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Home > Convention Details > Performing Groups > Countertop Ensemble

Countertop Ensemble
St. Patrick's Catholic Church
July 7, 2010 10:00 AM - 10:45 AM
July 7, 2010 11:15 AM - 12:00 PM
Group Biography
The Countertop Quartet was formed in the summer of 2004 by four friends: two countertenors, a female alto/mezzo-soprano, and a female soprano. The group added tenors and basses in 2008, and the ensemble now consists of the following: Sopranos Ellen Myers Kliman, Elisabeth Myers, and Elizabeth Hungerford; Countertenors Chris Dudley, John Bradford Bohl, and Jeremy Filsel; Tenors Matthew Smith, Stephen White, and Dustin Lucas; and Basses Benjamin Park, Karl Hempel, and Brendan Curran. They have issued a compact disc, "Seraphic Flames: Duets, Trios, and Quartets of the Renaissance and Baroque." Nominated for a 2005 Washington Area Music Award (WAMMIE), it contains a cornucopia of works by exemplars of the Renaissance and Baroque eras.
Program
Director Biography
Chris Dudley (Countertenor), a native of Great Britain came to the US in 2001 after attaining a BA in Music from the University of East Anglia. A graduate of the Masters of Music, Performance & Pedagogy Program of the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins, Chris has been in great demand as a chorus and solo singer in the Washington area. He is currently a Lay Clerk in the Washington National Cathedral Choir and St. Paul's K Street Evensong Choir.

Mr. Dudley has sung in New York with the Ensemble for Early Music, and as a soloist for the weekly Bach cantata that takes place at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. In Washington, DC, he is a regular soloist with the Washington Bach Consort, has sung solos with the Choral Arts Society and Georgetown University Choir.

He has sung with the Choirs of Norwich Cathedral in England, and St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle as a choirboy in the Queen's chapel, and has sung at many Royal occasions under Christopher Robinson. He was featured with these choirs and others for concerts and recordings in England, Europe, Australia and America.

In 2006, he was a finalist in the Philadelphia Bach Competition and the Lead in the Peabody Chamber Opera production of "Acteon." 2008 solo engagements included Cantata BWV 23 with the Washington Bach Consort, Handel's Ode to Queen Anne HWV 42 with the Handel Choir, and the Alto Solos within Bach's Magnificat with the Washington National Cathedral.

In 2009, he performed solos within Purcell's 'Come, come ye sons of art', with the Washington Choral Arts Society, and the Countertenor Solo in the Bernstein "Missa Brevis" with the Georgetown University Concert Choir & Norfolk Chamber Consort. 2010 finds Chris soloing the Chichester Psalm with the New Dominion Chorale, as well as performing with the Washington Bach Consort.

Mr. Dudley also take the role as Artistic Director of the Countertop Quartet, Consort and Ensemble, a group of eight singers, who perform music of all genres. He founded the group in 2005, and audiences in the DC-area often enjoy a wide selection of music.

When Chris is not singing, he volunteers as an Emergency Medical Technician and driver with the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad, and has a full-time teaching studio. For more information, please visit his website: countertopquartet.org / dudleyalto.com / dudleyvocalstudio.com.