EChO 2025 Special Concert Participants

Tenor Evan Adamon is delighted to make his Chicago solo debut. Before relocating to Chicago, he spent six years teaching middle and high school vocal music in Iowa, where he directed choirs, developed curriculum, and inspired students to find confidence through performance. His work as an educator was rooted in creating inclusive, expressive, and community-centered music programs. As a performer, Adamon has appeared in a masterclass with celebrated pianist Warren Jones and was featured in recital with composer-in-residence Jake Heggie. His performance experience spans choral, solo, and collaborative work, with repertoire ranging from classical art song to contemporary works by living composers. Now based in Chicago, Adamon sings with the Chicago Master Singers and continues to cultivate his artistry through the city’s rich musical community. He is passionate about bridging his dual identities as an educator and performer, believing that teaching and performing share the same purpose: connecting people through music. Outside of performing, he enjoys collaborating on vocal and choral projects, arranging music for show choirs, and exploring the intersections of education, storytelling, and performance. Evan is deeply grateful for the teachers, mentors, and fellow musicians who have shaped his artistic journey and is excited to share this next chapter of his work on stage in Chicago.

Known for her floating high notes and rich middle range, Hillary Esqueda is a versatile lyric soprano praised as a “powerful” performer. Hillary’s  passion for modern and 21st-century opera led her to create three roles for composer Francis Lynch in the world premiers of Voices at Domrémy (Yvonne), For Those in Peril (Gwendolyn) and Joseph’s Gift (Mary). Hillary also appeared in the Midwest premieres of With Blood, With Ink (Dying Juana) and Darkling (Soprano Anna) . From traditional repertoire she has also sung the roles of Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Mimi (La Bohème), Tatyana (Eugene Onegin), Laetitia (The Old Maid and the Thief), Drusilla (L’incoronazione di Poppea), First Lady (Magic Flute), and, most recently, understudied the role of Micaëla (Carmen).

Esqueda has been a Young Artist with OperaMaya, Hubbard Hall Opera Theater, Pacific Encore Performance, and participated in the Advanced Artist Program with OperaWorks. Recently Ms. Esqueda was a Semi-finalist in the Classical Singer Competition and a Finalist at the NH Opera Idol Competition. She received her bachelor’s degree in music from NYU’s Steinhardt School and her master’s from Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. Hillary currently lives in Chicago and studies with countertenor Mark Crayton and soprano Christine Goerke.

Chicago-based contralto Angela Torres-Kutkuhn has had the immense privilege to work on productions such as Jake Heggie’s Again, Daron Hagen’s Amelia (Chicago premiere), Puccini’s Suor Angelica, Menotti’s The Consul, Verdi’s Falstaff, The Hermit in Weber’s Der Freischütz, and as back-up for The Rolling Stones. She has appeared with the Chicago Sinfonietta, Main Street Opera, Evanston Chamber Opera, Transgressive Theater Opera, Forte Chicago, as performer and COO, and Chicago City Opera. In the last few years Angela has entered the production side of the opera world, working with Chicago City Opera, Evanston Chamber Opera, Third Eye Theater Ensemble, and the Chicago College of Performing Arts in roles such as director, assistant director, stage manager, production manager, scenes curator, and teacher of operatic improvisation and devising. Angela is passionate about the magic of storytelling and is thrilled to be reunited with the EChO family for this concert. When not immersed in opera, Angela works as pastry chef and owner of Love Spoken Here, a gluten free bakery within Spoken Cafe in Ravenswood, where she also holds such titles as Jam Sorceress, Brinemaiden, and Gluten Free Goddess. You can find her tasty creations at @retrobrinemaiden on Instagram and Facebook.

Chicago-based baritone Peter Wesoloski has been praised as possessing “a clear-ringing baritone…with emotional depth and variety of vocal color” (Chicago Classical Review). He was featured as a Cryptanalyst in the world premiere of The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing with Chicago Opera Theater and rejoined the company in a number of ensemble roles in their 2023 production of Shostakovich’s The Nose. Prior credits include Count Paris (Roméo et Juliette) with Florentine Opera as well as a role debut as Don Giovanni with Music on Site last year. The titular Gianni Schicchi, Escamillo and Morales (Carmen), Don Alfonso (Cosí fan tutte), Papageno (Die Zauberflöte), Count Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro), and Onegin (Eugene Onegin) are all counted among his additional operatic appearances.

On the concert stage, Peter is a frequent soloist with the Bach Cantata Vespers in River Forest. He has performed with the Chicago Master Singers, most recently as the baritone soloist in Fauré’s Requiem and Schubert’s Mass in G, and has been a member of both the Chicago Symphony and Grant Park Music Festival Choruses since 2016. In addition to opera and concert work, Peter is dedicated to the art of song and sings regularly at the Liederstube in Chicago with pianist Eugenia Cheng. He has performed in salons and recitals in London, Amsterdam, Tokyo, Auckland and Sydney.

Leslie Short is a native of Virginia Beach, Virginia, where she grew up attending Virginia Symphony concerts with her parents. After hearing her teacher, Debra Cross, perform Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, she made it her goal to become an orchestral musician. She received a Bachelor of Music degree from Oberlin Conservatory as a student of Michel Debost and a Master of Music degree from Mannes School of Music in New York City where she studied with Judith Mendenhall and Nadine Asin. In 1996 she was named Principal Flute of the South Bend Symphony. Some of the highlights of her SBSO career have been four solo appearances with the orchestra, performing all nine Beethoven symphonies with Maestro Willis and playing the National Anthem during the Winter Classic at Notre Dame Stadium . As principal flute she is a member of the SBSO woodwind quintet and has performed hundreds of community concerts in the Michiana area.
Leslie is an Evanston resident, and has performed with many of the area’s regional orchestras including Chicago Sinfonietta, Northwest Indiana Symphony and The New Philharmonic. She has been teaching private flute lessons throughout her professional career, teaching at various high schools in her area as well as at her home.

Alyssa Kenney currently serves as the Principal Clarinetist of Symphony847, based in Lake Forest, Illinois. In addition to her work with Symphony847, she is an active freelancer throughout the Chicagoland area, performing on B-flat, E-flat, and bass clarinet. Recent engagements include performances with the Opera Festival of Chicago, the Kenosha Symphony Orchestra, and the Notos Clarinet Collective. Alyssa is also a member of the faculty at Near North Montessori, where she teaches both private lessons and group classes for students ages 9–12.
Alyssa earned her Master of Music in Clarinet Performance from DePaul University, studying under Julie DeRoche and Michael Rusinek. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Clarinet Performance from Temple University’s Boyer College of Music, where she studied with Paul Demers and Ricardo Morales of the Philadelphia Orchestra. During her time at Temple, Alyssa performed with the Temple University Symphony Orchestra, Wind Symphony, Concert Orchestra, and numerous chamber ensembles.
Throughout her undergraduate and graduate studies, Alyssa also worked with New Groove Music Studio, where she taught private and group lessons, led teaching residencies, and performed alongside colleagues in various community projects. With over twelve years of teaching experience, Alyssa is deeply passionate about nurturing musicianship and creativity in her students. She strives to help each student become an independent, thoughtful musician by fostering problem-solving skills, self-expression, and a lifelong love of music.

Cellist Elizabeth Anderson performs in a wide variety of musical engagements in the Chicago area, with symphonic, theater, ballet and opera orchestras and chamber music ensembles. She is a member of the Chicago Philharmonic and has performed with the Chicago Sinfonietta, City Lights Orchestra, Chicago Jazz Philharmonic, Illinois Philharmonic, and the Chicago Opera Theater, as well as in the orchestra pit for ballets and musicals in Chicago’s Theater district.

Born in Kiev, Ukraine, Anatoliy Torchinskiy is a gifted pianist, accompanist and coach, known for his intuitive grasp of various musical styles, as well as his unique ability to support and guide singers and instrumentalists to their best possible performances. As a small child, he won numerous competitions and eventually studied at the Central Ukrainian Music High School for Gifted Children. He performed as a concert pianist with both the Ukrainian Chamber Orchestra and the Ukrainian Symphony Orchestra on Soviet television. After immigrating to the Unites States in 1992, he continued his studies at the Chicago College for the Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, under Pawel Checinski, earning both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in piano performance. He began accompanying professionally in 1996 and has been heard in Italy, New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, and the Chicago area, with companies such as da Corneto Opera, Chamber Opera Company Chicago, Genesis Opera, Bellissima Opera, as well as playing live on WFMT radio. This is his third appearance with EChO, having performed in our 2023 and 2024 productions.

James Janssen made his debut as a pianist at age 13 performing Haydn’s Piano Concerto in D Major with the Anderson (Indiana) Symphony Orchestra. A native of Indianapolis, he received his education from Indiana University and Oberlin Conservatory’s Baroque Performance Institute, where he studied with such luminaries as Penelope Crawford, Patrick Allen, and Lisa Goode Crawford. He is the artistic director and co-founder of Haydn by the Lake, a period instrument chamber ensemble specializing in music of the Baroque and Classical periods. James has toured extensively in recital with Mark Crayton, countertenor. He has been broadcast on Chicago’s WFMT in recital with Crayton and in concert with Haydn by the Lake. He has appeared in the Chicago area with Music of the Baroque, Ars Antigua, and the St. Clement Orchestra. Outside Chicagoland, he has performed across the country, including appearances at the Phillips Collection in Washington DC and in recital at Carnegie Hall’s Wells Recital Hall. Internationally, he has played on the Amstelrande Concerten series (Amsterdam), Grosvenor Hall (London), and at the Handel & Hendrix in London. Musically, he most enjoys collaborating with singers, playing Classical chamber music, and supporting the choir and congregation from the organ bench. Equally at home at the piano, fortepiano harpsichord, and organ, James is also a composer. He has conducted all of ECho’s productions and is pleased to be premiering another Francis Lynch work.

Francis Lynch  traces the roots of his lifelong passion for classical music to childhood piano lessons. He began composing music while still in high school, but it was during his tenure as organist and choir director at an Episcopal Church in a Chicago suburb that he discovered the joy of writing sacred music, especially for chorus. A member of Chicago Master Singers for over 20 seasons, he was privileged to have many of his choral settings premiered by that ensemble at their Christmas concerts, and his a cappella works have been performed from the Baltic to the Balkans as part of the program for two CMS European concert tours. In 2004, he led the orchestration team that adapted Kingsley Day’s sprightly music for the “lost” Gilbert & Sullivan operetta, Thespis, and in 2011, he created an orchestration of Florian Pascal’s setting of Eyes and No Eyes, an early work by Sullivan’s partner W.S. Gilbert. Francis founded Sheet Music Back In Print in 2009 to publish new editions of public domain works that might otherwise be forgotten. He also prepares scores for pianist, actor, and composer Hershey Felder. A resident of Evanston since 2000, Francis continues to compose new works and prepare new editions of neglected works of the past. In addition to the new work being premiered today, he recently completed two choral works commissioned by Chicago Master Singers and DePaul Community Chorus.