Music Ministry Staff

Natalie Conte

Soprano Soloist/Section Leader

Described as “magnanimous and powerful”, soprano Natalie Conte is an award winning performer of opera, art song, and oratorio. She made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2018 singing the soprano solo in Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass. She won first prize in the National Federation of Music Clubs’ Young Artist Competition, which featured her as a recitalist across the country. She also won the Maryland Lyric Opera Competition, after which she worked with Aprile Millo. Additionally, she won the Vocal Arts D.C. Discovery Art Song Competition which featured her as a recitalist throughout Washington D.C. in such venues as the Kennedy Center and the Phillips Collection. An avid believer in bringing great music to one’s own community, she has sung in works with the IN Series, the Lyric Opera of Baltimore, Maryland Symphony Orchestra, Bay Atlantic Symphony, New Dominion Chorale, and the Russian Chamber Art Society, among others. Beyond the local stage, Natalie has performed in her hometown Detroit, Michigan as well as internationally in Rome, St. Petersburg, and Moscow. Natalie serves on the voice faculty at Shenandoah Conservatory and Towson University. She has performed as a member of the ensemble with both the Washington National Opera and the Metropolitan Opera. She looks forward to performing The Four Last Songs in recital in Washington, D.C. in 2023. Natalie and her family recently moved back to Baltimore after a nine-year absence. Her husband is also a singer and their child attends preschool here at Grace. We are thankful to be a part of the Grace Church and greater Baltimore community.

Olivia Heinrich

Mezzo Soprano Soloist/Section Leader

Olivia Heinrich (they/them/theirs) is a soprano, writer, and teacher of high-school math and English. Olivia is currently pursuing their Masters in Voice from Peabody Conservatory, and they hold a Bachelors in Music and a Bachelors in English from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Olivia won second place in Peabody’s Art Song Competition in 2021, and their favorite performed opera roles include Belinda, from Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, and both Pamina and Papagena, from Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, with UMass Amherst Operas.  Olivia’s upcoming performances include the role of Cupid in John Blow’s Venus and Adonis with Peabody Conservatory and a Spring Recital of Art Song.

Patricia Hengen

Contralto Soloist/Section Leader

Patricia Hengen is a graduate of Shenandoah Conservatory and the Baltimore School for the Arts. She was most recently seen in Annapolis Opera’s productions of Faust, South Pacific, Madama Butterfly, and will be a soloist in their production of Little Women this Fall. This year, Patricia became a member of the Baltimore Choral Arts Society. Other recent stage appearances include Hairspray: In Concert with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Le Prince Charmant in Massenet’s Cendrillon, Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, and Emma Carew in Jekyll & Hyde. Ms. Hengen has been a soloist with the City Choir of Washington and the Central Maryland Chorale, and has won various awards in the NATS Competition in Maryland, Virginia, and the Mid-Atlantic region.

Michael Bevard

Tenor Soloist/Section Leader

Michael Bevard is thrilled to be joining the choir at Grace!  He sang for many years at St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church.  Prior to that he was the tenor soloist at St Mark’s on the Hill in Pikesville, St James Episcopal in Monkton, and Govan’s Presbyterian in Baltimore.  He has performed locally with The Baltimore Symphony, Baltimore Concert Opera, Lyric Opera Baltimore, and The Baltimore Opera Company.  He is also an elementary vocal/general music teacher in the Howard County Public School System.

Robert Cantrell

Bass Soloist/Section Leader

Robert Cantrell has been our bass soloist since 1996 where he is also the Youth Choir Director. Mr. Cantrell has performed extensively throughout the USA, Europe and Asia, and has appeared in operatic roles with the Washington National Opera, Baltimore Opera, Wolftrap Opera, Opera Delaware, Sarasota Opera, Annapolis Opera, Opera Ebony, and Opera Vivente. Career highlights include appearances with Legendary Tenor, Placido Domingo, in Washington National Opera’s Le Cid (Massenet) live on PBS, Carnegie Hall Debut in the Mozart Requiem, performing with the Metropolitan Opera Chorus in New York, Porgy and Bess at the Bregenzer Festspielhaus in Germany, solo performances with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, a solo recital on the New Young Artists Series at the Kennedy Center, performing with soprano, Renee Fleming in Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia at the Washington National Opera, and as soloist on the Baltimore Choral Arts Society’s France Tour and on the Washington National Opera’s Japan Tour. He teaches young aspiring singers at the Baltimore School for the Arts.

David Brock

Associate Organist

David C. Brock, a native of Georgia, began his church music career at age 11 when he became the principal pianist and then organist at his United Methodist parish church. While attending Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, from which he graduated magna cum laude in 1973, David studied organ privately with music department faculty and was organist for the Glee Club and Women’s Chorale for the 1972 Festival of Lessons and Carols. He continued to commute on weekends in order to play at his home church each Sunday.

Following graduation, David was accepted into the Ph.D. program at the Johns Hopkins University and moved to Baltimore. He began attending the A.W. Wilson Memorial church, sang in the choir, and studied organ privately with the music director, Theodore J. Talbert.

In 1977, at the request of SPRC, he became the organist and choir director of the Wilson Memorial church, a position he held until the merger with Grace Church in 1996. David served on many committees at Wilson Memorial, including a number of years as chair of the Administrative Board, a position that he held at the time of the merger with Grace in 1996. When the longtime organist of Grace church, Bruce R. Eicher, requested additional vacation time to pursue travels, David was engaged to be associate organist to fill in for 16 weeks each year. Following Mr. Eicher’s retirement, David continued as associate organist under the direction of Christopher Schroeder, minister of music. The position was changed to a focus on accompanying choir anthems, playing for rehearsals, and directing the chancel choir as needed.

In addition to the B.A. degree from Emory, David also earned a M.S. degree from Johns Hopkins, as well as a master’s equivalency from Hopkins in history and education. He retired from the Baltimore City Public Schools in 2004 following a 30 year career in the classroom and central office administration. While at Grace, David has served on the Trustees and chaired the Worship Committee and the Administrative Board.

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Christopher Schroeder

Minister of Music/Organist

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