Romancing with Music

Today, in celebration of St. Valentine’s Day and Choral Arts' 35th Anniversary season, we are shining a spotlight on eight of our members, 4 couples-in-love who sing and play with us. Their devotion to each other and love of music making (be it a professional career or a passionate hobby) is a very special force that contributes to the overall positive and creative environment we all enjoy here at Choral Arts and the Bach Collegium of Philadelphia.

Please meet:
Amey Hutchins (Alto) -- Dylan Steinberg (Tenor)
Geoffrey Burgess (Baroque Oboe) -- Leon Schelhase (Harpsichord)
Patty Cheek (Soprano) -- Ted Cheek (Bass, Board member)
Daniela Pierson (Viola) -- Christof Richter (Violin)

Amey and Dylan in Venice, Italy in 2000, on tour with Choral Arts.

Amey and Dylan as the Shephards at the Choral Arts' production of "Amahl and the Night Visitors" (December 2011)

Leon (left) and Geoffrey cutting their wedding cake

Leon and Geoffrey during J.S. Bach's Christmas Oratorio on New Year's Eve, December 31, 2016

Patty and Ted performing at their family chamber concert

Daniela and Christof - resting after a gymnastics class.

Amey Hutchins (alto) and Dylan Steinberg (tenor)
The couple met in their sophomore year of college, when they lived in the same dorm. In 2016, as Amey and Dylan celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary, their family and friends sponsored a Choral Arts concert in the couple's honor. 
 
What's your history with Choral Arts?
Dylan joined in 1994 as he was missing the singing he had done in college. Amey joined Choral Arts in January 2003, after she decided it would be more fun to be in the chorus than to be in the audience. We went on a tour in Italy with Choral Arts in 2000, when Dylan was in the chorus and Amey - a supportive audience member. In 2011, we took part in the theatrical production of Gian Carlo Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors, which Choral Arts co-presented with Dolce Suono Ensemble.     
 
How does singing with Choral Arts affect your daily relationship?  
Rehearsals and concerts count as time together! And profound musical experiences with Choral Arts are part of our shared history.
 
What music that you sang together with Choral Arts would you like to perform again?
Bach’s Mass in B minor and Parry’s Songs of Farewell (Parry's work will be sung on April 22 at the Delius Society concert. Click here for details). 
 
What music did you choose for your wedding?
Ironically, there was no music! We had a Quaker wedding!
 

Geoffrey Burgess (baroque oboe) and Leon Schelhase (harpsichord)
This couple met in Lakeville, Connecticut, on a job, playing a big choral work by Biber. Leon notes that Lakeville is famous for the fact that the harpsichordist Wanda Landowska lived there in her last years.

What is your favorite work that you played together with the Bach Collegium?
We’ve always had the best time performing Bach’s Christmas Oratorio.

Describe your favorite romantic dinner. Cooking vs going out?
Out: fabulous cocktails and scrummy small plates at one of Passyunk’s stunning new venues.

Can you share an anecdote about your musical life?
Being a harpsichordist means that Leon stays fit carrying his instrument around, and as the husband, Geoffrey has to take some of the weight. He takes the pointy end, while Leon takes the blunt end. What does that say about our characters?
 

Patty Cheek (soprano) and Theodore Cheek (bass)
The couple joined Choral Arts during the 2016-2017 season, and in Spring of 2017, Ted joined our Board of Directors.  In 1982, young Dr. Cheek came from CA to University of Pennsylvania, theoretically for a single year. That same year he joined a chorus in which Patty was a member. Bach led to Brahms, which led to Mahler… and the rest is history.

What role did music play at your wedding?
We had many interesting pieces of music. Ted choreographed it so that each person walked in to their own music. Patty walked to Eugène Gigout's famous Grand Chœur Dialogué. Ted handpicked all of the hymns, plus we had lots of English fanfares. Sadly, our brass players were drunk on the job! Nevertheless, the union endured.
 
What are some of your favorite family activities?
We like to do chamber music at home. Ted plays gamba/cello and Patty plays piano/harpsichord. Our kids are also very musical. We do barbershop with our grown children. Our son, Ted Cheek Jr., a student of Richard Stone (co-founding director of Tempesta di Mare, Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra) loved accompanying Choral Arts on theorbo at the October 2017 Bach@7 program.
 
Any thoughts on your time singing with Choral Arts?
Singing with Choral Arts is a really positive experience for us. The music is so interesting and varied. For Ted there is nothing better than Bach since we have many closets full of his scores. So many of our friends have attended the Choral Arts programs due to our interest, including Ted's best friend from California. We really enjoy practicing together. Ted notes that he loves looking across the practice room at Patty and hearing her sing.

 
Daniela Pierson (viola) and Christof Richter (violin)
Daniela and Christoph didn’t meet until the 2006 Handel Choir Messiah event in Baltimore, even though they had been both playing with Matt Glandorf for years at different venues.

How does playing together with the Bach Collegium affect your daily lives?  
Daniela: I love looking over during a rehearsal or concert and seeing Christof there, and since we do so much work separately, it’s really nice to walk out of a concert together, to be able to talk about it on the way home.
 
Christof: I like looking over and seeing Daniela too :)
 
What is your favorite piece of music that you played together with the Bach Collegium?   
We both love Bach cantatas! It’s been terrific to play some contemporary pieces as well, for example Andrew Lipke’s The Plague project (May 2014) was wonderful, and Kile Smith’s Vespers this January was so beautiful.
 
What are your other favorite activities to do together? 
Christof is usually trying to get Daniela to take some time off to go hiking, and Daniela has managed to talk Christof into doing a gymnastics class together. 
 
But mostly - talking! [Christof laughed when he read this: “YOU talk. I listen.”] We have stacks of books everywhere in our house, with the bookshelves always full, and we spend hours telling each other something new or interrupting each other to read an interesting paragraph from our current book.

Photo above: Christoph Richter (center) and Daniela Pierson (front right) + Amey Hutchins and Dylan Steinberg (back row) during the Bach@7 program in May 2015. Photo by Sharon Torello.

Post editors: Victoria McManus, Inna Heasley and Leslie Sullivan.