PERFORMING artists

  • Victoria Brianna Floyd is a talented young soprano actively enriching the vibrant music and arts scene in the Atlanta metro area. A passionate performer, she holds a Bachelor’s degree in Vocal Performance from The University of Georgia and a Master’s degree from the University of Miami. Known for her dynamic vocal range and expressive artistry, Victoria has captivated audiences in various local collaborations. Her dedication to her craft and commitment to sharing the beauty of classical music make her a rising star in the cultural landscape of Atlanta.

  • Sylvia Ware has been singing since she joined the school chorus in fifth grade. In college, Sylvia worked as a Staff Singer at Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church, was the President of Emory Concert Choir, and was the Music Director of Dooley Noted A Cappella, Emory's only coed service-oriented a cappella group. She continues to sing at GMUMC and is also a member of the Atlanta Master Chorale, Kinnara, and EarlyBird. By day, Sylvia is a medical social worker specializing in gerontology and palliative care.

  • Soprano Morgan Watts is an Atlanta-based educator, conductor, and performer. Following her degree in Vocal Music Education from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, she moved to Atlanta and completed her graduate degree in Choral Conducting from Georgia State University under the direction of Dr. Deanna Joseph. She currently serves as the Chorus Director for Chorus Director at Cambridge High School, and as a staff singer at the First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta under the direction of Dr. Dan Bara. Morgan's recent vocal performance experiences include "Countess Almaviva" in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, "Gretel" in Humperdink's Hansel and Gretel, and as the "2nd Witch" in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas with the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra. She proudly sings in the Louisiana and Atlanta areas as a chorister and soloist in organizations such as the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, Coro Vocati, the Baton Rouge Early Vocal Ensemble, and more. Morgan is thrilled to make her Kinnara debut with this performance, and is looking forward to future engagements with this organization.

  • Soprano Wanda Yang Temko is a respected singer, voice teacher, and arts advocate. She holds a doctorate in voice performance from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana along with degrees from Georgia State University and Emory University. Sought after as a recitalist and soloist, recently she performed the role of Evangelist in David Lang’s Little Match Girl Passion with Kinnara. She is featured on New Trinity Baroque's recording of Christmas Cantatas and Concertos on Édition Lilac. She also performs and records with the Meridian Chorale and the Grammy-Award-winning Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Choruses. Dr. Yang Temko maintains an active private voice studio in Atlanta.

    http://www.yangtemko.com/wanda/

  • Elizabeth Johnson Knight, American mezzo soprano, is in demand as both a choral and solo artist. She made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2010 as alto soloist in Handel's Messiah with Andrew Megill and the Masterwork Chorus. She has appeared recently with Raleigh Bach Soloists, Ars Lyrica, Duke Vespers Ensemble, Sinfonia da Camera, and Winston-Salem Symphony, among others. Elizabeth regularly sings with professional choral ensembles across the US, including the Carmel Bach Festival Chorale, Kinnara Ensemble, and the GRAMMY-nominated South Dakota Chorale. Elizabeth can be heard as mezzo soloist in Duruflé's Requiem on SDC's debut recording In Paradisum (Gothic, 2012), and has also recorded for Naxos, Pentatone, MSR Classics, and Affetto Records.

    Elizabeth holds degrees in voice from the University of North Texas (DMA), Indiana University (MM), and the University of Mississippi (BM). She has been on the voice faculties of Southeastern Oklahoma State University, the University of Louisiana Monroe, Murray State University, and the University of North Texas. She currently teaches at the University of Georgia. Her research interests include the effects of posture on the acoustics of the singing voice, and she has presented at the New Voice Educators Symposium, the Texoma NATS Artist Series, and the Performing Arts Medicine Association. She has published research in the Journal of Voice. Elizabeth is also passionate about improving choral singing at all levels. She is a regular clinician for choral groups, and teaches choral conductors how to apply current voice science and pedagogy in their ensembles.

  • Ana Baida, a displaced Texan, resides in Atlanta, Georgia, where she enjoys simultaneous careers as a professional singer, an intermittent career consultant to vocal artists, and as a Talent Intelligence Consultant with Visa. In her role at Visa, she convenes various Visa teams to learn about and help to solve talent strategy problems. When not fulfilling her full-time responsibilities, Ana is delighted to sing regularly with Conspirare and the Kinnara Ensemble, and recently as part of the American Soloists Ensemble, who completed a tour through South Korea. She has served for the past 14 years as staff soloist and section leader at the First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta, and sings intermittently with various other groups in the region. Ana holds a Bachelors from Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, a Masters from Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, and a Doctorate from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts.

  • The Atlanta Journal-Constitution called mezzo-soprano Heather Witt “the kind of singer you hope to hear - talented, alert... a singer with a future.” Ms. Witt is known for her portrayal of a wide array of opera’s most notable mezzo-soprano characters, including: Gertrude in Roméo et Juliette, Giulietta in Les contes d’Hoffmann (FIO, Brazil), Dryad in Ariadne Auf Naxos, Principessa in Suor Angelica, Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, Second Lady and Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte, Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors, Elmire in Tartuffe, Mauya in Riders to the Sea, Mrs. Nolan in The Medium, Mrs. Herring in Albert Herring, Meg in Falstaff, Sally in Hand of Bridge, and Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte, among many others.Heather Witt is also an esteemed oratorio and concert soloist, and is a staff soloist at First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta. Ms. Witt completed her undergraduate studies in Music at Millikin University (Decatur, IL), and received a Masters in Voice from Georgia State University (Atlanta, GA).

    www.heatherwittmezzo.com

  • Mezzo-soprano Amy Chastain holds a Master’s degree in Voice Performance from Georgia State University and a Bachelor’s of Music Education from Mercer University. She has performed in the Atlanta area with various groups, including the Atlanta Opera, Atlanta Symphony Chorus and Chamber Chorus, EarlyBird, and other project-based groups. She also serves as a staff musician at St. Philip's Cathedral in Atlanta.

  • Ameya Gangal is a staff singer here at Glenn and often performs with EarlyBird, Kinnara, Atlanta Master Chorale. Ameya is also a dermatology resident at Emory, where he has developed interests in ethics, dermatologic surgery, histology, and care for migrant populations. Outside of music and medicine, Ameya enjoys playing basketball. He also loves spending time with family (including his wife, Sylvia, in the soprano section!), and eagerly ascribing meaning to the idiosyncrasies of their two cats, Mulan and Dumpling.

  • Daniel Shafer is the Interim Associate Director of Choral Activities, where he conducts the University Chorus, UGA Choral Project, Men’s and Women’s Glee Clubs, and teaches courses in conducting. He also serves as the Director of Music at Ashford Memorial Methodist Church in Watkinsville, GA. Before moving to Athens, GA, Daniel earned his M.M. in Choral Conducting from the University of Missouri-Columbia and his B.M.E. from Florida State University. After completing his undergraduate degree, he became the Director of Choirs at Westminster Christian School in Miami, FL, where he organized choral tours to London, Hawaii, Grand Cayman Islands, Walt Disney World, and Nashville. Daniel is currently a DMA candidate in Choral Conducting at the University of Georgia. Daniel maintains an active performance schedule having performed in productions of A Little Night Music, Don Giovanni, and Le Portrait de Manon. He has also sung with Kinnara, Alarm Will Sound in collaboration with Meredith Monk, the Missouri Symphony Orchestra, the University of Georgia University Chorus, the University of Georgia Hodgson Singers, and the Festival Singers of Florida. Daniel lives in Athens, GA, with his wife, Meghan, and their dog, Harry Truman.

  • With singing described as “poignant...with sincerity and unforced beauty” (The Times, London), “elegant” (Cape Cod Times), and “emotionally devastating” (Boston Music Intelligencer), Cory Klose is a sought-after soloist and ensemble singer in the United States. Cory’s recent solo engagements feature appearances with the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, Dekalb Symphony Orchestra, Colorado's Music in the Mountains Festival, and Washington DC's Orchestra of the Hills, performing works such as J.S. Bach’s Magnificat and St. John Passion, Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs, Schubert’s Mass in Eb, Mozart’s Requiem and Vesperae solennes de confessore, and Handel’s Messiah. As a professional choral artist, Cory has appeared with many noted ensembles across the U.S., such as Kinnara, The Crossing, Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Handel & Haydn Society, Bach Collegium San Diego, True Concord, Spire Chamber Ensemble, and The Thirteen. He can also be heard on many acclaimed choral recordings, including the GRAMMY® Award-winning “Songs of Ascension” with Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble and as a soloist on Skylark’s GRAMMY® Award-nominated album “Seven Words from the Cross.”

  • Jacob Augsten is Director of Choral Activities and Assistant Professor of Music in the School of the Arts at Reinhardt University, where he conducts the Reinhardt choirs and teaches courses in Conducting, Aural Skills, and Choral Methods. He sings with Atlanta ensembles Kinnara, Atlanta Opera Chorus, Atlanta Master Chorale, and is a staff singer with the Choir and Schola at the Cathedral of St. Philip. He has also appeared with DFW-based ensembles Orpheus Chamber Singers, Incarnatus, Band of Voices, Fort Worth Opera, Lafayette Musicians, and Highland Park Chorale. Augsten has recently performed solos in Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem; Bach cantatas 4, 22, 36, 49, and 102; Saint-Saëns’ Oratorio de Noël; Schubert’s Mass No. 5; Handel’s Messiah and Utrecht Te Deum; Michael John Trotta’s Seven Last Words; and J.S. Bach’s Matthäus-Passion.

  • John Arnold is an Atlanta-based singer, actor, writer, podcast host, and multi-instrumentalist. John has performed to great acclaim with opera companies across the United States including the Atlanta Opera, Atlanta Concert Opera, Boston Opera Collaborative, Des Moines Metro Opera, Detroit Opera, Kentucky Opera, Knoxville Opera, Lone Star Lyric (Houston, Texas), Madison Opera, the Merola Opera Program, and Opera New Jersey. He is also in demand as a concert and oratorio soloist and has built a reputation for delivering performances imbued with a unique combination of vocal clarity, elegant musicality, and dramatic sophistication.

  • A native of both South Korea and Georgia in the United States, Justin Han commands the limelight as a highly sought-after pianist, singer, and conductor in the greater Atlanta area. Renowned for his exceptional artistry, he has garnered acclaim through his collaborations with universities, K-12 public schools, churches, and other prestigious ensembles. Justin dons many hats: He is a Chorus Teacher at the School of the Arts at Central Gwinnett High School, Music Director/Organist at Emory Presbyterian Church, Artistic Director for the Stone Mountain Chorus, and Camerata Director for the Georgia Youth Symphony Orchestra. Previously, he was a private piano instructor for Silva Music Studios, a collaborative pianist for the Atlanta Young Singers, and held music director positions at Johns Creek Presbyterian Church and Commerce Presbyterian Church. A distinguished graduate of Georgia State University, Justin holds a dual Master’s degree in choral conducting and piano performance, adorned with accolades such as the Robert Shaw Choral Scholar Award and Stegner Piano Scholarship.

    https://www.youtube.com/@justinhan7547

  • Andrew is a freelance musician and educator based in Atlanta, Georgia. He is currently on faculty at Georgia State University and Kennesaw State University. He is also the founder and artistic director of both Voces Altum, a sixteen voice treble ensemble, and EarlyBird, a professional ensemble specializing in early music and the adoption of new ideas and techniques. Andrew also directs the Summer Singers of Atlanta and is the Director of Music at St. James United Methodist Church. In Fall 20204, he received his PhD in Music Education at Georgia State University where his research centered on the intersection of choral and vocal pedagogy.

    www.andrewphillipschmidt.com

  • Käthe Wright Kaufman serves as the Associate Director of Music and Worship Arts at Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church and Chapel Organist at the Candler School of Theology, both on the campus of Emory University in Atlanta. Previously, she served as Organ Scholar at Peterborough Cathedral (2019-2020) and Truro Cathedral (2016-2017) in the UK.

    Käthe's singing career began at age eight as a chorister in the renowned Choir of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Evanston, IL, at that time under the direction of Richard Webster. Ever since then, she has prioritized singing alongside her vocation as an organist.

    Käthe completed her Master’s degree in Organ Performance and Literature as a student of David Higgs at the Eastman School of Music in 2019, where she also obtained her Bachelor of Music in 2016 after organ studies with William Porter and Edoardo Bellotti. Both a passionate church musician and a competent recitalist, Käthe has performed for the radio program Pipedreams Live! and has been a featured performer in venues around America and the UK. Her performances have been praised as “stellar,” “captivating,” and “showing great aplomb.” She has received several awards, including Eastman’s Gerald Barnes Award for Excellence in Pipe Organ (2013), the inaugural VanDelinder Prizes in Liturgical Organ Skills (2014 & 2015), and first place in the West Chester University International Organ Competition (2015). Käthe is an Associate of the American Guild of Organists and a published composer with Selah Publishing Company.

    www.kathewrightkaufman.com