San Francisco Boys Chorus

Ian Robertson

Artistic Director, Concert Chorus and Graduate Chorale Director

Awarded the Olivier Messiaen Foundation Prize for his artistic contribution to the preparation of San Francisco Opera’s (SFO) North American premiere of Saint François d’Assise, IAN ROBERTSON has been Chorus Director and conductor with the Company since 1987 during which time he has earned high public and media acclaim for the quality of choral singing. He is Artistic Director of the San Francisco Boys Chorus (SFBC) and the San Francisco Festival Chorale (SFFC) where he has been responsible for the phenomenal growth in both organizations’ musical stature and reputation. He recently led the San Francisco Boys Chorus and the San Francisco Girls Chorus in their performance for the Inauguration of President Barack Obama in Washington, D.C. in January, 2009.

Robertson made his SFO conducting debut with the 1988 production of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and has since led performances of Falstaff, Lohengrin, Rigoletto, La Traviata, Don Carlo, Turandot, Il Trovatore and La Bohème. In addition to his highly praised work with the Opera Chorus, he has led the Opera Orchestra and Chorus in many concerts. Additional conducting assignments include the San Francisco Opera Center’s The Italian Girl in Algiers, Cosi fan tutte, La Perichole, The Elixir of Love, and La Bohème. He also led the Merola Opera Program’s Grand Finale Concert for eight consecutive years. He has conducted Don Giovanni for Sarasota Opera, The Magic Flute and Rigoletto for Edmonton Opera and has conducted La Rondine, Iolanta, Eugene Onegin, The Rape of Lucretia, Don Giovanni, Vanessa and The Rake’s Progress for Curtis Opera Theatre in Philadelphia. He has conducted a concert of “Greatest Opera Choruses” with the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Opera Orchestra.

Before joining San Francisco Opera, Robertson was Head of Music and Chorus Director of Scottish Opera, where he conducted The Barber of Seville, The Secret of Susanna, The Pearl Fishers, Rigoletto, My Fair Lady, The Abduction from the Seraglio, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and The Magic Flute, as well as concerts with the Scottish Opera Orchestra. He worked as Assistant Director with the Edinburgh International Festival Chorus and the Scottish National Orchestra Chorus. He was Music Director of the Scottish Youth Theatre.

A native of Scotland, the maestro trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and the University of Glasgow. He has appeared as solo pianist at the Edinburgh International Festival and the Wigmore Hall and Purcell Room in London. He recorded recitals for the BBC and appeared as pianist with the New Music Group of Scotland in contemporary works and with Cantilena as harpsichordist.

Margaret Nomura Clark,

Associate Artistic Director, Training Chorus Program Director, Intermediate Chorus Director

MARGARET NOMURA CLARK has been a part of the San Francisco Boys Chorus since 1996. She conducts the Intermediate Chorus and directs the Training Chorus program for all boys in the Preparatory through Intermediate Choruses. She also directs the East Bay Campus of the San Francisco Boys Chorus. Ms. Clark earned her bachelor and master degrees in Music Education from the Oberlin Conservatory. Her choral aspirations began as a student in the music program at San Francisco University High School and in choral workshops with Robert Shaw. She has worked exclusively with children’s choirs in Ohio, New York, Japan, and California. Ms. Clark has also directed the preparatory choral division of the San Francisco Conservatory. She was an administrator and general music teacher for thirteen years at the Pacific Academy of Nomura School in Richmond, founded and operated by her parents, and is currently the middle school music teacher at The Hamlin School in San Francisco.

Jennifer Cooper, Education Director, Junior Apprentice Director

JENNIFER COOPER is an active member of the Bay Area’s music teaching community, having taught choral and classroom music in middle and elementary schools, voice in her home studio, and directed church choirs for youth and adults. Cooper received her early training at the Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory of Music in Ohio – seat of the oldest collegiate Bach festival in the country – and her Master of Music Education degree at Holy Names University (HNU), in Oakland. She has performed in collegiate and community operas, musical theater and choruses, and soloed in two national tours with Fred Waring’s Pennsylvanians. Ms. Cooper is President of the board of the local chapter of the Organization of American Kodály Educators, centered at HNU. She joined the SFBC faculty in 2005.

 Jimmy Kansau, Vocal Director

With a lifelong fascination of the human voice, JIMMY KANSAU offers more than two decades of teaching, singing, and performing experience. He has appeared as a soloist and chorus member in over 45 operas and 10 oratorios in South America, Europe, and the United States, including 15 performances with San Francisco Opera since 2005. Reviewed as an “unusually strong-voiced tenor” who “shows great sensitivity,” Kansau possesses vocal flexibility and a range of experience spanning from Latin American music to opera halls and venues including Unesco, (Paris, France), Notre Dame (Paris, France), Roman Amphitheater (Madrid, Spain) Teatro Tulio Febres Cordero (Mérida, Venezuela), Davies Symphony Hall (SF), Kimmel Center, (Philadelphia), War Memorial Opera House (SF), Saint Nicholas Monaco Cathedral (Monaco), and the United States Capitol (Washington, D.C.). With early beginnings in popular and sacred music, Kansau credits much of his success in opera and oratorio to the San Francisco Conservatory, where he studied with Sylvia Anderson and was coached by Kahtryn Cathcart and Willene Gunn.

Kansau explains his early exposure to formal training as “a whole new world of factors … language, composition, style, vocal fach, tessitura, interpretation, and movement.” Kansau continued his studies with Cornelious Reid, Giovanni Regiolli, Danielle Orlando and Kathryn Cathcart. Kansau’s early exposure to music occurred while singing with his siblings. Although the youngest of four, he quickly became “director of the family quartet,” demanding better vocal sound and tighter harmonies. The quartet appeared in churches, on radio and television shows, and at holiday events, and became the foundation for Coro de Belén in Mérida, Venezuela, the 12 member chamber choir Kansau founded in 1985. With a broad repertoire of sacred and secular music, the choir of twelve was charged with Sunday Mass at the Church of Belén. Within months, and without the benefit of formal music education, the choir won numerous competitions and was engaged to tour Spain, Italy, Germany, and Colombia.

Currently, Kansau appears in collaborations with the San Francisco Boys Chorus, where he also fulfills the role of Director of Vocal Training for the prestigious 60-year-old institution. Kansau holds a post graduate diploma, Master of Music, and Bachelor of Music in Voice from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Charles Calhoun - Concert Chorus Accompanist, Associate Concert Chorus Director

CHARLES CALHOUN's work as accompanist, coach, and instructor has taken place on four continents. His credits include the Edinburgh Festival, BBC Television, the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and the Instituto Superior de Arte of the Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires. He has served on the Music Staff of San Francisco Opera, Opera San Jose and the Sacramento Opera Association, and has assisted in the preparation of performances of the San Francisco, Berkeley, and San Jose Symphony orchestras and the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. A respected educator, he has served as coach or lecturer to university and conservatory students at several Bay Area institutions. In addition to his work with SFBC, his present appointments include those of Music Director of the San Francisco Swedenborgian Church, and Organist at Peninsula Temple Sholom, Burlingame.

Adrian Behrendt, Apprentice Chorus 1, Apprentice Chorus 2 Director

ADRIAN BEHRENDT is thrilled to return as Apprentice Director with the SFBC. He also serves the Piedmont Unified School District as their Vocal Music Teacher for grades K through 4, serving over eight hundred and fifty students at their three elementary schools. This summer, through a grant offered by the SFBC, Adrian successfully completed the Level 1 training at the Kodaly Institute at Holy Names University. In addition to his busy teaching schedule, Adrian is almost done arranging songs for his upcoming solo CD of original pop music. He has been a top finalist in KDFC's Star Spangled Sing Off Contest, and enjoys tennis, working out, and spending weekends with his wife and two children.

Tanya Stum, Preparatory Chorus Director

 Native to rural Pennsylvania, TANYA STUM received her undergraduate degree in Voice Performance from Carnegie Mellon University and graduate degree in Elementary Education from the University of Pittsburgh, receiving the Henry C. Frick Educational Fund of the Buhl Foundation. She has performed, soloed, and recorded with a variety of opera companies and choral organizations that include Pacific Mozart Ensemble, ASWAT (ensemble specializing in Arabic music), Nevenka (women’s choral group specializing in Balkan folk music), San Francisco Opera Chorus (AGMA member), San Francisco Choral Artists, Pittsburgh Opera Chorus, and Pittsburgh Chorale East. She has served as organist and accompanist for a variety of small churches and feels at home playing gospel music. Upon relocating to the Bay Area, she acquired her Multiple Subject Credential and has taught in a variety of settings: the formal classroom, theater, church, and in the natural world. Most recently, Tanya worked at the Oakland Zoo, managing four school programs, developing curricula according to CA Science Standards, teaching outdoor science education programs, and occasionally playing the accordion to “Broc”, a Yellow-Naped Amazon Parrot. She is currently pursuing a Masters Degree at Holy Names University. Tanya lives in Oakland with her husband, two dogs, one cockatiel, and two honey bee colonies.

Betsy Marvit, East Bay Intermediate Chorus Director

After receiving a B.S. from Caltech, BETSY MARVIT studied composition with Elinor Armer and David Garner at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. An award-winning composer, Betsy has written commissions for individuals and ensembles, ranging from talented children at the Conservatory Prep to members of the San Francisco Symphony. After graduating from SFCM, she continued her studies at the Sorbonne in Paris. Betsy has since settled more permanently in the Bay Area, where she is a professor at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and a choral director and instrumental teacher at The Crowden School. Betsy has been with the San Francisco Boys Chorus since 1998.

Chris Evans, Marin Intermediate Director and Musicianship Instructor

CHRIS EVANS, a recent graduate of San Francisco State University’s Classical Voice department, has been singing and working with SFBC since 1995. After graduating from the Concert Chorus in 2000, he became a founding member of the Graduate Chorale, performing on tour in France, Japan, China, Denmark, and Russia. He is cantor of Sts. Peter and Paul Church in SF, Tenor Section Leader for the Cathedral of Christ the Light Choir in Oakland, and regularly performs with other Bay Area choirs such as Volti, San Francisco Choral Artists, Pacific Collegium, and the Skywalker Singers. When he’s not singing and teaching for SFBC, Chris is the Assistant Director for the San Francisco City Chorus under the direction of Larry Marietta. In his spare time, Chris records and produces rock and metal bands from the SF Bay Area. He also plays guitar and writes music for his own band. 

Emily Shisko, Junior Apprentice Director

EMILY SHISKO is a native of Long Beach, California, where she earned a B.M. in Composition and Theory at the local State University. After dedicating several years to teaching and accompaniment in Southern California, she moved to Massachusetts, where she continued her studies at the Boston Conservatory under the guidance of Andy Vores, Jan Swafford and Osvoldo Golijov. An award-winning composer, Emily’s works continue to be performed by a range of individuals and ensembles. She has had the pleasure of working with choirs, soloists and musical theater groups in the United States, Europe and Asia, and looks forward to continuing to do so in the Bay Area.

David Knight, Hand Bells Director

DAVID KNIGHT received his B.A. in Music from California State University, Hayward. He was a counselor at his first San Francisco Boys Chorus camp that summer, and also began ringing handbells in the staff choir. Since then he has been to 22 SFBC camps, 13 as part of the music staff, and has directed the SFBC handbell program since 2002.

Robert Lee—Accompanist, Musicianship Instructor

JOHN R.S. WALKO - Accompanist

JOHN R.S. WALKO is a native of Cleveland, Ohio’s Western Reserve region. John studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music, The Juilliard School, and Huntingdon College. John performed on location with the symphony orchestras of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Havana, Cuba in performances of the five-hour epic silent film “Napoleon,” to audiences of 30,000 people. John accompanies the San Francisco City Chorus, Vox Dilecti, San Francisco Boys Chorus, Voices of Musica Sacra, and, in 2004, the National Children’s Choir at Davies Symphony Hall. At First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley he has served as Organist and Artistic Director of the Lenten Organ Recital Series since 1994.