KYLE STEGALL (tenor) enjoys a career spanning concert, opera, recital, and chamber repertoire. Even in the early stages of his career, he has already appeared as soloist under the direction of Jeffrey Thomas, Simon Carrington, Joseph Flummerfelt, Masaaki Suzuki, Nicholas McGegan, and David Hill among others. He has performed the role of the Evangelist in Bach’s St. John Passion in Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, Stravinsky’s Pulcinella, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, Handel’s Messiah and Alexander’s Feast, and Bach’s Mass in B Minor with ensembles such as Juilliard415, Windsor Symphony Orchestra, and Yale Symphony Orchestra. He has toured throughout Japan and Singapore as soloist in performances of Bach’s Mass in B Minor. He has also appeared with the Yale Voxtet in The Peoples Republic of Myanmar before traveling to Suffolk, U.K. to be in residence at the world-renowned Britten-Pears Young Artist Development Programme. The program is part of the Aldeburgh Music Festival, and featured Mr. Stegall with his frequent collaborator Steven McGhee in recitals of the music of Britten and Schubert. At the American Bach Soloists Academy, he performed as soloist in Bach’s Mass in B Minor and Handel’s Esther. A zealous chamber musician and ensemble singer, Mr. Stegall recently made his University Musical Society debut in Ann Arbor, MI in collaboration with pianist Martin Katz singing the Brahms Liebeslieder Waltzes. He is also a founding member of Prometheus: an American Vocal Consort. On the operatic stage, he has been seen in Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Contemporary repertoire. Notable among his roles are Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Flute in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Laurie in Little Women, Le Chevalier Danois in Gluck’s Armide, and Little Bat in Susannah. Mr. Stegall received his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Missouri School of Music in his hometown of Columbia. He then earned his Master of Music degree from the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance, and he has most recently completed additional studies at Yale University’s School of Music.

JESSE BLUMBERG (baritone) is equally at home on opera, concert, and recital stages, performing repertoire from the Renaissance and Baroque to the 21st century. His performances have included the world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath at Minnesota Opera, Agostino Steffani’s 17th-century opera Niobe, Regina di Tebe at the Boston Early Music Festival, Bernstein’s MASS at London’s Royal Festival Hall, and appearances with New York City Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Utah Opera, and Boston Lyric Opera. Recital highlights include appearances with the Marilyn Horne Foundation and New York Festival of Song, and performances of Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise with pianist Martin Katz. He has performed major works with American Bach Soloists, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Oratorio Society of New York, Apollo’s Fire, Berkshire Choral Festival, TENET/Green Mountain Project, and on Lincoln Center’s American Songbook series. Additionally, he has given the world premieres of Ricky Ian Gordon’s Green Sneakers, Lisa Bielawa’s The Lay of the Love and Death, Conrad Cummings’ Positions 1956, and Tom Cipullo’s Excelsior, and has collaborated with several other renowned composers as a member of the Mirror Visions Ensemble. In the 2014-15 season, Mr. Blumberg returns to Boston Early Music Festival in November for Pergolesi chamber operas, and in January for a European concert tour of Niobe, Regina di Tebe. He will also return to American Bach Soloists, Boston Baroque, and Apollo’s Fire, and will make debuts in the spring with Hawaii Opera Theatre and Atlanta Opera. His 2013-14 season included debuts with Kentucky Opera, Opera Omnia, and Boston Baroque, and a return to Minnesota Opera for Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. Mr. Blumberg’s extraordinary singing has been recognized in several competitions, and he was awarded Third Prize at the 2008 International Robert Schumann Competition in Zwickau, becoming its first American prizewinner in over thirty years. He received a Master of Music degree from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati and received undergraduate degrees in History and Music from the University of Michigan. He is also the founder and artistic director of Five Boroughs Music Festival, which brings chamber music of many genres to every corner of New York City.

JOHN THIESSEN (trumpet) began his journey as a brass player on the modern valve trumpet, and he was introduced to the baroque trumpet as a young man in his native Ontario, Canada. Following his undergraduate degree in performance at the Eastman School of Music, where he studied 17th- and 18th-century music with lutenist Paul O’Dette and cultural historian Peter Kountz, Mr. Thiessen chose to specialize in period performance, training in the UK with renowned soloists Michael Laird and Crispian Steele-Perkins, and completing a master’s degree in musicology at King’s College, University of London. While living in the UK, he performed with the Academy of Ancient Music, Monteverdi Orchestra, Taverner Players, and Amsterdam Baroque. In 1990, he returned to Canada where he was Principal Trumpet with Tafelmusik, and now also holds that position with the American Bach Soloists, Trinity Baroque, Philharmonia Baroque, and the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra. On the modern trumpet, he has recently appeared as soloist with the San Francisco Symphony and as principal with the St Luke’s Orchestra. 2013-14 season highlights include J. S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in New York and San Francisco, numerous cantatas with Trinity Baroque in New York, and Magnificat with Tafelmusik in Leipzig; as well as productions of Handel’s Messiah, Saul, Israel in Egypt, and Samson throughout North America. John teaches at the Juilliard School of Music, and has presented master classes throughout the United States and Canada. He has recorded extensively for Sony Classical Vivarte, Telarc, EMI, BMG, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, London Decca, Analekta, CBC, Tafelmusik Media, and Denon, including major works by Bach, Handel, Purcell, Vivaldi, Biber, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert.