Maria van Kalken, Minister of Music at Old North Church and Director of the Festival Chorus, celebrates her twentieth season in charge of Old North’s flourishing music program.

Maria earned the degrees of Bachelor of Music in Organ Performance from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music (Oberlin, Ohio) and Master of Music from the New England Conservatory of Music (Boston, MA). Her studies abroad have included one year of pipe organ performance at the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, under the patronage of the Rotary International Scholarship Fund, and the completion of an historical organ performance program in Pistoia, Italy. In addition to her work as Minister of Music—playing organ and directing the Senior Choir—Maria is Artistic Director of the Sundays at Five concert series at Old North, and a dedicated and highly sought private piano teacher with a large roster of students ranging from six to sixty years of age.

Beyond her church work and private teaching, Maria is a senior staff member of the Boston Early Music Festival (www.bemf.org); as Assistant to the Executive Director, Maria is liaison to over 200 musicians from all over the world annually, on matters related to work permits, travel, housing, and contract negotiations for the BEMF’s biennial baroque opera and recording projects. Finally, for the past four years, Maria has served as Artistic and Community Relations Coordinator for the Constellation Center for the Performing Arts (www.constellationcenter.org) in Cambridge, MA. In this capacity, Maria unites over 200 area non-profit performing arts organizations to the Center’s four extraordinary venues, and assists the Development and Marketing staff.

Holly's repertoire ranges from opera and oratorio to choral music and song, and new music. Recent operatic roles include Suor Genovieffa in Puccini’s Suor Angelica Laetitia in Menotti’s The Old Maid and the Thief and Queen of the Night in Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Partial roles include Baby Doe (The Ballad of Baby Doe), Musetta (La Boheme), Lakme (Lakme), and Marie (Daughter of the Regiment). On the concert stage Ms. Cameron, proclaimed by the Worcester Telegram as a “superb soloist who unfurled pure golden tones and was bell-clear in articulation”, has appeared as a soloist in works such as Carmina Burana, Brahms’ Requiem, Poulenc’s Gloria, Mozart’s Requiem, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, and in Boston Cecilia’s Jordan Hall Gala Concert in honor of G.F. Handel. Upcoming performances include a guest appearance at the New England Conservatory in the roles of The Fire and The Nightingale in Ravel’s The Child and the Spells, the soprano solos in Bach’s St. John Passion with Albany Pro Musica and a spring tour of Puerto Rico with Boston Baroque.

A recipient of numerous honors, Ms. Cameron was recently awarded the Verdi Award in the National Orpheus Vocal Competition and was a semi-finalist in the Peter Elvins competition. This past spring she was a regional finalist in the NATSAA competition and has won both 1st and 2nd place awards at Boston NATS. She was also the grand prize Pathinder Award winner in West Palm Beach, FL. Ms. Cameron is a recent graduate of New England Conservatory where she received her Bachelor’s degree in Voice Performance and studied with Mark St. Laurent. She is now studying with Penelope Bitzas and avidly freelancing throughout the New England area.

A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Megan currently resides in Boston, MA, where she has performed with the esteemed American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, MA, Opera Boston, and Boston Baroque. Ms. Roth's inaugural performance in Boston was in Britannicus, a play by Jean Racine at the American Repertory Theatre.

In the 2007-2008 season, Ms. Roth performed with Opera Boston in the Boston premier of Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar, under the direction of Peter Sellars and Robert Castro. She then went on to cover the roles of Athamas and Ino in Handel’s Semele, in a collaborative production between Boston Baroque and Opera Boston. In September of 2006, Ms. Roth was invited to present a joint recital of arias and duets with Metropolitan Opera tenor, Roy C. Smith in Highlands, NC. This invitation came as a result of her winning the Hannah Beaulieu Vocal Competition Award at Florida State University in 2005. In addition to holding an Artist Certificate in Opera and a Master of Music in Vocal Performance, she also attended the prestigious Brevard Music Center for two summers to further her artistic development.

Ms. Roth is also an accomplished violinist, and holds a Bachelor of Music with honor in Violin Performance from DePaul University. She was a regular member of the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra from 2001-2006. Click here to view Megan's Web Site.

Kevin is thrilled to be making his third appearance with The Old North Church Festival Singers. Kevin was recently seen as Alfredo in Opera By The Bay’s production of La Traviata. In August, Mr. Hayden sang The Chevalier in Dialogues of the Carmelites with Boston Opera Collaborative. He will join Boston Opera Collaborative again as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni this February.

Kevin recently received his master of music degree from Boston University. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Oklahoma. Mr. Hayden has also been a young artist at Pine Mountain Music Festival in Michigan and The Opera Theater Center of the Aspen Music Festival. Other opera credits include Tamino in The Magic Flute with the Pine Mountain Music Festival, Dr. Shpigelsky in A Month in the Country (Boston University), and Gherardo in Gianni Schicchi (Boston University) among others. Kevin is also frequently featured as an Oratorio soloist with organizations such as Newburyport Choral Society, Trinity Church, Boston Choral Ensemble and The Lynn Concert Singers.

A native of Lynn, Massachusetts, baritone Marc is known to church audiences and congregations all over New England, having sung as soloist and chorister for thousands of services and performances at over 100 area churches during the last twenty years. In the concert world, he is well sought-after for his warm, lyrical sound, having performed regularly with numerous professional ensembles, including The Boston Secession, Philovox and Cut Circle. His performances have taken him to Symphony Hall, Tanglewood, Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center; and he has recorded for the Sony, Arsis and Brave labels. Recent solo performances include Handel's Messiah with the Medfield Community Chorus and with the FRSUU Newburyport Community Messiah Sing; Faure’s Requiem, Haydn's Marianzeller Mass, Durufle’s Requiem and Taverner's God Is With Us with Old North Festival Chorus; Orff’s Carmina Burana and Mozart’s Missa Brevis in F with the Nashua Symphony Orchestra; and Schubert’s Mass in E-flat with Assabet Valley Master Singers. In addition to his performing duties, Mr. DeMille teaches voice in the Greater Boston area.

Rebecca, is in her fourth year as the Director of Choral Activities at Endicott College in Beverly, MA. In addition to directing the youth choirs at Old North Church in Marblehead, MA and the Old North Church Festival Youth Chorus, she also conducts the PALS’ GirlChoir of Brookline, MA. Recently, Ms. Kenneally was the director of the Women’s Chorus and Assistant Director of Choral Activities at New England Conservatory of Music. In February 2005, she co-directed the children’s chorus for the Boston Lyric Opera’s production of The Little Prince at the Schubert Theater. Other conducting and directing projects of Ms. Kenneally’s include: New England Conservatory Light Opera company’s scenes productions; the New England Conservatory Concert Choir; Marblehead High School Chorus; guest conducting at churches, and several youth musicals. Her singing appearances include: A French aria solo program with the Salem Philharmonic; The Tanglewood Festival Chorus, member; The New England Conservatory of Music and Northwestern University, soloist and member; Marblehead Festival Chorus, soloist and member. Ms. Kenneally has been a section leader/soloist at several area churches. Her stage roles have included Josephine in HMS Pinafore, Maria in West Side Story, Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro, and The Aunt in Gianni Schicchi. Ms. Kenneally holds a bachelor’s degree in voice performance from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL and a master’s degree in conducting from New England Conservatory of Music. She is an alumna of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, the Boston Conservatory of Music Summer Choral Workshop, and the Treble Chorus of New England. Ms. Kenneally has a voice studio in Marblehead.

Sandra is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, and has been teaching music to children and adults ever since in public and private schools, as well as private lessons. She has been ringing and directing handbells for over 20 years including preparing handbell choirs for semi-professional productions of Benjamin Britten's Noye's Fludde. She is in her 13th year of directing the Old North Church Handbell Choirs.

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This site was last updated 10/21/09