J. Jeff Badger, Executive Director
Currently, Mr. Badger is also Managing Director
of Seventh Avenue Performances (San Francisco)
and Concerts House Manager for Philharmonia
Baroque Orchestra.  Previously he was Director
of Development for American Bach Soloists.  He has worked as a
Development Officer with San Francisco Opera, and as Managing Director/Board President of the California Bach Society.  Additionally, he has served on various non-profit boards including serving five years on the San Francisco Mayor’s Committee for Employment of Persons with Disabilities, and as Executive Chair of the committee for four of those years.  He is perhaps best know to Early Music audiences, performing throughout the Bay Area over the past 25 years as a baritone soloist and chorister with various vocal groups including American Bach Soloists, Carmel Bach Festival, the California Bach Society and San Francisco Bach Choir.

Irene Navarro, Coordinator of Educational Programs
Soprano Irene Navarro has sung with San Francisco Renaissance Voices since
the group began in 2004.  Currently she also teaches general music and
develops curriculum as Music Program Director and Supervisor with
Rhythm & Moves, an independent company that provides music and physical
education to public and private schools.  She is a certified music teacher in the
State of California and additionally serves as cantor for Our Lady of the Way Side and St. Denis, in Portola Valley, CA.  She holds a BA in Music Education from Bethany College and making music education available to a broad range of communities is her personal passion.

LeAnna Sharp, Choreographer & Director Dance Early & Ancient
Also a soprano with San Francisco Renaissance Voices, she is newly
appointed to create San Francisco Renaissance Voices
Dance Early & Ancient series.  Ms. Sharp is a multi-talented
performing artist in the disciplines of dance, theatre and music
and a bilingual educator.  She works as a dancer and choreographer,
actor, singer and pianist in the San Francisco Bay Area.  She is a
graduate of San Francisco State University where she completed a
B.A. in Dance Choreography, a B.A. in Classical Music and a Minor
in Theatre, with an emphasis in multi-culturalism.

As a dancer, she specializes in Latin social dances such as Salsa and Merengue, and Contemporary styles like Hip Hop, Jazz and Afro folkloric dances.  As a choreographer, Ms, Sharp has created her own theatre-dance fusion pieces such as, Beyond Stuck: ¡Déjalo ir!, The Gorgani Project, the classical medieval morality play, Everyman, and Race Beyond Face.

As an actor she has worked with El Teatro Campesino where she choreographed and played the role of Joan Jara in Victor in Shadow by Lakin Valdez.  Her favorite production was Poeta Pan: a Tribute to Pablo Neruda with El Grupo Arco Iris & Carlos Baron, which included dance and shadow puppetry, and went on tour through out Chile.

Singer Bios

David Alban, countertenor
Originally from Baltimore, Mr. Alban migrated to the San Francisco Bay Area just before Y2K.  When not part of San Francisco Renaissance Voices, he sings with Schola Adventus, the profesional choir in residence at Church of The Advent in San Francisco, where he acted as interim choir director for a year.  When not singing, David enjoys his Unix programming job and listens to classic, hard, and progressive rock.

Jamie Apgar, countertenor
Mr. Apgar is an accomplished musicologist, composer, keyboard artist, and vocalist. Currently a student in the M.A./Ph.D. program in the History and Literature of Music at UC Berkeley, he plans to write a dissertation on music of sixteenth-century England under the supervision of Davitt Moroney. In 2008, Mr. Apgar was commissioned to compose a new setting of a Latin grace for the Choir of Magdalen College, Oxford. His other works and arrangements have been performed by professional and amateur choirs and orchestras in Baltimore, New Haven, Washington, and Berkeley. Mr. Apgar is also an organist, having held church posts in New Haven and Washington and having been a frequent guest organist in Baltimore and Berkeley. He has played continuo on both organ and harpsichord for the Yale Collegium Musicum, Yale Baroque Opera Project, and UC Berkeley Baroque Ensemble. A chorister since age 8, Mr. Apgar has sung professionally with church choirs and chamber groups in Baltimore, New Haven, and Washington, including the Choir of Washington National Cathedral. He is currently the Alto Section Leader at St. Mark's Church, Berkeley, and also sings with American Bach Soloists, Chalice Consort and Pacific Collegium.

J. Jeff Badger, baritone
See bio above

Jesse Buddington, tenor
Mr. Buddington began singing at the age of 6, when he joined the Ragazzi Boys Chorus. He was able to participate on several Ragazzi recordings as a soloist, both as a treble and later as a young tenor.  Through Ragazzi, Jesse helped co-found an a cappella quartet, the Quartertones, which recorded two CDs and toured nationally.  Attending high school at the School of the Arts in San Francisco, Jesse further broadened his musical studies, graduating with honors and receiving the Bank of America Award for excellence in Vocal Music.  Jesse went on to pursue his degree in vocal music from UC Santa Cruz, where he developed a passion for early music after having the opportunity to work with Leta Miller and Linda Burman-Hall.  A veteran of UCSC's acclaimed opera program, Jesse has performed in several operatic roles as both a tenor and countertenor, including Zweiter Priester (Die Zauberflöte), Assan (The Consul), The Witch (Hansel and Gretel), and Don Curzio (Le Nozze di Figaro).  He has also performed in many of UCSC's opera scenes. Recently, Jesse was able to share the stage with his voice teacher, Brian Staufenbiel, on a program of virtuoso Monteverdi pieces for the Santa Cruz Baroque Festival.  In addition to singing with San Francisco Renaissance Voices, Jesse works for Ragazzi as a rehearsal assistant and is one of the founding members of a new alumni ensemble. He currently serves as the tenor section leader at Trinity Episcopal Church in San Francisco, and maintains a private voice studio. When he isn't singing Jesse works as the head of the licensing department for A Cappella Records, a label focused on representing collegiate and professional a cappella groups.  Jesse is also an avid beatboxer and tuvan throatsinger.

Elisabeth Eliassen, mezzo-soprano/alto
Ms. Eliassen has performed regularly throughout the Bay Area as a soloist and chamber musician since 1982.  Musical styles have ranged from early music through late 20th Century and new music. In addition to her work with San Francisco Renaissance Voices, she has sung as soloist and ensemble member with many organizations, including the American Bach Choir, Sanford Dole Ensemble, the Pacific Mozart Ensemble, AVE (Artists' Vocal Ensemble), Paul Hillier's Theatre of Voices, the Baroque Arts Ensemble, and the California Bach Society. She is a freelance soloist/ section leader at various churches and synagogues in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Ms. Eliassen has recorded for Harmonia Mundi, Koch International, Delos and Dorian Sono Luminous labels. A poetic diarist currently at work on a new collection and a poetic novel, Ms. Eliassen's work from the collection Songs of a Soul Journey and unpublished manuscripts has been set to music by composers James Hurd, Ken Malucelli, Sanford Dole and Carson Cooman.

Twila Ehmcke, mezzo-soprano/alto
Twila Ehmcke recently moved to San Francisco after sharing her voice for most of the past decade with New York and East Coast audiences.  Prior to her life there, she performed solo and ensemble concerts for German and Italian audiences as well as two years with The Phantom of the Opera in Hamburg.  Her concert career has occupied most of her time and has carried her to many well known classical venues such as Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall and the Brooklyn Academy of Arts.  Her opera career brought her to the stages of Wolftrap, Philadelphia Opera Company, Dallas and Ft. Worth Operas as well as the Hamburg Stella Theater, Germany and the Florence Summer Opera Festival, Italy.  Twila participated in the inception of the now flourishing Brooklyn Artists of New York, singing the role of Mama Lucia in Cavalieri Rusticana.  She has sung under the baton of international as well as American conductors, of note James Levine, Peter Oundjian, Carlo Maria Giulini, Nicola Rescigno, Ian Robertson, Todd Jolly, Steve Crawford, John DeMain, Richard Kapp, Henry Maleconi, Giuseppe Bruno, Leon Botstein, Richard Westenburg, Lyndon Woodside, Marc Flint, Bruno Nicoli, many of whom have commented "it’s a beautiful instrument in a fine musician."  Stage directors such as Fabrizio Milano, Jean-Pierre Ponelle, Franco Iglesias and Dorothy Danner have enjoyed her flexibility and willingness to lend her talent totally to the character portrayed, often observing the beauty of her sound and her ability to color phrases to enhance the drama, commenting "..her ease upon the stage as well as a driving force of nature upon whom heroic themes can be built,"  "…an asset to any cast…I ask her to sing the phrase in a certain way and she does it so effortlessly, as if she was born to it!" 

Julio Ferrari, bass
Mr. Ferrari has sung in numerous choral and operatic groups throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.  After receiving his degree in vocal performance from San Diego State University he returned to San Francisco to pursue his lifelong dream of becoming a struggling musician.  A sixth generation San Franciscan, he serves as cantor at St. Monica's Catholic Church in San Francisco and in his spare time enjoys rock climbing, motorcycle riding and other such flagrantly dangerous cries for attention.

Jeffrey Fields, bass

Corey Head, tenor

Alice N. Ko, soprano
Ms. Ko has been performing regularly in the Bay Area since 1998.  Roles she has sung include Second Spirit (Die Zauberflöte) with Opera San Jose, The Soul (Ordo Virtutum) with San Francisco Renaissance Voices, Damon (Acis and Galatea) with Opera Non Troppo and Mulan (Mulan Joins the Army) with Voices of the Valley.  She has also appeared with Berkeley Opera, West Bay Opera, San Francisco Symphony Chorus, San Francisco Festival Chorale, San Francisco Choral Artists and EUOUAE.  She is currently soprano soloist at Eglise Notre Dame des Victoires in San Francisco.  A diverse artist, Ms. Ko is also an actor, pianist and dancer.  Her teachers include Diane Hidy (piano), Sara Ganz (voice), Rachael Adler (acting-Meisner technique), Chelsea Eng (Argentine tango) and Theresa Gensler (ballet).  Ms. Ko maintains a private piano studio of beginning and intermediate students in San Francisco and holds a bachelor's degree from University of California, Berkeley.

Marisa Lenhardt, soprano
Ms. Lenhardt began her musical training at the age of 7 with the San Francisco Girls Chorus.  She received her Bachelor's Degree in Vocal Performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.  She has performed with the San Francisco Opera, New York Opera Forum, Opera San Jose, the Stanford Savoyards, Lyric Theatre of San Jose and West Bay Opera.  She performs regularly with Velocity Circus, where she can be seen riding her motorcycle onstage before singing, or performing a trapeze act while singing opera over techno.  Career highlights including singing the National Anthem for the Oakland Raiders and the Oakland A's, singing for President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and designer Jean-Paul Gaultier, multiple performances and recitals with the renowned mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, singing with the Chris Brubeck Trio and, most recently, singing a scene in an upcoming film directed by Francis Ford Coppola.  When not performing, Ms. Lenhardt teaches voice out of her studio in Alameda (CA), works as a Project Manager at Adobe Systems, and enjoys motorcycling and extensive travel.

Rita Lilly, soprano
Ms. Lilly has appeared as a featured soloist with the American Boychoir, American Classical Orchestra, American Symphony Orchestra, Artek, Bachworks, Bach Aria Group, Concert Royal, Levin Baroque Ensemble, and the New York Consort of Viols, among others.  As the soprano soloist of the Waverly Consort, she toured throughout the United States and abroad, including performances at Alice Tully Hall and Metropolitan Museum of Art.  She made her N.Y. Weill Recital Hall debut in Pergolesi's Stabat Mater with Voci Angeli and has toured in recital with the renowned harpsichordist, Anthony Newman.  When not singing as a member of San Francisco Renaissance Voices, Ms. Lilly has been a featured soloist with AVE, Baroque Choral Guild (now Cantabile), California Bach Society, City Concert Opera, New Music Works, Magnificat, San Francisco Concert Chorale, Chora Nova, and numerous early music concerts at MusicSources.  Her recordings include three with the Waverly Consort; Handel and Vivaldi's Dixit Dominus with the American Boychoir; Scarlatti's St. Cecilia Mass on Newport Classic; Sowerby's Medieval Poem with the Fairfield Orchestra; A German Baroque Christmas with American Classical Orchestra; Orff's Carmina Burana with the San Francisco Concert Chorale, and Palestrina for Eight Voices with the Schola Adventus.

Raymond Martinez, baritone
Mr. Martinez began his singing career with the San Francisco Boys Chorus and performed the role of Miles in San Francisco Opera's production of Benjamin Britten's Turn of the Screw. Since then he has appeared with Magnificat, the California Bach Society, Paul Hillier's Theater of Voices, the Baroque Arts Ensemble and the Philharmonia Baroque Chorale.  He is a founding member of Chanticleer and, in addition to the Philharmonia Baroque Chorale, San Francisco Renaissance Voices and American Bach Soloists, currently sings with the Grace Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys and in the San Francisco Opera Chorus.  Mr. Martinez appeared (as the Sea Monster) in the world premier of Henry Cowell's Atlantis with the San Francisco Symphony directed by Michael Tilson Thomas and performed with gambist Jordi Saval's Hesperion XX in the Berkeley Early Music Festival.  His wide-ranging solo repertoire spans such diverse roles as Jesus in J. S. Bach's Johannes Passion to the title role in P.D.Q. Bach's Oedipus Tex.  Mr. Martinez has recorded for the Chanticleer and Harmonia Mundi labels.

Lisa May, soprano
Ms. May has sung with choral and opera/theater companies throughout the Bay Area, including San Francisco Opera Chorus, Lamplighters Music Theatre, San Francisco Renaissance Voices, Lyric Theatre of San Jose, 42nd Street Moon, and Opera San Jose.  Recent oratorio and concert performances include Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass, and Danny Elfman's Serenada Schizophrana.  Lisa teaches on the music staff of the Lamplighters' Gilbert & Sullivan Summer Camp at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.  She is also co-music director and soprano soloist at Saint Thomas' Anglican Church in San Francisco and holds a master’s degree in voice and opera from Northwestern University.

Katherine McKee, alto
See bio above

Kaneez Munjee, soprano
Ms. Munjee specializes in the Renaissance and Baroque repertoires.  She is the founder and music director of the Baroque chamber ensemble Briarbird, which focuses on the vast repertoire of non-operatic music written in the 17th and 18th centures for one, two or three voices with instrumental accompaniment.  Currently, she also sings with the American Bach Choir, the California Bach Society, and the Marin Symphony Chorus.  Previously, she sung with the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, the Midsummer Mozart Festival Chorus, Chalice Consort, Pacific Collegium, and many other local ensembles, and for several years was the soprano soloist and assistant conductor at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Menlo Park (CA).  She is completing a joint PhD in music and humanities from Stanford University with a dissertation on the figure of Orpheus in French Baroque cantatas, and is active in the Bay musical community as a writer for San Francisco Classical Voice and as a program annotator.

Irene Navarro, soprano
See bio above

Elsa Nicol, soprano
After studying the piano for 10 years and the clarinet at the Besancon Conservatory of Music (France), Elsa Nicol studied voice in various Conservatories and sang in choirs and vocal ensembles in Mexico and in France. In Lyon, France she performed with the Choeur d’Oratorio de Lyon and participated in a recording of Gustav Mahler's Symphonie #3 with director Jun Märkl. In 2009 she moved to the SF Bay Area where she has been studying the voice with Susan Gundunas of the UC Berkeley voice faculty while pursuing an exciting career in Engineering Project Management.  She has also sung with the UC Berkeley Chamber University Chorus before joining San Francisco Renaissance Voices in 2010.

Naomi Lopin Osborne, alto
Ms. Osborne has sung professionally for 27 years, in Boston, New York City, New Jersey, and the San Francisco Bay Area.  Her experience spans the choral, symphonic and operatic repertoire, but the music of the Renaissance is a particular favorite.  She has also been the founder, director and principle arranger of 2 a cappella ensembles.  She is currently a soloist and section leader with the First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco, studies voice with Sherry Greenawald at the San Francisco Opera, and enjoys cooking, yoga and studying French. 

Diana Pray, soprano
Specializing in early, Baroque and modern music, Miss Pray cantors at St. Ignatius Church (San Francisco) and makes her recital and professional choral career with groups that include American Bach Soloists, San Francisco Renaissance Voices and sfSound.  Miss Pray recently debuted with the Redwood Symphony in Steve Reich’s Tehillim, and charmed Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra audiences as the soprano Angel in Schütz’s Weihnachtshistorie.  Highlights of her Bay Area leading operatic roles are Handel’s Bellezza and Atalanta, Purcell’s Cupid, and Menotti’s Lucy.  On the grand stage, those with keen eyes have enjoyed her portrayals of various peasants in the San Francisco Opera Chorus.  A feature of many of San Francisco’s special events, Miss Pray has brought classical song to audiences at the York Hotel Plush Room, the Julia Morgan Ballroom, and the Asian Art Museum.  In 2009 she delved into her Hungarian heritage musically, joining the concerts of musicians, instruments makers, and ethnomusicologists Ferenc Tobák and Lilla Serlegi.

Maura Sipila, alto
A Bay Area native who grew up singing with the San Francisco Girls Chorus, she has performed with Ars Cantus, the California Bach Society, Bay Area Classical Harmonies, the Josquin Singers, the San Francisco Lyric Opera, and the Christmas Revels and their Revels Solstice Ensemble in addition to San Francisco Renaissance Voices and many other groups.  She has served as the director for the Blue Fire Choir and also performs theater and comedy and is a frequent co-host of Bad Movie Night at the Dark Room.


Colby Smith, soprano
Ms. Smith, is a recent graduate of Westminster Choir College where she had the privilege of performing in world renowned music halls such as Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, the Kimmel Center and NJPAC under the batons of Joseph Flummerfelt, David Robertson, Kurt Masur, Christoph Eschenbach, and Bernard Labadie.  In these performances Ms. Smith collaborated with the New York Philharmonic, Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra and New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.  Ms. Smith participated in the select ensembles Westminster Choir and Kantorei under the direction of Joe Miller and Andrew Megill and through Westminster Choir, she performed in the Spoleto Festival, where she took part in the chorus of contemporary opera Amistad, composed by Anthony Davis and conducted by Emmanuel Villaume.

Dan Stanley
Mr. Stanley has been a tenured  member of the San Francisco Opera Chorus since 1990.  Before joining the Chorus in 1988, he was a member of the renowned all-male ensemble, Chanticleer.  Mr. Stanley has appeared as tenor soloist with many of the Bay Area’s finest choral groups and orchestras specializing in the music of Handel, Mozart, and the Bach family.  Past engagements have included the roles of Peneo in the U.S. premiere of Tomasso Albinoni’s 1717 serenata, Il Nascimento dell’Aurora, Damon in Georg Frederic Handel’s Acis and Galatea, and Kaherdin in Le vin herbé, Frank Martin’s 1941 retelling of the Tristan and Isolde legend, all under the auspices of City Concert Opera Orchestra, as well as tenor soloist in Charpentier’s Te Deum at the Grand Teton Music Festival in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  Mr. Stanley is a voice student of Marian Marsh of San Rafael, California.

Winton Yuichiro White, countertenor
Born in New York, raised in Japan:  Mr. White combines a love of groove-oriented music with his classical training to create his art compositions.  Winton's versatility ranges from writing for orchestral instruments to vocal ensembles and even dance groups or film.  He has written for Julliard-based Afiara String Quartet, San Francisco Choral Artists, the documentary HAFU, and for his fellow musicians with his works performed in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Washington DC, Japan and France.  Composing since the age of 16, he pursued his formal training at Biola University, San Francisco Convervatory of Music, California Summer Music and American Conservatoire in Fontainebleu, France.  He studied composition under David Conte, Ken Walicki, and David Tcimpidis.  During his time in the great Los Angeles area he was active as a freelance tubist and bass guitarist.  Also active as a performer, Winton is a freelance vocalist, singing countertenor all across the San Francisco Bay Area while working as a copyist for William Kraft and for Grace Cathedral (San Francisco).  His voice teachers have included Brian Asawa and Raeeka Shehabi-Yaghmai.  More information about his music and performances can be found at:  www.wintonwhite.com

Reuben Zellman, tenor

When not singing with San Francisco Renaissance Voices Rabbi Zellman is on the staff of the Beth El community in Berkeley as Assistant Rabbi and Music Director.  He received his B.A. in Linguistics from U.C. Berkeley, and then studied as a postbaccalaureate in music theory and classical voice at San Francisco State University.  He received his master’s degree in Hebrew Literature and his rabbinical ordination from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles.  As part of his rabbinical education, he served Congregations Beth Simchat Torah in Manhattan and Sha’ar Zahav in San Francisco as a rabbinical intern, cantorial intern and children’s educator (in various combinations.)  As a singer and choral conductor, he is involved in early Western classical music as well as Jewish music of all kinds.  He has performed with a variety of other ensembles including the North American Jewish Choral Festival, and has studied chazzanut (cantorial music) and Jewish choral music with many exceptional and generous cantors and music directors.