Andrea DiOrio is on faculty at Benedictine University and is an active freelance clarinetist in the Chicagoland area.  She has played with many orchestras including Lyric Opera of Chicago, Grant Park Orchestra, Elgin Symphony Orchestra, and Quad City Symphony.  Andrea is also the Artistic Administrator and clarinetist of the MAVerick Ensemble, a contemporary music ensemble in Chicago.  Along with her freelance schedule Andrea maintains a clarinet studio of private students.

Andrea has studied clarinet with Charlene Zimmerman, J. David Harris, Russell Dagon, and John Bruce Yeh.  She earned her Master of Music degree in performance from Northwestern University, and her Bachelor of Music degree with honors, in performance, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

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Svetlana Krasnova has appeared in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in 1991 and has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in Russia, Canada and the U.S. She participated as a collaborative artist in a number of music festivals including the Weathershield Music Festival in Vermont and the Rome Opera Festival in Italy. Krasnova has a Masters degree in piano performance and a Doctorate of the Musical Arts degree in collaborative piano from the Gnesin Academy of Music.

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Anne Kreft has toured Japan with the Valley Woodwind Quintet and was the piccoloist for the Ann Arbor Symphony under Carl St. Clair.  She has also performed with the Ohio Light Opera Company, the Milwaukee Chamber Ensemble, the Midland Symphony, the Northwest Michigan Symphony, and the Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra.  Anne currently is a member of the New Philharmonic, and has appeared several times as a featured artist.  In 2005, she was chosen to perform a solo flute piece at the National Flute Convention in San Diego. Ms. Kreft has performed in masterclasses under Harvey Sollberger, Tadeu Coelho, Stephen Preston and William Bennett.   She actively freelances in the Chicago area, is a member of the DuPage Opera Theatre and is a founding member of Trio Caprice. Anne is a lecturer of flute at Benedictine University and is on the wind faculty at the College of DuPage.  Ms. Kreft holds degrees from University of Michigan, Ferris State University, and Northern Illinois University and has attended New England Conservatory.   Her teachers include Keith Bryan, Judith Bentley, Fenwick Smith, Peter Middleton and Donna Milanovich.

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Brother Augustine Mallak, O.S.B. has taught music theory and piano at Benedictine University since 1984. He also gives workshops on Gregorian chant and English chant. He is the director of music and organist at St. Procopius Abbey, Lisle.

He has Bachelor of Music degree in Church Music from Benedictine University and a Master of Music in Organ Performance from the American Conservatory of Music, Chicago, IL. He has done further studies in liturgical composition and choir training with William Ferris, Chicago and in organ with David Schrader, Chicago. He studied Gregorian Chant at the Abbey of St. Peter, Solesmes, France with Dom Jean Claire, O.S.B. as well as with Fr. Columba Kelly, O.S.B. at St. Meinrad Archabbey, IN and with Fr. Gerard Farrell, O.S.B. at Westminster Choir College, Princeton, NJ. At Westminster he also did work in piano pedagogy, MIDI and choral conducting.

He is a member of the American Guild of Organists, National Pastoral Musicians, and the Benedictine Musicians of the Americas.

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John Moulder is a guitarist and composer whose music has evolved from an assimilation of various musical traditions. John’s compositions and playing are featured on his CDs entitled Awakening (Mo-Tonal Records 1993), Through the Open Door (Igmod/Mo-Tonal Records 1997), Spirit Talk (NAIM 2003) and his new release Trinity. Televised feature stories on John and his work have aired on Artbeat (WTTW) and Chicago Tonight (WTTW). He also has played on the recent recordings by vocalist Jackie Allen such as The Men in My Life (Blue Note 2003), Love is Blue (Blue Note 2004) and her upcoming release Tangled. He has been a member of the Paul Wertico Trio for twelve years and has performed with artists such as Eddie Harris, Bob Mintzer, Kurt Elling, Paul McCandless, Lyle Mays, Paul Wertico, Gary Burton, Niels Orsted Pederson and Terry Callier.

John received his Masters degree in music from Northwestern University. As an educator, He has lectured, taught master classes and conducted clinics at universities, high schools, music institutes and other settings and he is currently a faculty member at Northwestern University, and  Benedictine University.

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Father John Palmer of the Clerics of St. Viator and Professor Emeritus of Music at Benedictine University, is a native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

He holds degrees from Acadia University, Nova Scotia, Canada; The Royal Conservatory of Music of Toronto, Canada; Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois and Trinity College of Music of London, England.  He has also studied with Jean Langlais in Paris, France. His piano studies were with Felicita Kalejs and Earle Moss.

He has performed extensively throughout Canada, the United States and Europe, most notably at St. Paul’s Cathedral, London England; St. James Cathedral, Toronto, Canada; St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Columbia University in New York City.

He has also played on the Organists in Recital series of C.B.C. Radio in Canada.

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Marc Stingley is highly regarded for his impressive musical background.  “The solo vocal parts were taken to fine effect and beautifully sung,” The New York Times wrote of Mr. Stingley.  The Chicago Tribune said, “He has a clear, pure tenor voice that never waivers.”  He received his Bachelor of Music Degree at the University of Kansas and worked on his Masters Diploma at both the St. Louis Conservatory of Music and Hochschule für Musik in Vienna, Austria. 

Prior to his tenure in Vienna, he twice received vocal fellowships from the Tanglewood Festival.  While at Tanglewood, he received the High Fidelity/Musical America Award and performed a Stephen Paulus world premiere with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.  He sang the role of Tamino in a European Tour of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and was the tenor soloist for numerous concerts and recitals, including a performance of Schumann’s Dichterliebe with pianist Jorg Demus. 

Mr. Stingley has recorded an Austrian National Radio broadcast singing Italian arias.  He has sung roles with Aspen Opera Theater Center, Lake George Opera Festival, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Knoxville Civic Opera, Mississippi Opera, Chicago Opera Theater and sang a recital series in Boston and Chicago for UNICEF. 

Mr. Stingley has been tenor soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, New York Chamber Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival Orchestra, Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra, as well as winning the Nakamichi Vocal Competition and finalist in the MacAllister Opera Awards.  Most recently he sang Händel’s Messiah with the New York Chamber Orchestra and Elmhurst Choral Union, Haydn’s Season’s with Downer’s Grove Choral Society and Tower Chorale and Orchestra, Britten’s St. Nicolas with Naperville Chorus and Orchestra, a recital for Evanston’s “First Night” celebration, musical theater concerts with Grand Rapids Symphony, Wheaton Symphony and Elgin Symphony Orchestra, a series of “Three Tenors” concerts on Pawleys Island, South Carolina and for the Lyric Opera of Chicago Guild, Nathanael in Chicago Opera Theater’s The Tales of Hoffmann and a Lehrbub in Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.  He recorded arias written by women composers for an Austrian National Radio broadcast and performed as a tenor soloist for Vienna’s millennium celebration. In addition Mr. Stingley has received critical acclaim for his many performances of musical theater with symphony orchestras.   Recent engagements include performances with New York Chamber Orchestra, Lafayette Symphony Orchestra, Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra, Elgin Symphony Orchestra and a recital at the Manitou Music Festival. In addition, Mr. Stingley is highly acclaimed as the National Anthem soloist for the Chicago Bulls, maintains a very successful voice studio and is in demand as a clinician, adjudicator and teacher.

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Victoria VerHoven is an active performer and has appeared in operatic roles with the Chicago Chamber Opera, Lincoln Opera, Light Opera Works, Bowen Park Opera Theatre, Skylight Opera Theatre, Piccolo Productions, and the Lyric Opera of Chicago.  Her operetta/musical theatre credits include M&W Productions, the St. Louis MUNY, Melody Top Theatre, Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Chicago, Peninsula Players, Papai Players and Woodstock Theatre.  As a soprano soloist Ms. VerHoven has sung with the Birch Creek Festival Orchestra, Fox Valley Symphony, DuPage Symphony Orchestra, members of the Milwaukee Symphony and the Naperville Festival Orchestra and Chorus.

Ms. VerHoven earned a Master of Music degree and a Bachelor of Music degree from Indiana University, both with distinction.  She is currently on the voice faculty at Benedictine University and North Central College.

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