Music Director: Deborah Martínez Rosengaus
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Deborah Martínez Rosengaus, is a versatile Mezzo Soprano having studied Opera, Theater, Music and Dance she is known for her exciting, high energy performances and for creating memorable and endearing characters. With a uniquely flexible voice, as comfortable in Verdi as it is in Rossini, she has delighted audiences around the world with her rich timbre and sparkling coloratura.
She has toured internationally, with a variety of musical ensembles in concert halls such as: Santori Hall in Tokyo, The Center for Performing Arts in Beijing with the Peoples Liberation Army Orchestra, Disney Hall with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. She has given recitals in Mexico and across the United States, giving voice to her research into the lesser known Art Songs of great Classical composers. |
In the summer of 2008, she created the role of Principessa Louling under the baton of Bruno Riggacci in the World Premier of his one act opera “Dodici personaggi in cerca di voce.” She has received critical acclaim for her interpretation of Jo in Mark Adamo's Little Women and was nominated for a Theater Bay Area Award for the role of Ruth in Pirates of Penzance. Other favorite opera credits include Cendrillon, Die Fledermaus, Hansel and Gretel, Candide, The Consul, Griffelkin by the late great Lucas Foss and West Coast premiere of the new opera Miss Lonelyhearts. With Orchestra she has performed Handel’s Messiah and Brockes passion, Durufle’s Requiem, a variety of Handel Operas with Pocket Opera of San Francisco.
Ms. Rosengaus is the recipient of several awards including the Schoenfeld Award from the Holt Memorial Scholarship Competition and 1st place in the Pacific Musical Society Competition made famous by its first winner, violinist Yehudi Menuhin.
Ms. Rosengaus holds a Master of Music Degree from the Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with international opera diva Mignon Dunn, and a Bachelors from the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music. She has performed in Masterclasses with Karen Morrow and Luana Devol. She is also a featured vocalist on several independent film soundtracks.
Ms. Rosengaus is the recipient of several awards including the Schoenfeld Award from the Holt Memorial Scholarship Competition and 1st place in the Pacific Musical Society Competition made famous by its first winner, violinist Yehudi Menuhin.
Ms. Rosengaus holds a Master of Music Degree from the Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with international opera diva Mignon Dunn, and a Bachelors from the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music. She has performed in Masterclasses with Karen Morrow and Luana Devol. She is also a featured vocalist on several independent film soundtracks.
Previous Music Director: Trente Morant
Trente Morant has been a Bay Area resident for over twenty years and has become very much in demand as a conductor, arranger, accompanist and performer. A graduate of Westminster Choir College in Princeton New Jersey, he had the opportunity to work as chorister with Eugene Ormandy, William Steinberg, Leonard Bernstein, Zubin Mehta, Robert Shaw, Roger Wagner and Joseph Flummerfelt, while studying voice and conducting. Bay Area audiences have seen Morant conduct at the Monterey and San Francisco Jazz Festivals, singing the part of the "leading player" in Pippin with the Alameda Civic Light Opera, in Carmina Burana with the Oakland Ballet and in performances of Porgy and Bess, Follies, Bernstein's Mass and The Messiah with the Oakland East Bay Symphony conducted by Maestro Michael Morgan.
Previous Music Director
Long-time Music Director Ellen Hoffman stepped down in 2012 after 14 years at the helm of Berkeley Broadway Singers. Ellen is also a jazz pianist, choral director, songwriter and recording artist, classical composer, and vocal coach.