INFORMATION FOR
Christopher Dylan Herbert, Associate Professor, Head of Voice ProgramDr. Christopher Dylan Herbert (baritone) is an Associate Professor at William Paterson University and is the head of the Voice Program. In addition to teaching one-on-one voice lessons, music history, performance seminar, and the Music Honors Track, he advises students, manages and coordinates the Vocal Program, and produces staged musical works in the Music Department.
As a professional vocalist, Dr. Herbert performs frequently throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and is a two-time GRAMMY® nominee. He has soloed with The San Francisco Symphony and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, performed Ginastera centennial celebrations with International Contemporary Ensemble and the Choir of Trinity Wall Street, and consistently presents Winterize – an outdoor adaptation of Winterreise with transistor radios.
He holds a B.A. in Music from Yale University, an M.A. in Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard University, and D.M.A. in Voice from The Juilliard School. His current research focus is on the music of the eighteenth-century colonial America. He was the baritone in the critically acclaimed ensemble New York Polyphony for ten years.
www.christopherdylanherbert.com
Hannah Carr, VoiceOriginally from Ireland, Hannah Carr is (Interim) Director of Choral Activities at William Paterson University, NJ, following five years on the faculty at Kutztown University, PA. Hannah holds a BA in Composition from Trinity College Dublin, an Adv. Dip in Music Education from the Kodály Institute in Hungary, an MM in Conducting from Yale University’s Institute of Sacred Music and a DMA in Conducting from Rutgers University. Hannah is director of Cantigas, a Hoboken-based treble choir dedicated to internationally performing diverse music from around the world.
Hannah has worked with professional choirs as director of the University Church at Yale, Stratford Street United Church in Boston and with C4 Ensemble in NYC. With C4, Hannah was a featured conductor on C4’s debut album launch: Uncaged, which received rave reviews in the American Record Guide and Fanfare Magazine, and was featured by WQXR as “Album of the Week.” Hannah has won various prizes, including the Irene Alms Memorial Prize at Rutgers University, The Director’s Prize from Yale University, The Highest Bursary Award for Choral Conducting in 2009 & 2010 from the Irish Arts Council & The Gerard Victory Prize for Composition from Trinity College Dublin. Hannah is an artist-in-residence of Ireland’s Tyrone Guthrie Center and an active clinician, festival conductor and adjudicator in Europe and the US.
Nancy Chamberlain, Voice Coach / Staff PianistNancy Chamberlain is a collaborative pianist at William Paterson University and Manhattan School of Music. She won the Premier Prix in Piano from the Conservatoire National in Nice, France, where she studied as a Rotary Foundation Scholar.
While in Europe, Nancy performed with the Aspremont Quartet, winning First Prize in the International Chamber Music Competition in Tradate, Italy. She has taught K-12 vocal/choral/theatrical music in New York City and New Jersey and has worked as a Broadway audition pianist.
Other NYC work has included cabarets at 54 Below, The Duplex, Triad, and Alchemical Theater on 14th Street. She has also played synthesizer for shows at MPAC and Plays in the Park in NJ. Nancy holds an M.M. in Piano Performance from Manhattan School of Music.
Darian Clonts, VoiceTenor Dr. Darian Clonts, originally from Atlanta, Georgia, has been a member of the Voice Faculty at William Paterson University since Fall 2021. While at WP, he has taught both Voice Class and Applied Voice. Additionally, he is involved in the William Paterson Music Mentors program. Dr. Clonts holds a B.A. from Morehouse College, where he was a soloist and accompanist of the renowned Morehouse College Glee Club. He earned a D.M. and a M.M. in Voice from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. During his time at Indiana University, he also earned a minor in Musicology and a certificate in Vocology.
Clonts has performed with several prestigious opera companies, including Cincinnati Opera, The Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theater, The Princeton Festival, The Atlanta Opera, and the Indiana University Opera Theater.
Clonts serves on the Board of Directors for the New York City Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing. He also holds memberships with the National Association of Negro Musicians, the African American Art Song Alliance, the Collegiate Music Society, and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. He is also a member of the Voice Faculty at Montclair State University. The primary focus of his musical research includes opera and African American music, and he has lectured on his research at schools and institutions across the United States.
Hannah Comia, Voice Coach / Staff PianistBased in the NJ/NY area, first generation Filipina American Hannah Comia performs regularly as a pianist, as well as music director, singer, and conductor. She has appeared at the Chicago Summer Opera, Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, the Kosciuszko Foundation, Classic Lyric Arts (CLA) summer festivals, the Arabia-Kaikuu Festivaali, the Helsinki Musiikkitalo, Paavalinkirkko, Basilica San Marco, St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Salzburg Cathedral, La Madeleine, and Macerata Teatro.
As an academic, she has given recitals and participated on “informances” with Civic Morning Musicals, the Finnish Wagner Society, and the Sunday concert series at Hendricks Chapel. Her work has been supported by the American Scandinavian Foundation, SAI Philanthropies, Inc, and the Syracuse Graduate School.
Hannah serves as voice/piano faculty at William Paterson University and as music ministry pianist at St. Mary’s Church in Pompton Lakes. She has trained at William Paterson University, Syracuse University, Metropolia UAS, and the Sibelius Academy. Her piano teachers include Steve Heyman, Carl Patrick Bolleia, and Soo Yeon Cho.
www.hannahcomia.com/
Sarah Abigail Griffiths, VoiceSoprano Sarah Abigail Griffiths has been hailed for her “glowing tone, effortless facility and vivid expressivity” (Dallas Morning News), and has appeared as soloist and chorister with professional ensembles throughout the United States. She is a founding member of the baroque chamber ensemble, Armonia Celeste, heard on the Centaur label, and is featured singing Alice Parker’s song cycle Dickinson: On Recollecting in a 2017 recording for Gothic. She has performed U.S. premieres by Bob Chilcott and Thea Musgrave and world premieres by Katherine Hoover, Edward Smaldone, and Martha Sullivan. She holds degrees from the University of North Texas, Westminster Choir College, and Earlham College.
Jee Hyun Lim, VoiceJee Hyun Lim (Lyric Soprano) is internationally acclaimed singing actress, concert singer, and vocal educator. She has sung over 25 operatic heroines with many opera companies in US and Canada such as Chicago Lyric, Seattle, New York City (Season Opening), Cincinnati, Spoleto Festival, Detroit, New Orleans, Atlanta, Minnesota, Vancouver, Montreal, just to name a few. She sang 40 performances at Royal Albert Hall in London and numerous times in Dublin, Belfast, Zagreb (Croatia), Bergen (Norway), Santiago, Tokyo, and her native town Seoul, Korea. Miss Lim sang Messiah 11 times at Avery Fisher Hall and more oratorios and recitals in Detroit, Minnesota, Atlanta, New York, and Chicago. Miss Lim was educated at Seoul National University, The Juilliard School (MM), and Juilliard Opera Centre and was the winner of the Sullivan Award and the Artist of the Year by Syracuse Opera. Currently she teaches voice at Lehigh University and William Paterson University.
June Marano-Murray, Voice Coach / Staff PianistJune Marano-Murray received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in piano and accompanying from Manhattan School of Music where she was the recipient of the prestigious Harold Bauer Award. Her credits include: Wolf Trap Company, Lake George Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Central City Opera, Pepsico Summerfare (Peter Sellars), NY Opera Repertory Theater, and the Berkshire Choral Institute.
She was also the music director for opera productions at Asolo Opera in Sarasota, Florida, the Bel Canto Opera in NYC, and performed and taught at the First International Summer Music Festival in Taiwan. June is also a former Gramma Fisher Scholarship recipient, which enabled her to study and perform at the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria.
June was a former lecturer at SUNY-Purchase, as well as Music Director for both Purchase Opera Theater, and for Mannes College of Music. She was also a former member of the opera coaching staff at Manhattan School of Music for 34 years, and she also accompanied the Birgit Nilsson Master Class series for five years.
She used to be Dean of the Northern Valley Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, and currently serves as choir director/organist at Second Reformed Church in Hackensack, NJ. She is also the organist for Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Roman Catholic Church in Tenafly, NJ, as well as a freelance coach and piano teacher.
Tami Petty, VoiceDr. Tami Petty made her Lincoln Center debut in 2010 in Rossini's PETITE MESSE SOLENELLE with the Voices of Ascension at Alice Tully Hall. The New York Times praised Petty’s "powerful soprano," and Classical Music Network declared, "Such a beauty and purity of tone is so rare that I could only listen in ethereal pleasure." She is the 2014 Award Recipient of the Joy in Singing Prize. Other New York City performances include Pani Paskova in Janacek’s CUNNING LITTLE VIXEN at Avery Fisher Hall with New York Philharmonic, Schmidt’s NOTRE DAME at Carnegie Hall with American Symphony Orchestra, and Steven Sametz’s Carmina Amoris at Carnegie Hall.
Highlights from past seasons include Woglinde in the final scene from Wagner’s DAS RHEINGOLD with American Symphony Orchestra at the Bard Summerscape Festival, the title role in Puccini's SUOR ANGELICA with Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra, Leonore in Beethoven's FIDELIO with Opera Fort Collins, Vaughan Williams's A SEA SYMPHONY with Buffalo Philharmonic, Michael Tippett’s A CHILD OF OUR TIME with Manchester Choral Society, and the FOUR LAST SONGS of Richard Strauss with the symphonies of Fort Collins and Saint Joseph Symphony. A recitalist of the first rank, she has performed locally with Brooklyn Art Song Society, 5BMF, Caritas for St. Ignatius Loyola, Joy in Singing, and New York Singing Teachers Association (NYSTA).
Winner of career grants from the Richard Tucker Foundation, the Lotte Lehmann Foundation, Chautauqua Opera Guild, the Lotte Lenya Competition, and the prestigious Merola Opera Program of the San Francisco Opera Center, Petty has also received special recognition from the Marilyn Horne Foundation for her participation in the Music Academy of the West. She is the first recipient of the Emerging Artist Award from the Sorel Organization honoring women in music, and she received the Jessie Kneisel Prize in German Lieder while a student at the Eastman School of Music.
With graduate degrees from the Eastman School of Music in Vocal Performance and Stage Direction, Dr. Petty teaches on the staffs of American Musical and Dramatic Academy, Bard College, Brooklyn College, William Patterson University, and Ramapo College. Please visit www.TamiPetty.com for more information.
Sarah Elizabeth Wolfson, VoiceSarah Elizabeth Wolfson (soprano) has demonstrated a remarkable ability to communicate with an audience, whether in recital, oratorio, or on the operatic stage. The New York Times called her "a keenly intelligent artist…[she sings] with luminous sound and impressively focused high notes."
A graduate of The Juilliard School, where she received her BM and MM, she has been seen in recital and concert at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fischer Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Rockport Chamber Music Festival, Miller Theater, Café Sabarsky at The Neue Galerie, Miami Museum of Contemporary Art, and with the New York Festival of Song. She has sung with The Metropolitan Opera, Opéra de Montpellier, The Santa Fe Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Opera North, Spoleto Festival USA, Aspen Music Festival, The Ravinia Festival, La Jolla Summerfest, The American Symphony Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, Vocal Arts Society of Washington, DC. She is also a founding member of Victory Hall Opera in Charlottesville, VA.
In addition to performing, Ms. Wolfson is a voice professor who has taught vocal performance at Columbia University, performed masterclasses at various institutions across the US, and is currently on faculty at William Paterson University and Hofstra University. www.sarahwolfson.com.
* Full-time faculty
