CLASSICAL CHRISTMAS
Maya Kherani James Reese Handel Choir of Baltimore
Maya Kherani
Maya Kherani’ s current and future projects include Govinda in Siddhartha( Aspen Music Festival), Stabat Mater( American Bach Soloists), concerts with the Philharmonia Baroque and Opera Lafayette, Messiah( New York Philharmonic), Rockefeller Memorial Chapel in Chicago, Boston Baroque, Handel’ s Silete venti and Vivaldi’ s Vengo a voi, luci adorate( Portland Baroque), Zerlina in Don Giovanni( Boston Baroque), and Mahler Symphony No. 4( Vancouver Symphony).
Past engagements include Autonoe in Sartorio’ s Orfeo with Philippe Jaroussky( Opéra National de Montpellier), Muffat’ s Missa in labore requies( Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra), Drusilla / Fortuna in L’ incoronazione di Poppea( Festival d’ Aix-en-Provence and Versailles), Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro( Handel and Haydn Society), the world premiere Piper in Pay the Piper( Glyndebourne, debut with Fondazione Giorgio Cini – Seminari di Musica Antica), Partenope( title role)( Opera Neo), Despina in Così fan tutte, Lisette in La Rondine, Beatrice in Three Decembers, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, and Belinda in Dido and Aeneas( Opera San José), Polly Peachum in The Threepenny Opera( West Edge Opera), Reena Esmail’ s Meri Sakhi Ki Aavaaz( Berkeley Symphony), and Messiah, Belshazzar, Agrippina condotta a morire and Bach’ s Mass in A major( American Bach Soloists).
Additional engagements include Altisidore in Boismortier’ s Don Quichotte chez la Duchesse( Central City Opera), MEERA in Jack Perla’ s River of Light( Houston Grand Opera), Britomarte in Martín y Soler’ s L’ arbore di Diana( West Edge Opera), JILL in Jack and Jill and the Happening Hill( Salt Marsh Opera), Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia( Cinnabar Theater), Laura Kaminsky’ s Today It Rains( Opera Parallèle), Semele( title role)( Pocket Opera), and Frasquita in Carmen, and Musetta in La Bohème( West Bay Opera).
James Reese
James Reese is a noted interpreter of baroque music and other early repertoire, as well as an advocate for new music. His ability to impart emotional immediacy on music from Bach to the present day has earned him overwhelming critical acclaim over the course of a fast-rising career.
In the 2025 – 26 season, James will enjoy a wide range of projects and repertoire, giving performances throughout the U. S. and Canada. Of note: Messiah with the Kansas City Symphony, as well as St. Thomas Fifth Avenue( NYC) and the Apollo Chorus of Chicago; in recital with soprano Maya Kherani at Opera Lafayette; A Bach Celebration with Tafelmusik; and a series of recitals with lutenist Brandon Acker. He also looks forward to working with the Apple Hill String Quartet, recording and giving the world premiere of Gregory W. Brown’ s Rural Hours.
As a recording artist, James won a GRAMMY Award as a soloist singing the music of Edie Hill on the record Born, released by The Crossing.
James is a graduate of Northwestern University’ s Bienen School of Music. He holds a master’ s degree from Yale University’ s School of Music, where he studied with James Taylor at the Institute of Sacred Music. James is the 2018 winner of the Margot Fassler Award for the Performance of Music at Yale. He is also a winner of the Career Advancement Award— which recognizes‘ especially promising young artists’— from the Musical Fund Society. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife, Natalie.
Handel Choir of Baltimore
The Handel Choir of Baltimore excels in performing both historically sensitive Baroque masterpieces and contemporary, cutting-edge repertoire, true to its tagline“ Baroque & Beyond.” The choir regularly commissions new work from Baltimore-area composers, featured in its“ Made in Baltimore” concert series. Uniquely in Baltimore, the choir performs canonical works of the 17th through 19th centuries with orchestras playing period-appropriate instruments.
In May 2025, Handel Choir celebrated its 90th season with a sold-out performance of Beethoven’ s Missa Solemnis at the Baltimore Basilica, featuring a choir of more than 70 singers and the largest period orchestra ever assembled in the city. The 2025-26 season includes performances of
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