Schumann | Requiem
Saturday, February 28, 8:00 PM
First Church in Cambridge
John Sullivan, assistant conductor and pianist
Wistful. Dreamy. Soulful.
HERZOGENBERG: War’s dunkel, ich lage im Walde, Op. 22 No. 1
BRAHMS: Der Gang zum Liebchen, Op. 31 No. 3
HERZOGENBERG: Nachtlied, Op. 73 No. 1
SCHUMANN: Requiem, Op. 148
Featuring Susan Consoli, soprano; Roselin Osser, mezzo-soprano; Omar Najmi, tenor; and Richard Giarusso, baritone
Featured artists
John Sullivan, assistant conductor and pianist
John Sullivan joined Masterworks Chorale as the Assistant Conductor and Pianist in 2019. He is a native of Cambridge and graduated from Harvard in 2009 with a degree in Music. During that time, he worked and studied with Kevin Leong.
At Harvard, Sullivan directed the Dunster House Opera for two seasons, preparing and conducting performances of Mozart's Marriage of Figaro (2006-2007) and Così fan tutte (2007-2008). In 2008-2009, he served as the 42nd music director of Harvard’s Bach Society Orchestra; previous music directors of "BachSoc" include John Harbison, John Adams, and Alan Gilbert. As the music director, he prepared and conducted four concerts of works by Beethoven, Brahms, Finzi, Haydn, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Prokofiev, Ravel, Rossini, and Verdi.
Since 2009, Sullivan has worked as an accompanist and a teaching assistant for the chorus classes at Concord-Carlisle High School. He is also the accompanist for the Concord Chorus, where he also serves as Assistant Conductor, and for the Harvard-Radcliffe Chorus and the Treble Chorus at the Fenn School in Concord, in addition to freelance teaching, coaching, and accompanying. He is a keyboard harmony instructor and Associated Artist at MIT and has served as a music consultant and annotator for Toscanini releases on the Immortal Performances label.
Susan Consoli, soprano
Soprano Susan Consoli has led an active and versatile career throughout the United States and abroad performing Bach to Harbison to Gershwin. Ms. Consoli’s first solo was in third grade, and she has been making music ever since. She made her Carnegie Hall debut performing Handel’s Messiah under the direction of Christopher Shepard. Highlights from her two decades with Emmanuel Music, where she was named the Lorraine Hunt Lieberson Fellow for 2010–11, include Beethoven’s Ah! perfido, Servilia in Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito, Handel’s Apollo e Dafne, Bach’s Mass in B Minor, Handel’s Alexander’s Feast, Bach’s Phoebus and Pan, Bach’s St. Mark Passion, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, and over fifty Bach cantatas. Recent solo engagements include Brahms’s German Requiem with the Blanche Moyse Chorale under the direction of Mary Westbrook-Geha, Mozart’s Requiem and Fanny Mendelssohn’s cantata Hiob with the Cape Cod Chorale and Cape Cod Society of the South Shore, Bachfest Leipzig with Emmanuel Music, and Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with Emmanuel Music. Ms. Consoli’s recordings include Handel and Haydn Society’s All is Bright (Avie Records) and David Patterson’s Loon’s Tail Flashing (Albany Records). Ms. Consoli resides north of Boston with her husband, Ryan Turner, their two children and sweet puppy.
Roselin Osser, mezzo-soprano
Praised as a “gorgeous, mellifluous mezzo . . . with vivid expression and engaging intensity” by the Boston Musical Intelligencer, mezzo-soprano Roselin Osser has established a reputation as a dynamic performing artist. In 2024, she made her Carnegie Hall debut as alto soloist in Mozart’s Solemn Vespers with MidAmerica Productions. A passionate concert artist, Ms. Osser’s career highlights include alto soloist in Mozart’s Requiem with the Masterworks Chorale, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the Concord Chorus, and Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with the Easton Chamber Music Festival. Acclaimed for comic and whimsical opera roles, she made her Boston Lyric Opera debut as Hansel in their Artist Classroom Visits production of Hansel and Gretel. Other appearances include Mercédès in Carmen, Sesto in La Clemenza di Tito, Cherubino in La Nozze di Figaro, and the title role in El Gato con Botas (the Spanish “Puss-in-Boots”). Ms. Osser has combined her lifelong passion for performing arts with strong motivation to reduce human impact on the environment. She earned engineering and technology degrees at Tufts and MIT in parallel to her vocal studies, achieving a distinctive dual career as both a classical singer and sustainability consultant for prominent green building projects.
Omar Najmi, tenor
Grammy-nominated artist Omar Najmi splits his time between composition and performance, enjoying a busy schedule as an operatic tenor. His recent and upcoming engagements include Simon in the world premiere of Adoration with LA Opera and Beth Morrison Projects, Enoch Snow in Carousel and Malcolm in Macbeth with Boston Lyric Opera, Arbace in Idomeneo with Boston Baroque, Kodanda in The Last Savage with Odyssey Opera, Ferdinand in the world premiere of The Tempest with Teatro Grattacielo, Darius Shah in the world premiere of The Many Deaths of Laila Starr with Minnesota Opera, Handel’s Messiah with Boston Baroque and Seattle Symphony, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, St. Matthew Passion, and St. John Passion with Emmanuel Music, and Mozart’s Requiem with Tulsa Symphony Orchestra and Tucson Symphony Orchestra. As a composer, he has had works commissioned and premiered by Washington National Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Atlanta Opera, Juventas New Music Ensemble, Emmanuel Music, and Catalyst New Music. His one-act chamber opera Mud Girl was premiered at the Kennedy Center in 2025 as part of Washington National Opera’s American Opera Initiative. After being nominated for a Grammy award in 2025 for his work on the album Mythologies II, Mr. Najmi is now a 2026 nominee for his role in Adoration, currently nominated for Best Opera Recording.
Richard Giarusso, baritone
Richard Giarusso is a teacher, performer, speaker, and writer who seeks to build meaning, relationship, and understanding through the study, contemplation, and performance of music. With practical and scholarly experience in a wide range of repertoire, he seeks to engage audiences of diverse backgrounds and interests in dynamic conversations about music and its relationship to history, culture, and creativity. An award-winning teacher and visionary academic leader, he is Dean and Chief Academic Officer at the New England Conservatory and was previously Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Musicology at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. Also active as a conductor and singer, he served as music director of the Georgetown Chorale (Washington, D.C.), the Voce Chamber Singers (Northern Virginia), and the Maryland Choral Society, and he maintains a career as a soloist and ensemble musician throughout the Atlantic corridor. Trained at Williams and Harvard, Richard is a life-long learner shaped by the guidance and inspiration of exceptional mentors who modeled the patterns of inquiry and exploration that he seeks to uphold in his life and work. He resides in Acton with his wife, Allison, his seven-year old son, Adrian, and three very curious cats.
First Church in Cambridge
11 Garden St, Cambridge, MA 02138
About the venue
First Church in Cambridge is a vibrant, multi-generational, engaged urban church located in Harvard Square. First gathered in 1633-1636, the Church is considered to be the 11th oldest congregation in New England.
Parking and directions
First Church in Cambridge is accessible via the MBTA Red Line (Harvard station) and multiple MBTA bus routes (1, 66, 71, 78, 86).
Street parking is available on Phillips Place, Berkeley Street, and nearby streets near the Church.