Staff Singers

A North Carolina native, tenor Wilson Jeffreys has enjoyed a diverse musical career since completing studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) where he earned both bachelor and master of music degrees. At UNCG, he studied voice with Arvid Knutsen, Charles Lynam, and the late Norman Farrow. He distinguished himself in competitions, including the North Carolina Symphony Young Artist Competition (Finalist), Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Artist Program (First Alternate) and the Fulbright Scholarship Program (Finalist). Wilson also attended the Curtis Institute of Music where he studied operatic techniques with the late Boris Goldovsky.

Wilson currently lives in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, and performs with The Philadelphia Singers. His past area performances include appearances with Vox Ama Deus, the Philly Pops, the Pennsylvania Pro Musica, and the Opera Company of Philadelphia. He has sung with the choirs of The First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church (Chestnut Hill), and St. Martin-in-the-Fields (Chestnut Hill).

In North Carolina, Wilson sang and recorded with the Bel Canto Company (Greensboro) and is a featured soloist on Dan Locklair: Holy Canticles (Gasparo). He was tenor soloist at First Presbyterian Church (Burlington), and appeared as a guest soloist with the Choral Society of Greensboro, the High Point Choral Society, the Raleigh Oratorio Society, the Tar River Chorus (Roanoke Rapids) and the Hickory Choral Society.

Jim Jordan first joined Redeemer’s choirs in 1996 while a student at the Haverford School. He continued during his years of study at Temple University, where he earned a B.M. in Double Bass Performance.



Since 2011 he has served as staff singer and also serves as staff singer liaison to the Music Committee. Aside from liturgical singing, Jim continues to pursue a variety of musical disciplines as an instrumentalist, vocalist, teacher and administrator. He has performed with choirs, orchestras, and world music ensembles in North America, Europe, Asia and the Caribbean. Jim holds Master’s degrees in Multicultural Education and Education Administration and is currently the Fine Arts Department Chairperson at the Academy at Palumbo High School in Philadelphia where he leads a robust music and visual art program, directs the Palumbo Orchestra, teaches courses in guitar, music theory and ear training. Jim and his family reside in Wynnewood, PA.

Lyric coloratura soprano Francesca Merritt began singing at the age of two and later studied voice with a local teacher who quickly discovered that she had operatic potential. Her professional debut came at age 16 as a church cantor for the historic Old North Dutch Reform Church in Dumont, NJ (est. 1724), and earned a choral scholarship at the age of 17 from the First Presbyterian Church of Ridgewood, NJ (est. 1823). In college, she concentrated her study in opera and classical art song at Washington University in St. Louis, graduating magna cum laude. She also performed early music and opera abroad in Italy with Orvieto Musica and studied art song, oratorio, and opera with Martin Katz and Graham Johnson OBE at University of California at Irvine. After graduation, Francesca studied under master teacher Joshua Hecht, a protégé of the American opera great Rosa Ponselle. While in New York, Francesca appeared as a young artist with DiCapo Opera Theatre and performed roles in the NY metro regional opera companies including Blondchen (Mozart’s Abduction), Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro), Adele (Die Fledermaus), Nannetta (Falstaff), Josephine (H.M.S. Pinafore) and appeared as a soloist at Carnegie Hall. She garnered a grant from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts (NFAA) for her Off-Broadway One Woman cabaret show. Francesca made her international debut as Blondchen in Mozart’s Abduction with the Opera at Rutgers Presbyterian Church; a performance that aired on both the BBC International network as well as the RCN regional network based out of New York City. In addition to classical music, Francesca is an accomplished songwriter, lyricist, and poet. Her songwriting debut produced in Nashville, TN by veteran music producer Bronson received top seller first in the indie category, and then quickly moved into the best seller overall category on CD Baby’s original digital station. Also during this time, Francesca studied music and music therapy at the John J. Cali School for the Arts concentrating her studies on adults and youth on the autism spectrum. After relocating to Philadelphia, Francesca founded Gilded Angel Opera to perform operas in her local community and to give more opportunities to foster local talent. Post-COVID, Francesca returned to her roots as a song leader, joining Paoli Presbyterian Church as the soprano section leader. In 2023, she began writing a second album and chronicling the journey on her blog freedomangelsoprano.com.  In 2024, Francesca along with her son Augie, received a Creative Entrepreneur Accelerator Grant from the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance and Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. This grant allowed her to establish Angelini Publishing, an independent publishing company which will produce books of poetry, songs, comics, and graphic novels. After serving as the program assistant at Redeemer for 9 years, Francesca joined the Redeemer choir as a staff singer in the late fall of 2024. She feels blessed to share her gift of song with this wonderful congregation and community.

Hope Knight, mezzo soprano, has been active in the Redeemer Music program since October 2001. She was initially hired to sing alto in the Chancel Choir and, throughout her nine years of service at Redeemer, has had the opportunity to take on a variety of responsibilities. In 2004, she began teaching chorister voice lessons, specializing in voice therapy. In January 2008, Hope was appointed as Interim Music Director for a brief period. She took on the position of Interim Choral Director in the fall of 2009 until Dr. Diorio took up the baton officially in January 2010. She is currently working as Alto Section Leader.



When not at church, Hope enjoys teaching guitar and directing three burgeoning choirs at William Allen Middle School in Moorestown, NJ.

Raffaella Lo Castro, an Italian American mezzo-soprano, hails from Durban, South Africa, where her musical journey began under the influence of her late father, an accomplished violinist from Italy.

As alto soloist, Raffaella has performed numerous oratorios including Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Handel’s Messiah, the Duruflé Requiem, Vivaldi’s Magnificat and Gloria, Beethoven’s Mass in C, Amy Beach’s The Canticle of the Sun and Verdi’s Messa da Requiem. Noteworthy appearances include Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia with the Ama Deus Ensemble and Elijah with the Johannesburg Festival Orchestra in South Africa and at the National Cathedral in Washington DC with the Wayne Oratorio Society. As a seasoned concert and recital soloist, Raffaella has performed across South Africa, Singapore, and Japan.

Concert and ensemble collaborations include the Orchestra Society of Philadelphia,

the Delaware Symphony Orchestra, the Natal Philharmonic Orchestra in South Africa, Opera Philadelphia, Opera Delaware, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Pennsylvania Ballet under the baton of world-renowned conductors. Most recently, Raffaella joined the ensemble for operatic tenor, Andrea Bocelli's world tours, performing at iconic venues such as New York City's Madison Square Garden.

Operatic highlights include the roles of Carmen, Zanetto, Zia Principessa in Suor Angelica, Madame de Croissy in Dialogues of the Carmelites and Mother and Jade Boucher (cover) in Opera Delaware’s production of Heggie’s Dead Man Walking. At home with contemporary opera, Raffaella recently originated the role of Germaine de Staël in the world premiere of Girondines, produced by Wilmington Concert Opera.

Raffaella is a business and communications professional and recently completed her M.B.A. at Eastern University in St. Davids, PA. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing Management from Goldey-Beacom College in Wilmington, DE. She and her husband, Grant Griffiths are members of the Redeemer and Raffaella is delighted to serve as lector and staff singer in the Redeemer and Chancel choirs.

In addition to her career as a pharmaceutical research scientist, Laurie MacKenzie has also had a lifelong involvement in music and art. She began her solo career at All Saints Church in Wynnewood and has been a professional mezzo-soprano soloist at the Church of the Redeemer in Bryn Mawr for over twenty years. She has studied voice with Paula Brown and Sean Deibler and flute with Kenneth Scutt of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Laurie has sung as both a chorister and a soloist with the Music Group of Philadelphia and the Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia, and has been a flute soloist in many concerts at various Philadelphia churches. In addition she has sung with Cantores, a small a capella choral group founded and directed by Peter Sipple. In 1999 she premiered local composer Joseph Nocella's song cycle "Songs for a Season Slowly Dying" in Philadelphia. As an artist, she has provided scientific illustrations for presentations and publications from The Wistar Institute, The Fox Chase Cancer Center, The Atlanta Zoo, and the journal Bioscience. In addition, she has illustrated numerous programs for the Philadelphia Orchestra Children's Concert series. Laurie holds degrees from Eastern University and Villanova University. Her daughter Ariana has been a singer with the Bryn Mawr Girlchoir for nine years. Laurie currently resides in Chester County with her husband Steve, daughter Ariana, and a rescued Catahoula Leopard dog named Bengal.

Brenton Mattox, a Bass-2, hails from Jasper, Texas. Brenton received both his Bachelor of Music (Music Education) and Master of Music (Voice Performance) from Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA). During his time there, Brenton was the graduate assistant in voice and the bass section leader at a local Presbyterian church. His performances included the bass soloist in Messiah and the title role of Mendelssohn's Elijah. Mattox also performed the roles of Simone (Gianni Gianni), Kezal (Bartered Bride), and Falstaff (The Merry Wives of Windsor).” has recently sang Masetto in Don Giovanni with Opera on the Rocks. Brenton has participated as a young artist in Red River Lyric and Russian Opera workshop. His roles include Melissa (Alcina), Kochubey (Mazeppa) and Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte). Brenton is a member of both the Philadelphia Opera Chorus and the Philadelphia Symphonic Choir. Prior to joining the roster of staff singers at The Redeemer Brenton served as a section leader at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Delaware. 

Originally from New York City, Filipina-American soprano Kelsey Watts earned her M.M. Opera degree from Binghamton University in August 2022, where she also earned a B.Mus. in Vocal Performance and a B.S. in Chemistry. Kelsey has performed with Tri-Cities Opera in the roles of Child Singa in Jorge Sosa and Cerise Lim Jacobs’ I am a Dreamer Who No Longer Dreams, Clorinda in Rossini’s La Cenerentola, and Delia in Joe Illick’s Stone Soup; with Delaware Valley Opera in the roles of Mimi in Puccini’s La bohème and Gilda in Verdi’s Rigoletto; and with Binghamton University’s Opera Ensemble in the roles of Pamina in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Sandrina in Mozart’s La finta giardiniera, Gretel in Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, and the Sorceress in Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. As part of her graduate degree, Kelsey self-produced a performance of Jake Heggie’s Another Sunrise, paired with a collection of songs written during, in response to, or by victims of the Holocaust.

Kelsey has performed as a soloist with the Philadelphia Chorus, the Binghamton University Symphony Orchestra as winner of Binghamton’s Concerto Competition, the Binghamton Philharmonic, and the Binghamton University Wind Symphony. She won 1st place in the upper division of the Civic Morning Musicals Competition in 2021, placed 1st in her category at the Eastern Regional NATS competition three years in a row from 2017 to 2019, and was a finalist in the Classical Singer competition, and a semi-finalist in the NATS National Competition in 2019.



Currently, Kelsey works as a Scientific Writer in addition to her musical endeavors and is extremely excited and grateful to sing as part of the choir at The Redeemer!