FEATURING
Urs Leonhardt Steiner
Music Director / Conductor
Urs Leonhardt Steiner is internationally renowned as a conductor, guitarist, educator, and composer. He founded the orchestra that would become the Golden Gate Symphony Orchestra & Chorus in 1994. Originally from Chur, Switzerland, he studied at the University of Tubingen and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He studied conducting with James Wimer and Gustav Meier, and master classes with Andre Previn, Erich Leinsdorf, Leonard Bernstein, and Herbert von Karajan. Maestro Steiner’s original compositions include the operas Il Secondo Settenio and Return of the Phantoms which have been performed to critical acclaim in Switzerland and the United States. In addition to leading the Golden Gate Symphony in local and international endeavors, he is a frequent guest conductor with orchestras and ensembles in Europe, the United States and Central America.
Loretta Taylor
Concertmaster
Ms. Taylor has been the concertmaster of the Golden Gate Symphony Orchestra & Chorus since its founding. She has worked extensively with many orchestras throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and has performed in orchestras in San Juan, Puerto Rico and Perth, Australia. In addition to being the concertmaster of the Golden Gate Symphony, Ms. Taylor teaches at the San Francisco Community Music Center and is principal second violin of the Santa Cruz County Symphony. She has coached chamber music for the Chamber Musicians of Northern California and the Sequoia Chamber Music Workshop; and she has been a soloist with the Old First Orchestra, the Community Music Center Orchestra, and the New Millenium Strings. Ms. Taylor is a graduate of San Francisco State University, magna cum laude.
Melinda Ellis
Conductor
Melinda Ellis is a passionate music educator, multi-instrumentalist, and conductor based in the Bay Area. Originally from New Jersey, she holds a BM in Music Education and Viola Performance and an MM in Viola Performance from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She teaches 4th-grade general music and 5th- and 6th-grade strings in the Vacaville Unified School District, where she also serves as District Music Coordinator. An active multi-instrumentalist, Melinda performs on viola, violin, and saxophone. She plays with several local ensembles, including the Golden Gate Symphony (viola), Napa Valley Chamber Orchestra (second violin), Solano Winds Community Concert Band (tenor saxophone), and her string quartet, The Valley Quartet. She is also the Resident Conductor for Missouri Street Theatre Company in Fairfield, leading four professional musical productions each season, as well as concerts and galas. Melinda is thrilled to join the Golden Gate Symphony as Assistant Conductor and to continue spreading the joy of music.
Bruce Rockwell
Benicia Chorus Director
Bruce Rockwell got his BA in Music at UC Santa Cruz, and his MM in Composition at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he studied with the renowned choral composers Conrad Susa and David Conte. He taught instrumental music at the San Francisco Waldorf schools, and the Town School for Boys. He currently teaches choir, piano, and guitar at College Park High School in Pleasant Hill.
Gabrielle Goozée-Nichols
Soprano
Gabrielle has sung with Chora Nova, Golden Gate Symphony, Berkeley Symphony, Festival Opera of Walnut Creek, Contra Costa Chorale, Calvary Presbyterian Church, Piedmont Community Church, Cathedral of Christ the Light, Danville Congregational Church, Congregation Beth Am, and First Congregational Church of San Francisco. She has appeared on the operatic stage in Holst’s Savitri, Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti, and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. Gabrielle has several upcoming engagements as a featured soloist with Chora Nova, SF City Chorus, Golden Gate Symphony, and a solo recital later this month.
Natalia Ter Agapova
Soprano
Graduated from the Alfred Schnittke Moscow State Institute of Music with degrees in Voice and Choral Conducting. She is a laureate of numerous international vocal competitions. Natalia's repertoire spans a range of periods and genres, from medieval to contemporary. She has appeared as a soloist with The MCU chapel choir, the Sacred Music Ensemble Blagovest, Intrada Vocal Ensemble, and as a folk singer she has participated in international festivals in the USA, China, Peru, Spain, and Slovakia. In 2021 Natalia joined the Calvary Presbyterian Church in San Francisco music staff as the Soprano Soloist and Section Leader.
Christopher Poston
Tenor
Trumpeter, composer, and singer. Member of the Oakland Symphony Chorus, Golden Gate Symphony Chorus, Men's Chorus at Acts Full Gospel Church, National Anthem singer for the Harlem Globetrotters, and National Anthem singer for Department of Homeland Security’s Naturalization Oath Ceremonies in Northern California. Stage plays include: Crowns, The Wiz, Beauty and the Beast, Smokey Joe’s Cafe, Ragtime, Something Rotten, The Nina Simone Story, West Side Story, Tambourines to Glory, Sweet Charity, and Guys and Dolls. Chris is also a professional house painter.