This years Berkeley festival is all about the music but it would all be nothing without the talent, dedication and hard work of so many artists.
MEET AVE
Don’t miss their BFX performance of:
Gesualdo’s Tenebræ Responsoria
June 10th
5 pm, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church
$35 general admission / Read the SFCV Preview
Jonathan Dimmock (artistic director) founded AVE in 2004 and loves working with the exceptional singers in the Bay area. A Grammy winner, he is well known internationally as an organist and has recorded more than 30 CDs. He has held musical posts at Westminster Abbey in London (Organ Scholar), the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City, and St. Mark’s Cathedral in Minneapolis, and he currently serves as organist for St. Ignatius Church, San Francisco; Lafayette-Orinda Presbyterian Church; Congregation Sherith Israel, San Francisco; and the San Francisco Symphony. He is co-founder of American Bach Soloists and founding President of Art to the Nations, using music in international conflict resolution. He is deeply committed to healing our broken world through the beauty of music and talks eagerly on the subjects of spirituality, psychology, aesthetics, and the arts.
Tonia D’Amelio (soprano) has been singing with AVE since 2005. A native of New York City, she specializes in music of the Renaissance and Baroque, with experience as an ensemble singer as well as on the operatic and concert stages. She and her husband, Chris, often work together to present sacred music—from Gregorian chant to large-scale concerted works—in liturgical
settings, in both the Catholic and Anglican traditions.
Edward Betts (tenor) has performed with Artists Vocal Ensemble since its inception in 2004. While not singing around the Bay Area, he spends his time hanging out with Pepper the Wilder Poodle and training for the next cycling event. He’s ridden twice in the AIDS/LifeCycle, and is currently preparing for AMBBR at Lake Tahoe and the MS Society’s Waves to Wine 150. Mr. Betts and his fiancée, Elena, are both computer programmers in the East Bay.
Shauna Fallihee (soprano) is pleased to make her first appearances with AVE. As an operatic and concert soloist, she has been heard in pieces spanning Monteverdi to new works composed for her voice. Ms. Fallihee maintains a private voice studio and is a voice clinician for numerous schools and choral organizations. As an Oakland native, she is delighted to share her passion for singing with the next generation of Bay Area singers.
Joshua Henderson (baritone) is new to AVE, but has been singing professionally in the Bay Area since 2004. The son of an operatic soprano and a church organist/jazz pianist/Ives scholar, Mr. Henderson’s path to a career in music was clearly marked. And so he first chose to become an attorney. He continues to practice law, all the while singing and being the father of three young children.
Pam Igelsrud (soprano) is excited to be singing her first concert with AVE. She grew up in a musical family in Syracuse, New York, and has been in California for almost three years. She teaches voice privately and at the Community Music Center, sings in various groups around town, and works at Sustainable Conservation. She has a really awesome cat named Nashira and enjoys reading all sorts of interesting books.
Jeffrey Keim (tenor, countertenor) began performing with AVE in 2009. He is employed as an IT consultant and his current/ongoing passions include Mad Men, foreign policy, learning foreign languages, and Paulette’s macarons.
Carol Kessler (soprano) is in her fifth season singing with AVE. She is passionate about singing the repertoire of Baroque music, as well as the lieder repertoire of composers dedicated to the Art Song tradition. Competing on a Masters Swim team keeps her fit for her active schedule as a soloist and recitalist, as well as maintaining a private voice and piano studio. She also makes music with her at-home quartet: her toy poodle, two cockatiels, and an umbrella cockatoo.
David Kurtenbach (tenor) first encountered Gesualdo when he joined AVE in early 2009 and immediately fell in love. He is fascinated with language and has studied languages as far afield as Norwegian, Hungarian, Japanese, and Classical Tibetan. He spent a recent summer traveling to 22 countries, including a month in the arctic, and is appointed Chorus Master at Opera
San Jose.
Rita Lilly (soprano) is a native of New York who moved to the Bay Area in 2000. After becoming the soprano with the Waverly Consort in New York, she has continued to pursue her passion for early music. Ms. Lilly has performed professionally for over twenty years as both a soloist and choral singer, and has been a member of AVE since its inception. She resides in the Bay Area with her husband, Nitash Balsara, a chemical engineering professor at UC Berkeley, and her two children, Sonya and Matthew.
Naomi Lopin (soprano) has been singing with AVE since October 2009, after relocating to San Francisco from New York City, where she lived and sang professionally for twelve years. She currently performs in the Bay Area and teaches voice students in her home studio. When not singing, Ms. Lopin enjoys spending time outdoors, and playing Scrabble.
Clifton Massey (alto) is pleased to join AVE for a third (fourth?!) season, especially to perform music of the murderous prince, Carlo Gesualdo. A native of Dallas, Texas, Mr. Massey often performs with area choral ensembles and frequently performs solo work in oratorios and small group ensembles. Vocal coaching is a particular passion, with voice studios in Oakland and Lafayette. Exploration of the various Bay Area microclimates is one of his favorite weekend hobbies, with growing the ultimate tomato as a personal goal.
Robby Stafford (bass) is a San Francisco native who loves to sing opera, early music, karaoke, and his original songs (often performing as his alter ego, Simkin the Swagger). Having moved away from the Bay Area many times (for schooling in Oberlin, working in New York City and Amsterdam, and family/sanity in West Virginia), he keeps coming back, and thinks he just might stay this time. Mr. Stafford and Mr. Dimmock having been working together since 1994, and Mr. Stafford has been singing regularly with AVE for three years.
