Legends and Traditions Performers
Chance Jonas-O’Toole - Tenor
Praised by Opera News for his “charm, sharp diction, and ping,” tenor Chance Jonas-O’Toole is an artist committed to engaging audiences through passionate storytelling.
In 2022, Chance joined the Merola Opera Program, singing Monostatos in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, as well as scenes of Donizetti and Britten with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra. Also in 2022, Chance was chosen as a finalist in the Jensen Foundation Vocal Competition.
He was a 2021 Gerdine Young Artist at Opera Theatre of St. Louis, where he covered Captain Collins in the New Works, Bold Voices workshop, as well as performing in the Center Stage concert. Chance closed out 2021 with Liederabend, Op. Senses, a night of new vocal works curated by National Sawdust and Beth Morrison Projects in Brooklyn, New York.
In 2019, Chance made his debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra as the tenor soloist in Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy under Andris Nelsons.
In the summers of 2017 and 2018, Chance was a tenor fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, where he was able to explore his passions for song, chamber music, and new works, working with internationally-renowned artists such as Dawn Upshaw, Stephanie Blythe, and Simon Keenlyside. During those fellowships, he premiered works by Michael Gandolfi and Doug Balliett, and performed in programs of Bach Cantatas under the direction of John Harbison.
Chance is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where he received his Bachelor’s and Master’s in Music. While there, he performed multiple roles, including the Prologue in Britten’s Turn of the Screw, Mercure in Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie at Juilliard, Jo the Loiterer in Virgil Thomson’s The Mother of Us All at the Met Museum with Met Live Arts, and the First Sailor in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas on tour with Juilliard 415. Juilliard is also where Chance developed a love for song and concert repertoire, participating in New York Festival of Song, Juilliard Songfest, WQXR’s Midday Masterpieces, and premiering Jonathan Dawe’s Oroborium with the New Juilliard Ensemble in Alice Tully Hall.
Chance is a recipient of the Novick Career Advancement Grant from the Juilliard School.
Greenwich Academy Madrigals
Greenwich Academy is an independent college preparatory day school for highly motivated students in grades pre-kindergarten through 12. Its 39-acre campus is located 25 miles north of New York City in the suburbs of Greenwich, Connecticut. Founded in 1827, the Academy values excellence in academics, athletics, the arts and community service. Committed to diversity in its student body and faculty to an inclusive, rigorous liberal arts curriculum, the Academy fosters an appreciation of individual and cultural differences and recognition of the fundamental interdependence of all people.
The Madrigal Singers represent a long tradition of musical excellence at Greenwich Academy. The Upper School treble ensemble has received invitations to perform both regionally and internationally. In December 2004, they performed at a private reception hosted by former first lady Laura Bush at the White House. In 2008, they received an invitation to perform at the NAIS (National Association of Independent School) Annual Conference at Radio City Music Hall in New York. In April of 2013, the Madrigals were invited to perform “The Star Spangled Banner” at Citi Field for the New York Mets.
In 2019 the group traveled to Scandinavia, with performances in several venues in Finland, Sweden and Norway including the Suomenlinna Church in Finalnd and The Music Festive in Bergen at Mariakirken Church, Norway. Since 1977 the ensemble has performed on international stages in Ireland, Germany, Belgium, Spain, France, Portugal, Italy, Greece and the Czech Republic.
Erica McCants, Conductor, received her Bachelors in Music Education and Vocal Performance from the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam. She has been a member of the Greenwich Academy music faculty since 2005. Prior to stepping into the role of Madrigal director, Ms. McCants taught middle school at Greenwich Academy for 14 years and continues to teach 5th grade music. She began conducting Madrigals in the fall of 2019. In addition to Madrigals, Ms. McCants conducts Bel Canto, Gospel Choir, and serves as vocal director and conductor of the Upper School musical. She also served as performing arts department chair from 2012-2018.
Kylie Mullins, Accompanist, joined the Madrigals as the accompanist in June of 2022. She received her Bachelor's degree in Theatre Arts with a Certificate in Musical Theatre from Northwestern University in 2015. She went on to earn her Masters in Music Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. Ms. Mullins joined the Greenwich Academy faculty in 2019, and currently serves as a Middle School Music & Drama teacher