The Chorale will perform works by these three famous classical German composers featuring Beethoven’s Symphony #9, Mvt 4: Ode to Joy; Bach’s Motet #6: Lobet den Herrn, all Heiden, and Jesus bleibet meine Freude; and Brahms’ Nänie and the fourth movement of his German Requiem, How Lovely Is Thy Dwelling Place.
Soloists featured:
Shawnette Sulker - Soprano
Samuel White - Tenor
The Three B’s
Cantare Chorale with Orchestra and Soloists
Saturday, March 21, 2026, 7:30pm - Walnut Creek Presbyterian Church
Sunday, March 22, 2026, 4:00pm - First Presbyterian Church of Oakland
Adult: $$$ Senior: $$$ Student: $$$
Critically acclaimed soprano Shawnette Sulker recently sang in two world premieres, creating the roles of Soprano Messiah Soloist in the one-woman opera Never Mind by Ben Bernstein and Bulrusher in the eponymously titled opera by Nathaniel Stookey and Eisa Davis. Other recent portrayals include Dorine in Tartuffe (Mechem) with Pocket Opera, Lisa in La Sonnambula with West Bay Opera, the Queen of the Night (The Magic Flute) with Livermore Valley Opera, Poppea (L’incoronazione di Poppea) with Opera Montana, and two West Coast premieres in Opera Parallèle’s double bill of Birds (Little) and Balls (Karpman) in the roles of Sir Elton John’s Trainer and Susan B. Anthony, respectively. Her latest concert engagements featured an All-Mozart Concert with Pacific Chamber Orchestra, a masterclass and performance with the Poulenc Trio, Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra, Bonds’ Credo with the San Francisco Choral Society, a singing and dancing collaboration in Dialogues (music by Pat Rasile) with the Oakland Ballet, and a recital of Brazilian music in New York’s Scorca Hall for the Brazilian Music Foundation.
International highlights include a concert of operatic repertoire at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, touring Die Fledermaus as Adele in Holland and Belgium, and orchestra concerts in Leipzig’s Gewandhaus and Prague’s Smetana Hall. She has been a soloist with companies such as the San Francisco Opera, American Bach Soloists, Mark Morris Dance Group, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Opera Memphis, Opera Fairbanks, Opera Idaho, Opera Naples, Union Avenue Opera, and the Symphonies of Eugene, Winston-Salem, Garden State, Oakland, and Berkeley. Upcoming engagements feature singing Constanze in Pacific Opera Project’s Star Trek themed production of Abduction from the Seraglio, as a soloist in The Majesty of the Spiritual Concert with Portland Opera, and a chamber music concert with the renowned Poulenc Trio.
Praised by Opera News for his “gleaming heroic tenor and a hint of physical danger,” Samuel White is a 2024 recipient of the George London Award from the George and Nora London Foundation Competition. In the 2025/26 season he returns to San Francisco Opera as an Adler Fellow singing the 1st Knight in Parsifal, and also makes his role debut as Calaf in Turandot with Opera Naples, and also joins the same company for a Gala concert. Among his engagements next season include his role and house debut as Don Jose in Carmen with Teatro Municipal de Santiago, Ópera Nacional de Chile. Last season, he made his role and house debut as Canio in Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci with Wexford Festival Opera. Mr. White recently joined San Francisco Opera’s prestigious Merola Opera Program as an apprentice artist. As young artist with Santa Fe Opera, he covered The Prince in Rusalka, while also singing scenes in concert as Walther von Stolzing in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and the False Prince in Boris Godunov. He also covered the role of Licinio in Teatro Grattacielo’s production of La Vestale celebrating 100 years of Maria Callas.
Sam has covered the roles of Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with Tulsa Opera and Count Loris Ipanov in Fedora with Teatro Grattacielo. His other performance credits include Matthew Gurney in Tobias Picker’s Emmeline, Aeneas in Dido & Aeneas, and Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus. He has completed training in such institutions as The Aspen Opera Center, The Glimmerglass Festival, Opera in the Ozarks, and Lyric Opera Studio Weimar, and holds a Bachelor and Masters of Music from The Florida State University and a Postgraduate Certificate from Manhattan School of Music.