Choir of the New Jerusalem

Nina Evelyn Anderson is a performer whose mission is to diversify the classical music canon. This season, she is presenting a recital with musical settings of Langston
Hughes’ poetry by Black composers at Boston Conservatory as well as performing at the African American Art Song Alliance’s 25th Anniversary conference. Additionally, she
is making her role debut as Susannah Polk in Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah at Boston Conservatory.

Highlights from last season include making her Symphony Hall debut as a soloist in the New England premiere of Adolphus Hailstork’s cantata Crispus Attucks, covering Lady Billows in Britten’s Albert Herring, and performing the role of Mother in excerpts of Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors with Maryland Opera. Her notable awards include Second Place in the George Shirley Vocal Competition and Best Performance
of a Work by a BIPOC Composer in the Calliope’s Call Young Singer Art Song Competition.

This spring, she will complete her graduate studies at Boston Conservatory at Berklee and receive a Master of Music degree in Opera Performance. In her free time, Nina loves to experiment in the kitchen making new dishes for her friends and family!

Nina’s YouTube Channel

Lisa Sheppard Hadley engages her audience by effortlessly singing in several musical styles while portraying various interesting characters. Her performances inhabit stunning musical and visual effects with well thought out programming executed to surely please all audiences. A highly motivated actress, Lisa has performed self-directed, productive roles in venues widely ranging from schools to retirement communities, libraries to mansions and churches to performance halls. A poised and charismatic performer who quickly masters new repertoire in a broad range of musical styles, Lisa’s mezzo-soprano voice has recently been heard throughout New England as a soloist, with several Boston based vocal ensembles, and in a vocal/piano duo co-founded with her sister.

Lisa has recently returned from a 2022 summer tour in Spain with Labyrinth Choir. Prior to leaving for Spain she finished recording her second CD with Cappella Clausura, (music of Hillary Tann) in Chestmut Hill, MA. In December of 2020, Lisa performed an online concert at The Church On The Hill, Boston, entitled “A Walk Of Renewal”. Along with her composer /pianist sister, Dr. Suzanne Sheppard, The Sheppard Sisters performed an original story written by Lisa, with intermittent musical excerpts scattered throughout the story, written by Suzanne and various other composers. The Sheppard Sisters have received eleven Massachusetts Cultural Council grants for several original concerts.

Annina Hsieh is a Boston-based soprano and educator. She is excited to begin her second year as a member of the Choir of the New Jerusalem. Praised for her sensitivity as a performer, Annina strives to connect with audiences in opera and recital settings, and was the 2019 winner of the Handel and Haydn Society’s Barbara E. Maze Award for Musical Excellence. She completed her Master of Music in Vocal Performance at Cleveland Institute of Music, and her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance at Ithaca College.

As a teacher, Annina works with students to develop and use their natural voice to express themselves through song. She maintains teaching studios in Boston and Lexington. Her students have been accepted into college programs for Vocal Performance and Musical Theater. In addition, she is a Teaching Artist on the Handel and Haydn Society’s Educational Faculty where she works with their high school ensembles.

Website  |  Strauss Recording  |  Laitman Recording

Born in Las Vegas, Nevada, Mary Kray (Mezzo Soprano) received her Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance at Northern Arizona University in 2020. Kray is currently attending Boston Conservatory at Berklee to pursue a Master of Music degree in Opera Performance. She has performed the roles of Third Lady in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Margaret in Guettel’s The Light in the Piazza, Principessa in Puccini’s Suor Angelica, Zita in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, as well as Sesto in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito. In addition to Kray’s experience in opera, she has performed as the alto soloist in oratorios such as Bach’s Magnificat, Vivaldi’s Gloria, and Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. Kray was awarded the Metropolitan Opera Encouragement Award in 2018, and the MONC Arizona District Winner award in 2019 and 2020. In 2021, Kray received an encouragement award at the Regional level of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Kray attended Musiktheater Bavaria in 2019 where she worked under the direction of world class coaches and teachers in Oberaudorf, Germany.

Kray began her own teaching practice in 2020 in which she guides her students to healthy singing techniques and a better understanding of music theory. She has been involved with Arlington Children’s Theater as their lead music instructor where she specialized in building musicianship in an engaging classroom setting. Kray has been a part of The Choir of the New Jerusalem since 2021, and she looks forward to furthering her education and career in classical vocal performance.

Nicholas Mariani is a 29 year old classically trained lyric tenor. He earned a bachelor’s of music in music education in 2015 at The Crane School of Music in Potsdam, NY, where he studied voice under the late Dr. Lonel Woods. He then earned a graduate equivalency certificate in Music Therapy in 2017 at Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, VA, where he studied voice under Dr Byron Jones. He holds a board certification in music therapy (MT-BC), as well as a certification in Hospice and Palliative Care Music Therapy. In addition to voice, Nick has also studied piano, classical guitar, and double bass during his undergraduate and graduate coursework.
Nick has extensive choral experience, performing with the Crane Concert Choir and Shenandoah Conservatory Chamber Choir. He’s had the privilege singing under the baton’s of renown conductors like Dr Ann Howard Jones, Christof Perick, the late Larry Rachleff, and grammy award-winner Robert Shafer. He’s performed numerous choral masterworks such as Britten’s War Requiem, Orff’s Carmina Burana, and Verdi’s Requiem, the latter being at Avery Fisher Hall in NYC for The Crane School of Music’s 125th anniversary. Nick’s opera experience includes singing Don Basilio from Le Nozze di Figaro (Opera Scenes at Crane School of Music) and singing in the Berkshire Opera Festival Chorus in the summer of 2017. He also has extensive experience as a professional church musician, singing both in choirs and as a Cantor since 2013.
Nick has sung with the Choir of the New Jerusalem since September 2021, and looks forward to another year at Church on the Hill!

Max Rydqvist, baritone, graduated magna cum laude with a Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the College of Fine Arts at Boston University (2018) and holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the State University of New York at Binghamton (2016). Recent stage roles include Ping in Puccini’s “Turandot,” Papageno and Der Sprecher in Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte,” Barone Douphol in Verdi’s “La Traviata,” ” Angelo in Wagner’s “Das Liebesverbot,” Ben in Menotti’s “The Telephone,” David in Samuel Barber’s “A Hand of Bridge,” and A-Rab in Leonard Bernstein’s “West Side Story.” Recent concert appearances include baritone soloist in Nordic and English Art Song Recitals with the Cantata Singers Chamber Series and an American Art Song Recital at the Bay View Music Festival. He is additionally a former soloist with Opera on Tap Boston and ensemble member with Odyssey Opera, MassOpera, and Tri-Cities Opera.

Residing as a voice teacher and freelance singer in the Boston area, Max presently engages as ensemble member and soloist in both the Concert Series and Chamber Series of Boston’s Cantata Singers in addition to his work as ensemble member at Church on the Hill of the Boston Society of the New Jerusalem; he is also an associate member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing and a Professional Member of the Voice Foundation. In the upcoming months he will be making an appearance as Figaro in Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro” with Opera51 in Concord. Moreover, he is endeavoring to produce an independent art song recital that will delve into a continued exploration of the canon of Nordic song repertoire that he specializes in.

Linked-in Profile

Juan Suarez is a lyric baritone currently based in Quincy, MA. A recent graduate of New England Conservatory of Music, he performed several roles in main stage opera productions with NEC, appearing as Betto in Puccini’s great comedy Gianni Schicchi, Antonio in Mozart’s well known opera, The Marriage of Figaro, and most recently, Mercurio in La Calisto, a dramatic opera by Baroque composer, Francesco Cavalli. During quarantine in the Summer of 2020, Juan performed in a one-of-a-kind virtual performance of Humperdinck’s opera, Hansel und Gretel, staged using the popular video game, ‘Animal Crossing: New Horizons,’ which received coverage from several publications including OperaWire and the Boston Globe. Juan has also sung with MassOpera, Odyssey Opera, and with the Community Engagement Programs at NEC, touring two children’s operas for two consecutive years at several schools and venues in the greater Boston area.

Juan sings with Nightingale Vocal Ensemble and The Choir of the New Jerusalem at the Church on the Hill, both as a member of the ensembles, and as an occasional soloist. He joined South Shore Conservatory as a teaching artist fall of 2022.