christie. Her extensive operatic roles span from Charpentier’s Actéon to Harbison's Winter's Tale, alongside contributions to chamber music, especially in Renaissance and Baroque genres. A longstanding participant in Emmanuel Music’s Bach cantata series, Dellal has nearly performed all of Bach's sacred works and is known for her renditions of the music of Hildegard von Bingen with Vox Feminae. As a passionate advocate for contemporary music, she has collaborated with ensembles such as Dinosaur Annex and Boston Musica Viva, accumulating over forty recordings across various labels.

Pamela Dellal, mezzo-soprano, has enjoyed a distinguished career as an acclaimed soloist and recitalist, whose singing has been praised for her "exquisite vocal color," "musical sensitivity," (Worcester Gazette) and "eloquent phrasing" (The Boston Globe). She has appeared in Symphony Hall, the Kennedy Center, Avery Fisher Hall, and the Royal Albert Hall, and premiered a Harbison chamber work in New York, San Francisco, Boston and London. Her repertoire encompasses an astonishing range from 12th-century monody through Renaissance songs, Baroque cantatas and oratorios, 18th–21st century art songs and operas, and premieres of new works. Dellal made her Kennedy Center debut under Julian Wachner in the B-minor Mass, and her Lincoln Center debut under renowned conductor William Christie in Messiah. She performed under other acclaimed conductors such as Seiji Ozawa, Christopher Hogwood, Paul McCreesh, Bernard Labadie and Roger Norrington. Dellal also appeared with the Tokyo Oratorio Society, the Lydian String Quartet, The Bach Choir of Bethlehem, Boston Baroque, the Boston Early Music Festival, Aston Magna, the Dallas Bach Society, The Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, the National Chamber Orchestra, the Evansville Philharmonic, the Baltimore Choral Arts Society and the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Dellal has received critical acclaim for performances of Brahms' Alto Rhapsody, Handel's Messiah, Mozart's C-minor Mass, and Bach's B-minor Mass, St. Matthew and St. John Passions. Her operatic roles include Junon in Charpentier’s Actéon, Dido in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, Annio and Sesto in Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito, Dorabella in Mozart's Così Fan Tutte, Bradamante in Handel’s Alcina, Erika in Barber’s Vanessa, Lucretia in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia, and Paulina in Harbison's Winter's Tale. She has been a featured artist with the The Red House Opera Group, Prism Opera Company, Opera Aperta, Ocean State Lyric Opera, the New Boston Theatre Project, and the Opera Company of Boston, and has appeared in concert in major cities in Europe, the United States, Australia and Japan.

Dellal’s association with Emmanuel Music’s renowned cantata series spans her entire career, including performances of nearly every sacred work by Bach. Known for her work with Renaissance and Baroque chamber music, Dellal appeared multiple times with the Boston Early Music Festival, was a frequent guest artist with Ensemble Chaconne and the Musicians of the Old Post Road, and a longtime member of the Blue Heron Renaissance Choir. As a member and Acting Director of Sequentia's women's ensemble Vox Feminae, Dellal made numerous recordings of the music of Hildegard von Bingen, and toured the U.S., Europe, and Australia. A passionate advocate for contemporary music, she was a regular guest with the Boston ensembles Dinosaur Annex and Boston Musica Viva, and also appeared with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the Lumen Ensemble and Collage New Music, performing works by contemporary composers such as Martin Boykan, Martin Brody, Edward Cohen, John Harbison, Ruth Lomon, Shulamit Ran, Judith Shatin, Fabio Vacchi, Judith Weir, Scott Wheeler, and others. She has over forty recordings to her credit, on the Artona, BMG, CRI, Dorian, Meridian, and KOCH labels among others.

As an educator, Dellal is the Director of the Emmanuel Music Bach Institute, a training program for aspiring young professionals. Dellal teaches Historical Performance, Vocal Studies, and diction and repertoire courses as faculty at The Longy School of Music of Bard College and the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. She also taught at Brandeis University, The Berkshire Choral Festival and at numerous summer workshops including the Amherst Early Music Festival. She has been invited to give master classes and lecture/demonstrations at many institutions throughout the US, including Stanford University, Cal. State Fullerton, SUNY New Paltz, Wellesley College, Wheaton College, and other organizations. She is a recognized specialist in early vocal techniques and the music of Hildegard von Bingen.

Dellal is greatly sought after for her translations of vocal libretti; her translations of the complete vocal works of J.S. Bach are available on the Emmanuel Music website. She is also a major contributor of translations to the recently-completed C.P.E. Bach Complete Works edition published by the Packard Humanities Institute. An article on C.P.E. Bach lieder was published in the August 2014 issue of Early Music (U.K.). She has edited a book on Bach cantatas featuring essays by the late Craig Smith, recently published by Pendragon Press and scheduled for reissue with Mellen Press

Jennifer McGuire

Jennifer Quammen McGuire is a pianist, coach and conductor based in Nashville. Hailed by the Journal of Singing as "a most able collaborator, dispatching every pianistic challenge with complete aplomb," she is Music Director of the Vanderbilt Opera Theatre and Principal Senior Lecturer in Collaborative Piano at the Blair School of Music. McGuire maintains an active recital schedule, with recent engagements at Symphony Space, the Tenri Cultural Institute, L’Èglise de St.-Merry, and the Eastman School of Music, among others. She is featured on the albums Irrational Exuberance (Beauport Classical) and Sursum (Navona Records), as well as the recently released Heinrich Marschner: Songs for Baritone with baritone Jeffrey Williams (Centaur Records). She is a member of The Atlantic Ensemble and The Leela Trio. McGuire has also worked with Cincinnati Opera, Dayton Opera, Opera Birmingham, The Nashville Symphony Chorus, and the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Faculty appointments at summer programs include the AIMS Festival (Graz, Austria), Seagle Festival, the Boston Conservatory Opera Intensive (Valencia, Spain), Poco a Poco, and the Accademia Vocale Lorenzo Malfatti (Lucca, Italy).

McGuire has conducted The Marriage of Figaro, Candide, The Ghosts of Gatsby, Mansfield Park, Albert Herring, Cosi Fan Tutte, Semele, Lucinda y las Flores de la Nochebuena, Monkey and Francine in the City of Tigers, Cendrillon, Amahl and the Night Visitors, and a workshop of the new opera Staggerwing for the Vanderbilt Opera Theatre. Guest conducting engagements include Le Nozze di Figaro at the Seagle Festival, Don Pasquale at Boston Conservatory, and Cosi fan Tutte at Opera Memphis, as well as a virtual workshop of the new opera Halcyon with Vital Opera. In 2020, McGuire forayed into virtual opera as music director and sound designer of Vanderbilt's animated version of L'enfant et les sortilèges, which is available on YouTube. Upcoming productions include Here be Sirens with Vanderbilt Opera Theatre, and Die Zauberflöte with Prague Summer Nights Music Festival.

In addition to her work in music, McGuire is a certified yoga instructor at the 200 and 300 hour levels. She continues to study the physical and mental benefits of yoga with the goal of helping all people, but particularly artists, embrace their authentic selves and reach their full potential.

Jonathan Retzlaff

Dr. Jonathan Retzlaff, lyric baritone, served as Professor of Voice and Pedagogy on the Voice, Opera and Vocal Coaching faculty at the Eastman School of Music from 2015-2023 following his tenure as Associate Professor of Voice and Chair of the Voice Department at the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University where he was named the Distinguished Faculty Member of 2011.  In 2014 he was named a Master Teacher by the National Association of Teachers of Singing, a lifelong designation.  International teaching includes the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) in Graz, Austria. For over thirty -five years he has performed professionally as a soloist in opera, oratorio, recital, and musical theatre.  He has also taught on the faculties of Drake University, Des Moines, IA and Concordia College, Moorhead, MN.  A long-time champion of the art of accompanying, Dr. Retzlaff considers his collaborations and coaching with Lois McLeod, Gwendolyn Koldofsky, Gérard Souzay, Elly Ameling, Dr. Russell Miller, Enid Katahn and Jennifer McGuire as pinnacle musical experiences.  
 
His teaching record of student successes speaks for itself.  Just this season former students are emerging as young artists with the Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Merola Young Artist program at San Francisco Opera, Chautauqua Opera, and Tanglewood Summer Music Festival.  Former students have  performed at the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Wiener Staatsoper, Houston Grand Opera, The Dallas Opera, Opera Arizona, Santa Fe Opera, Central City Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Opera Theater of St. Louis, Des Moines Metro Opera, Texas Chamber Opera, Austin Lyric Opera, Ohio Light Opera, Aspen Music Festival, Lincoln Center Summer Music Festival, Sarasota Opera, Berkshire Opera, Chicago Chamber Opera, Breckenridge Musical Festival, Chautauqua Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Opera Omaha, Indianapolis Opera, Sacramento Opera, Connecticut Opera and the Spoleto Festival (USA), among others.  
 
Additionally, his students have been winners of the Metropolitan National Opera Council Regional Auditions, The Dallas Opera Competition, Music Teacher National Association’s Collegiate Artist Competition, at the Classical Singer Convention and in the New York and Tennessee/Kentucky Regional National Association of Teachers of Student Auditions, in which Dr. Retzlaff is an active member.   His students have been admitted to graduate performance programs at The Juilliard School, Rice University, Indiana University at Bloomington, Eastman School of Music, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, New England Conservatory, Manhattan School of Music, the University of Texas at Austin, University of Southern California, Florida State University, University of Illinois-Champaign-Urbana and Northwestern University, among others.  
 
Dr. Retzlaff has served as an adjudicator for the National Association of Teachers of Singing Artist Awards, the Music Teachers National Association Collegiate Artist Competition and the Metropolitan Opera Council Auditions and as the Tennessee Governor for the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Dr. Retzlaff is the author of Exploring Art Song Lyrics published by Oxford University Press in May 2012.  He holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Arizona State University, the Master of Music degree from Wichita State University and the Bachelor of Music degree from Millikin University.

Paula Swalin

Paula Corbin Swalin is a dedicated teacher, lecturer, and member of the voice faculty at the University of New Mexico. She is a native New Mexican, honored to serve in the community where she acquired her passion for music from talented public educators. Through teaching and service, Ms. Swalin strives to instill the same passion for music in future musicians and educators, passing bestowed gifts onto following generations.Her performance credits include Mozart’s Vesperae Solennes de Confessore, Schumann’s Spanisches Liederspiel, Op. 74, J. S. Bach’s Johannes-Passion, C.P.E. Bach’s Magnificat, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, and Mozart’s C Minor Mass and Requiem. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of New Mexico and her Master of Music from the Eastman School, was selected for the NATS Teacher Intern Training Program, and is a certified singing voice specialist with NICEV (Dr. Karen Wicklund). Ms. Swalin’s students have gone on to train in prestigious post-secondary programs, are active performers, and serve as respected music educators in the United States and abroad.
In addition to her work in music, McGuire is a certified yoga instructor at the 200 and 300 hour levels. She continues to study the physical and mental benefits of yoga with the goal of helping all people, but particularly artists, embrace their authentic selves and reach their full potential.