Missouri-born tenor Steven Tharp’s operatic credits include performances with the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Netherlands Opera, Badisches Staatsoper, Teatro Massimo, Netherlands Reisopera, Glimmerglass Opera, Opera Pacific, Minnesota Opera and the companies of Dallas, Houston, Seattle, Memphis, Omaha, Salt Lake City and Miami. Handel and Mozart are well represented in Mr. Tharp’s repertoire of more than 60 operatic parts, and his keen interest in 18th and early 19th Century opera has led to roles in Gluck’s Les Pèlerins de la Mecque, Haydn’s L’Isola Disabitata and L’Infedeltà Delusa, Scarlatti’s Gli Equivoci nel Sembiante, Conti’s Don Quixote in Sierra Morena, Gassmann’s L’Opera Seria, Grétry’s Zémire et Azor and Schubert’s Alfonso und Estrella. In concert, Mr. Tharp has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony, Houston Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional (Mexico), St. Louis Symphony, Chicago Music of the Baroque and American Bach Soloists, under conductors including Sir Georg Solti, Daniel Barenboim, Kurt Masur, Charles Dutoit, Valery Gergiev, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, James Conlon, Marin Alsop, JoAnn Falletta, Alan Gilbert and Jane Glover. His concert repertoire includes the masterpieces of the 18th and 19th century — the Bach passions, the masses of Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert, the oratorios of Handel, Haydn and Mendelssohn — and extends to Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius, Schönberg’s Gurre-Lieder, the Verdi Requiem and Britten’s War Requiem. A dedicated song recitalist, Mr. Tharp has appeared at the New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he collaborated with Will Crutchfield in two series, The World of Schubert’s Songs and The World of Heinrich Heine. He has also appeared in recital at the 92nd Street Y, Carnegie’s Weill Hall, the Bard Festival, Caramoor, Newport Chamber Music Festival, Carmel Bach Festival, the New York Festival of Song and venues in Europe, Japan and South America. His interest in musical theater and cabaret led to his appearance in 3 Tenors in Search of an Act, which won the Back Stage Bistro Award for Outstanding Musical Comedy after a sold-out run at Don’t Tell Mama in New York. Mr. Tharp has recorded for Decca, Delos, Newport, Albany and Naxos. His world-premiere recording of the complete songs of Edward MacDowell, accompanied by the late James Barbagallo, earned a Grammy Award nomination, and his recording of Frank Martin’s Le Vin Herbé was an “Editor’s Choice” in Opera News. Other recordings include Vaughan-Williams’ On Wenlock Edge with the Ciompi Quartet, Handel’s Messiah with the American Bach Soloists. Schubert’s Schwanengesang with Jan-Paul Grijpink. Mr. Tharp has also served as stage director for the Manhattan School of Music’s Handel Project (Alcina, Ariodante) and for Caramoor (Così fan Tutte, H.M.S. Pinafore, Pauline Viardot’s Cindrillon and Donizetti’s Linda di Chamounix). In the fall of 2013 he joined the University of Missouri as Assistant Professor of Voice. His website is Steventharptenor.com. Rachelle Jonck received her musical training at the Conservatory of the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. Initially training and performing as a concert pianist, she discovered the joy of working with other musicians, especially singers, and decided to focus on vocal accompaniment. Simultaneously nurturing an interest in musicology, she received her degree majoring in both piano and music sociology. After completing her studies, Rachelle joined Cape Town Opera in 1991 as rehearsal pianist and vocal coach. She also taught at the Opera School of the University of Cape Town. In 1993 she moved to Pretoria as Chorus Master and Assistant Conductor at the State Theater Opera, where she founded the State Theater Philharmonic Choir. In 1998 Rachelle moved to New York City as Head Coach and Assistant Conductor of Bel Canto at Caramoor (with Will Crutchfield) – a position she still holds. Ms Jonck's work at Bel Canto at Caramoor was featured in an article in Early Music America - Winter 2009. In addition to Mr Crutchfield she works closely with Professor Philip Gossett during the summer months. Professor Gossett's book Divas and Scholars: Performing Italian Opera won the Otto Kinkeldey Award of the American Musicological Society as the best book on music of 2006. His work as editor of the critical editions of the Rossini and Verdi operas is an integral part of Bel Canto at Caramoor's mission. New editions of bel canto operas often have their world or American premieres at the Caramoor Festival. As Head Coach and Assistant Conductor Ms Jonck takes an active part in bringing this important research to life. Balancing her love for opera, Ms Jonck enjoys recital collaborations with her singers and in addition to regular concerts at the Caramoor Festival, her recital appearances in the United States include Weill Recital Hall, the Bard Festival, the Monadnock Music Festival, Music Mountain, Van Cliburn Concerts, National Gallery Recitals, An die Music, Art Song of Williamsburg and the Dame Myra Hess broadcast concert series She has appeared multiple times as a guest on Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion. She is anticipating the release of an all Fauré recording with tenor Steven Tharp. It traces the development of Fauré's musical language in his Mélodies. As a conductor Ms Jonck made her debut conducting the Orchestra of St Luke’s in collaboration with the David Parsons Dance Company soon after her arrival in the United States. In January of 2000 Rachelle returned to South Africa to conduct Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Spier Festival in Stellenbosch. In May of the same year she made her operatic conducting debut in New York City conducting the Orchestra of St. Luke’s in their production of Bizet’s Le docteur miracle at the 92nd Street Y. For Caramoor she conducted Mozart’s Così fan tutte as well as Pauline Viardot’s Cendrillon. Ms Jonck has served on the faculty of Manhattan School of Music as Head Vocal Coach. She was a judge at the prestigious Palm Beach Opera competition. Since 2007 Ms Jonck has served on the Adjunct Faculty of Westminster Choir College. In addition to vocal coaching of undergraduate and graduate students she teaches the Undergraduate Performance Class. She has also taught the following Special Topics courses for graduate students - all related to her extensive experience in the Italian operatic repertoire: Singing in Italian, Prima le parole, e poi la musica (a recitative course) and 19th Century Bel Canto. She regularly presents innovative concerts with her students, most recently The Complete Songs of Verdi. Her master class topics, while related to her main study field of bel canto, explore the wider application of the bel canto way of singing. These topics include: “One breath impulse per phrase: Legato in practice”, “Legato and Language: Breath and Consonants”, Recitative study techniques and The Italian Opera Libretto: First things first when studying a role.