Soli Deo Gloria!
CONDUCTOR
Andrew Bruhn, Conductor
Andrew Bruhn is the Director of Choral Activities at Illinois State University, where he conducts Concert Choir, Belle Voix (advanced treble), and teaches conducting. A versatile musician, He has worked as a professional choral conductor, educator, composer, church musician, and trumpeter. His teaching at the middle school, high school, and collegiate levels has earned him various awards and recognitions. His school choirs regularly received superior ratings in organizational contests, one of which was a featured performer at the Illinois Music Education Conference. Andrew received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Choral Music from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, his Master of Sacred Music degree in choral conducting from Luther Seminary and St. Olaf College, and a Bachelor of Music in Trumpet Performance from Wheaton College. A prolific composer, his music is published by many major publishers. He won the 2017 Illinois American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) Composition Contest and has been a finalist in other national composition contests. Andrew loves spending time with his wife, their two daughters, and their golden retriever.
Vocal Soloists
Esther Lee, Soprano
Elizabeth Thompson, Mezzo Soprano
Elizabeth Thompson, Mezzo Soprano
Esther Lee is recognized for her crystalline tone and expressive musicality. She earned her Bachelor of Music (BM) degree in Vocal Performance from Central Michigan University and is currently pursuing her Master of Music (MM) degree at Illinois State University, under the tutelage of Professor Elizabeth Thompson.
Her recent performances h
Esther Lee is recognized for her crystalline tone and expressive musicality. She earned her Bachelor of Music (BM) degree in Vocal Performance from Central Michigan University and is currently pursuing her Master of Music (MM) degree at Illinois State University, under the tutelage of Professor Elizabeth Thompson.
Her recent performances highlight a versatile repertoire ranging from contemporary masterpieces to Baroque sacred music. In 2025, she appeared as a featured soloist with the ISU Symphonic Winds in a performance of Eric Whitacre’s Goodnight Moon. Following this success, in 2026, she performed as the soprano soloist in Jan Dismas Zelenka’s Miserere in C minor, ZWV 57, demonstrating her profound artistry and technical command in the sacred choral tradition.
Esther continues to engage audiences through her dedicated study and active performance schedule in the United States.
Elizabeth Thompson, Mezzo Soprano
Elizabeth Thompson, Mezzo Soprano
Elizabeth Thompson, Mezzo Soprano
Elizabeth (Lily) Thompson is Associate Professor of Music at Illinois State University where she teaches voice and offers courses on music careers. She has won multiple awards including the CTLT Teaching Innovations Award in 2022. One of her students is soprano Esther Lee.
Trevor Mitchell, Tenor
Gerard Sundberg, Baritone
Gerard Sundberg, Baritone
Trevor Mitchell’s career has taken him across the United States as well as to Austria, Italy, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and other destinations in Europe. Recently audiences heard him in Bach’s B-Minor Mass, Weihnachts-Oratorium (Christmas Oratorio), St. Matthew Passion, St. John Passion, Cantatas 76, 135, 177, Britten’s Serenade for Te
Trevor Mitchell’s career has taken him across the United States as well as to Austria, Italy, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and other destinations in Europe. Recently audiences heard him in Bach’s B-Minor Mass, Weihnachts-Oratorium (Christmas Oratorio), St. Matthew Passion, St. John Passion, Cantatas 76, 135, 177, Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Mozart’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, Vivaldi’s Beatus Vir, Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus and Messiah, and in recital. He also sang concert versions of the Handel operas Semele and Ariodante. With Chicago a cappella, he just completed a recording of Hanukah music to be released in the winter of 2023. Trevor, who has frequently performed on WFMT (Chicago), has recorded albums with Cedille Records, Gothic Records, and is a featured soloist on a Sony Classical release of Mozart’s Coronation Mass with the Choirs and Orchestra of St. John Cantius. He has sung with the Peoria Bach Festival for many years.
Gerard Sundberg, Baritone
Gerard Sundberg, Baritone
Gerard Sundberg, Baritone
Gerard Sundberg DMA is Professor Emeritus of Voice at Wheaton Conservatory of Music (Wheaton, IL), where he taught studio voice, vocal pedagogy, and conducted the Men’s Glee Club. Dr. Sundberg earned the MFA and DMA from the University of Minnesota. He has performed frequently with various organizations in Chicago, including Chicago Maste
Gerard Sundberg DMA is Professor Emeritus of Voice at Wheaton Conservatory of Music (Wheaton, IL), where he taught studio voice, vocal pedagogy, and conducted the Men’s Glee Club. Dr. Sundberg earned the MFA and DMA from the University of Minnesota. He has performed frequently with various organizations in Chicago, including Chicago Master Singers, Ars Viva Orchestra, Chicago Chorale, the Apollo Chorus, Camerata Chicago, and the West Suburban Choral Union. He also performed with Duke University (NC) and the Southwest Symphony (Fort Myers, FL). He celebrated his 20th consecutive performance of Handel’s Messiah with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Chorus. Performances in Europe have included various cathedrals in England; Church of St. Madeleine and Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris; and the Konzerthaus, Vienna. Dr. Sundberg has been a past soloist and Festival Choir member with the Oregon Bach Festival under Helmuth Rilling. He has been the bass soloist in the Peoria (IL) Bach Festival since its inception in 2003. Performances this past season include The Peoria (IL) Bach Festival 2025; and the premier of “NEWTON” an oratorio of the life and friends of John Newton by Josh Bauder (Mpls) (9/25) which will be reprised this coming October.
Featured Artists
Celina Boldray, Baroque Violin
Celina Boldrey has appeared regularly on Early Music Missouri’s Concert Series, in large and small ensembles. She received the B.Mus. in violin performance from Oberlin Conservatory and the M.Mus. in violin performance and Suzuki Pedagogy from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville where she studied with John Kendall. Celina performs throughout the region, playing both modern and Baroque violins and violas in chamber concerts and recitals. In addition to multiple performances with Early Music Missouri, her Early Music work includes appearances with Armonia e Passione, Early Music St. Louis, Shakespear’s Band, Musicke’s Cordes, the Kingsbury Ensemble, St. Louis Baroque and Collegium Vocale. In recent seasons, Celina has performed a wide range of Baroque violin repertoire as a featured soloist with Early Music Missouri chamber ensembles in concerts and workshops. A popular and busy Suzuki teacher, Celina has served as co-director of the Greater St. Louis Suzuki Association and remains in high demand as an instructor and clinician at Suzuki workshops and institutes across the country. In addition to her Suzuki work, Celina maintains a private studio for violinists and violists of all ages and experience.
Polly Brecht, Organ and Harpsichord
Polly Purcell Brecht is a native of Galesburg, Illinois. She moved back to the area last year from Nashville, Tennessee, where she was a Professor at the Blair School/Vanderbilt and Organist/Music Associate at Westminster Presbyterian, Nashville, where she served for over 30 years. She currently teaches at Bradley University and serves as organist at Westminster Presbyterian, Peoria. She received degrees in piano, organ, and harpsichord performance from Indiana University and Florida State University, with additional studies at Oberlin, University of Houston, and the Eastman School. She also holds the performer’s certificate in organ performance and was a finalist in many competitions, including the Detroit AGO Nationals. Prior to her positions in Nashville, Polly was a tenured professor at Middle Tennessee State University for over 10 years. In addition she has served many churches in Tennessee, Florida, Houston, Indiana, and Illinois. She has extensive experience in solo and collaborative work on piano, organ, and harpsichord. On the Peoria Bach Festival 2024 she will be giving a solo organ concert on Sunday, June 2 at 4:00 pm and play continuo on the Thursday noon concert.
S. Blake Duncan, Oboe and Baroque Oboe
S. Blake Duncan has enjoyed a varied career as an oboist, Baroque oboist and English Horn player, a performer of Early Music, and a teacher in Illinois for 30 years. For 17 years he was an affiliate faculty member of the Bradley University Music Department teaching double reeds, Music Appreciation, Music Technology, and serving as Director of the Collegium Musicum, Bradley's early music ensemble. In addition he chaired the Woodwind Department. For 15 years he was a member of the Moveré Woodwind Quintet for the Lutheran Summer Music Program, He was also a member of the Columbus, Ohio based early music ensemble The Early Interval. In the 2000s he was a member of the WiZARDS! A Double Reed Quartet with whom he participated in several recordings, all of which are still available from Crystal Records. He has been a member of the Illinois, Peoria, and Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Symphony Orchestras and was a founding member of the Peoria Bach Festival Orchestra with whom he continues to perform. He began his Early Music studies while an undergraduate at New England Conservatory where he studied Performance Practice, Baroque Oboe, Shawm, Recorder, and early dance with Kenneth Roth, Daniel Pinkham, and Julia Sutton. He has studied Baroque oboe with Geoffrey Burgess and Meg Owens, and performs with the Collegium Vocale of St. Louis and as a free-lance artist on Baroque Oboe. He is currently retired and lives across the bridge from St. Louis in O’Fallon, Illinois.
Kyle Dzapo, Flute
Kyle Dzapo, Professor of Music at Bradley University, has performed recitals in London, Denmark, France, and South Korea, on live broadcasts for Wisconsin Public Radio and Chicago’s WFMT, and at Lincoln Center’s Bruno Walter Auditorium. In the coming months, she looks forward to performances in Singapore; Sydney, Australia; and Zagreb, Croatia. She will also present a lecture-recital at the 2025 National Flute Association Convention in Atlanta in August. Her latest book, Joachim Andersen: Flutist, Conductor, and Composer of More than the Etudes, will be released by Oxford University Professor in August as will Au bord de la mer, Op. 9, the sixth edition of music in the “Kyle Dzapo Series” published by Zimmermann-Schott. She is a pre-concert lecturer for the Chicago Symphony, has served as Program Chair and President of the Board for the National Flute Association, and has been recognized with awards for both scholarship and teaching at Bradley University. She earned a Doctor of Music degree from Northwestern University where she was a student and teaching assistant of Walfrid Kujala and also holds degrees from New England Conservatory and the University of Michigan.
Stephanie Hunt, Baroque Cello
An active and versatile musician, Stephanie Hunt performs on both modern and baroque cello. She is currently a member of the Perseid String Quartet and performs regularly with Early Music Missouri. Stephanie has participated in numerous international festivals, including the Nederlandse Orkest- en Ensemble-Academie, Royaumont Formations Professionnelles (France), the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme, and spent two summers as a Tanglewood Music Center Fellow. Stephanie holds degrees in cello performance from the University of Miami and Rice University, and earned a master’s in baroque cello from the Utrecht Conservatory in the Netherlands. Her principal teachers include Viola de Hoog, Norman Fischer, Hans Jørgen Jensen, Ross Harbaugh, and Monique Bartels. In addition to her performing work, Stephanie teaches cello in the Suzuki program at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE). She received the Suzuki Association of the Americas Certificate of Achievement in 2023 and became a credentialed Suzuki Cello Teacher Trainer in 2024. In fall 2025, she will launch a long-term training program at SIUE for cellists pursuing Suzuki teacher registration as part of their undergraduate or graduate studies.
Lisette Kielson, Recorder
Soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player Lisette Kielson has been described in the press as “sparkling with life” and “performing with true character and style.” Based in Central Illinois and the Chicago area, Lisette performs regularly at Early Music Festivals across the Midwest and has appeared with, among others, Chicago’s Bach Week Festival, Haymarket Opera Company, Music of the Baroque, Peoria Bach Festival, Madison Bach Musicians, Early Music Missouri, and with many Chicago-area early music ensembles, including Chicago Recorder Trio. Former Director of Bradley University’s Collegium Musicum, Lisette serves as Music Director of the Chicago Recorder Society, and on the faculties of Whitewater Early Music Festival and MBM Summer Chamber Music Workshop and maintains an active Zoom studio for students of all levels from across the country. She has recorded with Centaur Records as well as with her own label. For more about Lisette’s activities, visit www.LisetteKielson.com.
Adriana La Rosa Ransom, Cello
Adriana La Rosa Ransom is currently Director of the School of Music at Illinois State University, where she was cello professor for 15 years. She received a Bachelor of Music degree in cello performance from the University of Missouri, where she studied with Nina Gordon. She earned Master and Doctorate degrees in performance from the University of Minnesota, studying cello with Tanya Remenikova and chamber music with Jorja Fleezanis. As a soloist, Adriana has recently appeared with the Peoria Symphony Orchestra, the Illinois State Wind Symphony, and the Illinois State Symphony Orchestra. She has also appeared as a guest artist on notable solo and chamber music recital series, including the Peoria Bach Festival, Chicago Cello Society concerts, the Trinity Lutheran Candlelight Concert Series, and at universities throughout the Midwest. Currently Principal Cellist of the Peoria Symphony Orchestra, she formerly was a member of the Minnesota Opera Orchestra, the St. Cloud Symphony (MN), the European Musical Festival Orchestra (Germany), and Sinfonia da Camera (IL). Adriana has served on the faculty at Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Cloud State University, the MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis, and the Grumo (Italy) Music Festival. She is the recipient of the University Outstanding Teacher Award, University Outstanding Service Award, and the Illinois American String Teachers Association Distinguished Service Award, among others. She is an invited presenter at the American String Teacher National Conference, covering topics such as David Popper’s character pieces, supplementary etudes for intermediate level cello concertos, and the use of visual color as a means towards musical expression.
DIRECTORS
Dr. Martin Dicke, Executive Director
Dr. Martin Dicke helped found the Peoria Bach Festival in 2003 and served as its Co-Director for 14 years while serving as Cantor at Trinity Lutheran Church, Peoria. From 2016-2022 he worked as a Music Specialist with the Office of International Mission for the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod serving among other places in Papua New Guinea and Taiwan. He earned a Masters of Choral Conducting from the University of Minnesota (1987) and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting from the University of Iowa (2008). Early in his career he served schools and churches in the Twin Cities (Minnesota) where he also founded and for 10 years directed a community choir. While studying at the University of Iowa he was Director of the Chamber Singers of Iowa City. He currently serves on the Board of the Bach Society of Minnesota and David’s Harp, an organization dedicated to helping churches train a new generation of musicians. He is dedicated to helping musicians participate in the Eternal Song and to that end blogs occasionally on sacred music at www.jubalslyre.com. His compositions and arrangements are available on www.sheetmusicplus.com and www.jwpepper.com.
Dr. John Jost, Artistic Director Emeritus
Dr. John Jost, Artistic Director, is professor emeritus of music at Bradley University where he directed the Bradley Chorale, Community Chorus, and Chamber Singers, and taught conducting from 1989 until his retirement in 2018. He received his bachelor's, master's, and doctorate degrees from Stanford University. Before joining the Bradley faculty he directed ensembles and taught in California, New York, and Haiti where for several decades he directed a summer music camp for Haitian youth. He has held both principal viola and principal second violin positions in the Peoria Symphony Orchestra, has served as president of the Illinois Chapter of the American Choral Directors Association, is co-founder and artistic director of the Peoria Bach Festival, and recently directed the new Peoria-area chamber choir Lumière. He has won awards for teaching and service from Bradley University, the American Choral Directors Association, the Haitian Ministry of Culture, and the Haitian Episcopal Church. He now resides in Madison, Wisconsin, with his wife Suzanne. We thank him for helping to found this festival in 2003 and for being its Artistic Director for over 20 years.