Executive Director and Bass Andrew J. Chung has sung with numerous vocal ensembles including San Francisco's Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, and numerous University of California Berkeley organizations: the Opera Workshop, Chamber Chorus, University Chorus, Collegium Musicum and Gospel Chorus. In 1998 he founded the group Bay Area Classical Harmonies (B.A.C.H.) chamber orchestra and chorus and in 2004 he founded the Bakersfield Opera company.  As director of this organization he regularly conducts and sings with the ensemble in the San Francisco Bay Area.  In 2002 he was chosen conductor of the Berkeley Summer Symphony Orchestra leading Beethoven’s 5th Symphony and Berlioz’s Roman Overture. With Cal Opera he conducted the fully staged opera, Die Zauberflöte.  He has sung principal roles at North Bay Opera and San Francisco Lyric Opera. Andrew sang the role of Leporello in both BACH and Bakersfield Opera production of Don Giovanni and served as the music director for Spotlight Theater production of Steven Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd. Presently he serves as the Music Director at the Claremont Country Club and All Saints Lutheran Church in Novato.

Artistic Director and Tenor John Michael Boyer, now in his sixth year with B.A.C.H. and the Josquin Singers, is Protopsaltis (First Cantor) of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of San Francisco and director of the St. John Koukouzelis Institute for Liturgical Arts (www.koukouzelis.org). A student of Byzantine Chant for 15 years, he has lectured at workshops and seminars on Eastern Orthodox liturgical music, and is currently producing the second in a series of week-long workshops in Byzantine Chant, to be held at St. Nicholas Ranch and Retreat Center, in Dunlap, Cal. April 22-28. John has directed various groups in this musical tradition, and, as in this program, most often from his own transcriptions. He is a regular member and featured soloist with the renowned vocal ensemble Cappella Romana. In the Summer of 2005, he composed, adapted and formatted the musical scores for a ground-breaking recording project: the Greek Orthodox Divine Liturgy in Byzantine Chant in English, to be released this Spring by Cappella Romana. He has conducted many of BACH’s performances of both choral and orchestral music, including both productions of Mozart’s Don Giovanni. John is an alumnus of the Music Department of the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied both choral and orchestral conducting with David Milnes and Marika Kuzma. He also studied Byzantine Music with world-renowned cantor and musicologists Lycourgos Angelopoulos, Ioannis Arvanitis, and Alexander Lingas. John would like to thank His Eminence Metropolitan Gerasimos of San Francisco for his continued support of the ministries of Byzantine Music, and specifically for his sponsorship of this concert.

After studying violin for ten years, Mara McMillan (Soprano I) switched to singing in college, where she was a member of Cornell University Chorus and Chamber Singers. For the last five years, Mara sang with Convivium Musicum, a 20-voice renaissance choir, in Boston. Since moving to the Bay Area this past fall, she has sung with UC Berkeley Chamber Chorus, International Orange Choral of SF, San Francisco Renaissance Voices and is currently a member of California Bach Society. Mara has studied voice with Pamela Dellal, Ellen Hargis, and currently studies with Anna Carol Dudley.

Rebekah Wu (Soprano I) was born and raised in Tokyo Japan where she started taking piano lessons at the age of four. However, her interest in music came only after her parents forced her to drop out of all team sports after receiving a B+ in “Traffic Safety” for fear she would start failing all her classes. But for some reason, music after school was not an issue. So, she started accompanying singers and choirs in her H.S. to fill the sudden void. Rebekah discovered her voice during her senior year, when she unexpectedly won 2nd place in a WA state mezzo soprano competition.

She sang with Choir of the West at Pacific Lutheran U. under the direction of Dr. Richard Sparks, and then followed him to sing with the Seattle Symphony Chorale for 2 seasons. For years after that, she dropped music completely to focus on her career until she was inspired to sing again in 2004, at which time she resumed singing in mixed ensembles at Grace Cathedral for 2 seasons. Rebekah currently sings with CA Bach Society, Josquin Singers, and Choralis. Every first Sundays you can catch her cantoring at St. Matthew’s Lutheran in SF. And most other Sundays, you can catch her singing in her parish choir at Trinity Episcopal in SF. Her current passion in life is sharing her love for early sacred music.

Heather Klein (Soprano II) has most recently been seen performing the role of Rivka Shmuel in the National tour of Meshuga Nutcracker in December with the National Jewish Theater Festival.

Heather has attended many summer programs, including Sherril Milnes’ program in Florida, and the selective Bel Canto institute in New Paltz, New York, with coaches from the Metropolitan Opera. Heather is also an up and coming performer in the Bay Area’s Yiddish song scene where she has performed with many festivals including The Jewish Music Festival in Berkeley, Bible by the Bay, and To Life! A Jewish Street Festival. Ms. Klein is also a regular performer with the Bay area solo concertizing group Ensemble Vocalis. Upcoming performances include: A Yiddish recital in honor of Sylvie Braitman at the San Francisco JCC on March 31st, Community music day at The Jewish Music Festival in Berkeley, and the role of a Grizette in West Bay Opera’s production of The Merry Widow in May 2007. Heather Klein received her Masters degree at the San Francisco Conservatory. Ms. Klein has been seen in many productions at the Conservatory in roles such as: Gretel and Dew Fairy in Hansel and Gretel, Cis in Albert Herring, and Luisa in The Fantastiks.

Jean Cole (Soprano II) has been singing for longer

than she can remember. She has been a choral performer

for over twenty years, specializing in early music

(particularly German) for the last twelve. In the Bay

Area, she has sung in the San Francisco Bach Choir (in

which she met her husband Adam), California Bach

Society, San Francisco Renaissance Voices, Pacific

Collegium, and the San Francisco Jazz Festival. By

day, she works in the pharmaceutical industry.

Athena Kirk (Alto) is a graduate student in the Classics department at UC Berkeley.  She has performed with several choral ensembles in the Bay Area and is glad to be working with the Josquin Singers again.  

Catherine Clambaneva (Alto) was born in the Bay Area and raised in Athens, Greece. From a very young age she expressed a strong interest for and demonstrated natural talent in music and dance.

Her musical training started at the age of 5 with classical piano and continued through her school years by participation in choirs, theatre and music productions, dance groups, classical ballet and music theory exams. Upon her return to the United States, ready to start college at the age of 17, Catherine immediately got involved in the Greek American community in the Bay Area joining the Greek Orthodox Church Choir in Oakland and a Greek folk dance group. While working towards her BA in Classical Civilizations at UC Berkeley, she began to focus on vocal training. In the last few years Ms Clambaneva has studied with 3 vocal coaches and taken several music courses. She has a versatile voice, is a native speaker in Greek and English and is comfortable singing in many other languages. She is captivated by world music and is very interested in cultural fusion through musical expression.

Catherine joined Kymata in the Fall of 2003 and is thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to express her love for her Greek roots and culture. Kymata was featured on Spark on KQED in June 2004. Please click here to watch the video. She is also expanding into the Latin scene by performing throughout the Bay Area with Latin salsa and jazz bands. www.katerinaki.com

Katie Francis (Alto) a native of Sonora, California, has been an active participant in the music world since her childhood.  After receiving degrees in Politics and Women’s Studies from the University of California at Santa Cruz, Katie made her way to the Bay Area, and now calls San Francisco home.  A corporate office assistant by day and a music enthusiast by night, Katie has been spotted around the San Francisco Bay Area as a member and

soloist of the San Francisco City College Chorale, has participated in productions with San Francisco’s Ray of Light Theatre, a chorister in multiple productions with the world renowned Lamplighter’s Musical Theatre, and most recently understudied one of the healthiest Dame Hannah’s in history in the Lamplighter’s last production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Ruddygore.  Katie has participated in the BASOTI program and is currently studying voice with San Francisco Opera house Mezzo Soprano, Catherine Cook.   Her favorite projects include Mother Theresa in Granger’s The Proposal, Lady with Hat Box in Argento’s Postcard from Morocco, and as a featured soloist at the Sonora Bach Festival in Sonora, California.  This is Katie’s debut with the Josquin Singers.  

Daniel Cromeenes (tenor) hails from sunny southern California where his musical roots began early with piano lessons, violin lessons, and church choirs.  A graduate of Biola University with a degree in Piano and Voice, he sang in a wide variety of ensembles, including King's Men, Triumph, Vocal Jazz, Opera Theater, and the William Hall Master Chorale.  Always facing the dilemma of balancing piano and vocal interests, Mr. Cromeenes went on to achieve a master's degree in Accompanying at East Carolina University, where he was able to study vocal repertoire and hone his vocal skills in conjunction with his performance on piano.  In North Carolina he sang with Capella Antiqua and made his countertenor solo debut in Purcell's Te Deum Laudamus and Jubilate Deo.  After spending three years at Biola as Staff Accompanist, he joined Chanticleer as an alto for their 2005-06 season, singing concerts throughout Europe, Japan, and the United States.  Recently, Mr. Cromeenes has contributed his musical talents as accompanist and guest tenor soloist for the choirs at Santa Clara University and as an alto for the American Bach Choir and Grace Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys.  Dan loves the outdoors and enjoys hiking and camping whenever possible.  At home he likes to bake gourmet goodies and write hymn arrangements.

Frank Jiang (Tenor) has been singing in Bay Area choirs for over 9 years. He has performed with the Bay Area Classical Harmonies, UC Berkeley Chamber and University Choruses, UC Madrigal Singers, Cantibile, and Stanford Summer Chorus to name a few groups. He has appeared as a soloist in Monteverdi’s Vespers, Vivaldi’s Beatus Vir, and many Bach cantatas including Wachet Auf ruft uns die Stimme, Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit, and Christen ätzet diesen Tag. He has studied voice with Miriam Abramowitsch and Marika Kuzma.

 
The grandson of a lifelong church organist, Michigan-born
Adam Cole (Baritone) studied pipe organ performance with Robert H. Murphy (Interlochen Arts Academy) and Paula Pugh Romanaux (Kalamazoo College) before turning his focus to vocal music. He has been performing as a chorister and soloist with Bay Area ensembles for over a decade, including California Bach Society, Pacific Collegium, Midsummer Mozart Festival Chorus, San Francisco Bach Choir & Concentus, Stanford Early Music Singers, and San Francisco Renaissance Voices. He also enjoys creating composite "one-man choir" recordings of his favorite masses, motets and secular shanties, in which he sings all voice parts from bass to treble. As an amateur arranger, Mr. Cole is a frequent contributor to the  Choral Public Domain Library (http://www.cpdl.org) of online music editions.

Bay Area born Joseph Trumbo (Bass) studied at City College of San Francisco and became their youngest vocal mentor at age 16. He has been mentoring for 3 years for beginner and intermediate singers. From age 11 to 19 with his father, he performed at Christian Churches and Cathedrals all over the world. He is a chorus member at San Francisco Lyric Opera, recently sang the part of "James" in new oratorio by a local composer John Partridge "Harden Not Your Hearts." His current works along with the Josquin Singers are Bay Area Classical Harmonie's Passion According to Saint John in May, Malcom X with Oakland Opera, and Mozart's Requiem with City College of San Francisco Chorale.