Let There Be Light Performers

William G. Ludtke has been a member of the staff and faculties of the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, Elmhurst College, Elmhurst, Illinois, Marin Opera, Cinnabar Theater in Petaluma, CA and the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria. While living in Chicago, Bill formed his own grass roots opera company which performed over 50 operas covering repertoire from Mozart to Hindemith during the company’s existence. He is currently musical and artistic director of the Handel Opera Project in Berkeley, California and music director and organist at the First Church of Christ, Scientist, also in Berkeley, California. His compositions have received broad public and critical acclaim in performances by many Bay Area musical organizations including the Oakland East Bay Symphony, the San Jose Symphony, the Diablo Symphony, the Oakland Civic Orchestra and such choral organizations as the San Francisco Chorale Artists, San Francisco Chamber Singers, Piedmont Children’s Choirs and the Cantabile Choral Guild. His Symphony No. 3, which received a Mu Phi Epsilon award, was premiered by the Oakland East Bay Symphony and received a subsequent performance by the Cascade Symphony in Seattle, Washington. His works have also been performed throughout America and in Europe (Austria, France, Germany and England) and have been aired on the local radio stations KDFC, KQED, KKHI and most recently on KUSF. He has received awards from The American Composers Forum, the Meet the Composer Program, the American Guild of Organists, ASCAP, Mu Phi Epsilon, the American Music Center in New York City, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Irvine Foundation, San Francisco Art Commissions, the City of Oakland Cultural Funding Program and the Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University.

Martha Stoddard is in her 28th season as Artistic Director of the Oakland Civic Orchestra, guiding the 80-piece orchestra to new heights, conducting premieres, and earning accolades and multiple American Prizes In orchestral performance, programming and chamber music. Praised for her clarity, generosity and vision Stoddard is also the Music Director of the Piedmont Chamber Orchestra, and is a finalist in the conductor search for Bay Area Rainbow Symphony in San Francisco. She recently concluded her first large-scale opera engagement, conducting Verdi’s beloved La traviata with Verismo Opera in Vallejo. She normally serves as principal flute for the Handel Opera Project. In her free time she plays a lot of tennis and composes now and then. She has been a colleague and friend of Music Director WIlliam Ludtke for over three decades and is happy to be able to conduct the wonderful ensemble for the December 2024 concert.

Daphne Touchais was born in Greece and from a very early age begun studying music. At the age of fifteen she moved to France and studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris (CNR). A prize-winner in the 2004 Macon Voice Competition , she was awarded the 1st Prize in the International Baroque Competition of Chimay, 2005 (Belgium) presided by William Christie. Daphne’s career led her all over Europe: from the Netherlands, where she made her debut as Papagena in Die Zauberflöte under Ton Koopman and Belinda in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas at the Concertgebouw, to Germany (Cupidon in Offenbach’s Orphée aux Enfers in Köln), Ireland (title role in Donizetti’s Rita and 1st Nymph in Rusalka at Wexford Festival), the UK (recording of Ariane et Barbe-Bleue by Dukas with the BBC Orchestra), Belgium (Iphis in Haendel’s Jeptha) and Switzerland (Zdenka in Arabella in St Gallen). In France she has sung at the Châtelet (Mrs Segstrom in Sondheim’s A Little Night Music), at the Opéra Comique (Isabelle in Grétry’s L’Amant Jaloux and Fiorella in Les Brigands by Offenbach), at the Cité de la Musique (Eurydice in Orpheus by Telemann), in Lyon (La Musica in Monteverdi’s Orfeo), in Toulouse (Tebaldo in Don Carlo), in Bordeaux (Oscar in Un Ballo in Maschera, Valetto in L’Incoronazione di Poppea , Celia in Lucio Silla, Agnès in Die Schule der Frauen by R. Liebermann), in Ambronay Festival (Charite in Cadmus et Hermione by Lully), in Sully Festival (Mrs Silberklang in Mozart’s Der Schauspieldirektor, Tonina in Salieri’s Prima la Musica poi le Parole), and has worked with conductors such as Ton Koopman, David Stern, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Jérémie Rohrer, Christophe Rousset, Paolo Olmi and François Xavier Roth, in addition to our esteemed director of the Handel Opera Project, William G. Ludtke.

Kathleen Moss, mezzo soprano, has been recognized as a singer with a “great voice and projection" and "a dramatic ability seldom seen on the opera stage." Ms. Moss has performed with many bay area opera companies including San Francisco Opera, Opera San Jose, West Bay Opera, West Edge Opera, Fremont Opera, Livermore Valley Opera, Berkeley Opera, San Francisco Lyric Opera, Cinnabar Opera & Pocket Opera and is a former Resident Artist with the San Francisco Opera Center. Favorite operatic roles include the title role in Carmen, Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana, Judith in Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle, Maddalena in Rigoletto & Polina in Pique Dame. Her concert engagements include solo appearances with the Sacramento Choral Society & Orchestra, Stockton Symphony, Fremont Symphony, Mendocino Music Festival, UC Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, Bay Choral Guild, Masterworks Chorale, Handel Opera Project, Camerata California, San Francisco Opera Guild and a live concert broadcast on National Public Radio. Her concert repertoire includes Handel's Messiah, Mahler’s 2nd Symphony, Mozart's Requiem & Coronation Mass, Bach's Magnificat, Mendelssohn's Elijah, Rossini's Stabat Mater, Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius, Saint-Saëns’ Oratorio de Noël, Beethoven's Mass in C, Vaughan Williams' Magnificat, Duruflé's Requiem, and Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass. As a crossover artist, she most recently appeared as Princess Puffer in The Mystery of Edwin Drood with Lamplighters Music Theatre. She has also performed with American Musical Theater of San Jose, 42nd Street Moon, TheatreWorks, Lyric Theatre of San Jose, Sacramento's Music Circus, Montalvo Arts Center & Shakespeare Santa Cruz. She can also be heard on the original cast recording of The 3 Musketeers featuring Tony Award winners Sutton Foster & Christian Borle.

Based in San Francisco, soprano Jayne Diliberto is a distinguished graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Jayne recently made her debut with the Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera as Barbarina in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro. In the 2024 season, she appeared as the soprano soloist with i Cantori di Carmel, performing works by Romantic German composers such as Rheinberger, Mendelssohn, and Humperdinck. Her other notable engagements include covering the role of Anne Page in Pocket Opera’s The Merry Wives of Windsor and presenting German Lieder in Lee Mingwei’s acclaimed exhibit Sonic Blossom at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco. In 2025, Jayne eagerly anticipates portraying Constance Partlet in Lamplighters Music Theatre's production of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Sorcerer, bringing a new perspective to this charming role. Additionally, she will take the stage as Second Lady in the Handel Opera Project's production of Die Zauberflöte, highlighting her dynamic range and expressive artistry within the operatic repertoire. In previous seasons, Jayne was featured as the soprano soloist in Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with the Mill Valley Philharmonic. She was also featured as a Manetti Shrem Fellow at the Festival Napa Valley, performing scenes from Verdi’s Rigoletto, Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. In May 2023, she covered the role of Lilette in Lamplighter Music Theatre’s world premiere of By Georges! - A Day in the Life of the Legendary Chevalier de Saint-Georges, making her company debut. In October 2022, Jayne reprised the role of Clearte in Ars Minerva’s production of Vinci’s Astianatte. Throughout her career in San Francisco, Jayne has portrayed roles such as Gontran in Chabrier’s Une Éducation Manquée, Gretel in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, and Léontine in Chevalier de Saint-George’s L’amant anonyme at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. At Oberlin, Jayne’s notable roles include Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Mrs. Nolan in The Medium, and Maria in the Oberlin Conservatory production of A Bernstein Revue. Beyond her performances, Jayne serves as a scheduler for the San Francisco Opera and is dedicated to nurturing young talent through her teaching.