2009 artists
Each year the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival welcomes top-notch artists from all over the United States and around the world. You are invited to hear these distinguished musicians right here in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley!
Artistic director & conductor:
KENNETH NAFZIGER, artistic director and conductor, is
professor of music at Eastern Mennonite University. He received his Doctor
of Musical Arts from the University of Oregon, and was a post-doctoral conducting
student with Helmuth Rilling in Stuttgart, Germany. At EMU his teaching responsibilities
include the EMU Chamber Singers, courses in conducting, interdisciplinary
humanities studies, the honors program, and world music. Featured artists:
Jennifer Ellis Kampani, soprano, "offers a freshness of voice, fineness of timbre, and ease of production that place her in the front rank" and is emerging as one of the leading interpreters of the Baroque repertoire. She recently made her debut with the Washington Bach Consort, the Bach Choir of Bethlehem, and the New York Collegium. 
Heidi Kurtz, mezzo-soprano, is a native of Pocomoke City, Md., and a core member of the Philadelphia Singers. She recently appeared with them as the soloist in Mozart's Vesperae Solemnes de Confessore. 
Kenneth Gayle, tenor, is accumulating accolades in a growing career in opera, concert and stage. Equally at home in a variety of musical styles and genres, national credits include performances with LyricOpera of Chicago, Ravinia Music Festival, Seattle Opera, Seattle Symphony, Grant Park Music Festival, Opera Omaha, Omaha Symphony and Opera Idaho, to name a few. 
David Newman, bass, enjoys an active concert career throughout North America. Hailed as “electrifying” by the Washington Post and noted by the Sacramento Bee for his “rather perfect oratorio voice,” he is in demand as a Baroque specialist. Supporting artists:
MARY KAY ADAMS, Bach Festival executive director and principal flutist, is currently principal flutist in the Shenandoah Symphony Orchestra, where she was previously principal cellist. She has played flute in the Roanoke Symphony and cello in the Fort Smith (AR) Symphony. She has taught for 27 years in the music departments of several colleges and universities. 
LYNDA DEMBOWSKI, clarinetist, is the principal clarinetist of the United States Naval Academy Band in Annapolis, Md. A native of Waynesboro, Va., she has been serving on active duty with the USNA Band since 1999, performing in the concert, ceremonial and marching bands, as well as the chamber winds. 
SANDRA GERSTER, oboist, praised for "exemplary bravura" (New Haven Register), and “expressive animation" (Baltimore Sun), enjoys a varied musical career of oboe, oboe d'amore and English horn engagements. Since moving to Baltimore three years ago, Ms. Gerster has performed regularly with the Baltimore, North Carolina, and Annapolis Symphonies, as well as the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Bach Concert Series and Opera Vivente. More >>
JOAN GRIFFING, violinist and concertmaster, is currently associate professor of music and chair of the music department at Eastern Mennonite University, where she teaches violin and viola, coaches chamber music and conducts the university orchestra. She is also concertmaster of the Shenandoah Symphony Orchestra, a member of the Virginia Symphony, and violinist with the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, N.C. 
Arthur Haas, Virginia Baroque Performance Academy instructor, is one of the most sought-after teachers of Baroque music in the United States today. He holds a master's degree in historical musicology from UCLA, where he studied harpsichord with Bess Karp. He also studied with Albert Fullard at the Juillard School and with Alan Curtis in Berkeley and in Amsterdam. 
Lynne Mackey, Virginia Baroque Performance Academy director, teaches applied piano, pedagogy, and music theory. She has performed in solo and chamber music settings in the United States, Canada and the Netherlands, and she is currently on the tour roster of the Virginia Commission for the Arts. She is also pianist for the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival. A graduate of The Juilliard School with her doctorate from the Eastman School of Music, she also holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan. 
Martha McGaughey, Virginia Baroque Performance Academy instructor, was for many years a member of the Paris-based Five Centuries Ensemble, known for its performances of both early and contemporary music. She was a founding member of Musical Assembly, whose recording of the chamber music of Francois Couperin has received critical acclaim. 
THE REV. ROSEMARY BRAY MCNATT, homilist, is senior minister of The Fourth Universalist Society in the City of New York, a 170-year-old Unitarian Universalist congregation on Manhattan's Upper West Side. A graduate of Yale University and Drew Theological Seminary, and a former editor at the New York Times Book Review, she is author of three books. More >>
MARVIN MILLS, organist and assistant choral director, is organist at St.
Paul’s United Methodist Church in Kensington, Md. He is also
music director of the acclaimed National Spiritual Ensemble. Previous positions
include associate minister of music at National City Christian Church, director
of music at All Souls Church, Unitarian, and university organist at Howard
University, all in Washington, D.C. 
LES NICHOLAS, clarinetist, has appeared as principal clarinetist from Alice Tully Hall at New York’s Lincoln Center to Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Across Europe he has performed from Oslo to Palermo in opera, orchestra, chamber music and solo roles. More >>
KEVIN PICCINI, oboist, is a native of Rochester, New York, where he attended the Eastman School of Music. He also holds a masters degree from the Yale University School of Music. He is an active performer and teacher in the Tidewater area of Virginia. More >>
Joel Ross, countertenor, began his musical training at an early age,
studying piano, violin, and trumpet, and singing in choirs. He continued through high school to develop
his musicianship, participating in numerous ensembles, both instrumental and vocal. 
CAROL WARNER, flutist, has a bachelor of music degree from West Virginia University and a master of music education degree from James Madison University. Her principal teachers were Kay Borkowski, Mary Krusenstjerna, and Carol Noe. More >>
festival choir
festival orchestra