Conductor & Artistic Director
Bruce Vantine, DMA is the conductor and artistic director of the Bel Canto Chorus of St. Louis. He has served in that role since January 2002, and previously held the position from June 1983 through May 1991.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree from Concordia College (Moorhead, MN) where he studied under Paul J. Christiansen; a Masters degree from Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI) where he worked with composers H. Owen Reed and Jere Hutcheson; and a Doctorate in Music from The University of Illinois (Champaign-Urbana) where he studied with Harold Decker. His published pieces are performed nationwide.
Vantine is founder and conductor of The Cornerstone Chorale & Brass, a nationally recruited, paid professional touring ensemble, performing fine choral music augmented with narration. Cornerstone has presented 463 performances in the United States and Canada, including Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and Carnegie Hall in New York.
Vantine currently directs the choir at The Lutheran Church of the Atonement in Florissant, Missouri. He is the retired Director of Traditional Music at Trinity Lutheran Church in Chesterfield, Missouri. From 1980 – 1993, Vantine served on the faculty of The University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL) Department of Music.
Piano Accompanist
David Nalesnik, PhD holds degrees from Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) and Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (Bloomington, IN). He is currently pianist at Eliot Unitarian Chapel in Kirkwood, Missouri.
Nalesnik is an accompanist at Webster University Community School of Music, and faculty member of the Webster Summer Composition Intensive (Webster Groves, MO).
He has taught music theory at Webster University and the University of Missouri-St. Louis, as well as teaching music history at Maryville University (Town and Country, MO).