Guest Performers

Zoco
Jacob Cordover and Laura Karney
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Zoco is an exciting ensemble in which Jacob Cordover and Laura Karney bring together the diverse elements of the oboe and guitar. Zoco has been heard in concert in Canada, Australia, England, Germany, France and Italy.

Currently residing in Barcelona, Spain, Laura Karney is an oboist who enjoys a successful free-lance career that has so far spanned 13 countries across 3 continents. Hugely varied in her interests, Ms. Karney can be heard performing on both oboe and English horn, in concerts ranging from historically informed performances of Baroque and Classical repertoire on period instruments to working with contemporary composers and ensembles and giving world premiers.

Jacob Cordover has established a vibrant and varied international career. He has appeared on stage throughout Australia, Canada, the US, Spain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and the United Kingdom as a soloist and in his chamber ensembles, Zoco Duo (with oboist Laura Karney) and the Australian Guitar Duo (with Rupert Boyd). His solo CD Stélé, recorded in 2004, is regularly featured on Australian radio and was hailed by Classical Guitar Magazine (UK) as “wonderfully sympathetic and highly accomplished… Cordover managing to get to the very soul of this striking and brilliant music.”

Tim Ribchester
Pianist, Conductor, Musicologist
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Tim Ribchester, a native of Denver, Colorado raised near Edinburgh, Scotland, has been active for many years in the Philadelphia area as conductor and pianist, acclaimed by colleagues and press alike for “awe-inspiring” music making “as passionate as it is expert.”

He serves on  the faculties of the Academy of Vocal Arts, Curtis Institute of Music, and the University of Pennsylvania. As a conductor, he is Music Director of the Delaware Valley Opera Company, and has directed preparation and performances for the Opera Company of Philadelphia, American Composers Forum, Arden Theatre, Center City Opera Theater, Orchestra Society of Philadelphia, and Penn Composers Guild. As a pianist he has appeared with clarinetist Ricardo Morales at the Phillips Collection in Washington DC, with tango musicians Hector del Curto and Leonardo Suarez Paz at New York’s Usdan Center and Bryant Park Fall Festival, and throughout the Philadelphia area for presenters such as Dolce Suono and the Philadelphia Orchestra. He has commissioned and premiered several new works by Philadelphia composers, and is the scriptwriter and assistant director for SpectiCast’s movie theater simulcasts of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. He serves as judge and panelist for the Philadelphia Lieder Society and American Composers Forum.

Julie Bishop
Performer, Teacher, Academic
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A versatile musician, Philadelphia-based soprano Julie Bishop excels as a performer, teacher, and academic. Equally at home on the theater stage and in a concert setting, she has performed extensively in opera, operetta, musical theater, oratorio, and recital.

A proponent of contemporary music, Ms. Bishop has developed professional relationships with many composers in the Northeast and has numerous premieres to her credit. Other performances of note include her recitals of Swedish art song. Ms. Bishop holds bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees in voice performance from Susquehanna University and Temple University, respectively, and is a member of the adjunct music faculties at Temple and Widener Universities.