Stephanie Auld is a VCU Arts graduate with a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance, a minor in Italian. She was a graduate opera assistant at the Petrie School of Music at Converse College and studied at the Buck Hill-Skytop Music Festival, Atlantic Music Festival, and Harrower Summer Opera Workshop.  Miss Auld won the Presidential Arts Scholarship at George Washington University, the VCU Friends of Music Scholarship, and the VCU Friends of Opera Scholarship.

Favorite roles performed include Josephine (HMS Pinafore), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Pamina (Die Zauberflote abridged), Laetitia (The Old Maid and the Thief), Sandman (Hansel and Gretel), Second Stepsister (The True Story of Cinderella), Gossip (Noye’s Fludde), and La novizia (Suor Angelica). 

Stephanie was a founding member of the choral ensemble Sanctuary, performing Renaissance polyphony and Gregorian chant. As a recording artist, she has sung on Sanctuary: Music for Compline and Matthew E. White’s Big Inner, an album from Spacebomb Records that received 5 stars from The Guardian and was included in Pitchfork Magazine’s Top 50 Albums of 2012. Miss Auld has been a recitalist with the Second Sunday South of the James Concert Series, the Gellman Concert Series, and performed Vaughan Williams’ Ten Blake Songs with the Eckhart Ensemble.  She was the soprano soloist for Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb with the Central Virginia Masterworks Chorale, Carmina Burana with Richmond Choral Society and Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with American Ballet Theater pianist Benjamin Houghton.

Stephanie is extremely grateful for the ongoing support from the Richmond, Virginia community, her friends and family, and her many mentors and teachers, particularly Melanie Kohn Day, Michelle Harman-Gulick, Cynthia Donnell, Jim Smith-Parham, and L. Wayne Batty. She recently performed the role of Zerlina in Don Giovanni with Commonwealth Concert Opera in September 2025.

David Brown studied Percussion at The Juilliard School of Music in New York City and maintains his love of performing. Before college, he won the National Symphony Orchestra Young Soloist competition.

Mr. Brown spent 3 years touring with the Blue Devils Drum & Bugle corps from Concord, Ca. He has several works for Marimba that were published in the late 90’s. Singing is a recent passion and he strives for continued improvement in various styles.  He currently studies with tenor James Taylor.

Alan Chavez has been a mainstay in the Richmond classical music scene since his debut at VCU Opera in 2011. Some of his favorite past roles include both Figaro and Conte d'Almaviva in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, Slook in Rossini's La Cambiale di Matrimonio, the Pirate King in Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance, Silvio in Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci, the title role in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, Marcello in Puccini's La bohème, and High Priest in Samson et Dalila.

Elise Cumbia is a graduate from Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, TX with a BFA in Musical Theatre. Some of her roles in Richmond have included Chava in Fiddler on the Roof  (Weinstein JCC), Svetlana in Chess (Amaryllis Studios) and Emily in From Up Here (HATTheatre). Some of her favorite past roles have included Beth in Little Women, Matt in Matt & Ben, and Julia in The Wedding Singer at Hardin-Simmons."  Elise currently studies with James Taylor.

Lisa Ruth Niemeier is a composer, a pianist, an opera singer, and a musical storyteller. The thwarting of her youthful yet well-founded dreams of an opera career, single motherhood, and a 30-year career in wealth management have fueled a relentless renewed pursuit of a performance and composition career.

Since discovering composition in May, 2023, her works have gained national and international recognition. They have enjoyed premiers in the US, Estonia, and France by renowned artists. Lisa Ruth performed along with Richmond Symphony principal cellist Neal Cary the US premier of her piano/cello work “Breaking the Walls” at the opening concert of the Richmond Chamber Players’ 2025/2026 season. The Davenport Chamber Players premiered the work in New York State in fall of 2025. Her works are also recorded by global artists and by the composer herself. Her recording company Oclassica Records has released two of her works as singles and her debut album, Whitewater, was released November 8, 2025. All are available on all streaming platforms. She also hosts an artist talk series called “Talking Shop” on her YouTube channel, lisaruthmusic. She hosts consummate concert artists, composers, opera singers, and choreographers as her guests.

Lisa Ruth distinguishes her performances and her compositions by creating stories inspired by the music she composes as well as by others. She ties segments of her stories to particular passages in the music, offering audiences present-day, deeply engaging experiences. She performs solo piano and collaboratively in various chamber settings. Her commissions emanate from rising stars and established concert artists. Her signature Storyed Recitals™ delight audiences spanning generations and musical genres. She also performs with Richmond, VA-based Commonwealth Concert Opera.

Fredrick Newhouse is a native of Richmond, Virginia. He has studied vocal performance at VCU and is currently a student of James Taylor. After a long hiatus, he is making his return to opera to debut his first lead role as Rodolfo. Fredrick has performed in the chorus with VCU Opera in Lehár’s The Merry Widow and Mozart’s The Magic Flute. He has also performed the joyous role of Lippo Fiorentino in the “Ice Cream Sextet” from Kurt Weill’s Street Scene. In May, Fredrick participated in a workshop for Damien Geter's Loving vs. Virginia with Virginia Opera and recently performed as Rodolfo in La Boheme. He is extremely excited to be performing opera again and eagerly anticipates the future.

James Taylor, M.M. (Yale University), is an internationally celebrated performer. At home in opera, concert, recital, and musical theatre, he has appeared with numerous opera companies, symphonies, and theatres, including the New York City Opera, San Francisco Opera, Opera Carolina, Göttigen Handel Festspiele, Theatre Augsburg, and the Nederlandse Reisopera. In his earlier roles as a baritone, Mr. Taylor performed the title roles in Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Le Nozze di Figaro, Marcello in La Boheme, as well as thirty-three others. As a tenor, his performances have included Siegmund in Die Walküre, the title roles in Lohengrin and Parsifal, Don Jose in Carmen, Manrico in Il Trovatore, Cavaradossi in Tosca, and Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly. 

His many concert performances include Handel's Messiah, Bach's Magnificat, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, and Mozart's Requiem. An avid recitalist, Mr. Taylor has presented programs in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, Breda, and Groningen in the Netherlands, Munich, Augsburg, and Dusseldorf in Germany, Klagenfurt, Linz, and Vienna in Austria, and Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, as well as several universities and colleges across the United States.  He has sung Schubert's "Winterreise", "Die schöne Müllerin", and "Schwanengesang", Schumann's "Dichterliebe", "Liederkreise" Op. 24 & Op. 39, Brahms' "Vier ernste Gesange", "Ziguenerlieder" and "Die schöne Magelone", and Wagner's "Wesendonk Lieder".

A talented and sought-after educator, he has served as Director of Opera at Drake University and the University of Alabama and has been on the music faculties of VCU and the University of Virginia. His students have gone on to such prestigious schools as the New England Conservatory, Juilliard, Manhattan School of Music, Yale University, and the Royal College of Music. Several of his students perform regularly with the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Semperoper, Glyndebourne, the Opera Comique, Utah Opera, Central City Opera, Landestheater Niederbayern, Opera Frankfurt, and the Oldenburgisches Staatsoper.

Mr. Taylor has had the pleasure to work with many of the top Artist Teachers in the business, such as Jon Fredric West, Sherrill Milnes, Richard Cross, Doris Yarick-Cross, Jackson Sheats, Andrew Gainey, and Seth Riggs. He has also participated in Master Classes with Placido Domingo, Sherrill Milnes, and Regine Crespin.

A native of Richmond, Virginia, W. Weldon Hill holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in music education from Virginia Union University (Richmond) and Master of Music (composition) and Doctor of Philosophy (musicology) degrees from the Catholic University of America.  He also completed post-graduate work in jazz studies at Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond). He subsequently won highly coveted fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Plan for Social Excellence and earned post-doctoral certifications in higher-education leadership at Harvard University (Management Development Program) the American Council on Education.

A stalwart practitioner in higher-education administration Dr. Hill’s career in higher education spans three universities as a faculty member, Dean, and Provost over his 40-year career.  He as published and presented at numerous professional meetings on topics such as economic development, ethnomusicology, town-and-gown partnerships, and educational leadership, Dr. is also involved in educational and public affairs outside the university, having most recently served on the New College Institute Board of Directors (Martinsville, Virginia; appointed by Gov. Ralph Northam) and, currently, the Chairs the Culture Works Board of Directors (Richmond, Virginia).

Now retired from higher education, Dr. Hill devotes his attention to music of multiple genres as composer, producer, performer, and musicologist. Many scholars consider his the definitive treatise on the Sacred Concerts of Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington. Perhaps most well known as a pianist, Dr. Hill primarily performs with his own trio/quartet. He has shared the stage with numerous nationally known artists including Joe Williams, Herb Jefferies, Panama Francis, Ethel Ennis, Benny Carter, Milt Hinton, Billy Pierce, Steve Wilson, Carmen Bradford, Lori Williams and Byron Stripling. He has also performed with the United States Air Force Rhythm and Blue Ensemble, the Glen Miller Orchestra, and the Virginia Symphony and Jazz Orchestra.  His discography spans nearly 40 years, including his own recordings as well as those featuring Jon Faddis, Rene Marie, and Joe Kennedy, among others.

Reese Williams has been a voice actor for over 25 years. She enjoys this work because it allows her to be obnoxiously animated, yet socially acceptable. She’s lent her talent to live radio, animation, mobile apps, voicemails, commercials, corporate videos and backup singing vocals. She’s Head of Business Development for In Your Ear Studios in Richmond, so now she gets to run her mouth about her beloved audio industry for a living. She hosts the live stream concert series Shockoe Sessions Live, and its companion podcast, "This Room Sounds Great." She also produces and hosts her own podcast titled "Spying on Humanity."