Meet the Team

Frances Conover Fitch, Organ, Piano, and Harpsichord

In addition to serving congregations as a church musician, Frances has toured extensively in North America and Europe and performs with prominent early music ensembles. She performs as a soloist yet is noted for her sensitivity and intuitive strengths as a continuo player; she has been described as “delightfully inventive and compelling.” She helped found the groundbreaking ensemble for 17th-century music, Concerto Castello, and has participated in major music festivals, including Tanglewood, Aix-en-Provence, Pepsico Summerfare, Tage Alter Musik (Regensburg), the Boston Early Music Festival, and the Festival de Musica Antigua in Mexico.

Frances has made more than a dozen recordings, including a double CD of music by Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre, featuring something from every compositional genre she explored. Her playing has been noted for its “precision and delicacy of wit.”

She was a member of the faculty of the Longy School of Music for nearly three decades, and served as Chair of the Early Music department there. In 2006, Longy awarded her the George Seaman Award for Excellence in the Art of Teaching.

Frances is on the faculties of Tufts and Brandeis universities and The New England Conservatory. She has also been Guest Professor at Ferris University in Yokohama, Japan. With Jack Ashworth of the University of Louisville, she is co-author of the figured bass workbook, Running the Numbers. 

Section Leaders

  • Cameron Dobson, Alto

    Cameron Dobson (b. 1994) is a mezzo-soprano countertenor out of Somerville, Massachusetts. Originally a Kansas City native, he received his Bachelors of Music at the University of Lincoln, then afterwards his Masters of Music at the Longy School. He has a wide versatility with range, style, and emotion, bringing pieces to life in a unique way. He has worked under the direction of Mary Jodice with the Jubilate Chamber Choir, which was awarded the Phoenix Award in 2021 for Choral Resilience during the pandemic. He is a musician for the growing Boston-based group 415 Consort, which made its debut both in Boston and in Kansas. He has held a chorister position at Church of the Advent and as well the position of both Soprano and Tenor section leader at the Church of Saint Andrew’s in Marblehead. Cameron also writes his own music in efforts to grow as a solo musician, utilizing all he has learned to create something powerful and emotive. When not making music, Cameron enjoys the simple things: coffee, nature, and gaming.

  • Catherine Spanu, Soprano

    Hailed as a “clear-voiced lyric Dalinda” in Handel’s Ariodante, soprano Catherine Spanu has been featured as a soloist in opera, oratorio and art song performances, and has extensive experience as a choral singer.

    She has appeared with the Canadian Opera Company, the Aldeburgh Connection, Queen of Puddings Music Theater, and the Center for Opera, Sulmona, Italy, among others. She was previously the soprano section leader at Knox Presbyterian Church in Toronto, Canada, and at Christ Episcopal Church, Needham.

    ​Catherine holds a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance, summa cum laude, from Boston University, and a Master of Music in Opera Performance from the University of Toronto.

    When she is not singing, she practices family law in Newton, and enjoys spending time with her husband, Giovanni, daughter, Sylvia, and son Tristan.

  • Giovanni Spanu, Baritone

    Giovanni Spanu, baritone, is an exciting performer with a wide range of repertoire and experience. As a classically trained soloist and chorister, Giovanni performs opera, musical theater, and oratorio. His passion for live performance has brought him to many stages across Canada and New England. Giovanni is a devoted interpreter of art song, and regularly performs recitals exploring art song by many composers, in many languages, periods and reflecting diverse poetic genres.

    When not performing, Giovanni shares his love for music through musical education as a choir teacher at St John’s Preparatory School and teaching voice privately to children and adults.

  • Matthew Wright, Tenor

    Matthew Wright spent the years 1987-2000 impersonating a classical guitarist while playing bass guitar in an original rock band in the state of Maryland. He attended the Peabody Conservatory as an undergraduate and studied classical guitar with Ray Chester and lute with Mark Cudek.

    Upon moving to Massachusetts in 2000, he took up the lute seriously and studied with Douglas Freundlich at The Longy School of Music, earning a Master of Music degree.

    Currently, Matthew struggles through this world playing the lute with Seven Times Salt and insists on playing bouzouki with Ulster Landing, an Irish traditional group, as well as playing continuo on archlute across New England.

    Matthew also teaches guitar at Brimmer & May and Belmont Hill Schools and is a contributing writer to the Lute Society of America.