Guest Musicians

Baritone Robert Honeysucker is recognized internationally for his brilliant opera, concert and recital performances. His voice has inspired critical acclaim: "...powerful, passionate and plaintive....a voice that possesses great richness and warmth." Honored as 1995 “Musician of the Year" by The Boston Globe critic Richard Dyer, Mr. Honeysucker has also been a winner of the National Opera Association Artists Competition and a recipient of the New England Opera Club Jacopo Peri Award.
Robert Honeysucker's opera performances have included the roles of Amonasro, Escamilio, Germont, Miller, Iago, Renato, Rigoletto and Sharpless. He has appeared with such companies as Connecticut Opera, Delaware Opera, Eugene Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Opera Boston, Opera Company of Boston, Sacramento Opera, Tulsa Opera and Utah Opera.
Overseas, Mr. Honeysucker has performed such roles as Don Giovanni, Figaro, Sharpless and Porgy in Auckland, New Zealand; Jake in Berlin, Germany; and Daedalus in the world premiere of Icarus, by Paul Earls, at Brucknerfest in Linz, Austria. Additionally, he has appeared in opera concerts in the Persian Gulf directed by Cesare Alfieri, as well as numerous concerts in Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
Robert Honeysucker has enjoyed many engagements with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, including an appearance as soloist in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, in celebration of Seiji Ozawa’s twenty-fifth season as Music Director. He has most recently appeared as baritone soloist in All Rise (Winton Marsalis), conducted by Kurt Masur at Symphony Hall, with a repeat performance at Tanglewood. His other appearances with the Boston Pops include the annual Fourth of July concert on the Esplanade, conducted by John Williams, as well as concerts conducted by Keith Lockhart and Harry Ellis Dickson. Other solo appearances have included: Verdi’s Requiem, with the Cantata Singers, directed by David Hoose; Elijah with Handel and Haydn Society, directed by Christopher Hogwood; world premiere of Howard Frazin’s The Voice of Issac with PALS Children’s Chorus; Missa Solemnis with the Northwest Bach Festival Orchestra, directed by Gunther Schuller; Charles Ives' General William Booth Enters into Heaven, with the Pittsburgh Symphony, directed by Michael Tilson Thomas at Great Woods Performing Arts Center; Aaron Copland's Old American Songs with Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra; Carmina Burana with Roanoke Symphony Orchestra and Omaha Symphony Orchestra; and Hodie (Vaughn Williams) with the Utah Symphony and Mormon Tabernacle Choir, directed by Keith Lockhart, which was televised on PBS. He has also performed with St. Louis Symphony, Portland Symphony Orchestra (Maine) and Sacramento Symphony Orchestra. Engagements in Japan have featured him as soloist with Sapporo Symphony and Osaka Philharmonic in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony; soloist with the Tokyo Symphony in Handel's Messiah; The Telemann Chamber Orchestra in Osaka in Bach's Christmas Oratorio, with Jeffrey Rink, conductor; and the Kansai Chamber Orchestra in Kobe and Kyoto in performance of Handel’s Messiah and Bach cantatas.
Mr. Honeysucker is a member of Videmus, as well as member and co-founder of the Jubilee Trio, which presents American art songs, including those of under-performed African American composers.
Discography includes performances on four Videmus discs: "Music of William Grant Still" (New World), "Watch and Pray" (Koch International), "More Still" (Cambria), and Highway 1, USA (Wm. Grant Still) recently released by Albany Records. Mr. Honeysucker is also featured on the Centaur, Ongaku and Titanic labels.

Mezzo-soprano, D'Anna Fortunato has brought versatility to both her singing and teaching careers. In her lengthy singing career, she has won many awards, including those from the Metropolitan Opera Regional Auditions, the Naumberg Prize in Chamber Music, the C.D. Jackson prize at Tanglewood, and most recently, Alumni Achievement Awards from the New England Conservatory of Music, Bucknell University, and Ashley Hall as well as the Jacobo Peri Award for Achievement in the Vocal Field. Professionally, she has created leading roles for such companies as the New York City Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Kentucky Opera, Connecticut Grand Opera, Rochester Opera, and Opera San Jose. As a Concert and Oratorio soloist, Fortunato has appeared internationally as a long-time member of the Bach Aria Group, and with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, St. Luke's Chamber Orchestra, New York's Musica Sacra, the Boston Camerata, Rome's Bach Festival Orchestra, the Telemann Chamber Orchestra of Japan, and Berlin's Spectrum Concerts, amongst many others. Her festival appearances are numerous, as are her singing engagements with major Symphony Orchestras, including return visits to the top 10 American Symphonies. She has 40 CDs to her credit, amongst them, the Grammy-nominated Marilyn Ziffrin: "Songs and Arias," 2007 and "Handel's Imeneo," award-winning first recordings of the songs of Amy Beach; 8 premiere Handel Opera CD's and award-winning first recordings of the songs of Amy Beach, and Charles-Martin Loeffler. First performances have included works of John Harbison, Roger Sessions, Stephen Albert, Elliot Carter, Milton Babbitt, Daniel Pinkham, John Heiss, and Andrew List, amongst others. Fortunato has conducted masterclasses and clinics throughout the U.S., especially as an expert in American 20^th Century Music, Baroque Performance Practice, and Women Composers. Summers have included teaching assignments at Songfest Young Artist program, the Bach Aria Seminars at Stony Brook, NY, the Carmel Bach Festival, and the Mannes School of Music Bach Seminars. Her students presently are performing in prestigious Young Artist Programs, as well as extensively on the Concert and Opera Stages in the U.S. and abroad.