Laudate Coeli
Songs of Light in Winter’s Deep
Friday, December 5, 2025, 7:30pm, San Francisco
Saturday, December 6, 2025, 7:30pm, Palo Alto
Sunday, December 7, 2025, 4pm, Berkeley
Soprano Rita Lilly has been lauded by The New York Times for “possessing a voice of strength, clarity, and virtuosity” and by the S.F. Classical Voice for “a pure, silvery voice with plenty of color.” She has been a featured artist with the American Boychoir, American Classical Orchestra, Artek, Berkeley Early Music Festival, Clarion Music Society, Folger Consort, Gotham Early Music series, Ojai Music Festival, and ¡Sacabuche!, among others. As the soprano of the Waverly Consort, she toured throughout the U.S. and abroad, including performances at Alice Tully Hall and Town Hall in NY. Rita has been featured on live broadcasts on WNYC, WNCN, National Public Radio, and Radio-Canada.
Rita is a frequent soloist with some of the finest SF Bay Area groups such as the Albany Consort, American Bach Soloists, Bay Choral Guild, California Bach Society, Chora Nova, Marin Baroque, Marin Oratorio, San Francisco Bach Choir, Soli Deo Gloria, Sonoma Bach, and Vallejo Choral Society. She has been featured on the EMI, Musical Heritage, Naxos and Newport Classic labels.
Rita has been the Music Director at St. Jerome Catholic Church, Mills College Choir, and Lafayette Christian Church. She was on the faculty of the Pacific Boychoir Academy, directed Sorella Girls Chorus, and is the vocal instructor and coach for the SFEMS Baroque Summer Workshop and other vocal workshops in the Bay Area. She is the new Music Director of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Belvedere and maintains an active vocal studio in her home.
Mezzo-soprano Mindy Ella Chu has been praised for her “expressive vigor” and “liquid ornaments” (SF Chronicle). She made her international solo debut performing John Rutter’s Magnificat and Handel’s Messiah in Japan (2015). Specializing in baroque and contemporary music, Mindy has performed as soloist in concerts at PMF Japan (2015), Carmel Bach Festival’s mainstage mezzo-soprano (2017), and Salzburg Festival (2023).
In Opera, Mindy performed in Monteverdi’s Orfeo on tour (Apollo’s Fire), Campra’s Le Carnaval De Venise where she understudied main role Leonoré (BEMF), as Une Prêtresse in Desmerst’s Circé (BEMF), as Dido in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (Voices of Music), and as Ambassador in new opera Song of the Ambassadors (Derrick Skye).
Mindy has worked with groups such as Quicksilver, The Thirteen, Bach Collegium San Diego, and BEMF Chamber Opera Series. She is currently on a world tour of Schütz’s Musikalische Exequien staged by Peter Sellars. Mindy has been heard live on BBC Radio 3, KUSC, and WQXR NYC. She has worked with Arvo Pärt, David Lang, Gustavo Dudamel, Nicholas McGegan, and Masaaki Suzuki. Her solo mezzo-soprano recordings can be found on Hyperion Records (Fauré Ave Maria Op. 67, No.2, Yale Schola Cantorum), Apple Music (Duruflé Requiem Pie Jesu, Stanford University), and Nine Bethany Swann Songs, for High Voice & Piano Trio Op. 18 by Daniel Carr (MSR Classics, YouTube). Mindy holds an MM in Early Music from Yale University.
Tenor Corey Head specializes in early music with a special affinity to J.S. Bach. His solo concert performances include The Evangelist in Bach’s St. John Passion, as well as tenor soloist in his Magnificat, Christmas Oratorio, B-Minor Mass, and many of his cantatas. Other oratorio roles include Uriel in Haydn’s Creation, “The Evening” in Telemann’s Die Tageszeiten, and tenor soloist in Handel’s Messiah.
Corey last appeared with CBS as tenor soloist in the Biber Requiem and Steffani Stabat Mater. He has also performed solos in Mozart’s Requiem, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb, William Boyce’s Solomon: A Serenata, Handel’s Acis and Galatea, Beethoven’s Mass in C Major, and Mozart’s C Minor Mass.
Operatic performances include the roles of Ferrando in Mozart’s Così Fan Tutte, Damon in Handel’s Acis and Galatea, and Mordocai in Cristiano Lidarti’s Hebrew setting of Esther. Corey has performed as soloist with many San Francisco Bay Area groups including Albany Consort, Bay Choral Guild, Chora Nova, Marin Baroque, Marin Oratorio, Marin Symphony, San Francisco Choral Society, San Francisco Renaissance Voices, San Francisco Symphony, Stanford Choirs and Orchestras, and Viva La Musica. He performs regularly in the chorale with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chorale.
Bass-baritone Chung-Wai Soong has sung in opera and concert in the US and Australia, including the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera, New York Philharmonic, Victoria State Opera, American Bach Soloists, and Philharmonia Baroque. He last appeared with CBS in the Fauré Requiem and Bach Mass in B minor.
Chung-Wai’s versatile repertoire includes world premieres: David Chesworth’s Sabat Jesus, Lisa Bielawa’s groundbreaking streaming opera Vireo, and Meira Warshauer’s Elijah’s Violin. He has been a featured soloist in works by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Dvořák, Duruflé, and Handel. He also sang Schumann’s Dichterliebe at the Melbourne International Festival, broadcast live nationally on ABC.
Chung-Wai has performed with the San Francisco Symphony as Mityukha (Boris Godunov), in Stravinsky’s Svadebka, and in Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy under Kurt Masur, also performed at Ojai Festival under Jeremy Denk. Other roles include Alidoro (La Cenerentola), Melchior (Amahl and the Night Visitors), the title role in Il Ducato - The New Mikado (Lamplighters Music Theatre). Recent and upcoming roles include Benoit/Alcindoro (La Bohéme - Hawaii Opera Theatre), Christus (Bach St. John Passion - San Francisco Bach Choir), Raphael/Adam (Haydn’s The Creation - UC Berkeley), Dottore Grenvil (La Traviata - Festival Opera), Imperial Commissioner (Madama Butterfly - Opera San José), Mozart Requiem (Grace Cathedral), Il Bonzo (Madama Butterfly - Pocket Opera).