About the Soloists and Performers
Molly Quinn
Soprano Molly Quinn continues to delight audiences around the globe with “a voice that blooms like ink in clear water” (Cleveland Classical Review). She has collaborated with many of America’s brightest and most innovative musicians. She has been featured in numerous large-scale projects by legendary presenters, including The Lincoln Center White Lights Festival, Moscow’s Gold Mask Festival, BAM Next Wave Festival, Bang on a Can marathon, and Carnegie Hall. She is a festival soloist at The Staunton Music Festival. She has performed in noted international venues including Shostakovich Hall in St Petersburg, Teatro National de Costa Rica, Vancouver’s Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, and San Cristobal Cathedral in Havana, Cuba. Ms. Quinn received a master’s degree from Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and was awarded the prestigious Virginia Best Adam Fellowship in 2012. Season highlights include a return visit to the Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival, John Rutter’s Requiem at Carnegie Hall, Craig Hella Johnson’s Considering Matthew Shepard, recording of Monteverdi Vespers with The Thirteen, and the role of “Amor” in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Eurydice conducted by Lorenzo Muti.
Christopher Short
Christopher Short, bass-baritone, is from Raleigh, North Carolina. He hopes to use music as a bridge to connect people with their surrounding community through artful storytelling in performance, localized philanthropic efforts, arts administration, and educational outreach work. Christopher graduated in 2019 from the East Carolina University School of Music as a double major in Vocal Performance and Music Theory/Composition. He is a member of the US VOCES8 Scholars program, travels the country as a teaching artist with the VOCES8 Foundation, serves as the Executive Director of the professional vocal ensemble, Servire, Director of Development for the Raleigh Youth Choir and is an award-winning composer. In his free time, Christopher has a passion for cooking extravagant meals, traveling, spending time with his fiancé and dog, as well as watching his favorite sports teams.
Tamsin Simmill
English mezzo-soprano Tamsin Simmill began her career singing traditional Anglican church repertoire. As a student at Oxford, she toured in Denmark, Germany, Jakarta and Hong Kong; sang and recorded with Emma Kirkby and the Consort of Musicke; premiered works by Arvo Pärt in France with the Western Wind and Hilliard Ensembles; and, with the Finzi Singers, premiered vocal works by modern British composers, recording on the Chandos label. Tamsin moved to the US in 1999. She has performed with the Duke Vespers Ensemble, the Vocal Arts Ensemble of Durham and Duke Collegium Musicum, and is a familiar figure on local concert platforms. Tamsin is a charter member of the NC Symphony Chamber Choir and of the Raleigh Bach Soloists. She has performed as a soloist at Chapel of the Cross, and is a guest singer with the NC Baroque Chamber Orchestra and with El Fuego, a group specializing in Spanish and New World Baroque music.
Mallarmé Music
Mallarmé Music is a flexible ensemble of professional musicians based in Durham, North Carolina, whose mission is to enrich the lives of the community through outstanding chamber music performance. The ensemble distinguishes itself in the community by its innovative educational programs, its commitment to creative collaboration with other organizations, its creation of significant new work and its dedication to serve a diverse population. Created in 1984 by musicians Jane Hawkins and Anna Ludwig Wilson working with poet and arts administrator Margaret DeMott, the ensemble’s name comes from Stephane Mallarmé, the nineteenth-century French poet and philosopher who believed that true art is created through a unity of music, dance, literature and the visual arts. For the evening’s performance, the Mallarmé musicians perform on period instruments at standard Baroque pitch, a half-step below modern pitch.
Paul Harris, Director of Music
Paul Harris grew up in Northern Virginia, but has lived much of his adult life in St. Louis and Kansas City. He has degrees in music from Oberlin College (harpsichord performance) and Washington University, St. Louis (performance practice). He spent a year in Amsterdam studying harpsichord performance under a Fulbright grant with the late Gustav Leonhardt. His teachers have included Lisa Crawford, William Porter and Nicholas McGegan. He also studied church music at the University of Kansas (Lawrence) with James Higdon and Michael Bauer. Paul has served in church music ministry for over 30 years and has been director of music ministry and organist at Holy Trinity Anglican Church for 14 years. He is married to Cynthia, an accomplished musician, and they have two daughters and one granddaughter.
