Biography
“Beckemeyer returned shortly thereafter to display the advantage of presenting soloists of different expressive capabilities as he sang [Thou shalt break them.]”
“...an apt flourish at slowed final cadences, starting with tenor Blake Beckemeyer’s picturesque “rough places” in the oratorio’s first aria.”
Tenor Blake Beckemeyer thrives on exciting, small-ensemble performances working on historical and text-driven interpretations of Baroque, Classical, and modern music. He was the Virginia Best Adams Tenor for the Carmel Bach Festival for 2024. He specializes in the performances of Bach, as Evangelist in the passions and especially the awkwardly-situated lesser-known arias, as seen in his work in the Bloomington Bach Cantata Project. He has performed the John Passion & Arias with the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra and Arizona Philharmonic, among others. He has many other solo projects in his repertoire, including Messiah, Amahl and the Night Visitors, Membra Jesu Nostri, a number of Mozart Missae Breves, the Sorcer(ess) in Purcell Dido & Aeneas.
In his ensemble work, he is returning for his fifth season with Seraphic Fire, and makes regular appearances with other groups around the country, including Washington Bach Consort, Apollo’s Fire, Spire, True Concord, The Thirteen, and Bach-Ensemble Helmuth Rilling. In addition to Carmel, Beckemeyer has travelled to Germany to sing with Helmuth Rilling many times and has sang at the Oregon Bach Festival and Charlotte Bach Akademie.
In his discography, Blake has appeared as a soloist/concertist with The Thirteen on their Monteverdi Vespers of 1610 and Ordway Outer Edge of Youth. He cherishes the experience of recording a disc with Seraphic Fire: The Apple Tree and getting to premiere and record a new work with Washington Bach Consort in Myths Contested .His disc with Vox Orchester of Alexander’s Feast was nominated for multiple Opus Klassik awards.