2024 Sacred Music Florida Judges

Ayako Yonetani, a full professor of violin and viola at the University of Central Florida, was born in Kobe, Japan. She began her musical journey in Japan, studying the violin under the renowned Saburo Sumi and winning the Japan National competition at the age of nine. Yonetani continued her training at the Juilliard School under the guidance of Hyo Kang and Dorothy DeLay. Later on, she assisted Miss DeLay at Juilliard Pre-College and the Aspen Music Festival.

Since relocating to the U.S. in 1982, Yonetani has graced stages in major cities worldwide, performing solo and ensemble works in prestigious venues such as Tokyo’s Kioi Hall, New York’s Carnegie Hall, Washington’s Kennedy Center, Slovak Republic’s Dome Umenia, and Astana City Hall in Kazakhstan.

Her international acclaim includes acclaimed recordings, judging prestigious competitions, and premiering new compositions.

Yonetani's extensive discography, including five solo and eight ensemble CDs, reflects her artistic excellence. Notably, her Tchaikovsky/Mendelssohn concerto CD was named "CD of the Month" by WMFE-90.7FM in 2004.

Yonetani translated Barbara L. Sand’s book "Teaching Genius: Dorothy DeLay and the Making of a Musician" into Japanese, published by Ongaku no Tomo. Recognized for her impact, she was elected as an Honorary Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute in 2006. In 2018, she assumed the directorship of UCF’s Pegasus String Quartet Graduate Program, highlighting her commitment to musical education and leadership. She is scheduled to perform at Carnegie Weil Recital Hall this November. 

 Aaron Patterson is a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship at the Juilliard School, where he is pursuing his Master’s Degree in organ performance under the tutelage of Paul Jacobs. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree as the Charles and Judith Freyer Annual Fellow at the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied organ performance with Alan Morrison. He also received a certificate in harpsichord performance with Leon Schelhase. Prior to this, Mr. Patterson studied organ with Dennis Elwell and piano with Dolly Krasnopolsky.

Mr. Patterson won first place at the 2017 Albert Schweitzer Organ Competition and the 2016 West Chester University International Organ Competition. He has also been a recipient of the Pogorzelski-Yankee Memorial Scholarship from the American Guild of Organists and the Bart Pitman Memorial Music Scholarship from the Delaware Valley Music Club.

 Mr. Patterson loves collaboration and has performed with orchestras, violinists, flautists, choirs, and other keyboardists. His performance venues include the Wanamaker Grand Court, where he is an assistant organist, Boardwalk Hall, and the Kimmel Center. Mr. Patterson is currently assistant organist at Tenth Presbyterian Church. He has also been organ scholar at St. Thomas’s Episcopal Church in Whitemarsh, PA.

 A Christian and a native of Philadelphia, Mr. Patterson enjoys Bible study, reading, hiking, cooking, and following Major League Baseball.

 Acclaimed for “exquisite clarity” and “remarkable virtuosity”, Korean-American pianist Sun-A Park is quickly establishing herself as one of the exciting pianists of her generation.  Since making her orchestral debut with the New Jersey and Houston Symphony Orchestras, Ms. Park has performed at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C., Tel Aviv Museum of Art in Israel, Manuel de Falla Auditorium in Spain, Bass Hall in Fort Worth, Texas, and Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, and the Juilliard Theater in New York. 

As an active soloist and recitalist, she has collaborated with such eminent conductors as Peter Oundjian, Eiji Oue, Arthur Hagen, and Krzysztof Urbanski. Ms. Park has performed with the Yale Philharmonia, Albany Symphony, Sendai City Orchestra in Japan, San Marino Republic Orchestra, Orchester Haydn in Italy, Hannover Hochschulorchester in Germany, Symphonic Orchestra of Castilla y León and Orquesta Ciudad de Granada in Spain. Ms. Park has been heard on recital series throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia, making appearances in Horowitz Recital Series at Yale University, Stecher and Horowitz Foundation, Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut in Germany, Pusan National University and Performing Arts Center in South Korea, among many others. 

Ms. Park is a first prize winner of the Olga and Serge Koussevitzky Young Artists Awards and the Kosciuszko Chopin Competition. Her other accomplishments include second prize and the Rosa Sabater award for best interpretation of Spanish music at the 2019 Jaén International Piano Competition (Spain), and major prizes at the 5th International Sendai Music Competition (Japan), the 58th Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition (Italy), and the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition. 

As a period-keyboard music lover, Sun-A has performed in fortepiano masterclasses with fortepianists Alexander Lubimov and Kristian Bezuidenhout at the Yale University Collection of Musical Instruments. Her performances on the fortepiano were featured at Virtuoso e Belcanto Festival in Lucca, Italy and the Peabody Institute. Sun-A’s research topics during her residency at Peabody Institute included development of keyboard technique in 18th-century English fortepiano school. 

Ms. Park was born in Busan, South Korea and grew up in New Jersey. She began to play the piano at the age of four and later studied with Seymour Bernstein of New York University. Ms. Park completed her undergraduate and graduate studies with Yoheved Kaplinsky and Matti Raekallio at the Juilliard School. In 2014, Ms. Park received the Soloklasse Programm diploma in Hannover, Germany with Bernd Goetzke. She is the recipient of Elizabeth Parisot Piano Award for the most outstanding pianist at the Yale School of Music under the tutelage of Boris Berman. In 2020, Ms. Park received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University under the guidance of Boris Slutsky, and was awarded Peabody Career Development Grant and Pauline Favin Memorial Award. Her recording of early keyboard sonatas by Muzio Clementi was released under the Naxos label in 2019. 

Labeled a "Rising Star" by the American Guild of Organists, Cecily DeMarco (b.2000) is Organ Scholar at Hitchcock Presbyterian Church in Scarsdale, NY. She is a graduate of The Juilliard School where she earned her Bachelor of Music Degree. Currently, Cecily is in the Master of Music program at Juilliard and will continue to study with world renowned, Grammy award winning artist, Paul Jacobs. 

Cecily has performed on both the east and west coasts, but most frequently in New York and Florida, appearing at venues such as St. Patrick’s Cathedral (NYC), Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church (NYC), Columbia University (NYC), Bethesda by the Sea (Palm Beach), and Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church (Fort Lauderdale). 

In 2021, Miss DeMarco competed and won first prize in the New York City Chapter of the Regional Competition for Young Organists (RCYO), and proceeded to also win first prize in the Northeast Regional Competition. Because of this win, she participated as a “Rising Star” in a winner’s concert at the 2022 American Guild of Organists National Convention in Seattle, Washington. 

While not playing the organ, Cecily enjoys painting, baking, and traveling. 

Vocalist, Actor and Director Russell Fox has over 40 years of experience performing, directing and managing in regional theaters and theme parks across the country. Russell’s training started in his teens and continued throughout his career. As a theater major at Middle Tennessee State University, he studied vocal technique with Cynthia Perkins, a former Broadway singer/actor. He continued his studies in L.A. at the Robert Handly Acting Institute focusing on Uta Hagan’s Respect for Acting and applying her technique to the message and intent behind the lyrics of a song. Notably, Russell has performed as Jinx in Forever Plaid, Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors, Che in Evita, The Baker in Into the Woods, Huck in Big River and Al in A Chorus Line to name a few of his favorites. At Walt Disney World, he originated the role of Clopin in The Hunchback of Notre Dame - A Musical Adventure, and had principal roles in The Hoop Dee Doo Review, Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Specular, The World Dancers and sang with the a cappella group the Voices of Liberty. Most recently, he directed Cabaret for Osceola Arts and A Little Night Music with Alamo City Opera (San Antonio, TX). Russell is adept at identifying and mitigating potential performance issues and guiding performers to hone their craft for success. His passion for mentoring and coaching continues to this day.

Described as an “especially fine tenor,” Romeo DeMarco has sung for opera companies throughout the United States and abroad.He was also featured regularly as a soloist on The Coral Ridge Hour that was broadcast to over 80 countries around the world. 

Romeo worked extensively with the late Metropolitan Opera conductor, Anton Guadagno singing seven seasons with the Palm Beach Opera where he sang lead roles each season. 

He also performed lead roles such as Rodolpho in La Boheme, among many others with Opera Southwest in New Mexico. As a character actor, he has performed roles that involved physical comedy as well as lisping roles with La Zarzuela de Albuquerque .

A few of the roles he has performed are: Don Octavio in Don Giovanni, Nanki Poo in The Mikado, Fernando in Cosi Fan Tutte, Monostatos in Magic Flute, Fernando in L’elixir de amore, Don Curzio in Marriage of Figaro, 3rd Jew in Solame, Remendado in Carmen, Sir in the world premiere of Spencer and Rodolpho in La Boheme.

With a focus on technique, Romeo is a true vocal technician that understands the vocal production and how to produce a full, rich sound. 

As part of the first generation of Americans in his family, Romeo is the fourth generation of Maltese men who were operatic tenors and were also in the boating business. He lives and works in Boca Raton where he oversees his business of yacht services. 

John V. Sinclair enjoys a national reputation as a conductor of choral masterworks while locally being known as one of the hardest-working and in-demand artists of the Central Florida cultural community. In his 32nd season as Artistic Director and Conductor of the Bach Festival Society, he continues his imaginative programming, creative interpretations, and expressive conducting style. He has broadened the society’s musical offerings by integrating masterworks of other great classical and contemporary composers into the repertoire of the Society while perpetuating his reputation as a scholarly interpreter of J.S. Bach’s music. As a career educator, Sinclair keeps the Society’s educational focus vital by providing a broad range of musical programs and experiences for students of all ages.

Dr. Sinclair, known as a master teacher, is Director of Music at Rollins College and holds the John M. Tiedtke Endowed Chair. He has received many awards during his tenure, including the Sidney Algernon Sullivan Citizen Award, Arthur Vining Davis Fellowship, Hugh and Jeannette McKean Faculty Grant, William E. Barden Distinguished Teaching Award, Cornell Distinguished Service Award, McKean Award for Outstanding Teaching, and Lifetime Achievement Award, and he has twice been named the “Outstanding Music Educator of the Year” by United Arts of Central Florida. The Florida International Magazine selected him as one of the state’s “Power Players in the Arts,” and he is listed as one of Winter Park Magazine’s “Most Influential People in Winter Park.”

As a conductor who is equally adept at directing choral and orchestral music, Dr. Sinclair has been referred to as Central Florida’s “resident conductor.” In addition to Rollins College and the Bach Festival Society, he is conductor of the International Moravian Music Festivals and Orlando’s Messiah Choral Society, and he has to his credit nearly 900 performances of Epcot’s Candlelight Processional. He is also a frequent conductor for Berkshire Choral International and Orlando Ballet performances. Dr. Sinclair has made hundreds of appearances as conductor, clinician, and lecturer throughout the United States and around the world. The Bach Festival Choir and Orchestra have achieved international recognition under his leadership by touring in Europe, producing nationally released CDs, and performing with the London Symphony during their Florida residencies.

Dr. Sinclair holds master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Conservatory of Music. His undergraduate school, William Jewell College, honored him with its most prestigious Citation for Achievement. In addition to editing and interpreting historical choral works, he authored an anecdotal book entitled Falling Off the Podium, and Other Life Lessons. The Wall Street Journal’s arts critic Terry Teachout wrote, “John is a gifted conductor, a great educator, and the best of all possible colleagues.” And for more than three decades, John Sinclair has shared his talent and dedication to musical excellence with the Central Florida community and beyond.