The leadership staff and board of Cappella Romana is comprised of highly talented musicians, artists, professionals and community members. Get to know us, listen to our recordings, join us at a concert.

Alexander Lingas, Music Director and Founder
Alexander Lingas, Music Director and founder of Cappella Romana, is a Professor Emeritus of Music at City, University of London, and a Research Fellow of the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies (Cambridge, UK). He completed his doctorate on Sunday matins in the rite of Hagia Sophia at the University of British Columbia and then, with the support of a SSHRC postdoctoral fellowship, moved to Oxfordshire to study theology with Metropolitan Kallistos Ware. From 1997 to 2021 he was a Fellow of the University of Oxford’s European Humanities Research Centre. His present work embraces not only historical study but also ethnography and performance. His awards include Fulbright and Onassis grants for musical studies in Greece with cantor Lycourgos Angelopoulos, the British Academy’s Thank-Offering to Britain Fellowship, research leave supported by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, and the St. Romanos the Melodist medallion of the National Forum for Greek Orthodox Church Musicians (USA). In 2018 His All-Holiness, Bartholomew I, Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch, bestowed on him the title of Archon Mousikodidáskalos. He is currently the Spring 2023 Artist in Residence at the Institute of Sacred Arts at St Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in Yonkers, New York.

Mark Powell, Executive Director
Mark Powell has served Cappella Romana in multiple capacities, as a singer since 1995, as president of its board of directors from 1999-2002, and since 2002 as its executive director. In 2016 he was made full-time executive director.
After completing his undergraduate degree, he lived in Europe, where he was the general administrator of the National Youth Choir of Great Britain, and subsequently the managing editor of the International Choral Bulletin and projects manager for the International Federation for Choral Music in Namur, Belgium.
Following his sojourn in Europe, for nine years he served as a music tour manager with ACFEA Tour Consultants, a concert tours company for performing arts groups from all over the world. He also served as director of marketing at Early Music America and Associate Editor of its publication, Early Music America Magazine. From 2006 to 2016 he served as director of development and marketing for Portland Baroque Orchestra.
He is a trained singer, having earned his singing degree from Seattle Pacific University and a masters degree in musicology at the University of Washington, and has held posts as both cantor and choir director in several Orthodox parishes. He also was a regular member of Seattle’s Tudor Choir from 1993 to 2004. While in Europe he toured and performed with a number of professional choirs, including Choeur de Chambre de Namur, Belgium; Kammerchor Stuttgart, Germany; Wakefield Cathedral Choir, England; and the National Youth Choir of Great Britain.

Richard Barrett, Director of Publications, Grants, and Operations
Richard Barrett was most recently Executive Director of AGES Initiatives. He is the Artistic Director and co-founder of the The Saint John of Damascus Society, and Director of Music at Holy Dormition Greek Orthodox Church in Somerville, Mass. He studied Byzantine chant with Dr. Ioannis Arvanitis, Fr. Romanos Karanos, and John Michael Boyer.
He sings regularly with ensembles such as Cappella Romana, The Saint Tikhon Choir, Psaltikon, the Archdiocesan Byzantine Choir of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese. Orthodox churches and sacred music conferences regularly invite him as a clinician, speaker, and singer. The National Forum of Greek Orthodox Church Musicians recently appointed him co-chair of the Liturgical Music Education Committee, and since 2016 he has served as Chant Liaison to the Boston Federation of Greek Orthodox Church Musicians.
He holds an M.A. in Ancient History and a B. Mus. in Vocal Performance, both from Indiana University, and a Performer’s Certificate in Byzantine Music from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology. Publications include peer-reviewed articles in The Journal of Early Christian Studies and Studia Patristica, as well as essays on Orthodox musical topics in print and online venues. He lives in Boston with his wife Megan and their children Theodore and Katherine.

David Krueger, Office Manager
David Krueger is the Singer and Office Manager of Cappella Romana, and is grateful to have been performing, touring, and recording with Cappella Romana since 1997, as a bass II and isokrat. His experience includes theater, jazz, folk, world, and sacred music, and he has worked with a number of fine ensembles throughout the Northwest. He loves traveling and being a dad.
Cappella Romana Board of Directors
Honorary Chairman of the Board
- His Eminence Metropolitan +Gerasimos of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of San Francisco
- Thomas LaBarge, J.D., President/Treasurer
- Christine Thum Schlesser, Vice President
- Diane Cherry, Secretary
- Paul van der Salm, Treasurer
- John Paterakis, Assistant Treasurer
- Arlena Barnes, J.D.
- Kintea Bryant Rossiter
- Juanita Doerksen, M.D.
- Photini Downie-Robinson
- Susan Ashbrook Harvey, Ph.D.
- Shanti Michael, MMus.
- Robert Nelson, Ph.D.
- Daniel Pickens-Jones
- Ross Ritterman
- Robert Saler, Ph.D.
- James Skedros
- Edward Tenny
- Alexander Lingas, Ph.D., ex officio
- Mark Powell, M.A., ex officio