Born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska, soprano Victoria Fraser holds degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, University of Notre Dame, and University of Limerick in Ireland. Victoria has performed as a soloist and chorister in Europe and North America, notably with Il Coro del Duomo in Florence, Italy; the Vocalensemble Frankfurt Dom, in Frankfurt, Germany; Vox Humana in Texas; True Concord in Arizona; the Berwick Chamber Chorus at the Oregon Bach Festival; and the Bachkantaten-Akademie in Thuringia, Germany. Her most recent appearances with CBS were in the 2022 performances of the St. John Passion and last season’s Plaisirs Baroque concerts. She has sung under the direction of Masaaki Suzuki, Helmut Rilling, Matthew Halls, John Nelson, and Jeffrey Thomas.
Passionate about interdisciplinary performance, Victoria produces and performs concerts which re-contextualize classical music through visual art, dance, and technology. Also a composer, Victoria’s compositions were recently featured at the Hot Air Music Festival and Concert of Compassion. Born to a mountaineer father, Victoria loves to ski, rock climb, mountain bike, hike, SCUBA dive, and row.
Australian soprano Morgan Balfour has shared her “crystal-clear tone” and “broad palette of emotional and vocal colors” (San Francisco Classical Voice) with Bay Area audiences since relocating here in 2016. Most recently, Morgan appeared with the San Francisco Symphony as the Soprano II Soloist in Bach’s Magnificat conducted by Jane Glover, and with American Bach Soloists as Céphise in Rameau’s Pygmalion conducted by Jeffrey Thomas. In 2022, she appeared at the Carmel Bach Festival as a Virginia Best Adams Fellow, and finished last season as a soloist with Cantata Collective. She will perform with Cantata Collective again in January 2024 in a program featuring Bach Cantatas BWV 140 and 187.
Morgan performed Bach’s Mass in B Minor earlier this year with Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart conducted by Hans-Christoph Rademann and again with SF Bach Choir conducted by Magen Solomon. Her strong affinity for early music and the concert stage has seen her appear as a soloist with Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Pinchgut Opera, Madison Bach Musicians, Canberra Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Philharmonia, and the Brisbane Baroque Festival.
Filipino countertenor Kyle Sanchez Tingzon has been praised for his “powerful countertenor” voice (The Wall Street Journal) and “lovely, plummy voice” (Opera Today). Kyle appeared as soloist in this year’s California Bach Society concerts of the Biber Requiem and Steffani Stabat Mater. Other recent performances include work with American Bach Soloists, Philharmonia Baroque Chorale, his soloist debut with Pacific Opera Project in the US premiere of Vivaldi’s Ercole su’l Termodonte, his debut with Tacoma Opera in the world premiere of Tacoma Method, and his debut in Handel’s Rinaldo with the Glimmerglass Festival.
In 2022, Kyle completed his graduate and postgraduate studies in Vocal Performance, with a Historical Performance emphasis, at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, studying under César Ulloa. While there, he made role debuts in Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto (in the title role) and Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea (as Ottone). He is the first-prize winner of the Handel Aria Competition, third-prize winner of the Loren L. Zachary Society National Vocal Competition, and a Colorado-Wyoming district winner and Rocky Mountain regional finalist in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition.
Tenor Edward Betts has been singing professionally in the Bay Area for several decades, recently with notable ensembles including the California Bach Society, Marin Symphony, American Bach Soloists, and Cantata Collective. He often sings with the Grace Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys, Schola Adventus at Church of the Advent, St Mark’s Episcopal Choir (Berkeley), and the High Holiday Choir at Temple Sinai (Oakland). Over his career he has also performed with Volti, the San Francisco and Oakland Symphony Choruses, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra Chorale, Theatre of Voices, Pacific Boychoir, and the San Francisco Boys Chorus.
For the past decade, tenor David Taylor Siegel has been performing with a wide variety of amateur and professional choral groups throughout the Bay Area, including the California Bach Society, Lacuna Arts, Schola Cantorum San Francisco, and the Chalice Consort. Prior to that, he appeared with a number of New York City-based choral ensembles including the New Amsterdam Singers and the Dessoff Choirs, performing in venues such as Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. David also serves as vice president and member of the board of directors of the California Bach Society. When not singing, he practices corporate and startup law in Cupertino.
The grandson of a lifelong church musician, bass/baritone, and Michigan native, Adam Cole studied as an organist with Robert H. Murphy at Interlochen Arts Academy and Paula Pugh Romanaux at Kalamazoo College before turning his focus to voice. He recently appeared as soloist in the California Bach Society’s 2022 Plaisirs Baroques concerts featuring the grand motets of Charpentier, Mondonville, and Telemann.
An eleven-year American Guild of Musical Artists member of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus and currently in his seventeenth year with the Grace Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys, Adam has sung, toured, and/or recorded professionally with the San Francisco Symphony, American Bach Soloists, Philharmonia Baroque, Cappella SF, Grace Cathedral, California Bach Society, and San Francisco Renaissance Voices; and has appeared as soloist, section leader, and chorister with many other current and former Bay Area concert and liturgical ensembles over the past three decades. When not rehearsing or performing, Adam enjoys exploring the California hills and mountains, and creating solo and virtual choir recordings of his favorite Renaissance polyphony and pop songs.
Bass-baritone Chung-Wai Soong has sung with companies in Australia and the US, including San Francisco Opera, West Bay Opera, Victoria State Opera, Volti, American Bach Soloists, and Philharmonia Baroque. He was bass soloist in Schubert’s Mass in A flat and Mozart’s Coronation Mass with Chora Nova, and appeared in this year’s French Impressions program for the California Bach Society as soloist in the Fauré Requiem, which he has also sung at Grace Cathedral.
Chung-Wai has performed with the San Francisco Symphony as Mityukha in Boris Godunov, and the bass solo in Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy under Kurt Masur, which he also performed at the Ojai Festival with Jeremy Denk. His extensive repertoire includes world premieres by David Chesworth (Sabat Jesus), Lisa Bielawa’s groundbreaking streaming opera, Vireo, and the title role in Meira Warshauer’s Elijah’s Violin. His performance of Schumann’s Dichterliebe at the Melbourne International Festival was broadcast live nationally on ABC.
Recent roles: Sadistic Sailor (Mazolli’s Breaking the Waves), High Priest of Baal (Nabucco), Melchior (Amahl and the Night Visitors), Kuligin (Katya Kabanova), Un vieux paysan (Dukas’ Ariane et Barbe-Bleue), Marco (Gianni Schicchi, Hawaii Opera Theatre), Chamberlain (Stravinsky’s Le Rossignol, West Edge Opera), and the title role in Il Ducato-The New Mikado (Lamplighters Music Theatre).