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Winter Concert

Celebrate the season with chamber music. 
Join us for the culminating performance of our 10th anniversary year for our Winter Concert, an annual New Orleans holiday tradition. We are thrilled to bring back original Lyrica Baroque member and artist Sarah Jane McMahon for an evening of Baroque and early classical repertoire for voice, winds and strings. Stunning music in a beautiful setting – the perfect way to celebrate the season. 

This performance is presented free and open to the public with a suggested donation of $25.

Sponsored By 
Christ Church Cathedral
Louisiana Division of the Arts
Americans for the Arts
New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation
St. Charles Avenue Magazine
St. Charles Coach House
WWNO 

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Featured Artists

Sarah Jane McMahon

Jaren Atherholt

Maureen Nelson

Kayla Moffett

Jacob Fowler

Jason Wells

Amelia Clingman

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Sarah Jane McMahon

Praised by The New York Times as “bright, active, and fastidiously musical” and by Opera News as having “a golden sound,” New Orleans native Sarah Jane McMahon performs with the world’s top opera companies and symphony orchestras. Recent highlights include appearances this past summer at the prestigious Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires as Stella in André Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire, Micaela in Carmen with New Orleans Opera, and concert performances with the Colorado Symphony, Shreveport Symphony, and Midland Odessa Symphony. She has appeared with the Los Angeles Opera, Dallas Opera, Arizona Opera, Virginia Opera, and the Washington Concert Opera, among many others. With the New York City Opera at Lincoln Center, she performed as Galatea in Acis and Galatea, earning her the coveted Kolozsvár Award, in Purcell’s King Arthur, and as Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance for which The New York Times called her “the most polished and flexible singer in the cast.” Other roles performed include Marguerite (Faust), Violetta (La Traviata), Fiordiligi (Cosí fan tutte), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Musetta (La Bohème), Adele (Die Fledermaus), Maria (West Side Story), Maria (The Sound of Music), Clara (The Light in the Piazza), Gilda (Rigoletto), and Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro). Her concert credits include performances with The San Francisco Symphony, Munich Philharmonic, Santo Domingo Festival, the Vienna Konzerthaus, Carnegie Hall, Canadian Opera Orchestra, the Cleveland Pops, the Portland Symphony, the Jacksonville Symphony, the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, and concerts opposite Placido Domingo. She is a summa cum laude graduate of both Loyola and Yale Universities, performs frequently with Lyrica Baroque, and serves as a principal cantor at the St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans.  She has recorded three albums available on iTunes, Amazon, and www.sarahjanemcmahon.com.

Jaren Atherholt

The founder of Lyrica Baroque, Jaren Atherholt is Assistant Professor of Oboe at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and principal oboist of the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra. She previously served as principal oboist of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra for eleven seasons. A native of Alaska, Jaren has performed to stellar reviews as a featured concerto soloist and has been guest principal oboist with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Nashville Symphony, Detroit Symphony and International Chamber Orchestra of Puerto Rico, as well as guest associate principal oboist with the Pittsburgh and Atlanta Symphonies. Jaren spent four summers at the Marlboro Music Festival and currently performs each summer with the Grand Teton Music Festival. She has served on the faculty of John Mack Oboe Camp, Interlochen Arts Camp, the Wintergreen Music Academy, and the Vianden International Music School. Jaren plays Loree oboes.

Maureen Nelson

Violinist Maureen Nelson led the Grammy-nominated Enso String Quartet for nearly two decades, captivating audiences from major concert stages of the world, regularly concertizing throughout North America and abroad. Founded at Yale University in 1999, the quartet has been described by Strad magazine as “thrilling” and praised by the Washington Post for its “glorious sonorities…half honey, half molten lava.” The quartet quickly went on to win top prizes at the Concert Artists Guild competition and the Banff International String Quartet Competition. Classical Voice praised the ensemble as “one of the eminent string quartets of our era.” Along with a busy touring and teaching schedule, Maureen made numerous critically acclaimed recordings on the Naxos label with the Enso. 

While studying in Germany, she was concertmaster of the Detmolder Kammerochester and has been a member of the Houston-based River Oaks Chamber Orchestra since 2010. A native of Pennsylvania, Maureen was enrolled in Temple University’s Center for Gifted Young Musicians at the age of 12, and began attending the Curtis Institute of Music shortly thereafter. As a winner of the Greenfield Competition, Maureen appeared as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra when she was 16. Currently, Maureen lives in Minnesota and has been a member of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra since 2016.

Kayla Moffett

Recently appointed Principal Second Violin of the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, Kayla enjoys a diverse career of ensemble playing, chamber music, and teaching. Before working at the Kennedy Center, she played four seasons as a full-time member of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. She played on and wrote the liner notes for their Grammy award-winning album with internationally acclaimed violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja. Kayla has performed as a soloist on baroque programs with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the New World Symphony, where she was a fellow during the 2013-14 season. Kayla is also a member of the Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center and a regular attendee at the Lakes Area Music Festival in Brainerd, Minnesota. She also enjoys working as core member of Sound Impact, an organization that brings musical appreciation and training to underprivileged youth. She has been a fellow at Yellowbarn, Tanglewood Music Center, and the Lucerne festival in Switzerland.

Jacob Fowler

New Orleans-based cellist Jacob Fowler is the Founding Director of the Surf and Sounds Chamber Music Series (Outer Banks, North Carolina) which will celebrate its 8th season in August 2022. Mr. Fowler is a former tenured member of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra and former Principal Cellist of the Shen Yun Performing Arts Orchestra, with which he travelled throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. Mr. Fowler has also toured throughout China as a Principal Cellist of the Manhattan Symphonie. Along with these appointments, he was an adjunct cello professor at Virginia Wesleyan College, the Fei Tian Academy and Fei Tian College, and served as coach for Hampton Roads Chamber players for 5 years. As a chamber musician he has performed with the Harlem Quartet and the Manhattan Chamber Players and is also a Festival Artist at the Crescent City Chamber Music Festival in New Orleans, where he has performed with members of Dover and Escher Quartets and the Lysander Trio. He performs regularly with Fever’s Candlelight Concert Series in venues throughout New Orleans. Mr. Fowler was also a regular performer with the Norfolk Chamber Consort and the Hampton Roads Chamber Players, and a founding member of the New Commonwealth String Quartet while in Virginia. He has performed at Bargemusic in Brooklyn and has been a Festival Artist at the Festival de Febrero in Ajijic, Mexico in addition to Grand Canyon Music Festival in Arizona. In March of 2019, Mr. Fowler was a featured artist at the SXSW Festival performing in the HBO/Games of Thrones and American Red Cross production Bleed for the Throne, which received national coverage. Mr. Fowler can also be heard on the 2019 soundtrack recording of the Alley Theater production Constellations. Mr. Fowler has collaborated with Todd Rosenlieb Dance Company to perform the Suite for Solo Cello by Gaspar Cassadó with choreography by Ricardo Melendez, which opened with great success and was hailed by M.D. Ridge of Norfolk’s WHRO as “the pièce de résistance. [Mr. Fowler] sang sweetly…and the result was spectacular.

Jason Wells

Jason Wells is an avid performer, educator, and arts administrator based in Minneapolis, MN. He currently serves as the Executive Director of the 10th Wave Chamber Music Collective and is a substitute musician with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Jason had the pleasure of joining the SPCO for the 2024-2025 season, performing alongside outstanding musicians such as Tabea Zimmerman, Abel Selaocoe, Jasmine Choi, and others. Prior to this, he performed with various orchestras across the Midwest, including the Des Moines Symphony and the Sioux City Symphony. 

Beyond the classical stage, Jason is a sought-after bassist whose versatility spans genres from jazz and gospel to tango and folk. His diverse performance career has taken him across the United States and internationally. In 2023, he toured Qatar, Türkiye, and Bulgaria with the folk band Barbaro as part of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs program, American Music Abroad.

A passionate educator, Jason provides private bass lessons and leads workshops and coaching sessions at numerous middle and high schools throughout the Twin Cities metro area, as well as masterclasses at universities throughout the Midwest. He is also a dedicated champion of contemporary classical music, premiering new works for the bass and actively participating in the local new music scene. Jason plays an integral role in the community as a performer, educator, and arts leader.

He is an alumnus of Interlochen Arts Academy and earned his bachelor’s degree from DePaul University, where he studied under Robert Kassinger of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Amelia Clingman

Amelia Clingman lives in New Orleans, where she is a member of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. During summer months, she holds the position of Principal Viola with the Britt Festival Orchestra in Jacksonville, Oregon, and has also participated in the Oregon Bach Festival, Birdfoot Chamber Music Festival, and Crescent City Chamber Music Festival. In 2014, Amelia was named a Quarterfinalist in the Primrose International Viola Competition. As an avid chamber musician, she became a founding member of the New Orleans-based Polymnia Quartet in 2015, and the Electric Yat Quartet in 2020. Chamber music coaches have included Donald Weilerstein, Andrew Jennings, Norman Fischer, Ronald Copes, Astrid Schween, Steve Ansell, James Dunham, Doris Lederer, Kathy Murdock, Ani Kavafian, Lucy Chapman, Roman Totenberg, Joel Krosnick, Bonnie Hampton, Claude Frank, and the Borromeo, Lark, and St. Lawrence quartets.  

A new music enthusiast, Amelia has taken part in many world premieres, including performances and recordings with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project.  Amelia also enjoys crossing into other genres, performing with renowned artists including The Who, Peter Gabriel, Mumford and Sons, Tank and the Bangas, Big Freedia, and Anders Osborne. 

Ms. Clingman graduated from UMass Amherst with a BM in Violin Performance, and completed her Master’s degree in Viola Performance at the New England Conservatory. She has attended the Heifetz and Kneisel Hall music festivals, and served as a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center from 2007-2009. Teachers include Marylou Speaker Churchill, James Buswell, Ed Gazouleas, Carol Rodland, and Kathryn Lockwood.

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