Appearing September 21, 2025
Christoph Hammer is one of the most distinguished and versatile musicians in the field of early music today. After winning a first prize in the organ division of the German Young Performers Competition “Jugend musiziert” in 1983, he studied organ at the Munich Academy of Music, taking master classes with various renowned specialists in historical keyboard instruments. At the same time he studied literature and musicology at the University of Munich and at the University of California, Los Angeles on a scholarship from the Maximilianeum Foundation Munich and the German National Academic Foundation.
Since 1989, Hammer has focused on playing historical keyboard instruments, especially the Hammerklavier / fortepiano. He has achieved an international reputation as a soloist and Lied accompanist, as well as a chamber musician. A great number of CD and radio recordings document his musical activity.
From 1996 to 2009 Christoph Hammer has been the musical director of the baroque orchestra “Neue Hofkapelle München”, with which he has made various world premiere recordings, and in 2003 he founded the Residenz Festival Munich. As a conductor also has worked with orchestras such as the Baden State Orchestra, the Bremen Philharmonic and the Bruckner Orchestra Linz. In 2002 he was awarded the Cultural Prize of the State of Bavaria for his numerous activities in the field of early music, and he received an Award of Recognition from the Bavarian People’s Foundation in 2004. In addition to his performance activities, Hammer is especially dedicated to the rediscovery of lesser known composers, and researches and edits their works. He has given master classes at the Prague Conservatory, Yale University, the Julliard School, Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow and others. Christoph Hammer was appointed professor of historical keyboard instruments at the University of North Texas USA in the summer of 2009. Since summer 2013 he is professor at the Leopold Mozart Center of the Augsburg University. Mr Hammer serves also as the president of the Deutsche Mozart-Gesellschaft and advisor for the Bechstein collection of historic keyboard instruments and other instrument collections.
Appearing September 21, 2025
Rufus Müller The British/German tenor was acclaimed by The New York Times following a performance in Carnegie Hall as "...easily the best tenor I have heard in a live Messiah." He is a leading Evangelist's in Bach's Passions and his unique dramatic interpretation of this role has confirmed his status as one of the world's most sought-after performers (“a sensational Evangelist”- New York Times). Rufus is also a leading recitalist, performing worldwide for twelve years with celebrated pianist Maria João Pires.
In addition to Rufus’ success in live opera and oratorio, he has made numerous recordings; the latest, for Beethoven's 250th anniversary year and produced during the pandemic, is O Sweet Were the Hours on Rubicon Classics (London), a collection of Beethoven's settings of Scottish Folksongs with period-instrument ensemble Hammer Clavier Trio.
The 2024 season included Haydn’s “Jupiter’s Journey to Earth” with Little Opera Theatre of New York, the title rôle in Mozart’s “La Clemenza di Tito” in Tokyo, “Messiah” in New York and Pennsylvania, Bach “St. Matthew Passion” in Washington National Cathedral, masterclasses in Japan, and a residency in Boston University. Rufus is Professor of Music at Bard College.
Appearing January 18, 2026
With a voice of “extraordinary suppleness and beauty” (The New York Times), GRAMMY-Nominated American soprano Teresa Wakim won First Place in the International Competition for Early Music in Brunnenthal, Austria, and was nominated for a GRAMMY in 2020 for the role of La Musique in Charpentier’s Les Plaisirs de Versailles with the Boston Early Music Festival (BEMF). Also with BEMF she recorded the role of Flore in their 2015 GRAMMY-Award Winning album of Charpentier’s La Descente d’Orphee aux Enfers. Other solo recordings include BEMF’s Acis & Galatea in the title role, Handel’s Almira, Charpentier’s Acteon, Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate and Coronation Mass with the Handel and Haydn Society, and the GRAMMY-Nominated recording of Brahms’ German Requiem with Seraphic Fire. She has performed as soloist with The Cleveland Orchestra, The San Francisco Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic, Iowa Symphony, Houston Symphony, Charlotte Symphony, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, BEMF, Wiener Akademie, Pacific Musicworks, Apollo’s Fire, the Handel and Haydn Society, Musica Angelica, Festival Bach Montreal, Boston Baroque, and Mercury Baroque, When not performing, Tess can be found caring for her young daughter, and discussing all things blue whales and space exploration with her scientist husband in Boston, MA.
Appearing January 18, 2026
Grammy Award winning tenor Aaron Sheehan has quickly established himself as one of the leading American tenors of his generation. His voice is heard regularly in concert halls around the world, and he is equally comfortable in repertoire ranging from oratorio and chamber music to the opera stage. His singing has taken him to many festivals and venues, including Berlin StaatsOper, the Concertgebouw, Tanglewood, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Royal Opera of Versailles, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Théâtre des Champs Elysées, the early music festivals of Boston, San Francisco, Houston, Tucson, Washington, D.C., and Madison. Known especially for his Baroque interpretations, Aaron has made a name as a first-rate singer of oratorios and cantatas. He has appeared as soloist in concert with Boston Early Music Festival, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Les Violons du Roy, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Seattle Symphony,Tafelmusik, National Symphony Orchestra of Peru, Calgary Philharmonic, San Juan Symphony, American Bach Soloists, Handel and Haydn Society, Boston Baroque, Victoria Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Symphony Nova Scotia, Charlotte Symphony, Carmel Bach Festival, Charleston Bach Festival, Baltimore Handel Choir, Tempesta di Mare, Pacific MusicWorks, Opera Lafayette, Aston Magna Festival, Bach Collegium San Diego, Tragicomedia, Folger Consort, and Les Voix Baroques. Aaron is on the voice faculty of Boston University.
Appearing May 3, 2026
Paul O'Dette has been described as “the clearest case of genius ever to touch his instrument.” (Toronto Globe and Mail) One of the most influential figures in his field, O'Dette has helped define the technical and stylistic standards to which twenty-first-century performers of early music aspire. In doing so, he helped infuse the performance practice movement with a perfect combination of historical awareness, idiomatic accuracy, and ambitious self-expression. His performances at the major international festivals in Vienna, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Prague, Budapest, Cracow, Milan, Florence, Zurich, Geneva, Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Tokyo, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Melbourne, Adelaide, Boston, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Berkeley, York, Edinburgh, Montpellier, Utrecht, Brussels, Bruges, Antwerp, Bremen, Dresden, Innsbruck, Tenerife, Copenhagen, Oslo, etc. have often been singled out as the highlight of those events. Mr. O'Dette is also active conducting Baroque operas. His recording of Charpentier’s La Descente d’Orphée aux Enfers with Stephen Stubbs and the Boston Early Music Festival Chamber Ensemble won a Grammy for “Best Opera Recording of 2014,” as well as an Echo Klassik Award in the same category. In 1997, together with Stephen Stubbs, he directed performances of Luigi Rossi's L'Orfeo at Tanglewood, the Boston Early Music Festival (BEMF) and the Drottningholm Court Theatre in Sweden. Since 1999 they have co-directed performances of Cavalli's Ercole Amante at the Boston Early Music Festival, Tanglewood, and the Utrecht Early Music Festival, Provenzale's La Stellidaura Vendicata at the Vadstena Academy in Sweden, Monteverdi's Orfeo and L'Incoronazione di Poppea for Festival Vancouver, Lully's Thésée, Conradi’s Ariadne (Hamburg, 1691) Mattheson’s Boris Goudenow, Lully’s Psyché, Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, Poppea, and Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, Handel’s Acis and Galatea, Agostino Steffani’s Niobe and Orlando generoso, Handel’s Almira, Campra’s Le Carnaval de Venise, Telemann’s Pimpinone, and a double bill of Pergolesi’s La Serva Padrona and Livietta e Tracollo for the Boston Early Music Festival. Six of their opera recordings have been nominated for Grammy awards, including Ariadne as “Best Opera Recording of 2005,” Thésée in 2007, Psyché in 2008, La Descente d’Orphée aux Enfers in 2014, Niobe in 2015 and Charpentier’s Les Arts Florissants in 2019. The recording of Steffani’s Niobe, was awarded a Diapason D’or de l’année, an Echo Klassik Award and the prestigious Jahrespreis der Deutschenschallplattenkritik. O'Dette has directed numerous Baroque orchestras and opera productions on both sides of the Atlantic. Paul O'Dette has made more than 155 recordings, winning two Grammys, receiving eight Grammy nominations, 7 Diapason D’Or de L’année, 12 Diapason d’Or, 2 Echo Klassik Awards, a Jahrespreis der Deutschenschallplattenkritik, 7 Grammophone nominations, and numerous other international record awards. “The Complete Lute Music of John Dowland” (a 5-CD set for harmonia mundi usa), was awarded the prestigious Diapason D'or de l'année and selected as the “Best Solo Lute Recording of Dowland” by BBC Radio 3. “The Bachelar’s Delight: Lute Music of Daniel Bacheler” was nominated for a Grammy as “Best Solo Instrumental Recording of 2006.” In addition to his activities as a performer, Paul O'Dette is an avid researcher, having worked extensively on the performance and sources of seventeenth-century Italian and English solo song, Italian, German and French Baroque opera, basso continuo practices and instrumental music. He has published numerous articles on issues of historical performance practice and co-authored the Dowland entry in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Paul O'Dette is Professor of Lute and Director of Early Music at the Eastman School of Musicand Artistic Co-Director of the Boston Early Music Festival.