Clara Rottsolk, soprano

Soprano Clara Rottsolk has been lauded by The New York Times for her “clear, appealing voice and expressive conviction” and by The Philadelphia Inquirer for the “opulent tone [with which] every phrase has such a communicative emotional presence.”

In repertoire extending from the Renaissance to the contemporary, her solo appearances have taken her across the U.S., the Middle East, Japan, and South America. She specializes in historically- informed performance practice and has sung with such ensembles as American Bach Soloists, Seattle Baroque Orchestra, Pacific MusicWorks, Virginia Symphony, Atlanta Baroque, Santa Fe Pro Musica, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Piffaro, Colorado Bach Ensemble, Seraphic Fire, New Mexico Symphonic Chorus, ARTEK, St Thomas Church Fifth Avenue, Philadelphia Bach Collegium, Trinity Wall Street Choir,and the Masterwork Chorus.

As a recitalist, she has performed throughout the US, in venues including the Goethe-Institut Boston, St. Mark’s Church Philadelphia and Swarthmore College, and at the Carmel Bach Festival, Whidbey Island Music Festival, and the Brevard Music Center. Her recordings include Myths and Allegories (French Baroque cantatas with Les Délices), and Scarlatti Cantatas with Tempesta di Mare. A native of Seattle, currently based in Philadelphia, Rottsolk earned her music degrees at Rice University and Westminster Choir College and received an award for musical excellence from the Metropolitan Opera National Council.

Morgan Davis Peckels, mezzo-soprano

Mezzo-Soprano Morgan Peckels is an active performer and highly sought after voice teacher in the Central Florida area. She can be seen singing with the numerous orchestras and performance groups in the state of Florida such as the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park, The Orlando Philharmonic, Space Coast Symphony, Brevard Symphony Orchestra, Opera Orlando, and Orlando’s Messiah Choral Society. She is a founding member of The Bach Vocal Artists with the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park, and her solo oratorio credits include Bach’s Magnificat and B Minor Mass, Handel’s Messiah, Vivaldi’s Juditha Triumphans, and Mozart’s Requiem as well as more modern works such as Dan Forrest’s Jubilate Deo and Richard Einhorn’s Voices of Light where she was praised by Matt Palm of the Orlando Sentinel for her “hauntingly lamenting tones”.

Her operatic credits include The Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors, Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly as well as roles in Trouble in Tahiti, Dido and Aeneas, and La Rondine. Earning her bachelor’s degree from Elon University and her master’s from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Morgan is currently on the voice faculty at Rollins College in Winter Park and runs a thriving private studio from her home in Winter Springs.

Steven Soph, tenor

Steven Soph has appeared in Handel’s Messiah with the symphonies of Fort Worth, Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Colorado Pro Musica, the New World Symphony and the Bach Society of St. Louis, Master Chorale of South Florida, Handel Oratorio Society, Seraphic Fire, Spire Chamber Ensemble, Apollo Chorus of Chicago, Bourbon Baroque, Variant 6, Oklahoma Bach Choir, Messiah Choral Society (Orlando, Florida), and the Alpine Chorale. He has also appeared with the Boston Symphony in Handel’s Israel in Egypt, the Meyerson Symphony Center Berlioz’s Requiem, and joined the University of Iowa for Britten’s War Requiem. 

Steven returns to Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall for Bach’s Mass in B minor; to Choral Arts Philadelphia in Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610, and the Oregon Bach Festival for performances of Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor. He also appears with the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Rhode Island’s Ensemble Altera, Winter Park Florida’s Bach Vocal Artists, Washington Bach Consort, Yale Choral Artists, Handel’s Oratorio Society, Spire Chamber Ensemble, Apollo, Bourbon Baroque, Oklahoma Bach Choir, Messiah Choral Society (Orlando, Florida), and the Alpine Chorale (Denver). With the Choral Arts Philadelphia Steven debuted the North American premiers of Carissimi’s rediscovered oratorios Goliath and Noah.

An active Bach interpreter, Steven has performed “with a tenor ranging from feathered intimacies to powerful, glinting top notes” (The Dallas Morning News). Steven performs with top American vocal ensembles including GRAMMY® Award-nominated True Concord Voices & Orchestra; GRAMMY® Award-winning Roomful of Teeth and Conspirare; Gramophone® finalist Cut Circle; Santa Fe Desert Chorale; Oregon Bach Festival; Colorado Bach Ensemble; and Spire Chamber Ensemble.

Recent recording credits include solos on Baltimore Choral Arts Society’s 2023 “Mozart’s Requiem,” solos on 2021 GRAMMY®-nominated “The Singing Guitar” with Conspirare, Seraphic Fire's "Steal Away," and tenor vocals on Maná's 2015 Latin GRAMMY® Award-winning Best Pop/Rock Album "Cama Incendiada." 

During the pandemic, Steven performed in True Concord Voices & Orchestra’s “bubble” season, recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts in The Art of Reopening: A Guide to Current Practices Among Arts Organizations During COVID-19. He also contributed to remote projects with Seraphic Fire, Master Chorale of South Florida, and Victoria Bach Festival.

Steven holds degrees from the University of North Texas and Yale School of Music where he studied with renowned tenor James Taylor. Steven attended the American Bach Soloists Academy in 2011, was a 2014 Carmel Bach Festival Adams Fellow, and a 2016 Oregon Bach Festival Young Artist.

Brian Ming Chu, baritone

Acclaimed by the Washington Post for his “sterling performances”, baritone Brian Ming Chu has established himself onstage as a dynamic interpeter of music from the Baroque to the Great American Songbook.  Hailed for his “rich, authoritative tone" (Kansas City Metropolis), and “range, agility, and expressive storytelling ability” (Monterey Herald), he has been a regular soloist with the Bach Choir of Bethlehem, Brandywine Baroque, the Dryden Ensemble, La Fiocco, The King’s Noyse, Piffaro, the Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Washington Bach Consort, as well as the Caramoor and Carmel Bach music festivals.  As a lecturer in voice at Muhlenberg for fifteen years, he brings critical thinking from the performer’s perspective to his analytical approach to pedagogy.

A specialist in oratorio and choral music, he has given numerous performances in the title role of Mendelssohn’s Elijah, the Bach Passions, Haydn’s Creation, the Brahms, Mozart and Verdi Requiems, and Handel’s Messiah on three continents.  Additional credits include Orff’s Carmina Burana, Finzi’s In terra pax, Vaughan Williams’ Dona nobis pacem, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.  He premiered the role of Rudyard Kipling in John Muehleisen’s A Kipling Passion for the WWI centenary in Kansas City and performed the role of Martin Luther in Ludwig Meinardus’ 1876 oratorio, Luther in Worms, with the Bach Choir Eisenach and Dresden Singakademie, for the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.  Mr. Chu made his Kennedy Center debut in Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 with the Choral Arts Society of Washington.  

On the operatic stage, he has performed with opera companies around the country, appearing in signature roles that inclue La Bohème, the The Marriage of Figaro, The Barber of Seville, and Pagliacci. With the Bethlehem Bach Choir, he premiered multiple roles in their newly-commissioned (2014) opera, Young Meister Bach.  

A passionate advocate for contemporary art song, Mr. Chu has been cited for “vocal and interpretive confidence” (Philadelphia Inquirer) in repeat appearances with the modern ensemble Network for New Music. He has appeared in recital at Carnegie’s Weill and Merkin Halls in New York, the Annenberg Center for the Arts, Washington's Phillips Collection, and as a US Embassy Cultural Artist in French West Africa and Vienna, Austria.  

Mr. Chu did his graduate work in voice and opera at the Peabody Conservatory of Music and holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Cornell University.  Additionally, he has taught on the voice faculties of Haverford and Swarthmore Colleges, Lehigh University, and Rowan University.