Christopher Tefft

Christopher Tefft, Bass-Baritone, has toured as a singer to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, China, Mexico, and all across the US and Europe. Christopher frequently sings as a soloist and section leader with Canterbury Choral Society. He recently appeared with the Bard Festival Chorale in Carnegie Hall.

As a member of the New York Philharmonic Chorus, he has performed at Lincoln Center, on PBS, and on tour. Last summer, Christopher sang La Damnation de Faust by Berlioz as part of the Bard Music Festival. Other appearances include with the Metropolitan Opera, National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, and Ember Chamber Choir. World Premieres: Voices of the Holocaust (Michael Shapiro); Emigre (Aaron Zigmen); In the Name of the Earth (John Luther Adams); Festival of Psalms (David & Kerensa Briggs).

Christopher studied the arts at Millikin University in Illinois and Interlochen Arts Academy Michigan. 

www.ChristopherTefft.net 

Bess Morrison

A singing actor, Bess Morrison’s career has always straddled both the classical and musical theater worlds. Favorite opera roles include Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, Maddalena in Rigoletto, and Orlovsky in Die Fledermaus. Her choral work has included the National Chorale, The Collegiate Chorale, and the Cantabile Singers, and she is delighted to be the current Alto 2 Section Leader for the Canterbury Choral Society.

New York audiences have seen her as Marie in The Most Happy Fella, Fosca in Stephen Sondheim’s Passion, and most recently in Sondheim on Sondheim.  Regionally Bess has played both Mazeppa and Rose in Gypsy, Marjorie in Birds of Paradise, and Aldonza in Man of La Mancha.  Bess has toured Europe in My Fair Lady, and regionally in The Most Happy Fella, and Phantom. She has performed in The Sound of Music starring Debby Boone, and Camelot starring Terrence Mann.  Part of the New York premiere of the Yeston/Kopit Phantom with Robert Cuccioli, Bess can also be heard on the RCA/BMG cast album.  When not performing, Bess teaches voice and piano in her private studio in Jersy City.

Bess Morrison

Anna Willson

Anna Willson

Anna Willson is a vocalist and pianist from Yakima, WA. In addition to singing with Canterbury Choral Society, both as a soloist and a section leader for the altos, Anna sings regularly with Polyhymnia of St. Ignatius and the choirs at Marble Collegiate Church and The Church of Our Saviour.

She has been a regular member of the New York Continuo Collective, a chamber group of early musicians that present concerts at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church. She also has a lute song duo “Good Pennyworths” that performs 16th century English Lute Music.  In her free time, she also likes to play her harpsichord and lute. 

Ethan Fran

Ethan Fran

Ethan Fran performs opera, oratorio, sacred music, and recitals frequently in the New York area and beyond. He has recently sung with New York Virtuoso Singers, Bard Festival Chorale, and MasterVoices (formerly The Collegiate Chorale). As soloist, recent highlights include Puccini's La Fanciulla del West with Apotheosis Opera, Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro with The Downtown Symphony, Schubert's Mass in E-flat with Sound Shore Chorale, and Bach's Mass in B Minor with Canterbury Choral Society.

Ethan is currently a Tenor Section Leader of Canterbury Choral Society.


Alistair Reid

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Alistair Reid, MA FRCO, enjoys a distinguished career as an international concert organist and choral conductor. He is the accompanist for Canterbury rehearsals, and a popular concert soloist. Alistair currently serves as Organist and Director of Music at St. Joseph’s Church Yorkville on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. He is also an Assisting Organist at Trinity Church Wall Street and The Brick Church. Alistair began his musical career as a boy chorister at his local church in London and began playing the piano at the age of eight. He studied music at the University of Oxford and, during this time, was Organ Scholar at Hertford College, Assistant Organist of the University Church, and Conductor of The Oxford Chamber Choir.  After graduating, Alistair crossed the Atlantic to serve as Organ Scholar of Christ Church, Greenwich, Connecticut, while continuing his studies with Gerre Hancock at St. Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue. Alistair was then appointed Assistant Director of Music at Christ Church Cathedral, Indianapolis. During his five-year tenure, he played for weekly broadcasts,  accompanied five European choir tours, and featured on the choir’s acclaimed CD, ‘My Spirit Rejoices’ on the Gothic label.

From 2004 to 2011, Alistair was Associate Director of Music and subsequently Director of Music of Coventry Cathedral in England. During this time, he directed the cathedral's five choirs, trained the boy and girl choristers, and played for a number of high- profile services, concerts, broadcasts, and international tours. He is featured on several CDs including ‘Choral Music from Coventry Cathedral’ on the Herald label and ‘The Best Christmas Carols Album in the W… Ever!’ on the Kingsway label Alistair was also Associate Conductor of the cathedral’s choral society, The Coventry Cathedral Chorus, and in 2010 helped to prepare Britten’s War Requiem for a performance marking the 70th anniversary of the bombing of the cathedral.


Hannah Spierman

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Soprano Hannah Spierman has appeared with Canterbury Choral Society as a soloist for Brahms's Ein deutsches Requiem, Ariani's Oratorio di San Francesco, and Handel's Saul. She has been the Soprano 1 Section Leader since 2017. Her recent opera performances include Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni and Agathe in Weber’s Der Freischütz with Bronx Opera; Rosalinda in Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus with Oswego Opera Theater; and Tatyana in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and Julia Jellicoe in Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Grand Duke with Utopia Opera. Additional roles with Bronx Opera have included Donna Elivira in Don Giovanni, Countess Almaviva in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, Musetta in Puccini’s La Bohème, Alice Ford in Verdi’s Falstaff, Birdie Hubbard in Marc Blitzstein’s Regina, and lead roles in two rarely produced works by Vaughan Williams: Alice Ford in Sir John in Love and Tormentilla in The Poisoned Kiss. With other New York-area opera companies she has performed the roles of Mimì in La Bohème, Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen, Echo in Richard Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos, Giorgetta in Puccini’s Il tabarro, First Lady in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, and the title role in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Princess Ida.

Upcoming performances include Mařenka in Smetana's The Bartered Bride with Bronx Opera and the soprano solo in Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with the Litha Symphony. She has also appeared with the New York Choral Society in Honegger's Le Roi David and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9; with the Litha Symphony in Vaughan Williams’s Serenade to Music; and with the Garden State Philharmonic in Handel’s Messiah.

A graduate of New England Conservatory, Ms. Spierman resides in The Bronx with her husband and frequent artistic collaborator, stage director Benjamin Spierman.