“a beautiful, angelic experience”
open your soul
The professional vocal early music ensemble APERI ANIMAM, celebrating its seven-year anniversary in 2024, has quickly drawn the attention of early music enthusiasts and organizations across the United States. From its founding in 2017 by performer-scholar Daniel Koplitz (dir. 2017–21), APERI ANIMAM has been praised for its ensemble precision, full-throated vocals, emotional expressivity, and innovative programming. The ensemble’s hope and desire is to bring awareness of its mystical properties and benefit to the soul—hence, aperi animam, or “open your soul.”
The ensemble is composed of vocalists, teachers, composers, and scholars who call the greater Milwaukee area “home.” Members have experience performing across the city and country, including engagements with Haymarket Opera Company, Milwaukee Opera Theatre, Skylight Music Theatre, Madison Early Music Festival, Boston Early Music Academy, and Amherst Early Music Festival. APERI ANIMAM has collaborated with Milwaukee Opera Theatre, Cadance Collective, St. John’s Cathedral Choir, and the Plymouth Chorale. APERI ANIMAM has opened for the world-renowned Flanders Recorder Quartet and worked in a masterclass setting with The Queen’s Six (London), Calmus Ensemble (Leipzig), Dana Marsh (Washington Bach Consort, Historical Performance Institute at Indiana University – Bloomington), and Grant Herreid (Piffaro, Yale University).
APERI ANIMAM’s repertoire spans from Gregorian chant to twenty-first-century works but focuses primarily on sacred music from the Renaissance, mainly that of the English school. While careful attention is given to historical performance practice, the ensemble emphasizes the meditative and reflective atmosphere that can be manifested through thoughtful and mindful performance of this music.
The ensemble currently holds residency at All Saints’ Cathedral in Milwaukee.
The latest APERI ANIMAM biography is available below in .pdf format. We request that promoters do not alter or abbreviate this material in any way without our consent. If you require a biography of a different length, please contact us.
ensemble membership
Soprano | Camille Crossot | Danielle Gedemer | Deme Hellwig
Alto | Kaisa Herrmann | Jennifer Jakubowski | Katelynn Rutter | Jackie Willis
Tenor | Austin Bare | Tim Koehler | Jay Zamora
Bass | Sam Mullooly | Jack Rutter | Lee Stovall
Paul Thompson (he/him), conductor
—holds a D.M.A. in Choral Conducting and Literature from the University of Colorado-Boulder, an M.M. in Choral Conducting from UW-Milwaukee, and a B.A. in Voice from Marian University. He joined APERI ANIMAM as conductor in 2023, and also serves as Director of Choral Activities at Ripon College. Previously he has held faculty roles in choral programs at the University of Idaho, Francis Marion University, the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, and the University of Wisconsin–Manitowoc, among others. Dr. Thompson has appeared as a soloist with the Franklin Chamber Choir, Boulder Philharmonic, The King’s Counterpoint, The North Carolina Baroque Orchestra, Vox Regis, The Green Lake Festival, Bach Festival Florence, and the Florence Symphony Orchestra.
Jackie Willis (she/they), performance designer & alto
—received a B.F.A. in vocal performance from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Jackie succeeded Daniel Koplitz as artistic director in 2021 and moved into her current role in 2023. She has performed in numerous roles around the Midwest, including Hecuba (La Didone) with the Haymarket Opera Summer Course, Third Lady (Zie Magic Flute) with Milwaukee Opera Theatre, First Witch/Enchantress (Dido & Æneas) with UWM Opera Theatre, and Chorus (Tales of Hoffman) in a collaboration with Milwaukee Opera Theatre and Skylight Music Theatre. She also enjoyed participating in the Madison Early Music Festival prior to the coronavirus pandemic.
Daniel Koplitz (they/them), founding director emeritus
Praised for their “impeccable music direction” and “exquisite performances” (Shepherd Express, 2019), Daniel founded the ensemble in January 2017 and served as Executive Artistic Director through May 2021, having directed over thirty concert performances before stepping down to pursue their Ph.D. in Music at Stanford University. They are founder and director of the Stanford-based ensemble Affeccyon. For more information or to contact Daniel, please write to dkoplitz@stanford.edu.
publicity images
Publicity images for APERI ANIMAM are available below. Please ensure that the photographer, Donna Miller, is credited wherever these images are reproduced.
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