Mendelssohn 2 & Mendelssohn 2.1

Yakima Symphony Chorus

The Yakima Symphony Chorus was formed in the spring of 1971 by the Yakima Symphony Orchestra’s founding music director, Brooke Creswell, as the official choral ensemble of the symphony. Dr. Scott Peterson led the chorus for 38 years from 1977–2015, during which time the chorus had the opportunity to tour Europe and Asia and perform at Carnegie Hall. Justin Raffa served as chorusmaster from 2015 to 2023, fostering regional collaborations and curating choral feature programs with local resonance, such as 2019’s Annelise and Heart Mountain performances. Current chorusmaster Steven Slusher has placed an emphasis on expanding the roster of singers and has established a Young Artist Program to provide leadership opportunities to emerging professional singers.

Lawrence Golan

Vibrant, inspired performances, imaginative programming, and an evocative command of different styles and composers are the hallmarks of American conductor Lawrence Golan. He currently serves as music director/conductor of the Yakima Symphony Orchestra (Washington), the York Symphony Orchestra (Pennsylvania), and the Lamont Symphony Orchestra & Opera Theatre at the University of Denver (Colorado). In addition, he is the music director laureate of the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra.

Having conducted throughout the United States and in Bulgaria, Canada, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, El Salvador, England, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan, Maestro Golan continues to develop relationships with orchestras nationally and abroad.

Steven Slusher

Steven S. Slusher, who hails from St. Louis MO, received his Master of Music degree as the choral conducting graduate assistant from Southern Illinois University, and he holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Ohio Northern University. Slusher has conducted throughout the United States from the Crystal Cathedral in California to Riverside Church in New York City. He was founding conductor of Summer Dreams, a city honors choir that performed in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. He has been music director for many musicals, opera productions, and orchestral works. Slusher is the past assistant director and soloist of the Bach Society of St. Louis and a principal singer and soloist for the St. Louis Symphony. He was on the music faculty at Lindenwood University in St. Charles MO for almost a decade. Currently, Slusher is tenured associate professor of choral/vocal activities at Yakima Valley College and an active adjudicator throughout Washington DC and the United States.

Martha Guth

Juno-nominated soprano Martha Guth’s performance highlights include Wigmore Hall, Lincoln Center, The National Cathedral, St. John Smith Square, The Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Oxford Lieder, The Chicago Philharmonic, Voices of Ascension, and many more. Her longtime recital and touring partners include Graham Johnson, Javier Arrebola, and Erika Switzer, and performances have been recorded and broadcast for the CBC Radio/Radio Canada, the BBC Radio in the United Kingdom, and the WDR in Germany. She is proud to have worked under the batons of Maestros Seiji Ozawa, Robert Spano, Helmut Rilling, John Nelson, Richard Bradshaw, and Alan Gilbert among many others. Her discography includes Summer Night, a Juno-nominated disc of songs by Healy Willan on Centrediscs; Das Ewig Weibliche, a solo disc of Schubert songs with Penelope Crawford on fortepiano; Roberto Sierra’s Beyond the Silence of Sorrow with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Puerto Rico for Naxos (nominated for a 2016 Latin GRAMMY); John Fitz-Rogers’ Magna Mysteria for Innova; Go by Contraries, songs of Andrew Staniland with Baritone Tyler Duncan and Pianist Erika Switzer for Centre Discs; The Brahms Liebeslieder Waltzes for Sparks & Co.; and The Five Boroughs Song Book for GVR records. First Prize winner of the Wigmore Hall International Song Competition, she is co-founder/ director of Sparks & Wiry Cries, a non-profit dedicated to art song spanning publication, live performance, and commission of new works.

marthaguth.com  sparksandwirycries.org

Bonnie Joy

Passionate about performing and teaching, Bonnie Joy runs a private voice studio while actively collaborating on projects and songwriting. Joy teaches voice lessons at Make Music Ellensburg as well. She has performed with Sempre Chamber ensemble in 2020, Joy and Hope as a solo recital in 2021, and Around the World in 80 Minutes at The Seasons Performance Hall in early 2023.

Spending her formative years in Yakima, Joy graduated in 2017 with a B.A. in Vocal Performance from Central Washington University, where she studied with Dr. Gayla Blaisdell. In 2019 she received her M.M. in Voice Performance from West Virginia University after studying with Dr. Hope Koehler and James Kennon Mitchell. At West Virginia University, she won the WVU Young Artist Competition, making her solo concert debut with Sieben Frühe Lieder by Alban Berg. She has appeared in operas such as Die Fledermaus, The Barber of Seville as Barbarina, and Die Zauberflöte as both Pamina and Papagena. In the summer of 2018, Joy received a scholarship to the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, where she studied in the Lieder program. Aside from intense study of German language and poetry, she worked with masters of classical music and performed in an authentic Lieder Abend.

Matthew Plenk

American tenor Matthew Plenk holds a Bachelor’s degree from the Hartt School of Music, a Master’s degree from Yale University, and is a Samling Scholar. He is a graduate of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and has sung several roles with the company, including Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Tamino in The Magic Flute, and Janek in The Makropulos Case.

Plenk has been seen on the operatic stages of Los Angeles Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Virginia Opera, Atlanta Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and Des Moines Metro Opera. In concert, he has appeared with the Cleveland, Boston, Philadelphia and Minnesota Orchestras, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Baltimore, Houston, Colorado and Hartford Symphonies, University Musical Society, Aspen Music and La Jolla Summerfest festivals, and with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi.

In 2005, Plenk was one of 16 singers invited to work with Naxos Records and Yale University in a collaborative project to record the complete songs of Charles Ives. Amongst a number of awards and recognitions, he was a Grand Finalist in the 2007 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Plenk is the artistic director of Lamont Opera Theatre at The University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music, where he also serves as assistant professor of voice.