Officers of the Company
Jonathan Paul Cambry (Chief Executive Officer)
Jonathan Paul Cambry is a Haitian-American, classically trained pianist from the southside of Chicago. He has been playing piano since the age of 3, studying with David Andrews of the Suzuki-Orff School for 15 years. His teachers afterwards included Joseph Schwartz, Mario delli Ponti, Sedmara Zakarian Rutstein, Sanford Margolis, William Goldenberg, Graham Scott, and Kuang-Hao Huang. Cambry currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of American Chamber Opera, Inc. He is currently one of the most viewed and most subscribed classical pianists on YouTube to date, with over 2.5 million views combined and over 6,000 subscribers. He has posted over 50 music videos of himself playing the works of Scriabin, Rachmaninoff, Chopin, Liszt, Ravel and other composers. Cambry has been a performing classical solo pianist since 2000. Thanks to his YouTube popularity in 2006, he was invited to perform in a gallery opening in New York, performances in Svendborg-Denmark, Amsterdam, Malaysia, Italy, and all over the United States. In 1997, Cambry won the Silver Medal at the ACT-SO Awards competition for the Music Instrumental-Classical category and in 1998 and 1999 won the Gold Medal in the categories of Music Instrumental-Classical and Music Instrumental-Contemporary. In April of 2010, Jonathan Cambry debuted a new technology, an orchestra comprised of only live software instruments using Logic. This was the first known performance of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s 2nd Piano Concerto accompanied by a fully complete software orchestra. Performances that year also included Laguna Beach, Laguna Hills, Tustin, Dana Point in California, the Mile Hi Church in Lakewood, CO, Chicago, IL, New York City, NY, University of Montana-Missoula, and other locations in the Midwest through the generosity in sponsorship from great friends Thomas and Deborrah Willard. While at the University of Montana, Cambry was invited to lecture a class of 120 students in the business program to discuss self promotion in the music world using online resources.
Benjamin De Los Monteros (Executive Director)
Benjamin De Los Monteros is a tenor from Chicago, Illinois and the Executive Director for the American Chamber Opera Company. He studied Opera/Voice at both Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina and Roosevelt University in Chicago, Illinois. Benjamin has had the pleasure of coaching with Dr. Dana Brown, Lorenzo Mulfatti(Master Class), Ken Weiss, and Donna Brunsma. He has performed the role of Flaminio in Il trionfo del onore, and covered Don Giovanni in Gazzaniga’s Don Giovanni for the Opera Teatro di Lucca. Mr. De Los Monteros’ concert work include the tenor solos of Handel’s Messiah and Schubert’s Mass in G, in addition to covering the tenor solos of Fritz in L’amico Fritz and Beethoven’s Mass in C Major. As one of Benjamin’s favorite roles, he is delighted to be performing Rodolfo for The American Chamber Opera Company’s production of Puccini’s La Bohème. Mr. De Los Monteros studies with Michael Best.
Karrah Marie Cambry (President)
Karrah Marie Cambry graduated with her Bachelors Degree in Vocal Performance from Roosevelt University in 2010. There she studied with famous Tenor, Michael Best. She has sung all over the world, performing in Italy, Austria, and all over the continental United States. Some of her operatic roles and scenes include:
Musetta (La Boheme), Susanna (Le Nozze Di Figaro), Poppea (L’Incoronationze di Poppea), Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare), Fiordiligi (Cosi Fan Tutte), Meg (Falstaff), Valencienne (Die Lustige Witwe), and Norina (Don Pasquale).
She has studied with many prestigious programs including the Italian Operatic Experience, American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) in Graz, Austria, and Ars Musica. Former teachers include, Thomas Booth, Galina Pisarenko of the Moscow Conservatory, and Elizabeth Mannion.
She has been a member of the Sonatasia Project which fuses architecture and music in southern California and has performed numerous recitals throughout the United States, such as Fulton Hall, Ganz Hall, and De Sales Auditorium, with Jonathan Cambry her husband and pianist. She and Jonathan are founders of the American Chamber Opera Company.
Emily Diane Cambry (Vice President)
Emily Cambry attended University of Illinois at Chicago. Mrs. Cambry held the position of Assistant Nurse Manager of the Post Anesthesia Care Unit for several years prior to leaving the hospital setting. Emily decided to enter the educational field as a Certified School Nurse. She worked in this capacity prior to returning to graduate school to complete a Master’s Degree in Social Work at Jane Addams College of Social Work. Mrs. Cambry has worked as a School Social Worker for the past 14 years with the Chicago Public Schools. She is currently a Field Instructor for second year Graduate Social Work Interns, and has mentored newly employed School Social Workers. A lifelong learner, she returned to school to complete Masters Degrees in Educational Leadership and Curriculum and Instruction. She continues to personally strive to improve in areas that maximize her contribution to serving students, families, and the school community. Emily is actively involved in organizations that provide service to the community, and provide scholarships for Nursing and high school graduates planning to attend college. She also supports the Bates Foundation, a foundation that provides prom dresses for high school students in Chicago.
Jessie Lyons (Chief Communications Officer)
Jessie Lyons, a lyric soprano and native of Iowa, earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in voice from Luther College and the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, respectively. Jessie studies with Matthew Chellis. While at Luther, she sang Alice Ford in The Merry Wives of Windsor and Lady Billows inAlbert Herring. She has been accepted into the Manhattan School of Music Summer Festival, Taos Opera Institute and La Musica Lirica Opera young artist programs. She has sung Alice Ford in Falstaff, Musetta in La Bohème, La Ciesca in Gianni Schicchi, in addition to Donna Elvira in scenes from Don Giovanni. This fall, Jessie will be joining the VOX 3 Collective; singing the role of Nanna in a staged production of Kurt Weill’s Stranger Here Myself, in addition to art songs, arias, cabaret and scenes to be performed throughout the Chicago area. Ms. Lyons is delighted to have the opportunity to cover Mimi this season with the American Chamber Opera Company.
Deanna Tham (Artistic Director)
A blossoming young conductor, Deanna Tham has experience conducting winds and strings in chamber repertoire as well as orchestral repertoire. Hailing from Saratoga, California, she holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in horn performance and Bachelor of Science degree in biological sciences from Carnegie Mellon University. She is currently completing her Master of Music degree in conducting at Northwestern University with Dr. Mallory Thompson. Previously to her studies at Northwestern, Ms. Tham held the position of assistant/cover conductor with the Carnegie Mellon All-University Orchestra. Ms. Tham currently works extensively with the Northwestern University Symphonic Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band. Her collaboration with these groups have led to projects including organizing kid’s concerts to the production and marketing of the Northwestern University Symphonic Wind Ensemble’s recent CD, rising, released in December 2011. Her work has also brought her through conducting in a movie music-themed concert with an orchestra of Northwestern students and working with various rising musicians in concerto settings.Ms. Tham has been a participant of the 2009 Conductor’s Institute at Bard, the 2010 Conductor’s Retreat at Medomak, and the 2011 Waterville Valley Conducting Workshop where she has worked with esteemed conductors such as Eduardo Navega, David Rudge, Apo Hsu, Lawrence Golan, and Kenneth Kiesler, as well as rising violin soloist Giora Schmidt. She was also recently selected as a conducting fellow at the C.W. Post Chamber Music Festival where she also received the festival conducting award. Ms. Tham has spent the last six summers working with young musicians, teaching both conducting workshops and leadership seminars. She currently resides in Evanston, Illinois.
Marisa Buchheit (Chief Marketing Officer)
Marisa Buchheit, soprano, is a native Chicagoan who has recently earned her Bachelors degree in vocal performance (with Academic Honors) from the Cleveland Institute of Music, with a German minor. She currently studies with soprano Winifred Faix Brown. Ms. Buchheit has shared her vocal talents with audiences on multiple continents, having performed in opera productions and concerts in Italy, Austria, and Thailand. She is a versatile singer who has portrayed characters in many opera, operetta, and musical theater productions, including Carolina in Il Matrimonio Segreto, The Counsel in Trial by Jury, Title Role (cover) in Patience, a Lay Sister in Suor Angelica, Mary Sunshine in Chicago, Julie in Carousel, and Maria in West Side Story. Ensemble and chorus roles include La bohème, Die Zauberflöte, and Xerxes. Summer festival participation includes the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, and the Opera Theatre and Music Festival of Lucca, Italy. Ms. Buchheit has held 3 local titles with the Miss America Organization (MAO) and has earned nearly $20,000 in scholarship awards through the program. As a Miss Ohio contestant, she earned 2nd Runner-Up honors as well as winning the Grand Talent Award and the Betty Estep Classical Voice Award. Currently, Ms. Buchheit is a singer songwriter under the name “Mari Therese.” She performs regularly in Chicago and other Midwest cities with her band, and in January 2012 she released her debut album of original songs called “All Yours.” She also serves as the Director of Public Relations for Oak Park’s Verismo Opera Theatre.
Brandon Gardner (Chief Financial Officer)
Brandon Gardner, a medical student research fellow at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the University of Chicago, is an executive board member and owner for the American Chamber Opera Company. After graduating from the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools in 2002, he received his Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience, from Pomona College in 2006. Brandon’s previous activities included teaching for the Princeton Review in Chicago for 3 years and Research Coordinator at the University of Chicago for 2 years. Brandon was also the Research and Development Consultant for Namaste Laboratories for 5 years. Brandon’s music training includes guitar, brass instruments, and percussion. For fun, he plays rugby in semi-professional leagues and is an avid fan and player of ice hockey and basketball. He also served as a drum instructor at CoachArt, a volunteer at La Rabida Children’s Hospital and a research intern at the Emergency Room at John H. Stroger Hospital of Cook County. View his LinkedIn profile here.