Mozart's Requiem Soloists
Lisa Ericksen, soprano soloist
Lisa Ericksen began her career as a classical singer performing extensively in the United States and Europe. She has sung leading operatic and concert roles with Baltimore Opera, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Virginia Opera, Tel Aviv Symphony Orchestra, Concert Opera of Philadelphia, Cincinnati Baroque, Whitewater/Sorg Operas, Handel Society of Baltimore, the National Bulgarian Radio Orchestra, Piccola LaScala Opera, Toledo Symphony Orchestra, Sanibel Island Music Festival, Pennsylvania Ballet and concerts at Lincoln Center. She has performed in touring productions of Rigoletto (Gilda), Don Giovanni (Zerlina) and The Magic Flute (Pamina, The Queen of the Night) in France, Germany, Spain and Portugal.
Lisa is a winner of the Liederkranz Foundation Awards and the Licia Albanese/Puccini Foundations Awards in New York. She also was second place winner in the Baltimore Opera/Vocal Competition.
As a crossover artist, she has performed the role of Carlotta in Bell/Tchaikovsky’s Phantom of the Opera and in productions of Lady in the Dark and Sweet Adeline for City Centers Encores! in New York City. Last season, Lisa performed the roles of Charlotte in A Little Night Music with New Stage Collective and Woman 1 in Side by Side by Sondheim with Commonwealth Theatre Company.
Lisa lives in Cincinnati with her husband and son. She teaches Voice at Northern Kentucky University in the Department of Theatre and Dance. She is also Chair of the Musical Theater Intensive program for high school students at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music Preparatory Department.
Maria Ventura, alto soloist
Maria Ventura, mezzo-soprano, is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio. Ms. Ventura received a BM from the University of Cincinnati, College Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Dr. Robert K. and Lucile Evans, and an MM from Illinois State University in Voice Performance. She has taught on the voice faculties of the University of Dayton, Miami University in Ohio, and Illinois Wesleyan and Illinois State University. Ms. Ventura is a seasoned performer appearing in leading mezzo-soprano roles with various European and American opera houses and orchestras. Companies include, Cincinnati Opera, Dayton Opera, Florida Opera, Kentucky Opera, Miami Opera, Prairie Fire Theatre, Flanders Opera in Belgium, Opera Barga in Italy, Amsterdam Opera in Holland, and Staatstheater Kassel in Germany. Most notably, she performed four years with the Theatre de la Monnaie in Brussels, Belgium. Operatic roles included Charlotte (Werther), Ruggiero (Alcina), Dorabella (Cosi Fan Tutte), Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro), Cenerentola (La Cenerentola), Rosina (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Suzuki (Madama Butterfly), Baba the Turk (The Rake’s Progress), Mistress Page and Dame Quickly (Falstaff), The Mother (Amahl), as well as others. Ms. Ventura has appeared as soloist for Cincinnati May Festival under Robert Shaw (Handel’s Messiah) and James Levine (Verdi’s Ernani). She has sung with the Dayton Bach Society (B Minor Mass) and on Belgium National Radio, (The Diary of One Who Disappeared) with Theatre de la Monnaie. Ms. Ventura resides in Cincinnati and is on the voice faculty of Xavier University and Cincinnati Music Academy.
Cameo Humes, tenor soloist
Cameo Humes has been featured as a soloist with the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, Hilton Head Choral Society, Gainesville Civic Chorus and Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Orchestra Sinfonica dell’International Chamber Ensemble in Italy. His opera credits include the title role in Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito, Prunier in Puccini’s La Rondine, and Slender in The Merry Wives of Windsor with Stetson University Opera Theatre. He has also appeared as Gaston in La Traviata with the University of Florida Opera Theatre and Ottavio in Operafestival di Roma’s production of DonGiovanni. Recent performances include J.S. Bach‘s Mass in B Minor with the CCM Philharmonia Orchestra, Mozart’s Grand Mass in C Minor with CCM Concert Orchestra, excerpts from Mendelssohn’s St. Paul, Op. 36 at St. Peter-in-Chains, and the role of Count Almaviva in CCM’s mainstage opera production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia. Upcoming engagements include the role of the Evangelist in the St. John Passion with Knox Presbyterian Church under the baton of Dr. Earl Rivers in April, and the role of Ballad Singer in CCM’s production of Carlisle Floyd’s Of Mice and Men in May. Mr. Humes holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Voice and a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Studies from Stetson University, a Master’s degree in Voice from the University of Florida, and is currently completing course work for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
Thomas W. Sherwood, bass soloist
Bass-baritone Thomas W. Sherwood is a native of Portland, Oregon who came to Cincinnati for CCM's Doctoral program in Choral Conducting. He is an experienced recitalist, voice teacher, choral clinician, synagogue cantor and is a co-founder Vocal Arts Ensemble. He teaches Voice at Xavier University and is Director of Music at First Unitarian Church. Tom has sung with Cincinnati Opera, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, May Festival, CSO and is often engaged to sing major oratorios such as Messiah, Creation, and Elijah. He is also the Founding Director of B.A.C.H., Bach Association of Cincinnati, Ohio, which is dedicated to singing the cantatas of J.S. Bach.
