Esteemed conductor and pianist Dr. Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez is Artistic Director of Musica Viva NY and Director of Music at the historic Unitarian Church of All Souls in Manhattan. He is also Artistic Director and co-founder of the New Orchestra of Washington, and Artistic Director of the Victoria Bach Festival. He has earned accolades from The Washington Post as a conductor “with the incisive clarity of someone born to the idiom,” as well as praise from The New York Times for leading “a stirring performance” of Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem. At a concert commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the WWI Armistice (featuring the world premiere of Joseph Turrin’s cantata, And Crimson Roses Once Again Be Fair) Oberon’s Grove wrote: “Maestro Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez drew rich, warm sounds from the musicians” in “a beautiful and deeply moving program.” He is featured in El mundo en las manos/Creadores mexicanos en el extranjero (The World in Their Hands/Creative Mexicans Abroad), a book by the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs honoring Mexican nationals who are leading figures in diverse artistic fields. He is the recipient of a 2016 Shenandoah Conservatory Alumni of Excellence Award for his exemplary contribution to his profession, national level of prominence, and exceptional integrity. He resides in New York City.

In 2016, during its 40th anniversary season, Hernandez-Valdez was named the third Artistic Director of the Victoria Bach Festival in Texas. As Mike Greenberg wrote in Classical Voice America: “A big question mark hung over the venerable Victoria Bach Festival two years ago when the brilliant Craig Hella Johnson, its artistic director since 1992, decided to give up the post…Johnson’s successor has replaced the question mark with an exclamation point — perhaps more appropriately, given his Spanish name and Mexican provenance, two exclamation points: ¡Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez!” “The results,” Greenberg continued, “were astonishing.”

Founded in 1977, Musica Viva NY was recently praised by The New York Times as “an excellent chorus.” The ensemble has a longstanding tradition of top-caliber performances, innovative programming, and a strong dedication to the commissioning of new music. Its alumni include Renée Fleming, Samuel Ramey, and Michael Maliakel. Since taking the helm at Musica Viva NY in 2015, Hernandez-Valdez has presented an exceptionally broad and innovative repertoire in each of the choir’s seasons, engaging and inspiring audiences with remarkable interpretations of familiar and new works, and exploring the acoustical capabilities of the historic sanctuary of All Souls Church and other venues on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

As the Artistic Director and co-founder of the New Orchestra of Washington (NOW), a chamber orchestra that “has constituted itself in the forefront of this smaller-is-better movement” (The Washington Post), Hernandez-Valdez has been reimagining for the past ten years what have been the limited definitions of “classical music.” NOW’s innovative programming and creative approach to music performance continues to reshape and enrich the cultural landscape of the National Capital Region.

A passionate advocate of new music, Hernandez-Valdez has commissioned and premiered works by Joan Tower, Arturo Márquez, Joseph Turrin, Gilda Lyons, Seymour Bernstein, Viet Cuong, Juan Pablo Contreras, Elena Ruehr, Ramzi Aburedwan, Jorge Vidales, Mokale Koapeng, Trent Johnson, Javier Farias, Andrés Levell, Zachary Wadsworth, Martin Spruijt, Joel Friedman, and other notable composers.

Hernandez-Valdez’s guest conducting engagements include appearances at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Lincoln Center in New York City, and the historic Degollado Theatre in Guadalajara, Mexico, where he has directed the Jalisco Philharmonic. As a pianist, Hernandez-Valdez performed for the 2013 Britten100 festival in New York City, organized by the Britten-Pears Foundation to honor the 100th anniversary of the titular composer’s birth. As a composer and conductor, he led the premiere of his own composition, The Imaginary City, a cantata inspired by the life of Ramzi Aburedwan, a violist who has opened schools throughout Palestine to teach music to children in refugee camps. He also arranged and premiered the chamber orchestra version of A Song of Nature by Seymour Bernstein. Mr. Bernstein, the subject of Ethan Hawke’s 2014 documentary film, Seymour: An Introduction, is one of Hernandez-Valdez’s most influential teachers and mentors.

American vocalist Katerina Burton, acclaimed for her “vocal fire and dramatic conviction,” (Isthmus) is a 2024 winner of the George and Nora London Competition and a recipient of the prestigious Sara Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation. She is a graduate of the Cafritz Young Artist program at Washington National Opera, where she gained recognition for making a thrilling Mainstage debut jumping in for the role of Micaëla in Francesca Zambello’s production of Carmen.

The 2024-2025 season featured many roles & principal debuts for Ms. Burton, including Mimì in La bohème with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, as well as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with Madison Opera.  Recent engagements have seen Ms. Burton on both the operatic and concert stage, most notably at Aspen Music Festival playing the role of Alice Ford in Verdi’s Falstaff opposite Bass-Baritone Bryn Terfel.

Hakeem Henderson's repertoire spans Classical to Contemporary works, with performances in a diverse range of roles including Don Curzio (Le Nozze di Figaro), Fortunato (The Cask of Amontillado), and Rapunzel's Prince (Into the Woods). He also appeared as Big Deal in the 2019 Edinburgh International Festival's production of West Side Story.

Henderson has showcased his talent in concert works such as Elgar's Coronation Ode, Mozart's Coronation Mass, Dvorak's Stabat Mater, and Saint-Saëns' Christmas Oratorio. His achievements include winning 3rd place and the Audience Favorite Award at the 2020 Boulder Bach Festival’s World Bach Competition, as well as being a finalist in several competitions.

He holds a Bachelor's degree in Vocal Performance from Morgan State University and a Master's from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. Henderson has participated in esteemed programs like the Gerdine Young Artist Program at Opera Theatre St. Louis and the Daniel Ferro Vocal Program.

Henderson has written, produced, and performed popular music, with his work featured on Spike Lee's She's Gotta Have It and BBC Music Introducing in Manchester.

He will be a part of the Cafritz Young Artist Program at Washington National Opera and will sing Don Curzio in WNO’s fall production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro.

Noted for her “plush, glowing tones, and lyrical poise”, this season contraltouy7 embarks on her first season following her time as a Cafritz Young Artist with the Washington National Opera (Arts and Culture Texas). Her 2024-2025 season includes a debut with INSeries Opera in their season opener, Blitzstein’s Cradle Will Rock as Mrs. Mister and Ella, as well as an exciting return to her home company as a soloist for WNO’s “Gods & Mortals: A Celebration of Wagner” concert.

During her tenure as a Cafritz Artist, Cecelia made her Kennedy Center debut as Zweite Magde in Strauss’ Elektra. Her time as a young artist with the company also included performances of Gertrude in Roméo et Juliette, Arsace in Partenope, Mastrilla in Songbird (La Perichole). A lover of new music and of collaboration with living composers, through WNO’s American Opera Initiative Cecelia sang in three workshops and world premieres of critically-acclaimed new works: Bubbie and the Demon (2023), What the Spirits Show (2023), and FOREVER (2024)–for which she was hailed for her “scene-stealing tardigrade” (Twin Cities Arts Reader).

Cecelia has also been engaged by Ars Lyrica Houston as Fileno in Handel’s comic cantata, Clori, Tirsi, e Fileno. the Roanoke Symphony as a soloist in both Handel’s Messiah and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, the Great Falls Philharmonic as the soloist in Elgar’s Sea Pictures, and the University of Lynchburg as a recitalist and masterclass technician. Perfectly at home in concert repertoire, Cecelia has also performed as the alto soloist in Mendelssohn’s Elijah, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2.

Summer Opera credits include the Merola Opera Program in San Francisco, where she sang selections of Handel and Rossini in the program’s Schwabacher Summer Concert and the Merola Grand Finale. Cecelia is also an alumna of Dolora Zajick’s Institute for Young Dramatic Voices and the Wolf Trap Opera Studio Artist Program, where she sang the role of Mrs. Ott in Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah.

Newly arriving on competition scene, Cecelia recently advanced to the semifinals in the Hans Gabor Belvedere International Opera Competition in Latvia.

Anthony D. Anderson, a Washington, DC native, recently graduated from the University of Maryland (M.M.), where he studied under Kevin Short. He holds a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from Oberlin Conservatory. Anderson has sung roles including John Proctor in Robert Ward’s The Crucible (Opera in the Ozarks), Àlvaro in Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas (Maryland Opera Studio), Sid in Britten’s Albert Herring (Maryland Opera Studio). Most recently, Anderson collaborated with musicians from the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra for an outreach event at the Lincoln Memorial. His artistic depth earned him an invitation to sing at the White House for First Lady Jill Biden at the opening of the East Wing extension.

Founded as a collaborative effort by DC luminaries, Scott Tucker and Nolan Williams, Jr, the Washington Douglass Chorale was formed through a shared vision to create a mixed chorus emphasizing extreme diversity and embracing the full spectrum of choral works. The chorus, a 50-voice ensemble, is made up of volunteer and professional singers that authentically reflect the racial diversity and ethnicity of the Washington, DC region.

SOPRANO

Irismarie Craig
Aurora Dainer
Cherie Davis Hackett
Gloria DeCoste
Laura Kim
Jenny Nordstrom
Margaret Stromecki
Arlene Whitlock

TENOR
Devin Davis
David Flaxman
Wayne Jennings
Dwayne Pinkney
Milton Pippens
Desmond Thompson
Rob Vogel
Bill Welker

ALTO

Petia Antova
Dana Crepeau
Cindy Dunbar
Karen Florini
Cindy Jensen
Lucy Newton
Jacquay Smith
Lisa Sommers

BASS

Josh Bates
Harold Blackford
Larry Boggs
David Breen
Charlie Cerf
Neil Ericsson
Jonathon Hampton
Todd Kim
Colin Lett
Gene Stromecki
Norlin Washington

Violin I
Akemi Takayama, concertmaster
Lauren Scott
Milena Aradski
Annetta Barger
Glen Aaron Kuenzi
Dana Goode
Madalyn Navis

Violin II
Matt Richardson, principal
Nancy Jin
Kimberly McCollum
Celaya Kirchner
Saskia Florence
Emily Konkle

Viola
Chiara Dieguez, principal
Nikki Ponticelli
Greg Williams
Cameron Raecke
Emily Lane

Cello
Valeriya Sholokhova, principal
Nick Pascucci
Katie McCarthy
Emma Johnson

Double Bass
Patrick Raynard, principal
Nick Greer-Young
Jessica Eig

Flute and Piccolo
Julietta Curenton, principal
María Luisa de la Cerda Rohde
Rachel Woolf

Oboe
Stephen Key, principal
Luis Gutierrez

Clarinet
Jihoon Chang, principal
Jay Niepoetter

Bassoon
Eddie Sanders, principal
Patrick Quinn
Tia Wortham

French Horn
Shona Goldberg-Leopold, principal
Chandra Cervantes
Justin Drew
Conor Jensen
Ken Bell

Trumpet
Chris Larios, principal
Neil Brown

Trombone
David Perkel, principal
James Martin
Peter Francis

Percussion and Timpani
Lee Hinkle
John Patton
Chris DeChiara
John McGovern