Musicians – In Mulieribus

Artistic Director & Conductor

Dr. Anna Song

Dr. Anna Song is In Mulieribus’ co-founding artistic director and conductor. Under her direction, the ensemble has presented a highly acclaimed annual concert series in Portland since 2007, appears frequently as a featured guest artist throughout the region, and is regularly broadcast on regional and nationally syndicated radio shows such as Performance Today. The ensemble’s CDs have garnered praise from the Oregonian and Early Music America. Apart from her work with IM, she is Associate Professor of Music at Willamette University where she serves as the Director of Choral Music. A frequent choral clinician and adjudicator in the Portland area, she also coordinates the choral program at Young Musicians and Artists summer camp with her husband Blake Applegate. Dr. Song holds degrees in music composition and conducting from UCLA and Yale University, and a Doctor of Music Education degree from Teachers College, Columbia University.

Soprano

Kari Ferguson

Kari grew up in the rural outskirts of Canby, Oregon. She completed a Bachelor of Arts in Music at Goshen College, Indiana, and was a two-time winner of the Concerto-Aria Contest. Her love of early music led her to study at Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She then returned to Oregon and became involved in the Portland music scene. She is currently singing with Cantores in Ecclessia and Trinity Cathedral Chamber Singers. Ms. Ferguson has also performed with local ensembles such as Urban Baroque, Resonance Ensemble, Cappella Romana, and the Oregon Renaissance Band. She is currently a piano and voice instructor at Pfeifer MusicWerks Studio, and resides with her husband and son in North Portland.

Soprano

Henriët Fourie

Fearless soprano Henriët Fourie sings with “luminous tone and security,” (Chicago Classical Review) deemed “stellar… finely calibrated, with subtle variations in color” by The Chicago Tribune. Emitting an uncommon “vibrancy and urgency” (Chicago Classical Review) in oratorio performance, Fourie has featured as a soloist at The Ravinia Festival, June in Buffalo, The Piccolo Spoleto Festival USA, The Handel Week Festival, Chicago’s annual Schubertiade, and with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Elgin Symphony Orchestra, Slee Sinfonietta and the Bella Voce Sinfonia.

Conductors she has worked with include such luminaries as Marin Alsop, Ricardo Muti, Carlos Kalmar, Andrés Arozco-Estrada, and Gil Rose on stages including Carnegie Hall, Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, and Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park. A dauntless performer offering “refreshingly modern interpretation(s)… (and) finely nuanced renderings of complex music,” (Namibia Economist) Fourie eclipses the challenges of demanding new music with passion and poise. She has premiered numerous works soloing with New Music DePaul and the Outside the Box Festival, performing as a founding member with Fused Muse Ensemble, and singing with CUBE Ensemble. A sensitive and sophisticated collaborator, Fourie sings with In Mulieribus, Cappella Romana, and Cantores in Ecclesia. Her performance history includes countless concerts with respected early music ensembles including Rook, Ars Antigua, The Callipygian Players, and Portland Baroque Orchestra. A native of South Africa, Fourie resides in Portland, Oregon and holds degrees from the College of Charleston and DePaul University.

Alto

Susan Hale

Susan has been actively involved with choral music for many years in the Portland area as an ensemble singer, soloist and educator. She has sung with Choral Cross-Ties, Cappella Romana, Trinity Consort, Portland Baroque Orchestra Chorus, Oregon Repertory Singers, and Cantores in Ecclesia. Susan performed for many years as a member of the Berwick Chorus of the Oregon Bach Festival in Eugene. Solo appearances include performances with the Portland Symphonic Choir, the Oregon Chorale, and the Oregon Ballet Theater. She has recently completed a long tenure as choral director at Tigard High School. Susan’s love of music education has encompassed elementary, middle school, and high school vocal music as well as private instruction. She is now mentoring student teachers in music education at Portland State University. She lives in Wilsonville, Oregon with her husband Paul Klemme, a church musician and conductor in Salem.

Soprano

Amanda Jane Kelley

Amanda enjoys singing historically informed music. In 2016, she performed with The Rose Ensemble from St. Paul, Minnesota at the World Choral Symposium in Barcelona, Spain and toured in Provence, France. Previously, she has sung at the International Sacred Music Festival with Ensemble Lipzodes in Quito, Ecuador; been a soloist in “Messiah” with the Portland Baroque Orchestra in Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington; and toured with PBO/Oregon Bach Festival in “Dido and Aeneas”. She depicted Heloise in the concert “Heloise and Abelard” with the Medieval Women’s Chorus in Seattle, Washington; and sang the role of Anima in the Seattle Academy of Baroque Opera and Oratorio’s staged production of “Il Rapresentatione di Anima et Corpo” by Cavalieri. Amanda lives in Portland with her husband and daughter. She sings in the First United Methodist Church choir, and works at Oregon Catholic Press.

Mezzo Soprano

Hannah Penn

Hannah enjoys a diverse career as a performer of opera, oratorio, and recital literature. Frequently praised for her musicality and the timbre of her voice, Ms. Penn has recently been called “…a major talent”, and “…an intelligent and wonderfully musical singer” by Portland’s Willamette Week, and was praised for having “…intriguing colors at both ends of her range” by The Oregonian. She has sung with Glimmerglass Opera (Rosina), Florida Grand Opera (Teresa in La Sonnambula), Tacoma Opera (Cherubino), Gotham Chamber Opera, and Portland Opera. As a recent member of Portland Opera’s Studio Artist program, Ms. Penn sang the roles of Diana (La Calisto), Thisbe (La Cenerentola), Mercedes (Carmen), Flora (La Traviata), and Nancy (Albert Herring). She also sang her first Carmen with Portland Opera, which garnered critical acclaim and resulted in a chance to reprise the role the following season with the Teatro National Sucre in Quito, Ecuador. A strong proponent of new works, Ms. Penn has performed in the American premiere tours of John Adam’s El Nino and Sven-David Sandstrom’s High Mass and has been involved in the American premiers of several operas, including Anthony Davis’ Wakonda’s Dream and David Carlson’s Anna Karenina at Florida Grand Opera.

Ms. Penn also enjoys a full concert schedule, having been featured with orchestras around the country, including the Oregon Symphony (Beethoven’s 9th Symphony), the Florida Philharmonic (Mozart’s Requiem and C Minor Mass), the Sacramento Choral Society and Orchestra (Corigliano’s Fern Hill), and the Bloomington Early Music Festival (Messiah). Engagements for the 2010-2011 season include Copland’s In the Beginning with Boston’s Coro Allegro, Corigliano’s Fern Hill with Portland’s Resonance Ensemble, recitals with Portland Opera’s principal coach Robert Ainsley, Dinah in Tacoma Opera’s Trouble in Tahiti, and the title role in Portland Opera’s upcoming L’Enfant et les Sortileges. She teaches at Portland State University, where she was recently appointed adjunct professor of voice.

Soprano

Catherine van der Salm

Catherine van der Salm, soprano, is a versatile musician praised for her “agile, supple and richly expressive” voice (The Oregonian). She is an active collaborative artist singing with Cappella Romana, In Mulieribus, The Ensemble of Oregon, Cantores in Ecclesia, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Resonance Ensemble and Oregon Catholic Press. She has appeared as a guest artist with 45th Parallel, Willamette Valley Chamber Music Festival, Newport Symphony Orchestra, Third Angle, Willamette Master Chorus, Musica Maestrale, Bach Cantata Choir and Bach Cantata Vespers at St. James Lutheran Church. Catherine makes her home in Vancouver, Washington, with her husband, Ruud and their daughters Juliana and Annelies.

Soprano

Ann Wetherell

Ann Wetherell, soprano, has been active in choral music in Portland for several decades. She currently sings with In Mulieribus, Cantores in Ecclesia, and Cappella Romana, and has performed with the Portland Baroque Orchestra and the St. Ann Chapel Choir of Palo Alto, Calif. A specialist in Chinese studies, Ann holds a Ph.D. in Chinese art history. As professor of Asian art history she has taught classes in the art and architecture of South Asia, China, and Japan at Willamette University, Portland State University, University of Oregon, and Pacific University.

Meet our Board of Directors & Staff