Choir Fam Podcast

“I had the best working relationship with my co-teachers. We tried to have a cohesive sense of community among all our choirs. One of the ways that we could encourage collegiality amongst our students was to have fun visibly together. If it was clear that we wanted to learn from each other, we respected each other, we admired each other, then the students would do the same thing. That was a great life lesson about creating a healthy culture across choral ensembles: be best friends with your colleagues, let your students see you have fun together, and they will want to have fun together.”

Dr. Matt Taylor serves as Assistant Professor and Director of Choral Activities at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, TN, where he leads Schola Cantorum Chorale while teaching courses in Conducting and Choral Literature. He brings a strong record of work with singers at every level, along with a clear commitment to student growth and ensemble artistry.

Before joining MTSU, Dr. Taylor served on the faculty at Lipscomb University and spent five years as Associate Choral Director at Wando High School in Charleston, South Carolina. He remains active across the region as a conductor of honor choirs and as a guest clinician for school and church ensembles. He also serves as director of the Governor’s School Chorale with the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts. Beyond the podium, he performs as a member of Vocal Arts Nashville and works as a double bassist in live and recording settings. His broad musicianship reflects a deep connection to both choral and instrumental traditions.

Dr. Taylor holds degrees from Samford University, Louisiana State University, and the University of Georgia.

To get in touch with Matt, you can email him at matt.t.taylor@mtsu.edu or find him on Instagram: @matthewtimonthy.

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"One way for me to work through things like gun violence and civil rights issues, things I really struggle with, is to set it to music and build a community around it. I found that this really speaks to singers, which is healing and affirming for me. What's more therapeutic when you're struggling than having a community around you? We build that for each other. I can't write the music and just stop there. It has to be performed. I need a choir around me. I need a community around me.”

Michael Bussewitz-Quarm is an award-winning composer and conductor based in New York whose choral music frequently engages questions of identity, social justice, violence, belonging, and human connection. Her works have been commissioned and performed across the United States and internationally, including at Carnegie Hall, the Kimmel Center, Orchestra Hall, Lincoln Center, DAR Constitution Hall, and the ISCM World New Music Days. Her large-scale choral-orchestral work US, commissioned for Sing Democracy 250, is scheduled for national broadcast and streaming on PBS in September 2026. In 2021, Bussewitz-Quarm won The American Prize in Composition in the Professional Choral Division, and Where We Find Ourselves received support from New Music USA’s Creator Development Fund. Her current major project, This Borrowed Earth: The Rising Forest, is a new choral-orchestral work exploring climate change and humanity’s relationship with the living world. Her music is published by Peermusic Classical, Hal Leonard, and Listen Afresh Publishing.

To get in touch with Michael, you can find her on Facebook (@mbussewitzquarm) or Instagram (@mbuqu) or visit her website, https://listenafresh.com.

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"Working with the MTC Women’s Prison Glee Club was life-changing, taking women who had never been in a choir, teaching them about head voice, consonants, vowels, and diction and all the musical things that we talk about all the time in choir. We went down to the very basics and that was remarkable for us as conductors to see you have the ability to teach anybody if you learn how to sequence and understand where people are and how you can take them to the next level."

Dr. Brandon A. Boyd is the Director of Choral Activities, Graduate Choral Conducting Program Director, and Associate Professor of Music at the University of Missouri, where he conducts MU University Singers, Sankofa Chorale, and Choral Union Symphonic Chorus. In addition to his conducting duties at the university, he teaches graduate courses in choral conducting, choral literature, and choral arranging.

As a proponent of choral singing to build community, his research interests include organizing choirs for the homeless, identifying the social and physical effects of choral singing on senior citizens, creating authentic field experiences for music therapy and choral music education students. For three years, Dr. Boyd co-directed three choral community partnerships in Florida: The Tallahassee Senior Choir, RAA Middle School Partnership Choir (university students and middle school singers), and the MTC Women's Prison Glee Club (university students singing with women housed in a correctional facility).

As an active composer and arranger, his music is sung regularly by ensembles throughout the United States and abroad. Dr. Boyd served as Santa Fe Desert Chorale’s Composer-in-Residence and Community Engagement Leader for their program Giving Voice to the Voiceless. As a global collaborator in the orchestral world, Dr. Boyd has served as chorus master, assistant conductor, and guest pianist with the London Symphony in London, England. He has made multiple performances at Carnegie Hall in the capacity of guest conductor, composer, and collaborative pianist.

He holds two degrees from Florida State University (Ph.D. in choral music education and M.M. in choral conducting) and earned a B.S. in music education (emphasis in piano) from Tennessee State University.

To get in touch with Brandon, you can find him on Instagram (@baboydmusic) or email him at boydba@missouri.edu.

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“Transitions are key to all of the rehearsals that I run. We lose a lot of very valuable rehearsal time when we switch from one task to the next, whether they’re taking their music out or they start talking to a neighbor. Every time we switch tasks, there’s a ‘switch cost,’ which is the time it takes for our brain to transition from one experience to the next experience. I’ve developed transition strategies that help minimize that time. The goal of a transition is to continue the music making through that changing experience.”

Morgan Luttig is a dynamic choral conductor, music educator, and clinician known for her philosophy of "make serious music unseriously." She currently serves as Director of Choral Activities at the University of Alabama where she conducts University Singers, Treble Chorus, and Druid City Chorus while overseeing undergraduate and graduate conducting programs. Her innovative approach to teaching and rehearsing has been recognized through national and state performance invitations, award nominations, grant acceptances, and fellowships. During her tenure, the University of Alabama choral program has nearly tripled in enrollment.

To get in touch with Morgan, you can find her on Facebook (@morgan.luttig) or Instagram (@m.luttig) or email her at mluttig@ua.edu.

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“The work that we do as choral people matters. The art matters. The music is the engine that drives the experience for everybody. In community organizations, they yearn for high level artistry. They don’t want it to be a hobby. They want to be challenged and fulfilled. I want the experience for them to be fun, but I don’t want it to be ‘for fun.’ There’s no bench in a choir. Everyone is contributing all the time, and we need everybody’s best effort all the time.”

Dr. Matt Hill is a choral composer and conductor who specializes in community and collegiate ensembles. In a typical week he conducts five auditioned choirs, including a 7th-12th grade treble choir, undergraduate treble and mixed choirs, and two semi-professional adult ensembles, along with a volunteer church choir.

He founded Sing Omaha in 2007 and serves the nonprofit as Artistic and Executive Director. The organization now reaches approximately 500 musicians a year: roughly 350 singers across nine choirs from kindergarten through adult, plus a private lesson studio of 150 students at two locations. He is also Director of Choral Activities at Creighton University and Director of Worship Arts at Divine Shepherd Lutheran Church.

His forthcoming book, The People-First Conductor, argues that choirs exceed every expectation placed on them when their singers are regarded as people first. Rather than a conducting primer or a repertoire guide, it offers a framework for designing the whole choral experience, from first rehearsal to final bow. The work that happens around the singing determines whether singers will invest in the process and risk the vulnerability that a meaningful social, spiritual, educational, and artistic experience demands.

Hill has twice been named Nebraska Choral Director of the Year, and serves as Executive Director of the Nebraska Choral Directors Association. He has represented community choirs on the national ACDA board since 2021, and has published six articles in Choral Journal.

As a composer he has been commissioned by ensembles across the country and was selected for the International Choral Composers Institute in 2026, where Great is the Sun! closed the final concert and will be published by Choristers Guild in 2027. His catalog with perusal scores and recordings is available at https://www.MattHill.music.

He lives in Omaha with his wife, Jen, and their 7-year-old son, Walter.

To get in touch with Matt, you can visit https://www.MattHill.music, email him at matthill@creighton.edu, or find him on Facebook (@MattHillComposer), Instagram (@matthillcomposer), or X (@matthillmusic).

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“My predecessor is very, very well-known, an amazing choral director, and he’s still in the area. I’m trying to establish myself as the new director following such a well-loved choral director. My colleagues and he himself set me up really well for that. How do I establish myself as somebody who knows what they’re doing and wants to honor what’s important to the community? I’m adjusting to traditions, learning to very gracefully sunset other traditions without ruffling too many feathers.”

Bella Garcia y Lauer is about to start her 3rd year of teaching 8-12 grade choir at Curtis High School and Curtis Junior High School in University Place, and her 5th year of teaching. Born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, she transplanted to Washington after graduating high school, and earned her Master in Teaching from Whitworth University after studying vocal performance and music education at Eastern Washington University. She is active in serving her local professional organizations in many different roles and currently works as a WMEA All State Honor Choirs group manager, is the Reading Session Coordinator for the Washington ACDA Board, and has served on the WA-ACDA Diversity Initiatives Committee since 2022. She is passionate about cultivating a strong and supportive choral culture in her program that broadens equity and opportunity for her students, and inspiring her students to love music and collaborative singing as a way to connect with each other and grow.

To get in touch with Bella, you can email her at bellaglauer@gmail.com or find her on Facebook (@bellawuskii).

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"The most important advice I ever received is that you cannot call a piece 'done' until you have sung through every part, beginning to end, and 90% of the time changed at least one thing because of that sing-through. I think I'm a good music reader, but I'm going to falter at the things that most people would on a first read. If I'm singing through my music and I struggle to find an interval, that immediately gets flagged: Is this worth keeping? Is there a way I can support this so that it becomes an easier interval to find?”

Ryan Main (b. 1984) is an award-winning composer, director, and clinician whose music for choirs and bands is performed at all levels worldwide. His compositions have been performed across the globe and extensively throughout the United States, frequently showcased at prestigious events such as national and regional American Choral Directors Association Conferences, festivals, Carnegie Hall, and other distinguished venues.

Born in the Kansas City, Missouri area, Ryan began his post-secondary music education at the Conservatory of Music and Dance at the University of Missouri–Kansas City (2003–2006), earning a Bachelor of Music in Music Composition. He continued his studies at the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University (2006–2009), completing dual Master of Music degrees in Music Composition and Music Education.

Passionate about ensuring access to quality music education for all, Ryan founded the Youth Chorus of Kansas City, a non-profit organization serving youth from diverse socio-economic and cultural backgrounds throughout the Kansas City metro area. As artistic director, he leads the organization in providing meaningful musical opportunities to students who might not otherwise have access to them.

Beyond his work with young singers, Ryan is dedicated to fostering the next generation of composers. He mentors aspiring creators across the United States and serves as Professor of Choral Arranging at the University of Missouri–Kansas City's Conservatory of Music and Dance, where his students have gone on to successful careers in composing and arranging. He also founded Endeavor Music Publishing, a fair-pay publishing company that ensures composers receive the majority of proceeds from each sale.

To get in touch with Ryan, you can find him on Instagram (@ryanmainmusic) and Facebook: @ryanmain. You can also learn more by visiting https://ryanmain.com/ or https://endeavormusicpublishing.com/. You can email Ryan about compositions at ryan@ryanmain.com or about publishing your works at ryan@endeavormusicpublishing.com.

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"What I do with the high school choirs is important. I always tell them, 'I'm really just trying to convince you to do what you already know you can do, to give yourself to it, to create this big whole beautiful experience for yourselves. Then your audience is privileged to get to see what you can do.' That's the inner calling. It's using conducting, singing, and teaching to try to inspire people to connect with their music-making magic, just trying to connect people."

Hailed as a “composer of energized and soulful music,” Zanaida Stewart Robles is an award-winning artist whose vibrant works have been performed worldwide by professional ensembles, community choirs, educational institutions, churches, and individuals world wide. A sought-after composer, vocalist, and educator, she blends rich harmonies, rhythmic drive, and influences from gospel and jazz to progressive rock, creating music that connects deeply with performers and audiences alike. Her works are available from MusicSpoke, E.B. Marks Music, Pavane Publishing, Oxford University Press, Gentry Publications, Hinshaw Music, and Stainer and Bell.

Dr. Robles is performing arts instructor at Harvard-Westlake Upper School in Studio City, CA. She served for 2 years on the advisory board for the California Choral Directors Association as Repertoire and Resources Chair for Choral Composition. For three years, she served as chair of the board of directors for the Grammy-award-winning choral group Tonality. She also served for four years on the board of directors for the National Association of Negro Musicians.

As a concert soprano soloist, studio vocalist for film and television, and professional ensemble singer, Dr. Robles has sung throughout the United States, and in parts of Europe, New Zealand, and Australia. Some of her film, television, and video game credits include “Glee,” “Godzilla,” “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” and “Wicked.”

Dr. Robles holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in choral music from the USC Thornton School of Music, a Master of Music degree in conducting from CSU Northridge, a Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance from CSU Long Beach, and she is a graduate of the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts.

To get in touch with Zanaida, you can visit https://zanaidarobles.com or find her on Facebook (@zanaida.robles) or Instagram (@zanaidastewartrobles).

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“I tell composers to collaborate with a poet who takes their craft as seriously as they take their craft. It’s a very rare creative who can do both well. What most often happens is a really good composer isn’t a very good poet, or a very good poet is a mediocre composer. One side of that creative process will lose. That’s why I love to collaborate, because you bring in a separate creative mind who has different standards and who takes their craft just as seriously. It keeps both sides intellectually honest, able to not lose objectivity.”

Acclaimed as "the preeminent choral lyricist of our time," poet, author, composer, and clinician Charles Anthony Silvestri specializes in providing bespoke poetry for choral composers, especially texts in Latin, both sacred and secular.

He is the author of more than seventy published works in collaboration with over a hundred composers worldwide, including celebrated composers such as Eric Whitacre, Dan Forrest, Ola Gjeilo, Christopher Tin, and Kim Andre Arnesen; and for groups such as the King's Singers, VOCES8, San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus, and the Tallis Scholars.

As a clinician, Silvestri speaks to choirs about his works, the creative process, and about his collaborative relationships with composers. He has given live and webcast presentations at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Disney Hall, and at universities and schools around the country. His poems for Eric Whitacre's Sleep and Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine have also been published as children's books. He is also the author of A Silver Thread (GIA 2019), a retrospective of almost 20 years of his lyric poetry; and his essays have been published by Business Insider and The Huffington Post. Silvestri's words have been sung by thousands of choirs around the world, and have been heard on television, radio, and Grammy-winning recordings.

​In addition to writing choral lyrics, Silvestri is also an accomplished artist/painter. He is an aficionado of Irish traditional music and plays concertina in a trad band and at pub sessions around the world. Retired from the classroom in 2025, he is a veteran teacher with almost four decades of experience teaching kindergarten through college. He currently lives, writes, and makes music in Lawrence, Kansas.

To get in touch with Tony, you can find him on Facebook (@CharlesAnthonySilvestri) or Instagram (@tony_silvestri) or visit his website, https://www.charlesanthonysilvestri.com/

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"Secondary trauma is when you experience trauma second-hand. The trauma might not have happened to you specifically, but somebody shares with you their firsthand trauma and it impacts you emotionally, maybe physically. We don’t realize that we are very compassionate, empathic people, and we sometimes take it on without meaning to. It can impact us. I don’t think I can think of a teacher who’s never dealt with it.“

Dr. Lynn Ryan began reading music before she learned how to read English. A lifelong musician, she loves to bring the power and joy of music to singers and audiences alike! Lynn is a skilled conductor, soprano, pianist, and horn player – in addition to whatever instrument is lying around!

She has taught in Great Falls for the past fourteen years. As director of the C.M. Russell High School Choirs for ten years she developed a thriving program, leading the Chanteur Choir to four northwest regional conference performances and national recognition as finalists for the American Prize in Choral Music. Currently Lynn enjoys teaching 5th and 6th grade instrumental music at seven different elementary schools. She is also founding artistic director of the non-profit choral arts organization, the Electric City Choral Union. She is an advocate for creating singing opportunities that provide community and high-level artistry. She has served on the Northwest ACDA board, organizes the MCDA Central Montana Youth Sing, and enjoys guest conducting and adjudicating choral music all over the Pacific Northwest.

Lynn earned her bachelor’s degree in K-12 Choral Music Education from Pacific Lutheran University, her Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting from Northern Arizona University, and Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership from St. Leo University in Tampa, Florida.

Outside of school she plays piano and handbells at her church and frequently collaborates with her choral director husband, Patrick. Together they have three children who are budding musicians themselves!

To get in touch with Lynn, you can email her at lynn_ryan@gfps.k12.mt.us, find her on Facebook (@lynn.fransenryan) or visit https://www.electriccitychoralunion.org/ .

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"For years, I felt that there was no connection with my hands and the sound. My perception of conducting at the time was that everything needs to be free and relaxed, no tension - and no tension when you sing. There has to be tension when you sing and conduct, because if there's no tension in the body, you're basically bones and skin on the ground. It's a matter of where the tension is. Is it good tension? Is it bad tension? There's an idea of feeling a sense of weight in the gesture, in the breath."

Dr. Gary Seighman is a Professor, Director of Choral Activities, and Chair of the Music Department at Trinity University. Under his leadership, Trinity’s choirs have earned numerous accolades, including invited performances at state and national conferences, tours across the United States and abroad, unique artistic collaborations, and commercial recordings. A charismatic and passionate artist, Seighman is highly sought after as a clinician, guest conductor, and speaker. He received the 2023 Innovative Concert Programming Award from the Texas Choral Directors Association and, more recently, the Guy H. Ranson Memorial Award for excellence in teaching, research, and service from the Carlos Alvarez School of Arts and Humanities. He is honored to conduct the 2025–2026 Texas Private School All-State Choir.

Since 2015, he has conducted in East Asia six times, including leading the Peking University Summer Opera Program, offering graduate masterclasses in Taiwan, and participating in engagements in Japan. In 2019, he was artist-in-residence at University College Dublin, with additional work in London, Cambridge, and Liverpool. He served as chorusmaster at the Classical Music Festival in Vienna (2018) and led the TU Chamber Singers on a 2024 tour of the U.K. and France, featuring a live-broadcast evensong from Winchester Cathedral. His Carnegie Hall conducting debut came in 2022, followed by returns in 2023 and 2025 to conduct the National Honor Choir.

In 2021–2022, Seighman served as a TU Public Humanities Faculty Fellow. He has authored over a dozen publications in book chapters and peer-reviewed journals, released a published conducting masterclass video with Forward Motion, and presented more than thirty sessions at conferences nationwide. Always eager to explore new artistic and creative outlets, Seighman has been signed as a model and actor with Avant Agency since 2018, appearing in print, online, on billboards, and in radio and television. His new book The Choir Playbook: Tools for the Imaginative Conductor is available from GIA Publications. In his spare time, he coaches soccer, softball, and baseball for his children, Gabrielle and Justin.

To get in touch with Gary, you can find him on Instagram (@gary_seighman) or Facebook (@gary.seighman) or email him at gseighma@trinity.edu.

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“We really wanted our choirs to be more embedded in the community. When I moved to Syracuse, I thought, ‘what does that mean for me?’ There are a lot of teachers out there who are just itching for a professional or pre-professional experience. They’ve been teaching notes all day. You know they want to come and sing, do something meaningful for their community.”

Dr. Wendy K. Moy is a conductor, soprano, educator, and nonprofit founder whose work centers on the culture of choral communities and the power of singing to foster belonging. She serves as Associate Professor and Chair of Music Education at Syracuse University, where she teaches conducting, choral literature, and music education courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels, and directs the Syracuse University Oratorio Society.

Dr. Moy is the co-founder and co-artistic director of Chorosynthesis Singers, the 2024 American Prize winners in Choral Performance, and the founder and artistic director of Ensemble Sonora, a semi-professional treble choir dedicated to performing music that engages with the issues and stories shaping our communities. Her research on singing communities is published in Resurrecting Song (Routledge) and in Oxford University Press's Together in Music. A third-place American Prize winner in Choral Conducting, she has led ensembles across the United States, Brazil, and China.

To get in touch with Wendy, you can visit her website, https://wendymoy.com, or find her on Instagram (@maestramoy) or Facebook (@wendy.moy1).

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“I really care a lot about what the student wants to get out of our time together: finding a nice, healthy, balanced phonation that they identify with, that they feel is their true sound, not something I’m forcing them to sound like. More than anything I want my students to feel confident and empowered in making their own voice sound out loud. I just want people to feel joyful and confident participating in the creation of art with their voice.”

Mandy Matthews is an active Brooklyn based cross-genre singer and teacher. She performs regularly in musical theater cabaret nights, pop and jazz a cappella small groups, and sings with multiple choirs including The Marble Choir (NYC), The Young New Yorker's Chorus, and The Sedona Academy of Chamber Singers. Throughout her undergrad and master’s studies, she appeared regularly in operatic, cabaret, and musical productions. ​Mandy has music directed multiple youth music theater productions around the country, served as a high school choral director, maintained a private voice, piano, and theory studio since 2016, and has guest taught at various academies, universities, and conservatories. In 2023, she co-founded Berklee College of Music/Boston Conservatory’s first ever student chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing. She graduated with her masters of music in vocal pedagogy from The Boston Conservatory in 2024, and a bachelors in voice performance from Northern Arizona University in 2018.

To get in touch with Mandy, you can visit her website, https://www.mandymatthews.com/, find her on Instagram (@mandymatthews_voice), or email her at outloudmusiclessons@gmail.com.

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“I shortlisted it to about 10 or 11 poems. I printed them all out on big pieces of paper, and I did visual sketches of what the piece might look like. I would lay them out on the ground, mix them around, and play with what kind of arc it would look like. I’d decide which texts would be the big, climactic moments in the piece, and once I have those two or three big moments, I look at what kind of vibe or style fits between those, and I take my best stab at making that transition."

Dylan Trần (1994—) is an artist based between Vietnam and the U.S. He views music as a form of world-building, poignantly evoking nuanced atmospheres in a way that is both intimately expressive and boldly energetic. His compositional practice strikes a balance between welcoming and challenging, having curated a unique musical language that is equally rewarding to performers and audiences.

Born in a rural parish hospital, one of eleven children, and raised in a double-wide trailer in central Louisiana, Dylan’s first dream was to be a rockstar / actor / tennis pro / and Pokémon-trainer. At 14 years old, he put those dreams on hold and joined his high school choir. Since then, he has been commissioned by HULU, the Oxford American Journal, TAAF, and more. He has conducted and coached ensembles throughout the U.S. and in Europe and has volunteered for music programs across the country and in Vietnam. His pieces have been performed all over the U.S. and his arrangements have been performed in Australia, Austria, Canada, Finland, India, and the U.K.

Prioritizing ethical, equitable community engagement and well-being, Dylan insists on leaving a positive, tangible impact wherever he works. He has developed and is constantly refining an artistic practice that involves the ongoing redistribution of funds, resources, and recognition.

To get in touch with Dylan, you can find him on Instagram (@dylantranmusic) or visit his website (https://dylantranmusic.com)

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“There’s three things we have in music: the choir, the rehearsals, and the concerts. We put the people first, not the product. There’s a lot of coaches who have this collateral damage thing about winning, and we choral directors have this collateral damage thing about getting a superior rating. It just doesn’t work that way. I put the kids first, and it’s amazing how my rehearsals changed.”

Dr. J. Edmund Hughes [b.1947] retired from the Music Faculty of Chandler-Gilbert Community College in August, 2011 after a teaching career which began in 1971. While at CGCC, he taught choir, music theory, conducting, and organized two on-campus choral festivals per year. From 1990 - 2011, he was the Director of Music at Velda Rose United Methodist Church in Mesa. Prior to his appointment at CGCC, he taught at Tucson High School, California State University-Fresno and Phoenix College. Most recently he was an Adjunct Professor at the University of Puget Sound (Tacoma, WA), where he directed the Chorale.

His choirs have had the distinction of performing at ACDA, NAfME, and Arizona MEA conventions. In April, 2017 he directed “Requiem” by John Rutter, in his Carnegie Hall debut.

He has also presented lectures and demonstrations on special interest sessions at ACDA and AMEA conventions. In 2002 he received the Arizona Outstanding Choral Educator Award by ACDA, and in 2005 he was honored as the Arizona Music Educator of the Year by AMEA. He received the first Lifetime Achievement Award granted by the University of Arizona Choral Music Department (December, 2011) and the Lifetime Achievement Award from AMEA (February 2012). Most recently (2024) he received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Arizona School of Music, and in 2026 the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Arizona Choral Educators.

Dr. Hughes is a past President of Arizona ACDA, has served AMEA in numerous capacities. Dr. Hughes has over 40 choral compositions in print, which are published with Santa Barbara Music Publishing Co., Walton Music, Pavane Publishing, and Colla Voce Music, Inc. He received his Bachelors, Masters and Doctorate Degrees from the University of Arizona with doctoral studies at the University of Southern California.

Dr. Hughes now lives in Eugene, OR with his wife, Carole, and their rescue dog, Bailey. He has 3 children. His hobbies are weight lifting, biking and jogging. He remains quite active in the choral field by adjudicating, directing honor choirs, presenting workshops, clinics and composing.

To get in touch with Ed, you can email him at jedmundhughes@gmail.com or find him on Facebook (@jedmund.hughes5).

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“There’s still so much we can say through choral music, and a good portion of the music that gets put on the concert stage revolves around similar themes that are timeless, that humans are always wrestling with. At the same time, life moves on, and I think choral music in the last couple years has been a really important response to where we are as a society. An artist’s impetus is to respond to events, feelings, and all those sorts of things that get our heart racing.” - Timothy Takach

“I’ve realized over the years that if I want my music to live and be performed in a bigger way, I had to figure out how to refine those musical ideas to make them accessible to more musicians. That has been a big part of what we’ve been doing in our own personal work, but we’ve been helping our composers through Graphite do that as well, saying, ‘this is an amazing idea. I love this sound. Is there a way you can make it simpler so more people can be successful with it?’” - Jocelyn Hagen

Jocelyn Hagen composes music that has been described as “simply magical” (Fanfare Magazine) and “dramatic and deeply moving” (Star Tribune, Minneapolis/St. Paul). She is a pioneer in the field of composition, pushing the expectations of musicians and audiences with large-scale multimedia works, electro-acoustic music, dance, and opera. Her melodic music is rhythmically driven and texturally complex, rich in color and deeply heartfelt. A champion of the female spirit, many of her projects focus on the stories of women. She is a co-founder of Graphite Publishing and the band Nation, singing her heart out every chance she gets.

Inspired by narrative, magical realism, speculative fiction and making better humans through art, the music of Timothy C. Takach is a mainstay in the concert world. Applauded for his melodic lines, text choices and rich, intriguing harmonies, his compositions are performed worldwide. He is a co-founder of Cantus, Graphite Publishing and Nation, and he is a co-creator of the theatrical production All is Calm: the Christmas Truce of 1914. Takach has frequent work as a composer-in-residence, presenter, conductor, clinician and lecturer.

To get in touch with Jocelyn & Tim, you can find them both on Facebook (@JocelynHagenMus and @timothyctakach.composer). Jocelyn is also on Instagram (@jocelynhagenmus) and TikTok (@jocelynhagen). You can also subscribe to their YouTube channels (@JocelynHagenComposer & @TimothyCTakach) and visit their websites to subscribe to their newsletters: https://jocelynhagen.com/ and https://timothyctakach.com/.

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“Nobody really teaches you how to write for the voice because every voice is different. We’re given these standard ranges, which is fine for harmony exercises that aren’t meant to be sung. The information we have guiding us is half-knowledge that’s more dangerous than nothing at all. It’s a question of ‘how can you empathize with the singer?’ As a composer, I work with them to create a composite work of art that incorporates their expressive agencies.”

Raphael Fusco is an Italian-American composer, keyboardist, and conductor praised as “a lively player and fine improviser” (Los Angeles Times), “one of the most outstanding composers of his generation” (El Mundo), and “a leader in the opera world today” (OperaWire). His compositions span opera, orchestral, choral, art song, and chamber works, that blend expressive lyricism and vibrant textures with structural clarity and dramatic depth. He has received commissions from the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Cecilia Chorus of New York, I Cantori NY, Hartford Chorale, and members of the New York Philharmonic and Metropolitan Opera Orchestras, with premieres at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Casa Milà (Barcelona), the Oriental Art Center (Shanghai), and ÉgliseSaint-Séverin (Paris).

Fusco has won awards from the NATS Art Song Composition, Phoenix Boys Choir New Works Rising Competition, American Prize, Notre Dame University Liturgy Alive Composition Competition, Ruzickova Composition Competition, Fyfe Choral Composition, and Aliénor Harpsichord Competition.

As a pianist and harpsichordist, he has performed with the New York Philharmonic, American Ballet Theatre, and Branford Marsalis. Fusco studied with David Loeb, Robert Cuckson, and Carl Schachter at the Mannes College of Music in New York, Giulio Castagnoli in the G. Verdi Conservatory of Turin, Philip Lasser and Narcis Bonet at the École Normale in Paris. He holds a doctorate from the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, where his artistic research explored empathy and expressive agency in vocal composition.

To get in touch with Raphael, you can find him on Facebook (@raphael.fusco.9), Instagram (@fuscoraphael), and YouTube (@RaphaelFusco) as well as visit his website: https://www.raphaelfusco.com/.

Email choirfampodcast@gmail.com to contact our hosts.

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“If you give attention to the right behaviors, they will multiply. If they sing well and supported and you encourage that, that is going to multiply. If you give attention to the bad behaviors – and that doesn't just mean behavior things like talking out of turn – even though it's being criticized, because it gets attention it will multiply . This is true in life. Whatever you think is positive and you want to multiply, give it attention, give it love, nurture it, and it will multiply."

Sherry Blevins is a sought-after artist, award-winning composer, lyricist, as well as an award-winning music educator and conductor. She has over 40 published choral works with 7 different publishing houses including her own series with Hinshaw Music and has been honored to compose for and work with a variety of ensembles around the world including Vancouver, Canada, Lucca, Italy, Bejing, China, Western Alaska, and across the continental United States. She premiered her work “Awaken” at Carnegie Hall with National Concerts in 2024 and conducted her own choral suite, “Tipping Point” at Carnegie Hall in 2025. She was recently honored to be included in GIA's 2025 book, Choral Repertoire by Women Composers. She is also Founder and Artistic Director of the International Choral Composers Institute which hosted 40 composers and lyricists in its inaugural year.

According to Hinshaw Music, “Sherry Blevins, a luminary in the world of choral composition and education, orchestrates harmonies that resonate with the soul. Her musical expertise is surpassed only by her dedication to nurturing the next generation of voices, making her a revered figure in both composition and education.”

Ms. Blevins has a bachelor’s degree in music education with a principal in voice from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a master’s degree in choral conducting from Appalachian State University. Her hope is that whether through composing or teaching, that the music she shares will bring hope, life, and light to others.

You can find Sherry Blevins’ work wherever music is sold and you may contact her at https://sherryblevinsmusic.com.

To get in touch with Sherry, you can email her at sherryblevinsmusic@gmail.com, find her on Facebook (@sherry.blevins.18), or visit her website.

Email choirfampodcast@gmail.com to contact our hosts.

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"I have to say that the best experience was to conduct choirs on many levels, with amateurs who loved what they did, it was a pleasure working with them just because of that, and also working with higher-level groups and being able to do other things. I started teaching children from 6 years old up to 20. I had non-auditioned groups and more advanced students. That for me was my best teaching experience."

Tiago Marques studied Piano, Guitar, Singing and Choral Conducting at the Academia de Amadores de Música (AAM) and the Escola Artística de Música do Conservatório Nacional (EAMCN), Portugal's largest and most prestigious school in primary to secondary music education. Between 1992 and 1996 he got a Bachelor's Degree in Composition at the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa (ESML), studying under Christopher Bochmann and António Pinho Vargas.

Between 1997 and 2002 he studied Choir Conducting at the Utrechts Conservatorium and the Conservatorium van Amsterdam under Daniel Reuss, Jos Vermunt and Jos van Veldhoven. His Bachelor's Degree's final exam included both classical music and close-harmony (jazz, latin and pop music for vocal ensembles), a genre in which he has been specializing for many years while singing in, conducting and writing for several choirs and vocal groups. He followed summer courses and workshops in this genre with, among others, Darmon Meader, Peter Eldridge, Kim Nazarian and Lauren Kinhan (New York Voices), Michele Weir and Phil Mattson (P.M. Singers), Anders Edenroth and Peder Karlson (The Real Group), Ward Swingle and Jonathan Rathbone (The Swingle Singers) and Jens Johanssen (Vocal Line). In 2011 and 2012 he got two Master's Degrees in Choral Conducting (both Performance and Teaching) at the ESML.

Between 1994 and 1997 he taught Choir, Chamber Music and Harmony and Musical Analysis at the AAM and the Escola de Música do Orfeão de Leiria. Since 2005 he has been a Choir teacher at EAMCN, heading the Ensemble Music Department since 2024.

In Portugal, the Netherlands and Czechia he conducted several choirs and sang in high level ensembles of music genres such as early music, opera, contemporary and close-harmony. At the moment he conducts Musaico, an advanced choir in the EAMCN, and Coro da Ermida, both of which have been gold medallists in international competitions.

Tiago Marques is also a composer and arranger, having a number of works performed and recorded by choirs and vocal ensembles in Portugal, Spain, France, the Netherlands and Czechia, as well as an award at the International Vocal Group Festival in Tilburg (2004) for Best Arrangement.

To get in touch with Tiago, you can find him on Facebook (@tpnmarques).

Email choirfampodcast@gmail.com to contact our hosts.

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“I didn’t want conducting to be only about telling people what to do and they respond. I’ve been in situations like that, and it’s sometimes very effective, but it wasn’t something that I felt I could ever do naturally. I can bring my full artistry to something even when everyone else in the room is attempting to bring their full artistry. We get their imaginations and their color spectrum. If they’re just fitting into my ideas only, it’s a one-dimensional kind of experience.”

Acclaimed for crafting thought-provoking musical journeys that create deep connections between performers and listeners, Craig Hella Johnson is the founding artistic director and conductor of Conspirare, a GRAMMY®-winning choir and nonprofit performing arts and music education organization that believes in the power of music to change lives, inspire peace, and foster belonging. Founded in 1991 in Austin, Texas, by Johnson and a band of dedicated supporters, Conspirare has become a force for musical and human connection.

Johnson has held leadership roles as Music Director for the Cincinnati Vocal Arts Ensemble, Creative Partner at the Oregon Bach Festival, and currently serves as Artist in Residence at Texas State University. A celebrated guest conductor of choral and orchestral works, he is also a published composer, arranger, and educator, recognized with the 2022 Presidential Award for Excellence in Scholarly/Creative Activities at Texas State University.

His concert-length composition Considering Matthew Shepard, premiered and recorded by Conspirare, continues to reach audiences nationally and internationally. Johnson’s accomplishments have been honored with numerous awards, including a 2015 GRAMMY® for Best Choral Performance with Conspirare, Chorus America’s Michael Korn Founders Award for Development of the Professional Choral Art, Texas State Musician of the Year, the Matthew Shepard Foundation’s Dennis Dougherty Award for Community Leadership, and Wartburg College’s 2023 Graven Award.

To get in touch with Craig, you can email him through Conspirare (info@conspirare.org) or find him on Facebook (@CraigHellaJohnson).

Email choirfampodcast@gmail.com to contact our hosts.

Podcast music from Podcast.co
Photo in episode artwork by Trace Hudson