Information forthcoming.
Audiences recently heard mezzo-soprano Erica Convery in Seattle Modern Opera Company’s updated production of Offenbach’s La belle Hélène, in the chorus of Seattle Opera in their production of Carmen, and with the Mägi Ensemble, a professional, Seattle-based women’s ensemble that performs Baltic works. She recently performed the role of Hansel in Northwest Opera in Schools, Etc.’s outreach production of Hansel and Gretel and filled in as Mercedes in Tacoma Opera’s production of Carmen in 2018. Before moving to Washington state, Ms. Convery resided in Baltimore and sang with Bel Cantanti Opera, Maryland Lyric Opera, and The Bridge Ensemble, and as a regular soloist with the Baltimore Musicales.
Ms. Convery made her Carnegie Hall & Kennedy Center concert debuts while finishing her Master of Music degree at the Peabody Institute. She also received two consecutive scholarship grants from the Stockton Opera Competition, two consecutive Peabody Career Grants, the George Castelle Memorial Award, and membership in the elite music honor society of Pi Kappa Lambda. Ms. Convery currently resides in Everett, Washington, with her husband, Chris, and daughter, Isabelle, and enjoys teaching voice and piano in her private studio.
Rebekah Gilmore is a freelance soprano, choral conductor, and church musician in the Pacific Northwest. She performs regularly with the Byrd Ensemble, Canonici Consort of Voices, Cappella Romana, and the St. James Cathedral Cantorei. She has performed with members of The Tallis Scholars under the direction of Peter Phillips and has sung on numerous movie, television, and video game soundtrack recordings.
As a soloist, Rebekah has performed with the Seattle Academy of Baroque Opera, the Seattle Modern Orchestra, Allegro Baroque Orchestra in Spokane, and Baroque Northwest. In 2014, she joined in the formation of the new ensemble Intimate Baroque, specializing in one-on-a-part period performances of Baroque repertoire. She serves on the vocal faculty for Midsummer Musical Retreat held in Walla Walla, Washington.
Nicholas Gorne has taught music in every grade from kindergarten to university. Through his education at Pacific Lutheran University he developed his solo vocal performance skills performing in opera and musical theatre, sang in the Choir of the West, and sang in a madrigal group on campus. He also holds a Master of Arts in Teaching at the University of Puget Sound and is an active adjudicator for choral festivals in the region. As a tenor in Choral Arts Northwest, Mr. Gorne has been part of six recordings and has sung for regional and national American Choral Directors Association Conferences and at a command performance at the White House for the President and First Lady in December 2015.
Mr. Gorne taught at Snohomish High School, where he was honored to receive the award for Best Orchestra in a Musical at the 2019 5th Avenue Awards. He was a mentor and conductor with the Vivace! Choral Program and is currently the Music Specialist at Margaret Mead Elementary School in Sammamish. Mr. Gorne performs regularly throughout the Puget Sound Region, is active as a musical theatre director, and offers private voice lessons and quartet coaching.
Ben Grover received his Bachelor of Musical Arts degree in vocal performance at the University of Michigan. Since moving to Seattle, he enjoys singing solos, especially oratorio, with local choirs (such as Byrd Ensemble, Cantaré Vocal Ensemble, Cascadian Chorale, Master Chorus Eastside, Opus 7, Seattle Pro Musica, and Solaris), chamber ensembles, orchestras (Seattle Bach Choir, Harmonia), and even ballet companies (City Opera Ballet).
Information forthcoming.
Seattle tenor David Hendrix has sung with a number of groups throughout the Pacific Northwest as a soloist and ensemble member, including the Tudor Choir, Byrd Ensemble, Opus 7 Vocal Ensemble, and Cappella Romana. This past year he was featured as soloist with the Portland Baroque Orchestra as well as with Seattle Bach Choir and the Octava Chamber Orchestra for their respective Bach Cantata projects. He has recorded with the Tudor Choir and Byrd Ensemble, most recently on the Byrd Ensemble’s Music for the Tudors, released in 2015.
In addition to his vocal engagements, Mr. Hendrix serves as the Director of Music Ministries at Edmonds United Methodist Church in Edmonds, Washington, and is an active voice teacher in the greater Seattle area. He is also a collaborator with Coastland Commons, a community of Seattle-based artists dedicated to creating new works around the greater church narrative. Mr. Hendrix is from Seattle and studied music education and vocal performance at St. Olaf College and Pacific Lutheran University.
Brandon Higa was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, and has resided in Seattle since 2001. Appearing on both operatic and concert stages, he has been hailed by the Tribune Herald for his “sweet tenor.” He has appeared with Tacoma Opera as Sam in The Pirates of Penzance, Monostatos in The Magic Flute, Crookfinger Jake in The Threepenny Opera, and St. Brioche in The Merry Widow, as well as with the Astoria Music Festival as Gherardo in Gianni Schicchi and Kitsap Opera in Carmen as Remendado. He has appeared with Seattle Modern Opera Company as Bill in A Hand of Bridge, Ricky in Jake Heggie’s Again, and Menelaus in La belle Hélène. He has sung as tenor soloist in various concert works including Vaughan Williams’s Serenade to Music with the Honolulu Symphony, Rachmaninov’s All-Night Vigil, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu nostri, Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s Magnificat and cantatas BWV55 and BWV147, Reinhard Keiser’s St. Mark Passion as the Evangelist, and selections from Monteverdi’s Selva morale e spirituale. He has sung with Hawai’i Opera Theatre, Puget Sound Opera, Puget Sound Concert Opera, The Market Street Singers, Kitsap Opera, and Tacoma Opera, and was a Tacoma Opera young artist. He has held tenor soloist and lead positions in both Honolulu and Seattle. He is currently tenor section leader with Kirkland Choral Society.
Soprano Natalie Ingrisano enjoys performing as a soloist, chamber singer, and professional chorister in the Pacific Northwest and Midwest. During the Covid-19 pandemic, she was involved in online concerts, including “The Deer’s Cry” and “Art Songs by Black Composers, 1760–1830.” She appears frequently as a soloist in chamber music series throughout Seattle, including Classical Uncorked. Natalie has performed extensively as a Baroque soloist, including prominent concert works by Charpentier, Couperin, Handel, Monteverdi, and Vivaldi. She has also appeared as a guest faculty at Lyon College in Arkanses, and performed Mahler’s Fourth Symphony with the Northbrook Symphony in Illinois. She has twice performed the United States and French National Anthems at Bastille Day in Daley Plaza, Chicago. As a professional chorister, she joined The Benedict XVI of San Francisco in their inaugural season. She has also sung with the Emerald Ensemble and the Mägi Ensemble, and in concert with The Rolling Stones.
Information forthcoming.
Finnish-American soprano Maria Männistö moves comfortably among a wide range of musical styles to international acclaim. An adventurous recitalist, she has performed as soloist in contemporary works by György Ligeti (Mysteries of the Macabre), Arnold Schönberg (Pierrot lunaire), Luciano Berio (Circles), Morton Feldman (Rothko Chapel) Michel van der Aa (In Circles), Giacinto Scelsi (Khoom), George Crumb (Madrigals), and Pierre Boulez (Le marteau sans maître), and has premiered works by Wayne Horvitz (Smokestack Arias), Garrett Fisher (Kocho and Kakitsubata), William O. Smith (Space in the Heart), and Tom Baker (Hunger: The Journey of Tamsen Donner). She has appeared frequently as soloist with the Seattle Symphony, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra, Tacoma Symphony, EOS Kammeroper Köln, Seattle Modern Orchestra, and The Box is Empty. Ms. Männistö has performed over thirty solo recitals in the U.S., Canada, Finland, Belgium, and Germany, and has performed and recorded with The Tudor Choir, Flemish Radio Choir, Opus 7, Byrd Ensemble, and Solaris. A dedicated member of the Seattle-area Finnish community, she serves as the primary organist at the Finnish Lutheran Church and performs regularly at Nordic festivals and events.
Praised for her “clear, burnished voice” and “mezzo rich with an alto’s strength and a soprano’s shining top edge” (Tacoma News Tribune), Melissa Plagemann’s busy performing schedule spans the stages of opera, oratorio, chamber music, and ensemble performances. In the 2018/19 season, she sang the role of Designer #1 in Seattle Opera’s production of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs. She returned to Pacific Northwest Ballet for their performances of Nutcracker and Midsummer Night’s Dream, and to Symphony Tacoma for Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. She joined the Everett Philharmonic for Wagner’s Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde, the Bellingham Chamber Chorale for Mozart’s Coronation Mass, Master Chorus Eastside for Handel’s Messiah, and the Bellevue Chamber Chorus for Vivaldi’s Gloria. She was heard twice singing the National Anthem for the Seattle Mariners, and joined forces with pianist and composer Sheila Bristow for several performances of their project, “Words of Women,” featuring texts by all female writers and poets. Melissa teaches on the faculties of Pacific Lutheran and Western Washington Universities, and is a managing diva of Opera On Tap’s Seattle chapter. She lives in Shoreline with her husband and daughter.
Soprano Ksenia Popova has been hailed by The News Tribune as “a young soprano to watch.” She recently completed a successful run as the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor with Tacoma Opera. Prior to her Seattle return, Ms. Popova was a Studio Artist at Tulsa Opera where she covered the role of Marguerite (Faust). As a Resident Artist with Opera San Jose, she performed in the student matinee of Lucia di Lammermoor (as Lucia) and The Barber of Seville (as Berta) and sang Madeleine in the West Coast premiere of Kevin Puts’s Silent Night. Here in the Pacific Northwest, Ms. Popova made role debuts of Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) and Gretel (Hansel and Gretel) with Pacific Northwest Opera, Josephine (H.M.S. Pinafore) with Opera Coeur d’Alene, Juliette (Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette), and Polly Peachum (The Threepenny Opera) with Tacoma Opera.
In concert, Ms. Popova has appeared as the soprano soloist in Carmina Burana for the Greater Seattle Choral Consortium (as part of the 2016 Folklife Festival) and twice with Sammamish Symphony Orchestra. She is a Metropolitan Opera National Council Third Place Regional winner, as well as having received several Audience Favorite and Encouragement Awards. Last spring, Ms. Popova made her Seattle Art Song Society debut as part of the Voices of Mental Health recital. Recently, Ms. Popova crossed over into musical theater in the role of Pat Collins in the U.S. premiere of Stephen Edwards’s Moon Landing at the Museum of Flight.
Information forthcoming.
Kathryn Weld, mezzo-soprano, has performed extensively throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan. She has appeared as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic, Osaka Chamber Orchestra, Bayerischen Rundfunkchor, Seattle Symphony, Philharmonia Baroque, and Portland Baroque Orchestra, among others. On the stage she has sung roles with the Seattle Opera, the Regensburg Opera Theater in Germany, Opera Carolina, and Tacoma Opera, in works ranging from Rameau and Mozart to John Adams and Tan Dun.
A favorite guest artist in chamber music concerts and in recital, she has appeared with Trinity Wall Street Concerts in New York, Music of Remembrance, the Seattle Chamber Players, the Nordic Heritage Museum Concerts and the Battelle Artist Recitals, 2nd City Chamber Music and Jacobsen Concerts in Tacoma. She has presented recitals in Paris, St Petersburg, Asahikawa, and Munich.
Since joining the voice faculty at Western Washington University in 2008, she has taught voice and opera, French, German, and Italian diction, and has served both as Interim Opera Director and Advanced Treble Chorale Conductor. She has also served as Affiliate Artist Faculty at the University of Puget Sound and at Cornish College of the Arts.
Robin Wyatt-Stone is a Seattle-based bass-baritone. He earned his Bachelor of Music in vocal arts at the University of Southern California, where he discovered and honed his passion for opera and choral music. Some of his favorite memories from school include touring with the USC Chamber Singers under Dr. Jo-Michael Scheibe and performing Bach’s Mass in B minor under the baton of Helmuth Rilling. Robin has continued to pursue classical singing personally and professionally as a member of the Seattle Opera Chorus, section leader at Trinity Parish Church, and featured soloist for Eastside Sings with the Greater Seattle Choral Consortium. Robin has also sung with a number of local choral organizations including the Emerald Ensemble, Byrd Ensemble, Radiance, LUMIA Ensemble, Seattle Pro Musica, Opus 7, and Holiday Harmony. When not singing professionally, Robin spends most of his time being a big nerd, and enjoys tabletop RPGs, board and video games, studying massage therapy, and hanging out with his cat, Millie.
Kathea Yarnell is a freelance mezzo-soprano in the Puget Sound region, routinely performing as a soloist and professional chorister. For over ten years she has been an established soloist, cantor, and section leader at Epiphany Parish of Seattle. Over the decades Kathea has sung with many ensembles including Solaris Vocal Ensemble under Giselle Wyers, whateverandeveramen., The Esoterics, The Fisher Ensemble, Cantatorem, and Seattle Opera Chorus. With a strong interest in new works and adventurous programming, she is regularly featured as soloist with Solaris Vocal Ensemble and The Esoterics, and in numerous individual concert offerings. Kathea earned degrees in music education from the University of Washington and has studied with Tom Harper, Valerie Yockey, Stephen Wall, and Eric Banks. She taught middle-school choir and orchestra for several years before moving to private teaching and performance. She maintains a small piano and voice studio while substitute-teaching, working with special-needs children through music, and volunteering in the Northshore School District.