Featured Performers


EXPANDING THE CANON

Liza Calisesi Maidens is an Assistant Professor and the Director of Choral Activities at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dr. Calisesi Maidens’s research centers around the expansion of the choral canon, the life and works of Imogen Holst, and undergraduate student belonging. As an adjudicator and clinician, she has presented interest sessions at state, regional, national, and international conferences of the American Choral Directors Association, the College Music Society, and the International Society for Music Education. Recent engagements involve students and audiences in Arkansas, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Ohio, Nevada, Washington, and Italy. Her choirs have enjoyed invitations to perform at state music conferences in Illinois and Michigan, Detroit’s Orchestra Hall, and the Detroit Opera House. Liza has sung professionally with the Philadelphia Symphonic Choir, mirabai, and sounding light. Her editions are published by MusicSpoke. She holds degrees from Michigan State University (DMA), Westminster Choir College (MM), Central College (BA).


STRING EQUINOX

Ryan Berndt

Gramophone Magazine describes trumpeter Ryan Berndt as “versatile, superb, and committed.” He is known for his chamber, baroque, and new music interpretations.

After eleven seasons with the Gaudete Brass Quintet, Ryan has emerged into the freelance and studio scene as a recording artist for Netflix and Amazon Prime, most notably on American Traitor: The Trial of Axis Sally, starring Al Pacino and Meadow Williams. He has performed, toured, and recorded with numerous ensembles on both modern and baroque trumpets, including Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma, Apollo’s Fire, Haymarket Opera, Baroque Performance Institute at Oberlin College, Regis Philbin Big Band, and the Zohn Collective.

Mr. Berndt has given concerts and masterclasses nationwide at renowned educational institutions, including the Manhattan School of Music, Colburn Conservatory of Music, Eastman School of Music, and The Juilliard School. Ryan is a recording artist for Cedille Records, a Schilke Artist, and an Ambassador for Denis Wick. He is currently on the trumpet faculty at the Merit School of Music. 

Martin Davids

Violinist Martin Davids founded and directs the Callipygian Players. “A devoted Baroque artist and performer of considerable note” (Jack Neal, KUNR-FM), Davids is concertmaster of Brandywine Baroque & Plectra Music (DE), Bella Voce Sinfonia, and often leads Bach Collegium San Diego. He is principal second violin with the Haymarket Opera Company, and Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado. In Chicago, he also plays with Music of the Baroque. In the summer, he performs at the Staunton Music Festival (VA). He also plays with the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, Ensemble Galilei, Chicago Opera Theater, Central City Opera, Aradia, the Toronto Consort, and numerous others across Canada and the U.S. Davids earned the prestigious Performer Diploma in Baroque violin from Indiana University, where he studied with Stanley Ritchie. He also earned a Master's Degree from the University of Michigan.

Davids published a volume of arrangements for two violins of J.S. Bach’s solo violin fugues in early 2016. Called 𝘉𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘧𝘰𝘳2, it is the first arrangement of its kind. A second volume was published in 2019. His arrangements of French harpsichord solos for violin and viola duet were published in late 2020, as was his chaconne for solo viola (or violin).

Davids often gives masterclasses in performance practice and improvisation at schools and universities. He performs on a Baroque violin by Ferdinando Alberti from 1750, with Baroque bows by Canadian master bow makers Michelle Speller and Stephen Marvin. A third generation disciple of the YiZung Yue school of internal martial arts, he lives in Skokie with his wife Julia, and their children, Judith and Solomon.

Davids’s solo album, 𝘉𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘲𝘶𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘈𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦, released in 2022, is available on iTunes and Amazon Music.

Edwin Huizinga

Performing both Baroque and modern repertoire, Canadian violinist Edwin Huizinga has appeared alongside Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Renée Fleming, Dawn Upshaw, Mike Marshall, and Stevie Wonder, and has been featured as a soloist with the San Bernardino Symphony, the Regina Symphony Orchestra, the Guelph Symphony.

Huizinga is a founding member of the Baroque ensemble ACRONYM, which has released ten full-length albums of previously unknown and unrecorded baroque and new music. He also performs worldwide with his folk and Baroque duo Fire & Grace, and tours extensively with Tafelmusik.

Huizinga is part of the artistic leadership of Carmel Bach Festival, and serves as the Artistic Director for Sweetwater Music Festival and Big Sur Fiddle Camp.

An avid composer, Huizinga was commissioned to write a piece for Canada's 150th anniversary.

He is a member of the Juno-nominated indie rock band The Wooden Sky, and is a founding member of the Classical Revolution—an organization dedicated to shaping the future of concerts and jam sessions in alternative locations around the world.

Currently, Huizinga is a professor at Oberlin Conservatory of Music.

Jason Moy

Jason Moy is the Artistic Director of Ars Musica Chicago and one of the most sought-after Early Keyboard specialists in the Midwest. He is a proud graduate of the Early Music program at McGill University in Canada, and counts Hank Knox, Ketil Haugsand, Andrew Lawrence-King, and the late Bruce Haynes among his most influential mentors and teachers. Jason teaches at DePaul University, where he was awarded the School of Music’s first-ever endowed chair as Monsignor Kenneth J. Velo Distinguished Professor in 2022, and at Roosevelt University, where he was recently appointed Artist-Faculty in Early Keyboards in the Chicago College of Performing Arts. He frequently performs with such esteemed local ensembles as the Newberry Consort, Haymarket Opera Company, Bella Voce, and the Bach Week Festival Orchestra. Of his myriad musical activities, Jason is most passionate about working with his inquisitive and talented students, and opening their eyes and ears to the language and syntax of Baroque music. In his spare time, he enjoys collecting antique teaware, reading early American military and maritime history, and cooking for family and friends.

Anna Steinhoff

Based in Chicago, Anna Steinhoff specializes in the baroque cello and viola da gamba. She performs with ensembles including Haymarket Opera Company, Apollo’s Fire, Second City Musick, Music of the Baroque and the Bella Voce Sinfonia. During the summers, she has the pleasure of performing at the Staunton Music Festival and the Nebraska Crossroads Music Festival. Anna can also be heard on recordings with bands including Mysteries of Life, Saturday Looks Good To Me, MONO, and children’s artist Justin Roberts. Anna received degrees in cello performance from the Oberlin Conservatory and Northwestern University, where her principal teachers were Peter Rejto and Hans Jensen.


MESSIAH

Orna Arania

Orna Arania has performed extensively as a soloist in concert series and festivals with most of the leading orchestras in her native country of Israel. She has toured as a soloist with various Israeli ensembles in Italy, Germany, Austria, The Czech Republic, Hungary, Denmark, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, Canada and the United States.

Since arriving in the United States, she has performed as a soloist with ensembles and orchestras such as The Peninsula Music Festival Orchestra, Distinguished Concerts International Orchestra New York, Elgin Symphony, Lima Symphony, Illinois Valley Symphony, The Callipygian Players, Ars Antigua, Northwestern University Chamber Orchestra, Ohio Northern University Symphony Orchestra and more.

Her performances include a vast repertoire of solo oratorio roles such as Hymn of Praise and Psalm 42 by Mendelssohn, Symphony No. 9, Mass in C and Choral Fantasy by Beethoven, Mass in C minor, Requiem and Vesperae Solennes de Confessore by Mozart, Theresienmesse by Haydn, Symphony No. 4 and Songs of a Wayfarer by Mahler, Messiah by Handel, the Requiems of Bruckner, Fauré and Rutter and many more. She also performed several contemporary concert pieces for voice and symphonic orchestra including the world-premiere of Quomodo Sedet Sola by Yehezkel Braun, and The New Moon by Tõnu Kõrvits, the American-premier of Mirror of Perfection by Richard Blackford, and the Illinois-premiere performances of American Requiem by Richard Danielpour, and Requiem for Peace by Larry Nickel. Her performances also include numerous chamber and solo recitals.

In addition to her performances as a soloist, she sings with leading ensembles in Chicago, such as Bella Voce and Bella Voce Camerata, and serves as both a singer and assistant conductor of The Lakeside Singers, with whom she performed extensively in prestigious venues throughout the Chicago area, including multiple appearances at the Ravinia Festival.

Arania earned both her Master of Music and Doctor of Music degrees in voice and opera performance from Northwestern University. Her bachelor's degree in voice (including a minor in choral conducting) is from the Buchman-Mehta School of Music (formally known as the Rubin Academy of Music), Tel Aviv University, Israel. She teaches at Northern Illinois University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts.

Oliver Camacho

Tenor Oliver Camacho has been praised as “superbly stylish” by the Chicago Tribune, “emotionally generous” by the Chicago Reader, and “pleasingly soft-grained of timbre and attentive to word meanings” by Chicago Classical Review. He is a co-director of the Liederstube, an oasis for art song in Chicago’s Fine Arts Building founded by pianist and author Dr. Eugenia Cheng with whom he regularly collaborates.  A proud graduate of Chicago’s Lane Technical High School where he first learned to sing under the mentorship of George Rico, Oliver went on to study music at Northwestern University, and historically informed performance practice at Amherst Early Music Festival and Early Music Vancouver. Oliver has been a soloist with the Newberry Consort, Bella Voce, Chicago Choral Artists, Bach Cantata Vespers, the Chicago Bach Ensemble, Vox 3 Collective, and Distant Worlds Philharmonic Orchestra. Oliver is a producer and host of Opera Box Score podcast; and is Music Director of Classical WFMT, where he hosts Listening to Singers.


Josh Cohen

A native of the Washington, DC area, baroque trumpeter Josh Cohen is greatly sought after by many leading early music ensembles throughout North America. For the past ten seasons, Josh has been principal baroque trumpet with the Washington Bach Consort. He has also performed as principal and solo baroque trumpet for ensembles such as Studio de Musique Ancienne de Montreal, Arion (Montreal), Bach Sinfonia (Washington DC), Aston Magna (Boston), Musica Maris (Rhode Island), Houston Bach Society, Ensemble Telemann (Montreal), and participated in festivals such as the Indiana Festival of Early Music, International Festival of Baroque Music at Lameque (N.B. Canada) and the Bach Festival of Montreal. Mr. Cohen has recorded some of the most famous and demanding works for baroque trumpet. Most recently, Mr. Cohen recorded J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto no. 2 with Montreal-based Ensemble Caprice. He can be heard in the Washington Bach Consort’s recording of J.S. Bach’s Cantata no. 51 with soprano Elizabeth Futral. Two recordings Mr. Cohen participated in with prominent Canadian ensembles were both nominated for the 2009 Juno Awards: “Let the Bright Seraphim” with soprano Karina Gauvin and Tempo Rubato, and his recording of Vivaldi’s Gloria with Ensemble Caprice, the latter of which won the Juno award for Best Album of the Year in the vocal category. Mr. Cohen received a M.M. from McGill University and a B.M. from the New England Conservatory of Music. He currently plays on a Baroque trumpet made by Matt Martin of Norwich Natural Trumpets after an original by Kodisch 1710. Cohen’s first solo CD, released on the Chandos label earlier this year, was submitted for Grammy consideration in the solo classical category. 


Carolyne DalMonte

Praised for her lithe and elegant lyric soprano, Carolyne DalMonte is a versatile singer who loves to sing opera, oratorio, and choral music. She enjoys an active and similarly versatile career from her new home city of Chicago. As a sought-after oratorio soloist, she has performed Bach’s Magnificat, Handel’s Dixit Dominus, Handel’s Messiah, The Fauré Requiem, The Brahms Requiem, and the Haydn Nelsonmesse (among other oratorios) with various ensembles across the United States. Her performed opera roles include Adina in L’elisir d’amore, Dorinda in Orlando, Mimi in La Bohème, the title role in Manon, and Despina in Così fan tutte. She also immensely enjoys her life as a choral artist and feels lucky to have performed with many excellent ensembles in her career, including the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Choir, Brevitas, The Thirteen, the Grant Park Festival Chorus, Bach Collegium San Diego, Bella Voce, Music of the Baroque and the Choir of the Ascension (Chicago). In addition to her work as a performer, Miss DalMonte is a passionate voice and piano teacher who loves to inspire and empower her students along their musical journeys. Outside of her musical endeavors, she finds great joy in taking walks with her husband and her beloved dog, Apollo.


Julia Davids

Dr. Julia Davids is passionate about the difference music makes for individuals and communities. She comes from London, Ontario, Canada, where she grew up singing in the Amabile Youth Choir, her church choir, and the Ontario Youth Choir. She now enjoys singing professionally with Bella Voce and other choirs in the Chicago area.

Julia is the Stephen J. Hendrickson Professor of Music, Director of Choral Activities, and Chair of the Music Department at North Park University, where she directs the University Choir and Chamber Singers and teaches vocal pedagogy and conducting. Julia co-authored with Stephen LaTour the award-winning book, Vocal Technique – A Guide for Conductors, Teachers, and Singers, published by Waveland Press, now in a second edition. She is a frequent workshop and master class leader and has presented at numerous conferences for organizations including Choral Canada, the American Choral Director’s Association, and the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Julia is in her 15th year as Music Director for the North Shore Choral Society and her 20th as Director of Music Ministries at Trinity United Methodist Church, Wilmette. 

Julia is a founding member of the Canadian Chamber Choir, Canada’s national professional choir dedicated to building communities through choral singing. Artistic Director of the CCC since 2004, Julia returns to Canada multiple times a year to conduct and sing with the ensemble. The Canadian Chamber Choir’s 2016 recording Sacred Reflections of Canada – A Canadian Mass was nominated for a Juno award for Classical Album of the Year, Choral or Vocal Performance. Julia has earned degrees at Western University, the University of Michigan, and a D.M. from Northwestern University. She lives in Skokie with her husband and their two children.

Nora Engonopoulos

A native Chicagoan, Nora earned a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from DePaul University and a master’s degree in Opera/Voice from McGill University in Montreal. She has been a member of Bella Voce for nine years and has also sung with the Chicago Symphony Chorus and Grant Park Chorus. During the day, Nora works in non-profit fundraising. 


Mark Haddad

Basso-Profundo Mark Haddad earned his BM in Vocal Performance from Texas Tech University and his MM in Vocal Performance from the University of Delaware. Aside from his work with Haymarket Opera Company, Mr. Haddad currently sings with Chicago-based chamber choirs Bella Voce and the William Ferris Chorale, as well as the choir of St. Chrysostom’s in Gold Coast. He is also a member of the supplemental chorus for the Grant Park Music Festival, and performed the Rachmaninoff Vespers in July of 2017. In August of 2017, as a member of the Lakeside Singers, he performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Music Festival. In March of 2018 he performed the role of Herbert in the World-premiere of Ross Crean’s The Great God Pan with Chicago Fringe Opera. When he is not singing, he works as a substitute teacher with Intrinsic Schools of Chicago and also works security at various concerts and festivals. In his free time, he works out regularly, and is an avid pool player.

Garrett Johannsen

Garrett Johannsen is a classically trained tenor from Schiller Park, Illinois. Garrett graduated from the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. His career highlights include multiple summer tours in the UK with Chamber Opera Chicago performing Jane Austen's Persuasion, Carl Orff's Carmina Burana at Carnegie Hall with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, a Nederlander Centennial medley performance at Millennium Park's Jay Pritzker Pavilion and soloist performances with the Elgin, Elmhurst, and Waukegan Symphonies. He has performed with the Lyric Opera, Chicago Symphony and Grant Park Choruses, Bella Voce and The William Ferris Chorale. He has also performed in many operas, recitals, cabarets and city wide events. Garrett is a member of the Actors' Equity Association and the American Guild of Musical Artists.

Kimberly E. Jones

Lyric soprano Kimberly E. Jones is an alumna of the Ryan Opera Center with the prestigious Lyric Opera of Chicago.  Performances there include Margru in the world's premiere of Anthony Davis' Amistad,  which was released nationally on the New World recording label.  She also performed as Olga in Fedora, Xenia in Boris Godunov, Despina in Cosi Fan Tutte.  With the Ryan Opera Center, she  performed Laetitia in the Old Maid and the Thief, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, and Adele in Die Fledermaus. She was chosen to perform at the Chatelet in Paris with three other ensemble members. Maestro Bruno Bartoletti, Lyric's former Artistic Director, selected Kimberly to perform concerts in Italy (Knoxville: Summer of 1915).

With Houston Grand Opera, she graced the stages as Clara in Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. She has performed in concert performances of Haydn Creation, Brahms Requiem, Mozart Requiem, Exultate Jubilate, Carmina Burana, and Verdi Requiem. She frequently performs Handel Messiah, as well as recently Mass in the Time of War (Haydn), The Ordering of Moses (Dett), Beethoven Mass in C, Beethoven 9, and several other musical favorites.  

She frequently performs with Haymarket Opera (Tibrino in L'Orontea, Angelina in Orlando).  With Chicago Opera Theater she has performed as the Fairy Queen and shows such as Freedom Ride and Quamino's Map and other operatic favorites . 

Kimberly is on the faculties of Roosevelt University (CCPA), DePaul University, Columbia College, Old Town school of folk Music, and Merit School of Music. 


Patty Kennedy

Originally from Seattle, Washington, soprano Patty Kennedy’s love of singing was nurtured from a very young age. Patty moved to Appleton, Wisconsin to pursue her Bachelor’s Degree in Vocal Performance at the Conservatory at Lawrence University, where she studied both classical and jazz singing. Upon completing her degree, Patty moved to Chicago to pursue a career in music. Patty is a licensed Kindermusik educator and teaches early childhood music classes at Bucktown Music Studio in Chicago.  A passionate chamber musician, Patty has sung with area ensembles including Chicago Choral Artists, The Choir at St. Chrysostom’s Church, The William Ferris Chorale, Peregrine Vocal Ensemble, Innova Singers and Chicago’s professional women’s ensemble La Caccina. 


Amanda Koopman

Mezzo-Soprano Amanda Koopman is a singer and soloist in the Chicago area. Solo highlights include Bach’s Mass in B-minor with Bella Voce, Mozart’s Requiem, Bach Magnificat and Cantata 80 with the Elgin Master Chorale, Purcell anthems and Bach Mass in F with Music of the Baroque, San Ignacio chamber opera at the Art Institute of Chicago, and a recital celebrating motherhood with the Musicians Club of Women and Northwestern University. She has performed two recital series in China, the country in which she grew up, in cities including Beijing, Shanghai, and Yan Cheng. She regularly appears with well-known performing groups such as Grant Park Chorus, Bella Voce, and Music of the Baroque. She holds a M.M in vocal performance from Northwestern University.


Eric Miranda

For over two decades, Eric Miranda has performed in venues throughout Chicago, gracing audiences with his “pliable, warm baritone” (Chicago Classical Review). Eric has appeared as a soloist at Orchestra Hall and Millennium Park, and as a versatile and sought-after singer, he is a frequent collaborator with early music and choral groups including Bella Voce, the Grant Park Chorus and the Chicago Symphony Chorus. As a soloist, he has appeared several times with the Elgin Master Chorale, led by Andrew Lewis. Other recent appearances include Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem, with the recently formed Voices of Madonna, led by Dr. Kirsten Hedegaard, and Florida’s Loco for Love Festival with El Fuego, led by Spanish and Latin American early music specialist, and frequent Newberry Consort artist, Salomé Sandoval. Upcoming engagements include A Latin American Christmas with Newberry Consort, and Vaughan Williams’s The First Nowell as part of the Music on the Hill series at the Presbyterian Church of Barrington. 

Matthew Schlesinger

Matthew Schlesinger holds a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Music Education from Western Illinois University and a Master's Degree in Music Education from VanderCook College of Music, and an Educational Leadership Certificate from Roosevelt University. He is proud to be in his sixteenth year as the Choral Director at Hoffman Estates High School, as well as the Choral Director of the D211 Adult Chorus. Outside of D211, He also serves as the ILMEA State Honors Choir Chair, and the Division VII Choral Representative. 

Matthew has performed around the Chicago area with numerous organizations. This includes such groups as the Grant Park Symphony Chorus, the Chicago Symphony Chorus, the Oriana Singers, the Chicago Choral Artists, and most recently with Bella Voce. He has also had the opportunity to serve as the cover soloist in the CSO’s productions of Berlioz's Romeo and Juliet, Verdi's Otello and Britten’s War Requiem. Matthew has also appeared as a Tenor soloist for Harper College and Bella Voce. A review by John von Rhein in the Chicago Tribune of the Oriana Singers production of Songs of Love and War stated that “Matthew Schlesinger wielded the ideal Monteverdi tenor: light, clear, technically solid and musically accomplished.”  

Even with all of this, Matthew’s greatest joy in life is spending time with his wife Melissa, and being a father for his two daughters, Emily and Elyse.

Anna VanDeKerchove

Anna VanDeKerchove, mezzo soprano, is making her mark as an emerging soloist and distinguished choral artist in her hometown of Chicago. Most recently, Anna joined the Music Institute Chorale as the soloist for Vivaldi’s Gloria in July 2023. In November 2022, Anna joined the Elgin Master Chorale for a performance of Messiah, Part I alongside José Maurício Nunes Garcia's Matinas do Natal as the mezzo soprano soloist. Other highlights include an appearance with the Music Institute Chorale in March 2022 as the mezzo soprano soloist on a program of Bach and baroque hallmarks, joining the Elgin Master Chorale in April of 2019 as mezzo soprano soloist in Handel’s Dixit Dominus, mezzo soprano soloist in Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus with the North Shore Choral Society, as well as mezzo soprano soloist with Wicker Park Choral Singers on Aaron Copland’s profound choral masterpiece, In the Beginning in November 2018. Anna also frequently steps out as a soloist with Bella Voce, most recently on Handel's Messiah. Anna is currently on the rosters for Bella Voce, Stare At The Sun, and The William Ferris Chorale. Additionally, Anna has participated in the Chicago Bach Week festival under the direction of Richard Webster. Anna is a member of the Schola professional choir at Episcopal Church of the Atonement in Edgewater, Chicago. Anna holds a Master of Music degree in vocal performance from North Park University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Valparaiso University.


Byrd Is the Wyrd

Allison Selby Cook

Allison Selby Cook is a Chicago-based singer, actor, and multi-instrumentalist specializing in early music. She first performed with Bella Voce last spring, in Paul Hillier's "And I Heard a Voice," in Newberry Consort's season finale collaboration, and in a yet-to-be-released recording. She returns to Bella Voce this season for Byrd is the Wyrd, Ceremony of Carols, & Expanding the Canon.  A Newberry Consort season regular since 2018, Allison has been featured as a singer, a violist in the Renaissance violin band, and in a touring collaboration with Piffaro in Philadelphia. Allison’s upcoming 2023-24 season also includes multiple appearances with Music of the Baroque and festival concerts as part of Loyola University’s William Byrd 400th anniversary celebration. In previous seasons, Allison has performed or recorded with Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Ravinia, Marion Consort, Early Music at the Barn, Schola Antiqua, Early Music Now (Milwaukee), WFMT 98.7FM, Chicago Radio Theatre, ShawChicago, The Shakespeare Project of Chicago, and Court Theatre. After studying with Ellen Hargis and David Douglass at Northwestern University, Allison went on to opera and early music festivals in Siena (Italy), New York, Boston, and Berkeley.

Matthew Dean

Matthew Dean, tenor, is highly regarded for his “ringing sound, cantorial fluency, and elegance” in period ensembles around the country, including The Newberry Consort, His Majesty’s Men, and Bella Voce. A University of Chicago-trained medievalist, Dean conducted fieldwork along the Camino de Santiago, and has developed concerts with The Rose Ensemble and Schola Antiqua, highlighted by the BBC, WFMT, and The New Yorker. In contemporary idioms, he has enjoyed collaborations with Quince Ensemble and Eighth Blackbird and tour stops with the Notorious RBG in Song project, Video Games Live! and Andrea Bocelli. Dean has served on the faculty of the Madison Early Music Festival and as longtime Artist in Residence at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, featured as an oratorio soloist and Bach Evangelist (www.matthew-dean.com).

Amanda Koopman

Mezzo-Soprano Amanda Koopman is a singer and soloist in the Chicago area. Solo highlights include Bach’s Mass in B-minor with Bella Voce, Mozart’s Requiem, and Bach’s Magnificat and Cantata 80 with the Elgin Master Chorale, Purcell anthems and Bach’s Mass in F with Music of the Baroque, San Ignacio chamber opera at the Art Institute of Chicago, and a recital celebrating motherhood with the Musicians Club of Women and Northwestern University. She has performed two recital series in China, the country in which she grew up, in cities including Beijing, Shanghai, and Yan Cheng. She regularly appears with well-known performing groups such as Grant Park Chorus, Bella Voce, and Music of the Baroque. She holds a M.M in vocal performance from Northwestern University.

John Orduña

Omaha native John Orduña enjoys a consistently varied performance schedule here in the Chicago area. He performs with the choruses of Music of the Baroque, Grant Park Music Festival, William Ferris Chorale, Chicago A cappella, Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Chicago Symphony. His solo concert work includes performances of Händel’s Messiah with the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Richmond Symphony, and Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Cincinnati May Festival. His principal opera work includes the role of The Donkey in the world premier of Jeanine Tesori’s The Lion, the Unicorn, and Me with Washington National Opera, Dancaïro (Carmen) with Opera Omaha, and Schaunard (La Boheme) with North Carolina Opera.

Katherine Shuldiner

Katherine Shuldiner graduated from Oberlin Conservatory in viola da gamba performance under the tutelage of Catharina Meints. She has performed with Chicago based ensembles such as BBE: Bach and Beethoven Ensemble, Vox 3 Collective, and continues to perform with The Newberry Consort. Nationally, Katherine has performed with Washington Bach Consort, La Follia Austin Baroque, as well as performing Bach’s Saint Matthew’s Passion with Bel Canto Chorus and the Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra. Katherine is becoming a fixture in the Chicago baroque music scene, performing with Chicago based musicians such as Rachel Barton Pine, Mark Shuldiner, David Walker, and more.

Ms. Shuldiner served a two-year term on the board of the Viola da Gamba Society of America and was chosen to perform in the first Early Music America's Young Performers Festival during Boston Early Music Festival. When Katherine is not performing, she enjoys teaching the viola da gamba to children and adults alike. She has taught at Madison Early Music Festival and Whitewater Early Music Festival. Throughout the year, Ms. Shuldiner teaches the viol at Nettlehorst Elementary School in Chicago.


Anna Steinhoff

Anna Steinhoff has been described by critics as “soulful,” and “the rhythmic heart of the ensemble.” Based in Chicago, Anna specializes in the baroque cello and viola da gamba. She performs with the Haymarket Opera Company, Apollo’s Fire, Third Coast Baroque, Music of the Baroque, Second City Musick, and Bella Voce Sinfonia. During the summers, Anna has the pleasure of being a part of the Staunton Music Festival and the Nebraska Crossroads Music Festival.

Anna is a founding member of Wayward Sisters, with whom she won first prize in the 2011 Early Music America competition. Wayward Sisters released their debut album of music by Matthew Locke on the Naxos label and their second recording, a Restless Heart, was released in 2017. 

In addition to classical music, Anna has performed and recorded with bands including Saturday Looks Good To Me, Mysteries of Life, MONO, and children’s artist Justin Roberts.

Anna received degrees in cello performance from the Oberlin Conservatory and Northwestern University where her principal teachers were Peter Rejto and Hans Jensen.

Ryan Townsend Strand, tenor, is a Minnesota native whose "beautiful vocalism" (San Francisco Chronicle) and "...attractive nimble tenor” (Chicago Classical Review) have afforded him an expanding career as a concert and oratorio soloist. Strand most recently was a featured soloist performing BWV 48, Ich elender Mensch, wer wird mich erlösen.  Highlights of the 2023-2024 season include touring New England with Constellation in January, and debuting as tenor soloist for Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Illinois Philharmonic in the spring. This fall, Strand will perform a solo recital entitled Letters To Jackie, premiering 15 works by some of the most sought after voices in classical music today, in tandem with the 60th anniversary of JFK’s assassination. Letters To Jackie will tour throughout the 23-24 season.

Strand made his professional Chicago opera debut in Haymarket Opera Company’s production of Alessandro Scarlatti’s Gli equivoci nel sembiante (Armindo). In the fall of 2020, he premiered Acis & Galatea in HD (Chorus, Acis Cover) with HOC as part of “a sparkling group of singers,” (Hyde Park Herald). He returned to Haymarket for their production of Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea in September 2022 as Primo Soldato. Other operatic productions include Handel’s Beauty’s Truth (Pleasure) & Così fan tutte (Ferrando) with Transgressive Theater-Opera & Elmhurst Symphony; Mark Adamo’s Little Women (Laurie), Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea (Nero), and Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath (Al Joad) with Northwestern Opera Theater. With Chicago Opera Theater, Strand has appeared in Jake Heggie’s Moby Dick, Philip Glass’ The Perfect American, Mozart’s Lucio Silla, and Bloch’s Macbeth. Strand makes his onstage debut with Lyric Opera of Chicago in this season’s productions of Der Fliegende Holländer and Aida.

Strand has sung with the Grammy award-winning contemporary vocal ensemble The Crossing in Philadelphia under the direction of Donald Nally. Locally, he performs with the Chicago Symphony Chorus, Music of the Baroque, Stare at the Sun, Bella Voce, William Ferris Chorale, Chicago A Cappella, and the Grant Park Festival Chorus. Strand is a founding member and executive director of Constellation Men’s Ensemble in Chicago.

Craig Trompeter

Craig Trompeter has been a musical presence in Chicago for more than fifteen years as cellist and violist da gamba. He performs in concert and over the airwaves with Haymarket Opera Company, Music of the Baroque, the Newberry Consort, the Chicago Symphony, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Chicago Opera Theater, the Cal Players, the Oberlin Consort of Viols, and the Smithsonian Chamber Music Society. He has appeared at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Glimmerglass Festival, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. He has appeared as soloist at the Ravinia Festival, the annual conference of the American Bach Society, with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and with Music of the Baroque. Trompeter has recorded works of Mozart, Biber, Boismortier, Marais, Handel, Maurice Greene, Henry Eccles, and a potpourri of Elizabethan composers on the Harmonia Mundi, Cedille, and Centaur labels. As a modern cellist, Trompeter was a founding member of the Fry Street String Quartet. He premiered several chamber operas by MacArthur Fellow John Eaton, performing as actor, singer and cellist. Craig has taught master classes at his alma mater, the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Oberlin Conservatory, Grinnell College, and the Chicago Musical College. In 2003 he founded the Feldenkrais® Center of Chicago where he teaches Awareness Through Movement® and Functional Integration®. Craig has given Feldenkrais workshops throughout the nation in universities, music conservatories, opera companies, and dance studios.  He is artistic director of the Haymarket Opera Company.

Russell Wagner

Russell Wagner began his studies in early music performance with Ben Bechtel at the College Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati. He has made appearances on The Prairie Home Companion Show, with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Haymarket Opera, Bach Week, Bella Voce, Catacoustic Consort and is a frequent performer in Chicago’s early music community. Wagner is a leading restorer of cellos in this country, working from his studio, Chicago Celloworks.