MEET THE POLYPHONISTS
Amy Broadbent • soprano
“With consummate poise, limpid clarity, and faultless intonation” (Washington Classical Review), soprano Amy Nicole Broadbent has garnered recognition as a dynamic and versatile musical force. Amy has performed as a soloist for the Oregon Bach Festival, Staunton Music Festival, Bach Choir of Bethlehem, Washington National Cathedral, Washington Bach Consort, The Thirteen, and the Folger Consort. She created and recorded the role of Sebastian in Scott Ordway’s opera, The Outer Edge of Youth, acclaimed by Opera News (Critic’s Choice), Gramophone, and BBC Music Magazine. Other stage roles include Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Bastienne (Bastien und Bastienne), Papagena (Die Zauberflöte), Johanna (Sweeney Todd), La Statue Animée (Pygmalion), Josephine (H.M.S. Pinafore) and Elsie (The Yeoman of the Guard). Amy won first-place in the Audrey Rooney Bach Competition (Kentucky Bach Choir) and the National Society of Arts and Letters’ Winston Voice Competition. She is a soprano vocalist and the Assistant Conductor of the U.S. Navy Band Sea Chanters, the official chorus of the U.S. Navy, as well as a founding member of vocal quartet The Polyphonists. Amy holds degrees in both voice and conducting from the University of Maryland. amy-broadbent.com
Sylvia Leith • mezzo-soprano
Sylvia Leith, mezzo-soprano, is a soloist and consort singer. She has appeared as a soloist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Washington Bach Consort, the Oregon Bach Festival, St. Thomas Fifth Avenue, American Classical Orchestra, Riverside Choral Society, Cantata Collective, and the Bach Choir of Bethlehem, among others. Known primarily for her performances of the high baroque works of Bach and Handel, she is equally at home singing repertoire of the Romantic era including Mahler, Elgar, and Brahms, as well as 20th-century and newly composed works. Her ensemble credits include TENET, Lorelei, Bach Collegium San Diego, Ekmeles, the Oregon Bach Festival Chorus, Ensemble Altera, the Crossing, Skylark, and the Choir of Trinity Wall Street. She is a founding member of the Polyphonists. Sylvia won first prize in the 2024 Bethlehem Bach Aria Competition, and was a 2024 Virginia Best Adams vocal fellow at the Carmel Bach Festival. www.sylvialeith.com
Matthew Hill • tenor
Praised for "clarion high notes placed with unfailing precision," (Washington Classical Review) tenor Matthew Hill is a versatile performer who excels in opera, oratorio, art song, and musical theatre. Matthew has appeared as a concert soloist with ensembles including the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, Washington National Cathedral, American Bach Soloists, the Washington Bach Consort, and the Thirteen, in repertoire including Haydn's Creation, Bach's Mass in B Minor, Bach's St. Matthew and St. John Passions, Handel’s Messiah and Israel in Egypt, Mozart’s Requiem, Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings, and Stravinsky’s Les Noces. Highly regarded for his interpretations of Bach, Matthew’s Evangelist was lauded by the Washington Post for “deliver[ing] the Gospel texts with agile conviction.” Recently, Matthew was awarded first place at both the National Association of Teachers of Singing Artist Awards Competition, and the Bethlehem Bach Young American Singers Competition. Additionally, he serves as assistant music director, enlisted conductor, and tenor vocalist of the U.S. Air Force Singing Sergeants and is a founding member of The Polyphonists. He received both a Master of Music in Opera Performance and Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Maryland College Park. matthewhilltenor.com
Edmund Milly • bass-baritone
Bass-Baritone Edmund Milly is sought after for his “annunciatory power” (New York Times), “perfect diction” (Los Angeles Times), and distinctive “delicacy and personal warmth” (Boston Classical Review). This season brings solo debuts with the Baltimore and Lancaster Symphonies. Recent solo engagements include Britten’s War Requiem with the Yale Symphony, Haydn’s Creation with the Washington Bach Consort, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor at the Oregon Bach Festival, and world premieres by Benedict Sheehan and Luna Pearl Woolf. An “authoritative and confident” interpreter of Bach (Seen and Heard International) who has sung over 100 cantatas, Edmund made his Bachfest Leipzig debut in 2024. Edmund sings with the Choir of Trinity Wall Street, Seraphic Fire, Ensemble Altera, the Thirteen, and his quartet, the Polyphonists. He is a graduate of the American Boychoir School, McGill University, and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, and a veteran of the U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own.” www.edmundmilly.com