RUBEN VALENZUELA is the Founder and Artistic Director of Bach Collegium San Diego (BCSD). As a conductor, keyboardist, and musicologist, he has led BCSD in notable performances of music of the Renaissance, early and high Baroque, early Classical period, as well as music of the twentieth century. Valenzuela’s performances have been described as ‘dramatic’ and ‘vibrant’ and ‘able to unlock the true power of Baroque music’ (SanDiegoStory.com). Under Valenzuela’s leadership, BCSD has achieved international acclaim through virtuosic performances of iconic repertoire, in addition to lesser-known works.

With BCSD he has toured to the Festival Internacional del Órgano Barroco in Mexico City and Zamora, Michoacán, and to the Festival Internacional de Música Renacentista y Barroca Misiones de Chiquito in Bolivia. In addition to his work with BCSD, Valenzuela is regularly called upon as a guest director and keyboardist. Notable guest engagements include Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity, New York City, Marsh Chapel Choir and Collegium at Boston University, Bach at Emmanuel Church, Boston, Juilliard415 at Lincoln Center, New York City, Washington Bach Consort, and Westminster Choir College with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. Upcoming engagements to include Seraphic Fire, Handel+Haydn Society, and BachFest 2024, Leipzig.

As a musicologist Valenzuela has undertaken research at the Centro Nacional de Investigación, Documentación e Información Musical, Carlos Chavez (CENEDIM, Mexico City), and at the Archivo del Cabildo of Mexico City Cathedral. In 2016, he presented a paper titled: Mexican Religious Iconography (Angels musicians and the Basso Continuo in Mexico City Cathedral) for the inaugural Historical Performance Institute of the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University. Valenzuela’s musical interests are wide ranging to include the life and music of Anglo-Canadian composer Healey Willan, which led to the creation of the year long Willan West 2018 festival. Additionally, Valenzuela maintains a lifelong interest in Jamaican popular music of the late 50s and 1960s, and in particular Mento, Ska, Rocksteady, and early Reggae.

Valenzuela holds a PhD in Musicology from Claremont Graduate University and is also the Director of Music & Organist of All Souls’ Episcopal Church, San Diego

Described by the Boston Globe as “one of the world’s most remarkable singers,” American tenor Nicholas Phan is increasingly recognized as an artist of distinction. An artist with an incredibly diverse repertoire that spans nearly 500 years of music, he performs regularly with the world’s leading orchestras and opera companies. An avid recitalist and a passionate advocate for art song and vocal chamber music, in 2010 Phan co-founded Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago, an organization devoted to promoting this underserved repertoire.

A celebrated recording artist, Phan’s most recent album, A Change Is Gonna Come, was released to critical acclaim in May 2024. His album, Stranger: Works for Tenor by Nico Muhly, was nominated for the 2022 Grammy Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album. His previous albums, Clairières and Gods and Monsters, were nominated for the same award in 2020 and 2017. He is the first singer of Asian descent to be nominated in the history of the category, which has been awarded by the Recording Academy since 1959.

Sought after as a curator and programmer, in addition to his work as artistic director of CAIC, Phan is the host and creator of BACH 52, a web series examining the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. He has created programs for broadcast on WFMT and WQXR and has also served as guest curator for projects with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Bravo! Vail Music Festival, San Francisco Opera Center, and San Francisco Performances, where he served as the vocal artist-in-residence from 2014-2018. Phan’s programs often examine themes of identity, highlight unfairly underrepresented voices from history, and strive to underline the relevance of music from all periods to the currents of the present day.

San Francisco Bay Area soprano Jennifer Paulino’s voice has been praised as “graceful yet powerful” and “sensitive and clear” by San Francisco Classical Voice. Her performance in Handel’s Messiah with Seraphic Fire was praised in South Florida Classical Voice: “The sheer beauty and sincerity that soprano Jennifer Paulino brought to I know that my Redeemer liveth would be hard to equal.”

Jennifer specializes in 17th and 18th century repertoire, and appears with period ensembles and orchestras nationally. Recent performances include a concert of cantatas by Conti, Bernier, and J.S. Bach with Grammy nominated Agave baroque ensemble, and Buxtehude’s Jesu Membra Nostri, J.S Bach’s Magnificat, and Johann Kunau’s Magnificat with renowned Belgian ensemble Vox Luminis at the 2022 Berkeley Festival and Exhibition. She regularly appears with Philharmonie Austin and the Redeemer Choir, as well as Cantata Collective (CA), Bach Collegium San Diego, California Bach Society, Santa Cruz Chorale, San Francisco Choral Society, and at the Carmel Bach Festival. Jennifer is also is passionate about collaborating with living composers and has premiered works by Stacy Garrop, Lansing McLoskey, Jocelyn Hagen, and Preben Antonsen, among others.

Jennifer studied baroque styles with Julianne Baird, Jill Feldman, and Michael Chance, and holds degrees from the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, Netherlands and Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton, NJ. In 2010, Jennifer won second prize in the Gerhard Herz Young Artists Competition for her interpretation of works by Bach, Mozart, and Handel, and in 2012 she was the Cal-West regional winner and a national finalist for the Artist Awards Competition for the National Association Teachers of Singing.