Biographies

Biographies

Current KEMP member biographies are displayed below:

J. Ashley Burell (harpsichord, organ, tenor)
Amy Kraabel Porter (soprano vocals)
Gail Ann Schroeder (viola da gamba and lirone)
Ann Stierli (viola da gamba, flutes, recorders, crumhorns)
Maria Magdalena Rist (soprano vocals)
Thomas Tallant (lute, theorbo, early guitar)

J. Ashley Burell (harpsichord, organ, tenor)

Ashley Burell is the Organist-Choirmaster of First Presbyterian Church, Knoxville, Tennessee. At First Presbyterian Church, Mr. Burell leads an active music ministry of vocal choirs and handbells, and administers a regionally acclaimed concert series, which includes three to four major choral works with orchestra each year. Under his direction, the Chancel Choir has participated in the Piccolo Spoleto Festival and the Knoxville Rossini festival since its inception. Ashley has been the Instructor of Organ and Harpsichord at Maryville College (Tennessee) since 1993. His educational training in organ, harpsichord, and choral studies includes work with Betty Louise Lumby, David Craighead, and Donald Neuen at the University of Montevallo (Alabama) and Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York. As a member of the American Guild of Organists, Ashley has been a recitalist for local and regional American Guild of Organist conventions and meetings. He has also been a featured recitalist at the national convention for the Hymn Society of the United States and Canada. Ashley is a member of the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers and is regional representative for the Presbyterian Association of Musicians. He has been a member of KEMP since 2003.

Besides her work with KEMP, Amy Porter is well versed in both opera and musical theater. While earning her B.M. and M.M. in Vocal Performance, she sang several diverse roles at the Opera Theaters of Northwestern and Indiana University, respectively, in works ranging from Dido and Aeneas, South Pacific, and Candide, to Weill’s Mahagonny Songspiel. With the Baroque Ensemble of the Indiana University Early Music Institute, she sang both Bach’s B Minor Mass, and his St. Johannes-Passion. Additionally, she has been a featured artist with the Ohio Light Opera, The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, The American Cabaret Theater, and for the Brevard Festival’s televised 60th Anniversary Concert. As a proficient interpreter of 20th Century music, she has been featured in several concerts, including those of Poulenc, Berg, and Cage. Now living in Knoxville, Tennessee, Ms. Porter is the Director of Vocal Programs for Knoxville’s Community School of the Arts, teaches voice for Pellissippi State Community College, and is a frequent guest artist throughout the Southeast.

Gail Ann Schroeder graduated in 1980 from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor of Music degree in Music History. She furthered her performance studies on the viola da gamba at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels with Wieland Kuijken, where she obtained the First Prize in 1983 and the Higher Diploma, with distinction, in 1986. She has performed extensively as soloist and with various ensembles including the /Huelgas/ /Ensemble/, /Capilla Flamenca/, /Combattimento Consort Amsterdam/ and the /Leipzig Barokorchester/. She has participated in numerous radio and television productions, and on CD recordings for such labels as DHM, Sony Classical, Ricercar and Erato. From 1988-2002 she was assistant to Wieland Kuijken at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels where she taught viola da gamba and didactics of viola da gamba, and where she was director of the viol consort. Currently living in North Carolina, she is now teaching privately and freelancing on viola da gamba and lirone.

Ann Stierli received her B.M. in flute performance from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. She is a former member of the Miami Philharmonic Orchestra, the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, and the Early Music Consort of Miami. Ms. Stierli is currently director of the Knoxville Chapter of the American Recorder Society (ARS) and the Silver Winds Flute Ensemble. She teaches flute, recorder, and viol privately in the Knoxville area.

Soprano Maria Magdalena Rist’s interest in classical music started to develop when she began studying the violin at age 5. Although she has always appreciated sacred vocal music, it was not until adulthood that she pursued vocal training.

She has performed as a soloist in such works as Bernstein’s Chichester’s Psalms, Dubois’ Seven Last Words, Handel’s Gloria and Messiah, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Requiem, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Rutter’s Magnificat, A. Scarlatti’s Salve Regina, and Vivaldi’s Magnificat. Ms. Rist studies under Amy Porter, and her focus is on sacred early music through the Baroque period.

Ms. Rist lives in Knoxville, Tenn. with her husband, Bo, and her daughter, Elena, and is expecting a second daughter in August of 2008. She is a founding member of Harmonia Vocal Quartet and also performs with the Knoxville Choral Society, the Knoxville Chamber Chorale, and the Knoxville Early Music Project. She sings regularly at several area churches, including St. John Neumann, Sacred Heart Cathedral, and First Presbyterian.

For more information, visit www.harmoniavocalquartet.com.

Thomas Tallant studied classical guitar at the University of South Carolina with Rodney Stucky and Charles Rock. He began his studies on the lute in 1980 and has studied with Patrick O'Brien (New York City). Mr. Tallant has performed many concerts in the southeastern United States, including performances in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee. He co-founded the Knoxville Early Music Project in 1991.