Now in his fifteenth year as conductor of the Worcester Chorus, Chris Shepard also serves as Artistic Director of the Connecticut Choral Artists (CONCORA), the state’s oldest professional choir, and the Masterwork Chorus of New Jersey. His choirs have collaborated with a number of orchestras, such as the Juilliard Orchestra, the Orquestra Sinfónica Nacional de Mexico and the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, in venues that include Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and Radio City Music Hall in New York, as well as the Royal Festival Hall in London and the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. Chris has prepared choirs for major international conductors, including Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Simone Young, Carlos Miguel Prieto and William Boughton, as well as for Broadway legend Patti Lupone and Ray Davies of the Kinks. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2015, and made his conducting debut with the New Haven Symphony in 2016. Chris returned to America in 2008 after a dozen years in Sydney, Australia, where he founded the Sydneian Bach Choir and Orchestra.

He led their BACH 2010, a project to perform all of Bach’s choral cantatas. Under his direction, the ensemble performed over eighty cantatas, as well as the two Passions, B Minor Mass, and Christmas Oratorio; they completed the cantata cycle in 2013. In addition to the music of J.S. Bach, Chris has conducted many staples of the choral-orchestral repertoire, and he has commissioned and premiered a number of new choral works in both Australia and America. He also leads two of the longest-running annual Messiah performances in America, with the Worcester Chorus and at Carnegie Hall with the Masterwork Chorus.

A committed music educator, Chris has served on the faculty of the Taft School, Sydney Grammar School, Hotchkiss Summer Portals, and Holy Cross College. He founded the Litchfield County Children’s Choir in 1990, and has conducted numerous middle and high school festival choirs in New England, New York and Australia. He presented two documentaries with SBS-TV, an Australian national public television network, and has given several presentations at conferences for American Choral Directors Association and Australian National Kodàly Association. Chris has been a guest conductor at Emmanuel Church in Boston, a church renowned for its four-decade Bach cantata project, and he currently serves as Music Director of St John’s Episcopal Church in Stamford, Connecticut. He led the Dessoff Choir in New York City from 2010 to 2016.

A pianist and keyboard continuist, Chris holds degrees from the Hartt School, the Yale School of Music (where he studied choral conducting with Marguerite Brooks) and the University of Sydney. He researched the performance history of Bach’s B Minor Mass in New York City for his PhD in Musicology; his dissertation won the American Choral Directors Association’s 2012 Julius Herford Prize for outstanding doctoral thesis in choral music.

Praised for her evocative interpretations of oratorio and opera, Ann McMahon Quintero opens the 2024/25 season with Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín in association with Opera Orlando. For the spooky season, she’ll be revisiting the role of The Witch in Hansel and Gretel with Amelia Island opera. Spring ‘25 brings the return of one of the casualties of the pandemic, Polinesso in Ariodante with Boston Baroque.

In the 2023/24 season, she made her debut with Colorado Symphony in Messiah, joined Charleston Symphony for Verdi’s Requiem, and Norwalk Symphony for her first performance of Mahler 3. In 2022/23, she joined Boston Baroque and Alabama Symphony for Messiah, Charleston Symphony for Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky Cantata, Greater Newburgh Symphony for Elgar’s Sea Pictures, and performed in the world premiere of Ghosts with San Diego Opera in the role of Yadira.

Ms. Quintero was thrilled to join Santa Fe Opera in 2022 in one of her signature roles, Mistress Quickly in Falstaff.  Also in the 2021/22 season, she portrayed the titular role in Lizbeth with Opera Orlando and Madame Flora in The Medium with Chelsea Opera, with whom she enjoyed a successful run as the inimitable Julia Child in Lee Hoiby’s Bon Appétit! in June, 2021.

Her previous work has included many enjoyable turns with Boston Baroque singing their annual Messiah as well as performances of Mozart’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9., M. Haydn’s Requiem in c minor, Cornelia in Giulio Cesare, Juditha in Juditha Triumphans, and Storgé in Jephtha.

Ms. Quintero also enjoys a rewarding relationship with the Defiant Requiem Foundation, performing their special presentation of the Verdi Requiem in Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín. She has performed the piece with Mo. Murry Sidlin over a dozen times throughout the U.S., sharing the story of Rafael Schächter and the brave artists of Terezín. In addition, she has also performed the piece Hours of Freedom: The Story of the Terezín Composer, a program of music composed at Terezín.

The mezzo-soprano has performed the Verdi Requiem with the Buffalo Philharmonic, Cathedral Choral Society Washington D.C., Brevard Music Center, Berkshire Choral International, Southwest Florida Symphony, the South Bend Symphony, and the Boston Landmarks Orchestra, with whom she also performed de Falla’s El amor brujo.

Her operatic roles include Azucena (Il trovatore) at both Musica Viva Hong Kong and Opéra Royal de Wallonie; Amneris (Aida) with Annapolis Opera; Mistress Quickly (Falstaff) with Virginia Opera, Opera Delaware and Opéra de Lausanne; Ulrica (Un ballo in maschera) with Austin Lyric Opera, Suor Pazienza (Giordano’s Mese Mariano) with the Spoleto Festival (USA), Mary (Der fliegende Holländer) and Hippolyta (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) with Boston Lyric Opera; and The Old Lady (Candide) with Arizona and Portland Operas.

Ms. Quintero made her international operatic debut with New Israeli Opera as La Haine in Gluck’s Armide and returned to the company as Marquise Melibea (Il viaggio a Reims). She sang Baba the Turk (The Rake’s Progress) with Angers Nantes Opera; Olga Olsen (Street Scene) with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis; Isabella (L’italiana in Algeri) with Palm Beach Opera; Gertrude (Roméo et Juliette) with Toledo Opera; and Glaša (Kátya Kabanová) and Teresa (La sonnambula) with The Santa Fe Opera. Other roles include Auntie in Peter Grimes, Tisbe in La Cenerentola, and Dritte Dame in Die Zauberflöte with Washington National Opera.

Ms. Quintero is a 2006 winner of the Sara Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation; second place winner of the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation International Vocal Competition; the George London Foundation; Sullivan Foundation and was a semi-finalist in Plácido Domingo’s Operalia. She sang at the National Endowment for the Arts Opera Honors Inaugural Awards Concert in 2008. She was a 2002 Grand National Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and made her first appearance on the MET stage in the Grand Finals Concert with Julius Rudel.

Hailed by Opera News for his “handsome sound,” and described as a “standout” by the Wall Street Journal, tenor Derrek Stark, is quickly establishing a reputation as an elegant performer with nuanced and stylish singing.

The 2024/25 season has some exciting role debuts for Mr. Stark; he will return to Knoxville Opera to perform Frederic in Pirates of Penance, as well as Opera Tampa and Gulfshore Opera to sing Candide, and Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, respectively. Derrek will also revisit the role of Pinkerton in performances of Amelia Island Opera’s production of Madama Butterfly.

In the 2023/24 season, Derrek returned to The Metropolitan Opera to cover Prunier in La rondine, made a role debut with Pacific Opera Project singing the Prince in Rusalka, as well as Alfred in Die Fledermaus. Mr. Stark made his Amelia Island Opera debut as Rodolfo in La bohème, and joined the Lakeland Symphony Orchestra performing Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly. He also made both his house and role debut with Knoxville Opera as Fenton in Falstaff.

In 2022/23, he joined The Metropolitan Opera roster covering the Trojan Man in Idomeneo, the Royal Herald and Lerma in Don Carlo, and Flavio in Norma. Mr. Stark also joined the Dayton Performing Arts Alliance and the Dayton Philharmonic for their New Year’s Eve concert, performed as the tenor soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Kansas City Symphony Orchestra, and made his New Jersey Festival Orchestra debut in their Three Tenors Holiday Concert. Additionally, he returned to Eugene Opera as Rodolfo in La bohème, and joined the Norwalk Symphony Orchestra to perform Tamino in Die Zauberflöte. Mr. Stark also made a role debut with Opera Tampa singing Adolfo Pirelli in Sweeney Todd.

In 2021/22, Mr. Stark was heard at Eugene Opera as Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, joined Gulfshore Opera for Alfred in Die Fledermaus, made a return to Opera Tampa as Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi. He made a hourse debut as Rodolfo in La bohème with Bar Harbor Music Festival. He debuted the role of Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with Opera Tampa and Eugene Opera. In 2020, Mr. Stark sang performances of Rodolfo with the Imperial Symphony Orchestra and made a role debut as Percy in Baltimore Concert Opera’s Anna Bolena. Engagements canceled due to COVID19 include performing the title role in Idomeneo with Opera Fuoco and joining Inland Northwest Opera as Alfredo in La traviata. In 2019, Mr. Stark made his international debut with Opernhaus Zürich as the Italian Tenor in Der Rosenkavalier and returned to Palm Beach Opera as Alfredo in La traviata. Other engagements that season included a role premiere with Teatro Nuovo as Arturo in La straniera and Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi with OperaFusion.

Previous season highlights include Giasone in Medea in Corinto with Teatro Nuovo, Rodolfo in La bohème with San Antonio Opera, The Governor in Candide with Palm Beach Opera, Harry in La fanciulla del West with Santa Fe Opera, Rodolfo in La bohème with Miami Lyric Opera, and Remendado in Carmen with Lyric Opera Kansas City. Other role highlights include Alfredo in La traviata, Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi, Peter Quint in The Turn of the Screw, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, and Fenton in Falstaff.

Equally at home in concert repertoire, Mr. Stark has performed with the Atlantic Classical Orchestra, the Boise Philharmonic, the Orchestra of Saint Luke’s, and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in repertoire ranging from Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, to Orff’s Carmina Burana, and Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle.​

Mr. Stark won 2nd place in the Giulio Gari International Voice Competition, 3rd place in the Opera Columbus Cooper-Bing Competition, 3rd place in the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod, and is a 2018 Sullivan Foundation Grant Winner. He has also received an encouragement award from the Gerda Lissner International Voice Competition, a Campbell/Wacther Scholarship from Santa Fe Opera, and a Bel Canto Vocal Scholarship Foundation award.​

Stark is an alumnus of many prestigious training programs including; Santa Fe Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Bel Canto at Caramoor, and the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. He holds a B.M. from Mansfield University, PA, and a M.M. from The Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University.

Praised by opera critic Voce di Meche for his “juicy, booming and room-filling bass” accompanied by “mesmerizing, fully immersed acting,” basso profondo Edwin Jhamal Davis is quickly establishing himself as an artist on the rise to watch. Last season, Mr. Davis made his house débuts in X: The Life & Times of Malcolm X with The Metropolitan Opera as Garvey Preacher and with Seattle Opera as Bass 2, a role he reprised in the previous season with Opera Omaha. He also joined First Coast Opera, Amelia Island Opera, Opera Montana, and Opera Memphis for Colline in La bohème. He made his Carnegie Hall début in Mozart’s Requiem and sang the bass solo in Stravinsky’s Pulcinella with the Mainly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center. This season, he makes his New Orleans Opera début as Angelotti in Tosca and returns to Seattle Opera as the Second Armored Man in Die Zauberflöte.

Recently, he joined Opera Grand Rapids as the King in Aida, performed as the bass soloist in Handel’s Messiah for Danbury Symphony, and was a Glynn Studio Artist with The Atlanta Opera, where he appeared in such roles as Masetto in Don Giovanni. He was previously a member of San Francisco Opera’s prestigious Merola Opera Program where he performed Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte, as well as excerpts from Macbeth as Banquo. Previous engagements include Bass 2 in X: The Life & Times of Malcolm X for Detroit Opera, Sparafucile in Rigoletto for the Florentine Opera, the bass soloist in What Lies Beneath for On Site Opera, and Uncle Wesley in Night Trip for Portland Opera. He toured with the American Spiritual Ensemble, sang the world premiere of Brother Nat: Rise, Revolt, Redemption in the role of Will at the Boston Paramount Theatre, and was a featured soloist in the symphonic premiere of Without Regard to Sex, Race or Color, a musical work inspired by the photographic artistry of Andrew Feiler and composed by Doug Hooker for the National Civil Rights Museum. Edwin also joined Portland Opera as a Resident Artist for the 2020-2021 season.

Edwin made his professional début with Opera Mississippi as Simone in Gianni Schicchi. He is an alumnus of Jackson State University where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology Pre-Medicine with dual minors in Chemistry and Music. He received his master’s degree from the prestigious Manhattan School of Music where he studied with acclaimed baritone Mark Oswald and performed such roles as Wurm in Verdi’s Luisa Miller, Osmin in Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail, and Masetto in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and covered Reverend Olin Blitch in Susannah. He has appeared as guest soloist at various national venues such as Pompano Beach Orchestra’s Messiah, Bronx Concert Singers’ winter and spring programs, and St. Mark’s presentation of Messiah.

Mr. Davis was the National First Place Winner of the Marian Anderson Vocal Arts Scholarship hosted by the National Association of Negro Musicians in its centennial celebration. He was a winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Eastern Region, and he became one of the first African Americans to claim one of the top two prizes in Opera Columbus’s Cooper-Bing Vocal Competition. He is a proud native of Utica, MS.