PETER BECKER       MARK BLEEKE       ERIC EDLUND

TIMOTHY LEIGH EVANS        WILBUR PAULEY       MICHAEL FENNELLY

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Peter Becker - Bass/Baritone

Peter Becker's musical training began in Bombay, India at the Kinnara School of Music, where he studied tablas at the feet of Ravi Shankar. He began his professional singing career in Chevy Chase, MD as a paid boy soprano, thereby supplementing the income from his paper route.

Since then he has performed on stages throughout the USA, Europe, Asia, and South America in repertoire ranging from medieval to contemporary. Theater credits include performances with the Canadian Opera Company, Glimmerglass Opera, Teatro Opera di Roma, the New York Shakespeare Festival, the 20th Century Consort, the Metropolitan Opera Education Program, the Eugene O'Neil Center, and New York's Lyric Theater. He has been a featured guest artist with Tafelmusik, the Smithsonian Chamber Players, Magnificat, the Newberry Consort, and at a number of festivals including Spoleto, Caramoor, Aldeburgh, Utrecht, Hong Kong, Jerusalem, and Lille. He has recorded for the Decca-London, New Albion, Dorian and Bard labels.



Mark Bleeke - First Tenor

Mark Bleeke comes from a family where music formed a part of everyday life. He sings a diverse repertoire from early music to baroque, classical, pop and contemporary, and enjoys improvising on the piano, composing and arranging.

In opera, Mark Bleeke is especially renowned for his interpretation of Mozart roles such as Tamino in "The Magic Flute", Don Ottavio in "Don Giovanni" and Ferrando in "Cosi Fan Tutte". In Oratorio, he is a sought-after Evangelist in the Bach "Passions" and sings with many of the great symphony orchestras such as The New York Philharmonic and the Pittsburgh Symphony alongside world renowned conductors including Zubin Mehta, Charles Dutoit, Michel Corboz and Andrew Parrott. In contemporary music he has worked closely with many composers including John Harbison, Gian Carlo Menotti, John Corigliano, Paul Winter and Dave Brubeck. Mark Bleeke is a frequent guest artist in festivals throughout the USA and abroad.

Eric Edlund - Baritone

Eric Edlund is originally from Minnesota and now resides in Houston, Texas. He has appeared in more than sixty Houston Grand Opera productions. He has also appeared with the San Diego Opera, Taipei Opera, Lincoln Center, Edinburgh, and Salzurg Festivals. Mr. Edlund has performed with symphonies across the United States and Europe including four European tours under conductor Robert Shaw.









Timothy Leigh Evans - Second Tenor

A native of Sheffield, England, Timothy Leigh Evans has been singing since the age of five. For eight years he was director of music in an English secondary school as well as being drummer with The Northern Jazz Orchestra.

His career took a different turn when he applied for a job as a singer and was accepted. In London he worked with the London Voices, and The BBC Singers. From 1988 to 1991 Timothy Leigh Evans helped form the Israel Chamber Choir where he served as principal Tenor and assistant conductor. After moving to New York in 1991 he toured the USA, Europe, Australia, and Asia with many ensembles, including The Waverly Consort, The Boston Camerata and Western Wind. With Joshua Rifkin and The Bach Ensemble he made his Lincoln Center debut singing Bach's "B Minor Mass". He has appeared alongside such distinguished soloists as Emma Kirkby, Man von Egmond and Mira Zakai. The scope of his repertoire reaches from early music to baroque and from judaica to jazz. He mostly performs in one-person-one-voice ensembles, often acapella. He has recorded for EMI, Dorian, Erato, Virgin and Archiv.



Wilbur Pauley - Bass

Wilbur Pauley was born a bass, in one of his earliest memories he is marching around the dining table at the age of five, singing the bass part to a Mitch Miller sing-along record. Later, he learned to play the euphonium and tuba, went to college to become a music teacher and ended up singing instead.

The scope of Wilbur Pauley's work reaches from the classic standard repertoire to contemporary music and Disney soundtracks. He has sung roles like Sarastro in "The Magic Flute", Timur in "Turandot" and Colline in "La Boheme" as well as appearing in productions of contemporary music like the world premieres of Corigliano's "The Ghosts at Versailles" at the Met and of William Bolcom's "McTeague". He has performed at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, at Houston Grand opera as well as at the Salzburg Festival. On Broadway he appeared opposite Dustin Hoffman in a production of The Merchant of Venice, and his voice may be heard on most Disney soundtracks since The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Wilbur Pauley is founder, arranger and music director of Hudson Shad.



MICHAEL FENNELLY - Pianist

Since his orchestral debut at age ten, Michael Fennelly has grown accustomed to life on the concert stage. He was selected to represent the US in the Horowitz competition in Kiev, Ukraine, was invited to perform in the International Chopin Symposium in Malibu sponsored by the Moscow Conservatory and USC, collaborated in the Schoenberg Music Festival at Bard College, and gave several recitals in california and New York. This year he competed in Andorra and Japan, performed in Brazil and the Carribean, made his Avery Fischer Hall debut, and completed his Doctoral Dissertation on Metric Structure.

Through his home state of California, Michael has appeared in extensive solo recitals, claimed many awards in competitions, and was featured on tour and in concert with the orchestras of Orange County, Livermore, Palo Alto, Santa Clara, and Aliso Viejo. On the east Coast he performed with the New York Virtuoso Orchestra, recorded the premieres of two piano concertos, gave solo and chamber recitals throughout New York state and in Boston, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Iowa, and Vermont, and made his New York City debut in Carnegie's Weill Hall.

In Europe, Michael Fennelly was heard in Altenburg, Germany performing with the East-West Festival Orchestra and on German Public Radio during a live chamber music concert. In Positano, Italy, after being invited to participate in the Wilhelm Kempff Beethoven Course, he performed and studied the composer's sonatas and concertos with the pianist John O'Conor

After beginning lessons with his parents, Michael continued with Trula Whelan and Earl Voorhies. At the Eastman School of Music he was in the studio of Dr. Nelita True where he received a Bachelor's degree and the school's prestigious Performer's Certificate. At the Manhattan School of Music, under the tutelage of Byron Janis and Dr. Marc Silverman, he earned a Master of Arts degree, received the school's prize for chamber music, and recently graduated as a Doctor of Music Arts. He is currently on staff at the Juilliard School.

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