Founded in 1975, the Syracuse University Oratorio Society is a large chorus comprised of Syracuse University students and community members that regularly performs choral-orchestral masterworks with the Syracuse Orchestra. The Oratorio Society is directed by Dr. Wendy Moy.

Founded in 1975, the Syracuse University Oratorio Society is a large chorus comprised of Syracuse University students and community members that regularly performs choral-orchestral masterworks with the Syracuse Orchestra. The Oratorio Society is directed by Dr. Wendy Moy.

Wendy K. Moy directs the Oratorio Society and serves as Chair of Music Education and Associate Professor at Syracuse University. She is also the Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Chorosynthesis Singers, recipients of the 2024 American Prize in Choral Performance—Professional Division. Their album, Empowering Silenced Voices, released on Centaur ...

Wendy K. Moy directs the Oratorio Society and serves as Chair of Music Education and Associate Professor at Syracuse University. She is also the Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Chorosynthesis Singers, recipients of the 2024 American Prize in Choral Performance—Professional Division. Their album, Empowering Silenced Voices, released on Centaur Records, features new music centered on socially conscious themes and has been praised for its artistic depth and advocacy.

Dr. Moy has served as Conductor of the Bellevue Chamber Chorus and Director of the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Chorus, where she appeared with the Symphony to conduct Charles Frink’s John Henry and Handel’s Messiah. Equally at home in the orchestral world, she began playing the violin at age four and later studied orchestral conducting with Eric Hanson and Kenneth Kiesler. She went on to coach and conduct with the Cascade Youth Symphony.

A sought-after guest conductor, she recently headlined the Festival Paraibano de Coros in João Pessoa, Brazil, and served as orchestral conductor at the Festival Internacional de Música de Campina Grande in Brazil. She has also conducted the Massachusetts and Rhode Island All-State Choirs.

Her honors include the 2024 Paul and Veronica Abel Award for Choral Performance (Civic Morning Musicals) and 3rd Place in the American Prize in Choral Conducting—Professional Division. Dr. Moy holds a Master of Music Education from Westminster Choir College and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Conducting from the University of Washington. For more information, visit www.wendymoy.com.

Two-time GRAMMY® award nominee for Best Classical Vocal Solo Album, soprano Laura Strickling was recognized by The New York Times for her, “flexible voice, crystalline diction, and warm presence.” Celebrated for her work in art song with an emphasis on new additions to the canon, she has been featured ...

Two-time GRAMMY® award nominee for Best Classical Vocal Solo Album, soprano Laura Strickling was recognized by The New York Times for her, “flexible voice, crystalline diction, and warm presence.” Celebrated for her work in art song with an emphasis on new additions to the canon, she has been featured twice in Classical Singer Magazine for commissioning and recording new music, curated The New Music Shelf Anthology of Contemporary Art Songs for Soprano, and recently announced The 40@40 Project – her personal initiative to commission new music, which has surpassed original goals and continues to foster exciting collaborations between important contemporary composers and poets.

Equally acclaimed for her work on the concert stage, her “powerful and expressive voice across a large range, her variety of timbre and character,” (Classical Scene), make her a welcome guest soloist for a range of oratorio and concert works, from Handel to Britten and beyond. These include Fourth Symphony (Mahler) with the Knoxville Symphony and the San Antonio Philharmonic, Ninth Symphony (Beethoven) with the Seattle Symphony and the Elgin Symphony, Bachianas Brasileiras (Villa-Lobos) with the San Antonio Philharmonic, Exsultate, jubilate (Mozart) with the Cathedral Choral Society, Messiah (Handel) with the Indianapolis Symphony, the Pacific Symphony, and the Richmond Symphony, Gloria (Poulenc) with the Asheville Symphony, Mass in c minor (Mozart) with the Richmond Symphony, Cathedral Choral Society, and Berkshire Choral International, Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (Barber) with the Norwalk Symphony Orchestra, Stabat Mater (Dvorak) and Elijah (Mendelssohn) with Berkshire Choral International, Ein Deutsches Requiem (Brahms) with the Bel Canto Chorus of Milwaukee and Chorosynthesis, Luonnotar (Sibelius) with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, and Les Illuminations (Britten) with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra and Mexicoliederfest, and Pierrot Lunaire (Schoenberg) with the Chiarina Chamber Players and the Mid-Atlantic Reed Consort, as well as Carmina Burana (Orff), Requiem (Mozart), Credo Mass (Mozart), Dixit Dominus (Handel), Gloria (Vivaldi), Lord Nelson Mass (Haydn), and Mass in C (Beethoven).

Nominated for GRAMMY® awards for Best Classical Vocal Solo Album for Confessions (2022) and 40@40 (2024), Ms. Strickling has received widespread critical acclaim for her recordings: “…a compellingly honest performer, whose rich, expressive soprano conveys vulnerability with a balance of shimmering tone and unaffected diction,” (Opera News Magazine). “This extraordinarily expressive and versatile singer…performs with an intelligent combination of restraint and letting go. Her voice is full and lustrous and then bright and nimble…” (Schmopera). “Strickling fulfills and FILLS this role, her voice as a siren-chameleon, changing shape and color and nature with total control as contexts switch and emotions bend ever so slightly from word to word,” (American Record Guide). She was also praised for the Naxos Opera Classics recording of The Parting by Tom Cipullo, “…deeply expressive, secure voice. Her exposed highs are managed wonderfully, with notable beauty,” (San Francisco Classical Voice). Her discography also includes Times Alone (James Matheson), The Vineyard Songs (Glen Roven), Edna St. Vincent Millay (Jake Heggie), and Of a Certain Age (Tom Cipullo).
Ms. Strickling created the role of Fanni Radnòti in the world premiere of Tom Cipullo’s opera The Parting with Music of Remembrance in Seattle and San Francisco in 2019 and revisited the role with Chelsea Opera in Syracuse in Spring 2022 and New York City in Fall 2022. She created the role of Dr. Slade in the nine-episode TV-opera film, Everything for Dawn with Experiments in Opera, which received its AllArts and Opera Philadelphia broadcast premiere in 2022. An alumna of the Berkshire Opera Company resident artist program, her performance of the Dew Fairy in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel was praised by Opera News: “Laura Strickling offered the creamy, clear, younger-sister-of-Eva-Pogner instrument ideal for singing the role over full orchestration.” She appeared as Pamina in the Metropolitan Opera Guild’s touring outreach production of The Magic Flute. Ms. Strickling’s operatic roles also include Countess Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), Cleopatra (Julius Caesar), Mimi (La boheme), Dinorah (Dinorah), Elvira (L’Italiana in Algeri), Josephine (H.M.S. Pinafore), Gretel (Hansel and Gretel), and Micaëla (Carmen). She created the role of Muriel in the world premiere of Thomas Benjamin’s The Alien Corn with the Peabody Opera Theater.

Ms. Strickling’s art song repertoire includes over 450 songs and vocal chamber works in 14 languages, performed with such organizations and institutions as the Brooklyn Art Song Society, Cincinnati Song Initiative, Mexicoliederfest, Chiarina Chamber Players, Liederfest in Suzhou (China), the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, Lyric Fest, Joy in Singing, Songfest, Calliope’s Call, Trinity Concerts at One, the American Liszt Society, Baltimore Lieder Weekend, Concerts on the Slope, SongFusion, National Sawdust, Art Song at the Old Stone House, and the Brooklyn New Music Collective. She has been a featured performer at the New Music Gathering, presented a radio broadcast recital of American songs on “Live from WFMT” in Chicago with pianist Daniel Schlosberg, and was an Artist in Residence at the Yellow Barn Music Festival, and has presented guest artist recitals, masterclasses, and lectures at the University of Georgia, San Antonio College, University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Mercer University, College of William and Mary, Mercer University, University of Notre Dame, New World School of the Arts, Notre Dame University of Maryland, Pittsburg State University, McDaniel College, St. Mary’s College, and University of Richmond. She is on the New Music Advisory Board of the Brooklyn Art Song Society, and the Artistic Advisory Boards of Cincinnati Song Initiative and Calliope’s Call.

A Chicago native, Ms. Strickling is an avid traveler, having lived in Fez (Morocco) – where she studied classical Arabic at the Arabic Language Institute of Fez, Kabul (Afghanistan) – where her husband was the founding chair of the Department of Law at the American University of Afghanistan, and for the last nine years in St. Thomas (U.S. Virgin Islands). She recently relocated to Wisconsin where she is learning to appreciate cheese, beer, and being cold. www.laurastrickling.com

American contralto Emily Marvosh has been gaining recognition for her “plum-wine voice,” and “graceful allure,” on the stages of Carnegie Hall, Jordan Hall, Disney Hall, Lincoln Center, Prague’s Smetana Hall, and Vienna’s Stefansdom. Following her solo debut at Boston’s Symphony Hall in 2011, she has been a ...

American contralto Emily Marvosh has been gaining recognition for her “plum-wine voice,” and “graceful allure,” on the stages of Carnegie Hall, Jordan Hall, Disney Hall, Lincoln Center, Prague’s Smetana Hall, and Vienna’s Stefansdom. Following her solo debut at Boston’s Symphony Hall in 2011, she has been a frequent soloist with the Handel and Haydn Society under the direction of Harry Christophers. Other recent solo appearances include the American Bach Soloists, Huntsville Symphony Orchestra, Tucson Symphony Orchestra, and John Davenant’s Macbeth with the Henry Purcell Society of Boston. Upcoming engagements for the 2022-2023 season include performances with the Rhode Island Philharmonic, Rochester Philharmonic, Tucson Symphony, and Knoxville Symphony.

In past seasons, Ms. Marvosh performed twice as a soloist in Handel’s Messiah at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC as well as the Rochester Philharmonic. Other Handel’s Messiah appearances of Marvosh’s are with the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra, American Bach Soloists, the Calvin Oratorio Society, and with the Charlotte Symphony. Marvosh has additionally performed Mozart’s Requiem with the Eugene Symphony and the Phoenix Symphony and Elgar’s Sea Pictures with the Orchestra of Indian Hill and the Brookline Symphony. Other Soloist appearances include Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with Boston’s Cantata Singers, Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion with the Colorado Bach Ensemble, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Music Worcester, Vivaldi’s Nisi Dominus with L’academie, Bach’s Magnificat with Back Bay Chorale, Dvořák’s Stabat Mater with the Chorus of Westerly, Vivaldi’s Salve Regina with the White Mountain Bach Festival, La Grande Duchesse de Gérolstein with Opera Boston, and Rusalka with Boston Lyric Opera. Past ensemble appearances include the Oregon Bach Festival under the direction of Helmut Rilling, the Bachakademie Stuttgart, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Tucson Chamber Artists, Boston Camerata, the Skylark Chamber Ensemble, the Yale Choral Artists, and Cambridge Concentus.

A regular member of the renowned vocal ensemble, Seraphic Fire, Miss Marvosh can be heard on their recent GRAMMY-nominated recording of Brahms’s Ein Deutsches Requiem. Personal awards include the prestigious Adams Fellowship at the Carmel Bach Festival, the American Prize in the Oratorio and Art Song divisions, and second place in the New England Regional NATSAA competition. She is also the inaugural Resident Artist with the Lexington Symphony in Massachusetts.

Her contributions to 21st century repertoire and performance include world premiere performances with The Thirteen, Juventas New Music, Shoreline Music Society, the Manchester Summer Chamber Music Festival, and the Hugo Kauder Society. She is a member of the Lorelei Ensemble, which promotes innovative new music for women. With Lorelei, she has enjoyed collaborations with composers David Lang and Julia Wolfe, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, A Far Cry, Duke Performances, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

A frequent recitalist and proud native of Michigan, Emily Marvosh created a chamber recital celebrating the history and culture of her home state, which won a St. Botolph Club Foundation Emerging Artist Award.

She belongs to Beyond Artists, a coalition of artists that donates a percentage of their concert fees to organizations they care about. She supports Rosie’s Place and the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music through her performances. She holds degrees from Central Michigan University and Boston University. www.emilymarvosh.com

Dann Coakwell, tenor, has been praised as a “vivid storyteller” (The New York Times), with “a gorgeous lyric tenor that could threaten or caress on the turn of a dime” (Dallas Morning News). Coakwell can be heard as a soloist on the Grammy-winning The Sacred Spirit of Russia (2014), the ...

Dann Coakwell, tenor, has been praised as a “vivid storyteller” (The New York Times), with “a gorgeous lyric tenor that could threaten or caress on the turn of a dime” (Dallas Morning News). Coakwell can be heard as a soloist on the Grammy-winning The Sacred Spirit of Russia (2014), the two Grammy-nominated albums Considering Matthew Shephard by composer/director Craig Hella Johnson (2016), which peaked at number three on the Billboard Classical chart, and Conspirare: A Company of Voices (2009). All three collaborations joined Conspirare on Harmonia Mundi records. Coakwell also appeared on the 2016 Naxos release of composer Mohammed Fairouz’s Zabur (role: Jibreel), with the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir and Orchestra.

He has performed as a soloist internationally under additional such acclaimed conductors as Helmuth Rilling, Masaaki Suzuki, William Christie, María Guinand, Nicholas McGegan, Matthew Halls, Julian Wachner, and the late John Scott. Coakwell has performed at Carnegie Hall (Stern/Perelman and Zankel stages) and Lincoln Center (Alice Tully and David Geffen/Avery Fisher halls), as well as Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue and Trinity Church Wall Street, in New York. He has appeared as a soloist with organizations such as Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart in Germany, Bach Collegium Japan (across Europe, Mexico, and Japan), Orquesta Sinfónica de Venezuela, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in San Francisco, Oregon Bach Festival, Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, as well as the Charlotte, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Nashville, and Quad City symphony orchestras. He has also shared the solo stage with such celebrated singers as Thomas Quasthoff, Rufus Müller, Nicholas Phan, and Robin Blaze.

Specializing in the Evangelist and tenor roles of J.S. Bach, Coakwell frequently performs the composer’s major oratorios — St. Matthew Passion, St. John Passion, Christmas Oratorio, and Mass in B-Minor — as well as many of Bach’s cantatas. An enthusiast of Benjamin Britten, Coakwell has appeared in several productions of Britten’s Canticles, Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings, and St. Nicolas. Other prominent solo and titular roles performed also include: Rameau’s Pigmalion; Handel’s Samson, Judas Maccabaeus, Israel in Egypt, Alexander’s Feast, and Messiah; Haydn’s Creation and Missa in Angustiis; Mozart’s Requiem (Levin, Beyer, and Süssmayr completions) and Mass in c(original incomplete work and Levin completion); Mendelssohn’s Elijah; and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis.

Dr. Coakwell also serves as Assistant Professor of Voice at Ithaca College, and has made guest teaching artist residencies at institutions such as Yale University, El Teatro Teresa Carreño in Venezuela, University of Missouri Kansas City, Dartmouth College, Texas State University, and University of Idaho. He holds an Artist Diploma from the Yale School of Music and Institute of Sacred Music, a Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degree from Texas Tech University, and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Texas at Austin.

An early and new music specialist, baritone Elijah Blaisdell performs with ensembles across the country as both a soloist and chorister. Elijah is the featured soloist on the 2019 Grammy Award winning album Zealot Canticles with TheCrossing. Additional highlights include performances of the new choral-theater work Aniara with The Crossing ...

An early and new music specialist, baritone Elijah Blaisdell performs with ensembles across the country as both a soloist and chorister. Elijah is the featured soloist on the 2019 Grammy Award winning album Zealot Canticles with TheCrossing. Additional highlights include performances of the new choral-theater work Aniara with The Crossing in Philadelphia, at the Haarlem Choral Biennale, and at The Helsinki National Opera, St. John Passion with Bach Society of St. Louis, The Adams Fellowship with The Carmel Bach Festival, Milhaud’s Service Sacré with St. George’s Choral Society, and Coffee Cantata and Dido and Aeneas with Madison Bach Musicians. He also performs with The Gamut Bach Ensemble, The Sante Fe Desert Chorale, Grammy-nominated Ensemble True Concord, and the Grammy Award-winning Seraphic Fire. Elijah holds a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from New England Conservatory and lives in New York City.