our Team

Matthew HUNTER

Music educator and professional performing artist, Matthew Hunter, has spent his career teaching choral music and performing with some of Chicago’s finest theatre companies. Matthew is the Director of Choirs at Niles West High School in Skokie, IL, and continues to perform throughout the Chicagoland area. In 2016, Matthew was featured in Modern Luxury NS magazine's arts and culture issue as one of the north shore’s “Top talents, art influencers, and dazzling performers”. Between the classroom and the stage, Matthew is sharing his musical gifts with the world and lighting up every stage he stands on. Matthew is a graduate of Michigan State University and currently a graduate student in the MMEd program at Vandercook College of Music in Chicago, IL. He is excited to serve as the Director of Tonal Eclipse.

Carl Alexander

Hailed as “exceptional...[with] a beautiful and powerful voice,” by The Harlem Globe, Carl Alexander is a budding American countertenor known for his captivating performances which incorporate contemporary literature and gems of the past.

A graduate of Morehouse College, he was featured frequently as a soloist with the Morehouse College Glee Club and as a member of the Morehouse Quartet. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Music and studied with Dr. Mel Foster. He received his Master’s degree in Voice and Opera Performance from Northwestern University where he studied with W. Stephen Smith.

Alexander is the founder of the Voic(ed) Project and the featured performer on this year's curative project. He is excited to serve as the Director of A Cappella at Niles West High School and as the Director of Echo Effect.

Kaitlin Foley

Kaitlin Foley, soprano, has “emerged as one of the truly great musicians of this city” (Vocal Arts Chicago). Praised for her “limpid, gorgeous voice” and “agile and pure-toned” singing (Chicago Classical Review), Ms. Foley is a supremely dedicated performer with a passionate ear for early and new music. She is a founding member of the genre-bending, Chicago-based vocal trio Artemisia.

She achieved her M.M. in Voice Performance from DePaul University, where she studied with Julia Bentley, and completed her undergraduate work in music education at the University of Missouri under the tutelage of Ann Harrell and the baton of Paul Crabb. Ms. Foley is a Vocal Artist in Residence at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel under the direction of James Kallembach, where she is a regularly featured soloist. She is also the director and founder of the Rockefeller Children’s Choir. Ms. Foley teaches choir, voice lessons, and music theory The People’s Music School, and she conducts female vocal groups Women of Note in Wilmette, IL and High Fidelity at Niles West High School.

Sonya Ur

Sonya Ur, who is a native of the North Shore area began her classical training in piano at the age of 4 and violin at the age of 9. She did most of her musical training in both  piano and violin at the Music Institute Of Chicago in Winnetka. She received her Undergraduate degree for piano performance at the University Of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her Masters for piano performance and pedagogy at Northwestern University in Evanston. Her professional memberships include MTNA, CAMTA, and NSMTA. She currently teaches private piano and is the accompanist for the choir program at Niles West High School in Skokie. She also does accompanying  for many Suzuki programs and adjudicates many festivals all over the North Shore.

“Without music, life would be a mistake.” — Friedrich Nietzsche