Rachelle Jonck – Co-Founder, Executive Director
Rachelle Jonck received her musical training at the Conservatory of the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa where she focused on vocal accompaniment, earning a BMus in both piano and musicology. In her native country she was awarded a FNB/Vita award for her contribution to opera in South Africa with special mention of her work with the State Theater Opera Chorus. In 1998 Ms Jonck received the Nederburg Opera Prize â South Africaâs premier opera award.
In 1998 Rachelle moved to New York City as Head Vocal Coach and Assistant Conductor of Bel Canto at Caramoor. She has served on faculty at Westminster Choir College, Manhattan School of Music, Teatro Nuovo, Palm Beach Opera’s Benenson Young Artist Program, and Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute. Rachelleâs private coaching studio includes established professionals whose careers take them to the largest opera houses of the world, and younger singers still on the verge of a professional career. Her master class topics, while related to her main study field of bel canto, explore the wider application of the bel canto way of singing. Her recording Gabriel FaurĂ©: 30 MĂ©lodies (with tenor Steven Tharp) was released in 2015.
In the Spring of 2024 she embarked on an extensive European coaching tour which included a master class and coaching at Guild Hall in London, a workshop in Berlin, and coaching singers at Stuttgart Opera, Staatstheater NĂŒrnberg, Stadttheater Bern and Dutch National Opera. rachellejonck.com
Derrick Goff – Co-Founder, Deputy Executive Director
Derrick Goff is an alumnus of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and returned to the MET music staff, and serves on the Vocal Arts Faculty of the Manhattan School of Music. Derrick has recently accompanied art song recitals at the Bruno Walter Auditorium in New York and at Caramoor. He has enjoyed many years of collaboration at Teatro Nuovo, a continuation of the young artist program of Bel Canto at Caramoor, where he is resident as a coach, chorusmaster, and Italian teacher.
Derrickâs conducting and music directing credits include Don Giovanni, I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Faust, Idomeneo, and Lâelisir dâamore.
In addition to his work as a pianist, coach, and conductor, Derrick holds degrees in organ and voice from Westminster Choir College.
Derrick is always looking for something new to learn about a foreign language and can often be found with an alarmingly large iced coffee working on the NYTimes crossword.
Steven Tharp – Sunday MatinĂ©e
Missouri-born tenor Steven Tharp’s operatic credits include performances with the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Netherlands Opera, among many other houses. Handel and Mozart are well represented in Mr. Tharp’s repertoire of more than 60 operatic parts, and his keen interest in 18th- and early 19th-century opera has led to many roles in operas of Gluck, Haydn, Scarlatti, Conti, and others. In concert, Mr. Tharp has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Cleveland Orchestra, among others. His concert repertoire includes the Bach, Mozart, Handel, and Haydn masterpieces of the 18th and 19th century and extends to Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius, Schönberg’s Gurre-Lieder, the Verdi Requiem, and Britten’s War Requiem. A dedicated song recitalist, Mr. Tharp has appeared at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, the 92nd Street Y, Carnegie’s Weill Hall, venues in Europe, Japan, and South America. His interest in musical theater and cabaret led to his appearance in 3 Tenors in Search of an Act in a sold-out run at Don’t Tell Mama in New York. Steven has recorded for Decca, Delos, Newport, Albany and Naxos, earning a Grammy Award nomination. He has also served as stage director for the Manhattan School of Music and for Caramoor. He lives in Columbia, Missouri with his adorable Westie, Hector, and is Associate Professor of Voice at the University of Missouri.
Francesca Federico
Francesca is a classical singer, grant writer and media consultant for arts organizations. A Fulbright Scholar, Francesca completed a residency at the Irish World Academy in Limerick, Ireland, under the mentorship of Iarla Ă LionĂĄird and Dr. Sandra Joyce. As a grant writer and digital media expert, she has worked for organizations including The New York Times, Eighth Blackbird, Jensen Artists, and Opera America Magazine. As a performer, she has sung with the American Contemporary Music Ensemble, Wexford Festival Opera, Salt Marsh Opera, Teatro Nuovo, and as a soloist at Carnegie Hall. Her debut album, Visions and Ecstasies, will be released on Odradek Records in 2025.