Janet Yieh

Janet Yieh

An innovative concert recitalist and sacred music specialist, Janet Yieh has been lauded for her “expressivity and technical prowess” (The American Organist). Janet is Director of Music at Church of the Heavenly Rest on the Upper East Side in New York City, where she oversees a vibrant music program for all ages and plays the 138-rank Austin Organ. She previously served as Associate Organist at Trinity Church Wall Street and director of the St. Paul’s Chapel Choir for seven years. 

Janet has performed throughout the United States and across the globe. Highlights include: New York’s Alice Tully Hall and The Metropolitan Museum; Washington’s National Cathedral; San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral; Yale University’s Woolsey Hall; Taipei, Hong Kong, Japan, and Malaysia; collaboration with the Paul Winter Consort, the Washington Chorus at The Kennedy Center, NOVUS NY orchestra at Carnegie Hall; featured performances at the American Guild of Organists’ 2022 National Convention and the Association of Anglican Musicians’ 2022 Conference; the national radio show Pipedreams and WQXR-FM.

In 2020, Janet co-founded a new platform ‘Amplify Female Composers’ with Carolyn Craig; she contributes research to an international sacred music database called “A Great Host of Women Composers.” Janet has played as staff organist for RSCM America choir courses. 

Janet earned double Masters degrees in Organ Performance from the Yale School of Music and Institute of Sacred Music, and a Bachelor of Music from The Juilliard School. While at Yale, she was appointed Organ Scholar at Christ Church, New Haven and Trinity Church on the Green, and directed music for Berkeley Divinity School. A Taiwanese-American native of Alexandria, Virginia, Janet is an alumna of St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes School and the Potomac Organ Institute. Janet’s former teachers include Thomas Murray, Paul Jacobs, John Walker, Wayne Earnest, Victoria Shields and Ruei-hwa Shyu. www.janetyieh.com

Hannah Spierman

Soprano and multi-faceted artist Hannah Spierman has garnered consistent praise, both for her vocal beauty and for her compelling stage presence. Her solo appearances with Canterbury Choral Society include Orff’s Carmina Burana, Saint-Saëns’ Oratorio de Noël, Bach’s Magnificat, Mozart’s Requiem, Vaughan Williams’s Dona nobis pacem, Brahms's Ein deutsches Requiem, Ariani's Oratorio di San Francesco, and Handel's Saul. She has been honored to serve as the Soprano 1 Section Leader since 2017.

With Oswego Opera Theater, Hannah recently created the role of Mrs. Aron in the world premiere of Charles Abeles' The Golden Cage, which was written in 1945 during the composer's internment at the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter, America's only such shelter for refugees of the Holocaust. A frequent performer with the Bronx Opera, her roles with the company include the New Prioress in Dialogues of the Carmelites, Agathe in Der Freischütz, Alice Ford in both Verdi’s Falstaff and Vaughan Williams’s Sir John in Love, Birdie Hubbard in Marc Blitzstein’s Regina, Countess Almaviva, Musetta, both Donna Anna and Donna Elvira, and many others. Hannah's other roles, performed both in the New York area and regionally throughout the United States, include Tatyana (Eugene Onegin), Mimì (La bohème), Echo (Ariadne auf Naxos), Giorgetta (Il tabarro), First Lady (The Magic Flute), Maria Boccanegra (Simon Boccanegra), and Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus).

On the concert stage, recent highlights include appearances with Death of Classical's Crypt Sessions in the New York City premiere of Nico Muhly's The Street, and soloing in the world premiere of A Festival of Psalms by David and Kerensa Briggs. Hannah has performed as a soloist with such ensembles as the New York Choral Society, Litha Symphony, and Garden State Philharmonic. A graduate of the New England Conservatory, Hannah resides in The Bronx with her husband and frequent artistic collaborator, stage director Benjamin Spierman.

Matthew Anchel

Bass Matthew Anchel has been praised for his “magnetic, deep voice,” by The New York Times and called “a voice to watch,” by The Wall Street Journal. This season he sings Judge Advocate General in Grounded at The Metropolitan Opera, which will be broadcast Live in HD all around the world.

We are delighted to welcome him back to Canterbury Choral Society.

He will also sing Balthazar in Amahl and the Night Visitors with The Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle, The King in Aida with Baltimore Symphony and Bartolo in Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Minnesota Opera. In recent seasons he has sung roles with Arizona Opera, Nashville Opera, Opera San Jose, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Glyndebourne, Staatsoper Stuttgart, Bard Summerscape, Houston Symphony and more.

Mr. Anchel is a born-and-raised New Yorker from the Upper West Side and has an active voice studio, where he teaches artists who sing at prestigious opera houses all over the world, on Broadway, and on the radio. 

Daryl Freedman

Mezzo-soprano Daryl Freedman is praised by Opera News for her “striking dark timbre” and “expansive, sumptuous” performances. In the 24/25 season, Daryl will make her debut with Opéra National de Paris for Suor Angelica (Suor Dolcina) and return to The Metropolitan Opera for The Magic Flute (3rd Lady). On the concert stage, she makes debuts with Canterbury Choral Society and Austin Opera as the mezzo-soprano soloist in Verdi’s Messa da Requiem and returns to the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony Orchestra as the title role in the final scene of Carmen as a part of their first Masterworks Series concerts entitled, Passion.

Last season, Daryl made returns to The Metropolitan Opera for The Magic Flute (3rd Lady) and Un ballo in maschera (Ulrica cover), The Cleveland Orchestra for fully staged performances of Die Zauberflöte (Dritte Dame), and Lyric Opera of Chicago to cover in Aida (Amneris). In 22/23, Daryl started with a role debut in Un ballo in maschera (Ulrica) at Maryland Lyric Opera followed by returns to The Cleveland Orchestra for Schubert Mass No. 6 with performances at Severance Hall and Carnegie Hall, Santa Fe Symphony for Messiah, and a return to The Metropolitan Opera to cover in Aida (Amneris).

Past highlights include debuts at The Atlanta Opera in the title role of Julius Caesar, Virginia Opera for Das Rheingold (Fricka), Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse for Die Walküre (Schwertleite), and Salzburger Festspiele in a new Christoph Loy production of Suor Angelica (Suor Dolcina) conducted by Franz Welser-Möst. Daryl has returned to The Metropolitan Opera for The Magic Flute (Third Lady), Washington National Opera for the world premiere of Sankaram’s Rise (Powerful Woman/Adelaide Johnson), and The Cleveland Orchestra for staged performances of Ariadne auf Naxos (Dryad). On the concert stage she debuted with the National Symphony Orchestra in Bernstein's Songfest and returned to the Santa Fe Symphony and Boise Philharmonic for Handel’s Messiah.

Photo credit: Arielle Doneson