DCINY presents The Music of Sir Karl Jenkins: Celebrating Jonathan Griffith. Join us in honoring Jonathan's life and legacy exactly as he would have wanted: through music, together, at Carnegie Hall. Stepping to the podium to conduct Maestro Griffith's program in his honor are Composer-in-Residence Sir Karl Jenkins (Palladio), Dr. Marie Bucoy-Calavan (Gloria), and Francisco J. Núñez (The Armed Man), featuring soloists Penelope Shumate and Claudia Chapa, Distinguished Concerts Singers International, and Distinguished Concerts Orchestra.
Sir Karl Jenkins, CBE, DCINY Composer-in-Residence
Jenkins: Palladio Reimagined
Also Featuring:
Penelope Shumate, Soprano
Claudia Chapa, Mezzo-Soprano
Participating Groups
Jonathan Griffith Singers
The Joyful Band of Singers
Choir of Leibniz-Privatschule
Concord Chorale
Choral Artists of Carmel
Downers Grove Choral Society
Bagaduce Chorale
Masterworks Chorale
Kirchenchor Dorfen
Brecon Singers
The Chancel Choir of Saint John's Methodist Church
Special Guests
Artist's Name
Sir Karl Jenkins, CBE
Artist's Name
Francisco J. Núñez
Artist's Name
Marie Bucoy-Calavan
Artist's Name
Penelope Shumate
Artist's Name
Claudia Chapa
Press & Marketing
Click an item below to expand
Participating Group Directors
Jonathan Griffith Singers
Founded by conductor and educator Jonathan Griffith in 1987 as a chamber choir of 24 professional singers in Portland, Oregon, the Jonathan Griffith Singers is now a flexible ensemble of 80-120 amateur and professional singers from across the United States and Canada, based in New York City.
Members of the Jonathan Griffith Singers have performed in some of the world’s finest concert halls, including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, the Rudolfinum in Prague, the Palau de la Musica in Barcelona, Santa Maria Sopra Minerva in Rome, and the Cathedral Duomo of Pisa in Italy. Recognized for their appealing and accessible programming, the Singers perform a wide range of repertoire.
Recent performances include performance tours in Croatia in 2025 and New Zealand in 2023. In 2019 we embarked on the Messiah… Refreshed Recording Project at Abbey Road Studios in London, a performance tour in Barcelona, and two concerts with Turkey’s Turksoy orchestra at Avery Fisher Hall in New York and at the Music Center at Strathmore in Maryland. In 2011, the Singers toured to Montevideo, Uruguay and Buenos Ares, Argentina performing Mozart’s Requiem and a work by Dinos Constantinides. In 2009, the Singers traveled to the People’s Republic of China, where they performed the Chinese premiere of Karl Jenkins’ The Armed Man: Music for Peace with the celebrated Xin Ya Kong Qi Symphony Orchestra at Beijing’s Forbidden City Concert Hall and Shanghai’s Oriental Arts Center. These highly anticipated concert events were recognized internationally, as they commemorated the 30th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between the United States and China.
Additional tours have included Fauré’s Requiem and other French works in the south of France and in Paris at La Madeleine; Verdi’s Requiem, more recently at the Santa Maria Sopra Minerva in Rome and the Cathedral Duomo Pisa celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Cathedral’s designation as a World Heritage site, and before that at the Theatre Fortuny and the renowned Palau de la Musica, both in Barcelona with the European Symphony Orchestra, to sold-out audiences; two tours to the Czech Republic including Dvořák Hall of the Prague Rudolfinum with the Virtuosi Pragenses Chamber Orchestra, and with the Karlovy Vary Orchestra for two thrilling performances of the Robert Levin edition of Mozart’s Requiem; Verdi’s Requiem in Rome and Pisa, Italy; and northern Italy and southern France with an All-American program, featuring the Jazz Mass “Missa Gaia,” as recorded by The Paul Winter Consort, with guitarist Jim Scott and a nine-member jazz ensemble.
The Jonathan Griffith Singers can be heard on two Christmas recordings: Peace at Christmas on the Clarion label, and Festival of Lights on Bonneville Classics, as well as on Messiah… Refreshed!
Choir of Leibniz-Privatschule
Wolf Tobias Müller
The school choir of Leibniz-Privatschule was founded in 2025 by choir director and teacher Wolf Tobias Müller. After performing a successful musical project the choir performed Jenkins‘ Symphonic Adiemus several times in northern Germany.
Wolf Tobias Müller is director and conductor of choirs and orchestras. Performances with choir and orchestra including works like Verdi‘s Requiem or Mahler‘s second and third symphony. As assistant conductor to Simone Young he works with world named orchestras regularly.
The Joyful Band of Singers
Finley Woolston
The Joyful Band of Singers is a non-auditioned invitation only ensemble whose membership varies from a quartet to full chamber choir depending on the needs of the performance.
Finley Woolston recently retired after 33 years as Music Director of the Crystal Coast Choral Society in North Carolina. He is also a retired Music Director with the United Methodist Church. He sings with Schola Cantorum, the choir of the Episcopal Diocese of East Carolina. He was their original client when DCINY formed in 2008. He has sung with DCINY at least twice a year since then and has been on four tours with the Jonathan Griffith Singers.
Concord Chorale
Jenny Cooper
The Concord Chorale, an auditioned vocal ensemble in its 59th season, combines outstanding choral performances with a strong sense of community and camaraderie. We present choral repertoire that is appealing, diverse and innovative, and that is relevant to us, to our community and to our time. We strive to be challenged as singers, while aiming to inspire, entertain and educate our audiences. The Chorale is deeply engaged in the greater Concord region as a visible, involved and respected arts organization that builds bridges with others who align with our vision and values.
Jenny Cooper (mezzo soprano, she/her) has been the director of Concord Chorale since 2019. She holds the degrees Master of Music in Choral Conducting at the University of Southern Maine and B.A. in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy from Plymouth State University. Jenny is the Director of Music at Lawrence Academy and her choruses have been invited to perform at Carnegie Hall five times. Since 2008 she has sung with the New Hampshire Master Chorale as both a soloist and choir member.
Jenny lives in Groton, MA with her wife, and three children.
Choral Artists of Carmel
Robin McKee Williams
Choral Artists of Carmel
Robin McKee Williams, MA, CMVT, Founding director
The Choral Artists of Carmel is founded and directed by Robin McKee Williams 2009. It is a choir comprised of mostly professional singers. Their repertoire includes four centuries of music. Her singers perform with San Francisco Opera, San Diego Opera, Gilbert and Sulivan Society in NYC and Berlin State Opera and other venues around the world. Most recently Ms. Williams premiered a chamber opera by soprano Heather Green from Berlin “The Metamorphosis of the Swans.” Ms. Williams’ poem “Wings” was set to music by Ms. Green for her opera and premiered by The Choral Artists of Carmel in January of 2026. “Luminosity” composed by Michael Orlinsky and text by Ms. Williams will be premiered in March of 2027. The piece was commissioned to honor Joanathan Griffitth her instructor at the DCINY conducting workshops from 2012 to 2020. The March concert is dedicated to honor Jonathan Griffith.
Robin McKee Williams, MA, CMVT, is a conductor, mezzo-soprano soloist, voice specialist and lyricist. Her training includes the Royal Conservatory of Music, Stanford University, San Jose State University and the McClosky Institute of Boston. She has attended Distinguished Concerts International New York conducting mentoring workshops regularly from 2012-2020. She is the founding director of the Choral Artists of Carmel in Monterey, California. Their repertoire has included Brahms, Stravinsky, Bach, Debussy, Vaughan Williams, Dan Forrest, Eric Whitaker, Will Todd, Heather Green and Thomas LaVoy. In March 2027, “Luminosity,” by composer Michael Orlinsky and text by Robin McKee Williams will be premiered by her Choral Artists of Carmel and has been dedicated to Jonathan Griffith her instructor at the DCINY conducting mentoring workshops.
Downers Grove Choral Society
John Patrick Rakes
The Downers Grove Choral Society (DGCS), John P. Rakes, Artistic Director, is dedicated to enriching the cultural life of Chicagoland through the power of choral music. DGCS was founded in 1959 by Thelma Roe Milnes and Donald Drew whose shared vision brought singers together to perform Handel’s Messiah. Recent accomplishments include commissioning music from Shawn Okpebholo and Marcus Amker, a project funded through the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2024, the choir performed Mozart’s Requiem and Vespers solennes de confessore in Vienna and Downers Grove. The choir was a national finalist for the 2024 American Prize in Choral Performance.
Bagaduce Chorale
Bronwyn Kortge
The Bagaduce Chorale is an 80-voice choir committed to bringing the very best in choral music to downeast Maine. Our mission is to perform choral music at the highest artistic level. We are dedicated to building a musical community, fostering a deeper interest in the choral arts, and achieving choral excellence to enrich and inspire both audiences and performers.
Bronwyn Kortge has served as Music Director of the Bagaduce Chorale since 2001, where she has dedicated her tenure to bringing ambitious, high-level musical programs to rural coastal communities. A prominent choral educator, adjudicator, clinician, and award-winning show choir director in Downeast Maine, Ms. Kortge has spent over two decades expanding the chorale's repertoire. Under her direction, the ensemble has presented major classical works and modern contemporary pieces including Maine state premieres of Jonathan Willcocks’ Magnificat, Elaine Hagenberg’s Illuminare, Michael John Trotta’s Requiem, and—forthcoming in spring 2027—Taylor Scott Davis’ Requiem and Christopher Tin’s The Lost Birds. Committed to fostering new music, the Bagaduce Chorale has performed commissions by Maine composers Paul Sullivan and Anna Dembska. Additionally, the Chorale has presented debut works by promising student composers Cedar Ellis, Francis Burns, Francis Snyder, and Jacob Sanner. Ms. Kortge is thrilled to lead the Bagaduce Chorale to the Carnegie Hall stage this winter, joining forces to bring Sir Karl Jenkins’ masterpiece, The Armed Man, to life.
Masterworks Chorale
Dr. Bryan Baker
Masterworks Chorale is critically recognized as one of Northern California's finest choral ensembles, performing master works of sacred and secular choral music, from Baroque to Broadway, in venues across the Bay Area. Founded in 1964, the chorale is a much-loved Bay Area institution, treasured for its warmth of tone, technical excellence, and commitment to the local community. Masterworks has performed with many local arts organizations including the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera, Redwood Symphony, Peninsula Symphony, San Jose Symphony, and the Cabrillo Festival. The chorale has received various accolades and awards including recent wins of the coveted Best of the Bay award. Their performances have received critical acclaim, at home and abroad, on various tours in Europe, the People’s Republic of China, for our 50th Anniversary performances at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in New York City and on our most recent performance tour of the Baltics. Under Dr. Baker’s leadership, Masterworks has become a committed sponsor of new choral music including new pieces by renowned composers Bob Chilcott and Ola Gjeilo, and by Bay Area composers such as Monica Chew and Nick Carlozzi.
Artistic Director and Conductor of Masterworks Chorale since 2002, Dr. Bryan Baker also holds the positions of Director of Music at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, and founder and director of the chamber choir Serenade. He has led many choral clinics, judged countless choral competitions, and frequently appeared as a guest conductor in the Bay Area. In addition to the Masterworks orchestra, he has conducted the Solaris Chamber Orchestra, the Redwood Symphony, the Peninsula Symphonic Winds, the New Millennium Strings, and the Kensington Symphony. Having earned bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees in music, Dr. Baker served on the faculty of the College of San Mateo for 12 years. He also taught voice at San Francisco State University and Truman University (Missouri), and piano at Foothill College and Arizona State University. He maintains a private studio, and his students have won competitions and appeared in concerts and operas in the Bay Area and across the country. An accomplished pianist, Dr. Baker has played solo concerts, chamber music and accompanied vocal recitals across the United States and in Europe and South America. Locally he has performed in Davies Symphony Hall, Herbst Theater, and at the Stern Grove Festival. During recent seasons, he played concertos by Mozart, Beethoven, Saint-Säens and Shostakovich. Dr. Baker has won prizes in numerous competitions and received grants for performances of chamber music. He has also spent a good deal of time in the theater. His musical director credits include Godspell, Company, The Apple Tree, Side by Side by Sondheim, Les Miserables, and The World Goes ‘Round.
Kirchenchor Dorfen
Ernst Bartmann
„Kirchenchor Dorfen“ (church choir) has one of the longest histories of choirs in Dorfen. The choir has around 50 members and contributes with one to two concerts per year to the cultural life of Dorfen. In collaboration with other choires in town every five years a huge concert is performed with an opus every singer should have performed once in life (e. g. Beethoven‘s 9th symphony). The music literature presented by the choir has a broad range reaching from baroque to modern compositions. Within the last 10 years three works of Karl Jenkins were performed.
Ernst Bartmann, born in Munich in 1976, studied church music, composition, music conducting, and concert organ at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and is currently working on his doctorate in musicology.
Besides his assignment as curch musician in the parish of Maria Dorfen since 1994, he is co-founder of "Opera Incognita", performing operas at locations in Munich which match the plot of the individual opera (e.g. a hospital, museum, public bath, circus).
Ernst was awarded the Austrian Ministry of Culture's Appreciation Prize for his achievements. He also received cultural awards from the town of Dorfen and the district of Erding.
Brecon Singers
Robert Evans
Brecon Singers was founded in 1966 as the Brecon Cathedral Singers, providing an opportunity for the people of Brecon and the surrounding area to perform major choral works whilst augmenting the Cathedral’s choristers. Over the next six decades the choir has performed a broad repertoire of choral music including works by Haydn, Handel, Mozart ,Fauré and Bach amongst others. Concerts have taken place in Brecon, around the UK and overseas.
Robert Evans began his musical education at Hereford Cathedral and studied at the Royal Welsh and Royal College of Music. After a London debut in 1987, he spent ten years in Westminster Cathedral's choir before moving to Salisbury to pursue a global freelance career. As a soloist and consort singer, he performed internationally with renowned ensembles like The Sixteen and The Tallis Scholars. Balancing classical works with lighter repertoire, Evans sang in the West End and recorded soundtracks for blockbusters like Pirates of the Caribbean and Shrek. Now based in Hay-on-Wye, he has directed the Brecon Singers since 2016.
The Chancel Choir of Saint John's Methodist Church
Dr. Matt Caine
The Chancel Choir of St. John’s Methodist Church of Aiken (SC) is a 50-voice volunteer choir of singers ranging in age from 18 to 94. The choir presents two to three choral-orchestral works annually, recently performing Handel’s Messiah, Sir Karl Jenkins’ Stabat Mater, and Rutter’s Magnificat among others. This is in addition to weekly presentations of anthems of diverse styles, ranging from Renaissance to recent compositions, in worship. The Chancel Choir made its Carnegie Hall debut singing Sir Karl Jenkins’ Stabat Mater in 2026 with DCINY and is pleased to have members returning for this concert.
Dr. Matt Caine is Director of Traditional Music at St. John's Methodist Church, Aiken, SC, where he oversees a robust music program, conducting multiple choral and instrumental ensembles. He is in frequent demand as guest conductor in diverse settings, such as recent engagements with the New Mexico Symphonic Chorus and Orchestra and the Aiken County Public Schools Honors Chorus. Both a Fulbright Scholar and a Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellow in Bulgarian Language and Culture of the United States Department of Education, he is a frequent presenter on national, regional, and state conferences of the American Choral Directors Association.
The Music of Sir Karl Jenkins: Celebrating Jonathan Griffith
DCINY presents The Music of Sir Karl Jenkins: Celebrating Jonathan Griffith. Join us in honoring Jonathan's life and legacy exactly as he would have wanted: through music, together, at Carnegie Hall. Stepping to the podium to conduct Maestro Griffith's program in his honor are Composer-in-Residence Sir Karl Jenkins (Palladio), Dr. Marie Bucoy-Calavan (Gloria), and Francisco J. Núñez (The Armed Man), featuring soloists Penelope Shumate and Claudia Chapa, Distinguished Concerts Singers International, and Distinguished Concerts Orchestra.
Acts
Jenkins: The Armed Man
Jenkins: Gloria
Jenkins: Palladio Reimagined
Also Featuring:
Participating Groups
Special Guests
Artist's Name
Sir Karl Jenkins, CBEArtist's Name
Francisco J. NúñezArtist's Name
Marie Bucoy-CalavanArtist's Name
Penelope ShumateArtist's Name
Claudia ChapaPress & Marketing
Click an item below to expand
Participating Group Directors
Founded by conductor and educator Jonathan Griffith in 1987 as a chamber choir of 24 professional singers in Portland, Oregon, the Jonathan Griffith Singers is now a flexible ensemble of 80-120 amateur and professional singers from across the United States and Canada, based in New York City.
Members of the Jonathan Griffith Singers have performed in some of the world’s finest concert halls, including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, the Rudolfinum in Prague, the Palau de la Musica in Barcelona, Santa Maria Sopra Minerva in Rome, and the Cathedral Duomo of Pisa in Italy. Recognized for their appealing and accessible programming, the Singers perform a wide range of repertoire.
Recent performances include performance tours in Croatia in 2025 and New Zealand in 2023. In 2019 we embarked on the Messiah… Refreshed Recording Project at Abbey Road Studios in London, a performance tour in Barcelona, and two concerts with Turkey’s Turksoy orchestra at Avery Fisher Hall in New York and at the Music Center at Strathmore in Maryland. In 2011, the Singers toured to Montevideo, Uruguay and Buenos Ares, Argentina performing Mozart’s Requiem and a work by Dinos Constantinides. In 2009, the Singers traveled to the People’s Republic of China, where they performed the Chinese premiere of Karl Jenkins’ The Armed Man: Music for Peace with the celebrated Xin Ya Kong Qi Symphony Orchestra at Beijing’s Forbidden City Concert Hall and Shanghai’s Oriental Arts Center. These highly anticipated concert events were recognized internationally, as they commemorated the 30th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between the United States and China.
Additional tours have included Fauré’s Requiem and other French works in the south of France and in Paris at La Madeleine; Verdi’s Requiem, more recently at the Santa Maria Sopra Minerva in Rome and the Cathedral Duomo Pisa celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Cathedral’s designation as a World Heritage site, and before that at the Theatre Fortuny and the renowned Palau de la Musica, both in Barcelona with the European Symphony Orchestra, to sold-out audiences; two tours to the Czech Republic including Dvořák Hall of the Prague Rudolfinum with the Virtuosi Pragenses Chamber Orchestra, and with the Karlovy Vary Orchestra for two thrilling performances of the Robert Levin edition of Mozart’s Requiem; Verdi’s Requiem in Rome and Pisa, Italy; and northern Italy and southern France with an All-American program, featuring the Jazz Mass “Missa Gaia,” as recorded by The Paul Winter Consort, with guitarist Jim Scott and a nine-member jazz ensemble.
The Jonathan Griffith Singers can be heard on two Christmas recordings: Peace at Christmas on the Clarion label, and Festival of Lights on Bonneville Classics, as well as on Messiah… Refreshed!
Masterworks Chorale is critically recognized as one of Northern California's finest choral ensembles, performing master works of sacred and secular choral music, from Baroque to Broadway, in venues across the Bay Area. Founded in 1964, the chorale is a much-loved Bay Area institution, treasured for its warmth of tone, technical excellence, and commitment to the local community. Masterworks has performed with many local arts organizations including the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera, Redwood Symphony, Peninsula Symphony, San Jose Symphony, and the Cabrillo Festival. The chorale has received various accolades and awards including recent wins of the coveted Best of the Bay award. Their performances have received critical acclaim, at home and abroad, on various tours in Europe, the People’s Republic of China, for our 50th Anniversary performances at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in New York City and on our most recent performance tour of the Baltics. Under Dr. Baker’s leadership, Masterworks has become a committed sponsor of new choral music including new pieces by renowned composers Bob Chilcott and Ola Gjeilo, and by Bay Area composers such as Monica Chew and Nick Carlozzi.
Artistic Director and Conductor of Masterworks Chorale since 2002, Dr. Bryan Baker also holds the positions of Director of Music at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, and founder and director of the chamber choir Serenade. He has led many choral clinics, judged countless choral competitions, and frequently appeared as a guest conductor in the Bay Area. In addition to the Masterworks orchestra, he has conducted the Solaris Chamber Orchestra, the Redwood Symphony, the Peninsula Symphonic Winds, the New Millennium Strings, and the Kensington Symphony. Having earned bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees in music, Dr. Baker served on the faculty of the College of San Mateo for 12 years. He also taught voice at San Francisco State University and Truman University (Missouri), and piano at Foothill College and Arizona State University. He maintains a private studio, and his students have won competitions and appeared in concerts and operas in the Bay Area and across the country. An accomplished pianist, Dr. Baker has played solo concerts, chamber music and accompanied vocal recitals across the United States and in Europe and South America. Locally he has performed in Davies Symphony Hall, Herbst Theater, and at the Stern Grove Festival. During recent seasons, he played concertos by Mozart, Beethoven, Saint-Säens and Shostakovich. Dr. Baker has won prizes in numerous competitions and received grants for performances of chamber music. He has also spent a good deal of time in the theater. His musical director credits include Godspell, Company, The Apple Tree, Side by Side by Sondheim, Les Miserables, and The World Goes ‘Round.
Brecon Singers was founded in 1966 as the Brecon Cathedral Singers, providing an opportunity for the people of Brecon and the surrounding area to perform major choral works whilst augmenting the Cathedral’s choristers. Over the next six decades the choir has performed a broad repertoire of choral music including works by Haydn, Handel, Mozart ,Fauré and Bach amongst others. Concerts have taken place in Brecon, around the UK and overseas.
Robert Evans began his musical education at Hereford Cathedral and studied at the Royal Welsh and Royal College of Music. After a London debut in 1987, he spent ten years in Westminster Cathedral's choir before moving to Salisbury to pursue a global freelance career. As a soloist and consort singer, he performed internationally with renowned ensembles like The Sixteen and The Tallis Scholars. Balancing classical works with lighter repertoire, Evans sang in the West End and recorded soundtracks for blockbusters like Pirates of the Caribbean and Shrek. Now based in Hay-on-Wye, he has directed the Brecon Singers since 2016.