Laura Heimes
soprano
Praised for her “sparkle and humor, radiance and magnetism” and hailed for “a voice equally velvety up and down the registers”, soprano Laura Heimes is widely regarded as an artist of great versatility, with repertoire ranging from the Renaissance to the 21st century. She has collaborated with many of the leading figures in early music, including Andrew Lawrence King, Julianne Baird, Tempeste di Mare, The King’s Noyse, Paul O’Dette, Chatham Baroque, Apollo’s Fire, The New York Collegium, The Publick Musick, Brandywine Baroque, Trinity Consort, and Piffaro – The Renaissance Band, a group with whom she has toured the United States. She has been heard at the Boston, Connecticut and Indianapolis Early Music Festivals, at the Oregon and Philadelphia Bach Festivals under the baton of Helmuth Rilling, at the Carmel Bach Festival under Bruno Weil, and in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Brazil in concerts of Bach and Handel. With the Philadelphia Orchestra she appeared as Mrs. Nordstrom in Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music. December 2003 marked her Carnegie Hall debut in Handel’s Messiah with the Masterwork Chorus.
Highlights of the 2010-11 season will include Telemann’s Ino with Tempesta di Mare (Philadelphia, PA), Venetian music with ARTEK (Drew University, Princeton, NYC), Bach’s St. Matthew Passion (Philadelphia, PA), Handel’sGloria with Voices of Music (Berkeley, Palo Alto and San Francisco, CA), Vivalidi’s Nulla Pax in Mundo Sincera, Scarlatti’s Venere, Amore e Ragione, and a program of Elizabeth Jacquet de la Guerre cantatas with Brandywine Baroque (Exton, PA, Rehoboth and Greenville, DE). She will appear in an all Bach program with Voices of Music on the Renaissance and Baroque Society Series (Pittsburgh, PA). Also in Pittsburgh, Ms. Heimes will sing Monteverdi with Chatham Baroque – a program in association with the Pittsburgh Symphony. She continues her collaborations with Piffaro – The Renaissance Band and will appear with them twice this season; the first time in a program entitled The Royals’ Baptism & Ballet and the second time for their holiday concerts called Drive the Cold Winter Away!
Repeat engagements with NYS Baroque (Ithaca, Elmira and Syracuse, NY) and Pegasus Early Music will bring Ms. Heimes to upstate NY three times this season. The first program – Death and Devotion – contains music by Bach, Buxtehude and Pachelbel. The second is an all Handel program which will include Terpsicore as well as Handel opera arias. With Pegasus Early Music (Rochester, NY) she will sing a program called An English Treasury– a lute song recital with director Deborah Fox.
Laura’s most recent recordings include On The Just Treatment of Licentious Men (modern art songs by Peter Flint), Cantatas Françoises (music of Jacquet de la Guerre and Clérambault), Handel Duets and Trios; Oh! the Sweet Delights of Love: the songs of Purcell with Brandywine Baroque; The Lass with the Delicate Air: English Songs from the London Pleasure Gardens;The Jane Austen Songbook with Julianne Baird; and Caldara’s Il Giuoco del Quadriglio with Julianne Baird and the Queen’s Chamber Band conducted by Stephen Altop. A recording of the Biblical Cantatas of Elizabeth Jacquet de la Guerre is currently in progress.
A native of Rochester NY, Laura holds her Bachelors degree from SUNY Geneseo and Master of Music degrees in Choral Conducting and Voice Performance from Temple University. Ms. Heimes has recorded for Dorian, Pro Gloria Musicae, Plectra Music, Sonabilis, and Albany and Avian records.
