Description

Come join us as we step into Wagner’s world, where love, loyalty, and redemption burn at the heart of opera’s most unforgettable heroines. In this fun and engagingly narrated concert, we’ll explore the women who shaped Wagner’s life and discover how his search for loyalty and faithfulness in turn shaped the unforgettable heroines of his operas. Experience these towering figures and timeless themes brought vividly to life by soaring voices performed in a way you’ve never heard them before; up close and personal. The Berlin Wagner Group is an international opera company based in Berlin, Germany and New Hampshire dedicated to supporting dramatic opera singers in mastering new roles and bringing the works of Richard Wagner to broader and underserved audiences. We achieve this through innovative programming, including full opera productions, semi-staged highlight concerts, and our signature Snackable Wagner© concert series. Performers: Award-winning soprano Jenny Ribeiro has been seen on opera, concert and recital stages throughout the United States and Europe. Roles include Ortlinde in Die Walküre, Dritte Norn in Götterdämmerung, Mrs. McNeill in Breaking the Waves, Giulietta in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Musetta and Mimi in La Boheme, Gretel in Hansel and Gretel, Nella in Gianni Schicchi, Lady Macbeth and Dama in Lady Macbeth, Geraldine in A Hand of Bridge, and Lady Billows in Albert Herring. Jenny has performed with Detroit Opera, Teatro Nuovo, Bard Summerscape Theater, New York Dramatic Voices Opera Noire of New York, Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra, Lansing Symphony Orchestra, Bremerton Symphony Orchestra, The Collegiate Chorale, New York Virtuoso Singers, Hudson Valley Singers, and Altoona Symphony Orchestra, and many others. She is a frequent recitalist and interpreter of concert work and oratorio, including Mahler’s Symphony No. 2., Brahms Requiem, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Verdi’s Requiem and more. She is also a wife to amazing husband Brian, mom to two kids (Josh/10 and Kiki/8) and a producer/educator/company administrator who teaches as a full time professor at Albion College in Michigan, is on the board of the international non-profit Berlin Wagner Group and is the founder of Michigan Opera Outreach in Lansing, MI. Dramatic soprano Joanna Parisi has earned international acclaim for her commanding performances in Wagner, Verdi, and verismo repertoire. In 2026 she will sing the title role of Salome by Richard Strauss at West Bay Opera in California. Recent Wagnerian highlights include Brünnhilde in Die Walküre with the Miami Wagner Institute (2024) and New York Dramatic Voices (2025), and Brünnhilde in Götterdämmerung with the Moravian Symphony Orchestra (2025). She sang Elsa in Wagner’s Lohengrin at Utah Festival Opera (2023). Parisi is a finalist of the 2024 Lauritz Melchior International Wagner Competition in Aalborg, Denmark, and a winner of both the Maria Callas Award (Rome/New York, 2022) and Enrico Caruso Award (New York, 2023). She has also appeared in leading roles across Europe, Asia, North and South America, including Verdi’s Aida, Don Carlo, Nabucco and Il trovatore, as well as Puccini’s Tosca and Madama Butterfly. Critics have described her as “born to sing Wagnerian roles” and “a soprano to watch, rich in voice and beauty”. Mezzo/contralto Rachel Barg is acclaimed for her “wondrous depth of sound” (Opera News) and “plummy mezzo” (Opera Today). Earlier this year, she performed the role of Mrs. Herring in Albert Herring with Opera Baltimore. In the 2023-2024 season, Rachel showcased her versatility singing Giovanna and covering Maddalena in Opera Delaware and Opera Baltimore’s co-production of Rigoletto, as well as singing Larina and covering Olga in Eugene Onegin with Opera Baltimore. Additionally, she covered Amneris in Aida at Opera Maine. During the 2022-2023 season, Rachel was a Gerdine Young Artist at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, where she performed as Mrs. Ott in Patricia Racette’s production of Susannah, and portrayed Tisbe in Opera Maine’s La Cenerentola. CCMS Faculty and Pianist Kathryn Southworth holds a B.M. in Piano Performance from Oberlin Conservatory and an M.M. in Vocal Accompanying and Coaching from the University of Illinois. She held a graduate assistantship as staff accompanist under the tutelage of acclaimed accompanist John Wustman and served as a musical ambassador to Costa Rica with soprano Ollie Watts Davis. She has been a collaborative pianist for Opera North, Dartmouth College, Plymouth State University, and Boston Ballet, and has also served as music director, accompanist, and organist for many theater and choral groups in New England. Kathy is currently music director and organist for the Canterbury United Community Church. Former faculty positions include St. Paul’s School and Plymouth State University. CCMS Faculty and Soprano Jennie O’Brien is a graduate of Boston University with Bachelor of Music, one in Vocal Performance and the other in Music Education and a Master’s in Education from University of Massachusetts Boston specializing in teaching students with visual impairments. A soloist for several area churches, Jennie has also performed with Newton Choral Society, Longy Chamber Singers, Broadmoor Chamber Singers, Vokes Theater, Revels, Inc., In Good Company, and her own trio Crooked Mowth. Jennie teaches voice, theatre arts, vocal ensembles, and independent living skills at Perkins School for the Blind. Jennie also teaches at New England Conservatory in the Continuing Education department and is a board member of the theater group, In Good Company. This performance is made possible in part by the City of Concord, the Ellen Downing Waite and Edward Osgood Waite Fund of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, and the generosity of individual donors. It is part of CCMS’s Concord Classical Concerts series.