Cecelia Tepping, First Lady

Cecelia Tepping, soprano, was born in Virginia and raised on the Connecticut shoreline. A graduate of Syracuse University, she holds a Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy and a Bachelor of  Music in Vocal Performance. Prior roles include Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Despina (Cosi fan tutte) and Frasquita (Carmen), as well Santa Chiara in the premiere of Il Poverello in Assisi, Italy. She has also served as cover forLe Feu (L’enfant et les Sortilèges). Central New York audiences have acknowledged Ms. Tepping as an accomplished Gilbert and Sullivan performer for her portrayals of Aline (The Sorcerer), Josephine (HMS Pinafore) and Pitti-Sing (The Mikado).

This is Ms. Tepping’s second time on stage with Boheme Opera NJ, having sung in the chorus of Tosca during the company’s 22nd season. Other local chorus involvement includes Die Fledermaus and Carmen, both for Opera New Jersey.

Rachel Cetel, Second Lady

Rachel Cetel, soprano, has been a proud member of Boheme Opera NJ since 2009 and  appeared as The Young Shepherdess in Tosca last season. With Boheme Opera NJ, Rachel has also sung in the ensemble for The Pirates of Penzance and Messiah, and appeared as La Cugina in Madame Butterfly. In 2011, she performed in a concert production of Fidelio with “Edward Bogusz and Friends”. In addition, she has performed in numerous productions with Opera New Jersey over the last five years, most recently, as The Aunt in Madama Butterfly. Other performances with Opera New Jersey include ensemble in Die Fledermaus, Carmen, La Traviata, The Merry Widow, The Pirates of Penzance, Roméo et Juliette, and The Magic Flute, as well as such large choral works as Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang, Orff’s Carmina Burana and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.

Rachel holds a Master of Music in Voice Performance and Pedagogy from Westminster Choir College and a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from Boston University. While at Westminster, she performed the role of Barbarina in The Marriage of Figaro. Rachel currently resides in Marlton, NJ, where she teaches voice privately.

Sarah Materniak, Third Lady

Sarah is thrilled to be singing with Boheme Opera NJ again this season. She began her operatic career at the age of 14 as an apprentice with Boheme Opera NJ, where she sang in 12 fully staged operas as a chorister and then as the Page in Verdi’s Rigoletto. She then went on to Center Stage Opera to sing Inez in Verdi’s Il Trovatore. Last fall, in New York City, she created the role of the Nun in Martin Halpern’s opera Mrs. Middleman’s Descent.

Her solo concert work has included engagements with The Greater Princeton Youth Orchestra, The New York Chamber Players and The Trenton Choral Society with the works of Mozart, Vivaldi and Strauss, among others. Ms. Materniak has also been heard in several lieder recitals highlighting the music of Schubert, Schumann and Brahms. 

She is fluent in Italian and is currently pursuing German instruction. She earned her B.M. in vocal performance from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey. She is a private student of Ms. Katherine Johnson.

Grant Mech, Priest

Grant Mech holds degrees in music education and voice performance and pedagogy from Westminster Choir College, where he studied with Margaret Cusack. An alumnus of Opera New Jersey’s young artist program, Grant has appeared in numerous operatic productions, including La Clemenza di Tito (Publio) and Le Nozze di Figaro (Bartolo) with dell’Arte Opera Ensemble in NYC, the title role in Don Giovanni with Delaware Valley Opera, Turandot (Mandarin) with New Rochelle Opera, The Pirates of Penzance (Police Sergeant) with Boheme Opera NJ, and La Belle Hélène  (Agamemnon) with Opéra du Périgord in France.  2011 engagements included productions of La Serva Padrona (Uberto), La Cambiale di matrimonio (Tobias Mill), and Brahms' Requiem. 

Spring 2012 includes concert appearances with the Buck’s County early music ensemble La Fiocco and a presentation of Schubert’s Schwanengesang to benefit the Central Jersey Choral Society. 

Grant is the director of music at Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Manhattan and the choral director at Pond Road Middle School in Robbinsville, NJ, where he staged numerous musicals including Beauty and the Beast and Elton John’s Aida, as well as the American premier of Karl Jenkins’ children’s opera Eloise.

Jared Salwen, Armored Man/Speaker

Jared Salwen, Tenor, is a Vocal Performance major currently studying with Mark Moliterno at The College of New Jersey. Jared has performed frequently with the Central Jersey Choral Society as a soloist, having been the tenor soloist in Mozart’s Coronation Mass, Puccini’s Messa di Gloria, and Mendellsohn's Elijah. Jared has also sung the roles of Ferrando in Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte and Count Almaviva in Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia with TCNJ Lyric Theatre. Jared was seen last year as Spoletta in Boheme Opera NJ’s production of Tosca. Jared has been a member of the Boheme Opera NJ Chorus since 2002. 

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