Johann Sebastian Bach, composer

Born: March 21, 1685 in Eisenach, Germany

Died: July 28, 1750 in Leipzig, Germany

Studied: with his father, Johan Ambrosius, who taught him the violin and trumpet, and with Johann Pachelbel

Assignments: 1700: chorister at the Michaelis monastery in Lüneberg; 1703-07: organist at the Neuekirche in Arnstadt; 1708: court organist and orchestra leader for the Duke of Sachsen-Weimar; 1717: Kapellmeister at Cothen; 1723: Kantor at the Thomas School in Leipzig

Best known for: The Well-tempered Clavier, a collection of 48 fugues and preludes which essentially standardized the practice of equally tempering keyboard instruments; also widely known for his works for unaccompanied violin and cello, his concerti, cantatas, and oratorios, among others

Notable compositions: Well-tempered Clavier, 1722; Easter Oratorio, 1725; St. Matthew Passion, 1727; Christmas Oratorio, 1734-35; Jesu, meine Freude, 1735; Mass in B Minor, 1748-49

Quote: The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul. — J.S. Bach

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Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra, guest orchestra

Music Director: Martin Haselböck

Regarded as: Southern California’s premiere Baroque ensemble, garnering critical and audience acclaim both nationally and abroad

Founded in: 1993 by lutenist Michael Eagan and gambist Mark Chatfield

Has collaborated with: Los Angeles Opera, Long Beach Opera, J. Paul Getty Museum, Norton Simon Museum, Wiener Akademie of Vienna, and John Malkovich in the world premiere of the multi-media production Seduction and Despair

Guest conductors include: Rinaldo Alessandrini, Giovanni Antonini, Harry Bicket, Paul Goodwin, Jory Vinikour, among others

Last LAMC appearance: Bach St. John Passion, March 2010

First international tour: performing Bach’s St. Matthew Passion in 2007, with stops in New York, Austria, Mexico, Hungary, Spain, Italy and Germany

Recordings: Vivaldi Concertos for Lute, Oboe, Violin and Strings; three recordings on the New Classical Adventure label including Handel’s Acis and Galatea, Concerti by Philipp Telemann, and a collection of three Bach Cantatas

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Pablo Corá

Voice part: Tenor

Seasons with the Chorale: 9

Hometown: Buenos Aires, Argentina

Previous Chorale solos: Händel’s Messiah; J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and Magnificat; Rachmaninoff’s Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom; Ariel Ramírez’s Misa Criolla

Education: B.M. Ithaca College; M.M.Indiana University

Opera performances: The Faerie Queen and Dido and Aeneas with Musica Angelica and The Concord Ensemble; Orphée in La Descente d’Orphée with Catacoustic Consort, Les Arts Florissants with Camerata Pacifica, Alfred in Die Fledermaus with the Rome Festival Orchestra, Nathanäel in Les Comtes d’Hoffman, Candide with the Ithaca Opera.

Has appeared as a guest artist and soloist with: Piffaro, the renaissance wind band; Catacoustic Consort; Cappella Romana; The Concord Ensemble; Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra; Aguavá New Music; Theatre of Voices; The Pro Arte Singers

Recordings: Cappella, Padilla: Sun of Justice; gravitación, elements; Los Angeles Master Chorale, Steve Reich: Daniel Variations, Steve Reich: You Are (Variations) and Glass- Salonen; The Concord Ensemble and Piffaro, Il Trionfo d’amore e della morte; Pro Arte Singers, William Byrd: The Three Masses; Aguavá New Music, Itineraries of the Night; Theatre of Voices, I am the True Vine, Carols of the Old and the New World, vol. 2, and Monastic Song; The Concord Ensemble, The Victory of Santiago

Film/Television credits: License to Wed, Lady in the Water

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Claire Fedoruk

Voice part: Soprano

Seasons with Chorale: 7

Hometown: Eugene, OR

Previous Chorale solos: Haydn’s The Creation, J.S. Bach’s Weinachtsoratorium, Handel’s Messiah, Benjamin Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb, Reich’s Tehillim at Lincoln Center, Velasco’s La Púrpura de la rosa, Andriessen’s De Stijl (with the LA Philharmonic)

Education: BM, Pacific Lutheran University, MM, Eastman School of Music, DMA in Early Music Performance, USC

Performs regularly with: Concord Ensemble, Musica Angelica, Los Angeles Chamber Singers/Cappella

Opera performances: Amor, Fortuna (L’Incoronazione di Poppea), Foothill Master Chorale

As a soloist: The Concord Ensemble, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orange County High School for the Performing Arts Symphony at the Cerritos Center, Pasadena Master Chorale, Occidental/Foothill Master Chorale, Pasadena Symphony, Glendale Symphony.

Recordings: You Are (Variations) and Daniel Variations (Nonesuch) with LAMC; Evening Wind and the Grammy Award®-winning Padilla: Sun of Justice (RCM) with Los Angeles Chamber Singers; albums for LeAnn Rimes and Josh Groban

Film credits include: Slackers, Click, Lady in the Water, License to Wed, Horton Hears a Who, Race to Witch Mountain, Wolverine, Avatar, and Percy Jackson

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Elissa Johnston, soprano

Has performed with: Los Angeles Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony, Colorado Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, San Francisco Contemporary Players and the Pasadena Symphony

World premiere performances: Aura by Chinary Ung with Grammy Award©-winning Southwest Chamber Music, and as Pat Nixon in the world premiere of John Adams’ concert suite from Nixon in China entitled The Nixon Tapes, with the composer conducting

Festival appearances: New York Philharmonic’s Copland Festival, Lincoln Center’s Stravinsky Festival, Aldeburgh Festival, Oregon Bach Festival, Aspen Music Festival

Opera roles: Pamina in Die Zauberflöte at the Snape Proms in England, the role of Female Chorus in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia at the Aldeburgh October Britten Festival, and Marzelline in concert performances of Beethoven’s Fidelio at both the Aspen Festival and with the Wheeling Symphony, the role of Brigitta in concert performances of Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta with the L.A. Philharmonic, and LA Opera performances of Il Trovatore, Le Nozze di Figaro, and Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria

Raves: Hailed for “her voice pure and ethereal, her expression embracing and heartfelt” – Musical America

Last LAMC appearance: Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem in October 2008

On the big screen: recorded dozens of film soundtracks, including The Simpsons, Spiderman 2 & 3, I Am Legend

Recordings: featured soloist on Aura by Chinary Ung with Southwest Chamber Music, Serenada Schizophrana by Danny Elfman on Sony Classics, and The Song of Songs by Jorge Liderman

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Janelle DeStefano

Voice part: Mezzo-Soprano

Seasons with Chorale: First Season

Hometown: San Diego, CA

Education: Working on a DMA at USC Thornton School of Music, Master of Music Westminster Choir College

Opera performances: Romeo in I Capuletti e i Montecchi and the title role in Britten’s The Rape of Lucreti; will appear as Dido in Dido and Aeneas with the Bach Collegium San Diego in June 2011

Has appeared as a guest artist with: The Inland Valley Symphony, La Jolla Symphony and Chorus, Bach Collegium San Diego, early music group El Mundo

As a soloist: Bach’s Magnificat, Vivaldi’s Magnificat, Handel’s Dixit Dominus, Mozart’s Requiem, Bach B-minor Mass, Szymanowsky’s Stabat Mater, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony; will perform in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with La Jolla Symphony and Chorus Spring 2011

Has toured with: The San Diego Opera Ensemble

Film/Television credits include: portrayal of the gypsy, Maria, in La Alegria de la Huerta at the Jarvis Zarzuela Festival (available on DVD)-was hailed as the "pick of the Chueca" by Zarzuela.net

Awards and Honors: winner Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, San Diego District; the National Association of Teachers of Singing; the Musical Merit Foundation

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Niké St. Clair

Voice part: Mezzo-soprano

Season you joined the Chorale: 2002-2003

Birthplace (state or country): Debrecen, Hungary

Education/Vocal Training: BM in Choral Conducting, Music Education and Music Theory-Ear Training from the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, Hungary; MM and completed coursework for Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Choral Conducting from USC – currently writing the thesis for the completion of DMA degree in Choral Conducting

Do you make your living as a musician? Yes

If so, where else do you gig/teach/conduct/sing/perform? I teach Musicianship classes at Azusa Pacific University; Director of Chamber Choir at Santa Monica College; Director of Concert Choir at Cal Poly Pomona; Music Minister at La Verne Church of the Brethren; various other singing engagements such as caroling and session singing

Where else do you sing NOW? During High Holidays, Saban Theatre/Temple of the Arts

Recordings/TV/Film: Ice Age 3; Dr. Seuss: Horton Hears a Who; Wolverine; Earth; Race to Witch Mountain; Avatar, amongst others

Highlights of your musical career: Witnessing the improvement in my students’ musical skills every day; great concerts shared by fellow LAMC singers (too many to count)

Favorite choral work: Bach’s St. Matthew Passion

A defining moment or favorite onstage experience: Singing a Bach motet in Belgium under the baton of Frieder Bernius (Director of the Stuttgart Kammerchor)

What are you listening to these days? Gesualdo; Orbán György; Ghymes

Anything you’d like to add about yourself? Having been brought up in Hungary with the Kodály music teaching method, I also teach Hungarian Kodály Certification courses in LA (and in Kecskemét, Hungary summer of 2011).

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Daniel Chaney

Voice part: Tenor

Seasons with Chorale: 6

Hometown: Malta, Montana

Previous Chorale solos: Rachmaninoff ’s All-Night Vigil, Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Harmonie Mass and Mass in Time of War, Ricky Ian Gordon’s Suite from the Grapes of Wrath

Education: French horn major at University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music

Opera performances: Spoletta in Tosca, Monostatos in Magic Flute and Guiseppe in La Traviata with the L.A. Opera; 10 years in the Los Angeles Opera Chorus

Movie/TV soundtracks include: Oscar and Lucinda, Lady in the Water, Charlie Wilson’s War, Watchmen, Medium

Has appeared as a guest artist with: San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival, Roger Wagner Chorale, The Evangelist in the Los Angeles Bach Festival production of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio

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Jon Lee Keenan

Voice Part: Tenor

Seasons with Chorale: 3

Hometown: Carson City, NV

Previous Chorale solos: Haydn’s Theresienmesse, Handel’s Messiah, Charpentier’s Messe de minuit pour Noël, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion.

Education: BM in Vocal Performance, Music Education, and Jazz Studies from UNLV; MM in Choral Conducting from CSULA (coursework completed); MM in Vocal Arts from USC; currently pursuing a DMA in Vocal Arts at USC

Opera Performances: Antonio and Luzio (cover) in Wagner’s second opera Das Liebesverbot (USC Thornton Opera), Fenton in Falstaff (in Cagli, Italy)), Male Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia (USC Thornton Opera), Tamino in The Magic Flute with Opera Nova (Santa Monica), Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Camille in The Merry Widow, Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi

Recordings: Featured soloist with the Santa Fe Desert Chorale on Christmas in Santa Fe

Also known as: an accomplished jazz bassist

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Scott Graff

Voice Part: Bass

Seasons with the Chorale: 9

Hometown: Portland, OR

Previous Chorale solos: Handel’s Messiah, Virgil in Louis Andriessen’s The City of Dis, Pa in Ricky Ian Gordon’s Choral Suite from The Grapes of Wrath

Education: MFA in Vocal Performance, California Institute of the Arts; AB in Religious Studies, Occidental College

Performs regularly with: The Concord Ensemble, Los Angeles Chamber Singers, Millennium Consort, Jacaranda Chamber Singers

Opera performances: George Frideric Handel’s Semele, Seven Small Operas (including a staged version of Claudio Monteverdi’s madrigal Lagrime d’Amante al Sepolcro dell’Amatai), Il Turco in Italia and Il Tabarro by Giacomo Puccini, Volo di Notte by Luigi Dallapiccola, and From the House of the Dead by Leoš Janáček (Long Beach Opera); La Descente d’Orfeé aux Enfers (Catacoustic Consort in Cincinnati); Michael Webster’s Hell

As a soloist: Musica Angelica, Catacoustic Consort, The Concord Ensemble, Millennium Consort, Carmel Bach Festival, Los Angeles Baroque Orchestra

Recordings: Grammy Award®-winning Padilla: Sun of Justice with the Los Angeles Chamber Singers

Has toured with: The Concord Ensemble

Film credits include: Soundtracks for Avatar, 2012, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Horton Hears a Who, National Treasure II, Click, License to Wed, Lady in the Water

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Steve Pence

Voice part: Bass

Seasons with Chorale: 6

Hometown: Costa Mesa, CA

Education: BM from Chapman University and two MM degrees from New England Conservatory

Previous Chorale solos: Bach’s Christmas Oratorio; Handel’s Messiah; Haydn’s Creation Mass, Lord Nelson Mass, and Theresienmesse

Opera Performances: Sciarrone in Tosca, Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro, and Nonancourt in Nino Rota’s Il Cappello di Paglia di Firenze

As a soloist: Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at UCLA’s Royce Hall with the American Youth Symphony, Britten’s War Requiem with Cypress Masterworks, Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast and Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem with the Cuesta Master Chorale, Bach’s B Minor Mass with the Los Angeles Bach Festival, Mozart’s Grand Mass in c-minor with the Orange County Catholic Chorale, Mendelssohn’s Elijah with Lark Society

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Reid Bruton

Voice part: Bass

Seasons with Chorale: 5

Hometown: a small farming community near Memphis, TN

Previous Chorale solos: Haydn’s Heilig Mass; Mexican Baroque; Maestro Dinner; Poulenc’s Chansons Françaises; Koyaanisqatsi with LAMC and the LA Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl

Education: Voice and piano at Oberlin Conservatory, Juilliard School of Music

Opera performances: soloist in L.A. Opera’s Billy Budd, Carmen, La Traviata, Die Zauberflöte, Der Rosenkavalier, Rigoletto, Gianni Schicchi, La Boheme and in the chorus of over 60 LAO productions

Has appeared as a guest artist with: Aspen Music Festival, San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival, San Diego Opera, Claremont College, Concordia Chorale, The Ventura Master Chorale, The Desert Symphony, The Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles, L.A. Theater Works and, in concert with Seth McFarlane and the Ron Jones orchestra

TV appearances include: Dharma and Greg; The Wedding Belles; Family Guy

Film soundtrack credits include: The Matrix, Spiderman, I Am Legend, King Kong, The Simpsons Movie, Charlie Wilson’s War, Horton Hears a Who, War of the Worlds, Watchmen, Wolverine, Star Trek

Awards and Honors: LA Opera Buffs and Pasadena Opera Guild

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Vincent Robles

Voice part: Baritone

Seasons with Chorale: 2

Hometown: Monrovia, CA

Education: BM in Vocal Performance, University of Redlands; MM in Vocal Performance, California State University, Northridge

Performs regularly with: LA Opera Chorus; LA Opera Education and Outreach; All Saints Episcopal Church, Pasadena (Bass Section Leader/Soloist); Guild Opera

Opera performances: Dancairo in Carmen; Gianni Schicchi in Gianni Schicchi; Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Father in Hansel and Gretel; Cesare in Giulio Cesare; Fiorello in Barber of Seville; Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus

Musical theatre credits include: Father in Ragtime in Concert; El Gallo in The Fantasticks; Judd in Oklahoma

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Gregory Geiger, bass

Voice part: Bass-baritone

Season you joined the Chorale: Same season as Grant Gershon

Birthplace (state or country): Michigan

Education/Vocal Training: Michigan State University and Peabody Conservatory / small practice rooms

Do you make your living as a musician? Yes

If so, where else do you gig/teach/conduct/sing/perform? I have been singing with L.A. Opera since 1999. I teach at Pomona College and at my private studio in Pasadena.

Where else do you sing NOW?: In my car, in the bathroom, pretty much anywhere

Recent solo roles or guest appearances: The bad guy (Pilate) in Bach’s “Saint Matthew Passion” with LAMC; the Bass soloist for the “Messiah Sing Along” 2009

Recordings/TV/Film: Love ‘em! I have been in about 30 different movies, and a few recordings. Only one television show: JAG season finale, WOO HOO, on camera (in lederhosen)!

Highlights of your musical career: My second clarinet lesson (age 3) long story

Favorite choral work: I don’t have one. I keep getting asked, but I just can’t narrow it down.

A defining moment or favorite onstage experience: The defining moment for me was at age 11. I learned what ‘nerves’ can do to a performer. Now, when that memory (and sensation) comes back, I find a way to embrace it and use it to my advantage.

What are you listening to these days?: Aerosmith, Journey, 1956 Elvis, Sandrine Piau, and Thalia

Anything you’d like to add about yourself?: I grew up on a farm, working with my hands. I was a pretty good carpenter. I planned to be a musician even on the farm. I practiced in the barn. I practiced everywhere. Now that I sing for a living, I daydream about building something. Oh, and by the way, I AM smiling, my face just won’t cooperate!

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