Aoede Consort – Artists

Founder/Artistic Director Dan Foster was trained in Sacred Music at Westminster Choir College as a singer, pianist, organist, and conductor. His teachers included Joan Lippincott (organ), Joseph Flummerfelt and James Jordan (conducting), Thomas Faracco and Marvin Keenze (voice performance/pedagogy), and Dalton Baldwin, the late Glenn Parker, and J.J. Penna (accompanying). He studied the training of young singers at the American Boychoir School. As a tenor, Mr. Foster sang for three years in the Spoleto Festival International appearing in Der Rosenkavalier (Richard Strauss), The Excursions of Mr. Brocek (Leos Janacek), and Falstaff (Verdi) and has returned for the past two years as the organist and pianist with the Antioch Chamber Ensemble. He has sung for two years at the Pitten Festival, Austria, appearing in The Mikado (Gilbert and Sullivan), and La Traviata (Verdi).

Mr. Foster has sung concert tours in Taiwan, Korea, France, Holland, and Italy. He has performed and recorded extensively with the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Orchestra of St. Luke's, performing many masterworks including the Mass in B-Minor, The Passion According to St. John (J.S. Bach), Ein Deutches Requiem (Johannes Brahms), Jeanne d'Arc au Bûcher (Arthur Honegger), and War Requiem (Benjamin Britten). He has also recorded with the renowned early music ensemble Fuma Sacre.

Major works Mr. Foster has conducted include two of Vivaldi's settings of the Gloria RV 588 and RV 589; Magnificat, Cantata 131 “Aus der Tiefe” and Cantata 140 “Wachet auf” by J.S. Bach; Messiah by G.F. Handel; Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms; Fauré’s Requiem and Messe Basse; the premier of Timothy Luby's Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis, the premiers of Magnificat and Te Deum by Larry G. Nuckolls, and the premier of The Joseph Triptych by Thomas F. Savoy.

Cofounder Paul D’Arcy (tenor) maintains an active career as a professional choral singer, soloist, and music educator. Originally from New York’s Capital District, Paul now resides in Austin, TX, where he regularly performs with the Grammy® nominated Conspirare under the direction of Craig Hella Johnson, the award winning Texas Early Music Project under Danny Johnson, the parish choir and compline choir of Saint David’s Episcopal Church under David Stevens, and the Schola Cantorum and Musica Ecclesiae concert series under Jeffrey Jones-Ragona. This year Paul will appear in Conspirare’s entire season including a PBS special which will be aired nationally in March, concert performances at the American Choral Director’s National Convention in Oklahoma City, a world premier by Eric Whitacre, and two new recordings for the Harmonia Mundi label. He is also regularly invited to perform with other Austin based ensembles including an upcoming performance with the Americantiga Early Music Ensemble under Ricardo Bernardes where he will perform Brazilian and Portuguese works of the 18th century.

Paul has been performing as a concert artist with various ensembles in the Northeast for the past ten years. His solo repertoire ranges form Gregorian chant to world premiers. Some selected works with orchestral accompaniment include Bach’s Magnificat, the Passion According to Saint John, Christmas Oratorio and various cantatas; Mozart’s Requiem, Vesperæ solemnes de Dominica, and numerous masses; Haydn’s Stabat Mater and various masses; Handel’s Messiah and Dixit Dominus; Schubert masses; Caldara’s Stabat Mater; Saint-Saëns’ Christmas Oratorio and Schütz’s Musikalische Exequien. Paul also frequently performs works for tenor soloist and choir by various composers including Britten, Bruckner, Faure, and Vaughn Williams. He has been invited to perform at various festivals including the Amherst Early Music Festival under Wim Becu and Anne Azéma, the Saratoga Baroque Festival under Kenneth Slowik, the Victoria Bach Festival, and Williamstown Early Music under Richard Giarusso. Paul has been featured in several recital series in New York’s Capital Region, performing works by Britten, Vaughn Williams, Schubert, Brahms, Faure, Mendelssohn, and Handel.

Paul studied Music Education at the College of Saint Rose and is a certified teacher in New York and Texas. He currently teaches voice lessons at West Lake High School in Austin and maintains a small private voice studio.

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