2026–2027 Season

HOW TO FOLD THE WIND

sopranos

Anna Joy Buegel

Soprano **Anna Joy Buege**l is a teacher and singer in the Chicagoland area, regularly joining such choirs as Grant Park Chorus, Chicago Symphony Chorus, Music of the Baroque, Chicago Bach Festival Chorus, Schola Laudis (of the Monastery of the Holy Cross), and Saint Romanos Capella. She has also joined and soloed with ensembles including Indiana Baroque Orchestra, Madison Bach Musicians, Voices of Madonna, Bella Voce, Stare at the Sun, Roots in the Sky, and The New Earth Ensemble. Buegel serves on staff as soprano section leader and director of Children’s Ministry at Glencoe Union Church, as voice faculty member at The Musical Offering in Evanston, and at Maine East (in Park Ridge) and Niles West (Skokie) high schools. She holds a Master’s of Music degree in Vocal Performance from North Park University and a Bachelor’s degree in Sacred Music from The Moody Bible Institute.

Sophia Duray

The American soprano and voice instructor, **Sophia Duray,** recently obtained her Master of Arts degree in Historical Performance Practice from Case Western Reserve University. As an active soloist and ensemble musician, she performs with organizations including Apollo’s Fire, Bella Voce, Sphere Born, Bloomington Early Music, New York Philharmonic, and the Indianapolis Early Music Festival. She also specializes in performing Baroque dance choreographies written in Feuillet-Beauchamp notation, and plans on incorporating more dances in future collaborative programs throughout the USA.

Nini Marchese

Coloratura soprano **Nini Marchese**, praised for her “bright, supple soprano” (San Diego Story) performs widely in operatic and concert repertoire, with a special interest in baroque music. In the 2025/26 season she returned to one of her favorite roles - Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte with Painted Sky Opera, appeared as soprano soloist for Bach Magnificat with Baroque Artists of Champaign-Urbana, soprano soloist in BWV 137 with Bach Cantata Vespers, and as soprano soloist in Handel Messiah with Taylor Festival Choir in Charleston, SC. She is featured on, “Let us the Fleeting Hours enjoy!” a new album of Regency era salon music released by Navona Records. She has presented recitals with Dallas Bach Society and The Puccini Socety of Dallas. Nini world premiered the role of The Computer in Shara Nova and Matthew Ritchie’s opera and film exhibition, Infinite Movement. She is an alum of several young artist programs: Vocal Fellow with Spoleto Festival USA, Emerging Artist with Opera Idaho, Young Artist with Confidencen Opera and Music Festival (Sweden), and Artist with Dallas Opera Outreach and Education. She has received an Encouragement Award from the Audrey Rooney Vocal Competition hosted by the Kentucky Bach Choir. Here in Chicago, she performs with Music of the Baroque and Chicago Symphony Chorus.

Allison Selby Cook

**Allison Selby Cook** is a Chicago-based singer, actor, and multi-instrumentalist specializing in early music. Since her first performance with Bella Voce in Paul Hillier's 2023 program "And I Heard a Voice," she has enjoyed returning each season for programs of Praetorious, Byrd, Britten, and Bella Voce's most recent recording, "Expanding the Canon." This season, you can also hear Allison with Music of the Baroque, Oriana Singers, as a guest artist at Loyola University, and on WFMT. A Newberry Consort season regular since 2018, Allison continues to be featured in that ensemble as a singer, a violist in the Renaissance violin band, and was part of a touring collaboration with Piffaro in Philadelphia. Beyond Chicago, Allison’s upcoming appearances later this year include debuts with the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center, Aspen Music Festival, and Alchymy Viols at the Bloomington Early Music Festival (Indiana). In previous seasons, Allison has performed or recorded with Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Ravinia, Marion Consort, Early Music at the Barn, Schola Antiqua, Early Music Now (Milwaukee), Chicago Radio Theatre, ShawChicago, The Shakespeare Project of Chicago, and Court Theatre. After studying with Ellen Hargis and David Douglass at Northwestern University, Allison went on to opera and early music festivals in Siena (Italy), New York, Boston, and Berkeley.

Julia Davids

**Julia Davids** is passionate about the difference music makes for individuals and communities. She comes from London, Ontario, Canada, where she grew up singing in the Amabile Youth Choir, her church choir, and the Ontario Youth Choir. She now enjoys singing professionally with Bella Voce and other choirs in the Chicago area.
Julia is the Stephen J. Hendrickson Professor of Music, Director of Choral Activities, and Chair of the Music Department at North Park University, where she directs the University Choir and Chamber Singers and teaches vocal pedagogy and conducting. Julia co-authored with Stephen LaTour the award-winning book, *Vocal Technique – A Guide for Conductors, Teachers, and Singers,* published by Waveland Press, now in a second edition. She is a frequent workshop and master class leader and has presented at numerous conferences for organizations including Choral Canada, the American Choral Director’s Association, and the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Julia is in her 15th year as Music Director for the North Shore Choral Society and her 20th as Director of Music Ministries at Trinity United Methodist Church, Wilmette.
Julia is a founding member of the Canadian Chamber Choir, Canada’s national professional choir dedicated to building communities through choral singing. Artistic Director of the CCC since 2004, Julia returns to Canada multiple times a year to conduct and sing with the ensemble. The Canadian Chamber Choir’s 2016 recording *Sacred Reflections of Canada – A Canadian Mass* was nominated for a Juno award for Classical Album of the Year, Choral or Vocal Performance. Julia has earned degrees at Western University, the University of Michigan, and a D.M. from Northwestern University. She lives in Skokie with her husband and their two children.

Ellie Walters

Soprano Ellie Walters is passionate about sharing early music with others. She is a member of Early Music America’s Emerging Professional Leadership Council, where she is working to provide resources to new early musicians. Ellie studied voice at Loyola University Chicago with Dr. Kirsten Hedegaard and recently completed her master's degree in early music performance at the University of Southern California under Jennie Kampani, Dr. Rotem Gilbert, and Dr. Adam Gilbert. She sings in ensembles around Chicago, including Bella Voce, La Caccina, and the St. James Cathedral Choir. Outside of her musical adventures, Ellie enjoys fiber arts, roller blading, and hanging out with her cat named Soprano.

altos

Scott Dankert

**Scott** **Dankert** keeps himself busy as a choral singer, voice teacher, and piano accompanist. In addition to singing with Bella Voce, he is a staff singer in the alto section at St. James Cathedral of Chicago. From September through May, he makes his way around the city accompanying choirs and instrumentalists in Chicago Public Schools and Chicago Waldorf School. He is also an accompanist and voice teacher at Chicago Center for Music Education (ChiME). Though his current musical activities center around voice and piano, his degree from Michigan State University is actually in flute performance!

Natalie Holz

**Natalie Holz** is the Director of Equity and Inclusion for Sacred Heart Schools. She is an educator, instructional coach, quilter, road trip planner, and mother of two teenage boys, and has sung with Bella Voce since 1998. Natalie Holz is the Director of Equity and Inclusion for Sacred Heart Schools. She is an educator, instructional coach, quilter, road trip planner, and mother of two teenage boys. She has sung with Bella Voce since 1998, has participated in Chicago Bach Week, and sang several seasons with the William Ferris Chorale and the Grant Park Symphony Chorus.

Victoria Marshall

**Victoria Marshall** is a conductor, educator, and mezzo-soprano currently pursuing the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in choral conducting at Northwestern University, where she studies with Dr. Andrew Megill. She serves as Director of Music at Winnetka Congregational Church on Chicago’s North Shore. At Northwestern, she teaches the sophomore-level aural skills sequence and previously conducted Northwestern Camerata, the university’s all-treble ensemble. She also teaches choral methods at North Park University in Chicago and has served as Assistant Choir Director of the Carmel Bach Festival. Victoria is passionate about creating space for folks of all backgrounds to receive good vocal education, to have the opportunity to use their voices to tell their own stories, and to be in musical community together.
Victoria has performed professionally as both an operatic and choral singer across the U.S. and Canada. Her operatic roles include Idamante (Idomeneo), Olga (Eugene Onegin), Bianca (The Rape of Lucretia), Dritte Magd (Elektra), and Madame de la Haltière (Cendrillon). In Chicago, she sings with the Grant Park Music Festival Chorus, Music of the Baroque Chorus, Newberry Consort, Bella Voce, Stare at the Sun, and the William Ferris Chorale. She is also a member of The Crossing (Philadelphia), Roots in the Sky (Bozeman, MT), and the Carmel Bach Festival Chorus (Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA). In Canada, she has collaborated with the Canadian Opera Company Chorus, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir, the Elora Singers, the Elmer Iseler Singers, and the Theatre of Early Music.

**Sheetal Heinert**

**Sheetal** is an artist and musician degreed from the University of Michigan. After graduating, she moved to Los Angeles successfully pursuing a career as a singer, artist, actress and teacher for well over a decade. In 2004, she wrote, recorded and released a full length album, *Love of Ages*, blending Eastern harmonies in Western music theory, winning Backroads Music’s, Best of 2004, Vocal/Chant category.
In 2007 Sheetal relocated to Chicago and kept her passion for music and the culinary arts close to her heart. In 2010, Sheetal auditioned for the inaugural season of Fox’s hit cooking show, MasterChef. Learning from and cooking beside top chefs and restaurateurs from around the world, Sheetal made it to the semi-final round. In 2017 Sheetal launched Spice Note Tequila, a line of spice-infused tequilas blending her western lifestyle and foundational eastern heritage. In her return to the Masterchef kitchen, Sheetal cooked with her spice-infused tequilas on Season 12 of MasterChef.
Sheetal currently lives in Chicago with her husband and son. Nurturing both her Eastern heritage and Western upbringing, she takes the everyday which surrounds her and creates new wholes greater than its parts. As a musician, artist, and mother Sheetal continues to create culinary experiences for her family, friends and business.

Luke Lemmeier

Countertenor **Luke Lemmeier** is actively engaged as a singer in the Chicagoland area. He currently sings with Bella Voce and in the St. Chrysostom’s Episcopal Church choir in the Gold Coast. He has previously sung with Bach in the City, common pulse, Chicago Choral Artists, Chicago Bach Week Festival, Early Music at the Barn, and has been engaged as a cover soloist with the Grant Park Music Festival. Luke was a Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions District Winner. He holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Music.

Anna Rasmussen

Lauded by critic John von Rhein for her “expressive, velvet toned” performance, **Anna Rasmussen** is making her mark as an emerging and distinguished artist in her hometown of Chicago.Most recently, Rasmussen joined the Elgin Master Chorale as the alto soloist for Bach’s *St. John Passion*. Other performances with Elgin Master Chorale include *Messiah*, Part I and José Maurício Nunes Garcia's rarely performed *Matinas do Natal* as the mezzo-soprano soloist; and Handel’s *Dixit Dominus* in 2019. Rasmussen appeared with the Music Institute Chorale as the mezzo-soprano soloist for Mozart's *Requiem* in 2024, and previously appeared with the ensemble as a soloist for Vivaldi’s *Gloria* in 2023. As a *Messiah* soloist, she has been acclaimed for “buoyancy and crisp diction in her committed readings of ‘Behold, a virgin shall conceive’ and ‘O thou that tellers good tidings to Zion,’ …[and] stood out in a particularly measured, poignant ‘He was despised’” (*Chicago Classical Review*). Other highlights include an appearance as mezzo-soprano soloist in Handel’s *Judas Maccabaeus* with the North Shore Choral Society, and performing Aaron Copland’s profound choral masterpiece, *In the Beginning*, with the Wicker Park Choral Singers. Rasmussen is a resident artist at University of Chicago’s Rockefeller Chapel. She sings regularly with Bella Voce and the William Ferris Chorale.

tenors

Oliver Camacho

Tenor **Oliver Camacho** has been praised as “superbly stylish” by the *Chicago Tribune* and “emotionally generous” by the *Chicago Reader*. A proud graduate of Chicago’s Lane Technical High School, Camacho studied voice at Northwestern University and historically informed performance practice at Amherst Early Music Festival and Early Music Vancouver. He has been a soloist with Bach in the CIty, The Newberry Consort, Chicago Choral Artists, Bach Cantata Vespers, and Distant Worlds Philharmonic Orchestra. Oliver co-hosts *Opera Box Score* podcast and is music director of Classical WFMT, where he produces and hosts *Listening to Singers*.

Jesus Alfredo Jimenez

**Jesus Alfredo Jimenez-Jimenez** is a Latino tenor based in Chicago, IL. An avid chorister, Alfredo has performed in choruses for Chicago Opera Theater, Florentine Opera, and in the ensemble of West Side Story conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner for the Edinburgh International Festival. He sings with Camerata Chicago, Bella Voce, and Stare at the Sun. He was an Apprentice Artist at Sarasota Opera and a Project Inclusion Vocal Fellow at Grant Park Music Festival. Alfredo graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Music from Northwestern University, where he sang with the Bienen Contemporary/Early Ensemble under Donald Nally.

Matthew Schlesinger

**Matthew Schlesinger** is a Chicago-based tenor known for his clear, expressive sound and stylistic versatility. His performances span concert, choral, and solo repertoire, with credits including the Grant Park Symphony Chorus, Chicago Symphony Chorus, Chicago Choral Artists, the Oriana Singers, and Bella Voce. As a soloist, he has appeared with Bella Voce and Harper College, and served as cover soloist for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Berlioz’s *Romeo and Juliet*, Verdi’s Otello, and Britten’s *War Requiem*. The *Chicago Tribune* praised his singing as “light, clear, technically solid, and musically accomplished.”Beyond the stage, Schlesinger is deeply rooted in music education. Now in his eighteenth year as choral director at Hoffman Estates High School, he directs the school’s choirs, madrigals, and Vocal Jazz Ensemble, and serves as vocal director for the annual musical. He also directs the D211 Adult Chorus, providing community members an opportunity to continue singing in an engaging, educational environment.Schlesinger currently serves as the Illinois Music Education Association (ILMEA) State Honors Choir Chair and the ILMEA District 7 Choral Representative. He remains dedicated to nurturing artistry at every level, bridging professional performance and community music-making with the next generation of singers.

Matthew Dean

**Matthew Dean** is a leading tenor and countertenor regarded for his “ringing sound, cantorial fluency, and elegance” in period ensembles around the country. With the Newberry Consort, he has performed mainstage at the Boston Early Music Festival, Gotham Early Music, and Early Music Now. A medievalist by training, he served on the faculty of the Madison Early Music Festival, and curated in-gallery audio and live performances to illuminate collections at the Art Institute, Newberry Library, and Met Cloisters. His adventures with Schola Antiqua and The Rose Ensemble have been highlighted by The New Yorker, the BBC, and WFMT, and are central to two recordings on Naxos Classical.

In the works of Bach, Dean is part of a new vocal residency with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and has been featured as Evangelist and soloist at Rockefeller Chapel and the Grace Lutheran Cantata Vespers. A “stellar” advocate of new music (Chicago Tribune) including with Bella Voce, his voice has been heard to critical acclaim in premieres by James Kallembach, Shulamit Ran, William Bolcom, and Jonathan Woody. He consults for ensembles nationwide on languages, historical performance, and nonprofit management, and serves as Managing Director of The EcoVoice Project.

Keith Andrew Murphy

Passionate about early music, contemporary repertoire, and everything in between, tenor Keith Andrew Murphy sings with Bella Voce, Schola Antiqua of Chicago, the Chicago Symphony Chorus, Music of the Baroque, the Oriana singers, and is a vocal artist-in-residence at the University of Chicago’s Rockefeller Chapel. Trained as a composer, he holds a DMA from Yale University, and his compositions have been performed by the Minnesota Orchestra, Eighth Blackbird, Opus 21, and Trio Eos, among many others. Dr. Murphy also teaches music theory, aural training, and composition at Loyola University Chicago, DePaul University, and North Park University.

Frank Villella

**Frank Villella** has been a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association’s Rosenthal Archives staff since 1993, serving as archivist since 2002 and director since 2014. He has co-produced several compilations of archival sound recordings; written for the CSO’s program book and syndicated radio broadcasts; and contributed research to Sir Georg Solti’s *Memoirs* and biographies of Jacqueline du Pré, Carlo Maria Giulini, Margaret Hillis, Leonard Slatkin, Isaac Stern, and Bruno Walter. Villella is the author of *Chicago Symphony Orchestra: 125 Moments* and the *From the Archives* blog, and he has written program notes for the DePaul University School of Music, GIA Publications, the Juilliard School, and the Decca and RCA Red Seal record labels.
An active musician, Villella has performed and recorded with the Cathedral Singers, Bella Voce, William Ferris Chorale, the Rookery, and Schola Antiqua of Chicago. He was a twenty-year veteran of the Chicago Symphony Chorus, where he served as a section leader and appeared on numerous recordings on Deutsche Grammophon, London, Erato, Teldec, Nonesuch, American Gramaphone, and CSO Resound, including two Grammy Award winners: Wagner’s *Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg,* conducted by Sir Georg Solti, and Verdi’s Requiem, conducted by Riccardo Muti. Villella has been a voting member of the Recording Academy for more than thirty years, and he is chair emeritus of the board of directors for Art Song Chicago and a board member of the Solti Foundation US.

basses

Ed Frazier Davis

Bass-baritone Ed Frazier Davis performs frequently with ensembles and organizations across the Chicagoland area, including Bella Voce, the Chicago Symphony Chorus, Consonance, the Grant Park Music Festival Chorus, and the choir of St. Chrysostom's Episcopal Church where he sings almost every Sunday. In Kansas City, where he lived from 2016 to 2022, he sang five seasons with the Grammy-winning Kansas City Chorale. Outside of singing, Ed is an accomplished composer whose music, described as "at once deeply emotional and sublime" (KC Arts Beat), has been performed across seventeen states and six countries by the likes of the BBC Singers, Bella Voce, The Crossing, and the Symphony Orchestras of Melbourne and Toronto.