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Saint Clement's Music Staff and Choir
| Staff | ||
| Mr. Peter Richard Conte, Organist and Choirmaster | ||
| Mr. Benard Kunkel, Associate Organist | ||
| Choir | ||
| Soprano | Melinda Whiting Burrows | |
| Elizabeth Holt | ||
| Leslie Johnson | ||
| Kristin Kopple | ||
| Clara Rottsolk | ||
| Amelia Schmertz | ||
| Johanna Swartzentruber | ||
| Alto | Deann Giles | |
| Roger Grant | ||
| Brian Ramsey | ||
| Jenifer Smith | ||
| Tenor | George Feeser | |
| Matthew Marcucci | ||
| Vincent Metallo | ||
| Jonathan Shull | ||
| Timothy Smith | ||
| Baritone | Brian Ming Chu | |
| Eric Swartzentruber | ||
| Bass | Les Anders |
Peter
Richard Conte was appointed Choirmaster and Organist of St. Clement's
Church in 1991. Since then, he has established an internationally-acclaimed
ensemble of eighteen professional singers which performs an extensive repertoire
of music in the Anglo-Catholic tradition. Each Sunday, and on special Feasts
of the Church Year, the choir offers a full setting of the ordinary of the
Mass, including the Credo, several motets, and the Propers for the Mass,
sung in Latin to their original Gregorian tones. The Saint Clement’s
Choir has recorded several compact discs on the DORIAN label, all of which
have received international praise.
In addition to his duties at Saint Clement’s, Mr. Conte is Grand Court
Organist of the world famous Wanamaker Organ in Macy’s, Center City,
Philadelphia. He performs on the six-manual, 28,500-pipe instrument twice
daily, six days per week. The Wanamaker Organ is the largest fully-functioning
musical instrument in the world; Mr. Conte was appointed Grand Court Organist
in 1989, and is only the fourth person to hold that title since the organ
first played in 1911.
Mr. Conte is highly regarded as a skillful performer and arranger of organ
transcriptions. He has been featured several times on National Public Radio
and on ABC television's "Good Morning America" and “World
News Tonight.” His monthly radio show, “The Wanamaker Organ
Hour”, airs on the first Sunday of each month, at 5 PM (Eastern),
and can be heard via the internet at WRTI.ORG. He performs extensively throughout
the United States and Canada under the management of Phillip Truckenbrod
Concert Artists, and was a featured artist at the American Guild of Organists’
National Convention in 2002, and at the International Organ Festival in
Aosta, Italy, in September 2004. He has performed with the Philadelphia
Orchestra, Peter Nero and the Philly Pops, and with the Delaware and Allentown
Symphonies.
Peter Richard Conte is an Associate of the American Guild of Organists,
has served on the executive board of its Philadelphia Chapter, and has presented
guild workshops on transcriptions and improvisation. Mr. Conte studied with
Larry Smith and Robert Rayfield at Indiana University, Bloomington, and
was awarded the prestigious Performers’ Certificate in Organ. During
High School, he studied with Robert Kennedy, while serving as Associate
Organist at the Cathedral of the Incarnation, Garden City, New York.
Mr. Conte appears on the GOTHIC, DORIAN, JAV and DTR labels.
Mr. Bernard Kunkel
Associate
Organist Bernard Kunkel was appointed Associate Organist of S. Clement's Church in 2001. Originally from Central Pennsylvania, he has been a Philadelphia resident since 1993, and occasional substitute organist at S. Clement's since 1994. He has played many recitals in Philadelphia and its suburbs. In his free time he enjoys playing piano, reading literature and cooking.
Choir
Melinda Whiting Burrows,
soprano
sang with the choir of St. Clements from 1991 to 1995, and rejoined the
choir upon her return to the Philadelphia area in 2004. She has performed
with New York-based Music at Saint Luke's, St. Michael's Music and Arts,
and the Tiffany Consort; in Washington, DC, she sang with the Woodley Ensemble
as a soloist and ensemble member, and with the Palestrina Choir. Ms. Burrows
toured England twice with The Princeton Singers, appearing with them as
a soloist at the Three Choirs Festival (Hereford), among other venues. A
music journalist and broadcaster for 25 years, she served from 1996 to 2006
as the editor in chief of Symphony, the country's only magazine devoted
to the orchestra industry. As a radio presenter, she has hosted nationwide
concert broadcasts by the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic,
and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, among others. She has presented
classical music programs and reported on the arts for National Public Radio,
American Public Radio, New York Times radio station WQXR (New York City),
and WHYY-FM (Philadelphia). In July, 2006, she was appointed vice president
for communications at The Curtis Institute of Music. Ms. Burrows lives
in Riverton, New Jersey with her husband, conductor and vocal coach John
Burrows.
Brian Ming Chu, baritone
An acclaimed proponent of music from Monteverdi to contemporary opera, Brian
has sung roles with regional opera companies in Philadelphia, Baltimore,
and Washington, and was a 2004 studio artist with the Baltimore Opera in
Carmen, Salome, La scala di seta, and Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Recent signature
roles include Marcello in La Bohème and the title role of The Barber
of Seville. An established oratorio soloist, he has collaborated with Boston’s
The King’s Noyse, Washington’s Cathedral Choral Society and
Orchestra of the 17th Century, Concert Artists of Baltimore, the Dryden
Ensemble, Piffaro, the Philadelphia Singers, and Brandywine Baroque. He
has appeared in recital at New York’s Weill and Merkin Halls, at the
Phillips Collection in DC, and has been a featured artist with the Caramoor
and Carmel Bach Festivals.
Since joining the choir in 2004, Brian has enjoyed the discipline that singing
at St. Clement’s brings to his solo work. As a young singer, he received
guidance from influential musicians such as Peter Schreier (St. John Passion)
and William Christie of Les Arts Florissants (Charpentier’s Médée)
while completing his degree in architecture at Cornell University. He did
his graduate studies in voice/opera at the Peabody Conservatory. Currently,
he lives in Philadelphia and teaches on the voice faculty of Muhlenberg
College. A devoted foodie, he also moonlights for the Fair Food Project,
an organic/sustainable agriculture advocacy in the Reading Terminal Market.
Deann Giles, alto
has been singing at S. Clement's since 1998. A graduate of Temple University,
she holds degrees in music education and performance. She has studied voice
with Dr. Christine Anderson and Julianne Baird. In addition to singing,
Deann is a free lance French horn player in the Philadelphia and surrounding
areas. She has an MS in Speech-Language Pathology and presently works with
pediatrics in Philadelphia.
Leslie Johnson,
soprano
This is Leslie Johnson’s first season as a member of the St. Clement’s Choir. She also currently sings with The Philadelphia Singers and with Donald Nally’s The Crossing. An equally accomplished concert soloist and recitalist, she performs regularly with Philadelphia’s art song festival Lyric Fest, and has appeared at the Octobre en Normandie Festival in Rouen, France, Chicago’s Ravinia Festival, the New York Festival of Song, and the Newport Music Festival, as well as on recital series at Swarthmore College, Lehigh University, West Chester University, and Washington, D.C.’s Phillips Collection. She has also been a featured soloist with the Beijing National Symphony, the National Symphony Orchestra, the New Haven Symphony, the Springfield (MA) Symphony Orchestra, and New York’s New Choral Society. A regular soloist with the Bach Choir of Bethlehem, she has also been featured locally with the Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, and the Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra. Previously an opera singer, Leslie performed leading roles with the Houston Grand Opera, Washington National Opera, Portland Opera, the Wolf Trap Opera Company, the Lake George Opera Festival, Glimmerglass Opera, Central City Opera, and Liederkranz Opera Theater. Originally from Macungie, Pennsylvania, Leslie has lived in Center City for seven years, and is Project Manager for Astral Artistic Services, a Philadelphia-based organization that provides performance opportunities and career mentoring services for young emerging classical musicians. She also serves as Coordinator of the Marian Anderson Prize for Emerging Classical Artists, a biennial voice competition. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Westminster College (PA), a Master of Music degree from the Hartt School, and an Artist Diploma from the Yale School of Music.
Kristin Kopple,
soprano
Kristin Kopple, soprano, has specialized in ensemble and small choral group
singing since 1986, and has been a member of St. Clement’s Choir since
1993. Other ensembles she has performed with include The Skylark Ensemble,
based in Bryn Athen; the five-voice early music ensemble, Chiaroscuro; the
University of Pennsylvania’s Ancient Voices; the Pennsylvania Pro
Musica; and the Roanoke Ensemble. As a soloist, Ms. Kopple has performed
in a variety of works ranging from Handel’s “Messiah”,
the Bach motet Jesu Meine Freude and the Pergolesi Stabat Mater to Johannes
Brahms’ Neue Liebeslieder and Hadyn’s Kliene Orgelmesse. A recording
produced by The Women’s Sacred Music Project features Ms. Kopple singing
Elizabeth Jacquet de la Guerre’s cantata, Esther. A Center City resident
and mother of three, Ms. Kopple is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Clinical
Developmental Psychology at Bryn Mawr College. In her “spare time”
she enjoys watching her children learn to love singing and music as much
as she does.
Matthew Marcucci, tenor
Matthew Marcucci has been singing at St. Clement's
since 2005. A native of Merion Station, Pennsylvania, Matt's singing career
began while he was a student at The Haverford School in Haverford, Pennsylvania.
As a student there, Matt sang in the school's Glee Club and The Notables,
a small, select acappella ensemble. Matt has performed with numerous ensembles
throughout the greater Philadelphia region, including the Bryn Mawr Boychoir
of The Church of the Redeemer in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania led by Daniel Moriarty,
The Choir of the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in Overbrook, Pennsylvania
directed by Timothy McDonnell, and Schola Nova, the resident instrumental
and vocal ensemble of the International Institute for Culture. Matt is currently
an undergradute at the University of Pennsylvania studying History, Music,
and Mandarin Chinese.
Vincent Metallo,
tenor
Vincent Metallo has been a member of the St. Clements
Choir since 1996. He currently holds the position of Chair of Performing
Arts of the Princeton Day School. Previous positions include Artistic Director
of the American Boychoir and Assistant Professor of Music at Westminster
Choir College, DePauw University, Wellesley College and Lehigh University.
Mr. Metallo has prepared choirs for numerous performances
with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony
Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles
Philharmonic and the New York Collegium. Mr. Metallo has toured throughout
the United States, Japan, Latvia, Sweden and Denmark for over 700 performances
and is featured on numerous recordings and television and commercial recording
projects.
Mr. Metallo is a member of Fuma Sacra, the choir
in residence at Westminster Choir College and has performed as a soloist
with the New York Collegium, Boston Early Music Festival, Bloomington Early
Music Festival, Connecticut Early Music Festival, Lincoln Center Summer
Music Fesival, Dryden Ensemble, Brandywine Baroque, St. Ignatius Loyola,
NYC, Carmel Bach Festival and the Spoleto Festival, South
Carolina and Italy.
Mr. Metallo holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance and Music Education
from the Hartt School of Music and a Master of Music in Choral Conducting
from Westminster Choir College, Mr. Metallo is certified in Kodàly
music pedagogy through the Kodàly Musical Training Institute.
Clara Rottsolk,
soprano
Soprano Clara Rottsolk, a native of Seattle, has been lauded by the Baltimore Sun for her "vocal refinement and eloquence of line," and by the Classical Voice of North Carolina for her “pure soprano voice, clear and breathtaking to hear.” Her repertoire extends from the Renaissance to the Contemporary, and she has worked with period instrument and modern ensembles alike including Bach Sinfonia, Handel Choir of Baltimore, Fuma Sacra, Tempesta di Mare, Triomphe de l’amour, the Carmel Bach Festival Chorale, and Brandywine Baroque. As a recitalist she has performed extensively throughout the US, from Seattle to Princeton and from Houston to Boston. Among her stage roles are Micaela in Carmen, Dido in Dido & Aeneas, Arminda in La Finta Giardiniera, and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni.
She earned her degrees at Westminster Choir College and Rice University. Among her coaches and teachers are Sharon Sweet, Dalton Baldwin, J.J. Penna, William Murray, and Thomas Jaber. Currently based in Philadelphia, she teaches voice at Swarthmore College and the Lawrenceville School.
Amelia Schmertz, soprano
Amelia Schmertz has been singing with the S. Clements
choir since 1998. She has sung with the choirs of Christ Church, New Haven,
St. John’s Episcopal in Norristown, Schola Cantorum of St. Peter’s
in the Loop, Chicago, and Rockefeller Chapel at the University of Chicago
(her alma mater). She pursues a daytime career in arts management and is
currently director of the Business On Board program at the Arts and Business
Council of Greater Philadelphia. Amelia lives in the Art Museum area with
her husband, son, and two cats.
Jonathan Shull,
tenor
Jonathan Shull sang for St. Clement's during the 2004-05 season and happily returned to the choir in the fall of 2006. Jonathan spent his formative years as a chorister at Grace and St. Peter's Anglo-Catholic Church in Baltimore, Maryland, where he sang for 17 years as treble, alto, and tenor (not all at once). He then set his sights on greener cornfields and moved to Bloomington, Indiana to begin studies for a master's degree in early music performance at Indiana University's Early Music Institute, where he studied with Paul Elliott, Paul Hillier, and Alan Bennett.
Jonathan has performed with Paul Hillier's Theatre of Voices and recorded three CDs for harmonia mundi under Hillier's direction. He has also sung with members of the Baltimore Consort and the Concord Ensemble. When miserly time allows, he directs the early music ensemble American Gothic in performances of medieval and renaissance music.
In addition to his avocation as a singer, Jonathan also teaches music history and literature at the University of Delaware, while pursuing the wily and elusive Ph.D. in Historical Musicology from Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music. He is thrilled to have been welcomed back to the St. Clement's choir family after a year's hiatus in Memphis, Tennessee (but he misses the bar-b-que).
Jenifer L. Smith, alto
Jenifer L. Smith, a lyric mezzo-soprano, is delighted to have joined the “Clementones” in 2007! She moved to Philadelphia in 1996, where she earned her Bachelors degree in music from Temple University. Jenifer can be heard in and around Philadelphia performing as a soloist with such organizations as the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia, Piffaro Rennaissance Band, and The Choral Society of Montgomery County. Jenifer maintains a private voice studio in her home in West Germantown. When she is not singing or teaching, she volunteers in many capacities for PAWS (Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society). Jenifer currently holds an apprenticeship at Absolute K-9, a dog-training school in Jenkintown. She also enjoys cooking, native gardening, and writing music.
Timothy J. Smith,
tenor
Timothy J. Smith earned a degree in sacred music
from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ. While at Westminster, Mr.
Smith sang with virtually every major orchestra from around the world, including
repeat performances with The New York Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra,
The London Symphony Orchestra, The London Sinfonia, The Cleveland Symphony
Orchestra, The San Francisco Symphony, The Royal Concertgebouw of Amsterdam,
and The Berlin Philharmonic. He has been studying choral repertoire since
his enrollment in the Florida Boychoir School some eighteen years ago. Since
then Mr. Smith has sung with several professional choirs including the Schola
Cantorum of Orlando, Florida, Gloria Musicae of Sarasota, Florida and The
Cambridge Singers of London, England, under the direction of John Rutter.
Mr. Smith currently serves as the director of Vox Fidelis, the choir-in-residence
at Christ Church, in Bordentown, NJ, which provides leadership for many
of the Vesper services throughout the year. Vox Fidelis specialises in sacred
Renaissance music. Mr. Smith is also assistant to Andrew Kirkman and the
Rutgers Collegium Musicum, a small, auditioned, vocal ensemble, specialising
in sacred Renaissance music. By day, Mr. Smith is a voice, piano, and music
theory instructor as well as the director of sales, all at the Academy of
Music on Main Street in Spotswood, NJ, which boasts well over 400 students
and 35 faculty members.
Eric Swartzentruber, baritone
Eric joined his wife Johanna at S. Clement’s in 1992. A native of
Princeton, New Jersey, Eric has been hailed by the Philadelphia Inquirer
as a “velvet-voiced tenor.” A specialist in sacred music, he
has performed with many of this country’s leading vocal ensembles,
including the Vox Vocal Ensemble, American Boychoir, Chanticleer, Schola
Nova, Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia, the Princeton Singers, and Fuma
Sacra. He has also performed with the Schola Cantorum of Oxford under the
direction of Philip Cave, and collaborated with several Baroque ensembles,
including Piffaro, Brandywine Baroque, and Parthenia. He performed in the
American premiere of Penderecki's Seven Gates of Jerusalem with the New
York Philharmonic under Kurt Masur as a member of the Philadelphia Singers,
and was a member of Opera Festival of New Jersey's chorus for productions
of Mozart's Don Giovanni, Verdi's Falstaff, and Strauss' Die Fledermaus.
In addition to appearing as a guest soloist in numerous area churches, Eric
serves as cantorial soloist for Temple Micah in Glenside, PA, and is a regular
member of Kol Rina, the choir of Temple Emmanu’ El in Westfield, New
Jersey, the state’s largest Reform Jewish Synagogue.
Noted for his wide vocal range, Eric has performed and recorded as an alto,
tenor, and bass. He appears on over a dozen commercial recordings under
the direction of James Litton, John Bertalot, Peter Richard Conte, and Steven
Sametz. He has also been featured on radio broadcasts on WHYY and the BBC.
Eric graduated summa cum laude from Rider University in English Literature
and Composition. He lives with his wife and two daughters in Princeton,
where he is the Director of External Affairs for Princeton Academy of the
Sacred Heart..
Johanna Swartzentruber,
soprano
Johanna Swartzentruber joined S. Clement’s
choir in 1991. She grew up in Germany and Princeton, New Jersey, where she
received her early training as a chorister under James Litton. While earning
a graduate degree in Classics from Princeton University, she spent over
a year in Oxford, where she sang at Christ Church and St Mary the Virgin
and was a member of the Schola Cantorum; she also recorded a CD with the
Clerkes of Oxenford under David Wulstan. She met her husband Eric singing
and recording with the Princeton Singers under John Bertalot. She has been
a soloist with the Choral Arts Society under Donald Nally and has performed
on several occasions with Piffaro, the Renaissance wind band of Philadelphia.
In addition to singing, Johanna works as a freelance linguist, interprets
19th-century farm life at a local living history farm, and spends time with
her husband and two growing daughters in Princeton and Germany.