Founded in 2013 and granted non-profit status in 2015, Fourth Coast Ensemble is a classical vocal quartet that embraces repertoire spanning the history of art song and vocal chamber music genres while presenting these forms as highly relevant and ever-evolving. The ensemble is committed to performing programs of creative and accessible vocal chamber music and presents concerts featuring a majority of works by composers who identify as either women, gender-non-conforming, LGBTQIA+, and/or ALAANA (African, Latinx, Asian, Arab, Native American), thereby shedding light upon artistry largely ignored by the institutions of classical music.
Cultivating a loyal and ever-growing audience through imaginative programming and intimate performances, the quartet maintains a reputation of excellence “built on the quality of its small roster of artists”; soprano Sarah van der Ploeg, mezzo-soprano Bridget Skaggs, tenor Ace Gangoso, and bass-baritone David Govertsen. They each perform regularly with Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Chicago Opera Theater and are highly sought soloists and pedagogues throughout Chicagoland and beyond.
Celebrated for "doing everything an organization can to sustain the viability of art song in Chicago” (Vocal Arts Chicago), Fourth Coast commissioned its first world premiere song cycle in 2018, I-Thou, by Chicago composer Wayland Rogers. In 2019, Fourth Coast became the first and exclusive Chicago presenter of songSLAM, an annual competition for new art song featuring the works of up-and-coming Chicagoland composer/performer teams. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization adapted their programming by investing in livestream technology that brought their music into the homes of long-standing patrons and new viewers alike. Through a series of critically-acclaimed HD concerts, the quartet shared the intimacy of the vocal chamber music genre while maintaining a sense of community with audiences, composers, and musicians in Chicagoland and beyond.
Fourth Coast returned to in-person performance in September 2021 with the premiere of an original commission, A Brush with our Time, also featured on their solo studio album debut, Human to Human: New Works for Vocal Quartet (2021). The ensemble has also been featured on the critically acclaimed studio album, Are Women People?: The Songs of Lori Laitman (2021). Over the past two years, the quartet has partnered with venues across the city and artists such as sketch comedians, folk musicians, and visual artists to present collaborative programming that innovates the classical vocal concert experience.
MISSION STATEMENT
Fourth Coast Ensemble is a vocal chamber quartet committed to performing programs of creative and accessible vocal chamber music. With a repertoire spanning Romantic to Contemporary, Fourth Coast Ensemble presents salon-style performances in venues ranging from parlor to concert hall. The goal at each performance is to communicate an atmosphere of warmth, variety, and genuine expression. Fourth Coast Ensemble creates a dialogue that invites each audience member to feel comfortable, as though they were listening to music in their own living room surrounded by friends.
Cultivating a loyal and ever-growing audience through imaginative programming and intimate performances, the quartet maintains a reputation of excellence “built on the quality of its small roster of artists”; soprano Sarah van der Ploeg, mezzo-soprano Bridget Skaggs, tenor Ace Gangoso, and bass-baritone David Govertsen. They each perform regularly with Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Chicago Opera Theater and are highly sought soloists and pedagogues throughout Chicagoland and beyond.
Celebrated for "doing everything an organization can to sustain the viability of art song in Chicago” (Vocal Arts Chicago), Fourth Coast commissioned its first world premiere song cycle in 2018, I-Thou, by Chicago composer Wayland Rogers. In 2019, Fourth Coast became the first and exclusive Chicago presenter of songSLAM, an annual competition for new art song featuring the works of up-and-coming Chicagoland composer/performer teams. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization adapted their programming by investing in livestream technology that brought their music into the homes of long-standing patrons and new viewers alike. Through a series of critically-acclaimed HD concerts, the quartet shared the intimacy of the vocal chamber music genre while maintaining a sense of community with audiences, composers, and musicians in Chicagoland and beyond.
Fourth Coast returned to in-person performance in September 2021 with the premiere of an original commission, A Brush with our Time, also featured on their solo studio album debut, Human to Human: New Works for Vocal Quartet (2021). The ensemble has also been featured on the critically acclaimed studio album, Are Women People?: The Songs of Lori Laitman (2021). Over the past two years, the quartet has partnered with venues across the city and artists such as sketch comedians, folk musicians, and visual artists to present collaborative programming that innovates the classical vocal concert experience.
MISSION STATEMENT
Fourth Coast Ensemble is a vocal chamber quartet committed to performing programs of creative and accessible vocal chamber music. With a repertoire spanning Romantic to Contemporary, Fourth Coast Ensemble presents salon-style performances in venues ranging from parlor to concert hall. The goal at each performance is to communicate an atmosphere of warmth, variety, and genuine expression. Fourth Coast Ensemble creates a dialogue that invites each audience member to feel comfortable, as though they were listening to music in their own living room surrounded by friends.
The Quartet
Sarah van der Ploeg - soprano
Bridget Skaggs - mezzo-soprano
Ace Gangoso - tenor
David Govertsen - bass-baritone
Karen Ann Baron - member emeritus
Zachary Vanderburg - member emeritus
Staff
Bridget Skaggs - Executive Director
Rhapsody Snyder - Grants and Operations Consultant
Ashley McKinstry - Front of House Director
Sarah van der Ploeg - soprano
Bridget Skaggs - mezzo-soprano
Ace Gangoso - tenor
David Govertsen - bass-baritone
Karen Ann Baron - member emeritus
Zachary Vanderburg - member emeritus
Staff
Bridget Skaggs - Executive Director
Rhapsody Snyder - Grants and Operations Consultant
Ashley McKinstry - Front of House Director
Board of Directors
Dana Brown
Chairman of the Board
Associate Professor of Voice and Opera at Roosevelt University
Former Chair of Music Faculty at Roosevelt University
Kent Smith Dymak
Former Vice President of Professional Development, Cambridge Educational Services
Carla Janzen
Member, Lyric Opera of Chicago Chorus and Chicago Symphony Chorus
Realtor, Jodi Sells Chicago Group
Guillermo Muñoz-Küster
Artistic Planning Coordinator, Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Christena Nippert-Eng
Author and Professor of Informatics, University of Indiana Bloomington, 2016 - present
John Schuchert
Firm Administrator and Director of IT, KMA Zuckert Law
Bridget Skaggs
Executive Director
Member, Chicago Symphony Chorus
Mezzo-soprano and Founding Member, Fourth Coast Ensemble
Zachary Vanderburg
Assistant Secretary
Development and Communications Director, Opera Rara
Former Tenor and Founding member, Fourth Coast Ensemble
Chairman of the Board
Associate Professor of Voice and Opera at Roosevelt University
Former Chair of Music Faculty at Roosevelt University
Kent Smith Dymak
Former Vice President of Professional Development, Cambridge Educational Services
Carla Janzen
Member, Lyric Opera of Chicago Chorus and Chicago Symphony Chorus
Realtor, Jodi Sells Chicago Group
Guillermo Muñoz-Küster
Artistic Planning Coordinator, Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Christena Nippert-Eng
Author and Professor of Informatics, University of Indiana Bloomington, 2016 - present
John Schuchert
Firm Administrator and Director of IT, KMA Zuckert Law
Bridget Skaggs
Executive Director
Member, Chicago Symphony Chorus
Mezzo-soprano and Founding Member, Fourth Coast Ensemble
Zachary Vanderburg
Assistant Secretary
Development and Communications Director, Opera Rara
Former Tenor and Founding member, Fourth Coast Ensemble
ARTISTIC AdvisorY BOARD
Jesse Blumberg
Internationally Renowned Baritone
Artistic Director of Five Boroughs Music Festival
Member of Mirror Visions Ensemble
Rae-Myra Hilliard
Soprano Soloist/Recitalist; Faculty at Music Institute of Chicago
Member: Chicago Music Association, American Guild of Musical Artists,
and the National Association for the Study and Performance of African-American Music
Michael Hall
Internationally Renowned Violist
Co-Artistic Director of the Bandung Philharmonic, Indonesia
Chairman of the Maurice Gardner Composition Competition, American Viola Society
Professor of Viola, VanderCook College of Music
Kuang-Hao Huang
Internationally Acclaimed Pianist
Co-Founder, Make Music Chicago
Maria Lagios
Internationally Renowned Soprano
Emeritus Faculty at Roosevelt University
