Our Artistic Directors
Stephen Sturk and Virginia Sublett, the artistic co-directors of Cappella Gloriana, created San Diego's finest a cappella vocal ensemble together in 1996, and they continue to direct it as it delights audiences around the world.
Stephen Sturk
Composer-conductor Stephen Sturk is co-founder and Artistic Director of Cappella Gloriana. He is Director of Music at Saint Thomas of Canterbury Episcopal Church in Temecula, California, and was recently named Artistic Director of the San Clemente (Calif.) Choral Society. Sturk is also a Founding Director of the Pacific Academy of Ecclesiastical Music (PACEM), and a former music professor at the University of San Diego.
A recognized composer of church music with works available from four different publishers, Sturk has received commissions from churches, organizations and individuals nationwide. He has been “composer-in-residence“ at St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral in San Diego since 2000. In October 2008, Sturk's alma mater, North Central College, honored his achievement as a composer by awarding him the college's prestigious Fine Arts Medal.
Before moving to California in 1991, Sturk had a successful musical career in New York City, holding positions with The New York Motet Choir, the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, and The Juilliard School of Music. Sturk appears as conductor or singer on more than 60 recordings, most notably on the soundtrack of the Disney animated feature “Beauty and the Beast ”.
Dr. Sturk holds degrees from North Central College in Naperville, Illinois (B.A. in Classics), San Diego State University (M.A. in Music History and Literature) and North Dakota State University (D.M.A. in choral conducting).
Virgina Sublet
Virginia Sublett has been a principal artist with opera companies such as New York City Opera, Los Angeles Opera, and L'Opéra de Nice (France), in a repertoire that encompasses the Queen of the Night in Magic Flute, Nannetta in Falstaff, Fire, Princess and Nightingale in L'Enfant et les Sortilèges, and Tytania in A Midsummer Night's Dream. She is a frequent soloist with orchestras, oratorio societies, and chamber ensembles throughout the US, Canada, and Mexico, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Diego, Illinois and Pacific Symphonies, and Mainly Mozart, and is particularly known for performances of Baroque repertoire and 20th and 21st century music.
A native of Kansas City, Kansas, in 1997 Miss Sublett became the first person to be granted a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of California, San Diego. She joined the faculty of North Dakota State University as an associate professor of music (voice) in 2004.