Performer Biographies
Dr. Bryan Baker
Artistic Director and Conductor, Masterworks Chorale
Dr. Bryan Baker has been Artistic Director of Masterworks Chorale since 2002. He also holds the positions of Director of Music at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, Associate Conductor of the San Francisco Choral Society, and founder and director of the chamber choir Serenade. He has led many choral clinics, judged countless choral competitions, and frequently appeared as guest conductor in the Bay Area. In addition to the Masterworks orchestra he has conducted the Solaris Chamber Orchestra, the Redwood Symphony, the Peninsula Symphonic Winds, the New Millennium Strings, and the Kensington Symphony.
Having earned bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees in music, Dr. Baker served on the faculty of the College of San Mateo for 12 years. He also taught voice at San Francisco State University and Truman University (Missouri), and piano at Foothill College and Arizona State University. He maintains a private studio, and his students have won competitions and appeared in concerts and operas in the Bay Area and across the country.
And accomplished pianist, Dr. Baker has played solo concerts, chamber music and accompanied vocal recitals across the United States and in Europe and South America. Locally he has performed in Davies Symphony Hall, Herbst Theater, and at the Stern Grove Festival. During recent seasons, he played concertos by Mozart, Beethoven, Saint-Säens and Shostakovich.
Dr. Baker has won prizes in numerous competitions and received grants for performances of chamber music. He has also spent a good deal of time in the theater. His musical director credits include Godspell, Company, The Apple Tree, Side by Side by Sondheim, Les Miserables, and The World Goes ‘Round. His recent roles include The Baker in Into the Woods, Boolie in Driving Miss Daisy, and the title character in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.
Gregory Amato
Artistic Director and Choreographer, Peninsula Ballet
Gregory Amato has a wide breadth of experience in the international world of ballet. Mr. Amato has performed in over 50 countries, including forthe Queen of England, two presidents, numerous ambassadors, dignitaries, and prime ministers.
He was selected by New York City Ballet principal dancer Edward Villella to become a founding member of the Miami City Ballet, before performing with the Ballet du Nord in France. He was then similarly chosen by Michael Smuin as a founding member of Smuin Ballet. While dancing there, Michael Smuin created several ballets on Mr. Amato, including "Frankie and Johnny,” and "Cyrano." He also appeared in the movie, "The Fantastics," which Smuin choreographed.
Mr. Amato's primary teacher and inspiration was New York City Ballet soloist Nolan T'Sani. He studied on full scholarship at the San Francisco Ballet School and the Joffrey Ballet School in New York.
Mr. Amato competed and won the gold medal in the Fred Astaire International Ballroom Dance Competition. Despite his impressive ballet career, his personal highlight was his experience as the featured dancer at Carnegie Hall for the 100th Celebration of George Gershwin’s birthday.
Mr. Amato has been the Artistic Director at Peninsula Ballet Theatre and Peninsula School of the Arts since 2017, where he has created over 40 original works, including full-length productions of The Nutcracker, Cinderella, Carmina Burana, Carnival of the Animals, and Carmen.
Michele Kennedy
Soprano Soloist
Praised as “an excellent and impassioned” soprano possessing "a graceful tonal clarity that is a wonder to hear" (San Francisco Chronicle), MICHELE KENNEDY is a versatile specialist in early and new music.
Michele's recent highlights include Bach St. John Passion with The San Francisco Symphony, Poulenc Gloria (Bach Society of Saint Louis), Fireworks of Handel & Purcell (Portland Baroque Orchestra), Handel Messiah (Trinity Wall Street), Undine Smith Moore's MLK Oratorio (UC Berkeley), Monteverdi Vespers (The Thirteen & Dark Horse Consort), and her Carnegie Hall debut with The Hollywood Film Orchestra. A lifelong champion of new works, Michele has sung premieres with Experiments in Opera, Harlem Stage Opera, Kaleidoscope Ensemble, The New York Philharmonic, and with Lorelei Ensemble in a world premiere tour of Julia Wolfe’s Her Story culminating with the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood. She is featured on the recent album with AGAVE Baroque, In Her Hands, showcasing brilliant female composers from over the ages.
A Winner of the 2023 American Prize in Voice, Michele completed her musical studies at Yale University, the Yale School of Music, and NYU. She lives in Oakland with her husband, visual artist Benjamin Thorpe, and their daughter, Audra May. Please find more at www.michele-kennedy.com
Shauna Fallihee
Mezzo Soprano Soloist
Shauna Fallihee has been featured with numerous Bay Area ensembles including San Francisco Choral Society, Masterworks Chorale, San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra, Open Opera, West Bay Opera and the Old St. Mary’s Cathedral Noontime Concert Series. Deeply dedicated to the performance of new music, Shauna has performed world premieres and contemporary works with Empyrean Ensemble, Facing West Shadow Theater, NothingSet Ensemble, San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra, Opus Project, Wild Rumpus, Ensemble Mik Nawooj, Stanford Laptop Orchestra and enjoyed a decade with new music chamber choir Volti.
An active educator, Shauna is on the voice faculty at Holy Names University and City College San Francisco. She is a Master Teacher Trainer for The Dailey Method, an alignment-focused Barre and Cycle fitness program. Shauna’s unique program Embodied Singer integrates movement, myofascial release, meditation, and traditional vocal pedagogy. www.embodiedsinger.com
Julian Kusnadi
Tenor Soloist
Julian Kusnadi has pursued a variety of Bay Area artistic projects since 2007, including choral ensembles (Volti, Clerestory, Gaude, Endersnight, Convivium, Stanford Chamber Chorale), church music programs (Cathedral of Christ the Light, St. Mary the Virgin), theater productions (TheatreWorks New Works Festival, New York International Fringe Festival, Ram's Head Society), a cappella groups (Stanford Fleet Street Singers), barbershop quartets (Brannigan, international top-10 Artistic License), and the truly eclectic (Luciano Berio's Sinfonia, a Super Bowl commercial with Seal...). Along the way, he's been fortunate to collaborate with the likes of ODC, Kronos Quartet (with whom he performed on a GRAMMY™ Award-winning album), and many active composers/arrangers.
In 2015, Julian co-founded the Fog City Singers, a non-profit San Francisco-based men's ensemble that achieved top-10 finishes in all appearances at the International Barbershop Chorus Contest, and was featured at the 2019 California Choral Directors Association state conference.
Julian earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Stanford University in 2012. After initial forays into social welfare and law, he presently spends his days at mission-driven startups, previously in education technology and now with Forward, working to build the first healthcare system at scale.
Wilford Kelly
Bass-baritone Soloist
Florida-native bass-baritone Wilford Kelly (28) is a multi-talented singer based in San Francisco, California under the tutelage of César Ulloa. Currently, he is a tenured member of the San Francisco Opera Chorus. He most recently graduated from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music with his Master of Music Degree in Voice. During his time at the Conservatory, Wilford performed many roles in the SFCM mainstage opera productions including Bartolo in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, Gus O'Neill in John Musto's Later the Same Evening, Leone in Händel's Tamerlano, and Lackei in Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos. He also performed in multiple mainstage productions of the Musical Theater program, portraying the roles of Mr. Peachum in Weill's The Threepenny Opera and Bellomy in Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones's The Fantasticks. Wilford has also garnered attention outside of the SFCM performance community, performing in recent engagements with West Edge Opera, the Jacksonville Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, and as a Studio Artist with Wolf Trap Opera where he performed two principal roles and covered four more in their 2019 season.
He has also achieved success on the competition circuit, having been named a recipient of the Encouragement Award at the San Francisco District Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions this past January. He firmly believes in the power of music and seeks to inspire unity and change in the face of the many injustices that run rampant in today's society. He believes that any performance in which someone is touched by his art is one he considers successful, and seeks to continue to inspire as many people as possible with his work.