Pianist

Ansel Mapp recently completed his MM in Piano Performance as a student of Dr. Min Kwon at the Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University. He received a BA in Applied Music and Philosophy from Baylor University in 2022 and was a student of Dr. Terry Lynn Hudson.

On December 4, 2021, Ansel performed his first solo recital, featuring all Black composers with works written by Valerie Capers, Florence Price, Margaret Bonds, Robert Nathaniel Dett, and arr. Dr. John L. Cornelius II, Associate Professor and Collaborative Pianist at Prairie View A&M University. On May 4, 2022, Ansel organized and performed in “A Requiem to bell hooks” with advisory from Dr. Lenore Wright. This program celebrating the life and works of feminist, social critic, and author bell hooks, sharing the inequities in concert programming, and performing works by Margaret Bonds and Florence Price. Ansel Mapp was a participant in the Inaugural Nina Simone Piano Competition in June 2023. By doing the work to promote Black composers in spaces that lacks Black representation, he hopes to change attitudes surrounding minority composers and show that there is truly deserving and amazing music that needs to be showcased. Ansel has been teaching piano since 2017 and has experience working with students of all ages. As a teacher, Ansel is committed to a personalized approach, encouraging each student to reach their musical potential.

Director, Cantabile Chamber Chorale

Rebecca Scott, Founding Artistic Director of Cantabile, was born in New Brighton, Pennsylvania, surrounded by music, art, and poetry. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Piano and Vocal and Choral Education from the Eastman School of Music, and a Master of Science in Choral Conducting from The Juilliard School, where she studied conducting with Abraham Kaplan, Dennis Russell Davies, Jorge Mester and Leonard Slatkin.

Active in premiering new music, she has won the praise of notable composers Gerald Cohen, Emma Lou Diemer, Eric Ewazen, Bruce Lazarus, and Eric Sessler. Now in her 37th season as artistic director of Cantabile, Ms. Scott has conducted over thirty-five premieres of new choral works with Cantabile. Her commitment to fostering and promoting new music garnered the Chorus America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming for Cantabile. She has prepared Cantabile for a concertized performance of Mozart’s Don Giovanni with the Westfield Symphony and conducted Cantabile in the premiere performance of Timepiece, a ballet choreographed with choral accompaniment, in a collaboration with the Lustig Dance Theatre as part of their “A Cappella” program. She is Faculty Member Emeritus in the college division of The Juilliard School where she developed the Solfège Program and the Choral Program for the Pre-College Division and coached concert repertoire for The Juilliard Singers. A lyric soprano focusing on contemporary music, she has performed with various contemporary chamber ensembles. Ms. Scott has had many songs composed for her by established and emerging composers, such as Eric Ewazen, Bruce Lazarus, Eric Sessler, Otto Luening and Meyer Kuperman, and her mother, Ruth Scott Clark.

Thirty years ago, a group of 18 singers performed its first concert as the Cantabile Chamber Chorale under the direction of Rebecca Scott “to provide the challenge of singing the repertoire for small ensemble with all its difficulties, nuances and special performing problems, while providing the love and good fellowship of joining with close friends in an artistic endeavor.”  Now three decades later, they are proud to celebrate Cantabile’s 30th anniversary, a significant milestone in their history and a testament to their passion for performing new music.