Santo Fragilio Performing Arts Center
200 La Rosa Drive
Middletown, CT 06457
The first mainstage production of our Golden Anniversary season features Benjamin Britten’s Saint Nicolas cantata. Composed in 1948, the piece blah, blah, blah…
Guest artists for the performance of St. Nicolas include Blake Hansen, piano and Dann Coakwell, soloist.
We are pleased to have the Elm City Girls’ Choir and Saecula Singers join us on stage once again as we perform the premiere Sing On!, a work commissioned by GMChorale and composed by Thomas Brand, Music Director of Saecula Singers and our long-time friend and collaborator.
Dann Coakwell, tenor, has been praised as a “clear-voiced and eloquent … vivid storyteller” (The New York Times), with “a gorgeous lyric tenor that could threaten or caress on the turn of a dime” (The Dallas Morning News). He can be heard as a soloist on the Grammy-winning album The Sacred Spirit of Russia (Harmonia Mundi 2014), as well as as well as multiple other Grammy-nominated and critically acclaimed albums, recent examples of which include Mendelssohn & Bach: Matthäus-passion (Analekta 2024), James Richman & Dallas Bach Society: Messiah (1741 Original Version) (Onyx Classics 2024), Bruhns: Cantatas and Organ Works, Vol. 1 (BIS 2022), led by Masaaki Suzuki, and Considering Matthew Shepard (Harmonia Mundi 2016). He has performed as a soloist across Europe, Japan, and throughout the Americas, under renowned conductors such as Helmuth Rilling, Masaaki Suzuki, Monica Huggett, William Christie, María Guinand, Nicholas McGegan, Matthew Halls, Craig Hella Johnson, and the late John Scott.
Dr. Coakwell has performed at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully and David Geffen halls, as well as other prominent New York City venues such as Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue and Trinity Church Wall Street. He has appeared as a soloist with organizations such as Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart in Germany, Bach Collegium Japan, Orquesta Sinfónica de Venezuela, Pacific Baroque Orchestra in Canada, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in San Francisco, Oregon Bach Festival, Portland and Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, Bach Choir of Bethlehem, Dallas Bach Society, Conspirare, and the symphony orchestras of Orlando, Charlotte, Nashville, Indianapolis, Quad Cities, and Kansas City.
Specializing in the Evangelist and tenor roles of J.S. Bach, Dr. Coakwell frequently performs the composer’s major oratorios—St. Matthew Passion, St. John Passion, Christmas Oratorio, and Mass in B-Minor—as well as many of Bach’s cantatas. Also an enthusiast of Benjamin Britten, Coakwell has appeared in several productions of Britten’s Canticles, Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings (one of which was at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall), and St. Nicolas. Other prominent solo roles performed also include numerous Handel oratorios; Rameau’s Pigmalion; Haydn’s Creation; Mozart Requiem and Mass in c minor (Levin, Beyer, and Süssmayr completions); Mendelssohn’s Elijah; and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Missa Solemnis.
Dr. Coakwell served for more than two and a half decades as an educator at institutions that have included Yale, Ithaca College, and Colgate University, and has enjoyed guest teaching artist residencies across the U.S. and abroad. He holds an Artist Diploma from the Yale School of Music/Institute of Sacred Music, a Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degree from Texas Tech University, and a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Texas at Austin.
A native of Quebec City, Canada, Eric Trudel received his primary training at the Conservatoire du Quebec, where he graduated with the highest honors in piano, harmony, counterpoint, fugue, and musical analysis. Upon graduating he entered and became the sole winner of the Prix d’Europe Competition. He subsequently perfected his skills in conducting and chamber music in Vienna.
An internationally respected pianist, his teaching appointments include Yale School of Music, Western Connecticut State University, the Hartt School of Music, Southern Connecticut State University, and Showa University (Japan). He is the Director of Music at Congregation Mishkan Israel (Hamden CT) and First Congregational Church (Watertown, CT), and spends his summers teaching and performing at the American Institute of Music Studies (AIMS) in Graz, Austria.
Dr. Caroline O’Dwyer is a mezzo-soprano from Connecticut with a passion for both performance and pedagogy. As an active concert soloist, Caroline has performed with numerous ensembles, including the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and Greater Middletown Chorale, the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, and the Waterbury Chorale, the Nutmeg Symphony Orchestra, the Eastman Philharmonia, the Cordancia Chamber Orchestra, the Warwick Symphony Orchestra, the Skidmore Orchestra, and the Park Church Chamber Orchestra.
On the operatic stage, Caroline debuted the role of Miriam “Ma” Ferguson in the world premiere of Douglas Buchanan’s Sackler Award-winning opera, Bessie and Ma (University of Connecticut, 2019). Other roles include: Prince Charmant (Cendrillon), Catherine (Le Mariage aux lanternes), the Abbess (Suor Angelica), Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro), Cousin Hebe (H.M.S. Pinafore), Hansel (Hansel and Gretel), and Prince Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus).
Equally recognized for her sensitive interpretation of art song, in 2018, Caroline was a national semi-finalist for the prestigious NATS Artist Award. She holds degrees from the University of Connecticut (B.M. and D.M.A.) and the Eastman School of Music (M.M.), and has been an Artist/Teacher of classical voice at the University of Rhode Island since 2018. At URI, she is a three-time recipient of the University Artist Series grant, which supports innovative faculty performances. She has been a guest clinician and performer at Bowling Green State University (2024), and has served as a judge for the Rhode Island Civic Orchestra Vocal Competition and the Connecticut NATS Student auditions.
Caroline also maintains a private voice studio and teaches yoga in Connecticut, where she resides with her husband, Steve and their cat, Harry. For more information, please visit www.carolineodwyer.com.