Performers Biography

Nathaniel Mayfield, trumpet

Originally from Austin, TX, Nathaniel Mayfield was awarded a four-year scholarship to study trumpet at Interlochen Arts Academy in Interlochen, MI. At age 18, he competed in the Young Arts Talent Search sponsored by the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, and was one of 20 high school artists chosen to receive the prestigious Presidential Scholarship in the Arts from President Bill Clinton, an honor that included a Rose Garden ceremony and solo performance in the Kennedy Center. After acceptance into both The Juilliard School and Columbia University, Mr. Mayfield graduated after three years of studies with Professor Raymond Mase (Chairman of the Juilliard Brass Department), and earned a BA in Classical History from Columbia. Other awards and honors included first prizes in The National Trumpet Competition, The Aspen Music Festival Concerto Competition, and the International Trumpet Guild Solo Competition.

Mr. Mayfield went on to receive a Fulbright Scholarship to pursue graduate work with Professor Reinhold Friedrich in Karlsruhe, Germany. During this time, he won positions in music festivals such as The Round Top Institute, National Repertory Orchestra, and The Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo Japan, as well as performed with a variety of professional orchestras including Tenerife Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Symphony, and Mannheim Opera. A world-renowned baroque trumpet soloist, Mr. Mayfield has presented masterclasses at such institutions as: The Juilliard School, Eastman School of Music, Laval University in Quebec, UT Austin, Baylor, TCU, Lausanne Conservatory Switzerland, and many others. Further, he was a three-year assistant at The Chosen Vale International Trumpet Seminar in Enfield, NH, faculty member of the Domaine Forget Brass Academy Quebec, and has participated in international trumpet competitions Kiev, Ukraine; Paris, France; Markneukirchen, Germany; and Bad- Säckingen, Germany.

Upon returning to Austin, Mr. Mayfield founded the Lake Austin Strings booking agency and the Austin Brass Institute (a 501c3 non-profit), joined the faculties of Texas A&M University in College Station and Concordia University, performed frequently with the Austin Symphony, Austin Lyric Opera, and Austin Chorus, and served on the Board of Directors at the Austin School for the Performing and Visual Arts before being named its Artistic Director.

In addition to his roles as Principal Baroque Trumpet with Dallas Bach Society, Mercury: The Orchestra Redefined, and other period instrument ensembles, Mr. Mayfield is President of Mayfield Energy, LLC (an oil and gas exploration and production company), Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Mayfield Dairy Queens/RUM Enterprises, and is pursuing an Executive MBA at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin. Mr. Mayfield lives in Austin with his wife, Ulrike, and their three daughters.

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Sabrina Adrian, organist

Sabrina Adrian is organist at Kerrville First Presbyterian Church. She has a piano studio in her home where she teaches 27 piano students. She is proud of her German, Texan Methodist heritage, and grateful for the opportunity to play this North German historic style organ in the Fredericksburg United Methodist Church.

Prior to moving to Kerrville, she was organist at First Presbyterian Church and Travis Park United Methodist Church in San Antonio, Texas. She has served actively as an accompanist for many soloists and ensembles including the Fredericksburg Middle School Choir under the direction of Ted Conerly. She has also accompanied for the San Antonio Choral Society, New Texas Festival, UT Concert Choir, and the UT Early Music Ensemble.

She enjoys school and has four degrees in music: a Bachelor of Music degree from Southwestern University where she studied piano with Drusilla Huffmaster and organ with Suzanne Widmar, a MM in piano as a student of Dr. J.K. Hodges, a MM in organ as a student of Dr. Bess Hieronymus and a D.M.A. from The University of Texas where she was a student of Dr. Frank Speller.

She has had opportunities to travel and play organs in many parts of Europe including St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican in Rome, St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Christ Church in Dublin, St Michael’s Church in Budapest, Hungary and the Marienkirche, the oldest church in Berlin. She appreciates the strong support of her church, friends and family.

Jenifer Thyssen, soprano

Jenifer Thyssen, soprano, sings music which transports and heals, reconnects and ties us to our past and our future through the musical expressions of human experience written by composers from the 1100's to today.

Honored in her hometown of Austin as Best Classical Singer by the Austin Critics Table in 2018, 2003, and nominated again for the award in 2007, 2008, and 2012, “Thyssen’s beautiful vocal storytelling” is an Austin staple. In 2001, Jenifer was given the honor to perform the Texas premiere of Handel’s “Gloria” which was at that time being premiered all over the world. Jenifer’s work as a founding member of Texas Early Music Project (TEMP) and with other early music ensembles and directors in Texas, the Bay Area, Boston and Paris, has been the mainstay of her professional career while raising 7 beautiful children.

Ryland Angel, counter-tenor

Born on St Cecilia's day, the Grammy-nominated British counter-tenor Ryland Angel has built an international reputation on both the opera and concert stage, in repertoire ranging from the Baroque to new operatic commissions at major opera houses, concert halls and festivals throughout Europe and the USA.

He has performed in Monteverdi’s Orfeo, Gavin Bryars’s Doctor Ox’s Experiment (English National Opera), Fairy Queen (Barcelona), Gluck’s Orfeo (Koblenz), Amadigi (Karlsruhe), Venus and Adonis (Flanders Opera), Dido and Aeneas (Opera Comique), The Play of Daniel (Spoleto), and Ballet Comique de La Royne (Geneva).

Angel has sung on over 80 recordings including music of Buxtehude, Charpentier, Scarlatti, Stradella, Spears, O'Regan, Handel, Monteverdi, Purcell, Bach, and on the film soundtracks of Jack Reacher, Zoolander 2, Freedom, Le Petit Prince, La Peau, Henry 4th, Machete, The Mystery of Dante, Gemini Man and the PBS TV special Heavenly Voices.

Recent engagements include Doux Mensonges (Opera National de Paris), Agrippina (NYCO), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Florentine and Kansas Opera), Julius Caesar (Utah and Colorado Opera), Sant Alessio with William Christie (Paris, London, New York), Carmina Burana (Lincoln Center/Prague Proms), St. John Passion (Saint Thomas Church and Mechanics Hall), Classics and Rock (Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra) and Messiah (Boston Symphony Hall & Carnegie Hall).

Recent and upcoming recordings include The Flaming Fire (MSR), Heart and Soul (Centaur) and Now Fatal Change (NMC), La Sposa (Solo Luminus), Le Nozze in Baviera (Naxos), Archivo de Guatemala (Naxos), Chant Electronique (Chesky), Justinian Intonations (Neuma), Bleed for the throne (SXSW) and a recital at the National Gallery with Parthenia Viol consort. Recent creations include Tesla, Fantini Futuro, The Call, Including Words and The Chant Project.

Source: Nathaniel Mayfield