(old) The Ensemble

The Ensemble

Daniel Andor-Ardó (Composer/Conductor/Publicity Committee Chair)

Daniel is a long-time member of C4, and has written two compositions for the group. Pitter Patter, Pitter Patter, And Then was premiered by C4 in 2013, and DADA NY ’15 was written in celebration of C4’s tenth anniversary season, in 2015.

Daniel studied composition and piano at The Purcell School of Music, London. His compositions won numerous awards, and were featured by the Society for the Promotion of New Music during 2000–2002. While studying at the University of Cambridge, his conducting engagements included regular appearances with the university ensemble Sforzando Brass as well as his college orchestra. His other big passion—besides music—is science. He moved to New York City to work in neuroscience research at the Rockefeller University and currently realizes his dual passions by working at Google on the one hand and making music with C4 on the other. danielandor.com

Nate Barnett (Conductor)

is a conductor, composer, and tenor from snowy Rochester, NY. He graduated last May from Yale University with a Bachelor’s in Music, where he received the Beekman Cannon Prize for his senior project in composition, A Peace Prayer. Nate is active as a soloist, ensemble performer, and teacher, and can be seen around New York playing any of these roles (and sometimes two at once). He is passionate about deepening the cultural appreciation for live, communal performance, and strives to put his creative efforts to that end.

Nate also also co-directs the early and new music festival which he founded, the Uncommon Music Festival. Contact him at [email protected].

Hayes Biggs (Composer)

was born in Huntsville, Alabama and raised in Helena, Arkansas. He holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in composition from Columbia University. His teachers have included Don Freund, Mario Davidovsky, Jack Beeson, Fred Lerdahl and Donald Erb. Biggs has been a fellow in composition at the Composers Conference and Chamber Music Center at Wellesley, at the Tanglewood Music Center, at Yaddo, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Millay Colony for the Arts and at the MacDowell Colony. Among his honors are a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, as well as the 2001 Aaron Copland Award, which afforded him the opportunity to live and compose at Copland House in upstate New York during the summer of 2002. Since 1992 he has been on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music. His Symphonia brevis, commissioned by the Riverside Symphony, received its first performance under the direction of George Rothman in Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall in February of 2010. C4 gave the first performances of a setting of Gerard Manley Hopkins’s “The Caged Skylark” in November of 2011. Biggs’s song cycle on religious poetry, “Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs,” was premiered at Manhattan School of Music in January 2012 by soprano Susan Narucki and pianist Christopher Oldfather. That same month his Three Hymn Tune Preludes were given their first performance by Gail Archer at St. Paul’s Chapel at Columbia University. In December of 2006 his String Quartet: O Sapientia/Steal Away (2004) was given its premiere at New York City’s Merkin Concert Hall by the Avalon String Quartet as part of the 2006-2007 season of the Washington Square Contemporary Music Society; it was recorded by the Avalon String Quartet in 2008, and was recently released on Albany Records. Biggs’s music is published by C. F. Peters Corporation, APNM (Association for the Promotion of New Music) and Margun Music, Inc. www.hayesbiggs.com

Timothy Brown (Composer/Conductor/Conductors Committee Chair)

completed his BA at the University of North Texas and has been a choral professional for more than 30 years, directing and singing with high school, community, and chamber choirs. As a composer, Tim focused for a time on music for the theatre. His Curious George toured nationally for over ten years and his songs have been showcased at the BMI Workshop, the Laurie Beechman Theatre, the Donnell Library ‘Songbook,’ and – most recently – in A Trace of Love, an evening devoted entirely to his music with 6 collaborating lyricists. Tim did masters degree work at The Manhattan School of Music, studying composition with Nils Vigeland. His Incidental Dance Suite was premiered at Merkin Concert Hall, and Epitaph: Songs on Poems of Dorothy Parker was recorded by Metropolitan Opera mezzo, Theadora Hanslowe. Tim’s Christ Our Passover, and Eloi, Lama Sabbachtani were commissioned by and premiered at The Church of the Heavenly Rest, New York. Tim is proud to have had C4 premiere his Drip Dream, In So Many Words, Torch Song (For a Reason to Live) and, most recently, Take Me Bach.

Jacob Gelber

is a composer, conductor, and vocalist studying music and composition in the Columbia University-Juilliard School Exchange program. His compositions have received awards through the ACDA, Cantate Chamber Singers, Harmonium Choral Society, and ASCAP Young Composers Awards. Jacob is the conductor and music director of the Columbia University-Barnard College Vivace Chamber Singers. He has studied music through Princeton University, Westminster Choir College, Manhattan School of Music Precollege, the Atlantic Music Festival, the European-American Musical Alliance, and Steven Sametz’s Choral Composers Forum. His composition teachers have included Samuel Adler, Robert Beaser, and the late Steven Stucky.

Erin Halpin

Hailing from Montreal, Erin is a trained bassoonist, violinist, and licensed architect. She started singing at an early age and never looked back, performing in her first musical at age 5. Erin's passion for singing has developed through a wide variety of vocal performances: musicals, choral festivals, symphonic choirs, professional chamber ensembles and even a touring independent rock band. While working full time as an architect in Montreal, a special interest in choral music along with many years directing a community church choir led Erin to pursue a Master's in choral conducting at the University of Sherbrooke.

Having lived and studied in Canada, England, France and Ohio, Erin's work in architecture has now brought her to New York City where she is excited to discover the vast musical community and share her voice and love of performance with C4.

Jamie Klenetsky Fay (Composer)

After a years-long hiatus, Jamie is again singing with C4! A composer, singer, and lover of new classical composition, Jamie’s work spans the creative spectrum. She sings professionally with C4, Eastern Opera of New Jersey’s chorus, and as an Artist-in-Residence at the Continuo Arts Foundation. Previous engagements include Rhymes With Opera's new music workshop and the select ensemble of Schola Cantorum on Hudson. Jamie's compositions have been performed by a number of ensembles, including two choral works by C4 in 2009 and 2010. Professionally, she works for the government of Morris County, NJ, as its web designer and developer.

Brian Mountford (Composer/Production Committee Chair)

studied music and electrical engineering at UC Berkeley, and sang in the Yale Glee Club as an undergraduate. He sings with the New York City Master Chorale as well as C4, and plays piano and organ. He spends his time as a computer programmer and composes occasionally, dreaming of the day that his chamber opera will receive the reception it deserves, or perhaps a better one.

Karl Saint Lucy (Composer)

is an alumnus of the University of Tulsa (Bachelor of Music in Composition, 2009, magna cum laude) and New York University's Tisch School of the Arts (Master of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre Writing, 2012). Karl's song cycle, La Hora Perdida: Songs for Renno had its first developmental workshop at Glow Lyric Theatre in Greenville, South Carolina in 2013, where he was the Graham Composer-in-Residence; his musical, Class, which he wrote with lyricist-bookwriter Maria Alexandria Beech, had its first developmental workshop at Hope Summer Repertory Theatre in 2014. His songs have been featured at Barrington Stage Company, 54 Below, and New World Stages, and had his Judson Memorial Church debut in November performing as Karl Saint Lucy. He performs as a pianist with the Story Pirates, and is a sought-after music director for new musicals in development.

Bettina Sheppard (Composer/Composer Committee Chair)

works extensively now as a singer, pianist, and composer, after many years spent in dramatic and musical theatre. She holds graduate degrees from both University of Virginia and CUNY, where she studied composition with Chris Theofanidis and Shafer Mahoney, as well as composition studies at Juilliard with Conrad Cummings. Some completed works include a song cycle of Emily Dickinson poetry performed at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall; settings of Millay poetry commissioned for the American Cathedral in Paris; a song cycle of Kaneko poetry; stage productions, including TraumNovela (Barrow Street Theatre, Barcelona, Dallas); 365 Days/365 Plays by Suzan-Lori Parks at Barrow Street Theatre and the Public Theater; The Picture of Dorian Grey; Kindly Direct Me To Hell: An Evening With Dorothy Parker. She created the new group Bridges Vocal Ensemble, presenting her compositions of various cultures and time periods, in venues such as Carnegie Hall and City Center. Bettina is presently working on the new opera Stillwaters. Also in the works is an opera based on Welsh folk tales of The Mabinogian. Solus, her CD of original material was released under her Welsh name, Brythonwen. She has directed and performed with numerous vocal groups from madrigal to rock, and created the jazz harmony group Satin Dolls. Bettina is the author of The Everything Singing Book, published by Adams Media, and is on faculty at City College CUNY.

Martha Sullivan (Composer/Conductor)

Composer Martha Sullivan writes pieces that explore how music tells its stories. She is pursuing a PhD in Music Composition at Rutgers, exploring various genres, including music for dance, instrumental chamber music, electronic music, and music for theatre (she composed all the incidental music for Rutgers’ production of Cyrano de Bergerac in 2013), as well as the choral repertoire she is best known for. Sullivan’s first works for voice were composed during the seven years she sang with the Gregg Smith Singers, who have championed new choral work for over half a century. She now sings, composes, and conducts in C4: The Choral Composer/Conductor Collective. She has been commissioned to write choral music for groups around the country as well as in Tokyo and Zurich. Her most recent commissions have been for choir and chamber ensemble (for C4 and the Canite Quartet, and for Counterpoint [Vermont] and the Vermont Symphony Brass Quintet), and on a larger scale, for the Orange County Symphony, under conductor David Rentz. Her works have been recorded by the Esoterics (Seattle, WA), Chicago A Cappella, and C4. She is published by G. Schirmer, Laurendale, and See A Dot. She has achieved national recognition as a winner of competitions sponsored by both the Dale Warland Singers and the Sorel Organization.

Martha Sullivan is an ASCAP composer.

Perry Townsend (Composer/Conductor/Head of the Membership Committee)

is a composer and performer, whose work has been hailed as “a journey through sounds rich in surprises.” His music can be heard on American Modern Recordings and Ravello Records, and has been performed at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, Steinway Hall, Tenri Cultural Institute, and Roulette. He has been commissioned by Bowdoin International Music Festival and Barbad Chamber Orchestra, and has premiered works at the ppIANISSIMO Festival in Sofia, Bulgaria, and the Fontainebleau Summer Festival. As a conductor, he leads the Angelic Voices Youth Chorus, Community Singers of Queens, Immaculate Conception Contemporary Ensemble, and is Music Director at Incarnation parish in Hollis, NY. As a vocalist, he has sung with the Choir of the Church of St. Mary the Virgin and Canticum Novum. He received an MA in composition from Copland School of Music, studying with Thea Musgrave, and a BM from N.C. School of the Arts, studying with Sherwood Shaffer. Currently, Perry is working with acclaimed mezzo Tichina Vaughn to create an opera about Christine Miller, the lone dissenter at Jim Jones’ Guyana commune in 1978.

Ben Arendsen (Conductor/Facilitator)

Ben Arendsen is the Director of Choral Activities at Nassau Community College in Garden City, NY, and Associate Conductor of the Oratorio Society of Queens in Bayside, NY. Other recent appointments include Music Director of the Nassau Symphony Orchestra within the Metropolitan Youth Orchestras, interim Music Director of the Sound Symphony on Long Island, and Music Director of the Gilbert and Sullivan Light Opera Company of Long Island.

Recent guest performances include premieres with the New York Composers Circle, Long Island Composers Alliance, a staged performance of Dominic Argento’s Postcard from Morocco, Mozart’s Die Zauberfölte, and a concert version of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide.

Ben holds a Masters Degree in Orchestral Conducting from Queens College’s Aaron Copland School of Music, where he studied with Maurice Peress. As a guitarist, Ben has performed throughout New York and New England, including the Carnegie Hall Premiere of Steve Reich’s Electric Counterpoint with William Anderson in 2006.

Maya Ben-Meir (Board of Directors Member Representative)

Israeli mezzo-soprano Maya Ben-Meir is both a soloist and ensemble singer. She holds Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Vocal Performance from the Academy of Music and Dance in Jerusalem, where she also spent time as producer of the Opera department, manager of the Jerusalem Academy Chamber Choir and alto section leader. Her style ranges from classical to contemporary and modern music, as well as rock and folk.
Maya has performed as a soloist with the Raanana Symphonette Orchestra in an orchestrated concert of Schubert's "Winterreise" and with the Israel Sinfonietta Beer Sheva in numerous programs including a Chanson concert, and a concert portraying the songs of Israeli composer Sasha Argov. Maya has sung in the Abu-Gosh music festival conducted by Maestro Stanley Sperber and was a part of the cast of Oedipus 2011-Opera Theater at the Israel Festival in Jerusalem that same year, conducted by Guy Feder. She has sung on various stages in Israel and the United States, among them a tribute concert for the lyricist Eli Mohar in the Tel-Aviv museum and Cabaret stages in New York. Maya has performed as a soloist in many projects such as the Concerto for Cinema project in the Jerusalem Cinematheque, and in the "Sounds of the Desert" festival in a tribute concert for Israeli songwriter, pianist and composer Yoni Rechter and an evening of Moshe Villensky's songs.
Maya arrived in New York in late 2013, and is actively pursuing a musical life. She is currently involved in solo projects and collaborations, as well as ensemble work. She is privileged to perform new pieces and arrangements written specifically for her, and works with many contemporary artists colleagues.

Colin Britt (Composer/Conductor)

originally from Maine, holds a bachelor's degree in music composition from the Hartt School and a master's degree in choral conducting from the Yale School of Music and Yale Institute of Sacred Music. His compositions have been performed by ensembles in Connecticut, including Voce, CONCORA, and the Yale Schola Cantorum, and by ensembles across the country and on four continents. Also active in musical theater, Mr. Britt has directed music for productions with the West Hartford Summer Arts Festival, the Summer Place Players, and Playhouse on Park in Connecticut. He has served as music director of Marquand Chapel at Yale, on the adjunct conducting faculty at Hartt, as the conductor of the Hartford Chorale Chamber Singers, and as the assistant music director at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford, and he currently serves as music director for Grace Church Van Vorst in Jersey City, New Jersey. He is pursuing a DMA in Choral Conducting with Patrick Gardner at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, where he also teaches undergraduate conducting and directs the Rutgers University Choir. He and his wife, Victoria, live in Jersey City. colinbritt.com

Melissa Bybee

is a singer and prolific illustrator of micro-moments on the A train. An alto for C4 since 2011, she holds degrees in piano performance from LSU-Baton Rouge (BM) and vocal performance from The Manhattan School of Music (MM). Melissa has been an active member of New York City's professional choral scene since she was a student. In October 2013, she made her debut as a music director, conducting and singing in the small choir for A (micro) history of world economics danced by Pascal Rambert in collaboration with PS122 at La MaMa's Ellen Stewart Theatre. Most recently, she appeared in an octet of select women from Voices of Ascension for the release of Bora Yoon's new CD "Sunken Cathedral" at the Asia Society. In addition to her musical activities, Melissa is a Vice President in Morgan Stanley's Legal and Compliance Division, specializing in executive and director compensation.

Mario Gullo (Composer/Repertoire Committee Chair)

has been seen in New York at Alice Tully Hall, City Center, the Dramatist’s Guild and the Barrow Street Theater. His favorite so far has been appearing with Barbara Cook in concert at Carnegie Hall. Regionally, he has performed at Artpart, the Theater of Youth, Tri-State Center for the Performing Arts and the Hudson Valley Philharmonic. He has had pieces performed by the New York City Master Chorale and Bridges Vocal Ensemble.

Christina Kay

A recent transplant to New York City, soprano Christina Kay spent the past four years in Wisconsin pursuing her MM in Vocal Performance from UW-Madison, and freelancing as a singer and private teacher. Favorite Wisconsin performances include David Baker's Images, Shadows and Dreams with the Madison Choral Project; Gretel in Fresco Opera Theatre's Garage Opera production of Hansel and Gretel (that's right, in garages!); an outdoor concert of Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians with Sound Out Loud; and the world premiere of Christopher Cerrone's The Branch Will Not Break with Present Music's vocal consort Hearing Voices. Also an enthusiast of early music, Christina has participated in a number of workshops, including the American Bach Soloists Academy, the Queens College Baroque Opera Workshop, and the Madison Early Music Festival, where she most recently taught beginning voice and was a soloist with the All-Festival Choir. In addition to singing with C4, Christina is a member of the New York Continuo Collective, and recently joined Highbridge Voices as a Vocal Instructor. www.christinakaysoprano.com.

Rachael Lansang

mezzo soprano, received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in vocal performance at the University of Connecticut, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Musicology at Rutgers University. She is an active soloist and choral singer throughout the greater New York City area. As a soloist, she has sung roles with New Jersey State Opera, Regina Opera, the Baltimore Bach Society, Hartford Opera Theater, Connecticut Lyric Opera, UConn Opera Theater, Opera du Périgord (France), and many more. She premiered the role of Huck Finn in Phillip Martin’s Tom Sawyer, which was premiered by Hartford Opera Theater at the Mark Twain house in Hartford, CT in 2010. She made her New York debut in 2009 singing Maurya in Vaughan Williams’ Riders to the Sea at Lincoln Center. She is a soloist and section leader at Old First Presbyterian Church in Newark, NJ, and lives in Bayonne, NJ, with her husband Michael.

Jane Lawson

is a multi-faceted cellist, pianist, organist, vocalist, choral director, and sometimes harpist. She earned her Bachelor of Music from Indiana University and her MA from the Copland School of Music, both in cello performance. She came to New York to attend the Orchestral Studies Program with the National Orchestral Association performing six concerts at Carnegie Hall. Jane currently plays with the Norwalk Symphony in CT and has played with many orchestras and ensembles including Goliard Concert Artists, Westchester Symphony, The Diocesan Orchestra for the Papal Mass and the Seattle Symphony. She has done studio work at the Power Station and television work at Silver Cup Studios and PBS.

As an organist/vocalist/choral director, Jane has held several positions as music director of churches and temples and currently serves as Director of Music for Our Lady of Mercy in Forest Hills. She sang with The Collegiate Chorale in The Juniper Tree, a Philip Glass opera at Lincoln Center The Messiah with the Discovery orchestra at NJPAC. An avid kaleidoscope collector, she is delighted to be singing and playing with C4, the most colorful musical kaleidoscope in town!

Artemisz Polonyi

is a singer originally from Hungary, who performs and teaches music in New York City.

Coming from jazz background it`s no wonder that her main approach on music is through improvisation. She is a vocalist, who has mastered many different possibilities of using her voice and can often be seen in crossover projects of jazz and early music, in a cappella groups, and providing live music to dance performances.
Currently Artemisz is leading her own jazz trio with a debut album on the way; she is the soprano of the award-winning jazz a cappella quintet, West Side 5; singer and arranger of the folk a cappella group, Asaran Earth Trio; and is singing soprano with the choral composer/conductor collective, C4.
She earned her Bachelor's degree in voice performance in the prestigious Royal Conservatorium of The Hague in The Netherlands, then moved to United States with the help of a Fulbright Scholarship and received her Masters degree in jazz voice performance from William Paterson University, where she studied with Nan Guptill Crane, Armen Donelian and Pete McGuinness.

David See

Since returning to New York City in 2014 ostensibly to retire, David See has enjoyed a varied and often pounding work schedule as collaborative pianist, choral singer and composer. A member of New York Composers Circle, his compositions include The Argument Rag for viola and piano performed last year; a piano concerto premiered by Symphony of the Mountains (Kingsport TN) with soloist Gary Hammond of Hunter College; a Theme and Variations for cello and piano which will have its New York premiere next season; many soundtracks for the “Don’t Touch That Dial!” Radio Theater productions on WETS-FM Public Radio during its run in the 1990s; and a series of two piano pieces typically performed by the composer with his wife Lynn See.

He is currently a staff pianist for the Mannes School of Music at the New School, and has been accompanist for Tapestry Choir, for Highbridge Voices and for two productions by Apotheosis Opera (Capriccio and Fanciulla del West). Previous to the move, he was staff pianist at Middle Tennessee State University performing in instrumental, vocal and musical theater productions, and principal keyboardist and choral pianist with Symphony of the Mountains (Kingsport TN). A CD of Seven Franchetti Songs composed by Michael Linton, with David on piano, is scheduled to be released by refinersfire.us in 2018.

His experience as choral singer before C4 included the Oberlin College Choir, the St. Bartholomew Church choir, and the Collegium Musicum at East Tennessee State University. He is honored to have been accepted into C4 after a long time away from singing, and to have two recent choral compositions premiered last year (Be On Time and Two Poems of Robert Herrick).

Karen Siegel (Composer/Conductor/Member of the Board of Directors)

Composer Karen Siegel draws on her experience as a vocalist in her creation of innovative choral and vocal works. She is the winner of the 2014-2015 POLYPHONOS Choral Composition Competition, in the National Composer category. This prize is awarded by The Esoterics vocal ensemble, and will result in the commission of a new work to be premiered by the ensemble in Seattle. She was also recently awarded Boston Metro Opera’s 2014 Merit Prize for her song cycle Reflections on Espionage; and she received first prize in the New York Virtuoso Singers 2013 Choral Composition Competition for her humorous a capella choral work from 2006, Confessions from the Blogosphere, which sets excerpts from online blogs. Other honors include the CUNY Graduate Center 2009 Starer Award and being a winner of the 2008 Manhattan Choral Ensemble Commissioning Project Competition, which resulted in the work Saguaro, inspired by the desert landscape and history of Tucson, Arizona. Saguaro was recorded by C4: the Choral Composer/Conductor Collective and has been accepted into the PROJECT : ENCORE database of Schola Cantorum on Hudson.

A founding member of C4, Karen has benefitted from years of mentoring by her conductor colleagues in the ensemble and is active as a conductor both within C4 and in performances of her own works. Karen recently received a PhD in composition from the CUNY Graduate Center, where she studied with Tania León. Karen also holds degrees from Yale (BA in psychology) and NYU Steinhardt (MM in composition), where she studied with Marc-Antonio Consoli. Additional education includes composition studies with Conrad Cummings at the Juilliard Evening Division and choral conducting studies with Péter Erdei at the Kodály Institute in Kecskemét. In the spring of 2015, Karen will be on the faculty at Drew University. Her works are both published by See-A-Dot Music Publishing and self-published through Chestnutoak Press on her website, www.KarenSiegel.com. Karen lives in Hoboken, New Jersey with her husband and son.

Melissa Wozniak (Conductor/Finance Officer/
Board of Directors Member Representative)

is working as the School Programs Administrator at New York City Opera while she works on her thesis for her M.M. in Music History and Literature from the University of Southern Mississippi. Her thesis topic concerns settings of Emily Dickinson poetry. In addition to teaching Music Appreciation in Mississippi, she appeared as a soprano soloist in Bach’s Magnificat, Mozart’s Coronation Mass, and Derr’s I Never Saw Another Butterfly. Melissa has performed with the Southern Chorale, the Southern Mississippi Chamber Singers, and the Hattiesburg (MS) Civic Chorale The Meistersingers, as well as the USM Vocal Jazz Ensemble. In 2005 Melissa earned a B.M.E. in Music Education from SUNY Fredonia. Onstage performances include L’Orfeo (Fury), and choral roles in I Pagliacci, The Merry Widow, L’Elisir d’Amore, and Candide. In 2009, Melissa was the recipient of both the DAAD Intensive Language Course Grant which enabled her to live and study in Berlin for 8 weeks, and the Sigma Alpha Iota Professional Development Grant, which provided assistance for three weeks of musicological study in Vienna with her mentor Edward Hafer. Melissa’s past voice teachers include J. Taylor Hightower, Kimberley Davis and Margaret Kuhl. She is a member of the American Musicological Society and Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity. She is now living and teaching on Long Island with her husband David, a saxophonist.

Former Members / Leave of Absence
more bios to come...

James Bilodeau

grew up in the Adirondacks. He spent his youth causing a raucous in church choirs, school choruses and several theatrical productions. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree making speakers go bump in the night as a student of the Music Production and Technology department at the Hartt School of Music in West Hartford, CT. At Hartt, he also sang a lot and waved his arms around a little. Since moving to New York, he's flirted with various choral ensembles including the Empire City Men’s Chorus and the Manhattan Choral Ensemble. While he's had an on-again-off-again relationship with C4, this could be the one. Professionally, he rocks interstellar airwaves as an audio producer for Sirius XM Radio. When he's not working on Karen's rhythms or sitting in a small dark room editing audio, he's seeking balance and peace by jumping out of planes.

Hannah Carr

Hannah's interest in music began with writing pop songs on the piano for no one to hear. She was chorister and head girl in a cathedral choir for six years in her native Limerick, Ireland while still in school, and here she developed a love of choral and sacred music. She then took her undergraduate degree in Music and French with a composition major under Donnacha Dennehy at Trinity College Dublin, where she cofounded and conducted the official Music Department Chamber Choir, Campanile Consort and won the Gerard Victory prize(first prize) for her composition portfolio. She went on to take an advanced diploma in Choral Conducting with Peter Erdei at the Kodály Institute in Hungary and was given a presentation upon completion for outstanding academic acheivement. She has won various prizes for piano performance and received the highest bursary prize awarded by the Irish Arts Council to an individual for travel and training in both 2009 and 2010. She has performed in classical music as an organist, pianist and singer, as well as in groups from Traditional Irish music to Funk and other popular styles

Michael Conley

has earned a notable reputation in the United States and abroad for his multifaceted career as conductor, pianist, organist, singer, and composer. The New York Times has said of his work, “first-rate conducting,” and of his compositions, “tuneful,” “handsome,” “ambitious,” “piquant,” and “surprising.” He is in his 13th season as Artistic Director of the West Village Chorale and also conducts the Hudson Chorale in Westchester. He is the Music Director at Judson Memorial Church, where his also active as an accompanist and vocal coach. From 2004-2012 he was the Director of the High School Chorus at the Dalton School, leading them in performances in Italy, Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Germany and Spain. For five seasons he was the Assistant Conductor of the Collegiate Chorale and has also served as the Chorus Master for the Connecticut Grand Opera.

As a singer, Mr. Conley has been a soloist with The Gregg Smith Singers, The Dessoff Choirs, the Woodstock Fringe Festival, with the professional chamber chorus Manhattan Voices, the caroling ensemble The Yuletide Singers, and he recently joined the professional choir C4: The Choral Composer, Conductor Collective (C4ensemble.org). As a member of the famed Westminster Choir, he performed all over the world, including Taiwan, South Korea, France, the Spoleto Festival USA, and on numerous recordings, including Honneger’s Jeanne d’Arc au Bûcher with the New York Philharmonic, and Dvorak’s Stabat Mater with the NJ Symphony. He completed his graduate studies at Westminster Choir College, where he was a student of renowned choral conductor Joseph Flummerfelt. He is the composer of numerous works in a range of mediums from chorus, orchestra, and chamber ensemble to hymns, cabaret songs, and musicals. He is currently writing an opera on the subject of Frank Lloyd Wright, entitled Fallingwater.

Elizabeth Derham

is a fourth year violinist at The Juilliard School, pursuing her B.M. under the direction of Naoko Tanaka. In 2011, she was awarded a full scholarship to attend the Fontainebleau Summer Festival, where her quartet received the Chamber Music Award. During the Summers of 2006-2010, she attended the Aspen Music Festival and School, as a fellowship recipient. An avid performer of new music, she plays frequently with the New Juilliard Ensemble and AXIOM; and has premiered numerous works by composers at Juilliard, Aspen, and Fontainebleau, as well as works by freelance composers around New York City. Also an active choral soprano, Elizabeth currently sings with the Amuse Singers, C4, and the St. Agnes Schola Cantorum.

Karen Devine

has been fortunate to sing with many esteemed choruses and conductors throughout her life, and is thrilled to add C4 to the list this year. Highlights include: Mrs. Comber’s 4th grade choir, Kenyon College Chamber Singers under the direction of Dr. Benjamin Locke (with whom she also studied voice and conducting while completing her B.A. in Music), Cantori New York, and Amuse. She currently studies voice with Evelyn Troester and, like most Brooklynites, believes that her (two) accordion(s) will undoubtably lead to fame and fortune. After dabbling a bit in the business side of music (helping to bring the world Britney Spears and The Backstreet Boys), Karen decided to atone for her sins by becoming a massage therapist. She is now a highly-regarded therapist – perhaps, in part, because clients can rest assured they will never hear Enya or Yanni during their massage.

Mimi Goodman

is very excited to have joined C4. She received her Bachelor’s of Science at Haverford College in Psychology and Neuroscience while actively pursuing musical studies. Mimi performed as a soprano soloist numerous times with the Haverford and Bryn Mawr College Chorale and was a winner of the Bi-College Concerto Competition in 2013, performing Strauss’ Zueignung and Allerseelen with full orchestra. She became interested in contemporary music early on in her undergraduate career while singing the music of Reena Esmail, Curt Cacioppo, Arvo Part, and Eric Whitacre.

David Harris, BSE, MM, DMA

is a conductor, composer, singer, and instrumentalist. He is music director for the Columbia University Glee Club and The Brearley Singers and Chamber Orchestra, a member of C4: the Choral Composer/Conductor Collective and a teacher with the Brooklyn Youth Chorus Academy and the Collegiate School. His compositions range from large-scale choral works to songs and instrumental pieces. He is also a theater musician, having served as music director and performer with varied projects. He has six recordings available on iTunes and CDBaby

Billy Janiszewski (Conductor)

is a Director, Teacher, Tenor, Guitarist, and Songwriter in the greater New York area. In 2014, Billy founded Tapestry, a not-for-profit choir, of which he is the Artistic Director. Tapestry currently operates in residence at The Church of Saint Thomas More in Manhattan. He also serves as the Program and Music Director of Basilica Voices, a children’s choir established at The Basilica of Saint Patrick’s Old Cathedral in Lower Manhattan. From 2008-2009, he served as the Assistant Director of The Vernon Chorale in Vernon, Connecticut. As a teacher, Billy has spent time instructing Choir, Music Theory, Songwriting, Guitar, and Voice at Highbridge Voices and Sacred Heart School in The Bronx, as well as at The Cape Music Institute in Cape Town, South Africa. He has performed as a Tenor with The New York Choral Society, The New York Choral Society Chamber Singers, where he has also been featured as a soloist, The Vernon Chorale, and as a Cantor at Saint Mark the Evangelist Church in West Hartford, Connecticut. He has accompanied Highbridge Voices and The New York Choral Society Chamber Singers as a guitarist, and was the guitar accompanist at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Storrs, Connecticut. In addition, Billy is an experienced songwriter and has released six albums of original music, both as a soloist and with various bands. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Music Education from the University of Connecticut.

Brooke Lieberman Collins

is delighted to be joining C4 for her first cycle. She is on the voice faculty at Concordia Conservatory in Bronxville, NY, and maintains an active performing career, including recent appearances with the New York City Ballet, the New York and Boston Pops, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the American Symphony Orchestra, and Liederkranz Opera Theater. A member of the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players for the last five years, Brooke regularly takes part in off-Broadway and touring productions, as well as in outreach residencies in local schools; this spring, she played Fiametta in The Gondoliers at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. Brooke has received awards from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, the National Association of Teachers of Singing, the Donna Reed Foundation for the Performing Arts (National Vocal Competition Winner), and the Harvard Musical Association. In 2009, she won 1st Place in the 5 Towns Music and Art Foundation’s Young Musician Competition, 2nd Place in the Philharmonic Society of Arlington’s Young Artist Competition and was named a finalist in the Peter Elvins Vocal Competition; 2006 brought a 2nd-Place win in the Leopoldskron Vocal Competition in Salzburg, Austria. At the age of 18, she appeared on NPR’s “From the Top,” and became a Presidential Scholar in the Arts, receiving honors from President Bush and performing songs and arias at the Kennedy Center. Brooke attended the Walnut Hill School for the Arts in Natick, MA, before graduating from Harvard University, where she earned an AB cum laude in Music with a Language Citation in Italian, having studied music abroad on a Radcliffe Fellowship. Brooke earned Masters degrees in Voice and Music Theory Pedagogy from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University. Much of her singing time these days is devoted to such classics as “The Wheels on the Bus” with her bandmates Isadora June (3 years), Asher Gabriel (1 year), and husband Reed.

Christine Papania

is a soprano and producer/composer based in Brooklyn, NY. She has appeared as a soloist in Handel's Dixit Dominus, Bach’s B Minor Mass, Monteverdi’s Vespers, Fauré's Requiem, Schütz’ Historia der Geburt Jesu Christi, Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music, Charpentier’s Messe de Minuit pour Noël, Holst’s A Choral Fantasia, Op. 51, Stravinsky’s Four Russian Songs, Ola Gjeilo’s Luminous Night of the Soul, the premiere of Paul Rudoi’s Everyone Sang, and appeared as a soprano soloist for the world premiere of Dreamweaver by Ola Gjeilo at Carnegie Hall. An avid choral singer, Christine regularly performs with the 32-voice professional choir, Manhattan Chorale who's past concert seasons have included performances at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, and Orchestra Hall in Chicago. Influenced by post-classical electronic music, Christine is co-composer and soprano for experimental, ambient/classical ensemble Ariadne. She also composes and produces music for her baroque-inspired ambient/bass solo project under the moniker Lanx. She holds a degree in voice performance from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.

Joe Redd

moved to New York City in June 2010. Since then, Joe has contributed his voice as soloist and choral member to a number of ensembles in NYC, including Polyhymnia, Sing We Enchanted, and The Canticum Novum Singers. He will also have the pleasure of performing as Tenor soloist in Arthur Honegger's King David with the Columbia County Choral Society in April 2013. When he isn't singing on stage, Joe works the microphone as a narration voice actor for the Internet, mobile application, film, and video industries.

Joseph N. Rubinstein

grew up in Newport News, VA and currently resides in New York City. Joseph’s music is particularly concerned with dramatic narrative and storytelling, and his work is defined by vivid musical characterizations and striking juxtapositions. His music has been performed by groups including the Society for New Music, North / South Consonance, Boston Metro Opera, the Norfolk Contemporary Music Ensemble, The Columbia University Bach Society, C4, the Young New Yorker’s Chorus, DETOUR New Music, and the International Vocal Arts Workshop in Croatia. He received his BA in Music from Columbia University, where his primary teachers in composition were Joseph Dubiel and Sebastian Currier. At Columbia, he pursued additional studies in voice with Jane McMahan and Robert Osborne. From 2011 to 2013 Joseph was a masters degree student in composition at The Juilliard School, studying with Robert Beaser. He is currently a fellow in American Opera Projects' "Composers and the Voice" program.

Fahad Siadat

specializes in theatrical music for vocal ensembles. His work explores the differing sound possibilities of the voice, using both standard notation/singing as well as extended vocal techniques. He holds a Master of Fine Arts from the California Institute of the Arts in Music Performance and Composition with a focus on Vocal Music, and a Bachelor’s of Music in Theory and Composition from Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music. Fahad has composed for a variety of ensembles, dance, and theater companies: the California EAR Unit, New Century Players, CalArts Singer’s Collective, TOCCATA Orchestra, and Warrior Poet Theater Group, as well as public schools along the west coast. He has most recently performed with the C4 Vocal Ensemble, Choral Chameleon, and Polyhmnia in New York, the TOCCATA Orchestra and as a guest vocalist with PARTCH in Los Angeles. He serves as composer-in-residence for the TOCCATA Orchestra in Lake Tahoe and Warrior Poet Theater Productions in Los Angeles. He is also an active performer of Brazilian music and dance and has performed with Capoeira Narahari and Raizes do Brasil, is a rock-climbing enthusiast, and a tri-athlete. For more information about his current work visit www.fahadsiadat.com

Susanna Su

Combining technical precision and intelligent musicality, soprano Susanna Su is dedicated to performing new, challenging and unusual music. She most recently studied with new music champion Lisa Saffer at New England Conservatory, which first sparked her curiosity. Her fascination grew through performing/premiering music by NEC student composers, and her collaborations with Ms. Saffer, John Heiss and Stephen Drury. Recent performances include songs by Igor Stravinsky, Bright Sheng's Three Chinese Love Songs, Oliver Knussen's Hums and Songs of Winnie-the-Pooh, Mathias Spahlinger's Musica impura, and Steve Reich's Tehillim. Susanna holds a BM from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, and MM from New England Conservatory.

Daniel Whitener

is a recent graduate of the Bard Conservatory of Music and the recipient of its first M.M. degree in choral conducting. Over the past few months, he also got married and moved to New Jersey. He is excited to have the opportunity to work with C4 as an emerging conductor and aspiring composer. At Bard, he collaborated with the student-run ensemble Contemporaneous, "a new music ensemble based in New York dedicated to presenting music of emerging and established composers of our time." contemporaneous.org
Currently he sings with the Schola Cantorum quartet every Sunday at St. Mary's Church in Nutley, NJ under Jonathan Ryan. In addition to his work in the world of vocal and choral music, he is an avid and active banjo player, currently with the jazz-bluegrass group Blue Plate Special of north Jersey.
facebook.com/pages/Blue-Plate-Special/248577158896 pandora.com/dan-whitener

Nate Widelitz (Conductor)

Nate Widelitz's talents have taken him to three continents so far in his capacities as a singer, conductor, and scholar. Equally at home on the solo stage, in the chorus, and on the podium, he has performed at such venues as New York’s Lincoln Center, Los Angeles’ Disney Hall, Singapore’s Esplanade, and Salzburg Cathedral. He has sung under the batons of such leading conductors as Nicholas McGegan, Simon Carrington, Masaaki Suzuki, and Helmuth Rilling in collaboration with Bach Collegium Japan and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, among other world-class ensembles.

In 2006, Nate moved to Los Angeles, where he earned his BM in Vocal Arts summa cum laude from the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music. While there, he founded and directed the Trojan Consort, USC's only performers of a cappella Renaissance polyphony. He also appeared frequently with the Thornton Opera and the Chamber Opera of USC.

Upon graduating, Nate was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society and sang for a season as a charter member of the Horizon Chamber Choir of Los Angeles. In 2011, he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship and moved to Sofia, Bulgaria, where he researched and produced a thesis on the deterioration of traditional vocal practices among the women of Shopski Kray, the folk region to which Sofia belongs.

In 2012, he began his studies in pursuit of the MM Degree in Choral Conducting at the Yale School of Music and Institute of Sacred Music, where he studied with Marguerite Brooks and Jeffrey Douma. While there, he undertook additional study with David Hill and Masaaki Suzuki and participated in masterclasses with Simon Carrington, Markus Utz, Erwin Ortner, and Helmuth Rilling in Zürich, Switzerland, Bologna, Italy, and New Haven. At Yale, Nate co-directed the Yale Repertory Chorus and University Church Chapel Choir.

In 2014, he assumed the position of Director of Vocal Music at Blair Academy in Blairstown, New Jersey, where he directs the Blair Academy Singers and Blair Academy Chamber Choir and teaches private voice lessons, in addition to courses in religion and music and music theory. In March of 2015, he led these ensembles on a week-long tour of Italy and Austria, which included performances in Padova, Verona, and Salzburg.

Danielle Buonaiuto

commissioned her first art song at 18, and hasn't looked back. Originally from Canada, she actively promotes the work of her Canadian colleagues in recital and recordings; recently, she won a New Music USA grant to premiere a work of Toronto composer David Passmore. She is equally enthusiastic about new music in her adopted country, and can be heard this season in New York, Baltimore, DC, and Miami, premiering art songs and operas by America's emerging composers, and chamber works written for her pierrot ensemble, Lunar Ensemble. In addition to her work with C4 this season, Danielle indulges her choral inclinations by sightreading Renaissance polyphony in New York's various churches. For more info on projects and to listen, visit www.daniellebuonaiuto.com.

Kristopher Burke

has earned degrees in music education from Shepherd University and Vocal Performance from Shenandoah Conservatory. Kristopher sang as soloist and section leader with the St. James Choir in Leesburg, VA for five years and as a chorister with the City Choir of Washington under conductor Robert Shafer. He has also performed the roles of Sam Kaplan in Weill’s Street Scene, Don Basilio in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, and Flute in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Kristopher moved to New York a year ago from West Virginia, and now works as an arts administrator for the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus.

Natalie Chamat

was born and raised in Des Moines, Iowa where she was involved in the arts and theatrics starting at a young age. She is a national winner of the AuditionPlus Competition of 2013 and has held operatic roles as Cousin Hebe in H.M.S. Pinafore, Cinderella in Jacks are Wild, Suor Dolcina in Suor Angelica, and Spirit in Cendrillion. She possesses a B.M. in Voice Performance from Iowa State University where she graduated cum laude with honors and a M.M. in Voice Performance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Lorena Del Mar

born in Madrid (Spain), started her musical career at a very early age studying classical piano. In 2007 she moved to The Netherlands where she graduated cum laude with bachelors and masters degrees in jazz voice from The Royal Conservatorium of The Hague. During that time, she focussed on arranging from a vocal point of view using lyrics.

In 2015 she led her jazz quartet in the release of their debut CD My resistance is low. She has recorded with the New York based indie jazz ensemble "The Delegation" and with the Spanish folk pop band "Sammy Jankis" as the lead singer. In addition, she works with several different groups in diverse styles, such as the modern jazz duo "Entre-Deux" and in the singer/songwriter duo "Artemisz and Lorena." Lorena is a member of several choirs in New York, though C4 is certainly the most exciting one for her. www.lorenadelmar.com

Jonathan David

was raised in New York City and currently lives in Chapel Hill, NC. He has been commissioned by the New York Treble Singers, Marble Collegiate Church, Carroll University, Central City Chorus, and the Thanks-Giving Foundation, among others. His current projects are commissions for the Manhattan Wind Ensemble and baritone Daniel Neer, both scheduled for premieres in Spring, 2014. His most recent works are Two Kingsongs for the Cheah Chan Duo and St. John’s Dance for alto saxophone and piano for David Wozniak. His choral music has also been performed by the Princeton Singers, Brooklyn Youth Chorus Academy, Glen Ellyn Children’s Chorus, Cerddorion Vocal Ensemble, and Cascadian Chorale, among others. Jonathan has served as Composer-in-Residence for The Greenwich Village Singers and Music Director for the chamber chorus, Howl! He serves on the judging panel for the Annual ASCAP/Deems Taylor Awards for best classical music writing. Jonathan’s music is published by Oxford University Press and See-A-Dot Music, and is also available through his website, www.jonathandavidmusic.com.

Harry Einhorn

studied music and theater at Northwestern University. His cycle of performance-based chamber music drawing on Buddhist texts, written in collaboration with composer Philippe Treuille, has been performed throughout Chicago and New York. It's most recent iteration, Samaya, featured multimedia projection and dance and premiered at La Sala in Williamsburg. Outside of composition, Harry is also a performer, writer, producer, and director. His studies in Tibetan language and Buddhism have brought him to Himalayan India several times, where he has also worked on creative projects. He currently works at the Rubin Museum in the education department and the Rubin Foundation. He is interested in exploring the cross section between art, performance, ritual, and music, and is very grateful for his debut season singing with C4. [email protected]

Liz Hanna

graduated from Berklee College of Music in 2011 with a degree in Music Therapy. In addition to her clinical work, she serves as administrative assistant to the Western Wind Vocal Ensemble, whose renowned workshops in ensemble singing teach the power of choral music in building community. A multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and choral composer, Liz also sings with Choral Chameleon and the choir at the Church of the Heavenly Rest.

 Bill Heigen

is a composer, arranger, musical director, singer, vocal coach and pianist. He has received national awards in Brazil for his vocal arrangements, and for his choral directing. He has composed some musical theaters shows, been the musical director of multiple vocal groups, and has performed in many other professional a cappella ensembles -- singing many musical styles -- from bossa nova and Brazilian popular music to Renaissance repertoire. He is also a voice teacher/vocal coach and has taught music theory courses at various conservatories and universities in Brazil.

Bill is now living in New York City and taking his Masters degree in Composition at Hunter College.

Marissa Karchin

Marisa Karchin, soprano, is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Vocal Performance at Mannes College The New School for Music. After growing up in a musical family, she went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts from Yale University, where she discovered her love for both choral singing and opera. As a member of the Yale Glee Club under Jeffrey Douma she performed solos in Mozart’s Requiem and Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass. On the stage, Marisa has sung the roles of Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro and Belinda in Dido and Aeneas with the Opera Theater of Yale College, and the title role in L’incoronazione di Poppea with the Yale Baroque Opera Project, led by Venetian baroque scholar Ellen Rosand. This season at Mannes, Marisa looks forward to singing with the Mannes Sounds Festival and the Mannes Contemporary Ensemble.

Leslie Ann Lopez

has been singing since the age of 16. She began with her first lead role playing “Julie” in Carousel in high school. She then began studying opera and musical theater privately and earned her music education degrees from Iona College and SUNY Purchase. She has been a music educator for 20 years and has enjoyed teaching students how to sing and perform. She also performed in over 25 musicals throughout Westchester and the Bronx for 10 years. She became a church cantor at the age of 21 and has done most of her performing and solos in this venue and in various recitals throughout her career. She was a founding member of the NYC Master Chorale and is currently the cantor at the Church of St. Bernard in White Plains. She is honored to be making her debut with The C4 ensemble this season.

Elizabeth Marker

is an accomplished musician who has devoted the major portion of her career to the advancement of choral music. She holds a Master of Music in Voice Performance from Boston University where she studied with Mary Davenport and coached with Alan Rodgers. In New York she studies with Maria Farnworth. She has sung with many notable choral groups including Tanglewood Festival Chorus, the Russian Chamber Chorus and Cantori New York. In 1987, Elizabeth was invited to sing with the Oregon Repertory Singers representing the United States at the 26th Choral Singing Festival in Kärnten, Austria where the group won both the Folk and Classical Repertoire competitions. Elizabeth performed in many Robert Shaw Choral Workshops at Carnegie Hall and was a member of the Robert Shaw Festival Singers. She has served as section leader at The Church of the Good Shepherd (Episcopal) and been a member of the professional choir at St. Ignatius of Antioch (Episcopal). As a soloist, Elizabeth can be heard on two recordings: My Heart is Ready, music of Yuri Yukechev (Russian Chamber Chorus), and, as the Mother of Iseut, in Le vin herbé by Frank Martin (I Cantori di New York).

Alexandra Porter

soprano, completed her master’s degree in voice performance and pedagogy at Westminster Choir College in 2011. While a student, she performed as Despina (Così), Papagena (Die Zauberflöte), Héro (Béatrice et Bénédicte), and Cupidon (Orphée aux Enfers) in scene performances. Recently, she performed with Princeton-based Opera MODO as The Governess (The Turn of the Screw), Monica (The Medium), and studied the role of Stewardess (Flight). She spent two summers with Opera Slavica, performing as Jano and Pastuchyňa in Janáček’s Jenufa and in scenes as Mařenka (Prodaná nevěsta), as well as Brigitta in Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta. Fostering her passion for her new music, she has spent the past three summers at New Music on the Point, premiering seven compositions, two with members of the acclaimed JACK Quartet. This past summer, she also traveled to Italy for the Cortona Sessions for New Music, where she worked further with young composers to premiere their chamber works. An avid recitalist, she regularly performs programs combining the classical canon with new pieces, often composed for her. She is also a dedicated voice teacher and works as a faculty member for Princeton Day School and the Mason Gross Extension Division (Rutgers).

David Rentz

an accomplished choral, orchestral, and opera conductor, currently serves on the faculty of the music department of Scripps and Pomona Colleges, is the music director of the Orange County Symphony, choir director at the First Congregational Church of Riverside, and resident conductor of the Chamber Opera Players of Los Angeles. From 2005 to 2010, he lived in New York, where, in addition to being an enthusiastic singing, conducting, and composing member of C4, he was director of Guildsingers, a professional early music ensemble specializing in 15th-century polyphony; choral director at The Brearley School; and assistant conductor of the New Amsterdam Singers. David received his B.Mus. summa cum laude from Washington University in Saint Louis, where he was a Mylonas Scholar in the Humanities. He earned his M.M at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he was director of the University Chorus and graduate conducting assistant for the University Opera. He received his M.M.A. and D.M.A. from the Yale University School of Music, where he was co-director of the University Chapel Choir and a member of the internationally-renowned Yale Schola Cantorum. www.davidrentz.com

Suzanne Schwing

first trained for the stage at LAMDA and subsequently received her musical training at Boston University and Manhattan School of Music. A sought-after mezzo-soprano, Suzanne has performed in solo and/or choral capacities at such venues as New York City Opera (NYCO), Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Boston’s Symphony Hall, Tanglewood, the Kennedy Center, the “Kitara” Concert Hall in Sapporo, Japan, and in the General Assembly Hall of the United Nations. She has sung with conductors Seiji Ozawa, Kurt Masur, Mstislav Rostropovich, James Levine, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, George Manahan, Keith Lockhart, James Conlon, Sir Simon Rattle, Manfred Honeck, Gianandrea Noseda, and many others. As a member of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, the John Oliver Chorale, C4, and The New York Virtuoso Singers (NYVS), she has also recorded for the Sony Classical, RCA Victor, Koch International Classics, Parma, Soundbrush Records, 4Tay, and MSR Classics labels.

In 2012, Suzanne appeared as soloist with NYVS, the Pro Arte Singers, the American Symphony, the Great Music series at St. Bart’s Church, and on tour with the Israel Philharmonic and Zubin Mehta in Tel Aviv, in Haifa, and at the Salzburg Festival. She also performed with the NYVS Sextet, the Collegiate Chorale, and the Pro Arte Singers. In 2013, she recorded 25 world-premiere choral compositions with NYVS (the 2-disc set “25 x25” on the Soundbrush label, released on October 8, 2013) and she sings on C4’s debut album, “C4 Volume 1: Uncaged” on the 4Tay label. With the American Symphony Orchestra under Leon Botstein, Suzanne made her Carnegie Hall solo debut as Frau Blunt in Marschner’s Der Vampyr in March, and returned to Bard SummerScape as a Fury in Taneyev’s Oresteia in July and August. She also returned to NYCO for Moses in Egypt and La Périchole at City Center in April and as a member of the Meat Rack Quartet in the American premiere of Anna Nicole at BAM in September. Upcoming projects include "Johannes Brahms - Backwards and Forwards" with NYVS at Merkin Hall in November 2013, and the world premiere of Bruce Adolphe’s The End of Tonight (composed for 3 women’s voices, 3 cellos, and piano) at The Greene Space in May 2014.

Joy Tamayo

A native of the Philippines, Joy Tamayo started singing at the age of three. She completed her master's in vocal performance at the Crane School of Music and a bachelor's degree in music from the University of the Philippines.

As a concert soloist, Ms. Tamayo has performed works such as Orff’s Carmina Burana, Mozart’s Coronation Mass, Handel’s Messiah, Beethoven’s Symphony No.9, and Vivaldi’s Gloria. Operatic credits include the Queen of the Night in Mozart’s DieZauberflöte, Goldentrill in Mozart’s The Impresario, Lucy in Menotti’s The Telephone, Amore in Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea, and Sisa in De Leon’s Noli MeTangere.

Currently, Ms. Tamayo is under the tutelage of Margaret Lattimore and Thomas Grubb. She has received vocal coaching from Carol Kimball, Chris Fecteau, and François Germain. Master classes include works with Martin Katz, Duain Wolfe and Arthur Espiritu.

Joy is a member of The Salvatones, Schola Dominicana at the Church of St. Catherine of Siena, and the Philippine American Choral Project. Upcoming performances include the role of Barbarina from Le Nozze di Figaro with the dell'arte Opera Ensemble and a concert featuring the works of Filipino composer Nicanor Abelardo at Merkin Concert Hall. This is Joy's first season with C4, The Choral Composer/Conductor Collective.

Lisa Whitson Burns

is a composer, dramatist and educator, originally from Honolulu, Hawaii. She holds a BA from Harvard University and an MFA from the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program at Tisch School of the Arts, NYU. In addition to creating new work, Lisa is passionate about exploring music and theatre with youth in underserved communities internationally through the non-profit organization she founded, Far Corners Community Musical Theatre (www.farcornersmusicals.org).