Sarah Stockton has been leading the New Century Chorale as the Artistic Director since 2009, preparing singers for seasonal performances, clinic opportunities, choir festivals, and most recently DCINY. In addition to her community choir responsibilities, Sarah is the Vocal Music Director at Grand Blanc High School and Grand Blanc West Middle School. Her choirs consistently earn high ratings at District and State Choir Festivals through the Michigan Schools Vocal Music Association. Sarah earned her Master's of Music Degree in Choral Conducting from Michigan State University, studying under Dr. David Rayl and Dr. Jonathan Reed. She received her Bachelor's of Music Education from Central Michigan University, under the guidance of Dr. Nina Nash-Robertson. Ms. Stockton is frequently sought after as a guest conductor and Soprano soloist. Sarah resides in Grand Blanc with her husband Josh, and son, Everett.

New Century Chorale is an adult community chorale of more than 50 voices representing several communities in Michigan. Celebrating our 23rd year, New Century Chorale is committed to sharing our love of music with our community and reinforcing the value of the performing arts in our society. New Century Chorale is enriching lives, one song at time.

Julie Beyler, singer, teacher, adjudicator and conductor founded The CHORALE in 1982.  Beyler served on the staff at Interlochen’s Summer Music Camp, on the Board of Directors of the Charleston, S.C. Opera Co. helping establish the Spoletto Festival and for many. years, on the Board of Directors of the Champaign-Urbana Symphony preparing their symphonic chorus. She has prepared choruses for Alice Parker, Rene Clausen and Craig Jessop. A Mahomet, Illinois resident for 37 years, she maintains a voice studio in her home, where she lives with her husband, Allen.

In 1982, a small ensemble of Christmas carolers, formed The CHORALE, a unique blend of individuals who share a love of singing and performing.  The mixed voice ensemble of 60, under the leadership of its founding director, performs three concerts a season, providing a variety of choral music appealing to audiences of diverse musical tastes. The CHORALE promotes music studies during and beyond college years. Yearly, the group awards ,000 scholarships to outstanding high school seniors, planning to study music at the university level. The CHORALE has performed in Italy, Scotland, Ireland, Hungary, Austria, the Czech Republic, Spain and Portugal.  
 

Adam Gardner-Northrop has been the conductor of the John Glenn High School Varsity Choir in Bay City, Michigan for the past eleven years. He conducts two other high school ensembles as well as three middle school choirs. He received his Bachelors of Music Education and Master of Music degrees from Central Michigan University, both under the baton of Dr. Nina Nash-Robertson. He has been a featured soloist with the Midland Symphony and Choirs. He also has many regional theatre credits across the state of Michigan.

The John Glenn High School Varsity Choir is a premiere ensemble in the Mid-Michigan area. They specialize in new contemporary music from around the world. This is the ensemble's second Carnegie Hall performance, they sang the Haydn "Creation" in May of 2013. The choir has toured across the United States and Canada, performing in Nashville, Washington DC, New York, San Francisco and Toronto.

Originally from England, Dr. Stuart Paul Duncan completed his doctorate in composition from Cornell University under the guidance of the late Steven Stucky and is currently finishing his doctorate in music theory at Yale Univeristy, advised by Patrick McCreless and Richard Cohn. He is currently teaching as Adjunct Professor of Music at the University of Connecticut and is the Music Director and Organist at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Cheshire, CT. His research interests and publications involve British music in the 20th Century, and in particular issues of meter and rhythm in the vocal music of Benjamin Britten.

The Choir and Choristers of St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Cheshire, CT is a volunteer group consisting of singers of all ages. The choir has been a central figure of the church for well over a century and it has explored all different forms of music from gregorian plainchant to classical masterworks to contemporary gospel, folk, and bluegrass. The choir has performed both locally, around Connecticut, and nationally and continues to strive for musical excellence founded on a commitment to community and spirituality.

Vickie Orme, the founder and conductor, has more than 40 years of musical experience including piano, violin, organ and voice. She holds a masters of education and vocal performance and a baccalaureate degree in music education with an emphasis in vocal and choral music. She has taught within the public school system as well as privately and has been a soloist at many church and community functions. Her involvement in community organizations includes presently singing with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus, formerly forming and directing the Stars and Stripes Singers at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and previously being actively involved with the West Atlanta/Douglas Choral Society.

The Douglas County Chamber Singers, formed in 2002, began as a grass roots organization with a goal of providing quality choral music for the citizens of Douglas County, always endeavoring to bring enjoyment to both the listener and the performer. Through our weekly Tuesday night rehearsals from August until March, we prepare for three annual concerts that help us meet our goal. Our most recent accomplishments include singing at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York City, and singing at a musical festival in Vienna, Austria.

Mrs. Sheryl Hauk is currently the Choral Director and musical theater director at West Bloomfield High School and West Bloomfield, Schools’ Fine Arts Coordinator. She was awarded ADCA HS Award in Hawaii. She received her B.S. from Baylor University and earned a masters at Marygrove College and Oakland . She has served as a district manager and honors choir section leader for MSVMA , while adjudicating for JFMC and NPTG. She has served as a clinician at the MMC and MSVMA Summer Workshop. Mrs Hauk’s choirs have performed at the New York City Jazz Festival, Gold Company, with PBS’ Ethan Bortnick and “I Believe” Shoa Requiem Premier, Disney Jazz Festival, and many local and state performances. She is a mother of 4 and grandmother of 2.

The WBHS Choral program currently consists of a SSA Chorale, SATB Concert and Chamber Choirs , and a SSAATTBB Show and a Cappella Vocal Jazz choir, Laker Express Michigan Youth Arts Festival Distinguished Scholars for 2013, 2014 & 2015. DYNCY members include MSVMA All-State Honor Choir members, as well as top ratedMSVMA Solo/Ensemble, and a Mrs Hauk’s choirs have performed at the New York City Jazz Festival, Gold Company, with PBS’ Ethan Bortnick and “I Believe” Shoa Requiem Premier, Disney Jazz Festival, and many local and state performances

Dr. Sue T. Klausmeyer, conductor, is known for her finely crafted programming and vigorous interpretations of modern and classical works. She holds degrees in music from Meredith College, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ, where she studied with joseph Flummerfelt, and the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music studying conducting with Earl Rivers and John Leman. She pursued additional studies in voice and Baroque performance practice at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, studying with Dutch baritone Max on Egmond.  As conductor of university, community and church choirs, Dr. Klausmeyer has led groups on domestic and international tours. With the UNC Women’s Glee Club,  she initiated the Carolina Women’s Choral Showcase, bringing together local high school women’s ensembles to perform contemporary music for women's ensembles. Dr. Klausmeyer has held positions with Duke University Chapel, Duke Divinity School, Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. In 2003 she was selected as a conducting fellow by Chorus America, for its national convention in Kansas City, where she had the opportunity to conduct the Dale Warland Singers and the Kansas City Chorale. She is frequently in demand as a clinician for high school and church choirs. Dr. Klausmeyer is an accomplished singer and has performed as a mezzo-soprano with the Robert Shaw Festival Singers in Carnegie Hall and as a soloist at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston and with the Westminster Choir in Spoleto, Italy. She has sung with the Cantari Singers of Columbus and the Vocal Arts Ensemble of Cincinnati. In 1997, she was awarded a grant by the University of Cincinnati to study the choral manuscripts of Ralph Vaughan Williams in London, England.

Voices is one of the Triangle area of North Carolina's oldest and most distinguished choral groups with a rich history spanning over three decades.  Now in its 36th season, Voices has grown from a small group of adult singers that performed with student choruses from Frank Porter Graham Elementary School and Phillips Middle School in 1980 to the thriving 130 member-governed and operated choral group known for its high standard of excellence today. Voices performs fall and spring concerts often featuring an orchestra, soloists and other guest performers. Dr. Sue T Klausmeyer has led the group since Fall 2000 adding a select vocal ensemble called Cantari, a Summer VOICES program, and a touring choir called the Carolina International Chorale.

Stephen M. Sano is Professor of Music and the Harold C. Schmidt Director of Choral Studies at Stanford University, where he directs the Stanford Chamber Chorale and Stanford Symphonic Chorus. He has appeared as guest conductor with many of the world's leading choral organizations, including collaborative concerts with the Choirs of Trinity College, and St John's College, Cambridge; the Choir of Royal Holloway; and the Kammerchor der Universität der Künste, Berlin. To date, he has taught master classes and conducted festival, honor, municipal, and collegiate choirs from over 20 states as well as from England, Japan, Austria, Germany, Canada, Australia, and Japan.

With over 200 members, the Stanford Symphonic Chorus is the largest choral organization at Stanford University. The ensemble specializes in the performance of choral masterworks with orchestra and makes its home at both of Stanford's primary performance venues, the stunning Bing Concert Hall and cathedralesque Memorial Church. During its history, the Stanford Symphonic Chorus has performed under the batons of many luminary conductors, including Seiji Ozawa, Bruno Walter, Erich Leinsdorf, and Pierre Monteux, and performed at the opening of the 2008 Beijing Olympics International Youth Arts Festival.

Thomas J. Clark is director of choral music at Muskegon Community College and at First Congregational Church of Muskegon, MI. A prolific conductor, Clark is known form interpretive conducting skills. Praised for his versatility, Clark has performed in all of the forty-eight contiguous United Sates as a vocalist and music director. Clark was honored when his choir was selected to perform at the World Trade Center’s Ground Zero St. Paul’s Chapel for relief workers following the terrorists’ attack. Clark holds a Masters in choral conducting from Central Michigan University and a Bachelor of Music Education Degree from Mansfield University, Mansfield, Pennsylvania. Clark has been a guest artist at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp and Director of the Muskegon Choral Arts and Chamber Music Society.

First Congregational Church Motet Choir of Muskegon, MI has been a treasure of its church. The choir presents great religious anthems of many styles and leads the congregation in hymns. In addition, the choir performs large choral masterpieces with orchestra each year; Rutter's Gloria and Requiem, the Faure Requiem, Shubert's Mass in G, Britten's Ceremony of Carols, and Handel's Christmas Messiah. For almost eighty years, the choir has presented a Candlelight Concert which has become a Muskegon holiday tradition. The Motet Choir includes over fifty volunteer singers and choir scholars.

Patrick Coyle is Minister of Music at Park Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan; Chorus Master of Opera Grand Rapids; and Artistic Director of Holland Chorale. He studied voice and organ at Furman University. He earned his Master of Music at Converse College and Master of Sacred Music at Emory University. He studied choral and orchestral conducting at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where he earned his DMA. In Cincinnati, he conducted the Cincinnati Symphony, Cincinnati Men's Chorus and Northern Kentucky Children's Honor Choir. He has conducted eight recordings, and performs in Canada, Germany, Czech Republic, France, Austria and Italy.

The Chancel Choir of Park Church, Grand Rapids, is the premiere ensemble in a program that utilizes fourteen staff members, including six choral scholars. The majority of the choir is volunteer, but includes many professional singers who give of their talent to support the church's progressive contribution to the region. The choir performs regularly on the church's GREAT AMERICAN VOICES concert series, which has included Anonymous 4, Cantus, Chanticleer and Sweet Honey in the Rock. Recent performances: Haydn Lord Nelson Mass, Borodin Polovetsian Dance, Bruckner Te Deum, Mollicone Beatitude Mass for the Homeless.

With ensembles that have been heralded as “beautifully trained and tuned” by the New York Times, Evan Wels is a vibrant force in the New York choral scene. A student of Simon Carrington and Marguerite Brooks at the Yale School of Music, Mr. Wels is now in his thirteenth year as the Choral Director at the Spence School. As a countertenor, Mr. Wels has performed with the Yale Schola Cantorum, the Tiffany Consort and the Yale Whiffenpoofs.

The Spence School Select Choir, under the direction of Evan Wels, is considered one of the top girls’ choirs in New York City. The ensemble is known for its fluency in a wide variety of choral styles, performing exciting and diverse programs which incorporate Renaissance masterworks, Bulgarian folk songs and rousing American gospel and spiritual arrangements. The Select Choir tours extensively, and in recent years it has performed for audiences at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., St. Mark’s Cathedral in Venice, and the Sagrada Família in Barcelona. In New York, the group performs regularly at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall.

Born in Midland, MI, Bradley Fergin, Director of the Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy Choirs, holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Education from Saginaw Valley State University in Saginaw, MI. During his time at SVSU, he primarily studied instrumental music on the saxophone in both the classical and jazz realms. Only later in his studies did he find a joy in singing in solo and choral settings. Mr. Fergin has taught pre-K through 12th grades in charter, private, and public schools in general music, band, and choir. Currently, he teaches the Voice/Keyboard Concentration at SASA.

The Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy High School Choir is comprised of students in the Voice/Keyboard Concentration. SASA is a gifted/talented magnet school within the Saginaw Public Schools and serves students from all around the Great Lakes Bay Region. Our program is able to prepare our students for a degree in music or give an in-depth education in music through piano, voice, theory, and history for non-music majors for a more well-balanced education. On the whole, the students in our choir are very active in musicals, community choirs, instrumental lessons, and sports.

Rebecca Rosenbaum, Music Director, received her DMA and MM degrees in choral conducting from Yale University, and her BA in music from Vassar College. In addition to her experience conducting various ensembles of the Elm City Girls’ Choir and United Girls’ Choir, Rebecca served as the Director of Choral Activities at Vassar College, where she taught music classes and conducted the Vassar Women’s Choir for three years. She has recently taught at Yale University and Bay Path College, and has also served as a choral advisor to the music department at the Spence School in New York, NY. Rebecca has appeared as guest conductor and clinician for a number of regional choral festivals and music programs throughout the United States.

The Elm City Girls' Choir is New England's most highly acclaimed girls' choral program. Based in New Haven, Connecticut, the Choir has received national recognition, and has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Walt Disney World, Radio Vieques and on CBS Television. Since its founding in 1993, ECGC has performed with many respected choral ensembles, such as the New York Virtuoso Singers, CONCORA, The American Boychoir, Yale Schola Cantorum, Yale Glee Club, Yale Camerata, Trinity Boys Choir, Newark Boys’ Chorus and Village Harmony, and with professional orchestras including the Boston Philharmonic, New Haven Symphony, Yale Symphony, and Moscow State Orchestra. In addition, the Choir has been featured at conferences of the Connecticut Chapter of the American Choral Directors Association and the United Church of Christ Musicians Association. In September, 2001, ECGC performed God Bless America with Diana Ross at the women's finals match of the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament. Since then, ECGC has toured nationally and internationally to destinations including China, Italy, England, Canada, Puerto Rico and Mexico.

Dr. Kerry Burtis is the Director of Music at Chemeketa Community College in Salem, Oregon. Prior to Chemeketa, Dr. Burtis taught high school and collegiate music in California and Oregon for over thirty years. His teaching career began at Augustana University in Sioux Falls, South Dakota where he received his BA degrees in Vocal and Instrumental Music Education. His MM and DMA degrees are from the University of Southern California. Besides teaching, conducting, and serving as an adjudicator and clinician, he has also served on the boards of the ACDA, NATS, the California Choral Conductor's Guild, and the CMEA.

The Chemeketa Community College Concert Choir is made up of a diverse group of singers from all walks of life. Some of our singers are local high school students looking for a more advanced choral experience; some are college students who are just starting out on their singing journey, while others have many years of singing experience; and then there are those who come from the community simply looking for an opportunity to join others in this great Art form we call "Singing." Whatever their reason for coming, we welcome all and come together to make the most beautiful music!

Jeremiah J. Kraniak is a native of New Haven, MI. He holds a Bachelors of Arts Degree in Music Education from Saginaw Valley State University, and was the Voice/Keyboard Instructor at Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy for five years. In addition to his position as Music Director of Saginaw Choral Society, Mr. Kraniak is a highly sought after adjudicator and clinician for many acclaimed conferences and clinics throughout the year. He is currently pursuing a Masters of Music Degree in Conducting from Central Michigan University, where he serves as Graduate Assistant to Dr. Nina Nash Robertson.

Entering its 82nd concert season, Saginaw Choral Society consists of 85 volunteer singers who come from all walks of life within the Great Lakes Bay Region of Michigan. The Chorus rehearses Monday evenings from September through May at St. John's Episcopal Church in Saginaw. Performances range from classical masterworks to popular favorites and are held in the magnificent Temple Theatre as well as smaller regional venues. Each December, a holiday concert is featured. The chorus is under the artistic leadership of Jeremiah J. Kraniak, who has infused the ensemble with many wonderful new singers and a newly energized artistic vision.

 

Thomas J. Clark is director of choral music at Muskegon Community College and at First Congregational Church of Muskegon, MI. A prolific conductor, Clark is known form interpretive conducting skills. Praised for his versatility, Clark has performed in all of the forty-eight contiguous United Sates as a vocalist and music director. Clark was honored when his choir was selected to perform at the World Trade Center’s Ground Zero St. Paul’s Chapel for relief workers following the terrorists’ attack. Clark holds a Masters in choral conducting from Central Michigan University and a Bachelor of Music Education Degree from Mansfield University, Mansfield, Pennsylvania. Clark has been a guest artist at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp and Director of the Muskegon Choral Arts and Chamber Music Society.

“Collegiates” Choir of Muskegon Community College is a select vocal ensemble filled with highly motivated vocal performers who crave the experience of performing in a small ensemble setting. Repertoire includes works from Renaissance to contemporary jazz. Collegiates presents concerts on campus and is invited to perform throughout the community.

Dr. Nina Nash-Robertson, a native of Dublin Ireland, recently retired from Central Michigan University, where she served as Director of Choral Activities for 35 years. She has led students on thirteen European and three Chinese concert tours and has taught at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp and Interlochen Center for the Arts, as well as in Peru, the Bahamas, and Canada. Nina received the Central Michigan University “Excellence in Teaching Award,” and the ACDA-MI Maynard Klein Award for “a lifetime of excellence in the field of choral music.” This will be her fifth choral/orchestral conducting experience in Carnegie Hall.

The Central Michigan University choral program has enjoyed a long tradition of excellence, dating back to our first performance of Handel’s “Messiah” almost 120 years ago. Concert Choir (about 80 mostly undergraduate students) and Chamber Singers (appx. 25, mostly upper-level and graduate students) include students who represent a variety of specialties within the university. Festival Chorus includes students, faculty, staff, and community members. In addition to regular on-campus performances, the groups have traveled extensively throughout Europe and China, and regularly perform major choral/orchestral works with the Midland and Grand Rapids Symphonies, in addition to four previous performances in Carnegie Hall.