Jess Cooper-Morgan is a singer, voice teacher, curator, and arts leader whose career has centered on the relationship between voice, performance, storytelling, and audience connection. She has been developing and directing programs for the Henry Purcell Society of Boston since founding the organization in 2013, creating historically informed performances that embrace the wit, theatricality, and beauty of the baroque - particularly late seventeenth-century music and culture.

As a soprano, Jess has performed extensively throughout New England and nationally with ensembles including the Handel and Haydn Society, Boston Baroque, Emmanuel Music, Boston Cecilia, Bach Collegium San Diego, and Arcadia Players. Following her Jordan Hall debut in Handel’s Samson, the Boston Globe hailed her as “a welcome addition to Boston’s top rank of Handel sopranos.” Her independent projects have ranged from programs devoted to Astor Piazzolla’s vocal tangos, featured on WGBH, to performances with Cyprian Consort exploring music for voices, lute, and viola da gamba.

Jess taught applied voice at the University of Massachusetts Boston from 2006 to 2021 and also lectured in musical theatre history. Across her work as a performer, teacher, coach, and artistic director, she has remained interested in how voice and theatrical storytelling can make historical repertoire immediate, emotionally resonant, and deeply human. She also serves as Vice President and co-founder of TEDx Walden Pond, where she helps shape programming and coaches speakers for their big moment on the stage.

At HPSOB, Jess leads the organization’s artistic vision, developing performances and experiences that place the music of Purcell and his contemporaries back into the lively world from which it came—dramatic, social, adventurous, and meant to be shared.

Kim Leeds (Executive Director) is an arts administrator, professional singer, and nonprofit leader whose work combines artistic experience with strong organizational, fundraising, and team-building skills.

In her role with Green Newton, Kim oversees event planning and organizational initiatives, coordinates teams and volunteers, and helps move projects from idea to execution. She brings that same combination of structure, resourcefulness, and collaborative leadership to the Henry Purcell Society of Boston, where she helps turn artistic vision into sustainable programming, partnerships, and audience experiences.

Kim is also an accomplished mezzo-soprano with extensive experience in the early-music world. She has appeared as a soloist with ensembles including GRAMMY®-winning Apollo’s Fire, True Concord Voices and Orchestra, Blue Heron, Tafelmusik Baroque Chamber Orchestra and Choir, the Oregon Bach Festival, Les Délices, Cantata Collective, and the Bach Choir of Bethlehem. Her honors include winning the Tafelmusik Vocal Competition and participating in the Carmel Bach Festival as a Virginia Best Adams Fellow and the Aldeburgh Festival as a Britten-Pears Young Artist.

Her experience onstage gives Kim an unusually practical understanding of what artists need, while her work in nonprofit leadership brings the planning, fundraising, communication, and operational discipline required to support them.

As Executive Director, Kim works closely with HPSOB’s artistic and board leadership to strengthen the organization, build community and financial support, and create the framework that allows adventurous artistic projects to flourish.

Dr. Nick Morgan is one of America’s top communication speakers, theorists and coaches. A passionate teacher, he is committed to helping people find clarity in their thinking and ideas – and then delivering them with panache. He has been commissioned by Fortune 50 companies to write for many CEOs and presidents. He has coached people to give Congressional testimony, to appear in the media, and to deliver unforgettable keynote speeches. And he has himself spoken, led conferences, and moderated panels at venues around the world. He has provided expert commentary on the presidential debates for CNN. His latest book is Can You Hear Me?, on the perils of virtual communication, published by Harvard in 2018. He is at work on a new book, to be published in 2027, on The Embodied Voice, about claiming and perfecting your unique leadership voice.

Jason J. Wang is a tenor, arts administrator, chef, and television personality whose worlds of music and food meet naturally in his work with the Henry Purcell Society of Boston.

A longtime member of Boston’s early-music community, Jason has performed with ensembles including Boston Baroque, Emmanuel Music, Odyssey Opera, and the Schola Cantorum of Boston, with solo appearances in works by composers including Charpentier, Monteverdi, Bach, and Haydn. He also serves as Personnel Manager for Boston Baroque, bringing extensive experience with conductors, singers and instrumentalists both onstage and behind the scenes to HPSOB.

Jason is equally accomplished in the culinary world. He was a finalist and co-runner-up on Season 8 of FOX’s MasterChef with Gordon Ramsay and has gone on to work as a chef, culinary educator, and television host. His TaiwanPlus series Jason’s Table: Shocked & Surprised explores Taiwanese food and culture for an international audience.

At HPSOB, Jason brings together his passions for music, food, storytelling, and hospitality. Alongside Robert Lublin, he co-leads “A Taste of What We Do,” a series that invites audiences to experience the world surrounding our music through flavor, history, conversation, and performance.

David Leeds is a finance and operations professional with more than a decade of experience in financial management, accounting, strategic planning, and business operations. He earned his M.S. in Accountancy from Bentley University and his B.S. from Bowling Green State University.

David has held finance leadership roles with organizations ranging from early-stage startups to established professional-services firms. His work has included developing and managing operating budgets, implementing bottom-up budgeting processes, establishing company-wide financial reporting, leading ERP and accounting-system transitions, and building executive KPI reporting. He has also overseen treasury and revenue processes and developed financial controls and operating procedures to improve accuracy and performance.

Earlier in his career, Leeds supported startup fundraising and financial strategy, including two investment rounds totaling $3.5 million. His responsibilities included preparing forecasts and company valuations, advising on capital structure, and developing cost and pricing models for new products.

In addition to his professional roles, David has an active passion in supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs. He has served as a mentor for students in the INCubator program at Sheboygan High School in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and is also actively involved in Bowling Green State University’s Paul J Hooker Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership.

Robert Lublin is a theatre historian, dramaturg, educator, spirits writer, and certified bartender whose interests bring together two subjects particularly well suited to the Henry Purcell Society of Boston: the lively theatrical world of Restoration England and the culture of drinking and conviviality that surrounded it.

A Professor of Theatre Arts at the University of Massachusetts Boston, Robert specializes in theatre history and historiography and is the author of Costuming the Shakespearean Stage: Visual Codes of Representation in Early Modern Theatre and Culture and co-editor of Reinventing the Renaissance: Shakespeare and His Contemporaries in Adaptation and Performance. As a dramaturg, writer, director, and scholar, he brings historical texts into conversation with contemporary performance, helping shape scripts, narration, and theatrical context in ways that preserve their historical character while making them vivid for modern audiences.

Beyond the stage, Robert is an experienced wine and spirits educator. He teaches whisk(e)y and wine appreciation classes in the Boston area and is a longtime contributor to Drinkhacker, where he reviews wines, whiskies, spirits, and other drinks.

At HPSOB, Robert contributes both scholarly depth and theatrical imagination, helping illuminate the dramatic and social world surrounding the music. He also co-leads “A Taste of What We Do” with Jason J. Wang, bringing together history, performance, food, drink, and conversation in ways that invite audiences more fully into the culture of the Restoration.

Deborah Grose brings more than three decades of experience in project and program management across the nonprofit, government, and business sectors, along with a lifelong engagement with music and the arts.

Her professional work has spanned health care, social equity, youth employment, elder services, information systems, and community-based initiatives. An experienced nonprofit administrator and fundraiser, Deborah has directed a capital campaign, written grants, planned events, and managed complex programs and projects—bringing together the practical skills of organization, collaboration, and stewardship that help mission-driven organizations thrive.

Music has remained an important part of Deborah’s life alongside her professional work. She is an active choral singer with The Boston Cecilia and the Zamir Chorale of Boston and has also written about music and poetry for Boston Cecilia’s Beyond the Score series.

Deborah holds a B.A. in Philosophy and Music from Williams College and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Hartford. At HPSOB, she brings together her experience in nonprofit management and fundraising with the perspective of someone who understands firsthand the joy, commitment, and community that grow around making music together.