Dress rehearsal, Nicholas Music Center
photographs by Sherry Rubel

Soprano Angela Bianca Beaton (Hannagail) received her BM from Mason Gross School of the Arts and is currently pursuing her MM in vocal performance at MGSA. She has studied with several opera workshop programs in California, Italy and France. As an undergraduate, she was an understudy for various soprano roles, such as Juliette from Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette. She also appeared as the First Lady in the Opera at Rutgers’s performance of The Magic Flute. As an MM candidate she performed as Olympia in the Opera at Rutgers’s performance of The Tales of Hoffmann. During the summer of 2008 she performed as Ninetta in the Opéra du Périgord’s production of La Périchole in Périgord, France. As a member of the Franco American Vocal Academy, under the direction of William Lewis, she also participated in two French mélodie recitals in Excideuil, France. She currently enjoys performing and teaching, both privately and in community music schools.

Belgian-born Barbara Mergelsberg (Hannagail) won the prize of the city of Maastricht (Holland) at the Henry Hermann competition in connection with which she appeared several times on Dutch radio. She earned her vocal performance and pedagogy master degrees at the Musikhochschule Köln-Aachen (Germany) and thanks to an Erasmus scholarship she spent the entire year of 2000 at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien (Austria) studying under the guidance of Professor Margarita Lilova. She has sung the roles of Servilia in “La clemeza di Tito” by Mozart, Gretel in “Hänsel und Gretel” by Humperdinck, Blanche de la Force in “Le dialogue des Carmelites” by Poulenc, Maria in “The Sound of Music” by Rogers, and more recently Nicklausse in “Les Contes d’Hoffmann” by Offenbach in a Rutgers production. She also performed the Christmas Oratorio by Bach, the Stabat Mater by Pergolesi, the Requiem by Mozart, as well as several cantatas by Buxtehude, Bach, and Haendel. She reached the finals of several international vocal competitions, as for example in Orvieto and Guardiagrele (both in Italy). She is currently on a Fulbright scholarship pursuing a doctorate in the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University.

Conductor and organist Andrew Cyr (conductor) is a leader in every aspect of the rapidly growing urban contemporary classical music scene. Engaging a new model of Music Director-as-communicator-and-conduit, Cyr successfully attracts young, diverse audiences for classical music through intimate concerts, passionate performances, education initiatives, grassroots community events, and a natural application of digital media and marketing. Cyr commissions, premieres and records new works from the freshest voices in classical composition, including Timo Andres, David Bruce, Jakub Ciupinski, Avner Dorman, Ryan Francis, Ryan Gallagher, Raymond Lustig, Ricardo Romaneiro and Cristina Spinei. Born out of his enthusiasm for connecting young musicians and composers with their contemporaries in other fields, Cyr's Metropolis Ensemble, founded in 2006, comprises some of the finest chamber musicians and soloists in New York City. As a music director, Cyr is dedicated to programming the music of 20th century greats such as Stravinsky, Ravel, Shostakovich, Salonen, Britten, Golijov, Copland, Thomson, Weill and Schiff. Cyr has collaborated with a number of artists who defy classification, including mandolinist Avi Avital, pianists Eliran Avni, Steve Beck, and Anna Polonsky, vocal artists Hai-Ting Chin, Kiera Duffy, Daniel Neer, Melissa Fogarty, and Hila Plitmann, flutist Mindy Kaufman, violinists Arnaud Sussmann and Lily Francis, and jazz saxophonist Marty Ehrlich. He has worked and appeared with the L'Orchestre National Des Pays de la Loire, France, D'Angers Nantes Opera, the New York Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Masterworks Chorus, Westminster Symphonic Choir, and Rutgers University Opera, among others.

Leslie Godfrey (oboe) is a native of Ewing, NJ and has played the oboe since the age of 10. She holds both a BM and MM in oboe performance from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, and has toured Asia and Europe with various orchestras. Previously a student of Beth Benson, Leslie has studied with Matt Sullivan since 2002. Currently, Leslie is exploring the world of electronic and contemporary music; she has performed works for oboe and CD, as well as improvisatory works for oboe and delay system. She has also performed the American premieres of several works by British composers, and enjoys arranging pieces and programming unique recitals. She now works at Dillon Music as the director of the New Horizons Band of Woodbridge, and is thankful for the opportunity to work with (and be inspired by) her adult beginner music students.

Jack Bradley (clarinet) recently completed the Doctorate of Musical Arts in Clarinet at the Mason Gross School of the Arts, where he studied with Professor Maureen Hurd. Originally from Louisiana, Dr. Bradley served on the faculty of Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana. A former member of the United States Air Force Band of the West, his teachers include such distinguished clarinetists as J. David Harris, Steve Cohen, Larry Mentzer, and Bruce Bullock. In addition to actively freelancing in the local area, Dr. Bradley loves to spend time with his lovely daughter Hannah, who hopes to become the first female President of the United States.

A native of Brooklyn, Deryk Clarke (French horn) is a graduate of the High School of Performing Arts in New York City, the North Carolina School of the Arts, and the Curtis Institute of Music.  He has been a member of the One World Symphony, Imani Winds, the Jupiter Symphony, and the Curtis Wind Quintet. He has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. He continues to perform with a wide variety of orchestras and ensembles in the New York City area. Mr. Clarke has been an Artist-in-residence at the Hartwick College Music Festival, the Apple Hill Chamber Music Festival, and was a faculty member of the Juilliard School and Mannes College pre-college divisions. He has also served as a brass faculty member and as Music Director of the Harlem School of the Arts.  He now teaches instrumental music at the Mount Vernon School in Newark, New Jersey. Mr. Clarke is currently a candidate for MM in performance at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ. He is a student of Dr. Douglass Lundeen.
 

Ivy Haga (bassoon) has performed with many ensembles in the area including Riverside Symphonia, Chelsea Opera, Artemis Chamber Ensemble, Boheme Opera, Princeton Symphony’s outreach program BRAVO!, Red Bank Chamber Music Society, and was member of National Chamber Players on several albums for the Klavier Label surveying large woodwind ensemble literature. She is on faculty at Westminster Conservatory and Lawrenceville School, and is the woodwind conductor for Youth Orchestra of Central Jersey. Ivy has played under the direction of Pierre Boulez, James Judd, and Andrea Quinn, and has performed in Kennedy Center, Avery Fisher Hall, Carnegie Hall, and Symphony Center in Chicago. Ivy studied with Brian Kershner and Bob Wagner at Rutgers University and Bruce Hammel at Virginia Commonwealth University.

A multifaceted artist, harpist Gloria Vasconcellos performs internationally as a solo, chamber, and orchestral musician. She holds a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology from the Johns Hopkins University, an M.M. in Music Performance from the Manhattan School of Music, and a Mention Très Bien for post-graduate studies at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional in Paris. Ms. Vasconcellos has received such honors as being the recipient of a UNESCO-Aschberg Fellowship and a Fulbright Fellowship. She has also placed as a finalist and semi-finalist in several national and international music competitions, including a national finalist in the American String Teacher's Association music competition. Ms. Vasconcellos is a strong proponent of new music and has collaborated with and premiered works by several prominent composers. She also enjoys teaching and volunteering in a variety of community outreach activities.

Multi-faceted percussionist Peter James Saleh (percussion) is a founding member of New Jersey's own Exit 9 Percussion Group, with whom he has performed over 200 times. His notable featured performances include Princeton’s McCarter Theater, The Juilliard School, New York's Town Hall, the Jeju International Brass Festival in Jeju, Seoul University, NJPAC, Dallas' Bass Hall, Laguardia High School of the Performing Arts, the New York Musical Theater Festival at the Ailey Citigroup Theater, Drew University, and Rutgers University. He has also recorded under conductor Eugene Corporon with the North Texas Wind Symphony on the GIA and Klavier labels. Peter has also performed on marimba and percussion steadily for years as a modern dance musician in NJ and NY, and in addition to scoring works by NJ/NY choreographers, has also played at ACDFA. He was also the resident composer/accompanist for the Terpsichore III: Making Waves dance festival in South Carolina in 2006 with NY choreographer Christian Von Howard, and at NJPAC's SYPW 2006-2008. His compositions and arrangements have been performed throughout the country, including by Rutgers' own HELIX! ensemble. As an educator, Saleh has placed students into some of the percussion best programs in the country. He founded and directs the Central Jersey Youth Percussion Ensemble and has served as a teaching artist for the Brooklyn Academy of Music and Young Audiences of NJ. Peter’s scores for percussion are published through Drop6 Media, Row-Loff Productions, Innovative Percussion, and Keyboard Percussion Publications. His pedagogic text, "A Percussionist's Handbook" is currently part of the curriculum at Ithaca College. Saleh holds a Bachelors of Music from Rutgers University and a Masters degree in percussion performance with a minor in composition from the University of North Texas.

Donald Dolan (pianist) has performed solo recitals at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and Merkin Concert Hall in New York City, as a winner of the Artists International Piano Award and Alumni Prize. Mr. Dolan was a featured soloist with the Vanderbilt Symphony and the University of Michigan Chamber Orchestra, as a winner of their concerto competitions, and with the Nashville Symphony in a concert broadcast on Nashville public radio. A semifinalist of the National Federation of Music Clubs competition in Austin, Texas, he has also performed and competed internationally in Switzerland, Serbia, and Portugal. In addition to concertizing and competing in the international piano competition circuit, Mr. Dolan is on the piano faculty of Westminster Conservatory in Princeton. He received degrees in piano performance from Vanderbilt University (BM, summa cum laude) and The University of Michigan (MM).  He is currently a teaching assistant while a doctoral candidate in piano performance (DMA) at Rutgers University, where he is a student of Daniel Epstein. His recent teachers include José Ramos-Santana and Susan Starr.

In rehearsal, Rutgers University Department of Music
L-R: Barbara Mergelsberg, Adrienne Alexander, Angela Bianca Beaton, David Arnold, John-Andrew Fernandez, Matthew Morris, Brian  Vandenberge, Donald Dolan, Andrew Cyr.