Bach's Magnificat
The Washington National Cathedral Choir and Baroque Orchestra perform Bach’s vibrant Magnificat., based on the Gospel of Luke. This celebratory program also features Charpentier’s Te Deum, and Rebel’s Les Élémens depicting Earth’s creation. Livestream available for 10/5 performance.
Tickets
program
Magnificat in D Major, BWV 243 – J. S. Bach (1685–1750)
Te Deum in D Major, H. 146 – Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643–1704)
Les élémens – Jean-Féry Rebel (1666–1747)
featured performers
Andrew Megill, conductor
Andrew Megill was named Music of the Baroque’s Chorus Director in April 2022. Recognized as one of the leading choral conductors of his generation, he is admired for both passionate artistry and a wide-ranging repertoire, from early music to contemporary works. He serves as the Suzanne and William Allen Distinguished Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) and leads three of North America’s top professional ensembles: the Montreal Symphony Orchestra Chorus, the Carmel Bach Festival Chorale, and Fuma Sacra. Megill has prepared choirs for the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, National Symphony, and others, collaborating with conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Charles Dutoit, and Kent Nagano. Particularly acclaimed for Baroque choral works, he works regularly with leaders in historically informed performance and period-instrument orchestras. Formerly Chorusmaster for Spoleto Festival USA, he also taught at Westminster Choir College for more than twenty years.
Daniel Lee, concertmaster
Daniel Lee leads an interdisciplinary career as a performer, scholar, preacher, and teacher. Praised for his “fleet-fingered, passionate…soulful performance” (The New York Times), he is the founding director of the Sebastians, an award-winning period ensemble based in New York City. He frequently performs as a soloist and leader with Early Music Missouri, the Kansas City Baroque Consortium, and the Providence Baroque Orchestra. He plays on modern replicas of Cremonese violins by luthier Karl Dennis and a rare 1770 Florentine violin in its original setup by Giovanni Battista Gabrielli. In addition to historical violins, he also performs on the violino piccolo and violoncello da spalla. An ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), he has served churches and organizations in Connecticut, Missouri, and New York. He strives to explore the intersection of arts and spirituality, where creativity can inspire harmony in human society. He teaches early music and performance practice at Yale University.
Amy Broadbent, soprano
“With consummate poise, limpid clarity, and faultless intonation” (Washington Classical Review), Amy Broadbent has garnered recognition as a vibrant and versatile musical force. Amy has performed as a soloist with the Oregon Bach Festival, Washington National Cathedral, Lancaster Symphony Orchestra, Folger Consort, Staunton Music Festival, Bach Choir of Bethlehem, Washington Bach Consort, The Thirteen, and the New York Choral Society. She created the role of Sebastian in Scott Ordway’s The Outer Edge of Youth, her recording of which was acclaimed by Opera News (Critic’s Choice), Gramophone, and BBC Music Magazine. She is a founding member of vocal quartet The Polyphonists. A multi-faceted musician, Amy’s compositions and arrangements have been performed at the White House, Washington National Cathedral, and Basilica of the National Shrine, and broadcast nationally. Her conducting for the Victorian Lyric Opera Company was hailed as “stellar… a balletic piece of choreography” (Ruby Griffith Award). She is a soprano vocalist and the Associate Conductor for the U.S. Navy Band Sea Chanters, the official chorus of the U.S. Navy. Amy holds degrees in both voice and conducting from the University of Maryland.
Laura Choi Stuart, soprano
Hailed as “a lyric soprano of ravishing quality” by the Boston Globe, Laura Choi Stuart appears this season as a soloist in Handel’s Messiah,as well as in St. John Passion, B Minor Mass, Brahms Requiem, and Kaija Saariaho’s Quatre Instants. An album of Art Songs of Charles Ives, Reynaldo Hahn and William Bolcom with pianist Tanya Blaich will release in early 2026. Recent season highlights include Mozart Requiem with Washington Bach Consort, Beethoven Missa Solemnis with Handel Choir of Baltimore, Elijah with Baltimore Choral Arts, Dona Nobis Pacem with Washington Master Chorale, as well as regular appearances with Bach Vocal Artists of Winter Park and Seraphic Fire. Laura is a passionate teacher, and serves as Head of Vocal Studies at Washington National Cathedral. She shares clear (fun) voice education for adult choral singers at TheWeeklyWarmUp.com.
Slyvia Leith, mezzo-soprano
Sylvia Leith, mezzo-soprano, is a soloist and consort singer whose repertoire spans from Bach to Mahler to world premieres. Her solo credits include Baltimore Symphony, Washington Bach Consort, Oregon Bach Festival, St. Thomas Fifth Avenue, American Classical Orchestra, and Cantata Collective. Her ensemble credits include Altera, Lorelei, Ekmeles, Seraphic Fire, the Oregon Bach Festival Chorus, Skylark, and Choir of Trinity Wall Street. She is a founding member of the Polyphonists. In her free time, Sylvia cooks, knits, and dotes upon her small gray cat, who is named after Fanny Mendelssohn.
Oliver Mercer, tenor
Hailed as “excellent” and “particularly impressive” by the New York Times, American/British tenor Oliver Mercer has performed regularly throughout North America and Europe as an ensemble singer, concert soloist, and opera singer. Oliver has performed with Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Spoletto Festival USA, Boston Early Music Festival, The Thirteen, Opera Theater Company Ireland, English National Opera, Charleston Bach Festival, Savannah Philharmonic, Charleston Symphony, Mid Wales Opera, Trinity Wall Street, Opera Lafayette, Kansas City Symphony, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, The Folger Consort, Clarion Music Society and The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. He has appeared as a soloist at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Barbican London, Washington National Cathedral, The Kennedy Center, and Royal Albert Hall. Recent and upcoming engagements include an international tour of Handel’s Hercules with The English Concert, and concerts with Folger Consort, Ensemble Altera, The Thirteen, and Clarion Music Society. Oliver studied at Florida State University and was a Choral Scholar at Trinity College, Cambridge.
Edmund Milly, bass-baritone
Edmund Milly is sought after for his “annunciatory power” (New York Times), “perfect diction” (Los Angeles Times), and distinctive “delicacy and personal warmth” (Boston Classical Review). Recent solo engagements include his Baltimore Symphony debut in Stravinsky’s Renard, Britten’s War Requiem with the Yale Symphony, Haydn’s Creation with Princeton Pro Musica, and Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with Washington Bach Consort. In 2024, he was nominated for a GRAMMY award as a soloist on Benedict Sheehan’s Akathist. A dedicated interpreter of Bach who has sung over 100 cantatas, Edmund “stole the show” (Seen and Heard International) in his Bachfest Leipzig debut in 2024. He sings with the Choir of Trinity Wall Street, Seraphic Fire, Ensemble Altera, the Thirteen, and his quartet, the Polyphonists. He is a graduate of the American Boychoir School, McGill University, and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, as well as a veteran of the U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own.”