 Peter and Mary Alice Amidon
Peter and Mary Alice Amidon are versatile and widely respected performing and teaching artists who for the past twenty years have dedicated themselves to traditional song, dance and storytelling.
 Peter Amidon is co-founder and co-music director of Hallowell, a southeastern Vermont based a cappella SATB hospice singing group that has inspired the formation of over fifty more a cappella SATB hospice singing groups throughout the U.S. Many of Peter’s arrangements were first written for the Guilford (VT) Community Church, UCC where he is co-choir director. Peter’s choral arrangements are being sung by hundreds of church, community and hospice choirs throughout the U.S. and the UK. “I can't express to you how moved I am by these songs and arrangements. They are astoundingly beautiful and expressive.” -Kathy Gross - Choir Director, Maple Street Congregational Church, Danvers, Massachusetts
 Mary Alice Amidon is an annual favorite in many elementary schools for her music, storytelling and dance concerts and residencies with K-4 students. She presents teacher workshops by herself and with Peter Amidon across the country. Her two solo albums of songs for children: 'Teaching Kindergarten' and 'Songs for a Singing Family' are two of the most popular CD's from the Amidon collection. She leads harmony singing at Adult Village Harmony and Country Dance and Song Society summer camps. She is one of twenty-five composers commissioned to compose an original choral piece ('Sweet is the Day') for the Social Band's "Vermont Composer's Project" and contributed several compositions and choral arrangements to the Amidons' two choral collections "Fifty-five Anthems for the Small Church Choir" and "Twenty-five Anthems for Interfaith & Community Choirs." Mary Alice has a particular gift for enhancing picture books with music, song, storytelling and movement.
The Amidon’s published music is available at https://www.amidonmusic.com
 Betsy Burleigh
Conductor Betsy Burleigh currently chairs the Choral Department at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music where she conducts the University Singers and the Oratorio Chorus. Most recently she has led Walton's Belshazzar's Feast, the Poulenc Gloria, Handel's Messiah, and the Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony. Betsy teaches conducting and rehearsal techniques to doctoral, master’s, and undergraduate students, and coordinates a department consisting of six concert choirs and six opera choruses. She has previously served as director of the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh, which performed regularly with the Pittsburgh Symphony, and as assistant director of the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus. She considers Boston home, having lived here for fifteen years. During her time in Boston she directed Chorus Pro Musica, the Master Singers of Lexington and the Cambridge Madrigal Singers. Most recently she prepared two concerts for the Boston Symphony Orchestra with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. She also taught at Tufts University, M.I.T., and the Longy School of Music. Other New England credits include the Providence Singers and Clark University. She is delighted to have been invited to this conference, having been raised in Congregational and U.C.C. churches.
Susan DeSelms
 Susan DeSelms has been the minister of music at United Parish in Brookline since 2001. She earned degrees in organ performance and choral conducting from Boston University, Indiana University, and Birmingham Southern College. Susan believes that singing unites us as a people of God and it is her mission to motivate and facilitate congregational song. She is the chair of the planning committee for this conference.
 Griff GallGriff Gall is an elementary music and movement specialist in the town of Danvers, Mass. and is the artistic director of the Back Bay Ringers handbell ensemble. Under his direction, the Back Bay Ringers have become renowned for their musicality and have performed with the Handel and Haydn Society, Boston Children's Chorus, and the Boston Pops. Griff frequently presents workshops on movement and music education, as well as handbells. He has written articles for national and state music education journals and is the author of Ring, Dance, Play: First Experiences with Choirchimes and Orff Schukwerk published by GIA. He holds degrees in music education from Westminster Choir College and Boston University.
Fred Kimball Graham
 A native of Ontario, Fred Graham is Associate Professor Emeritus of Emmanuel College, University of Toronto. During his tenure, he established Canada’s only Master of Sacred Music program, based at the College. From 1988-2002, he was national Officer for Worship and Music for The United Church of Canada, during which time he was instrumental in establishing their association of musicians, Music United. He assisted in publishing the hymnal Voices United (1996) and the book of prayers, Celebrate God’s Presence (2000). For 14 years, he conducted liturgy and music workshops for the denomination from Atlantic to Pacific.
Fred’s training in music was at the University of Toronto (Music Education) and the Eastman School of Music (Organ Performance); his training in theology and liturgics towards the PhD was at Drew University, Madison, NJ with a focus on Methodist hymns of the 19th century. He has served the Consultation on Common Texts for 28 years, and in 2012, edited the authorized version of the Revised Common Lectionary. After graduate studies in Germany, he directed music programs in both United Church and Anglican parishes over a span of 47 years.
His hymn tunes and arrangements appear in Voices United, More Voices, Common Praise, and Glory to God (PCUSA). He is a Licensed Lay Worship Leader in the United Church of Canada, and collaborates in liturgical design and preaching regularly. An inveterate traveler, he currently resides in Guelph, Ontario.
 Megan Henderson
Megan Henderson has lived in the Boston area since attending the Walnut Hill School in 1976. She went from there to graduate with a degree in piano performance from New England Conservatory. In addition to performing as a collaborative pianist, she has taught in many community music schools in the area and now has a private teaching studio. Since its founding in 1982, she has been singing with the Schola Cantorum of Boston, a 12 voice early music ensemble and has made numerous recordings with the Boston Camerata. Megan's passion for shape note and world folk music was ignited when she became a co-leader at the Village Harmony Summer Camp over 25 years ago. She recently toured the UK and Europe as a singer with Northern Harmony, a semi-professional ensemble made up of Village Harmony alumni and leaders. She is the music director of Revels, a national theater organization based in Cambridge, MA. She is also the adult music director and organist at Payson Park Church in Belmont, MA.
Jodi Hitzhusen
 Jodi Hitzhusen is the music world's version of a renaissance woman --- classically trained soprano, accomplished pianist, commissioned composer, gifted worship leader, inspiring teacher. Her music has taken her all across the United States, as well as to Canada, England, Scotland, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea and the Philippines. Hitzhusen is the music director for First Worship, the intergenerational service at the Wellesley Village Congregational Church. She is also a founding member of the world music ensemble Voci Angelica Trio which completed its second tour to Asia in October 2016. Hitzhusen completed her Master of Music at New England Conservatory in 2005 with academic honors and a concentration in music education. She graduated summa cum laude from Evangel University in Springfield, Missouri in 2003 with a Bachelor of Arts in music and English. She was honored as the most outstanding graduate in both fields.
 Rev. Dr. J. Mary Luti
Mary Luti is a retired seminary educator and pastor, teaching for almost two decades in the fields of Christian history and worship at Andover Newton Theological School, where she also served as associate dean for academic programs and director of the Wilson Chapel. For eight years she was the senior minister of First Church in Cambridge, Congregational, UCC, in Harvard Square. In retirement, she has served as sabbatical or interim pastor in large and small churches in the greater Boston area. A regular contributor to the UCC Daily Devotional, she is a frequent keynote speaker, workshop and retreat leader in New England and around the country. She is also a founding member of The Daughters of Abraham, a network of interfaith women’s book groups whose mission is to provide a replicable grassroots platform for greater understanding, respect, and reconciliation among women of the Abrahamic faiths.
Dr. Jameson Marvin
 Jameson Marvin retired in July 2010, after 32 years as director of choral activities and senior lecturer in music at Harvard University. His Harvard choral ensembles are considered to be among the premier collegiate choruses in America. Dr. Marvin’s mastery of the choral art is reflected by his distinguished national reputation as a conductor, scholar, editor, and arranger. His newly formed Jameson Singers recently performed for the Chorus America National Conference and ACDA’s Eastern Conference. Raised in Glendale CA, he received his B.A. degree in music history, theory and composition from UC Santa Barbara, M.A. in choral conducting and early music performance from Stanford University, D.M.A in choral music from the University of Illinois. The Boston Globe calls Marvin “a choral conductor of consummate mastery.”
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 Jane Money and Boston City Singers
Jane Money founded Boston
City Singers in 1995 as a division of Pro Musica. In 2003, Boston City
Singers became a separate chorus and youth development program with
headquarters in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood and currently serves
over 520 young people. Jane has over 25 years of experience in teaching
music in classrooms, school and church choirs. She is passionate about
teaching children.
Ms. Money holds master’s
degrees in music from Auckland University in New Zealand; in music
education from Trinity College of Music in London; and in engineering
(MS) from Boston University. She is also the founding artistic director
of “Children’s Voices of Ireland.” She is a former instructor with the
Metropolitan Opera’s Urban Voices program in Boston, and until June
2008, the director of youth choirs at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in
Wellesley, MA. She is immediate past president of the American Choral
Directors Association R&S Standards Chair for MA. A native of New
Zealand, Jane has been a resident of Dorchester for over 25 years. She
is married with 4 children, all of whom sing.
Boston City Singers:
Founded in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood in 1995, Boston City Singers
is a family of 500 strong young musicians ages 4 – 18 from over 80 zip
codes, 186 schools, and 40 different countries. We know that through
learning and performing together lives are changed, voices found,
barriers lowered and communities united. Our members receive intensive,
sequential training that extends well beyond the concept of a
traditional children’s chorus, learning world percussion, contemporary
improvisation, composition, and movement alongside singing and life
skills. Boston City Singers is honored to be a 3-time finalist in the
President’s Committee on Arts and Humanities Youth Program, an honor
granted annually to only 30 organizations nationwide. In 2014 they were
also named a finalist in the inaugural broadcast season of WGBH’s “Sing
That Thing.” Boston City Singers
Mark Morgan
 Mark
Morgan is an active singer and instrumentalist in a variety of genre.
He is the leader of the River Rock Band, a collective of singers and
instrumentalists exploring new avenues of music in progressive Christian
worship. RRB plays in a huge range of styles from Celtic to gospel,
jazz to folk, world to rock, and everything in between. RRB is in
residence at Hancock Church, UCC, where Mark is the director of music.
Mark is also an active performer in musical theater, operetta, opera,
oratorio, and early music for ensembles all over the country. In
addition, Mark is an active conductor and composer/arranger. A native of
Wisconsin, he is a graduate of Macalester College and the Eastman
School of Music.
Michael Ofori
Michael
Ofori is a multifaceted performing artist from Ghana. He has been
drumming since childhood, learning from many master drummers from the
Center for National Culture in Kumasi. Michael’s creative interests lie
in African performing arts traditions. He has performed with Amammerɛso
Agofomma (Cultural Center’s Folkloric group), Azaguno Inc. (Athens,
Ohio), Manhyia Tete Nnwomkrɔ (The Ashanti King’s Singing and Drumming
Ensemble), The Ghana Dance Ensemble at University of Ghana, The National
Dance Company at the National Theater of Ghana and NOYAM Dance
Institute. Michael holds a BFA in Theater and Dance from University of
Ghana, an MA in African Studies from Ohio University and is currently
pursuing an MFA in Theater Education at Boston University. He is excited
to be sharing his music with all.
Nick Page
 Nick
Page is a Boston based song-leader, composer, conductor and author. He
is the author of three books on music and has over a hundred published
choral pieces. He is conservatory trained (Lorna Cooke deVaron at New
England Conservatory) but schooled in the folk traditions of many
cultures and faiths. He has guest conducted in Europe and throughout
North America including premieres at Carnegie Hall. More info at www.nickmusic.com
Trey Pratt
 Trey is a singer, conductor, and music educator based
in Boston, MA. Interested in community and spiritual advancement through song,
Trey is the assistant director of music at the United Parish in Brookline,
where directs the Carol Choir (grades 1-6). His other appointments include lecturer,
choral assistant, and co-director of Bassline at Endicott College, music director
of JourneySongs, a Newton based vocal ensemble that sends teams to sing bedside
for patients in hospice care, director of the Brooksby Singers at the Brooksby
Village Retirement Community, and instructor in Boston University’s Prison
Education Program. As a tenor, he sings with Genesis Chamber Singers, a group
dedicated to actualizing high-level choral singing within Boston’s South Shore,
FacSing, a manuscript ensemble, and is a member of Vox Futura, New England’s
Premier Recording Choir. He also maintains a private voice studio in Brookline.
His professional affiliations include serving as vice president of Choristers
Guild Boston, and membership in American Choral Directors Association, Texas
Music Educators Association, the National Association of Teachers of Singing,
and the International Society for Music Education. A native of Dallas, TX,
he received a Bachelor of Arts in Music (voice) from Southern Methodist
University and his Masters of Sacred Music at Boston University (choral
conducting).
 André de Quadros
Professor
André de Quadros, conductor, ethnomusicologist, human rights activist,
and music educator has conducted and undertaken research in over forty
countries and is a professor of music at Boston University where he also
holds affiliated faculty appointments in the African Studies Center,
the Center for the Study of Asia, the Institute for the Study of Muslim
Societies and Civilizations, the Pardee Center, and the Prison Education
Program. He has worked in the most diverse settings worldwide. His
research and performance interests lie in arts and health, prisons,
music of the Muslim world and Indonesia, community choruses, and peace
and conflict. http://www.andredequadros.com/
Willie Sordillo Alto
saxophonist Willie Sordillo has been performing professionally for 40
years. He served as co-leader of three-time Boston Music award winners
Flor de Caña, has worked extensively as a freelance player with a wide
variety of groups, and leads his own jazz ensembles. He has performed in
concerts and festivals throughout North America and internationally.
Willie’s original compositions have appeared in numerous song books,
magazines and college texts. He has contributed music to several films,
and an arrangement to the television show ER. He has recorded
extensively as a leader, producer and sideman. He has performed with or
opened shows for Pete Seeger, Ruben Blades, Kurt Elling, Richie Havens
and Tito Puente, among others. Willie sees music as a spiritual
expression with the power to uplift, heal, inspire growth and initiate
change. He has served as music director for a weekly jazz worship
service at Old South Church in Boston since 2005 and regularly brings
jazz worship to churches throughout Massachusetts. For 15 years he
backed up a James Brown impersonator, and currently plays in the R &
B/funk/soul/jazz ensemble, The RPS Band. His motto is, “Bring a little
bit of church into the club, and bring a little bit of the club into the
church.”
Burns Stanfield
 After
a period of recording and performing as a professional musician,
Reverend Burns Stanfield was ordained in 1991 as a minister in the
Presbyterian Church (USA) to pastor a congregation in a low-income
neighborhood of South Boston. While this church was once near closing,
it has since grown substantially and is now a vital community presence.
It runs a community arts ministry, a large free summer day program,
tutoring ministries, recovery efforts, and more. Stanfield also teaches
at Harvard Divinity School and Andover Newton Theological School. He
continues to write music, perform and record. Family Prayers is a CD of
original songs, and a follow-up is forthcoming. The church’s community
commitments have been recognized by the national Presbyterian Church,
Harvard University, the South Boston community and the city of Boston.
Clergy for Worship Services
Kaji Douša  The Rev. Kaji Spellman Douša, Senior Pastor of The Park Avenue Christian Church in Manhattan, is a minister, liturgist and writer with degrees from the
University of Pennsylvania and Yale University, where she earned a B.A.
and M. Div. with awards in preaching and liturgy. Kaji is currently a
member of the UCC’s StillSpeaking Writer’s Group. She served prior appointments at The Table United Church of Christ
of La Mesa, CA, Plymouth Congregational
Church in Minneapolis, Saint Peter’s Church in New York City, the
Village Church in Wellesley, MA, First Congregational Church of Darien,
CT and First Congregational Church of Ridgefield, CT. Before entering
the ministry, she worked for a large financial services company on Wall
Street.
The Rev. Kent French Kent French is the senior
pastor of the United Church of Brookline. He first felt a call to
ministry when he was in the second grade. As he matured he explored
various theologies and churches while pursuing a career in acting and
singing. In 2004 he entered Harvard Divinity School. Upon graduation he
served as a pastoral resident at Wellesley Village Church and then as
lead pastor of a UCC church in Bellingham, Washington. In 2013, he
returned to Boston to serve the United Parish, which is affiliated with
the United Church of Christ, the United Methodist Church and the
American Baptist Church.
The Rev. Dr. Mary Luti (see above)
The Rev. Dr. Nancy Taylor
 Nancy
S. Taylor has served as the senior minister and chief executive officer
of Old South Church since 2005. Prior to her call to Old South Church,
she served as minister and president of the Massachusetts Conference of
the UCC (2001-2005) and has served churches in Idaho, Connecticut, and
Maine. She earned degrees at Macalester College (B.A.), Yale Divinity
School (M.Div.) and Chicago Theological Seminary (D. Min.).
Beyond the doors of Old
South Church, Nancy is a recognized preacher and speaker, teacher and
workshop leader. She has engaged extensively in human rights issues in
her ministries and has won multiple awards for her work. Back to top of page
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