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Presenters

Rev. Bruce Epperly and Dr. Daryl Hollinger, co-authors of From a Mustard Seed: Enlivening Worship and Music in the Small Church, served together at Lancaster Theological Seminary in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Daryl is the seminary musician and an adjunct professor of worship and music. Bruce is a theologian, pastor, spiritual guide and author of 22 books. Each also serves local congregations in the Lancaster, Pennsylvania area. They will share their insight and experiences engaging their congregations in enlivened worship. More about Rev. Epperly and Dr. Hollinger

Alice Parker received her Masters at Juilliard studying with Robert Shaw. Her life-work has been in choral and vocal music, combining composing, conducting and teaching in a creative balance. Her arrangements with Robert Shaw of folksongs, hymns and spirituals form an enduring repertoire for choruses all around the world. Alice joins us to demonstrate her approach to hymns and congregational song and to lead us in one of her famous SINGS. More about Alice Parker

Dr. David Neiweem is one of New England’s most sought-after musicians. He has taught at the University of Vermont since 1982 and has served as professor as well as chair of the music department. He is director of the choirs, and teaches in the vocal studies and conducting/music education areas. He is the university organist and carillonneur. Neiweem is also music director of the Burlington Choral Society, the Pitten (Austria) International Music Festival, and the First Congregational Church of Burlington. David will be directing our Conference Choir along with the Choral Conducting Masterclass.

Karen James began ringing bells in 1983. Karen was selected to ring with the Dream Team at The Solo/Ensemble Extravaganza, in the summer of 2007, an event especially tailored for the needs of handbell soloists and ensembles. She enjoys accompanying recitals, and directing musicals. Karen has taught music for more than 30 years in the public schools and private studio. She rings with the New England Ringers, the area’s premier handbell ensemble, and is adjunct piano instructor at Castleton State College.

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Workshop Leaders

Peter and Mary Alice Amidon lead day-long, weekend, and week-long choral singing workshops in the United States and the UK. They have been leading shape note singing and gospel singing workshops at major northeast U.S. music festivals for the last twenty years. They are members of, and Peter co-directs, both the Guilford (VT) Community Church (UCC) Choir, and Hallowell, southeastern Vermont’s hospice chorus. The Amidons have toured the United States and Europe with the Word of Mouth Chorus/Northern Harmony performing songs from the Sacred Harp, gospel, and songs from other ethnic choral traditions, and they sing with the Word of Mouth Chorus on the classic Nonesuch album of shape note songs from the Sacred Harp: “Rivers of Delight.” The Amidons’ choral arrangements and compositions, many of which are published in print and online, are being sung far and wide by church, hospice and community choruses; and can be heard on the Amidons’ “Beatitudes” CD, and Hallowell’s “Angels Hovering Round” and “Love Call Me Home” CDs. Many of their arrangements can also be heard online at http://www.amidonmusic.com (click on the “Listen” tab).

Dr. Timothy J. Brown holds the doctoral degree in Music Theory and Composition from the University of Northern Colorado, where he was awarded the Graduate Dean’s Citation for Outstanding Dissertation. He also holds degrees from SUNY Fredonia and Goddard College, and has studied privately with composer John Corigliano. His compositions span a variety of media and styles, ranging from art songs to full orchestral works to unaccompanied choral pieces & chamber works. His CD “Infinity” was released in 2005 and “Songs of Light, Songs of Shadows” in 2006. In 2008, excerpts from his song cycle for chamber ensemble, “In Flanders Fields,” were released. He has been named a recipient of ASCAP PLUS Awards annually since 2005. In 2005, he was awarded the “Lois Bailey Glenn Award for Teaching Excellence” by the National Music Foundation. He received a Meet the Composer Grant in 2009. Dr. Brown has held fellowships at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, The Millay Colony for the Arts, and The Melodious Accord. His music has been heard in the United States, The Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Belgium, Canada, and Brazil.

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Dr. Jo Deen (Jody) Blaine Davis, a native of Missouri, has enjoyed a career in music education, performance, and church music. Since September 2005, Jody has been the director of music ministries at the Congregational Church of New Canaan in New Canaan, CT. Before moving to Connecticut, she was the organist and assistant director of music at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, Houston, Texas. Previously, Jody was a professor of music in Keyboard and Theory at San Jacinto College South Campus in Houston for nearly twenty years. While teaching, she held church positions as choirmaster/organist at St. Thomas the Apostle Episcopal Church and at Central Presbyterian Church in Houston. In 2003, Jody travelled with her husband, Ray, for nearly four months to Europe to perform solo organ recitals in numerous cathedrals in Great Britain and in Germany, France and Italy. Jody has performed throughout the United States as guest recitalist for American Guild of Organists conventions and has been the featured recitalist at the Washington National Cathedral. Jody holds the Bachelor and Master Degrees in Organ Performance from Eastman School of Music and the Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Kansas. She is a member of Sigma Alpha Iota, AAUW, P.E.O. and the American Guild of Organists.

Anne K. Hamilton is the choral director at North Country Union High School in Newport, Vermont and directs Northsong, a thirty-voice chamber choir in the Northeast Kingdom. She is a former president of the Vermont Chapter of the American Choral Directors Association and a founding member of the Vermont MIDI Project. She was a runner up for Technology in Music Education Teacher of the Year and has presented workshops and in service training at Music and Technology conferences in many cities throughout the United States. In 2009, Anne was selected as the Vermont Music Educator of the Year.

Beverly Simpson is an organist and choir director in the Hartford Connecticut area. She thought bells were not to be taken seriously until she was called to a church that had three bell choirs. Bells brought instant delight. She took a Beginning Bells course at Westminster Choir College and handbells became an important part of her ministry. Her choirs performed regularly in church services, in the community and on television. Through the years she has been involved in the handbell world as a director, ringer, teacher, clinician, CT Chair of Area I, AGEHR and is also a published composer, the author of “Ringing Basics” and other handbell pieces published by Hinshaw/Bell Canto and Shawnee/Flanner. Her collection of “Service Music for Bells” was published by SMP division of Jeffers. Her special joy is to create handbell music that is ‘just right’ for a given moment in worship. 

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Susan Strand has been the organist at the Church of Christ Congregational in Goshen, Connecticut for the past four years and was previously the organist at the Milton Congregational Church in Litchfield, CT for nine years. At the Goshen church, Ms. Strand started a drumming group which consists of drummers ages 5 to over 70 years old. It was pointed out by a parishioner that the drum group is one of the few opportunities for multi-generational activities in the church. Ms. Strand is also a graduate of the Women’s Leadership Institute (WLI) at the Hartford Seminary, where she studied under Professor Miriam Therese Winter and was introduced to African hand drumming. Since that time she has studied with John Marshall and Kojo Bey and numerous other drummers at drumming workshops in New York State and North Carolina. Ms. Strand leads a program titled “Spiritual Drumming” at Wisdom House Retreat and Conference Center in Litchfield, CT and is the drumming instructor for the UU Fellowship and Fun Conference at Ferry Beach Universalist Unitarian Conference Center in Ferry Beach, Maine.

Margaret (Maggi) Tucker is Minister of Music emerita of First Congregational Church, Houston, Texas where she served as organist and director of vocal and handbell choirs for twenty years. She co-edited the church's hymnal HYMNS OF TRUTH & LIGHT, now in use in over 100 congregations across the country. She is a composer of choral anthems, handbell music and hymn tunes, with more than 100 compositions in print. Her handbell compositions have won area and national composition contests and she has served as conductor and/or clinician for numerous state, area, national and international handbell festivals and seminars. Maggi holds a B.Mus. degree in organ from The American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, and masters degrees in cultural anthropology and choral conducting from the University of Houston. She was one of the first Commissioned Ministers of Music in the United Church of Christ and now serves on the UCC Musicians Association Board of Directors.

Joe Utterback is a recording artist, composer and recitalist. He serves as the director of music and organist for the First Congregational Church of Stratford, Connecticut. He manages the church’s Rose Window Concert Series and directs the Stratford Sister Cities Chorus. Having served long-term engagements in jazz centers such as St. Louis and San Francisco, Joe currently plays annually for the Gala Tony Awards Receptions and for the Screen Actors Guild. Additionally, he can be heard periodically at NYC jazz clubs, such as Tomi Jazz. He also performs recitals and participates with organists in churches around the country. Joe has led workshops on improvisation for AGO regional and national conventions, the RCCO and MTNA. President of Jazzmuze, Inc., Joe has published more than 350 compositions for organ, choir, piano, and organ with instruments. He has received annual ASCAP Awards since 1991. Connoisseur Jazz and Jazzmuze, Inc. have released his nine CDs. Blues and Ballads at the Movies received a Grammy nomination. A Kansas native, Dr. Joe holds a DMA from the University of Kansas, Lawrence. He is on the music faculty of Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, Connecticut. More information is available at www.joeutterback.com and www.jazzmuze.com.

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Performing Artists

Bella Voce Women's Chorus of Vermont was founded in March of 2004 by Dr. Dawn Willis and performed their first full concert in May of that same year. The chorus of 40 auditioned singers performs existing and newly-commissioned sacred and secular works for women's voices throughout Vermont and the Northeastern United States. Bella Voce members have also toured Europe including performances in concert halls and churches across Austria and Italy in 2011and Ireland in 2008.

Bella Voce Women’s Chorus offers a mentoring program for college music education majors, conductors, and music teachers in their first years of teaching. This program offers young conductors the unique opportunity to advance in their musical careers through a supportive program which provides a variety of leadership experiences, direct feedback, and instruction by multiple professionals for each step of their development from rehearsal preparation through performance. 

The mission of Bella Voce Women’s Chorus is to promote choral music of quality through performances of high artistic value; provide members with the opportunity to enhance their musical knowledge and skills; enrich the quality of life of members and audience; serve as role models to women singers of all ages; and promote the value of singing as a life-long avocation.

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Northern Bronze is a community handbell ensemble founded in 2002. Its members have diverse backgrounds, careers, and interests, but all share a love of making music. The group is based in Essex Junction, Vermont and its members hail from all around the Chittenden, Grand Isle and Franklin County areas. Since its formation, Northern Bronze has taken the joy of handbell music to numerous community events in the region. The group is happy to consider other performance venues and is always looking for experienced ringers interested in making the unique music of handbells.

Musical Director Jerilyn Bergdahl has directed handbell ensembles for thirty years and is active in the handbell community in Vermont and also in New England. She is currently the president of the Vermont Handbell Association and directs two Vermont bell ensembles: Northern Bronze of Essex Junction and Bells of Ascension, Ascension Lutheran Church in South Burlington. Both ensembles perform actively in the area and perform in various venues including First Night, weddings, concerts, and community events. More information is available at www.northernbronze.org

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