James Litton

Dr. Litton has conducted choral and orchestral works throughout five continents, and regularly leads workshops and seminars in the United States and abroad. During past seasons he has conducted the Berkshire Choral Festival, at the Tanglewood Music Festival, and at music festivals in Canada, in Prague, Guatemala, Denmark, Germany, Latvia, France, Poland, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and South Africa.

Dr. Litton is the founder of a number of choral ensembles, including community choruses, college, church and school choirs in West Virginia, Connecticut, Indiana, New York, and New Jersey. He has conducted choral groups, chamber music ensembles, and orchestras in more than 40 recordings, including m jany American Boychoir CDs on such labels as Angel Records, Philips Records, Sony Music Entertainment Inc., Virgin Records, Bertelsmann Music Group, Linn Records, and Music Masters.

Grant Llewellyn

The Welsh conductor, Grant Llewellyn, began developing his conducting reputation in 1985, when he was awarded a conducting fellow position at the Tanglewood Music Center in Massachusetts. There his mentors included Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa, Kurt Masur and Andre Previn. As Assistant Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the early 1990's he conducted concerts at the Tanglewood Festival, the Boston Subscription Series and in the "Boston Pops".

Grant Llewellyn is renowned for his exceptional charisma, energy and easy authority in music of all styles and periods. To date, his career has led him to hold positions with three European orchestras. From 1990 to 1995, he was associate conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. He was principal guest conductor of the Stavanger Symfoniorkester from 1993 to 1996. Llewellyn served as chief conductor of the Royal Flanders Philharmonic Orchestra (deFilharmonie) from 1995 to 1998. Notable recent European guest engagements have included the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic and BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Lori Loftus

Lori Loftus, the founding artistic director of the Southern California Children's Chorus, has taught the art of music, singing and musicianship to children for over 25 years. Under her leadership, the SCCC's Concert Chorus is rapidly becoming the leading children's chorus in Southern California.

Lori's musical credentials are impeccable. She has a B.M. in Piano Performance and has been the accompanist for many fine choral conductors including David Thorsen, Helmuth Rilling, Howard Swan, Zubin Mehta, John Alexander, Harold Dekker, Joseph Flummerfeld and Carl St. Clair.

Throughout her career, her choirs have sung on professional artists' CD's and have received many awards at festivals and competitions. She has also been asked to provide trained children's voices for Touchstone films, MGM films, music videos, commercials, symphony concerts, operas, television specials for Disney and many musical productions.

Dr. P Bradley Logan

Dr. P. Bradley Logan, is Professor of Music, and Director of Choral Activities at Bemidji State University, where he conducts the Bemidji Choir and the Chamber Singers, teaches conducting and applied voice. He has served on the faculties of the University of Montevallo, Louisiana College, California State University, Long Beach, and Pelham High School. Dr. Logan holds his B.S. in Vocal Music Education from North Dakota State University, his M.A. in Choral Music from California State University, Long Beach, and his D.M.A. in Choral Conducting and Literature from the University of Illinois. He is Executor of the Edwin R. Fissinger Musical Estate and serves as co-editor of the Edwin Fissinger Choral Series published by Meadowlark Music Publications.

Dr. Logan has been an active participation in the American Choral Directors Association, most recently serving as North Central Division R&S Chair for Youth and Student Activities. For seven years he served on the Minnesota ACDA Board of Directors as Northwestern Area Representative, R&S Chair for College and University, and R&S Chair for Youth and Student Activities.

Diane Loomer

Diane Loomer, C.M., is founder and conductor of Chor Leoni Men's Choir and co-founder and co-conductor of Elektra Women's Choir; she has taught on the music faculty at the University of British Columbia. Both her men's and women's choirs have repeatedly won first prizes in national and international competitions. Her choral compositions have been published and recorded internationally, and she frequently appears on CBC national radio as a spokesperson for the classical arts.

The first woman to conduct the National Youth Choir of Canada, Diane received the Healey Willan award in 1990 for her service to choral music in British Columbia; in 1994, she was named YWCA of Vancouver's Woman of Distinction in Arts and Culture; and in 1997 and 2004 received Distinguished Alumni Awards honouring her achievements in choral music. In 2002 she received the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal for her significant contribution to Canada's culture.

Norman Luboff

Norman Luboff was born in Chicago in 1917. Although he trained in piano as a child and participated in choirs in high school, it was not until his college years that he began to think of music as a life-long profession. After attending the University of Chicago and Central College in Chicago, he did graduate work with the noted composer Leo Sowerby while singing and writing for some of the best radio programs in Chicago. In the mid-1940s, he moved to New York City to continue his career.

With a call from Hollywood to be choral director of The Railroad Hour, a radio weekly starring Gordan McRae, Mr. Luboff entered a period of enormous artistic growth and accomplishment, including the scoring of many television programs and more than eighty motion pictures. He also recorded with America's most noted artists, including Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Jo Stafford, and Doris Day. In 1950, he formed Walton Music Corporation to make his works available in printed form.

Dean Luethi

Dr. Dean Luethi is an Associate Professor and Director of the School of Music at Washington State University in Pullman. In addition to his administrative duties Dean directs the Tenor/Bass Choir and teaches applied theory. Prior to his work at WSU, Dean worked as a Visiting Instructor at the University of South Florida in Tampa and Director of Choirs at Luxemburg-Casco High School and Lombardi Middle School.

He has guest conducted or presented research in India, Cuba, New Foundland, Hawaii, Austria, and Poland. He is sought after as a guest conductor, adjudicator, and clinician and has been published in Choral Journal and Music Educators Journal. His first book Aligning Voices: Exercise to Build Choral Musicianship will be released in spring of 2019 by GIA Publications. He is currently working on a virtual choral conducting series for the National Choir Council of the National Association for Music Educators to be distributed to choral conductors in India.

Linda Mack

Linda Mack, a native of the Chicago area, received her doctoral degree from the University of Illinois. As Director of Choral Activities and Professor of Music at Fort Lewis College, her teaching responsibilities include choirs, choral methods, music history, and voice. The Fort Lewis College Choirs have made several appearances at the Colorado Music Educators Association Conference and the Chamber Choir has performed at Carnegie Hall. In addition to her work at Fort Lewis College and with the Durango Choral Society, Dr. Mack served as Music Director and Conductor of the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, a nationally renowned, 20-voice professional choir.

Norman MacKenzie

Norman Mackenzie's abilities as musical collaborator, conductor, and concert organist have brought him international recognition. As Director of Choruses for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra since 2000 and holder of its endowed Frannie and Bill Graves Chair, he was chosen to help carry forward the creative vision of legendary founding conductor Robert Shaw to a new generation of music lovers. At the ASO he prepares the Choruses for all concerts and recordings, conducts holiday concerts annually and works closely with ASO Music Director Robert Spano and commissioned-composers in the creation and premiere of new works.

His leadership was rewarded in 2003 with Grammy awards for Best Classical Album and Best Choral Performance for the ASO and Chorus recording of A Sea Symphony by Vaughan Williams, in 2005 with another Best Choral Performance Grammy for the Berlioz Requiem and in 2007 for Best Opera Recording with Golijov's Ainadamar. Mackenzie also serves as Director of Music and Fine Arts for Atlanta's Trinity Presbyterian Church, and pursues an active recital and guest conducting schedule.

Dr. Scott MacPherson

Conductor Scott MacPherson is Associate Professor and Director of Choral Activities in the Hugh A. Glauser School of Music. In addition to conducting the Kent State Chorale and Kent Chorus, Dr. MacPherson leads the graduate choral conducting program. MacPherson has consistently earned praise for the high standards of performance of choirs under his direction. His programming blends a variety of musical styles ranging from early music through new works commissioned especially for him and his ensembles. MacPherson is in demand as a guest conductor, choral clinician, and adjudicator, and has extensive orchestral conducting experience. His research of contemporary choral music and choral teaching techniques in Germany have resulted in guest conducting appearances with the award-winning Modus Novus Chor based in Cologne, the Vokalensemble Kolner Dom of the Cologne Cathedral, as well as the male vocal ensemble Arcanum Musicae in Dresden.

Anthony Maiello

Anthony J. Maiello received both his bachelor's and master's degrees in music from Ithaca College in l965 and l967, respectively. He also studied at the National Conducting Institute in Washington, D.C., under the direction of Mr. Leonard Slatkin, Musical Director of the National Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Maiello's many professional credits include clinician, adjudicator and guest conductor of All-State, All-State Sectional, Regional, District, All-County and All-City ensembles, with appearances throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, England, Europe, The Netherlands and The Bahamas. He conducted musical activities for the Gold Medal Ceremonies at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, the New York State Music Camp & Institute; has served as New York State Music Association adjudicator; clinician with Yamaha, and clinician for Warner Bros. Publications, President of the International Association of Jazz Educators - New York State Chapter and as Musical Director for Music Festivals International. He is an elected member of The American Bandmasters Association and ASCAP, and holds membership in the National Band Association, College Band Directors National Association, New York State School Music Association, Virginia Music Educators Association, Virginia Jazz Service Organization, The College Music Society and The American Symphony Orchestra League.

Kerry Marsh

Kerry Marsh is a composer and arranger specializing in contemporary music for vocal jazz ensembles. In high demand as a commissioned arranger for many of the nation's top educational vocal and instrumental jazz ensembles, Marsh has a large and varied catalog of music performed regularly around the world. Kerry has published arrangements through UNC Jazz Press and Sound Music Publications.

Along with his wife and musical collaborator Julia Dollison, Kerry released his highly ambitious debut album, Vertical Voices: The Music of Maria Schneider, in March 2010 through ArtistShare. Endorsed by the Grammy-winning composer herself and funded largely through fan contributions, the album features Schneider's music as written for her jazz orchestra, but with the horn parts entirely sung, and the rhythm section consisting of Frank Kimbrough, Ben Monder, Jay Anderson and Clarence Penn (all current members of The Maria Schneider Orchestra).

Wesley C. Martin

Wesley Martin was appointed music director and conductor of The All-American Boys Chorus in July 2002 after an international search. Mr. Martin is a native of Sydney, Australia, where he, wife Sue and son Harry lived until they moved to Southern California. Recently, Thomas James was welcomed into the Martin Family.

The Chorus's music director earned his bachelor's degree in music education from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 1989. Subsequently, in 1992, he secured a Hungarian state scholarship and went on to study at the renowned Kodaly Institute of Pedagogy in Hungary.

He has held numerous teaching and conducting positions. Among them: New South Wales State director of music and conductor of the Australian Youth Choir; assistant conductor of the Sydney-based Beethoven Society; choral arranger for Australia's "Jubilee 2000" celebrations in Sydney's Olympic Stadium; and director of music for the Australian Youth Choir Chamber Ensemble. He also served on the faculty of St. Aloysius' College in Milson's Point, Sydney.

Dr. Jameson Marvin

Jameson Marvin was Director of Choral Activities, Senior Lecturer on Music at Harvard University for 32 years. From 1978 to 2010, Harvard's Choral Program garnered a distinguished national reputation. Under his conductorship, the Harvard Glee Club, Radcliffe Choral Society, and the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum, rose to be among the premier collegiate choruses in America. These ensembles appeared at nine Eastern Division and seven National Conventions of the American Choral Directors Association, and the Choral Program at Harvard was named by Classical Singer magazine the top collegiate choral program in the United States.

Dr. Marvin's musicianship, comprehensive knowledge of style and performance practices of historical eras, and acknowledged mastery of ensemble music making have been the trademark of his insightful, communicative, and inspiring performances. Some 80 choral-orchestral masterworks from Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610 to 2004 Pulitzer Prize winner, Paul Moravec's Songs of Love & War dot the landscape of his comprehensive experience in conducting symphonic-choral works from the 17th through the 21st centuries.

Kris Mason

Kris Mason, founder and Artistic Director of the Seattle Children's Chorus, has also worked in public music education and church music for over 30 years. Along with her role as Artistic Director of Seattle Children's Chorus, she conducts Arioso and Intermezzo, our upper-level and intermediate-level treble choirs. Under her direction, Arioso has been invited to perform at regional and national conventions of the American Choral Directors Association. In addition, she has served as a Washington State President of Chorister's Guild and as Repertoire & Standards Chair of Children's Choirs for the American Choral Directors Association in Washington State. She enjoys opportunities to serve as a vocal music clinician and guest conductor throughout the region and is an advocate of music in children's lives who has inspired many young choral conductors. She continues her work in the Music Ministry of Mt. View Presbyterian Church in Marysville, Washington where her husband, John serves as Pastor. Kris holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Education from Seattle Pacific University.

Phil Mattson

Phil Mattson was a pianist, arranger, conductor and teacher. His curriculum and teaching led to the establishment of The School for Music Vocations at Southwestern Community College in Creston, Iowa. Currently he resides in St. Paul, MN and leads The Phil Mattson Singers, a vocal jazz/choral ensemble.

Phil served as Director of Choral Activities at Foothill College (CA) and Gonzaga University (WA) and has taught at Pacific Lutheran University (WA) and at The Phil Mattson School (WA). His undergraduate studies in Philosophy/Religion and Music were done at Concordia College (Moorhead, MN), summa cum laude, and his graduate work in Choral Literature and Conducting at The University of Iowa as an NDEA Fellow.

Phil has written many arrangements for vocal jazz ensemble and choir. Manhattan Transfer, Chanticleer, The Real Group, The Dale Warland Singers, The Four Freshmen, Clockwork, Beachfront, Solstice, Phoenix and Clarion Chamber Chorale are among the groups who have commissioned his arrangements. In addition, he edited the arrangements of Gene Puerling for publication.

Michael McGlynn

Michael's harmonic language combines elements of traditional Irish music such as modal melodic lines and ornamentation, fixed and shifting drones and jazz-tinged chordal clusters. These features can be heard in his contribution to the Chanticleer commissioned "And on Earth Peace : A Chanticleer Mass". Michael contributed the "Agnus Dei" (2007) to this multi-composer work

His best-known choral work is "Dulaman" (1995), a setting of the traditional Irish poem of the same name. This work has been performed and recorded extensively. It features another characteristic aspect of his musical language in its use of multiple alternating rhythms.

Michael McGlynn's music has been recorded and performed by such internationally recognised vocal ensembles as Rajaton, the National Youth Choir of Great Britain, The Dale Warland Singers, Conspirare, the BBC Singers, the Phoenix Chorale and Chanticleer.

Dr. Susan McMane

Susan McMane, Artistic Director of the San Francisco Girls Chorus, conducts Chorissima, the organization's acclaimed concert, touring, and recording ensemble. Before coming to SFGC, Dr. McMane served on the music faculties of the University of North Dakota and Saint Louis University, and was Founding Artistic Director and Conductor of the St. Louis Women's Chorale. She has extensive experience training the female voice and has won numerous awards for her work, including the 1999 University of Missouri-Kansas City Women's Council Fellowship Award with Outstanding Merit. In 1998 Dr. McMane was named "Music Educator of the Year" by the St. Louis Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. Her choirs have achieved great acclaim in Europe and the United States, including honors at the International Eisteddfod Competition in Llangollen, Wales. She conducts many Festival Honor Choirs and is highly regarded as a choral clinician and adjudicator. In addition, Dr. McMane is an editor of an advanced choral music series with Alliance Music. Ms. McMane earned a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting from the Conservatory of Music, University of Missouri-Kansas City, where she studied under renowned conductor Eph Ehly. She also holds two degrees in Vocal Performance: a Bachelor's degree from Tulane University and a Master's degree from Washington University in St. Louis.

Allan McMurray

Allan McMurray is the Robert and Judy Charles Endowed Professor of Music, Chair of the Conducting Faculty, and Director of Bands at the University of Colorado-Boulder, a position he has held since 1978. Prior to this position, he was on the faculty of the University of Michigan. Considered one of the world's leading teachers of conducting, Professor McMurray has guest conducted and taught conductors in 45 states and 15 foreign countries. He has been a featured visiting professor at over 200 universities and conservatories nationally. He has authored two groundbreaking DVDs on the art of conducting that have been received with international acclaim. Professor McMurray is the host for the College Band Directors National Association National Conducting Symposium in Boulder. His former conducting students now hold high school, college, and professional conducting positions throughout North America.

Albert McNeil

Albert McNeil was a native Californian -- born in Los Angeles. He earned Bachelors and Masters degrees at the University of California, Los Angeles, and did his doctoral studies at the University of Southern California, the Westminster Choir College of Princeton, and the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. He is presently Professor Emeritus of Music at the University of Southern California at Davis, where he was Director of choral activities for 21 years and headed the Music Education Program. He taught courses in ethnomusicology at the University of Southern California for 12 years. In 1991, he was honored by his alma mater, UCLA, as Alumnus of the Year in the area of Professional Excellence.

Nancy Menk

Nancy Menk holds the Mary Lou Morris and Judd Leighton Chair in Music at Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame, Indiana. At Saint Mary's, Dr. Menk conducts the Women's and Collegiate Choirs, teaches Conducting, and prepares the Madrigal Singers for the annual Christmas Madrigal Dinners. Under her direction, the Women's Choir has performed on tour throughout the United States, and it regularly commissions and records new works for women's voices. The choir also hosts the annual Saint Mary's College High School Women's Choir Festival in which choirs from four states perform for each other and a panel of commentators.

Dr. Menk holds the B.S. and the M.A. in Music Education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and the M.M. and the D.M.A. in Choral Conducting from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She has conducted high school choirs in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she founded the Pittsburgh Youth Chorus to perform annually with the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra.

Carol Menke

Choral conductor and lyric soprano Carol Menke began her musical studies at the piano with her mother at age five, and at age eight, started flute lessons. She entered college with aspirations of a career as a flautist. However, participation in a voice class led to recognition of her superb vocal gifts. Following graduation from CSU at Chico, she attended the Franz Schubert Institute in Baden bei Wien, Austria, which confirmed her passion for the Art Song genre. The younger singer was heard in performance many times at the Schuberthaus in Vienna. Miss Menke later completed her Master's Degree in Vocal Performance.

Connaitre Miller

Connaitre Miller is currently Asociate Professor of Music and Coordinator of Jazz Studies at Howard University in Washington, DC where she directs Afro Blue, teaches vocal jazz improvisation, vocal jazz arranging, and gives individual voice lessons.

A native of Kansas, Miller received a B.M. in Music Education, and M.M. in piano performance from Kansas State University in Manhattan, KS, and pursued postgraduate study at the University of Northern Colorado in choral conducting with secondary emphasis in jazz pedagogy.

Preceding her tenure at Howard University, Miller taught for six years in Adelaide, South Australia, where she built a well-respected jazz program at the Elder Conservatory of Music, University of Adelaide.

Jonathan Miller

For his innovative programming and high musical standards, Jonathan Miller has gained international accolades, most recently the 2008 Louis Botto Award for Innovative Action and Entrepreneurial Zeal from Chorus America. Since founding Chicago a cappella in 1993, he has guided the ensemble through more than 130 concerts, six commercial CD releases, and thirty choral-music demo CDs.

Passionate about bringing new music to Chicago audiences, Jonathan has presented more than sixty-five new a cappella works in their local, national, or world premieres. His skills at presenting a wide spectrum of music are a combined product of his singer's ear, scholar's training, and composer's temperament. He was exposed at an early age to a wide range of music by a remarkable group of mentors, including Christopher Moore, Lena McLin, Max Janowski, Joseph Brewer, Howard Mayer Brown, Richard Proulx, John Nygro, and Anne Heider.

Marcela Molina

Now celebrating 61 years of music, Tucson Masterworks Chorale is the oldest independent choral arts organization in southern Arizona. Highlights include the Chorale's participation in "Rolling Requiem" a worldwide acknowledgement of the events of 9/11/01, performed on September 11, 2002; a performance at Carnegie Hall in 2003; and recent collaborations with Tucson Girl's Chorus, Southern Arizona Women's Chorus, Sino Chinese Choir of Tucson, and once again with the Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra and Catalinas Community Chorus.

A native of Bogota, Colombia, Artistic Director Marcela Molina is a doctoral candidate at the University of Arizona, artistic director of The Tucson Girls Chorus and music director of Christ Presbyterian Church. She previously was assistant conductor of the Tucson Arizona Boys Chorus.

Michael Brandon Morales

Michael is a countertenor and conductor with a Bachelor's degrees in Drama (UC Irvine) and Music (Sonoma State University), and a Master's in Conducting from Eastern Illinois University.

He has led ensembles and classes throughout the Bay Area, including Town Hall Theatre in Lafayette, Chanticleer's LAB Skills workshops, and Cantare Children's Choirs of Oakland. Most recently, he served as the Worship and Music Assistant at Lafayette-Orinda Presbyterian Church, having previously been the Music Director at Eden United Church of Christ, and Music Teacher at Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Edward schools. As a vocal soloist, Michael can be heard on the Pacific Mozart Ensemble album Dave Brubeck and American Poets. Other notable performances include the alto in Bernstein's Chichester Psalms at Weill Hall, and the Abbey Road medley with Sonoma State University's Rock Collegium. He also sings as part of UC Irvine's alumni men's ensemble, Men in Blaque.

Apart from choral and art music, Michael is a fervent Beatles scholar, an avid Giants fan, and enjoys exploring every tap house in the Bay Area with his wife, Katie.

Dr. Lynne Morrow

Lynne Morrow is the Music Director of the Pacific Mozart Ensemble and the Guest Conductor of the Oakland Symphony Chorus for the 2005-2006 season. The Pacific Mozart Ensemble made its Carnegie Hall debut in November 2005, representing choral music for Meredith Monk's 20th Anniversary Celebration. In November 2003, Morrow coached PME and sang several solos for the Berlin performances and recording of Bernstein's "Mass" with Kent Nagano. Morrow's work on that recording received a Grammy nomination in December 2005. Morrow was an assistant conductor for Oakland East Bay Symphony's production of the "Mass" in May 2005 and for Festival Opera's August 2005 production of "Candide." She also prepared a solo chorus for Berkeley Symphony's premiere of Kurt Rohde's oratorio, "Bitter Harvest" in December 2005.

Timothy Mount

Timothy Mount is Professor and Director of Choral Music at Stony Brook University where he teaches masters and doctoral students in conducting and was the first recipient of the Bentley Glass Great Teacher Award. He has recorded six CD's with the all-professional Vedantic Arts Ensemble in New York - a choral group which performs with a full sound, good intonation, sensitive musicianship, and good diction. Two of these recordings were aired on the popular radio show, The First Art.

For over 10 years, he conducted the professional chorus and orchestra at the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival. He has guest conducted the Choral Society of the Hamptons, the New York Virtuoso Singers, the Rhode Island Civic Chorale and Orchestra, and the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia. He has conducted most of the major choral works, including a recent performance of Britten's War Requiem with the Blacksburg Master Chorale and choirs from Virginia Tech and Roanoke College.

Dr. Sylvia Munsen

Dr. Sylvia Munsen is Founder & Conductor of the Ames Children's Choirs (ACC) program and Associate Professor and Chair of Music Education at Iowa State University (ISU). She received degrees from St. Olaf College, where she sang in the St. Olaf Choir, and the University of Illinois. In addition to studies in Dalcroze Eurhythmics, she is a certified specialist in Orff Schulwerk and Kodaly.

Under Munsen's direction, the ACC Concert Choir has performed at festivals and conferences throughout the Midwest, in Canada and in the Czech Republic including American Orff Schulwerk Association and Organization of American Kodaly Educators National Conferences. In 2003, the choir performed the World Premiere of John Rutter's Mass of the Children at Carnegie Hall with the composer as conductor. Munsen established the Midwest Children's Choirs Festival (MCCF), which has featured choirs from Germany, Hungary, the Czech Republic and the U.S. and bass-baritone Simon Estes as soloist. The 2007 MCCF featured Bob Chilcott as composer and guest conductor.

Dr. Joseph P. Nadeau

This season marks Dr. Nadeau's 11th year with Heartland Men's Chorus. This is also his 15th year as an active member of GALA Choruses Inc., an international association of more than 190 gay and lesbian choral groups.

Joe began his work with Heartland Men's Chorus in the fall of 1998, after serving as assistant director and interim artistic director of the Denver Gay Men's Chorus. Joe received a master's degree in choral conducting from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Dr. Eph Ehly. Joe recently completed his Doctor of Music Arts in Choral Conducting at the University of Kansas in Lawrence.

Dr. Richard Nance

Richard Nance is the Director of Choral Activities at Pacific Lutheran University where he has worked since 1992. At PLU Nance conducts the Choir of the West, Choral Union, and teaches classes in choral conducting. Nance holds bachelors and masters degrees from West Texas State University and the Doctor of Musical Arts from Arizona State University. He has studied conducting with Hugh Sanders, Douglas McEwen and David Stocker, and composition with Joseph Nelson and Randall Shinn. Nance is an active member of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) and has held many state and divisional offices. He currently serves as president for the Northwestern division. Nance's choirs have appeared at several ACDA and MENC conventions and have toured Europe on four occasions.

Richard Nance is widely recognized for his choral arrangements and compositions, which are published by Walton Music, Hinshaw Music and Colla Voce Music. In 2002 Nance was selected to compose the prestigious Raymond Brock Memorial Composition for the American Choral Directors Association. Other composers who have shared this honor include Gian-Carlo Menotti, Eric Whitacre, Morten Lauridsen, Rene Clausen, Daniel Pinkham, Samuel Adler and Gwyneth Walker.

Leo Nestor

Leo Nestor (B.A., Music-Composition, California State University, East Bay; M.M., D.M.A., Choral Music, University of Southern California), Justine Bayard Ward Professor of Music; Director of Choral Activities, Director, Institute of Sacred Music; member of the conducting faculty, co-operating member of the composition faculty, The Catholic University of America Benjamin T. Rome School of Music, Washington, District of Columbia, USA.

Dr. Nestor conducts the CUA Chamber Choir and University Chorus, teaches undergraduate conducting and guides the formation of graduate students in choral music and musica sacra.

Leo Nestor's works are published principally by ECS Publishing, a division of the E. C. Schirmer Music Company, Boston; other works appear in the catalogues of Oxford University Press, MorningStar Music, Oregon Catholic Press and Selah Publishing House.

Donald Neuen

After twelve years on the faculty of the prestigious Eastman School of Music, Rochester New York, Donald Neuen accepted the position of Professor of Music/Conducting and Director of Choral Activities for UCLA in 1993.He immediately developed the highly acclaimed UCLA Chorale and an outstanding graduate program in choral conducting with both the Master of Music (MM) and the Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA). Fall, 1996, Neuen also accepted the position of Conductor and Artistic Musical Director of the 130-voice, highly select Los Angeles based Angeles Chorale, a large chorus whose repertoire emphasizes major works for chorus and orchestra.

In 1999, he accepted the additional position of Choral Conductor and Minister or Music for the internationally televised Crystal Cathedral Choir with Robert Schuller's "Hour of Power", seen weekly in over 100 countries totaling 20 million viewers. The repertoire ranges from traditional anthems to opera and oratorio choruses, sung in both English and many foreign languages.

Wendell Nisly

An instructor at Calvary Christian Academy, Wendell teaches music and other subjects to students grades 7-12. He also conducts Oasis Chorale. He completed a Bachelor of Music Education degree at Wichita State University, and a Masters in Choral Conducting at James Madison University. He is passionate about unleashing the beauty of choral music, and exploring with his choirs how beauty in music points to the Author of beauty. He risks periodic reconnaissance missions onto such foreign battlefields as philosophy of education, Christian apologetics, and philosophy of music. Natives of Kansas, Wendell and his wife, Jeanene, live in Harrisonburg, VA.

Weston Noble

Weston Noble is an accomplished American music educator and conductor. As Professor Emeritus of Music at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, he is best known for directing the Luther College Nordic Choir and the Luther College Concert Band.

Weston Henry Noble was born in 1922 on a farm just west of Riceville, Iowa, of English parentage. He was raised in the Free Methodist Church and received his early education in a one-room schoolhouse until the eighth grade, then attending Riceville High School. Like many young Iowans with an interest in music at that time, Noble played in the high school band, sang in the choir, and played clarinet solos at state contest.

Though he originally intended to go to the University of Iowa, Noble, through the influence of his father, Merwin Henry Noble, enrolled at Luther College in 1939 at the age of 16. Majoring in history with studies in music, Noble quickly drew the attention of the music faculty because of his talents in conducting. In his second year he began leading rehearsals. He did his student teaching at nearby Decorah High School.

Francisco J. Nunez

Born in New York City of Dominican descent, Francisco J. Nunez is a composer, conductor, a leading figure in music education, and a visionary, whose strongly held ideas have resulted in the critical and popular success of the award-winning Young People's Chorus of New York City (YPC), a chorus of 250 young people from 8 through 18 of all ethnic, economic, and religious backgrounds. One of today's most sought-after youth choirs with celebrated performances on three continents, YPC is the resident chorus of both the 92nd Street Y and WNYC, New York Public Radio, the first and only resident radio choir of any New York City radio station. In addition, together with the New York City Department of Education, Mr. Nunez is bringing the YPC choral program to an additional 400+ children as part of the chorus's Satellite Schools program in five New York City schools. Mr. Nunez is often contacted by cities around the country for help in replicating the YPC success.

James ODonnell

James O'Donnell is among the leading British organists of his generation. While some might further define him as a church organist and choir director-roles he has fulfilled with the utmost commitment-he has been active on the concert stage both as an organist and conductor. His choice of repertory has been broad, taking in the music of Renaissance-era icons like Palestrina, Josquin Desprez, Victoria, Lassus, and Guerrero, as well as that of twentieth century masters like Stravinsky, Poulenc, Janacek, and Kodaly. As a conductor he has often worked with period-instrument ensembles such as the Hanover Band and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment; as a keyboard soloist or continuo player he has frequently appeared with the Gabrieli Consort and the King's Consort. O'Donnell has made more than 30 recordings for the British label Hyperion.

Matthew Oltman

Matthew Oltman, Music Director, joined Chanticleer in 1999 singing tenor with the ensemble. In 2004 he was appointed Assistant Music Director under Joseph Jennings and in 2009 took over artistic leadership of the company following Mr. Jenning's retirement. During his decade with the ensemble, Mr. Oltman appeared on twelve critically acclaimed recordings, toured extensively throughout North America, Europe and Asia, and led numerous workshops and masterclasses with choristers world-wide.

In March of 2010 he conducted over 450 high school choral and orchestral students from across the country in Chanticleer's first National Youth Choral Festival, The Singing Life, on the stage of Davies Symphony Hall. He is the editor of the Chanticleer choral series, published by Hinshaw Music and was deeply involved in the publication of Chanticleer's Silver Jubilee Anthology of Music and A Chanticleer Christmas Anthology.

Jerold D. Ottley

Jerold Don Ottley was the music director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir from 1974 to 1999. His duties with the choir included the preparation and performance of nearly thirteen hundred weekly radio and television broadcasts of Music and the Spoken Word. He also led the choir in more than thirty commercial recordings and more than twenty major tours, in addition to regular concerts in the choir's home in the Salt Lake City tabernacle.

Early in his career, Dr. Ottley was a teacher and conductor in the schools and churches of Salt Lake City. Just prior to his appointment with the Tabernacle Choir, he taught on the music faculty at the University of Utah and served as the assistant chair of the music department. Since his retirement, he has been involved in volunteer work for four years as administrator and teacher for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Training School at Temple Square, as a Tabernacle Choir staff volunteer revising the choral library computer database, as artistic advisor to the Salt Lake Interfaith Roundtable, and as a lay bishop for a congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. From 2005 to 2008, he directed the University Chorale at Brigham Young University-Hawaii, a LDS church-owned university in the town of Laie on Oahu's north shore.

Matthew Owens

Matthew Owens became Conductor of The Exon Singers in 1997. He has broadcast with them regularly on BBC Radios 3 & 4, given concerts throughout the country and directed the annual Exon Singers Festival in Devon. Under his direction, The Exon Singers has premiered a series of new works by, among others, Richard Allain, Grayston Ives and George Lloyd and recorded George Lloyd's Requiem on the Albany label. Most recently, the choir recorded the Victoria Vespers, which is the first of a series of recordings with Delphian Records.

Matthew Owens is also Organist and Master of the Choristers of Wells Cathedral, a post which he took up at the age of 33 in January 2005. He was previously Organist and Master of the Music at St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh and Sub Organist of Manchester Cathedral.

Christopher Page

A philologist by training, a musicologist by proven merit, and a performer by deep instinct, Christopher Page integrates the various aspects of his professional life as a humanist in the best sense of the word. He once welcomed a reviewer's comment that described his book as "Social history illuminated by its interest in music as an essential part of human experience." Page's career in scholarly teaching and publication freely informs his life as a performer of medieval musics and vice versa; both contribute to his vibrant analyses of medieval thought, especially that concerning music and the experience of music in human society. Page's academic credentials include a bachelor's degree in English from Oxford University (1974) and a PhD. from the University of York (1981). While completing his dissertation on Anglo-Saxon verse forms, he began publishing articles on the history of musical instruments as seen in medieval texts and illuminations, as well as papers on performance practice. New College, Oxford, appointed him lecturer in Old and Middle English (1980-1985), followed by the University of Cambridge in 1985.

Alice Parker

Alice Parker received professional training successively as a composer, conductor and teacher. Her work is founded on the interaction of these fields, and their extension into writing, theorizing and mentoring. It is founded upon the conviction that music is first and foremost sound, and that a paper diagram is a very imperfect medium for its transmission.

Vocal sound comes from human throats, and is infinitely variable. An inner vision of those sounds is necessary before one can evoke them through composing or performance. She knows that wonderfully musical sounds can come from amateur as well as professional singers, from children as well as adults, and from churches, schools and family groups.

Stefan Parkman

Swedish conductor Stefan Parkman began his musical career by singing in the Uppsala Cathedral Boys' Choir. At the Royal College of Music in Stockholm he studied singing, as well as choral conducting with Eric Ericson and orchestral conducting with Jorma Panula. He was director of the Boy's Choir at Uppsala Cathedral from 1974 to 1988, and conducter of the Royal Philharmonic Chorus in Stockholm from 1985 to 1993. Since 1983 he has been conducter of the Uppsala Chamber Choir. In 1988 he was appointed chief conducter of the Danish National Radio Choir, having been a regular guest since 1983. Stefan Parkman has conducted most of Scandinavia's symphony orchestras and ensembles. He performs regularly with the Swedish Radio Choir, and often works with Stockholm Opera and the Drottningholm Festival Opera and Ballet. As a freelance conducter Stefan Parkman appears with numerous ochestras and ensembles in Scandinavia, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal Opera in Stockholm. He regularly conducts the Swedish Radio Choir, the Rundfunkchor Berlin and the BBC Singers, teaches choral conducting at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and gives master-classes in Scandinavia and elsewhere.

Elizabeth Patterson

Elizabeth C. Patterson has been director of Gloriae Dei Cantores since 1988, and under her inspired leadership, the choir has achieved musical expertise and international renown. In Tune commended her for "genius in selecting just the right tempos and dynamics...serious, winning and convincing." Commenting on her conducting, the New York Times noted "clear commitment to rigorous training by the choir's conductor, Elizabeth Patterson."

Elizabeth C. Patterson's extensive experience as a music educator, coupled with her gifts as an interpreter of great intelligence and depth, have contributed greatly to the choir's accomplishments over the past decade, and as stated by Musical Opinion, "the music's deeply spiritual quality comes across with great force." Patterson has also gained recognition for her extensive contribution in the interest of Gregorian chant, by performance of chant in concert with Gloriae Dei Cantores, and by authoring a book on chant, The Sound Eternal.

Sharon J. Paul

Sharon J. Paul is an professor of music, chair of vocal and choral studies, and director of choral activities at the University of Oregon. She earned her D.M.A. in choral conducting from Stanford University, an M.F.A. in conducting and performance practice from UCLA, and a B.A. in music from Pomona College.

From 1984-1992, Paul served as director of choral activities at California State University, Chico, where she directed a large choral program and taught undergraduate and graduate courses in conducting, choral literature, and the humanities. In 1991 Paul was awarded the Outstanding Teacher Award at CSU, Chico.

Daniel Paulson

Daniel Paulson, holds a Bachelor of Music degree in voice performance from Sacramento State University, and a Masters of Music Degree in Choral Conducting from the Three-Summer Masters of Music degree program at California State University, Los Angeles.

Hailed as an "astute programmer" and a conductor who can "coax urbane performances from his singers," Daniel has been a featured conductor on the International Festival of New American Music in Sacramento, CA, the Old First Concert Series in San Francisco, CA, the Northern Zone Music Educators Association's High School Honor Choir in Nevada, CA, and the American Choral Directors Association's 2011 National Convention in Chicago, IL. He is a student of Dr. William Belan, Professor Emeritus of Choral Studies at California State University, Los Angeles, and Donald Brinegar, Professor Emeritus of Choral Studies at Pasadena City College and adjunct Professor of Graduate Choral Conducting at the University of Southern California.

As a commissioned composer, Daniel's catalogue includes over twenty works written for strings, piano, and chorus. His recent commissions include two major works for the Crocker Art Museum's exhibitions of both Gottfried Helnwein and Sam Francis. Several of his arrangements have been released on the compact disc, Christmas Colours, and are available for purchase on iTunes.

His extended education includes studying early music with the Western Wind Ensemble, the King's Singers, and at the 2013 American Bach Soloist's Summer Academy. He has been a two-time guest presenter for the Los Rios Community College District "INNOVATE" Technology Summit, working with educators on the use of the IPAD in the classroom, and recently was a featured presenter at the TEDx Conference, here in Sacramento. In the Summer of 2014 he spent a month teaching vocal/choral music as a guest lecturer at the National University in Costa Rica.

Currently, he is Professor of Voice and Choral Music at Sacramento City College, is a resident artist with the Tahoe Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, and serves as Founder & Music Director for Vox Musica. For More information visit: www.dpmusic.net

Sandra Peter

Dr. Sandra Peter is an Assistant Professor of Music at Luther College, Decorah, Iowa, where she directs Cathedral Choir (100 sophomores, mixed voices) and Aurora (100 first-year women). She also teaches introductory and advanced choral conducting.

In demand as a choral clinician and guest conductor, she has led All-State and honor choirs throughout the United States. Dr. Peter also conducted the Concert Choir and Bach Cantata Choir and Orchestra of the 2009 Lutheran Summer Music Academy. 2010 engagements included the Northwest-ACDA High School Women's Honor Choir, the Mississippi All-State Women's Choir, clinics and presentations in Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, New Mexico, New York and Wisconsin, and a performance with Cathedral Choir at the NC-ACDA conference in Minneapolis. During the 2010-11 year she is completing a book entitled Making connections: core principles for choral conductors.

Dr. Timothy Peter

Dr. Timothy Peter, head of the music department and professor of music at Luther College, conducts the Collegiate Chorale, a 90-voice select Junior-Senior choral ensemble and Luther's first-year 90-voice men's choir, Norsemen. After growing up on a farm in Minnesota, Peter received his undergraduate degree from Luther College, working with Weston Noble and completed the degree of Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Arizona, under the direction of Dr. Maurice Skones.

Previous to his appointment at Luther College in 1991, he was a high school choral director and church musician in Iowa and Arizona. Recently, he has been the state and divisional Repertoire and Standards chair for College and University Choirs for the American Choral Directors Association. His choirs have been selected to perform at three Divisional NC-ACDA conventions held in Minneapolis, Minn., Sioux Falls, S.D., and Madison, Wis. His off-campus teaching, adjudicating, and conducting includes numerous appearances as a convention presenter, festival clinician, and all-state conductor in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin. .

Peter Philips

Peter Phillips has dedicated his career to the research and performance of Renaissance polyphony, and to the perfecting of choral sound. He founded The Tallis Scholars in 1973, with whom he has now appeared in over 2,500 concerts worldwide, and made over 60 discs in association with Gimell Records. As a result of this commitment Peter Phillips and The Tallis Scholars have done more than any other group to establish the sacred vocal music of the Renaissance as one of the great repertoires of Western classical music.

Peter Phillips also conducts other specialist ensembles. He is currently working with the BBC Singers, the Netherlands Chamber Choir, the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, The Danish Radio Choir (Copenhagen) and El Leon de Oro (Spain). He is Patron of the Chapel Choir of Merton College Oxford.

Simon Phipps

Simon Phipps was born in London and received his early musical training as a chorister at New College, Oxford. He took his B.A. as a Choral Scholar at King's College, Cambridge and went on to study singing at the Guildhall School in London. Conducting studies in Munich and Manchester followed and he made his professional debut at the Gothenburg Opera in 1985.

The next ten years were largely devoted to opera with engagements at Sadlers Wells and English National Opera in London, Krefeld in Germany, and Malmo in Sweden . In 1994 Simon Phipps moved to Sweden and has since then lived in Gothenburg. Although opera is still an important feature of his career (since 2003 he has been the Artistic Director of Lacko Opera Festival and in November 2005 he conducted the Scandinavian premiere of Britten's Paul Bunyan in Gothenburg) orchestral and choral work is now equally important.