CARL ORFF’S
CARMINA BURANA
April 25, 2026
7:30 PM | Wilson Center @ CFCC
Aaron Peisner, guest conductor
Cape Fear Chorale and UNCW Chamber Singers
Elizabeth Stovall, soprano
Aaron Crates, tenor
Nathan Matticks, baritone
Sofia Lukasik, violin, High School Division Winner of 2026 Richard R. Deas Young Artist Competition
Annabelle Arends, voice, UNCW Division Winner of 2026 Richard R. Deas Young Artist Competition
PROGRAM:
High School Division Winner Performance (Competition is Jan. 17, 2026)
UNCW Division Winner Performance (Competition is Jan. 17, 2026)
Carl Orff: Carmina Burana
The Wilmington Symphony Orchestra brings the 2025/2026 Season to a thrilling close with a special performance by the 2026 Richard R. Deas Young Artist Competition winners and Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana—a monumental work of rhythm, drama, and raw emotional power.
This unforgettable season finale features a massive musical force as the orchestra is joined by the Cape Fear Chorale, the UNCW Chorus, and a cast of soloists, all under the dynamic direction of Dr. Aaron Peisner. Together, they’ll unleash the full sonic and emotional force of Orff’s iconic score.
With its driving percussion, bold choral writing, and ecstatic energy, Carmina Burana is more than a concert—it’s an experience. A celebration of fate, fortune, love, and life’s unrelenting cycles, this performance will leave audiences breathless and inspired.
Join us as we close the season with a spectacular fusion of voices, orchestra, and the elemental power of music.
AARON PEISNER, Guest Conductor
Aaron Peisner is the Director of Choral Activities at UNC Wilmington, where he conducts the Chamber Singers and University Chorale and teaches courses in choral music education, aural skills, conducting, and voice. He is the artistic director of the Cape Fear Chorale, an auditioned community choir based in Wilmington. Additionally, Peisner is the chorus master for Opera Wilmington, and previously served as chorus master for the Maryland Opera Studio.
Peisner has prepared choirs for performances with the Baltimore and National Symphony Orchestras under the baton of conductors including Marin Alsop, Gianandrea Noseda, Donald Runnicles, and Jeannette Sorrell. He maintains an active schedule as a guest conductor and clinician, and has presented at national, regional, and state conferences for the American Choral Directors Association.
A bass-baritone, Peisner is a founding member and sometimes-conductor of the professional chamber choir, Wilmington Voices, and has sung professionally with the Taylor Festival Choir, hexaCollective, and as a staff singer in the Choir of the Basilica of the National Shrine in Washington, DC. Peisner received his BA in music from Wesleyan University, his MM in Choral Conducting from Yale University, and his DMA in Choral Conducting from the University of Maryland. He lives in Wilmington with his partner Ashik and their two cats, Xochipilli and Bobby.
ELIZABETH STOVALL, Soprano
Bio coming soon.
AARON CRATES, Tenor
Bio coming soon.
NATHAN MATTICKS, Baritone
Baritone Nathan Matticks has rapidly emerged as one of opera’s most exciting young talents. The 2024/2025 season included a reprise of Marcello in La Bohème and Escamillo in Carmen for Charleston Opera Theater and a return to Charleston Symphony Orchestra for Handel’s Messiah. The 2023/2024 season concluded with Matticks placing among the winners at the prestigious Loren L. Zachary Competition Grand Finals in Los Angeles. Highlights of the season included an evening of French Grand Opera with Knoxville Symphony Chamber Orchestra in excerpts from Guillaume Tell, Le Pecheurs de Perles, Hamlet and Faust, as well as a return to his acclaimed portrayal of Verdi’s Rigoletto with Houston’s Opera in the Heights. His account of the role was hailed by The Houston Press as “a thunderous, yet sympathetic jester, whose vengeful wrath is heartfelt and terrifyingly portrayed.”
The young baritone has been particularly admired in some of opera’s most difficult assignments. Of his performance in Verdi’s Il Trovatore The Houston Press gushed, “dressed in sharkskin, [he] turns di Luna into a fiery furnace, tearing through Verdi's impassioned lines without a sweat. He has power to spare, impeccable diction, and proud stage presence. He can boom with the best... Matticks is also fun to watch.” Opera Wire added, “Nathan Matticks as the Count, served as a “strong pillar on which the drama could rest.” Excelling in the difficult repertoire of Verdi, Puccini, Leoncavallo, Donizetti, and Rossini among others, several national media outlets have praised his “powerful baritone” (Opera World), “sonorous, full-voiced” quality of his singing (Parterre) and “suave baritone” (Broadway World).
The COVID-shortened 2019/2020 season began with Matticks achieving National Semi-Finalist honors at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. He was a Regional Finals winner out of the New York City District. Carnegie Hall debuts in Ralph Vaughan Williams Dona Nobis Pacem and the John Rutter Mass of the Children for MidAmerica Productions were followed by a tenure with Florida Grand Opera which included title role assignments in Don Giovanni (Cover), Rigoletto (Cover), as well as Sharpless in Madama Butterfly (Cover) and a principal role debut as Count Robinson in Cimorsa’s Il Matrimonio Segreto. A return to Florida Grand Opera was slated for 2020 as Valentin in Gounod’s Faust but ultimately was canceled due to the COVID19 global pandemic.
Previous seasons have heard the baritone as Il Conte in Il Trovatore with Opera in the Heights for a live-streamed performance, Figaro in Il Barbiere Di Siviglia with Opera New Hampshire and Palmetto Opera, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly for a tour with Teatro Lirico d’Europa, Madama Butterfly and Kiss Me Kate with Opera North, La Bohème for Opera Connecticut, Rigoletto with Teatro Lirico d’Europa, Renato in Un Ballo In Maschera and Faust for Taconic Opera as well as notable New York City performances of Don Giovanni, Lucia Di Lammermoor (Enrico), Carmen (Escamillo), Manon Lescaut (Lescaut), I Pagliacci (Silvio) and The Merry Widow (Danilo).
While still in college, Matticks made his professional operatic debut as Morales in a critically acclaimed production of Bizet’s Carmen featuring Denyce Graves and the Charleston Symphony Orchestra. Matticks received a BM in Vocal Performance and Artist’s Diploma at College of Charleston.
CAPE FEAR CHORALE
Cape Fear Chorale is a choir of 70-85 auditioned singers serving the southeastern region of North Carolina. The Chorale presents two major concerts annually, as well as one fundraiser concert each spring. Recent highlights include performances of Bach's Christmas Oratorio, Vaughan Williams's Five Mystical Songs, the Southern regional premier of Judith Weir's The Big Picture, Brahms's Liebeslieder Waltzes, selections from Leonard Bernstein's Mass, a concert of music from North and South America, and a pre-show holiday concert before City Ballet's 2024 Nutcracker at the Wilson Center in Wilmington. Founded in 1998 by Jerry Cribbs, Cape Fear Chorale has been led by Dr. Aaron Peisner since 2022.
Cape Fear Chorale believes in the transformative power of music. We celebrate the expressive capacity of the human voice and the ability of choral music to heal, unite, and inspire our community. We are committed to building our community through exceptional choral artistry and by creating meaningful, educational, and inclusive musical experiences.
UNCW CHAMBER SINGERS
The UNCW Chamber Singers are UNCW's premier choral ensemble, consisting of music majors as well as students from numerous majors across the university. The Chamber Singers present a wide variety of repertoire, ranging from Renaissance motets and madrigals, masterworks of the choral-orchestral literature, music of living composers, and music from folk traditions around the world. They have been honored to perform at the 2025 North Carolina ACDA conference in Charlotte and the 2023 North Carolina Music Educators Association Conference in Winston Salem. Other recent highlights include performances of major works such as the Handel's Messiah, the Duruflé Requiem, Benjamin Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb, and the Mozart “Credo” Mass, a collaboration with organist Dr. Brendan Conner on English and European cathedral music, folk music from the Balkan and Caucasus regions, and the commission and premiere of Hilary Purrington’s a cappella choral work, Look out for squalls. In March 2022, UNCW choirs established the High School Choir Invitational, now an annual tradition, showcasing high school choirs from the Cape Fear region and beyond. Since 2019, the UNCW Choirs have been under the direction of Dr. Aaron Peisner.
