Fort Worth Kantorei
Dr. Maritza Cáceres, Director
Tracy Carroll, Co-director & Pianist

Soprano
Cynthia Benton
Marissa Garza
Karyna Ivanova
Leslie Loignon
Bea Smith
Kendra Kudefeldt
Stephanie Schilling
Pam Stoker
Hortensia Bryce
Rene Seybold
Kayla Caraway
Martha Lunday

Alto
Celeste Luna
Cathy Salas
Julia Simmonds
Leslie Smith
Shirley Welch
Betty Bachim
Penny Bonkowski
Deborah Giegoldt
Lindy Gonzales
Madelyn Hawkins
Ruth Burkey

Tenor
Jevgen Ivanova
Tom Lunday
Mason Miles
Brian Phillips
Nathan Williams
Braeden Wurtz
Jack Fanseleau

Bass
Beau Lawrence
Jerry Roy
Dan Benton
Keith Crow
Stephen Everhart
Randy Phillips
Christ Takem
Mark McNair
Ralph Burkey
Erik Danielson

 

Dr. Maritza Cáceres has conducted choirs in the United States, New Zealand, and in her native Chile for the past 30 years. She is the co-founder of the Music Association of Auckland Chorale in Auckland, New Zealand and has prepared choirs for the Auckland Philarmonia Orchestra and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra for their symphonic performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, Carl Orff’s Carmina burana, Mendelssohn’s Elijah and semi-staged opera performances of I Pagliacci and The Magic Flute. Dr. Cáceres has given masterclasses in Chile as part of the Crecer Cantando program and in Osaka, Japan. She has conducted the Fort Worth Choral Society and was invited to conduct the Southwestern Adventist University Singers “A Voice 4 Peace” concert in recognition of the 2016 International Day of Peace. Recently she was invited as a lecturer and conductor to the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the National Federation of Choirs in Chillan, Chile. Dr. Caceres is the founder and choral conductor of Fort Worth Kantorei.

Dr. Cáceres holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music Theory from the University of Chile and a Master’s degree in Choral Conducting from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey. As a chorister at Westminster Choir College, Dr. Cáceres sang under the direction of renowned conductors such as Riccardo Muti, Zubin Mehta, Robert Shaw, and Kurt Masur and performed at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina and the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy. She began her doctoral studies at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana and completed her DMA in Choral Conducting at Texas Christian University. Her teachers have included Dr. Joseph Flummerfelt, Dr. Fred Stoltfuz, Helmut Rilling at the Oregon Bach Festival, Ronald Shirey, Dr. Eph Ely, and Dr. Dennis Shrock. 

Dr. Cáceres has served on the Board of Directors and as a Director of Chamber Music for the Fort Worth Youth Orchestra. She has also worked with High Schools choirs from the Metroplex area and as a piano accompanist for Tanglewood Elementary School in Fort Worth, Texas. She is currently a faculty member at Southwestern Adventist University in Keene, Texas and is the Choir Director of Fort Worth First Seventh-day Adventist Church. She lives in Fort Worth with her husband, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, and their three children, Elena, Emilio, and Elisa.