Administrative Staff

Bruno Casolari
Executive Director

In 1997, Bruno met Monsignor Donald Sakano, and together they created a plan to develop a music program for the Highbridge Community of the South Bronx; and so Highbridge Voices was born. Bruno served as the first Executive and Music Director of Highbridge Voices from 1998 to 2003. In 2008, Bruno Casolari returns to Highbridge Voices to usher the organization into its second decade of service to the children of the Highbridge community of the South Bronx.

Trained as a music educator at the Manhattan School of Music, Bruno also earned a graduate degree in Nonprofit Management from New School University in 2003. He has worked with nonprofit organizations with diverse missions in diverse settings – from creating educational opportunities for minority youth in Seattle to building housing in post tsunami Sri Lanka.

As a musician, Bruno enjoyed a successful career performing in such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops, collaborating with composers including Charles Strouse, and recording extensively for Yamaha’s Disklavier Piano.  Bruno’s musical activities are now focused on serving as music director for Highbridge Voices, as well composing and arranging for the choir.

“Excellence is not an accident; it is a choice…and each of us has the power to choose excellence, if someone shows us how.” This sentiment forms the basis of Bruno Casolari’s personal philosophy, and served as the basis for much of his work as a musician, educator, and leader.

Jessica Rawlins
Assistant Director

Jessica Antoinette Rawlins discovered her passion for the arts at a young age.  She began singing in church choirs at age two, school choirs in elementary school, and studied the violin through middle and high school.  After graduating from high school, Jessica continued her education at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, where she studied religion and spent a semester abroad at the University of Edinburgh Divinity School.

Although her academic studies were a top priority, she found herself immersed in the arts at Dartmouth.  She became heavily involved as a soloist and student manager for the Dartmouth Gospel Choir, whose performances included the 2007 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, New York City’s Jazz at Lincoln Center, and international tours.  In addition to the Gospel Choir, Jessica served as lead vocalist for the Barbary Coast Jazz Ensemble, which allowed her to collaborate with numerous distinguished guest artists.  On several occasions, Jessica also appeared as a guest vocalist for Dartmouth’s World Music Percussion Ensemble and was awarded the Marcus Heiman – Martin Rosenthal ’56 Achievement Award in the Arts for her leadership in Dartmouth’s vocal ensembles.  Following her graduation in 2007, Jessica relocated to New York City to pursue a career in arts administration.  She continues to join the Dartmouth Gospel Choir as an alumnus for major engagements, including the Welcome Breakfast for the 2009 Presidential Inauguration featuring Yolanda Adams, Bebe Winans, and legendary singer-songwriter Carole King.

Mary Clementi
Music Director

Mary Clementi, Highbridge Voices' Music Director, is a graduate of St. Olaf College and Florida State University. Before Highbridge Voices, Ms. Clementi most recently served as the Director of Choral Activities at Thomas Edison High School in Virginia’s Fairfax County. As Associate Music Director, Ms. Clementi will be working with both the Concert and Chamber Choirs, as well as leading vocal ensembles in community schools as part of Highbridge Voices’ new In-School Music Program.

Ms. Clementi had an opportunity to work with the Highbridge Voices Concert Choir when she appeared as a guest conductor on its spring concert at the West Bronx Recreation Center this past June. She was warmly received by both students and parents alike. “I really like Ms. Clementi. She is both fun and serious at the same time and that’s a really good thing…” said fourth grader Jerry Beniakrou, after working with Ms. Clementi to prepare for the spring concert.

Choirs under Ms. Clementi’s direction have received ‘Superior’ ratings when performing at nationally adjudicated events, and she has served as a choral clinician throughout the east coast. Under her direction, the Women’s Choral Ensemble of Thomas Edison High School was selected to perform at the Virginia Music Educators Association State Conference in 2007, a very prestigious honor. At only twenty-eight years old, she is well on her way to becoming a premier high school and youth choir conductor.

Mary is also active as a classroom instructor, developing interdisciplinary curricula that combine music with other subject areas. Fluent in French, Mary taught English in Bergerac, France for a year between her degree programs. As the Ethnic Music Program Coordinator at Concordia Language Villages in Moorhead, Minnesota, she wrote and implemented a ‘Language Through Music’ curriculum for the French language immersion portion of that program. Mary is also an active performer. She was a member of the Washington Master Chorale from 2006-2009 and, from 2005 to 2006, sang with Choralis, and its premier chamber ensemble, Echos. At Highbridge Voices, Mary is assisting in the ongoing development of the Music Styles and Literature (MSL) curriculum, which teaches reading and writing skills while using music history as the subject matter.

A native of Appleton, Wisconsin, Mary is thrilled to be living in New York City where she is enjoying all the amazing music and culture that the city has to offer. “I really like the fast pace and high energy of working at Highbridge Voices, and I truly love working with these talented students.” Highbridge Voices is indeed fortunate to have added such a talented and passionate musician to its ranks!

José Rivera
Facilities Coordinator

José Rivera has been a resident of the Highbridge Community for most of his life.  He attended P.S. 82 and Taft High School.  José began working for the Highbridge Community Development Corporation in 1998 as a porter and joined Highbridge Voices as the Facilities Coordinator in 1999.  He moved on from Highbridge Voices in 2002, but returned again in 2008.  José is also an accomplished martial artist and holds a purple belt in Jin Jon Do.  He continues to live in the Highbridge Community, not far from where he grew up, with his wife, Elsie, and their baby daughter, Starr.

Nikita Turnbull
Program Aide

A former participant and graduate of the Highbridge Voices program, Nikita Turnbull earned her high school diploma from St. Jean Baptiste High School on Manhattan's Upper East Side.  In addition to working at Highbridge Voices, she is currently in her second year at Bronx Manhattan Community College pursuing a degree in business management.

Foday Kamara
Student Intern

Foday has been a member of Highbridge Voices since the age of nine.  He is currently a senior at Frederick Douglass Academy.  Foday sings in both the tenor and bass sections of the Highbridge Voices Chamber Choir, enjoys both classic and new heavy metal, and is a strong creative writer.  Foday has a sister who is both a graduate of the Highbridge Voices program and recent University of Buffalo graduate.

Amy Morales
Student Intern

Amy Morales has been an active member of Highbridge Voices since she was ten years old.  In addition to her role as a student intern, Amy currently sings with both the Concert and the Chamber Choir and is a frequent soloist.

A junior at the Health Opportunities High School, Amy is an active member of her church youth group and regularly volunteers by assisting senior citizens in her community.

Upon her high school graduation, Amy intends to enroll in college where she will major in English.

Alizé Torres
Student Intern

Alizé Torres has been a member of Highbridge Voices for over six years.  Alizé continues to be a vocal and instrumental soloist and a member of the Concert and Chamber Choirs of Highbridge Voices, and she is currently one of only four student interns in the Highbridge Voices program.  In addition, Alizé will soon have an original article featured in the upcoming Highbridge Voices newsletter.

Away from Highbridge Voices, Alizé is a dedicated contributor to the ongoing work of her church.  Not only is she a member of her church's youth group, but she regularly volunteers with both the church child care and Sunday School programs.

Currently a junior at Renaissance High School of Musical Theatre and Technology, Alizé is already looking forward to the day she will be able to begin her work in pursuit of a bachelor's degree in psychology.

Kevon Turnbull
Student Intern

Kevon began as a student in the Highbridge Voices Training Choir at the age of six.  After graduating from Sacred Heart Catholic School in the Bronx, he enrolled at Rice High School.  He is currently a senior at LaSalle High School in Manhattan.  Kevon sings in the Highbridge Voices Chamber Choir, enjoys fantasy books, and learning Spanish.  Kevon has two sisters; one of whom is the current Program Aide at Highbridge Voices.

Music and Academic Faculty

James Bobick
Vocal Faculty Chair

James Bobick has had a versatile career, with roles ranging from Kinesias in Adamo’s Lysistrata  to Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor to the leading role of Bendrix in Jake Heggie’s End of the Affair with Seattle Opera. At New York City Opera, he has sung more than 20 roles and has been seen on two telecasts, including the Emmy-winning broadcast of Puccini’s La Bohème. He has also appeared with Connecticut Opera, Opera Omaha, Opera Pacific, Opera Delaware, Baltimore Opera, Wichita Grand Opera, Dayton Opera, Teatro Lirico d'Europa, Central City Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Opera Colorado, and the Bard Festival.

Mr. Bobick has also had a busy concert career. At Carnegie Hall, he has been heard in Orff’s Carmina Burana and Mendelssohn’s Die Erste Walpurgisnacht with the Oratorio Society of New York and, most recently, in Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass. He has also been heard at Avery Fisher Hall in Carmina Burana, Haydn’s Creation, Bach’s B-minor Mass and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Around the country, he has performed Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, Mozart’s Requiem, Bach’s Magnificat and B-Minor Mass, Handel’s Israel in Egypt and the title role in Saul, in Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, and in Paul McCartney’s Liverpool Oratorio. He was heard in Handel’s Messiah in Prague with the Prague Symphony, in Messiah and Carmina Burana with the San Jose Symphony in Costa Rica, in the Fauré Requiem in Paris, Reims, and Chartres, with the Orchestre Pasdeloup, and as featured soloist at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

Kara Dago-Clark
Music Styles and Literature Instructor

Kara Dago-Clark has been a clarinet player since the age of 8, when she was began playing in her public elementary school band.  Music has been her life ever since.  She has gone on to earn a Bachelor's Degree from The Boston Conservatory, an Advanced Certification in Music Education from Brooklyn College, and a Multi-focused Master of Arts Degree in Performance and Ethnomusicology from Hunter College.  She has been a Music Teacher in New York City Public Schools for seven years and is currently teaching in Harlem.   Her favorite mode of performing is within the intimacy of a chamber ensemble, however the power of an orchestra can be just as exciting.

She brings her love of music to her instruction and hopes to inspire and learn from these most amazing students that make up Highbridge Voices.

William Janiszewski
Music Theory Instructor

William Janiszewski graduated from the University of Connecticut with a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education. As a singer, William has performed with many groups throughout the state of Connecticut. He has been featured as a soloist with several of the University’s choirs, as well as the Vernon Chorale, and in churches in West Hartford and Storrs, Connecticut. He also recently made his conducting debut with the Vernon Chorale in Vernon, Connecticut. Though classically trained in voice, William has made it his mission to be as diverse a musician as possible. Since the age of fifteen, he has written over three hundred songs for guitar and voice and performed at various venues throughout New England. In 2007, William served as instructor of music theory, guitar, voice, and advisor of songwriting and performance at the Cape Music Institute in Cape Town, South Africa. He has held student teaching positions at various schools in Connecticut and has been teaching private voice and guitar lessons for several years.

Claire Kuttler
Vocal Instructor

Claire Kuttler earned her Master’s Degree from the University of Maryland, College Park under the guidance of tenor Gran Wilson. During her two years with the Maryland Opera Studio, Ms. Kuttler appeared as Elaine O'Neill in John Musto’s Later The Same Evening, as Fiordiligi in the studio's production of Cosí fan Tutte, and in her first Mimí with Bel Cantanti Opera. Ms. Kuttler graduated Magna Cum Laude from Concordia College in Moorhead, MN.

Claire’s concert experience includes the soprano solos in Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem, Bruckner’s Te Deum, the treble solo in Britten's Rejoice in the Lamb, and the soprano solo in Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony. Recently, Ms. Kuttler has sung with Central City Opera, where she won the Studio Artist Award and returned a year later to perform Donna in Rinaldo. Her recital engagements include Central City Opera, the University of Maryland and the Arts Club of Washington. In January, Ms. Kuttler was heard in a featured solo with the St. John’s Episcopal Choir for President Barack Obama at the Official Prayer Service held the morning of his inauguration. Upcoming, Ms. Kuttler will sing Mimí in La Bohème with Fargo-Moorhead Opera.

SunHee Lim
Vocal Instructor

SunHee graduated from Westminster Choir College with a Master of Music degree in choral conducting.  She currently directs both a community chorus in Princeton, NJ and a church choir in Flushing, NY.

Before she came to the States, SunHee attended Catholic University of Daegu where she earned a bachelor's degree in vocal performance and her secondary education teaching certificate.  She also served as an assistant director and a voice instructor for five years for the youth choir Pueri Cantores in South Korea.

SunHee has extensive choral conducting experience having conducted eleven concerts since relocating to the tri-state area.  She has also performed extensively in choral works around the world and is a member of the American Choral Directors Association and the National Association of Pastoral Musicians.

Brittney Redler
Vocal Instructor

Brittney Redler is a performer and educator located in New York City. She received her Bachelor of Music degree from Ithaca College in Music Education and Vocal Performance, her Master of Music from NYU Steinhardt in Classical Voice Performance and is currently back at NYU for post-graduate work in Vocal Pedagogy.

A certified K-12 educator, Brittney has taught public school music in Summerville, South Carolina and in New York City. Passionate for teaching voice, she maintains a private studio, teaching in many styles from jazz to pop, and classical to musical theatre, focusing students on the healthy way to find their unique sound and their best performance talents. At NYU, she serves as adjunct faculty.

She has performed on operatic, musical theater, cabaret and concert stages alike, and has performed for Norwegian Cruise Lines.

Agustin Rodriguez
Academic Coordinator

A graduate of Excelsior College with a bachelor of science degree, Agustin has tutored students for over twenty years and started his own tutoring company ten years ago.  He has worked with over 250 students in more than fifty subjects and for various high school, college entrance, graduate-level, and professional exams. To date, every single one of Agustin’s students have passed the exams for which they were preparing.

Agustin is currently developing a curriculum that seeks to change the way inner-city children are taught; tutoring them with references to their own culture, so that they can develop a greater sense of belonging to the material.  Agustin believes that if students are entertained, they will greater desire to learn.

Before devoting himself to tutoring full-time, Agustin was a technical writer for several early software houses, writing user manuals for some of the world’s most frequently used software.  Agustin has also worked for the New York City Board of Education in several capacities, mostly in special middle school projects.

Since joining Highbridge Voices, Agustin has helped four students pass the New York State Regent Exam in geometry and conducted an SAT prep class last summer for all Highbridge Voices juniors and seniors.

Amaranta Viera
Vocal Instructor

Amaranta Viera is a specialist in early and Baroque music. She has performed as soloist with Ensemble Les Goûts-Réunis, Piffaro, the Renaissance Band, The New York Continuo Collective, Musica Antiqua New York, and the Americas Vocal Ensemble, among others, and has sung as a member of the ensemble with the Concert Chorale of New York and New York Choral Artists in collaboration with the Mostly Mozart Festival and the New York Philharmonic. She is also an active recitalist and has performed music of the French and Italian Baroque at the Teatro Municipal in Vila Real, Portugal; on the Boston Early Music Festival's fringe series; at Sweet Briar College in Virginia; and in venues all over New York City.

Ms. Viera’s recent solo engagements include Ariel Ramirez's Missa Criolla at St. Bartholomew's Church's Summer Festival of Sacred Music; D. Buxtehude's Membra Jesu Nostri with the Choir of St. Ignatius of Antioch; J.F. Haydn's Missa Cellensis and J.S. Bach's cantata Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben with the Dalton Chorale; as a Satrap in a revival of The Play of Daniel at The Cloisters; and as a member of the 12-voice, one-voice-per-part ensemble in Tania Leon’s new work Inura, commissioned by Dance Brazil and premiered at NYU’s Skirball Center in New York, NY.  Ms. Viera holds degrees in English literature and Music from Williams College, studied Historical Performance at the Mannes College of Music, and resides in New York City, NY.