We're back! Join us for our first in-person concert at the Pinecrest Gardens Banyan Bowl amphitheater.
Misty Leah Bermudez, Artistic Director
Highly sought after as a soloist, chamber artist, and educator, mezzo-soprano Misty Leah Bermudez has captivated critics and audiences alike with her "ravishing" voice and "compelling" concert performances (South Florida Sun Sentinel, Palm Beach Arts Paper). Residents of South Florida will recognize Ms. Bermudez as a founding member of the Grammy-nominated vocal ensemble Seraphic Fire.
A versatile vocalist, Ms. Bermudez has an active career as a concert soloist, chamber artist and operatic actress. Solo concert engagements have included performances with The Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestra, Opera Naples, Gulfshore Opera, The Miami Symphony Orchestra, The San Antonio Symphony, The New World Symphony under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas, The Back Bay Chorale in Boston, The Symphonic Chorale of Southwest Florida, The Master Chorale of South Florida, the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, and Illuminarts in Miami. She has been a featured soloist in works such as Mendelssohn's Elijah, Duruflé's Requiem, Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, Monteverdi's Vespers, Handel's Messiah, Bach's Mass in B Minor, Mozart's Requiem, Vaughan Williams' Serenade to Music, Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass, and Bach's St. John Passion and St. Matthew Passion. No stranger to the stage, Ms. Bermudez has been featured in operatic offerings throughout South Florida, including stagings of Mozart, Donizetti, and Gilbert and Sullivan, and she has sung the title role in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas and the role of Siebel in Gounod's Faust. As a chamber artist, Ms. Bermudez has performed, recorded, and toured extensively with Seraphic Fire, Miami's professional chamber ensemble, and she appears on both its Grammy-nominated albums. She has also sung with the Grammy-winning ensemble Conspirare in Austin, Texas, as well as the Oregon Bach Festival, the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Spire Chamber Ensemble in Kansas City, and the Yale Choral Artists.
Ms. Bermudez is on the voice faculty of Miami Dade College, Kendall Campus, where she also directs the Opera Theatre Ensemble and the Chamber Singers. Her students have been admitted to fine college vocal programs around the country with impressive scholarship awards. She served as a master teacher for the participants of the Professional Choral Institute, an initiative in 2011 and 2012 by Seraphic Fire, which aimed to educate talented pre-professional singers about the world of professional ensemble music. Recently, she was a guest coach with Seraphic Fire’s Ensemble Artist Program at UCLA. She is in demand as a visiting clinician for university music programs around the country. In May 2018, Ms. Bermudez became the first female Artistic Director of the Civic Chorale of Greater Miami in its 48-year history.
Ms. Bermudez graduated Magna Cum Laude from Florida International University with a Bachelor of Science in Music Education and holds the Master of Music Degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Miami, where she was a Smathers Fellowship recipient. She received awards of Excellence in Academic Achievement in Music from both institutions.
Dr. Joseph Talleda, Accompanist
The diverse experience of pianist and collaborative artist Joseph Talleda includes recital appearances, opera productions, choral events, and much more. In the course of a career spanning more than 40 years, he has been privileged to perform with seasoned professionals as well as many talented student musicians. Among the more notable performers with whom he has shared the stage are violinist Glenn Basham, flutist Robert Billington, and tubist J. Samuel Pilafian.
Dr. Talleda is currently music coach and accompanist at the department of music, theater, and dance of the Kendall campus of Miami-Dade College, where he has been active for four years. In the 2017-2018 academic year, he was privileged to appear as collaborative artist in a joint recital with violinist and violist Ross DeBardelaben, as accompanist for the MDC Kendall Opera Ensemble production of The Pirates of Penzance (Misty Bermudez, director), and as piano secondo in a performance of Pictures at an Exhibition with adjunct faculty member Virginia Covarrubias. The end of the academic year found Dr. Talleda as piano primo in a performance of the two-piano version of the Brahms German Requiem that also brought together Civic Chorale of Greater Miami and the MDC Kendall Chamber Singers under the baton of Dr. Kenneth Boos.
As accompanist for Civic Chorale of Greater Miami, Dr. Talleda has assisted in the preparation of choral works by Brahms, Handel, Mendelssohn, and Schubert as well as many other composers of classical and popular music. In November of 2014, Dr. Talleda and Kendall Campus head of keyboard studies K. Wayne Bumpers premiered the piano duet Variations on Amazing Grace by local Afro-American composer James Ford. In recent years, the MDC Kendall Chamber Singers have performed two compositions by Dr. Talleda.
Joseph Talleda studied with Louis Nagel at the University of Michigan, with Boris Berman, Peter Frankl, and Claude Frank at the Yale School of Music, with Eckart Sellheim and Caio Pagano at Arizona State University, and with Paul Posnak and J. B. Floyd at the University of Miami. He was an apprentice vocal coach at the 1997 Merola Opera Program and a seminarian in vocal coaching and accompanying at the 1993 Tanglewood Music Center. Joseph Talleda holds the degree of doctor of musical arts from the University of Miami.
Sherri Flinn, Chorale Manager
Ms. Flinn began her expanded role at the Civic Chorale of Greater Miami as the Chorale Manager in the Fall of 2019, working with Artistic Director Misty Bermudez. Her previous roles included Assistant to the Artistic Directors, Choral Librarian, and member of the chorale's Executive Committee.
After retiring from her career as a teacher in the Miami-Dade County Public Schools system, Ms. Flinn began volunteering at the Miami Dade College's Music Department in the Kendall Campus. She successfully organized and created the campus' first Choral Music Library. The Choral Library now houses over 1000 vocal selections, which are shared by multiple vocal ensembles at the College. After several years of volunteering, Ms. Flinn joined the support staff in the college's Music, Theatre & Dance Department, and is currently the Performance & Events Coordinator for the Performing Arts & Industries Department.
Prior to the January 2010 merger of the Miami Dade College Community Choir, housed at Miami Dade College, and the Civic Chorale of Greater Miami, housed at the University of Miami, Ms. Flinn sang simultaneously in both groups. At the Miami Dade Community Choir she sang under directors Dr. Eugene Greco and Dr. Kenneth Boos. At the University of Miami she sang under the direction of Artistic Directors Dr. Robert Gower and Dr. Paul Whiting. Ms. Flinn was a major participant in the committee that assured the smooth merger of the Civic Chorale of Greater Miami from the University of Miami into Miami Dade College, joining both ensembles to form a unified community group of 90 singers.
Ms. Flinn graduated with a Bachelor of Science from Northern Michigan University, majoring in Education with multiple minors in Music and Science. Her studies included Chorale Performance, Music History and Piano with Dr. Ruth-Esther Hillila of Cleveland, and Piano with Ms. Sally Pyle of Miami. Ms. Flinn continues voice studies at the private studio of Ms. Pamela Pettitt Sherwood of Miami.
Andrea Leon-Moreno, Arts Administration
and Marketing Associate
Andrea Leon-Moreno serves as the Arts Administration and Marketing Associate for the Civic Chorale of Greater Miami. She holds an A.A. in Music from Miami Dade College, a B. A. in Music from Valdosta State University in Georgia, and a Master of Music Business in Management and Production from Florida International University. Ms. Leon-Moreno possesses varied experience working in the arts realm, including education, retail, customer service, sales, music production, and business management in both commercial and non-profit organizations including Sounds of Excellence School of Music, where she was a Steinway and Sons Educational Partner, FIU, the Young Patronesses of the Opera, and WDNA 88.9 FM.
In addition to being a part of the CCGM team, Ms. Leon-Moreno is on the staff of Seraphic Fire as the Artistic Operations Associate and Box Office Associate, where she works with artists and handles the planning and execution of all travel logistics, assists in concert operations by managing production aspects of the Seraphic Fire Concert, and provides exceptional customer service to patrons over the phone, mail, and email while continuing to manage all aspects of the box office.
Former Artistic Directors
Dr. Lee Kjelson, Founder
Dr. Jo-Michael Scheibe
Greg Knauf
Dr. Robert Gower
Dr. Kenneth Boos