SINGERS
Michael Arko (T) grew up in a musical family in the Chicago area, where he was active in theater, choirs and orchestras that were dedicated to the preservation of his native Slovenian heritage and culture. Because it was too freaking cold there, he abandoned Chicago for the more civil climes of the University of California, Irvine, minoring in classical voice while majoring in political science. That major drew him east to Washington's political arena, but to preserve his sanity he continued his musical endeavors, performing with the George Washington University Chorus, the Paul Hill Chorale, the Alexandria Chorale and (very briefly) the Washington Opera Chorus, as well as at several churches. He joined Voce in 2007.
Back to Top
Marlene Baldwin (S) earned her Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Maryland and has been teaching music to singers of all ages for many years, including two decades of teaching choral music in Montgomery County Schools. Specializing in music performance she found and has continued to direct The Baldwin Music Theater Camp for the last 12 years. An active singer, she has performed in several choral groups including Winchester Musica Viva, Voce and Washington Choral Arts Society, as well as numerous church choirs where she has served as soloist, organist and director. She has adjudicated numerous vocal competitions including NATS District and Regional Auditions, The Bland scholarship competitions, Virginia District Choir Auditions, Maryland All State Auditions and Maryland Show Choir Competitions. She has been teaching for The Community Music School of the Piedmont since 1996.
Back to Top
Greg Bloy (T) recieved an organ performance degree from Oberlin Conservatory, where he sang Renaissance and 20th century music with the Collegium Musicum. He went on to get a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Penn State, where he spent too much time playing jazz, funk, and soul saxophone with various local and regional bar bands. Later he sang with a small group named Sine Nomine in East Lansing, Michigan which specialized in early Anglican music. He currently plays organ part-time at Emmaus UCC in Vienna and occasionally fills in as a substitute at various other area churches. His main occupation is the applied mathematics of algorithm design.
Back to Top
Jim Bonhivert (T) has been singing in various groups since high school. He studied voice in college where he met his wife, Tina, in Choir. They have been singing together for 35 years and find music to be a joyful highlight of their relationship. Jim is the CEO of a Security company that provides products like the inks used on currency and a variety of products and services that authenticate products and documents of value.
Back to Top
Tina Bonhivert (S) holds a BA (music/organ) from Carleton College and an MA in church music from Shenandoah University. Tina has taught Suzuki piano, was a "Music Together" teacher for the Community Music School of the Piedmont, and has been the music director at several churches. She is currently the Parish Musician at St. Clare of Assisi Catholic Church in Clifton.
Back to Top
Eliud Bonilla (T) has been singing in choral groups since the 5th grade. Born in New York City he moved with his family to Puerto Rico at the age of 12, exposing him to a rich Latin American musical world. While studying engineering at the Univ. of Puerto Rico @ Mayaguez he sang in the Concert and Chamber Choirs. Locally he's performed with the Reston Chorale and Coral Cantigas. He's lived in northern Virginia since 1998 and at present works as a Senior Engineer at TASC.
Back to Top
Christopher Borton (B) was raised in a large musical family near Rochester, New York as a pianist, percussionist, and vocalist. A graduate of Syracuse University with a Bachelors in music education and vocal performance, he now uses his creative talents during the day for the American Red Cross Biomedical Services as a collaborative software administrator/trainer and performing with the Red Cross Chorus. In his 10th season with Voce (2007-2008), he also enjoys singing as a cantor for his church and performing in local community and dinner theater including the Reston Community Players and Elden Street Players.
Back to Top
JoEllen Sharp Borton (S) received her Bachelors in Music from West Virginia University, and Masters from Duquesne University (Pittsburgh). She has performed with many vocal ensembles, including Tayside Opera in Dundee, Scotland, where she played the soprano lead in Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades. JoEllen and her husband Chris are also active with several local theater groups as performers and music directors. She has been with Voce for 15 seasons.
Back to Top
Maria Dispenza (A) grew up in the other Washington (State) and started formal music lessons at age six. She was on track to be a professional violinist, but through a twist of fate, she ended up pursuing voice instead and earned a Bachelor's in Vocal Performance. Maria has performed with the Tulsa Philharmonic and the Tulsa Opera chorus, as well as participating in various theatrical productions, most notably as Ciesca in Gianni Schicchi and Marmee in Little Women. Currently, she keeps busy settling into life on the East Coast, doing custom seamstress work, and passing on a musical heritage to her growing family.
Back to Top
Stephanie Draeger (S) has been singing with Voce since the fall of 2003. She is thoroughly enjoying singing soprano after many years of alto! She received a BA in Music Performance ' Musical Theatre from Virginia Tech (go Hokies!) and currently works as a teacher in alternative school programs for Fairfax County Public Schools. She has performed with the Virginia Tech Chamber Singers, The New Virginians vocal jazz ensemble, and Opera Roanoke, but her true love is musical theatre. Although she always prefers the role of performer, she is an appreciative patron of all performing arts, particularly musical theatre, opera, and dance. Stephanie and her husband Michael live in Ashburn with two rowdy dogs.
Back to Top
Orin Hatton (B) has been singing bass in his church choir and studying voice for the past three years. Although he's relatively new to the vocal scene, he's been an instrumentalist for nearly 50 years. He is retired from the U.S. Navy Band in Washington, D.C., and has performed with Cab Calloway, the Four Tops and the Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Circus. He has appeared at such venues as the White House and Blues Alley. His wife is a clarinetist who performed with Voce in 1995 and is currently a member of the Fairfax Symphony. They have two children, a cellist and a violist, both performing in New York City.
Back to Top
Ed Hauck (B) first experience with serious choral singing was in the Big Easy when a high school music teacher invited him to join the school's small a cappella ensemble. Later in the Air Force, he joined a quartet that won first place in an AF-wide barbershop quartet contest. He has sung in many large productions such as the Verdi Requiem and Boris Godunov, but decided, when he moved to the Reston area, to form a small vocal ensemble that specialized in Renaissance and Early American music. The group performed in the Northern Virginia area and in Williamsburg for over 20 years. He has sung in Voce for the past several years.
Back to Top
Dawn Jones (A) was raised in Pennsylvania and did her graduate work at Columbia University in New York. She likes being back close to her roots after traveling and residing as far away as South Asia. Singing has been a permanent enjoyment in her life. She has been a church and cantata soloist and music director and has also sung with several chamber ensembles in Southern California, New York City and locally in the D.C. area. Previously a college professor, she is now the director of professional development for a national educational association.
Back to Top
Damone Motton (T) has sung in classical and musical theater ensembles, touring both domestically and internationally since 1989. Among others, he has had the opportunity to sing under the direction of Jester Hairston, Mack Wilberg, and Leonard Bernstein. Now back in his home state of Virginia, he is very happy to be a member of Voce and a member of Voce's Governing Board.
Back to Top
Deborah Rudd (S) grew up on the farm lands of Indiana with a family who loves music, truly a gift for life. She holds a Bachelors of Science in Music Education and a Masters of Music in Vocal Performance. Through her college years, she sang in a variety of ensembles and productions. She has enjoyed singing solos in church choirs and for her daughter as she grew up. Deborah has been teaching Elementary Music in the Fairfax County schools, directing children's church musicals, and had the pleasure of observing Ms. Joan Gregoryk and Ms. Doreen Rao as her daughter sang with the Children's Chorus of Washington. Her daughter has now graduated into independent life and she is thrilled to sing non-elementary music with Voce.
Back to Top
Michelle Roth-Cline (A) took her first musical lessons at age 3, and never lost her love of music. In addition to singing in church and school, she has played percussion, cello, French horn, and piano at various times in her life. She was a cast member in several seasons of the Vienna Youth Players musical theatre, and years later served as Piano Accompanist and Musical Director. In college, she sang with Ken Nafziger for three years in Eastern Mennonite University's Chamber Singers before wandering to the frigid North to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She now lives in Ashburn, VA, and works as a Pediatric Ethicist in the Office of Pediatric Therapeutics, FDA.
Back to Top
Ryan Schmelz (B) was selected for the South Dakota high school All State choir (many years ago) and he performed extensively in church groups in the same era. The there was a long musical dry spell, due to excessive business travel and relocations. Ryan performed for two seasons with the Diller Street Chorale in Winnetka, Illinois in the early '90s before moving to Virginia and going back on the road. After selling his management consulting firm, Ryan was thrilled to be accepted into Voce for the 2006-2007 season and hopes he will be able to remain off the road and keep singing. Ryan's daughter Stephanie is a lawyer in Washington and enjoys attending Ryan's performances.
Back to Top
Sid Schwartz (B) started singing in organized choral groups at the age of eight as a first soprano with the (then) Columbus Boychoir (now American Boychoir) of Princeton, NJ. He has sung with several accompanied and a cappella choirs and chorales since moving to the Washington area and is pleased to be singing with Voce. During the day, Sid is privileged to be the director of a consulting staff of methodologists, computer specialists, statisticians, and survey specialists at the U.S. GAO. Sid is married and lives with his wife, two sons, and five cats in Vienna, Virginia.
Back to Top
Jennifer "JJ" Singh (S) has a passion for singing that sprouted in her early years with participation in small ensemble groups including Blacksburg Madrigals and the Virginia Tech Meistersingers. In pursuit of classical solo training, JJ earned a Bachelor of Music from the University of Maryland and immensely enjoyed their opera program. After graduation came a career in a series of internet startups, followed by marriage, and 2 beautiful daughters. Today JJ is a practicing metalsmith with a studio in Great Falls, Virginia and is thrilled to be getting back to her musical roots as a member with Voce.
Back to Top
Joan Winter Skerritt (S) is happily married to husband Michael and is proud mother of Ben, Kim, Liz and Jen. Joan joined Voce in 1992, after singing with the Brown University Chorus, the Stanford Symphonic Chorus, the Masterworks Chorale in San Mateo, CA, and performing lots of musical theater in her younger years. Her most surreal singing experience was backing up Barry Manilow in concert at the Providence Civic Center. Joan is a soprano soloist at St. John Neumann Church in Reston. In addition to singing soprano with Voce, Joan is the ensemble's Executive Director.
Back to Top
Sarah Skutt (S) started singing in high school, and fell in love with it. She had the opportunity to take voice lessons throughout her college career and also participated in several choirs and concerts in college, singing a wide variety of music. After graduating from college Sarah was eager to stay involved with music. When a friend suggested she join Voce, she was very excited at the opportunity.
Back to Top
Keyona Taylor (S) started her singing debut with her twin brother at their kindergarten graduation singing a duet of This World is Not My Home. Keyona continued singing through her years of education into college in a small a cappella ensemble and even with her church at an event at Constitution Hall. A friend challenged her to join a well-established professional choral group which prompted her first participation with Voce in the mid 1990s. She's since moved 4 times and traveled the world on various mission trips, and has now returned once again to Voce.
Back to Top
Denise Tierney, (A) a member of Voce since 1994, is a Senior Technical Analyst with Datatel, Inc., in Fairfax. A graduate of Louisiana State University, she came to Virginia by way of Tennessee where she was contralto soloist in several churches and was affiliated with Nashville Pro Musica, serving as Concert Manager for many years. She is married to the official Voce groupie, Pete Tierney.
Back to Top
Sarah van der Vate (S) had the good fortune to be born to the Best Mom in the Universe, who (among other fantastic virtues and deeds) happened to be a talented musician that sang intervals to her in her carseat as a toddler. By the age of three, Sarah could sing perfect thirds and fifths and was in love with music. While in high school, she sang with Fairfax High's A Cappella singers as well as participated in district, state, regional, and national honors choirs. College brought with it a musical hiatus that has only very recently come to an end. In her spare time, Sarah can be found doing any number of things including playing guitar, knitting, poking around under the hood of a Volkswagen, and fire dancing.
Back to Top
Jennifer Wells (A) received her Bachelors in Music from Berklee College of Music, and a Masters in Communication, Culture and Technology from Georgetown University. She may be the only person with degrees from those two particular schools... A member of an artistic family, she began performing music with her brother and sister at a young age, and in addition to her vocal exploits plays the viola, handbells, recorder and harp with varying degrees of proficiency. Her enduring love has always been for chamber music, whether vocal or instrumental, and she's thrilled to be performing with Voce. Jennifer lives in Reston with her husband Ed, and works at PBS managing kids' game development.
Back to Top
Elliot Wicks (B) is a health economist by profession and a long-time amateur singer by avocation. A charter member of Voce, Elliot has sung in small vocal groups all of his adult life. Taking voice lessons through nine years of college and graduate school and beyond helped to relieve the pressures of academic and professional life.
Back to Top
Tim Yorke (T) is a tenor from Leesburg who discovered his vocal talent "accidentally" during his junior year of high school. Since then, he's been singing off and on. He's most excited to be singing again after a seven year hiatus. Originally from the coal region in PA, Tim teaches English and Journalism at Heritage High School. He's currently pursuing a master's degree in Library Science from The Catholic University.
Back to Top
