Andrea Chenoweth Wells
Meet Andrea Chenoweth Wells, soprano
Performance As Expression
Andrea Chenoweth Wells is an exceptional performance artist who has graced the stages of orchestras and opera across the United States and internationally, from Carnegie Hall to Japan to the Benjamin and Marion Schuster Center in Dayton, Ohio. Known for her consistency, commitment to text, and beauty of tone, she has made regular appearances with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Cleveland Opera, and Dayton Opera. She is a proponent of new music and has collaborated with many living composers, including Libby Larsen, Joseph Summer, Jack Perla, Scott Gendel, Jonathon Sheffer, and Monica Houghton. She is an active recitalist who delights in the collaborative process. In addition to her live performances, Andrea Chenoweth Wells is also featured on several recordings of works with text by Shakespeare on the Parma label. Her exceptional vocal talent and passion for music shine through in these recordings, making them a must-listen for any fan of classical music.
Upcoming Performances
October 9, 2024 at 7pm
Roger Glass Center for the Performing Arts, University of Dayton
Faculty Artist Recital: 20th century Chamber Music for Soprano
featuring Neal Gittleman, music director, Aaron Brant, horn, Christina Coletta, cello, Ji-Hyang Gwak, piano and harpsichord, John Kurokawa, clarinet, Eric Morin, horn, Youjin Na, violin, Jon Newlie, percussion, and Heather Verbeck, flute
October 19, 2024 at 8pm
Marsh Chapel
Boston University
Shakespeare Concerts
featuring Brendan Shapiro, music director, Omar Najmi, tenor, Vera Savage, mezzosoprano, and the Ulysses Quartet
Selected Past Performances
Orchestral Solos
Bach's Magnificat in D, Christmas Oratorio, St. John's Passion, Mass in B flat
Beethoven's Symphony No. 9
Faure's Requiem
Handel's Messiah & Judas Maccabeus
Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass, Mass in E Flat
Mendelssohn's Elijah, Midsummer Night's Dream
Mozart's Exsultate Jubilate, Requiem, Mass in c minor, Coronation Mass,
Regina coeli, Vesprae domenica
Rutter's Magnificat
Schubert's Mass in G
Vaughan-Willliams's Dona nobis pacem
Verdi's Requiem
Vivaldi's Gloria
Operatic Roles
Foreign Woman, Menotti's The Consul
Juno, Summer's The Tempest
Kitty Hart, Heggie's Dead Man Walking
First Lady, Mozart's The Magic Flute
High Priestess, Verdi's Aida
Atalanta, Handel's Xerxes
Lucia, Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor
Fiordiligi, Mozart's Cosi fan tutte
Discography
Andrea's commercially available recordings have been widely praised for the beauty of her tone and her ability to sing complex contemporary classical music with ease. Experience the magic of her voice with her latest recordings.
The first offering Navona’s The Shakespeare Concerts Series. Original chamber and vocal compositions set to Shakespeare’s dramas and sonnets and the poetry of Milton and Yeats
The second installment in The Shakespeare Concerts Series, Features works inspired by Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by Brahms, Strauss, Berlioz, Saint-Saëns, Schumann, and Joseph Summer
The third offering in The Shakespeare Concerts Series, which presents several works that are reflections on feminine divinity, from the literal to the figurative
The fourth offering in The Shakespeare Concerts Series presents original works and pieces by composers from the 18th through the 21st centuries that celebrate the myth of Orpheus.
The fifth offering in The Shakespeare Concerts Series takes the story of The Tempest and presents a variety of works from the 18th to the 21st centuries that set texts and depict themes from Shakespeare’s play.
The sixth album honoring The Shakespeare Concerts Series.
A collection of Shakespeare’s works set to music that will make you question everything you thought you learned in high school English. Summer believes that the famous playwright’s true identity is not William Shakespeare but rather Edward De Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford. Much like Shakespeare, Summer keeps his audience engaged by constantly exploding their expectations. From one track to the next, the listener can never be quite sure what they are going to hear, and this keeps the ear at rapt attention.
The result of the composer’s lifelong obsession with poetry. The album pairs the works of contemporary poets as well as Shakespeare with Summer’s music in order to express deeper significance than either words or music are capable of on their own. The marriage of music and poetry is both ancient and elemental. In his musical settings, Summer plums a region of the human soul rarely exposed in the bustle of daily life.
Composer Joseph Summer, who has been fascinated with Shakespeare for most of his life, has composed The Tempest. Summer is founder and executive director of The Shakespeare Concerts, which presents recitals and recordings of music inspired by the immortal bard. Summer comments that "Everything that Shakespeare limned in The Tempest is about the life of my family, in fine detail. It’s not as if incidents of The Tempest make brief appearances, or indeed, happen only once. The plot elements embrace us repeatedly." He goes on to relate his family’s banishment from Tennessee; sojourns on desert islands; and being adrift in the Indian Ocean.
A love of poetry lies at the core of Monica Houghton’s A BREATH OF AIR from Navona Records. She has set to music not only lyrical giants such as Whitman and Dickinson, but also some contemporary poets with their own magnificent lyrical gifts. These soul-touching works are performed to the highest possible standard by select world-class singers and accompanists. A perfect symbiosis on all fronts.