Archives: Singers (Page 6 of 6)

Molly Kohler Pei enjoys a well-rounded performing arts career and in addition to singing, is known as an actor for stage and screen and as a voice actor.   She is a member of Actors’ Equity Association (AEA) and Screen Actor’s Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA).  As a resident of Ventura County, she is active in the support of the local performing arts and is a member of the board of directors for Channel Islands Choral Association.

Kerrie Sadler joined Areté Vocal Ensemble a year ago after enjoying its concerts as an audience member since its inception.  She has been singing in both large and small choral ensembles for over 25 years, including performances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and Ravinia Festival while living in Chicago, and more recently with the LA Phil at Disney Hall as a longtime member of Los Robles Master Chorale.

Along the way, she has been fortunate to sing under some of the world’s greatest conductors including John Adams, Gustavo Dudamel, Cristoph Eschenbach, Vance George, Erich Kunzel, Paul Salamunovich, and Sir David Wilcocks.  She has participated in international singing tours throughout Italy, Croatia and Ireland. She has also attended the annual Berkshire Choral Festival in Massachusetts with performances under the direction of renowned conductors Tom Hall, Robert Page and composer/conductor John Rutter, as well as a week-long choral workshop with internationally-acclaimed composer Morton Lauridsen.

Kerrie believes in the transformative power of music to bring people of all ages and paths together for a shared experience. She is thrilled to join the talented members of Areté and director Wyant Morton in bringing unique, inspired musical performances to our local community.

Soprano Debbie Schaeffer grew up in a family of musicians and has been performing since childhood. She attended the MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis while earning her BS degree in Business at Minnesota State University.  She has been a member of Areté Vocal Ensemble since its inception in 2009, and a member of Los Robles Master Chorale since 2011. Other performance groups have included Burbank Civic Light Opera, Angeles Chorale, Jingle Singers, Oaks Chamber Singers and New West Symphony Chorus. Various singing and musical theatre roles have taken her to venues such as the ElCapitan Theatre, Shrine Auditorium, Disney Concert Hall, Thousand Oaks Performing Arts Center, Glendale Centre Theatre, Burbank Starlight Bowl, Sportsmen’s Lodge and the Gardenia Room, where she enjoyed playing a young Eva Peron, a fairy god-mother, a wicked step-sister, a mythical Disney character, a Dickens singer, Mary Poppins and others.She’s been a soloist and section leader at churches in Minneapolis, Burbank and Reseda, and has also appeared in cabarets and other events in the L.A. area. She’s also had the opportunity to sing in the studio in commercials and contemporary rock albums and was the speaking voice on a national radio commercial.

Tania Pasano Storrs has been involved in the music world since she can remember. Over the years she has worked as a studio musician for Disney and Nickelodeon, performed with various artists in the LA area, including Dave Koz, and has opened as a backup singer for Tower of Power and Michael McDonald. She has served as a Musical Director for community theatre, children’s theatre, and various churches, and was an elementary school music teacher and vocal coach.

She has extensive experience in musical theatre, and favorite roles include Annie in Annie Get Your Gun, Rosie in Bye Bye Birdie, and Adelaide in Guys and Dolls. Locally, she has appeared in many Cabrillo Music Theatre productions right here at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, her favorite as “The Bird Woman” in Cabrillo’s Mary Poppins! She was thrilled to be cast in Cabrillo’s Sister Act, which ran in Thousand Oaks from April 21–30, 2017.

She has worked as a professional cantor at various churches in the LA and Ventura counties, and is currently on staff as a cantor and Choir Director at St. Maximilian Kolbe in Oak Park. Her favorite job is as a studio session singer, and she has been a featured vocalist on various CDs over the years. She has enjoyed being a part of Areté Vocal Ensemble since its inception in 2009, and thanks Wyant for enriching her life with fantastic choral works over the years.

www.taniastorrs.com

Canadian-born Lisa Wall-Urgero (pronounced “you-JER-oh”) is a California girl at heart, having spent over 30 years of her diverse and ever-evolving vocal career based in the LA area, with its array of performance opportunities. Her lyric soprano sound has a pure bell-like quality that soars; she woos audiences with emotional honesty in her pop and jazz stylings.

Her background singer credits include albums The Open Door (EVANESCENCE), The Astonishing (DREAM THEATER), and web video Hello Again (BECK). Television credits include Christmas caroling in Dickensian costume with a quartet on HALLMARK’S HOME AND FAMILY and an NFL comedy bit with John Madden impersonator Frank Caliendo on FOX SPORTS NEWS.

Some of Lisa’s solo and choral performance highlights include representing the voice of Anne Frank in James Whitbourn’s Annelies; opera choruses for Turandot (LA OPERA CHORUS) and Tosca (REDLANDS BOWL SUMMER MUSIC FESTIVAL); playing Mrs. Nordstrom in Sondheim’s A Little Night Music (GOLD COAST REPERATORY COMPANY); guest appearances with the All American Jazz trio at iconic NOLA’s A Taste of New Orleans of downtown LA.

Choir has been Lisa’s tribe since childhood. She has sung as a professional soloist and/or chorister with the Prescott Chorale (AZ), the Santa Barbara Symphony Orchestra Chorus, the San Fernando Valley Master Chorale, Chorale Bel Canto of Whittier, First United Methodist Church Pasadena, the Santa Barbara Choral Society, the Los Angeles Symphony, Cal Phil Chorale, and Areté Vocal Ensemble.

What lights this artist’s fire most is studio recording and performing live; Lisa has toured in Northern California and Arizona and is designing plans for the next one. A capable pianist, Lisa has added percussion to her skills in her band, 101 West. When at home in Ventura County, she runs a church music program and maintains a piano teaching studio.