Join us for a special collaboration between the Baltimore School for the Arts Music Department and The Johns Hopkins Choral Society in a performance of Choral Director Mark Hardy’s Requiem, featuring soloists Öznur Tülüoğlu, Lori Hultgren, Kyle Engler, and Jason Widney.
LOCATION: Saints Philip and James Catholic Church
2801 North Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21218
Praised for her “ravishing voice” and “compelling” stage presence, Turkish-American soprano Öznur Tülüoğlu is establishing herself as a young, rising artist “destined for bigger things.” Oz recently performed as Younger Alyce with Greensboro Opera and appeared as the soprano soloist in Carmina Burana with the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic. In the upcoming season, she will make her role debut as Pamina in The Magic Flute with Mobile Opera, and perform Le Feu and Le Rossignol in L’enfant et les sortilèges.
In recent engagements, Oz was an Apprentice artist with Chautauqua Opera, where she performed the roles of Young Woman in the world premiere of the monodrama A.E. Reverie, Camila in Pepito, and Sandman in Hansel and Gretel. She also appeared as the Soprano Soloist in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Chautauqua Symphony. Oz’s latest season showcases her versatility with roles such as Gilda at Mobile Opera, Young Alyce (Glory Denied) at Annapolis Opera, Aspasia (Mitridate) at Opera Neo, and Barbarina (Le Nozze di Figaro) at Annapolis Opera. Additionally, she performed at Washington National Opera, premiering the role of The Pigeon in Carlos Simon’s new children’s operetta, Don’t Let the Pigeon Sing Up Late!, alongside Renée Fleming and Mo Willems.
Oz began the 2022/2023 season making her international debut, performing the role of Sandrina in a co-production of La finta giardiniera with Opera Neo and The Hungarian State Opera. She also joined Opera Neo as an Apprentice Artist at their San Diego summer festival, performed the role of Micaela in Loudoun Lyric Opera’s production of Carmen, and made her house debut with Annapolis Opera as Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro. Öznur has achieved recognition as a finalist in prestigious competitions such as the Jensen Foundation Competition, the Opera Mississippi John Alexander National Vocal Competition, and the Music International Grand Prix Competition. In 2022, she won 3rd place at the AIMS in Graz Vocal Competition and recently received the Encouragement Award from The Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition.
Öznur is a graduate of the University of Maryland, Maryland Opera Studio, where she earned her Master of Music in opera performance, studying under Gran Wilson. Notable engagements with the opera studio include Mrs. Coyle in Britten’s Owen Wingrave alongside the National Orchestral Institute, and Arminda in Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera. She also premiered the role of Woman 1 in the new work Four Freedoms by Joseph C. Phillips during her time at MOS. Öznur earned her Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance at the New England Conservatory, where she made her operatic debut as Damigella in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea. Her enthusiasm for score study extends to music theory, as Oz worked with published musicologist Deborah Stein to complete a minor in music theory with a focus on Schubert Lieder during her studies at NEC.
American Soprano Lori Hultgren is an alumnus of Indiana University where she earned her Bachelor, Master, and post graduate work in voice. Ms. Hultgren began her professional career as a mezzo soprano singing such roles as: Dorabella in Mozart’s Cosi fan Tutte, Octavian in Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier, the title role in Bizet’s Carmen, Maddalena in Verdi’s Rigoletto, and Giulietta in Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann.
She made her soprano debut singing the title role in Richard Strauss’ opera Ariadne auf Naxos and reprised the role with the Britten-Pears program in Aldeburgh England. Ms. Hultgren’s concert appearances have included Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde and Kindertotenlieder, Ravel’s Sheherazade, Britten’s War Requiem, Mozart Requiem, Verdi Requiem, Pouenc’s Gloria and Strauss’ Vier Letzte Lieder.
In concert and on stage, Ms. Hultgren has been praised by The Baltimore Sun as a young dramatic soprano whose “interpretive ardor is contagious.” She has performed roles with St. Louis Opera, Nashville Opera, Chattanooga Opera, Annapolis Opera, Opera Vivente, Baltimore Opera, Britten-Pears, Peabody Conservatory, and Indiana University. Ms. Hultgren has also been a featured soloist and recitalist with the Indianapolis Symphony, Nashville Symphony, Peabody Symphony, Pueblo Symphony, Richmond Philharmonic Orchestra, Marquette Symphony, Hopkins Symphony Orchestra, Columbia Symphony, Britten-Pears Orchestra, Wigmore Hall, Music in the Great Hall, and the Greenwich Music Festival. Ms. Hultgren is the division leader of the voice department at Towson University and a member of the voice faculty at The Baltimore school for the Arts.
Mezzo Soprano Kyle Engler has been praised for her extreme versatility in both operatic and chamber music. The Baltimore Sun has called her “… a virtuoso of a high order” and “dramatic and visceral.” As a performer on the operatic stage, she has sung the roles of the Secretary in Menotti’s The Consul with the Washington Opera, Charlotte in Werther, Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte, Lucretia in The Rape of Lucretia, Mercedes in Carmen, Indiana Elliott in The Mother of Us All, and Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro among others. Engler has also participated in the world premiers of several new operas. In January, 2005 she performed to great reviews when cast by Placido Domingo to premier the role of Lydia Dudley in Washington National Opera’s production of Democracy, An American Comedy by Scott Wheeler. She was also invited to perform in Augusta Read-Thomas’ opera Ligeia, commissioned and conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich, at the Recontres musicales d’Evian in Evian, France.
Engler has been an Apprentice Artist with the Lake George Opera Festival and the Sarasota Opera Festival, and has toured and performed throughout Europe with the Ravel Trio and The Pennsylvania Academy of Music. She has been featured with several orchestras throughout North America performing works such as Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Elgar’s Sea Pictures, Berlioz’s Les Nuit d’Été, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, and Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen. She has also performed with longtime collaborator Daniel Lau in solo recitals at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Recent performances and releases include solo recitals and concerts throughout the United States and Europe.
An advocate of contemporary works and an active chamber musician, audiences have enjoyed her performances of Berio’s Circles and Folksongs, the United States premier of Ann Boyd’s My Name is Tian, Crumb’s Night of the Four Moons, Federico’s Little Songs for Children, and John Harbison’s Mirabai Songs. Engler is a member of the Morpheus Trio along with pianist Daniel Lau and hornist Larry Williams and Director of Choral Studies at McDaniel College.
Praised by the Washington Post as “velvety voiced,” Jason Widney is a versatile performer and pedagogue. A frequent oratorio soloist, he performs regularly with the Washington Bach Consort making solo appearances in the Noontime Cantata Series and both the Saint John and Saint Matthew Passions. He has performed as a soloist in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and the Schütz Requiem with New Dominion Chorale and the St. Matthew Passion with Bach in Baltimore. He has also appeared as a soloist with the Handel Choir of Baltimore in Vaughan William’s Mass in G minor and Handel’s Messiah, and with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in Uematsu’s Distant Worlds: The Music from Final Fantasy. His opera credits include Schaunard in Puccini’s La bohème, Dancaïro in Bizet’s Carmen, and Wagner in Gounod’s Faust with the Baltimore Concert Opera and Don Inigo in Ravel’s L’heure espagnole with the Baltimore Opera Company. Jason also enjoys art song repertoire and is a frequent performer with Baltimore Musicales as well as performing solo recitals.
Jason is proud to sing in the choir of the Washington National Cathedral where he has performed solos in Bach’s Saint Matthew Passion, the Duruflé and Howells Requiems, the Monteverdi Vespers of 1610 and Handel’s Israel in Egypt. Jason has performed with several chamber vocal ensembles including Cathedra, The Thirteen, Chantry, District 8 and the Bridge Ensemble. In addition to performing, Jason enjoys a robust teaching career, serving on the faculties of Towson University and the University of Maryland Baltimore County.
$20