Music Ministry Staff
Meet the talented artists behind St. Ignatius’ rich music ministry.
Meet Paul Teie
Paul, who is the Music and Choir Director of St. Ignatius Church, has been part of its music ministry since 1980. He received his Bachelor of Music from Concordia College, Moorhead, MN where he studied with Paul J. Christiansen and his Master of Music from the University of Tennessee under Donald Neuen.
He has sung with the Baltimore Opera, Washington Opera and Baltimore Choral Arts Society. He has performed cabaret at Germano’s in Little Italy with Mat Lane and Tim Murphy. To while his time during the global pandemic he has been composing a few tunes.
Paul has been a licensed and certified Audiologist since 1991 and is a trainer for WSAudiology.
Meet Julie Kurzava
Julie is a versatile singer, actor and writer who has performed professionally throughout the Mid-Atlantic, at venues as varied as Germano’s Cabaret, Olney Theatre, the Maryland Renaissance Festival and Annapolis Opera.
Julie is Co-founder and Executive Director of New Moon Theater, a non-profit touring theater and opera company for young audiences, presenting over 800 performances since 2006. For New Moon Theater, she has created and performed original scripts, as well as solo adaptations of traditional folktales.
As a teaching artist, she conducts classes in drama for children at area schools, has a creative partnership with Port Discovery, and is on the Maryland State Arts Council’s roster of Artists-in-Residence. For more mature students, Julie is a popular lecturer on American Musical Theater and the American Songbook at life-long learning centers throughout the region.
She teaches voice at Loyola University Maryland, and has been the cantor at St. Ignatius and the Radio Mass since 2004. Julie is a graduate of Northwestern University (BM) and the Peabody Conservatory (MM) with degrees in Voice Performance.
Meet Tim Murphy
Tim Murphy received his MM and BM degrees from the Peabody Conservatory where he studied organ with Arthur Rhea, Donald Sutherland and Cherry Rhodes. He pursued further studies in composition and the music of Olivier Messiaen with Robert Twynham.
Tim has been organist at St. Ignatius church since 1983 and is an active recitalist and continuo player in the Baltimore area specializing in improvisation. He is on the faculty of Towson University where he teaches jazz piano, jazz arranging and composition and Latin jazz ensemble as well as organ and harpsichord. He is also on the jazz faculty of the Peabody Conservatory where he teaches jazz piano and jazz theory.
In addition to playing organ and teaching, Mr. Murphy maintains an active career as a jazz pianist and has recorded and toured extensively throughout Europe and Asia.
Jim Kuang-cheng Li
Meet Jim Kuang-cheng Li
Jim was born in Taiwan, graduated from Peabody Conservatory, a student of Stanley Cornett. At Peabody, he has performed Don Basilio in The Marriage of Figaro, the Evangelist in The Christmas Story by Heinrich Schütz, soloist in Stravinsky’s Pulcinella, Monostatos in Magic Flute and as a Sailor in Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell.
His recent opera activities include as a doctor in Augusta Read Thomas’ Ligeia, which took place in Evian, France, commissioned by Mstislav Rostropovich; as well as Ferrando in Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte at Seagle Colony, up-state New York; Emperor in Charles Strous’ Nightingale with Opera Theatre of Northern Virginia; Lindoro in Rossini’s An Italian Girl in Algiers with Mount Vernon Place Music Theater in Washington, DC; and as Tinca in Giacomo Puccini’s Il Tabarro, as Don Basilio in The Marriage of Figaro, as Cassio in Verdi’s Otello with Opera International in Washington, DC.
He was soloist in Mozart’s Requiem with Mt. Vernon Place Methodist Church choir and orchestra, and also frequently performs in oratorios like Messiah with Harford Choral Society, Frederick Arts Council, the soloist in Sergei Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil with Baltimore Choral Arts Society, as well as a frequent guest soloist with The Christian Oratorio Society of Greater Washington, DC. Jim has sung with the St. Ignatius choir for 21 years.
Kyle Engler
Meet Kyle Engler
Proclaimed “a virtuoso of a high order” by the Baltimore Sun, mezzo soprano Kyle Engler has been praised for her extreme versatility in opera, oratorio, and chamber music. As a performer on the opera stage, she has sung the roles of the Secretary in Menotti’s The Consul, Charlotte in Werther, Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte, Lucretia in The Rape of Lucretia, Mercedes in Carmen, and Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro to name a few.
In January, 2005, Ms. Engler was cast by Placido Domingo to premier the role of Lydia Dudley in Washington National Opera’s production of Democracy, An American Comedy by Scott Wheeler, garnering rave reviews in major publications around the country. She also premiered the role of Retinue in Augusta Read-Thomas’ opera Ligeia, conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich, in Evian, France.
Ms. Engler has been a featured soloist with many orchestras and toured in China with The Philadelphia Camerata. An advocate of contemporary chamber music, Ms. Engler has collaborated with the Ravel Trio, the Morpheus Trio, the New Horizons Chamber Ensemble, and celebrated pianist Andre Watts.
Ms. Engler, who earned a Master of Music degree from the Peabody Conservatory of Music, is the Director of Vocal Studies at McDaniel College and also teaches voice at Towson University.
Rebecca Rosselló
Meet Rebecca Rosselló
Rebecca, a soprano, had the extraordinarily good fortune to perform Rosalinde in Johann Strauss II’s Die Fledermaus, Carmen in Bizet’s masterpiece, Carmen, La Ciesca in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and Second Lady in Mozart’s The Magic Flute.
She is the soprano for the quartet of Baltimore’s Saint Ignatius Church and performs solo recitals as often as possible. Rebecca was privileged to direct the Treble Choir for the Maryland State Boychoir for three years, currently teaches voice lessons for Friends School of Baltimore and privately.
She served as Musical Director and performance accompanist for The Cradle Will Rock, which was performed by the Theatre Department of Goucher College. Rebecca has been with the St. Ignatius choir since 2001.