Cory O’Niell Walker
Co-founder, Executive Artistic Director

Cory O’Niell Walker is a diverse performer, composer, and designer who performs in many genres including Opera, Musical Theater, Art Song and Dance. Cory has been a soloist with The Network for New Music in Philadelphia (world premiere, Morning Has Broken by Donald St. Pierre), Opera Boston, Longwood Opera, New England Light Opera, Boston Theater Bridge, Fiddlehead Theatre, North Shore Music Theater, and Cape Rep Theater. Cory has also been seen at the Philly Fringe Festival performing his own art-song based theatre works, such as L’Heure Exquise and Cupid’s Little Prick. He holds a Master’s degree in vocal performance from Ithaca College, where he also studied composition. Cory maintains a popular voice studio in Philadelphia, where he also performs regularly with The Opera Company of Philadelphia and The Mendelssohn Club Chorus.

 

Jennifer Beattie
Co-Founder & Managing Artistic Director

Mezzo-soprano Jennifer Beattie, hailed by Opera News for her “exuberant voice and personality”, is a dynamic performer in opera, oratorio, chamber music and cabaret. Jennifer has appeared in concert at Carnegie Hall, The Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts, The National Arts Club, The Mozarteum in Salzburg, The Juilliard School, Riverside Church, the Texas Music Festival, the Zoellner Arts Center, and on the Stotsenberg Recital Series with pianist/ composer John Musto. She has been a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, Opera Company of Philadelphia, The Eastern Festival Orchestra, The Mendelssohn Club Chorus, The Network for New Music, the JACK Quartet, and ConcertOPERA Philadelphia. Jennifer received her Master’s Degree in Vocal Performance from The Manhattan School of Music, and has completed several artist residencies at Yale College of Music, as well as the New Music on the Point and Lake George Music Festivals.

 

Jillian Zack

Music Director

 

 

 

 

 

Since moving to New York in 2005, Jillian Zack has had numerous performance opportunities with instrumentalists and both classical and musical theatre vocalists. She performs frequently at the Juilliard School, and at various other venues throughout New York City, including Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. She has also performed throughout the United States, England, and New Zealand. Highly interested in the process of collaborating with living composers, Ms. Zack was the resident pianist for the first annual New Music on the Point, a two-week program work-shopping the new works of young composers. There, she had the opportunity to collaborate with artists in residence from the Chicago based Fifth House Ensemble, as well as mezzo-soprano Jennifer Beattie. While attending Songfest in 2009, she worked with renowned composers John Musto and Tom Cipullo, and recently presented Cipullo’s Another Reason why I don’t keep a Gun in the House in recital. Ms. Zack graduated with a BM in Piano Performance from the Manhattan School of Music, and was awarded the Josephine C. Whitford Award for her significant contribution to the enrichment of the school. She completed her studies in the Collaborative Piano Program at The Juilliard School in 2012, where she studied under the tutelage of Margo Garrett, Jonathan Feldman, J.J. Penna and Diane Richardson. She was a recipient of the Irene Diamond Graduate Fellowship, the William Petschek Piano Scholarship, and the Greene Fellowship. Her most recent project was a concert tour in New Zealand with tenor James Benjamin Rodgers, entitled “Kurt Weill: The Man and his Music.” Her upcoming projects include recitals with cellist Hannah Sloane, and a Broadway cabaret with singer Alizon Hull. She has performed in master classes with: Martin Katz, Margo Garrett, Malcom Martineau, John Churchwell, Amy Burton, and Paul Sperry.

 

Cara Latham

Soprano

 

 

 

 

 

Soprano Cara Latham is noted for her wealth of artistry and musicianship, and her direct and powerful communication with an audience. Drawing from an extensive professional music theatre background she has received critical praise for her many roles including Maria in Bernstein’s West Side Story, Mabel in the Pirates of Penzance of Gilbert and Sullivan, Louisa in The Fantasticks, and Sr. Amnesia in Nunsense, to name a few. Her professional and academic opera credits include the Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors of Menotti, Mrs. Wordsworth in Britten’s Albert Herring, Fiordiligi in Cosi Fan Tutti of Mozart and Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi of Puccini. Locally, she has performed as a soloist with the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia, the Reading Choral Society and has been a guest artist on various recitals with the art song series, Lyric Fest. Cara has taught voice and musical theater on the faculties of West Chester University, The Guthrie Theater and the Yale School of Drama. She holds a doctorate in Voice from Temple University as well as degrees in vocal performance from Oberlin Conservatory and the Yale School of Music.