Dr. Philip Cave, tenor, founder and Director

A chorister from the age of seven, Philip Cave has been involved with choral music all his life. He studied music at Oxford University with Simon Preston and was a Choral Scholar and Lay-clerk at Christ Church Cathedral, where he also directed the College Choir, the Cathedral Voluntary Choir, and sang with the Schola Cantorum and the Clerkes of Oxenford. During the following years, he taught music, performed as a soloist and conducted several ensembles including the Oxford Harmonic Society, a city choir of 120 voices, with whom he performed much of the standard choral society repertoire.

“The performances are guaranteed to refresh even the most jaded palate.” (Early Music Review)
“A flawlessly blended ensemble that can meet any technical challenge.” (American Record Guide)
“Cave and his small chorus spun sustained wonders of supple phrasing and clean textures, supported with sound of clarion purity.” (Los Angeles Times)

Active as a vocal and choral clinician and teacher, Philip has led many master-classes and workshops in the UK and USA. He holds a DMA degree from the University of Maryland, an MA from Oxford University and is a Licentiate of the Guildhall School of Music, and of Trinity College, London, and an Associate of the Royal College of Music. A recipient of the 2004 American Musicological Society’s Noah Greenberg Award, and of the London Handel Society’s Byrne award for performances of the music of Handel, he is also an honorary Fellow of London’s Academy of St Cecilia. 

Philip moved to the USA in 2000 and lived in California and Connecticut before moving to the Washington DC area. He is Executive Director of Chorworks, Inc., a non-profit organization that promotes the study and performance of choral music and Director of Music at All Souls Episcopal Church in Washington DC.

Our faculty can vary from event to event and has included:

Sally Dunkley, soprano

Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek, soprano

Jacqueline Horner has a reputation as a versatile and accomplished soloist, performing music from Bach to Babbitt. She was born in N. Ireland and attended Queens University Belfast, receiving a Joint Honors degree in Music and English. She then went to Guildhall School of Music and Drama and City University London, receiving an MA in Music Performance Practice. Jacqueline now resides in New York City and is active as soloist, ensemble singer and teacher.

Recent solo work has included appearances with The Washington Bach Consort and performances at Carmel Bach Festival, Trinity Lutheran Church NYC, the Riverside Choral Society NYC, Fairfax Choral Society, and with Ars Musica Chorale NJ. She is equally at home on the operatic stage. She has appeared with such distinguished opera companies as The Royal Opera Covent Garden, English National Opera, Almedia Contemporary Opera, Opera Factory London and Zurich, Aldeburgh Festival, Broomhill International Opera and American Opera Projects.

Jacqueline joined the world famous female vocal quartet Anonymous 4 in 1998 and has recorded eight award-winning CDs with the group, including American Angels which twice topped Billboard's classical music charts. The group was voted one of Billboard’s Top Classical Artists 2004. A4 has collaborated with distinguished artists The Chilingirian String Quartet, harpist Andrew Lawrence-King, writer Toni Morrison, composers Steve Reich, Sir Peter Maxwell-Davies and Sir John Tavener, and has toured extensively in the US, Europe and the Far East.

Jacqueline is also a voice teacher. She has thriving studios in NYC and Washington DC, is a member of the faculty at Trevor Conservatory of Music and Chorworks. She gives masterclasses all over the US including SUNY Oswego and Mannes School of Music NYC. She has been on the Chorworks faculty since 2005, and she also gives ensemble technique workshops, working with established choirs, small ensembles, school children, volunteer and ad hoc groups in NYC and beyond.

Steven Rickards, countertenor
Steven Rickards has received international acclaim as one of America’s finest countertenors. He recently took part in the premiere of John Adams's oratorio El Niño at the Châtelet opera in Paris. There have been subsequent performances of the work with the Adelaide Symphony, the BBC Philharmonic, the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, the Tokyo Symphony, and the Malmö Opera (Sweden). His schedule of performances has included frequent appearances with Joshua Rifkin and the Bach Ensemble with performances throughout the United States, Europe, and Australia. He has also performed with The American Bach Soloists, Chanticleer, Ensemble Voltaire (formerly Ensemble Oubache), the Gabrieli Consort, Chicago’s Music of the Baroque, the New London Consort, The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Seattle Baroque Orchestra, the Opera Company of Philadelphia, The Santa Fe Opera, and the symphony orchestras of Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, St. Louis and Tokyo. He has sung at Carnegie Hall with the Oratorio Society of New York, and in France as a soloist with The Festival Singers under the direction of Robert Shaw. Rickards was the soloist in the American premiere performance of Michael Nyman's Self-Laudatory Hymn of Inanna and Her Omnipotence with the Netherlands Wind Ensemble at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall. He has recorded for Chanticleer, Decca, Dorian, Four Winds, Gothic, Harmonia Mundi, Koch, Newport Classics, Smithsonian, and Teldec the labels. Rickards can also be heard on the Naxos label where he has recorded two solo albums with lutenist Dorothy Linell of the songs of John Dowland and Thomas Campion.

Steven currently lives in Indianapolis where he teaches singing at Butler University and the University of Indianapolis. He sings regularly with The Choir of Men and Boys at Christ Church Cathedral, and with Paul Hillier and the Theatre of Voices.

Michael McCarthy, bass

Michael McCarthy is Director of Music at Washington National Cathedral. As director of music Michael oversees the Cathedral’s expanding music program, as well as serves as principal choirmaster. He was the founder and director of the London [England] Oratory School Schola. Founded in 1996, the Schola quickly became one of London’s premier boys concert choirs, performing regularly on the London concert platform and in the studio for both the recording and film industries. Mr. McCarthy directed the Schola in recordings for films including Sleepy Hollow, The Lord of the Rings cycle, and Harry Potter.

A graduate of Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Mr. McCarthy has worked with numerous professional choirs including The Sixteen, The Gabrieli Consort, and the Monteverdi Choir under the direction of Sir John Eliot Gardiner. In January 2002 he became the choir manager for The Monteverdi Choir. His experience directing young choristers includes duties as lay clerk at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, and Saint Alban’s Abbey in Hertfordshire. He also served as master of music at Saint Benedict’s Abbey, Ealing, prior to beginning the London Oratory School.