Chicago Christmas Carolers for Hire

Meet our Chicago carolers!

Dennis Kalup (Tenor) received a Bachelor of Music degree in Voice Performance from Penn State University. After he completed his degree, he traveled as an entertainer aboard various cruise lines before moving back to the Philadelphia area. He has been a featured soloist with the Vox Ama Deus and Renaissance Consort, the Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia, The Greater South Jersey Chorus and the State College Choral Society. He now resides in Chicago.

Darlene Kelsey (Soprano) is a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory where she received her Master’s degree in voice after completing a performance degree in oboe. She has appeared with Concert Operetta Theater, Center City Opera Theater, Florentine Opera Company, Opera for the Young, Musicam Sacram, La Musica Lirica, Delaware Valley Opera Company, Chicago Symphony Chorus, Vox Ama Deus, and West Jersey Chamber Music Society. Ms. Kelsey is also a frequent recitalist and has performed on several concert series including the Noontime Concert Series at the University of Chicago and the Bach Birthday with Vox Ama Deus.

Kemper Florin (Soprano) cultivates a wide-ranging career as a performer and producer of musical theatre, opera, concert and stage work. As a vocalist, Kemper’s solo engagements include appearances at the Kimmel Center (Philadelphia) and at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall (New York). She was a featured soloist with Philadelphia’s Vox Ama Deus, Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Peter Nero and the Philly Pops and the Middletown Symphony Orchestra. Kemper is a frequent guest artist with Cincinnati’s innovative chamber ensemble, concert:nova, and also sings with the renowned Cincinnati-based Vocal Arts Ensemble, and Austin-based Conspirare, both under the direction of Craig Hella Johnson. In addition to her concert work, Ms. Florin has appeared extensively in leading roles in musical theatre and operetta. Ms. Florin holds degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2003) and Eastman School of Music (2005). She has received awards from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the New York Oratorio Society and the Liederkranz Foundation of New York. Passionate about equitable arts education access and learning, Kemper is the Executive Director of Barrel of Monkeys Productions in Chicago, IL.

Brenna Boncosky (Alto) is a mezzo-soprano originally from Barrington, Illinois. After receiving her BM in vocal performance from the University of Mississippi and her MM in vocal performance from the New England Conservatory of Music, Brenna landed back in the Chicago area to teach and perform in a variety of mediums. In addition to maintaining a private voice studio, “Miss Brenna” is an early childhood music educator with Music Together at The Mattix Music School in Western Springs, IL. Brenna sings with the William Ferris Chorale and is a supplementary member of the Grant Park Festival Chorus.

Vera Bowser (Soprano) is an American soprano with a degree in Vocal Performance from the Chicago College of Performing Arts. Though originally from Sheboygan, Wisconsin, she has spent the last 20 years in the Chicagoland area pursuing her education and maintaining a private voice studio. Vera became a member of the Chicago Symphony Chorus in 2010, singing Berlioz’s Lelio, the Cherubini Requiem, Verdi’s Otello, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass, as well as their tour to Carnegie Hall in her first year. Some of her favorite roles have included La Fee from Viardot’s Cendrillon, Anna in the King and I, and the title role of Offenbach’s Bagatelle.

Katherine Dalin (Alto) lights up the stage with her rich, luminous contralto voice and charismatic stage portrayals, with critics praising her onstage "exuberance" and ability to “show us more sides of her character than perhaps anyone else.” Her energetic and quick-witted sense of comedy has made Katherine Dalin a sought after lead in the Gilbert & Sullivan and operetta canon, particularly in her signature role Ruth in Pirates of Penzance. Her career embraces opera, crossover musical theatre, cabaret, and straight theatre repertoire and everything in between. When not performing, she enjoys teaching music and theatre to students of all ages and battling her husband and friends in board games.

Bethany Brautigam (Soprano) made her trouser role debut as Gontran in An Incomplete Education (Chabrier) with Evanston Chamber Opera right before quarantine, and can next be seen as Norina in Don Pasquale with Concert Opera of Greater Chicago. In 2019 she performed Musetta/La Boheme, Nella/Gianni Schicchi, and Laurette/Dr. Miracle in the Chicagoland area. Previous roles include Mimi/La Boheme, Donna Anna/Don Giovanni, Pamina/The Magic Flute, Donna Elvira/Don Giovanni, Suor Angelica/Suor Angelica, First Lady/The Magic Flute, Lauretta/Gianni Schicchi, Yum-Yum/The Mikado, and Cinderella/Into the Woods. She has sung soprano solos in Handel's Messiah and Bach's B Minor Mass, and is a founding member of Opera on Tap's Chicago chapter. Ms. Brautigam is a winner of the Casa Italia Cultural Center competition and a recipient of the Illinois Arts Council Professional Development Award. She obtained her master's degree from North Park University, and her undergraduate degree from Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, CA.

Kristina Bachrach (Soprano & Alto), fresh off of her Carnegie Hall debut, continues to distinguish herself as a dynamic artist, capable of tackling a vast array of repertoire. In recent seasons she made her debut at the Ravinia Festival, premiering a piece by Augusta Read Thomas, and her Off-Broadway debut, co-starring in a 39-show run of Because I Could Not Stop: An Encounter with Emily Dickinson with the Ensemble for the Romantic Century, and had international concert debuts in Japan and Italy. Ms. Bachrach’s roles include Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, Musetta in La bohème, La Princesse in L'enfant et les sortilèges, and Clorinda in La Cenerentola, gracing the main stage with Opera Philadelphia, Nashville Opera, Opera Naples, and Gotham Chamber Opera among others. A concert veteran, Ms. Bachrach has been featured in nearly one hundred recitals of art song and chamber music across the country and around the world. She is a Grand Prize winner of the Artist Presentation Society of St. Louis Competition, the Ziering Conlon International Art Song Competition, and American Prize in Vocal Performance.

Leah Rockweit (Soprano) resides in Chicago, Illinois. She received her MM degree in Vocal Performance from UW-Madison. She also has a BME degree with an emphasis on Choral and General Music Education. She has an operatic repertoire spanning from Gilbert and Sullivan to Puccini and is currently singing as a chorister with the Lyric Opera of Chicago. She will be performing in their production of Don Carlos by Giuseppe Verdi in November of this year. She has sung a variety of roles, most recently as Madame and the Fairy Godmother with Opera for the Young’s production of Cinderella.

Theresa Egan (Soprano) is an active crossover Teaching Artist in the Chicago area. Most recently seen in the scene from the Broadway revival of 1776 for the Broadway In Chicago Summer Concert at Millennium Park in Chicago in 2022. She has performed throughout the United States and Europe with numerous companies including: Theo Ubique, Prague Summer Nights, Haymarket Opera, Opera Colorado, Kor Productions, Janus Concert Series, American Chamber Opera, Surging Films and Theatrics, Wilmette Center for the Arts, EDGE of Orion, Devonshire Playhouse, and the Opera Training Institute of Chicago. Some of her favorite roles include Musetta (La Boheme), Mrs. Lovett (Sweeney Todd), Ilona (She Loves Me), Carrie (Carousel) and Adele (Die Fledermaus).

Peder Reiff (Tenor) holds a Master’s Degree in Voice from Indiana University and has appeared extensively throughout the Chicagoland area in dozens of operas, oratorios, and musical theater productions with companies such as the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Chicago Symphony, Grant Park Chorus, Apollo Chorus, and Chicago Master Singers. Some of his most recent performances include Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Elmhurst Symphony, Le Petite Messe Solenelle with the Apollo Chorus, and Elijah with the Illiana Oratorio Society. Peder currently resides in Westchester, IL with his wife and three children.

Alicia Berneche (Soprano & Alto) has starred on opera stages around the globe with performances at Lyric Opera of Chicago including Daisy Buchanan in THE GREAT GATSBY, Helen Niles in MOURNING BECOMES ELEKTRA, Second Niece in the landmark production of PETER GRIMES, and the Susanna Cover for the Dream cast LE NOZZE DI FIGARO conducted by Zubin Mehta. She has originated leading roles in numerous world premiere operas, including the world premiere of Philip Glass’ and Mary Zimmerman’s GALILEO at the Goodman Theatre, London's Barbican Centre, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Ms. Berneche has sung with celebrated conductors and ensembles, including COSÍ FAN TUTTE with Yannick Nezet-Sequin, CARMINA BURANA with the Minnesota Orchestra under Osmo Vänskä, and was on the roster of the Metropolitan Opera. A proud ensemble member of the CHAI Collaborative Arts Ensemble, Ms. Berneche has performed many vocal chamber works by such disparate composers as Ralph Vaughan Williams to Lori Laitman. She has also done extensive crossover work and specializes in teaching musical theatre techniques to many professionals in Chicago and New York. Ms. Berneche is a librettist of two operas, THANK YOU, NEXT!, which had its world premiere at Milwaukee Opera Theatre, and SCIENCE FRICTION, which had its première at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. During the pandemic, Ms. Berneche participated in many online Shakespeare productions by Pride Arts in Chicago.

Tabes Bridges (Baritone) is a Chicago-based composer and baritone with a passion for new music. He studied composition and voice (as well as mathematics) at Columbia University, and has performed with a number of Chicago-area ensembles over the last 7 years including Wicker Park Choral Singers, the choirs of St. Giles Episcopal and St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, and ad-hoc professional ensembles assembled for groups such as Chicago Opera Theatre and the Assyrian Cultural Foundation. He currently sings as a section leader for Vox Venti and St. James Cathedral. His compositions have been sung by Wicker Park Choral Singers and the choir of St. Giles Episcopal Church, and heard on WFMT, Chicago's classical and folk radio station.

Antoinette Konow (Soprano) was born and raised in the Fox Valley. Recently, she sang the role of Nedda in Pagliacci and was a touring artist with Opera for the Young. Prior, Antoinette was a Young Artist with Asheville Lyric Opera, and sang Georgina in High Fidelity and Monica in The Medium with ColorBox Theatre of Chicago. Other credits include Gertrude Stein in The Mother of Us All, Sour Angelica in Sour Angelica,Countess in Le nozze di Figaro, Cendrillon in Cendrillon, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, and Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus. Antoinette earned a Bachelor of Music in voice performance from Simpson College and a Master of Music in voice performance from the University of North Texas.

Additional Singers:

Christine Cummins (Soprano)

Ian Murrell (Bass)

Ivo Suarez (Bass)

Olde Towne Carolers are available for hire in Chicago!