COMPLINE BY CANDLELIGHT: ARVO PÄRTCOMPLINE BY CANDLELIGHT: ARVO PÄRT

A Grammy-nominated producer, recipient of the Musical America Award for Artist of the Year/Agent of Change and a Kennedy Center NEXT50 Honoree, Beth Morrison is an opera-theatre producer and the President and Creative Producer of Beth Morrison Projects and the co-Founding Director of PROTOTYPE: Opera/ Theatre/ Now Festival. Morrison is noted as a “contemporary opera mastermind” (LA Times) and “a powerhouse leading the industry to new heights” (WQXR). Beth created Beth Morrison Projects (BMP) in 2006 to identify and support the work of emerging and established living composers, and to change the opera industry by cultivating a new generation of talent and telling the stories of our time. BMP has commissioned, developed, produced and toured over 65 works in 19 countries around the world, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning chamber operas Angel’s Bone (Du Yun/Royce Vavrek) and p r i s m (Ellen Reid/Roxie Perkins). Opera News has noted, “More than any other figure in the opera industry, Beth Morrison has helped propel the art form into the twenty-first century." In 2013, Beth co-founded the PROTOTYPE Festival for which she serves as Artist Director, which has become “essential to the evolution of American opera” (New Yorker). Morrison is also in demand as a speaker both nationally and internationally and has delivered key note speeches for Classical: Next, Opera America, Opera Europa, Mannes School of Music/ The New School, among others. Morrison holds a Bachelor of Music from Boston University, a Master of Music from Arizona State University, and an MFA from Yale School of Drama. Beth is also a Lecturer at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University.

Melissa Baker is a curator, artistic leader, and performing artist whose work explores the ways music can connect artistic innovation with contemporary life. As Director of Artistic Planning at Trinity Church in New York City, she shapes a wide-ranging program of concerts, commissions, festivals, and recordings, bringing together artists and ideas across musical traditions. Her curatorial work centers on ambitious new music, historically informed performance, and programs that engage urgent questions of social justice, identity, community, and the world we share.

A flutist praised by The New York Times for her “colorful tone and artistic depth,” Baker has appeared internationally as a soloist, chamber musician, and with orchestras, performing on both modern and historical instruments. She has served as principal flute and soloist with NOVUS, the Trinity Baroque Orchestra, and the Artemis Chamber Ensemble, and has performed with the New Jersey Symphony, Manhattan Chamber Players, Stereo Hideout, and American Bach Soloists, among others. Her work has also taken her into the worlds of contemporary music, theater, and popular culture, including performances at the PROTOTYPE Festival and collaborations with artists ranging from Terence Blanchard to Jay-Z.

Baker has produced hundreds of concerts, events, and recordings and has helped build an environment where artists can take creative risks and music can become a catalyst for dialogue and connection. Her projects have included performances and recordings connected to Pulitzer Prize–winning composers and Grammy-nominated releases, alongside commissions and premieres by leading voices in contemporary music. She is particularly committed to creating platforms for artists whose perspectives and experiences expand the cultural conversation, while placing new work in dialogue with the musical traditions that came before it.

Baker holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, where she received the Irene Alm Memorial Prize for outstanding achievement in performance and scholarly research. Her academic work reflects the same spirit of curiosity, innovation, and commitment to fostering cultural dialogue that defines her artistic and curatorial endeavors, bridging expertise and insight with the urgent conversations of today.

Thomas McCargar is director of Compline by Candlelight and the St. Paul’s Chapel Choir at Trinity Church, where he has been a vital member of the acclaimed Trinity Choir since 2007. Recent conducting highlights include curating and directing “Lenten Meditations: Remorse to Redemption,” featuring Trinity Choir countertenors, tenors, and basses (2025); conducting the Trinity Choir and NOVUS in “Last Words” (2023); and directing all of Trinity’s vocal ensembles in “Sing, Choirs of Angels: Holiday Sing-Along” (2024). McCargar has prepared choirs for esteemed conductors, including Harry Bicket, Daniela Candillari, and Andrew Megill, and in 2012, he led over a thousand people in singing John Lennon’s “Imagine” for Yoko Ono’s Imagine Peace installation in Times Square. 

A highly sought-after baritone, McCargar has toured internationally with the Grammy-winning ensembles Roomful of Teeth and Chanticleer, and has performed with many of the nation’s leading vocal ensembles, including Seraphic Fire, Bach Vocal Artists, Spire, Tenet Vocal Artists, Pomerium, Musica Sacra, Concordian Dawn, Voices of Ascension, The New York Virtuoso Singers, and Antioch. His discography includes three recordings of Pulitzer Prize–winning compositions — Anthracite Fields (Julia Wolfe), Angel’s Bone (Du Yun), and p r i s m (Ellen Reid) — along with several Grammy-nominated albums.