Music Staff
Canon Precentor
Dr. Nicholas Halbert is a concert organist, choral conductor, collaborative keyboardist, scholar, and educator based in Southeastern Pennsylvania. He is the Canon Precentor of the Episcopal Cathedral Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the Artist-in-Residence at Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey, and the Staff Keyboardist for the Allentown Camerata.
At the Episcopal Cathedral Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Nicholas directs the Cathedral Choir, the Cathedral Schola, and the Nativity Choristers. He is the Cathedral's principal organist and performs there regularly in recital. Under his leadership, Nativity has re-established its chorister program, initiated regular services of Evensong and other major liturgical events including the All Souls Requiem, Advent Procession, and Lessons and Carols for Christmas and Easter, and holds an annual concert series – Music at Nativity. As Artist-in-Residence at Rowan University, Nicholas manages the organ division of the School of Music. He is responsible for instruction of all organ students, development of the organ recital series including an annual faculty recital, and overseeing maintenance and expansion of the Pfleeger Concert Hall Organ.
Nicholas is dedicated to passion and excellency in his artistry at the organ. Recent performances have included solo recitals at St. James-by-the-Sea (La Jolla, CA), St. Philip's Cathedral (Atlanta, GA), St. Stephen's Pro-Cathedral (Wilkes-Barre, PA), Trinity Episcopal (Princeton, NJ), Trinity Episcopal Cathedral (Phoenix, AZ), Spreckels Organ Pavilion (San Diego, CA), the Organ Hall at Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ), and St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral (San Diego, CA). He has been heard at Christ the King Roman Catholic (Dallas, TX), the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration (Dallas, TX), the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation (Dallas, TX), the Southern Methodist University Canterbury House (Dallas, TX), Christ Church Episcopal (Rochester, NY), and Downtown United Presbyterian Church (Rochester, NY). Nicholas was a recitalist at the 2015 Western Regional AGO convention and a presenter at the 2019 Organ Historical Society conference, and was a Semi-Finalist in the National Young Artist Competition in Organ Performance at the AGO National Convention in July, 2026, in St. Louis, MS. He has appeared twice on NPR's Pipedreams.
Dr. Halbert is the Staff Keyboardist for the Allentown Camerata and has worked with the Bethlehem Bach Choir as a soloist and accompanist. He appeared with the San Diego Mainly Mozart Festival All-Star Orchestra as harmoniumist for a chamber reduction of Mahler's Fourth Symphony and as the organist for Faure's Requiem. Nicholas was joined by soprano Michelle Pérez for a collaborative recital of voice and piano at the Cathedral of St. Paul in Erie, Pennsylvania, in July, 2024, and in St. Stephen's, Wilkes-Barre, in February, 2026. During his time at ASU, he performed with the University Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, and Concert Choir in concerts featuring works of Maslanka, Vierne, and Molly Joyce.
Nicholas is a published scholar. His thesis, Symphonies at the Johanneskirche: The Organ Sonatas of Hans Fährmann, is available on Proquest; a synopsis of that research was published in the November, 2024 issue of The Diapason. He is the Chair of the Editorial Resources Committee for The American Organist, the journal of the national American Guild of Organists and sits on the Segreteria di Redazione of the Italian journal, Informazione Organistica e Organologica.
Nicholas was the recording engineer and producer for organist Christopher Anderson’s album Max Reger: 52 Easy Preludes on the Most Common Protestant Chorales, Op. 67, released on the Centaur label. He recorded and produced two full-length concert films for the Southern Methodist University organ department, including a lecture-recital on Bach’s Orgelbuchlein. His recordings of the Arizona State University organ studio performing music of Margaret Sandresky were featured on NPR’s Pipedreams.
Nicholas has been ensconced in sacred music since the age of nine years old when he joined the Boy Choir at St. Paul's Cathedral, San Diego, where he served as one of the Head Choristers. At sixteen, he was appointed the Organ Scholar of the Cathedral, a position which saw him serve as the principal service player and accompanist to all of the Cathedral's choirs. Subsequently, Nicholas earned a Bachelors in Organ performance from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. He studied organ with Nathan Laube, as well as harpsichord and fortepiano with Edoardo Bellotti. He then earned a Masters Degree and Performers Diploma in Organ at Southern Methodist University in the studio of Stefan Engels, holding the teaching assistantship during his final two years there. While at SMU, he also studied liturgical organ playing and choral accompanying with Scott Dettra. He received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Arizona State University in the studio of Kimberly Marshall, where he was the Organ Teaching Assistant during his first year. Nicholas has held organist positions at the Church of the Transfiguration, Dallas; Christ the King Roman Catholic Church, Dallas; St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral, San Diego; and director positions at Christ Church of the Ascension, Phoenix, St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral, Buffalo, New York, and the Cathedral Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Director of Spanish Music Ministry &
Soprano Staff Singer
Michelle Pérez is a Mexican-American lyric soprano committed to the transformative power of musical storytelling. An international performer, she is known for her expressivity, dramatic interpretation, virtuosity and multi-genre versatility.
Michelle is in demand as an opera performer, known for her commanding musicianship mixed with compelling acting. Recent stage appearances include the roles of Eva Castellanos in the world premier of Jesse J. Sanchez’s The Crownmaker with Portland Opera, Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così fan tutte with Opera Seme (Arezzo, Italy), First Lady (Cover) in Mozart’s The Magic Flute with Undead Arts and the New Jersey Symphony, La Contessa in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro with both the Music On Site Festival (Wichita, Kansas) and Arizona State University, Alcina in Handel’s Alcina with Opera Seme, Mother in Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors with both Arizona Lyric Opera and the Music on Site Festival. During her time at Arizona State University, Michelle performed a number of leading roles including La Musica (L’Orfeo, Monteverdi), Pauline Viardot (Notes on Viardot, Michael Ching, Arizona premier), Anne Truelove (The Rake's Progress, Stravinsky), Marie (La fille du régiment, Donizetti) Enyo (We’ve Got Our Eye On You, Nkeiru Okoye) and Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel, Humperdinck). Michelle will be returning to Portland to perform the role of Eva Castellano on tour and on the mainstage.
Michelle is a sought-after oratorio soloist and musical collaborator. Recently she was the soprano soloist for the world premier of David Schildkret’s Requiem for the Innocent with choir and orchestra in Tempe, Arizona. Michelle performed Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the ASU Symphony Orchestra as a winner of the 2023 Concerto Competition. She has performed as soloist on major works for orchestra and choir, including Fauré’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Kleine Orgelmesse, and the Lord Nelson Mass, Mozart’s Requiem, Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb, both Poulenc and Vivaldi’s Gloria, Ariel Ramirez’s Misa Criolla, Philip Glass’s Songs from Liquid Days, and Vaughn Williams’ Serenade to Music, among others. She was in a trio of singers who participated in the world premier of a piano and vocal arrangement of Wynton Marsalis’ The Ever Fonky Lowdown. She has sung professionally with choral ensembles including the Phoenix Chorale, Orpheus Chamber Singers, Tactus, the Fort Worth Chorale, The Choral Pickup, Dallas Choral Artists, St. Matthew’s Cathedral Artists, and Vox Humana. She is a noted interpreter of art song and has performed solo recitals in venues across the United States. This December she will appear as the soprano soloist in the Messiah with Allentown Camerata.
Michelle is an award-winning performer. She was the winner of the Barbara Long Opera Award, the Warren Hoffer Art Song Competition, and the 2023 Concerto Competition at Arizona State University. She was awarded the second-place prize in the NATSAA competition in both 2023 and 2025. She was an Artist Division Finalist in the National Opera Association’s annual Carolyn Bailey Argento Vocal Competition and was a Hauptfinalist in the MeisterSinger Competition with the AIMS program in Graz, Austria.
Michelle is a multi-faceted artist and educator able to move comfortably through a wide variety of genres. As Artist-in-Residence at the Mirabella retirement community from 2023-25, she programmed and performed weekly recitals, conducted the community chorus, and coordinated Broadway and Opera cabaret shows. Michelle’s love for a diverse range of repertoire is evident in her community-oriented concerts, which feature musical theater, folk rock, pop, jazz, and traditional Latin genres. Michelle’s upbringing within the Mexican-American musical communities of the Rio Grande Valley has played a defining role in her artistic life. She participated in her first Mariachi Cobre Extravaganza at the age of 10, and was a member of one of the historic first 28 Texas All-Region Mariachi ensembles in high school. As an ensemble leader and an accomplished violinist, she was respected as a mariachi clinician for violin and voice across the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and assisted with the University of North Texas Mariachi Aguilitas Summer Camps.
Michelle is a passionate educator in choral music and vocal pedagogy, dedicated to helping students discover the freedom of knowing and confidently using their own voices, develop solid musicianship as a foundation for lifelong artistry, and encourage them to boldly reach for their musical aspirations. Michelle served for five years as Associate Director of Choral Activities in Texas at Mesquite High School, where her choirs consistently received Sweepstakes awards at the UIL Concert and Sight-Reading Contest. Her students regularly earned placement in Texas All-Region and All-State choirs and Superior ratings at Solo & Ensemble contests. Her teaching is marked by her commitment to cultivating vocal excellence through a disciplined, warm, and insightful approach. She holds Kodály Choral Track Certification (Levels I–III) and has directed choirs at the high school, middle school, and senior adult levels. Michelle also served in leadership roles with the Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) as Region III Vocal Chair and Chair-Elect, supporting music education initiatives across multiple districts. Michelle taught voice at the collegiate level for two years as Teaching Assistant at Arizona State University, where she led group and individual lessons involving a wide range of styles, including classical, musical theatre, pop, and jazz, successfully preparing students for auditions and contests. Michelle is a lifelong advocate for creating inclusive and engaging learning environments that span generational and cultural backgrounds, where all students can thrive as confident, skilled performers.
Michelle earned a Master of Music degree in Opera Performance from Arizona State University, where she is currently completing a Doctor of Musical Arts with Carole Fitzpatrick. She holds an additional Master’s in Music Education from Southern Methodist University. Prior to her graduate studies, Michelle attended the University of North Texas with Jeffrey Snider, graduating with a Bachelor’s in Choral Music Education and a minor in Spanish. Michelle has coached with Jennifer Rowley, Linda Di Fiore, Jason Ferrante, Mario Cassi, Djordje Nesic, and Andrew Campbell.
Michelle’s past and present affiliations include the National Opera Association, National Association of Teachers Singing, Texas Music Educators Association, Texas Choral Music Association, American Choral Directors Association, The Daejeon International Choral Festival, Mu Phi Epsilon, Maestra Music, The Sphinx Organization, and Musicians United for Social Equity (MUSE). Michelle also serves as a board member for the Arizona Women’s Collaborative, a new works initiative guided by principles of community, cooperation, and the amplification of marginalized voices.
Michelle is from Weslaco, near the South Texas border, and is currently based in the Tri-State Area of the American Northeast. Outside of her musical pursuits, Michelle is a well-traveled espresso connoisseur (with a particular penchant for a lavender breve cortado), and enjoys reading literature, beach boogie boarding, and spending time with friends over a home-baked pastry.
Alto Staff Singer
Talia Miriam Sheehan is a Bahamian-born conductor, singer, pianist, writer, lyricist, graphic designer, and music educator whose work bridges artistic performance, education, and visual communication. A Vocal Arts teacher at Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts, she is also a sought-after clinician and consultant for ensembles and arts organizations pursuing stronger musicianship, clearer vision, and sustainable creative culture. Her vocal work appears on numerous commercial albums, including three GRAMMY®-nominated recordings; her poetry and lyrics have been performed by ensembles nationwide; and her design portfolio includes work for Oxford University Press, *Billboard*, and Cappella Records. A Westminster Choir College and Teachers College, Columbia University graduate, she lives and creates in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley while raising seven daughters.
Tenor Staff Singer
Three-time GRAMMY® nominee and American Prize-winner Rowan Benedict Sheehan (he/him) has been called “one of the leading voices in religious classical music in the 21st century” (ConcertoNet) and “a remarkable musician and composer” (Choral Journal), and it is said that “his music is known for its emotional depth, luminous textures, and expressive power” (Canadian Music Centre). He is Artistic Director and founder of the GRAMMY®-nominated Artefact Ensemble and a full-time freelance composer.
His compositions have been praised as “luminous and uplifting” (Choir & Organ), “evocative” (Gramophone), “hypnotically beautiful” (MusicWeb International), “fresh and vibrant” (Audiophile Audition), “otherworldly” (Boston Musical Intelligencer), “monumental” (The Arts Desk, London), “glorious” (Classical Music Daily), “spellbinding” (Textura), “amazing” (Classics Today), and “simply breathtaking” (New York Concert Review). His performances as a conductor have likewise been described as “technically flawless” (Musical America), “choral singing at its most exquisite” (HRAudio), “extravagantly beautiful” (The American Organist), and “beyond praise for excellence” (Fanfare Magazine).
Sheehan’s award-winning recordings include Akathist (2024) (GRAMMY® nominated), Vespers (2021) (American Prize Winner), Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (2020) (GRAMMY® nominated), and Ukrainian War Requiem (2025) (JUNO® winner). His recorded works also include three acclaimed collaborations with Skylark Vocal Ensemble and conductor Matthew Guard on Once Upon A Time (2020) (GRAMMY® nominated), Songbird Antiphons (2025), and A Christmas Carol (2025), featuring EMMY® and TONY® Award-winning actress Christine Baranski as narrator, where Sheehan’s music and Baranski’s narration was described by The New York Times as “a natural pairing.” His song cycle for soprano, cello, and harp, Let Evening Come—based on texts by poet Jane Kenyon—was the centerpiece of soprano Fotina Naumenko’s 2024 GRAMMY®-nominated album Bespoke Songs (“Best Classical Solo Vocal Performance”).
In 2021 Sheehan conducted Artefact Ensemble in front of sold-out audiences in the world premiere of Arvo Pärt’s O Holy Father Nicholas at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; and in 2024, again with Artefact Ensemble in front of sold-out audiences, he conducted a program of his own works, alongside Arvo Pärt’s Passio, at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, in collaboration with the GRAMMY® Award-winning Experiential Orchestra and conductor James Blachly.
His works have been featured on numerous radio broadcasts, including several complete programs on NPR’s With Heart and Voice, hosted by Peter DuBois, as well on BBC Radio, CBC Radio, and The Classical Network, among many others. In 2024 Sheehan received an on-screen credit as Assistant Orchestrator on Pixar’s animated classic Elemental, directed by Peter Sohn, where he worked closely with composer Thomas Newman and head orchestrator J.A.C. Redford. He is also credited as Composer on the 2024 independent short film To Build A Fire, directed by Jennings Barmore and premiered at the Montana Film Festival.
Sheehan’s music has been performed—and continues to be performed—by many of today’s leading ensembles across the globe, including a 2022 collaboration with GRAMMY® Award-winner Conspirare and conductor Craig Hella Johnson on a setting of the African-American manifesto Credo by W.E.B. DuBois, and the UK premiere of A Christmas Carol by the BBC Singers at the Barbican in London, conducted by Bob Chilcott and narrated by Mel Giedroyc of The Great British Bake-off, where the work was featured as the headliner on the BBC’s 2023 live Christmas radio broadcast. His work In the Wondrous Blending of Sounds was the favorite program closer for the acclaimed Phillipines Madrigal Singers’ 2025 world tour. Other groups performing Sheehan’s music include GRAMMY® Award-winners The Kansas City Chorale and The Houston Chamber Choir, as well as The Choir of Trinity Wall Street, Chor Leoni (Canada), the Yale Glee Club, Meridian (UK), the Vancouver Youth Choir, the Chicago Chamber Choir, the San Antonio Choral Society, the Choral Arts Ensemble of Portland, and Rigas Projektu Koris (Latvia), among countless others.
In 2023 A Christmas Carol was featured on the Voces8 “Live From London” webcast, and the work is fast becoming a seasonal favorite, getting performed annually by dozens of groups across North America and beyond, including in a newly orchestrated version commissioned in 2025 by Harvard University. His Ukrainian War Requiem, honoring the victims of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, was premiered in April of 2024 by Axios Men’s Ensemble and Pro Coro Canada in Edmonton and Calgary, under the direction of Michael Zaugg, and the recording was released in 2025 on the Cappella Records label to widespread acclaim, winning a JUNO® award in 2026 for “Classical Album of the Year (Large Ensemble).” His music is published by Oxford University Press, E.C Schirmer, Artefact Publications, Hal Leonard, and others, and is available wherever music is sold.
Sheehan is currently working on The Fire Planet—a program-length commission for chorus and percussion for Te Deum (Kansas City) that explores the unique role fire has played in the history of the earth and human evolution—in collaboration with prominent poet and lyricist Charles Anthony Silvestri, with whom Sheehan has worked closely for many years. He recently completed a new chamber orchestration of A Christmas Carol, commissioned in 2026 by The Bach Choir of Bethlehem and Music in the Somerset Hills. One of his most recent works, The Passion of Mary, was recorded in 2025 by Artefact Ensemble under Sheehan’s direction and will be released in 2027 on the Sono Luminus label.
Sheehan is also a person who stutters. He is a passionate advocate for people in the arts with disabilities, especially those with speech differences, and his projects and ensembles have become known within the American choral world as welcoming, inclusive, and life-affirming spaces for musicians and audiences alike. He is the father of seven daughters and he lives and works in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley.
Bass Staff Singer
Ian Murphy, baritone, is an active soloist and choral musician throughout the greater Lehigh Valley region. He is a founding member of the Lehigh Valley Chorale and currently serves on its Board of Directors. Additionally, he is the bass section leader in the choir at the Cathedral Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, PA.
Ian holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Classical Voice Performance from Moravian University, where he studied with Eduardo Azzati. A proud native of Easton, PA, Ian still resides in his hometown with his wife, Lauren, and their daughter, Katherine.
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Alto Choral Scholar
Ash Macbeth is a choral singer, vocal student, and aspiring music educator based in the Lehigh Valley. Currently attending the Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts for their senior year, Ash has gained musical experience in a wide variety of styles and forms. Ash has been a member of 9 choral and instrumental ensembles and participated in many other festivals, concerts, and events over their 14 years of musicianship. Among the most notable of these are the Mosaic Youth Chorus, the Bel Canto Youth Chorus, the Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts’ Touring and Treble Choirs, the Concord Chamber Singers, and the First Presbyterian Church of Bethlehem Bell Choir. Ash has also had many opportunities to work under many esteemed musicians including Sir John Rutter, Dr. Rollo Dilworth, Benedict Sheehan, Marques L.A. Garrett, Tynan Davis, Dr. Christopher Jackson, Dr. Sarah Frook Gallo, David Macbeth, Dr. Joy Hirokawa, and many others. Several of these opportunities were made possible through various summer programs such as the Royal School of Church Music America Summer Choral Intensive, the Artefact Choral Scholars Summer Intensive, the Bent But Not Broken Honor Choir Festival, and the 26th Annual Picfest. A few of Ash’s recent large-scale performances include Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Sea Symphony, Christmas selections from George Frederick Handel’s Messiah, and John Rutter’s Requiem. When not in a rehearsal room, Ash enjoys traveling with their family, attending their school’s Theatrical Improvisation club, or simply curling up with a good book!