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About Our Singers |
 | Sue Self, Soprano II
Sue came to Santa Rosa in 2003 and was delighted to be able to join Cantiamo Sonoma and work with Carol Menke. Sue received her BA degree from Pomona College where she studied voice with Margery Briggs and music history/musicology with Karl Kohn. She has served as soprano soloist at the First Congregational Church of Cambridge, MA, and after moving to the Bay Area, was soprano soloist at the First Congregational Church of Oakland (CA), and has been a member of the High Holy Days octet at Temple Sinai in Oakland since 1973. She sang with the Berkeley Chorus Pro Musica under Jim Cunningham, with the San Francisco Bay Area Chamber Choir under Harry Carter, and with Coro D'Amici under Michael Senturia before moving to Sonoma County.
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Joan Helmes, Alto II
Joan has sung in a number of choral groups, including the May Festival Chorus in Cincinnati, Ohio, the vocal ensembles Ménage, Vocal Minority and Second Nature in San Francisco, and the Cinnabar Opera Chorus in Petaluma. A native of Cincinnati, Joan moved to Sonoma County in 1998 and is currently employed as a project manager for a telecommunications firm in Santa Rosa. |
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 | Jessica Stanton, Alto I
Jessica is a native of Seattle, Washington, and has been singing with Cantiamo Sonoma for three years. She has sung previously with the Northwest Girlchoir, the University of Washington Chorale, the University of Washington Madrigal Singers, Coral Carmina in Barcelona, Coral Ciudad de Granada, and the Seattle Symphony Chorus, as well as appearing as a chorus member for University of Washington productions of Gilbert & Sullivan's "Patience," and Samuel Barber's "Vanessa." She was also briefly a member of the little-known Seattle band, A Blonde & A Brunette & A Redhead What Sing. In real life, she is a family doctor, and in her spare time she enjoys painting, hiking, cycling, and spending time with her friends and family.
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Shafiq Spanos, Bass II
Shafiq is a graduate of Brown University in music history, where he also studied Voice and Flute. Following his high school choral activities, he sang with the Brown Chamber Choir and University Chorus with which he toured Eastern Europe. Later he sang with the Providence Singers and in Gilbert and Sullivan productions. Shafiq came to Sonoma County in 1993 to study massage and hypnotherapy and has sung locally with the Festival Singers of Sebastopol, the New Sufi Choir, and the Monteverdi Choir at Sonoma State University. He joined The Schola Gregoriana in 1999 and has happily continued with the group in its transformation to Cantiamo. An amateur composer, he is Cantiamo's composer-in-residence, with his works appearing occasionally on our programs. You may recognize Shafiq as the host of "Out of the Box" and of "Sunday Classics" on KRCB-FM here in the county. He also works at KRCB and has a small, private massage practice in Santa Rosa.
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 | Renee Armstrong,Soprano II
Renee Armstrong is a Family Physician in Santa Rosa who has been committed to musical performance as an avocation since childhood. Trained in classical piano she became interested in choral singing as an accompanist. She has sung with the UC Davis University Chorus and Chamber Singers, the San Francisco Bach Choir, Schola Gregoriana and now Cantiamo.
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Mark Penn, Bass I
Mark joined Cantiamo in 2004. Deeply steeped in choral music since childhood, Mark comes to Cantiamo after numerous musical experiences following his undergraduate music studies at USC. Mark has directed and sung with several choral groups, most recently as a charter member and Artistic Director of the a cappella mens' ensemble "Musaic" in San Francisco. Mark and his beagles happily live in Santa Rosa and Mark is currently enjoying life as a Realtor with Coldwell Banker. |
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 | Claire Frydenlund,Soprano I
Claire has been singing as long as she can remember. She grew up singing in the Santa Rosa Children's Chorus for 8 years. She spent 4 years in the music program at Santa Rosa High School, including 2 years in their most advanced group, the Chamber Singers. She was privileged to perform with them at the ACDA National Convention in Chicago, 1999. She was also a member of the A Cappella Choir, Chamber Singers, and a student-run jazz choir at California State University, Chico. She has been singing with Cantiamo since her return to Santa Rosa in 2002. She also sings with the Church of the Incarnation's St. Cecilia Choir, led by her mother Carol Menke (yes, the "same" Carol Menke).
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| Mark Selander, Bass II
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 | Kit Schlich, Alto I
Kit is a native of Evanston, Illinois. She began piano in first grade and was introduced to choral singing in sixth grade by her piano teacher, a Dominican nun who opened Kit's ears to classical music. The St. Peter Girls' Choir sang Gregorian chant at masses and funerals. In high school Kit earned an Award of Achievement in a singing contest, which led to voice lessons. She sang in the U.C. Santa Cruz University Chorus and Chamber Choir, then the Marin Community Choir, which accompanied the Marin Symphony. When Kit moved to Sonoma County she joined Schola Gregoriana, Cantiamo's predecessor. She works in her Petaluma home as a freelance editor and is currently the president of Heritage Homes of Petaluma, a preservation organization.
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Robert Andrews, Tenor II
Bob was born in Santa Rosa and sang in numerous church and school choirs here. At Stanford University, he sang in the Memorial Church Choir, the Men's Glee Club, a Stanford Opera Guild production of "Gianni Schicchi", various choral performances with the San Francisco Symphony, and The Mendicants (a cappella group of 16 men). Returning to Sonoma County, he sang with the Bach Choir of Sonoma State University and the St. Cecilia Choir of Church of the Incarnation, prior to joining CantiamoSonoma. He loves wine, particularly red wine, white wine, sparkling wine, dry wine, and sweet wine.
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 | Laura McLellan, Alto I
Laura, our newest alto in Cantiamo Sonoma, has recently returned to her native state after many years of playing the cello in professional orchestras back East, including the symphonies of Cincinnati, Montreal, Rochester, and New Orleans. For the past ten years her choral life consisted of singing in Cincinnati's Christ Church Cathedral choir. Laura was privileged to sing with them for three choral residencies in England, at the Cathedrals of Winchester, Salisbury, and Wells. Besides being a free lance cellist in Sonoma County, Laura is enjoying reuniting with the natural beauty of northern California, as well as seeing old friends and making new ones.
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Keven Brown, Tenor II
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 | Jules Dantin, Soprano I
Jules Dantin began singing before she was 5 in the
children's choirs of her church, like it or not. She liked it. She has
sung with large and small groups doing sacred, secular, raunchy, jazz,
gospel and modern music. Grooving with each other's voices and being goofy
in rehearsal are her specialities.
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Marty Shobe, Tenor I
Marty is our long distance driver, commuting to Cantiamo activites each week all the way from San Pablo. He is an estimator for a residential contractor. Marty has sung since he can remember, probably since five years old. His choral background includes such notable directors as Royal Stanton at DeAnza Jr. College in Cupertino and Dr. Harry Carter at California State University in Hayward. There he was drafted into singing into every group on campus. Marty sang with the San Francisco Bay Area Chamber Choir under the direction of Harry Carter and Dr. David Stein for seventeen years and became one of the newest members of Cantiamo Sonoma in 2006.
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 | Nick Sanders, Tenor I
Nick enjoys singing at the drop of a hat. He sang a cappella
in college with The Brown Derbies and, more recently, he sang with Mostly Motets in Sonoma County. Nick recently changed careers,
leaving his software cubicle to open a bicycle shop in Sebastopol.
He can often be spotted playing with his family, working on his house, or riding his bike.
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[ Upcoming Events ]
[ About Cantiamo ]
[ Cantiamo Repertoire ]
[ Audition For Cantiamo! ]
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