Soprano Elissa Edwards is an exponent of Early Music and hailed for her ‘pliant, seductive, free-ranging voice’ (Gramophone) and her ‘glistening tone’ (Early Music America). She is also a sacred music specialist and has been a featured soloist in many oratorio and cantata performances in the US and UK. Performance highlights include featured appearances at the Washington National Cathedral, the Barbara Strozzi Symposium at Princeton University, Gotham Early Music Series, Bach in Baltimore, American Harp Society, Amherst Early Music Festival, Yorkshire Baroque Soloists and The National Center for Early Music, UK. Ms. Edwards is the artist-in-residence of the Hammond-Harwood House Museum and is on the voice faculty at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.

Ms. Edwards has won many awards and grants for her creative contributions to the field including the Maryland State Individual Artist’s Award, the National Endowment for the Humanities and Winterthur Museum & Library for her scholarly presentations of music. Her training includes studies at the Royal College of Music, London and performance degrees from Boston University (BM) and University of York, UK (MA). Her critically acclaimed album, Vago Desio, features cantatas and arias from Barbara Strozzi’s Opus 8 (Acis APL90277) is available to listen online. (www.elissaedwards.com) 

Cantor Ben Ellerin became the cantor and music director at Baltimore Hebrew Congregation in 2018. He holds a Master of Sacred Music and ordination from Hebrew Union College in New York and completed his undergraduate and graduate degrees in Vocal Performance and Choral Conducting at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. In addition to his work within the synagogue, Cantor Ellerin has appeared as a guest soloist in concerts throughout the wider Jewish community, featuring repertoire spanning a wide array of classical, Israeli, Jewish, Yiddish, American folk, and contemporary music, as well as his own original works. His compositions have been performed by the Union for Reform Judaism Biennial Choir and in Jewish communities and camps across North America, Europe, and Israel.

Carl DuPont is an artist, innovator, and educator dedicated to Transformational Inclusion and Care of the Professional Voice. His “rich, nuanced baritone” (Columbus Underground) has held center stage in performances at The Glimmerglass Festival, Opera Carolina, Opera Columbus, First Coast Opera, Toledo Opera, Opera Saratoga, Sarasota Opera, Cedar Rapids Opera, El Palacio de Bellas Artes, Opera Company of Brooklyn, The IN Series, Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, and Leipzig Opera. Recent roles include Hawkins Fuller in Fellow Travelers, Don Basilio in The Barber of Seville, and Leporello in Don Giovanni. His articles can be found in The Laryngoscope and the Voice and Speech Review. DuPont can be heard on the world premiere recordings of the Caldara Mass in A Major, The Death of Webern, and his solo album, The Reaction. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music (BM), Indiana University (MM), and the University of Miami (DMA), he currently serves on the faculties of the Johns Hopkins University’s Peabody Institute, the Carey School of Business executive education division, and the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival; he is the co-artistic lead for the Kennedy Center’s Washington National Opera Initiative. This season he makes a role and company debut as Stephen Kumalo in Lost in the Stars with the Annapolis Opera Company, returns to Bach in Baltimore as the bass soloist in St. John’s Passion, sings the baritone solo in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra, and reprises the title role in Mendelssohn’s Elijah for the Baltimore Choral Society.