Non-profit organization in Milford, PA
Widely known concert organist and harpsichordist, Stephen Ackert is also the head of the music department at the National Gallery of Art
in Washington, D.C.
Mr. Ackert studied organ and harpsichord as a Fulbright scholar in Frankfurt, Germany, where his teachers were Maria Jaeger-Jung and Helmut Walcha. From 1974 to 1978 he served as a specialist in Western music for the National Iranian Radio and Television Network in Tehran. He also served as manager and musical director of the network's resident chamber orchestra. Later, he served three churches in the Washington, D.C. area, including the National Cathedral, and most recently, The United Church (from 1990 to 2003), where he has founded and presented a series of Bach concerts. Appearing often abroad, in 2006 he completed his eighth recital tour of Germany, which included historic churches and concert halls of Lower Saxony.
At the National Gallery of Art, Mr. Ackert administers weekly concerts for the public and presents lectures and lecture-recitals on subjects that bring together the visual arts and music. Other venues in which he has lectured include the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore, the San Antonio Museum of Art, the Austrian Embassy and the German Embassy in Washington, DC. Mr. Ackert has also taught choral music, music appreciation, and music theory at the junior and senior high school levels as well as applied organ at the university level.
ROSA LAMOREAUX
Rosa Lamoreaux � soprano- has been hailed for her versatile musicianship, her radiant, engaging, and effortless singing, the diversity of her repertoire, and her many fine recordings.
An award-winning vocalist with a busy international career, Ms. Lamoreaux is sought after for her beautifully styled readings of repertoire from Hildegard to Shostakovich. Ms. Lamoreaux has performed numerous concerts and recitals at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Royal Albert Hall (London), Usher Hall (Edinburgh), and has been soloist with the Atlanta Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, National Philharmonic and other fine orchestras. Many of her recordings and performances have been broadcast on NPR, CBC and the BBC. Her degrees include an Associate of the Royal College of Music, London, England, and Master of Music, University of Redlands, School of Music.
PETER BECKER
Bass/baritone Peter Becker's musical training began in Bombay, India at the Kinnara School of Music, where he studied tablas at the feet of Ravi Shankar.
He began his professional singing career in Chevy Chase, MD as a paid boy soprano, thereby supplementing the income from his paper route. Since then he has performed on stages throughout the USA, Europe, Asia, and South America in repertoire ranging from medieval to contemporary. Theater credits include performances with the Canadian Opera Company, Glimmerglass Opera, Teatro Opera di Roma, the New York Shakespeare Festival, the 20th Century Consort, the Metropolitan Opera Education Program, the Eugene O'Neil Center, and New York's Lyric Theater. He has been a featured guest artist with Tafelmusik, the Smithsonian Chamber Players, Magnificat, the Newberry Consort, and at a number of festivals including Spoleto, Caramoor, Aldeburgh, Utrecht, Hong Kong, Jerusalem, and Lille. He has recorded for the Decca-London, New Albion, Dorian and Bard labels.