Counterpoint Vocal Quartet

Profile

Founded by legendary choral director and arranger Robert De Cormier in 2000, and based in Montpelier, Vermont, Counterpoint is dedicated to performing choral chamber music and engaging with student musicians in Vermont and beyond.

Nathaniel G. Lew, conductor

Raised in Larchmont, New York, Nathaniel G. Lew has been singing seriously since the age of twelve, when he sang the treble solos in Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms and Benjamin Britten’s Ceremony of Carols with the Juilliard Pre-College Chorus. His voice then changed, but, undaunted, he went on to sing tenor with the Yale University Glee Club, the Choir of Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge, and the Chamber Chorus of the University of California, Berkeley, incidentally picking up degrees from the same institutions. This inordinately long education culminated with a Ph.D. in Historical Musicology from UC Berkeley, after which he had to seek gainful employment. In the decade he spent in the San Francisco Bay Area, Nathaniel sang with the Philharmonia Chorale and Volti. He also served as director of Ars Subtilior Medieval Vocal Ensemble, Vox Populi Renaissance Vocal Ensemble, the UC Berkeley Chorus, the Chorus of Festival Opera of Walnut Creek, and the Choir of Montclair Presbyterian Church in Oakland. Nathaniel is currently Chair of the Department of Fine Arts and Director of Choral Activities at St. Michael’s College in Colchester, Vermont, where he teaches music history, music theory and humanities. His academic research focuses on twentieth-century British music, and in 2016 he published the book Tonic to the Nation: Making English Music in the Festival of Britain.

Allison Devery, soprano

Described as, “brilliant, nuanced, and lyrically expressive,” Allison Devery, soprano, spans her vocal artistry in classical, musical theater, and contemporary music. Collaborations and performances of note include creating the role of Nora in the world premiere of Paul Siskind’s The Sailorboy and the Falcon, alongside acclaimed mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe, and breathing fresh life into the roles of The Angel in Erik Nielsen’s A Fleeting Animal and Amaranth in Steven Serpa’s Thyrsis & Amaranth, as well as premiering the role of Aello in Marc Blitzstein’s The Harpies in Canada. She has played leading roles in productions including The Telephone, The Marriage of Figaro, Candide, The Fantasticks, Into the Woods, Guys & Dolls, Once Upon A Mattress, The Mikado, and The King & I. Along with her operatic and musical theater career, Allison is a highly sought after concert soloist, performing soprano solos in masterworks of Beethoven, Brahms, Handel, Finzi, Mozart, Schubert, Lotti, Vitier, Zelenka, and more. Allison has shared the concert stage with The Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, The Lafayette Symphony Orchestra, the Green Mountain Mahler Festival, the Rutland Area Chorus, and the Vermont Collegiate Choral Consortium. Her ensemble experience includes performances with The Opera Company of Middlebury, Counterpoint Chorus, and the Green Mountain Monteverdi Ensemble, and she is a featured soloist on the CD release of Robert De Cormier’s Songs of Hope and Freedom with Bella Voce Women’s Chorus. Allison received her M.M. From the University of Montreal and her B.M. From the Crane School of Music.

Erin Grainger, alto

Mezzo-soprano Erin Grainger moves from opera to concert as a soloist and ensemble musician. Erin loves theatrical repertoire, savoring character mezzo roles and ensemble chamber music. As soloist she has performed with the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, Burlington Chamber Orchestra, Middlebury Bach festival, L’orchestre symphonique de Longueuil, Ensemble Telemann, Summer Opera Lyric Theatre, Orpheus Choir of Toronto, Middlebury Community Chorus, the Opera Company of Middlebury, and as an ensemble musician with Counterpoint and the Chœur de l’Opéra de Montréal. Erin teaches at Johnson State and Saint Michael’s colleges in Vermont. She holds a Master of Music from McGill University, and undergraduate degrees in music and education from the University of Western Ontario and University of Toronto. She originally hails from the Ottawa Valley and now calls northwestern Vermont home, where she lives with her husband and children.

Cameron Steinmetzis, tenor

Cameron Steinmetzis a native of Norwood, Massachussets and an alumnus of Green Mountain College and Castleton State College. Since graduation from the former in 2009, he has worked as stage manager for the Opera Theatre of Weston VT, the composer & musical director of the NCCA Papermill Children’s Theatre in Lincoln NH, and as box office manager of Dorset Theatre Festival in Dorset VT. Past roles include Matt in Schmidt & Jones’ The Fantasticks, Galahad in Idle, Innes & Du Prez’s Spamalot! (both with the Middlebury Community Players), Seymour in Menken & Ashman’s Little Shop of Horrors, Jamie in Jason Robert Brown’s The Last 5 Years and Ralph Rackstraw in H.M.S. Pinafore. Other performances include solos in Handel’s Messiah with the Rutland Area Chorus, soloist in Mozart’s Requiem with Castleton State College and Rutland Area Choruses, and as soloist in a joint production of Mozart’s Vesperae solennes de confessore by Castleton State, Johnson State and St. Michael’s colleges. He has also performed supporting roles in Opera Theatre of Weston’s The Magic Flute by Mozart, and chorus in the Opera Company of Middlebury’s last productions, starting with Massenet’s Thaïs ending with Verdi’s Macbeth. Hinesburg resident Steinmetz is also a member of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra’s educational quartet, Ah! Cappella.

Kevin Quigley, bass

Kevin Quigley has been working in the arts for most of his life. After earning his BFA in Classical Vocal Performance with a concentration in 20th Century idioms and Jazz from Carnegie Mellon University, he pursued artistic paths in Pittsburgh, New York City, and the Upper Valley of Vermont and New Hampshire; producing, composing, and directing contemporary musical theater, dance, and cross-media performances. Kevin is currently the Director of the Thetford Chamber Singers. He also teaches a wide variety of subjects including: classical/jazz/contemporary vocal technique, musical and theatrical improvisation, group singing and chorus, movement, graphic design, art, and archery. Kevin is a licensed Spacial Dynamics® and Bothmer® Gymnastics instructor, a graphic designer, as well as a counselor using Tarot and Feng Shui. He has worked with Revels North as a performer, arranger, and Music Director as well as the Director of the Summer Solstice performance. His passion with group singing stems from his experience that no other art form better bridges the hearts and minds of people towards each other.