BOARD OF DIRECTORS

MARLENA HOOKER MOORE, President

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Mezzo-soprano Marlena Hooker Moore holds degrees in vocal performance from Metropolitan State University and the University of Northern Colorado. Additional study at DePauw University led to music and German language studies in Vienna, Austria. She currently studies with Andrew Adams in Denver, Colorado.

With Germany’s Opera Classica Europa, she sang Flora in La Traviata and the Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte. Committed to contemporary music, Marlena’s roles include Madame Flora in The Medium and Rosine in Thomas Pasatieri’s Signor Deluso. She appeared as Queen Victoria II in Luminous Thread’s original steampunk opera, Queen Victoria’s Floating Garden; Adele in the world premiere of Russell Guyver and Brian Luedloff’s electronic opera, Opera-tion World Peace, and as Sally in Samuel Barber’s A Hand of Bridge, presented by the Chamber Ensemble con Grazia and pianist Grace Asquith, with whom she regularly performs.

She has been a soloist in choral works including Lotte Lehmann’s In a Persian Garden with the Orpheus Pagan Chamber Choir and Verdi’s Requiem with the University of Northern Colorado chorus and orchestra.

Marlena grew up in King George, Virginia, and first started taking music lessons with her grandmother, a church pianist. Her own teaching studio, MHM Music, has provided voice and piano lessons for students of all ages in the Denver Metro area for the past ten years. For several years, Marlena was the Director of Music at the Sixth Avenue United Church of Christ in Denver.

 

 

LAURA BUTLER, Secretary

Bio coming soon!

 

KAT WAGNER,  Treasurer

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Soprano Kat Wagner received her Bachelors of Vocal Performance from the University of Idaho. Some of her favorite performance experiences include lead roles in Die Fledermaus, Die Lustige Witwe, Le Nozze di Figaro, La Rondine, and The Mikado. She enjoys singing and performing in all genres and has been a soloist for Chamber Ensemble Con Grazia for the past two years. She has been conducting church choirs for twenty years and has directed several musicals at the middle school level.  She has been teaching private voice and theory in the Highlands Ranch, Colorado area for 13 years.

 

ANDREW ADAMS, Music Director

LIANA LANSING, Board Member

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Liana Lansing boasts an extensive background as performer and conductor. She has sung professionally with the New York City, Central City, and Santa Fe Operas, the National Chorale (NYC), and the Desert Chorale (Santa Fe). She is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music (Boston) with BM and MM Degrees in Voice. Liana toured Europe, Russia, Romania, Scandinavia, Australia, China, and Japan with the Rocky Mountain Singers, directed by her father, the late Robert Lansing.

Back in Denver, Liana earned an MM degree in Choral Conducting at CU, and has directed the Holy Ghost, Washington Park UM and Christ Congregational Church Choirs, the Colo. Welsh Society and Northland Chorales. She currently leads the GAL-axies women’s chorus, the NEW CHORDS, a mixed show choir that has entertained audiences for over 25 years, and SHIR AMI, a group specializing in Jewish ethnic folk song. In addition to all of the above, Liana teaches voice privately.

 

THOMAS POOLE, Board Member

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A versatile tenor, Thomas Poole has performed in 14 countries with opera companies and orchestras including New York City Opera, New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Opera, Festival dei due Mondi, Cleveland Opera, Opera Orchestra of NY, Warsaw Symphony, Teatro Nacional, National Repertory Orchestra, Chautauqua Symphony, Rochester Symphony, Opera Colorado, the Colorado Symphony, and the National Symphony. Mr. Poole’s repertoire includes diverse characters across classical, romantic, verismo, and contemporary operas, such as Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), Alfredo (La Traviata), Milio (Zaza), and Sam (Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah).His Nemorino in L’Elisir D’Amore garnered critical acclaim from Opera News, commending him as an “impressive Lyric Tenor.”
Mr. Poole is equally at home performing oratorio, symphonic, and musical theatre repertoire. Recent performances include: tenor soloist in Verdi’s Requiem, soloist in Mendelssohn’s Elijah at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., Liebeslieder and Neue Liebeslieder at Kennedy Center, and 10 concerts in DC, VA, MD, PA, NY, and DE as part of “An Evening With Three Tenors.”