Von Bringhurst (he/they) is a countertenor & sopranist who moved to the Bay Area in 2018. He holds a Master of Music in Vocal Performance degree from the Longy School of Music of Bard College in Cambridge, MA, and a Bachelor of Science in Voice from Idaho State University in Pocatello, ID. 

He enjoys a varied career as a soloist and ensemble member, including Clerestory, Força Chorus, Harvard Early Music Society, the Video Game Orchestra, Xerces Blue Ensemble, and can be heard on a number of video game titles, including Ace Combat, Final Fantasy XV, and Code Vein. Von has been Music Director for the Opera House Theater Company in Philipsburg, MT; The Virginia City Players of Virginia City, MT; and WholeTone Opera of Somerville, MA.

Von is currently soprano section leader at Christ Church Portola Valley and Woodside in Portola Valley, CA. He also maintains an active teaching studio based in the Bay Area, as well as working with students virtually across time zones.

vonbringhurst.com

Sidney Chen is a multi-faceted musician who seeks to dissolve boundaries of all kinds through his work. He is passionate about using his “expressive and richly mellifluous” bass-baritone voice (San Francisco Chronicle) to support the creation of new work, in collaboration with artists of all disciplines. Recent projects include touring with ODC/Dance as a guest performer in KT Nelson’s Path of Miracles, and creating roles in Anne Hege’s “laptopera” The Furies with SLOrk (Stanford Laptop Orchestra) and Lisa Mezzacappa’s serial podcast opera The Electronic Lover. As a member of composer/choreographer Meredith Monk’s Vocal Ensemble, he has performed internationally and recorded for ECM Records. At home in the Bay Area, he has appeared recently as a soloist with the Oakland and Golden Gate Symphony Orchestras, been a featured performer on SF Symphony’s American Mavericks Festival and the Other Minds Festival, and sings regularly with the new-music vocal ensemble Volti. His solo creative projects tend towards quietness, detail, and sharpened focus, and often include his DIY music boxes and intricately hand-punched scrolls, which have been featured in a SF Chronicle Sunday Datebook cover story.

sidneychenarts.com

Dan Cromeenes, countertenor, is a versatile musician who has performed professionally as a countertenor soloist, choral singer, and collaborative pianist. A native of southern California, he first moved to San Francisco to perform with the ensemble Chanticleer, and has since flourished in the Bay Area’s music scene. He has sung with American Bach, Philharmonia Baroque, Cantata Collective, Bach Collegium San Diego, and Oregon Bach Festival. He serves as staff accompanist at Santa Clara University and Sonoma State University. In addition to his playing and singing, Dan has written multiple choral arrangements that have been performed by Clerestory. When not onstage or behind a piano, Dan can usually be found either on a hike in the mountains or at home baking gourmet goodies.

David Kurtenbach Rivera tenor (he/him), described in “warm and intimate” performances as having a voice “lined with silver” (Classical Voice), enjoys an active ensemble and solo career, specializing in early music.

He has appeared as featured soloist with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chorale, Bach Collegium San Diego, Cantata Collective, American Bach Soloists, Conspirare, Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Bach-Akademie Charlotte, Oregon Bach Festival, Apollo’s Fire, and many others. He is privileged to share several GRAMMY nominations for Best Choral Performance with the musicians of Conspirare. This season’s highlights include the release of two new recordings, Gospel performances with Isaac Cates and Ordained, and a full spring season of Bach.

A trained conductor, David previously spent 10 years as an opera conductor, including 5 seasons appointed as Chorus Master of Opera San Jose, and a summer at the Tanglewood Music Center. He works as clinician, guest conductor, and coach for ensembles around the country, and is in demand as a church musician and organist.

As a reconnecting Indigenous Puerto Rican (Taíno), David is committed to decolonization in his life and work. He is deeply grateful to the Ramaytush, Muwekma Ohlone, and Me-Wuk Peoples for allowing his continued presence on their land.

Chris Lewis, bass-baritone, is the founding and current musical director of the Fog City Singers, a tenor-bass chorus in San Francisco that aims to revolutionize the way barbershop music is performed and appreciated. In childhood, he experimented on the piano, on the risers, and on the stage; yet he first learned to truly appreciate music after multiple years under acclaimed conductors in Texas all-state choirs. Since moving to the Bay Area in 2008, he has performed with a variety of music organizations including choral ensembles (Clerestory, Volti, Stanford Chamber Chorale, Convivium), barbershop groups (Brannigan, Voices in Harmony, Elephants Gerald), contemporary a cappella groups (Stanford Mixed Company, Beyond Zebra), and theater companies (SF Lamplighters, Broadway by the Bay). In Fog City's first three years, Chris directed them to 9th- and 7th-place finishes in the International Barbershop Chorus Contest and in 2019 directed them as the featured ensemble at the California Choral Directors Association state conference. Chris is also a budding arranger and composer, and during the pandemic he authored a media-rich "Barbershop Arranging: A Modern Guide" on Medium.com. Chris holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Computer Science from Stanford University and by day directs frontend engineering at a supply-chain startup.

Nathan Stroud, countertenor, is a multi-faceted musician with a passion for early music consort singing. He currently sings with the Grace Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys and the Philharmonia Baroque Chorale, and has been performing around the Bay Area as a singer and French horn player since moving to San Francisco in 2014.

With a background in architectural acoustics, Nathan loves to bring his expertise in architecture, acoustical fundamentals, and psychoacoustics to tailor his performance technique to the built environment and human auditory response. His Master’s thesis research was on “optimization of orchestral layouts based on instrument directivity patterns” in which he studied the acoustically ideal arrangements of romantic period orchestras on stage.

Outside of performing Nathan stays busy working full time as an Acoustics & Audiovisual Consultant at Arup, a global engineering and design firm, where he leads a broad portfolio of regional and international projects.

Corey Head, tenor, specializes in Early Music with a special affinity to J.S. Bach. His solo concert performances include The Evangelist in Bach’s St. John Passion, as well as tenor soloist in his Magnificat, Christmas Oratorio, B-Minor Mass, and many of his cantatas. Other major solo performances include Uriel in Haydn’s Creation, “The Evening” in Telemann’s Die Tageszeiten, tenor soloist in Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb, William Boyce’s Solomon: A Serenata, Handel’s Acis and Galatea, Beethoven’s Mass in C Major, and Mozart’s C Minor Mass.

Recent operatic performances include the roles of Ferrando in Mozart’s Così Fan Tutte, Damon in Handel’s Acis and Galatea, and Mordocai in Cristiano Lidarti’s Hebrew setting of Esther.

Corey has performed as soloist with many San Francisco Bay Area groups including Albany Consort, Bay Choral Guild, California Bach Society, Chora Nova, Marin Baroque, Marin Oratorio, Marin Symphony, San Francisco Choral Society, San Francisco Renaissance Voices, San Francisco Symphony, Stanford Choirs and Orchestras, and Viva La Musica. He performs regularly in the chorale with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chorale.

Critics have described Sepp Hammer as delivering “masterful and expressive solos” (San Francisco Classical Voice) and showing “warm baritone gravity” (The Boston Globe). His concert engagements in recent seasons have included Bach’s St. Matthew Passion (as Jesus) with California Bach Society, Handel’s Dixit Dominus with San Francisco Choral Society, Bach’s cantata Aus der Tiefe with Santa Cruz Chorale, Rutter’s Mass of the Children with Solano Symphony, Zelenka’s Gloria with Chora Nova, Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs with Contra Costa Chorale, and, with various ensembles, Schütz’s Symphoniae Sacrae, Bach’s Magnificat, Bach’s B Minor Mass, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, Schubert’s Mass in G Major, Brahms’ Requiem, Fauré’s Requiem, and Duruflé’s Requiem. With Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Sepp appeared in the role of Eupolemus in Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus and he sings regularly with the PBO Chorale. Sepp holds a master’s degree in vocal performance from New England Conservatory and a bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of California, Berkeley.

Jennifer Ashworth (soprano) is thrilled to be returning to Clerestory again. A California native, Jennifer moved to the Bay Area from the mountains east of L.A. in 1992 to attend UC Berkeley (BA) and Holy Names University (MM). Jennifer sings regularly with Favolare, Cantata Collective, Pocket Opera, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chorale, and can be heard on the Lamplighters Music Theater’s recordings of “HMS Pinafore,” “The Grand Duke” and "Princess Ida.” Jennifer is celebrating 20 years as a teaching artist for the San Francisco Opera Guild and is co-creator of the Guild’s program “Sing A Story.” She is also the co-founder of Presto! Interactive Opera, which performs children's Christmas shows for sold-out crowds every year at Grace Cathedral. Most days Jennifer conducts the MAD Band, the middle-school instrumental program she founded in 1998. She is looking forward to singing in the Berkeley Early Music Festival Fringe Concerts on 6/12 with Favolare. Jennifer sends love and peace to her family, and all families dealing with trauma.

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