GUEST ARTISTS AND SOLOISTS

Kil Ho Bang, Tenor, is a student at the Brooklyn-Queens Conservatory of Music. A native of Korea, he graduated from Yonsei University in Seoul in 2006. This is Mr. Bang's first appearance with Bronx Concert Singers.

Heather Peyton, Oboist, received a Master's Degree and Artist Diploma from McGill University, and a Bachelor's Degree from Indiana University. She is the recipient of numerous prizes, and has appeared as a soloist with Orchestras and Contemporary Music Ensembles in the United States and Canada. Miss Peyton has been a member of various groups including the National Repertory Orchestra, Ensemble Pentaedre, the Societe de Musique Contemporaine du Quebec, the Festival au Iles du Bic, and the Astraeus Wind Quintet. She has recently completed a European tour as part of a Chamber Opera and Wind Quintet. Miss Peyton currently holds a Distinguished Fellowship position at Michigan State University. Ms. Peyton will also deliver the pre-concert lecture on Jan Dismas Zelenka.

Melissa Raymond, Soprano, has been living and working in New York for several years. Her previous performances include Handel's Messiah, Brahm's Liebeslieder Waltzes, Mozart's Solemn Vespers, Vivaldi's Gloria (RV588), Orff's Carmina Burana, Carissimi oratorios, Domenico Scarlatti's Stabat Mater, Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610, and Bach Cantatas 80 and 140. Ms. Raymond is a graduate of Manhattan School of Music, where she obtained her Master of Music while studying with Joan Caplan.

Vivian Rivera, Soprano, received her bachelor of music in vocal performance from The Juilliard School where she studied with Eleanor Steber. She is the recipient of numerous scholarships and awards including the prestigious Gordon P. Getty Foundation Music Scholarship. Her operatic performances have included engagements throughout the United States and Canada including appearances with San Francisco Opera, New Jersey State Opera, Amato Opera and New York Grand Opera. As a performer of concert and liturgical music she includes Mozart's Requiem, Schubert's Mass in G, and Vivaldi's Gloria among her numerous solo appearances. In addition to her musical vocation, Ms. Rivera was a paramedic formerly with the New York City Fire Department. Her Spring 2007 appearance with The Bronx Concert Singers as soprano soloist in Faure's Requiem marked her return to the concert stage since becoming legally blind, as a result of the World Trade Center attack.

Dale Smith, Tenor, has appeared internationally in a variety of concert and leading operatic roles in Venezuela, The Dominican Republic, Hong Kong, Israel as well as in the United States. Mr. Smith made his New York City opera debut as Don Jose in Carmen and his Carnegie Hall debut as tenor soloist in Mozart's Requiem. As well as being on the voice faculty at The Third Street Music School Settlement, he is the Cantor at St. Francis Xavier Parish in the Bronx. He maintains an active voice studio in the Bronx and in Pennsylvania.

Dalton Taylor, Baritone, graduated from SUNY Purchase College, where he studied voice with Thomas Goodheart. He sang the roles of Masetto in Don Giovanni, Baron in The Merry Widow, Papageno in The Magic Flute and roles in Die Fledermaus, among many other concerts.

Harry A. Thompson, Baritone, has performed extensively in opera, concert, oratorio and musicals, starting his career as a boy soprano soloist in his native Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Mr. Thompson, a former member of the Metropolitan Opera, made his recital debut at Merkin Hall at Lincoln Center in 1997. He is a soloist at Rutgers Presbyterian Church in New York City. Internationally, he has performed in Germany; Austria, and the Caribbean. A frequent concertiser, this June he was a participant in the Festival of Assisi where he was enthusiastically received and was inducted into the Knights of Malta, an organization that has existed since 1048. Mr. Thompson is a passionate music educator, having spent 27 years in the New York City Public School system. He is a Professor of voice at Essex County College, Newark, NJ,.and holds advanced degrees from Duquesne and Pace Universities. He conducts the Newark Community Choir. He has been a member of The Bronx Concert Singers since 1993, and served as its president from June, 1998-June, 2000.