Melodia Instrumentalists

Dr. Janet Sora Chung, is an organist, pianist and violinist in New York City where she is the co-artistic director of the Christopher Street Collegium, an ensemble that vivifies the sacred works of Bach, Buxtehude and Couperin among others. Chung’s interpretations of Messiaen and Bach have met with acclaim. She has performed at St. Mary the Virgin, St. Ignatius of Loyola Church, SUNY Purchase Performing Arts Center, the University of Scranton, Winspear Centre and Riverside Church. She earned her Doctorate of Musical Arts from the Manhattan School of Music, studying with McNeil Robinson and garnering the Bronson Ragan Award for outstanding ability in organ performance. She loves to arrange pieces for solo organ and for organ and saxophone duo. To expand this repertoire, she and Jay Rattman (saxophone) have commissioned or premiered works by Walter Hilse, Rachel Laurin, James Chirillo and transcribed pieces by Debussy and others. She recently premiered her arrangement of Bach’s Goldberg Variations for the 200th anniversary of St. John’s Lutheran Church’s where she serves as Music Director & Organist. In addition, she is Cantor-Organist of the New York Finnish Lutheran Congregation and Director of the Contemporary Ensemble at Holy Trinity Church.

Through her depth of expression as an internationally recognized harp soloist, actor, writer and teacher, Rita Costanzi, in the words of Celtic Author, Treasa O’Driscoll, “bears the mark of the true artist whose task it is to rise above the tumult of the times. A force of truth and love in herself and a musician of exceptional accomplishment, her playing never fails to touch the souls of listeners in deep and unexpected ways.”

Winner of The 2020 Hershey Felder Presents Arts Prize Competition, Costanzi’s short documentary film “Moonlight in the Bronx”, captivated viewers around the world with its moving, powerful and timely memorial to Ludwig van Beethoven and the victims of the Corona Virus. Heralded as “A Hymn to New York” – it conveys, with profundity and grace, a vital message for our times in its portrayal of Beethoven’s isolation through deafness, the world’s through Covid-19 and her own, through divorce. Costanzi wrote, directed and performed her original script, reflecting yet again her “warmth, conviction and exquisite virtuosity.”

Jules Biber is a cellist, educator and musical curator based in Brooklyn, NY. An accomplished chamber musician and soloist, Jules’ versatility in early, standard and modern repertoire, as well as non-classical styles, makes her sought-after for a variety of high-profile concert and recording projects, and her deep commitment to inclusive community has made her one of the city’s progressive curators of classical music spaces.