Artistic Staff

Kimberly Russ, Accompanist

Currently the Seattle Symphony Orchestra’s Principal Pianist, Kimberly Russ, is recognized as an extremely accomplished ensemble player and collaborative pianist. Ms. Russ has performed with musicians of the nation’s finest orchestras as well as many other world-renowned artists. Continually in demand as a collaborative pianist, she appears frequently in concert throughout the Puget Sound region in recitals, festivals, and master classes. Ms. Russ can also be heard on several television, radio, and film recordings as well as video game soundtracks.

A native of Florida, Kimberly received a degree at the Juilliard School, in New York. After moving to Seattle from New York, Ms. Russ has appeared with the Seattle Opera Orchestra, the Bellevue Philharmonic, the Seattle Choral Company, and Choral Arts Northwest. She has been invited to perform for the Ladies Musical Club, the Belle Arte, Barry and Friends, and the Sherman Clay Music for Lunch Series. Ms. Russ is the rehearsal pianist for both the Seattle Choral Company and the Seattle Symphony Chorale, Seattle’s premiere orchestral choirs.

Jennifer Ceresa, Soprano

Soprano Jennifer Ceresa is pleased to return for a second season as the Resident Soprano with the Seattle Choral Company. A native of Boise, Idaho, she obtained most of her education, and developed her professional career, in the greater Seattle area. She studied voice, piano, and choral conducting with Richard Asher. During the course of her studies in Music Education, Ms. Ceresa was also retained as a teacher of piano courses at Edmonds Community College. She then went on to serve as assistant conductor, and interim conductor, of the Symphonic and Concert choirs at the college, as well. In addition to her collegiate conducting experience, she has also conducted the Valley Chorale in Puyallup, and is currently director of her church choir. Ms. Ceresa has also been sought after as an accompanist for various choruses and soloists in the area. She has been teaching private voice and piano lessons for 16 years, and operates a large studio in Puyallup.

Ms. Ceresa has sung as an oratorio soloist in the Seattle area, in performances of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and St. John Passion, Haydn’s Creation, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, and Handel’s Messiah; numerous works by Stravinsky, Honegger, Faure, Britten, Poulenc, Brahms, and Rutter are also among her credits. She has sung as a guest soprano soloist with the Boise Master Chorale in performances of Durufle’s Requiem, and Dvorak’s Stabat Mater. In addition, Ms. Ceresa has appeared in concert performances of various operas, singing the roles of Baby in The Ballad of Baby Doe, Laurie in The Tender Land, Leila in The Pearl Fishers, and Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus. Upcoming performances include singing as soprano soloist in Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with the Seattle Choral Company in April 2009.

In addition to her musical pursuits, Ms. Ceresa is also the mother of four wonderful children.

Christopher McCafferty, Tenor I

Christopher McCafferty, tenor, was born in Philadelphia, but has spent most of his life and career singing in the greater Seattle area. He is in demand as soloist and chorister, and has performed locally with such groups as The Seattle Opera Chorus, The Tudor Choir, and Choral Arts Northwest. He has had the opportunity to work with such noted conductors as Asher Fisch, Peter Phillips, Stewart Kershaw, and Dr. Richard Sparks.

He studied at Pacific Lutheran University, where he worked towards a degree in Music: Vocal Performance. While there, he studied voice with Mezzo, Marsh Baldwin and Baritone, Barry Johnson. Chris also studied conducting with Dr Richard Sparks, and Prof. Kathryn Lehmann.

As a soloist, Chris has appeared in many of the world's greatest venues, including Stephansdom Cathedral in Vienna, Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway. Chris has premiered several works including the tenor solo in Alice Parker's "An American Kedusha" before the American Guild of Organist National Convention in 2000, and the European premier of the tenor solo in Richard Nance's Mass for a New Millennium before the World Harp Congress in Geneva, Switzerland in 2002.

Chris is currently working on expanding his repertoire, and looks forward to working with the Seattle Choral Company for his second season!

Randal Fisher, Tenor II

Randal Fisher graduated with honors with a BA in Vocal Performance from Eastern Washington University. He returned to EWU to pursue his Masters Degree in Music Performance and Business in 1981 and did some post graduate work in voice and music theater at the University of Victoria. He studied with Max Von Egmont in master classes, was a student of Carol Webber for several years and coached with Suzanne Szeckely. In 1974 he took first place in the Vocal Division of the Victoria Music Festival and subsequently performed with the Victoria Symphony Orchestra.

While living in Spokane he was tenor soloist at Spokane First Presbyterian for 15 years. He was one of the founders of the Inland Northwest Men's Chorus and a founding member of the Spokane Opera Company, where he not only sang major roles, but also acted as their principal costume designer. Operatic roles he has sung include Ferrando in Cosi fan Tutte, Vacek in The Bartered Bride, Basilio in The Marriage of Figaro, Nemorino in Elixir of Love, Top in The Tender Land, Almaviva in The Barber of Seville, and Caspar in Amahl and the Night Visitors. As an oratorio soloist, Mr. Fisher has performed in Messiah 24 times! He also performed solos in Mendelssohn’s St. Paul, Haydn’s Creation, Bach’s Magnificat and Christmas Oratorio, and Dubois’ Seven Last Words—just to name a few.

Since moving to Seattle he was tenor soloist at First United Methodist for two years, then soloist at St. Paul's Episcopal (Queen Anne) for one year, and has been singing at St. Thomas Episcopal in Medina for over six years. In addition he was the first tenor section leader for the Seattle Men's Chorus for 4 years. Most recently, he performed the title role in The Mikado with the Bellevue Opera Company.

Dave Cross, Baritone

Dave Cross holds a BA and an MA in Music Education. While a music teacher in the public school system, Dave's choirs consistently received top ratings in local and national competitions. Dave has been guest conductor of Festival Choirs, a clinician for ACDA conferences, WMENC adjudicator and his choirs have performed at WMENC conferences.

Dave has performed under the baton of Janos Czifra, Eph Ehly, Jester Hairston, Charles Hirt, Theron Kirk and Michael Palmer in some of the worldʼs finest venues, including Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center and many of the mainstream concert halls and cathedrals throughout Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, and Italy.

While Dave has performed lead roles in operas and Broadway musicals such as Belcore in L'Elisor D'Amor, Curly in Oklahoma, Dr. Carrasco in Man of La Mancha, Guglielmo in Cosi fan Tutte, Sam in Trouble in Tahiti, and Tommy Albright in Brigadoon, his first musical love is conducting. Presently, Dave is the Artistic Director of Cantabile, a chamber choir in Skagit Valley. He has also been the musical director for several community and high school musical theatre productions including Babes in Toyland, Bye Bye Birdie, Fiddler on the Roof, Guys and Dolls, Hello Dolly, and You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.