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Young Voices 2012 Clinicians


Girls' Children's Choir

Lu Ann Holden

LuAnn Holden became the first female Artistic Director of the Chattanooga Girls Choir when she took over the leadership of the choir in Fall 2004. Mrs. Holden directs the main choir of the CGC, the Concert Choir, composed of girls in grades 7 through 12.

Mrs. Holden is an assistant professor of Music Education at Lee University and for the past seven years was the director of the Lee University Children's Chorale, a group of approximately 70 children from 3rd-8th grades. She received her Bachelor of Music degree from Wesleyan College and her Masters Degree in Music Education from Georgia State University.

She has been an adjudicator at numerous choral competitions in the Southeast, and she received an Outstanding Teacher award from the Tennessee Governor's School for the Arts as well as recognition in Who's Who Among America's Teachers.

 


Boychoir

Mark Railey

Mark Railey holds degrees from Ouachita Baptist University and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is finishing a doctorate from the Fuller Theological Seminary and has received two honorary doctorates.

As an educator, he has been a professor at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Azusa Pacific University, the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith, and has taught at the middle school and high school levels, most recently in the Darlington County School District.


 Railey has been in the music business for 25 years. He has performed in and directed musicals in community theaters and has served as a judge for Hartsville Idol. Railey owns Mark Railey Productions, an Artist Development and Production Studio in collaboration with Jonathan Kuehling Studios of Florence. Railey has founded two nonprofit music organizations: the Florence Men’s Choral Society with Julian Young in 2007 and the Palmetto State Boys Choir in 2008.

He is currently the Artistic Director of the Palmetto State Boys Choir. Railey is the former organist and choirmaster of All Saints Episcopal Church in Florence.


Junior High Girls Choir

Colleen Thompson

Colleen Emerick Thompson teaches vocal music at Henry James Memorial School in Simsbury, CT where she directs a program comprised of over 300 seventh and eighth grade choristers.  A public school educator since 2001, she has taught middle school vocal music in Ohio, Georgia, and at King Philip Middle School in West Hartford, CT before moving to Simsbury.  The Henry James Memorial School Select Chorus will be performing at the 2012 ACDA Eastern Division

Conference in Providence, CT.


She is a frequent presenter and guest conductor, working especially with adolescent choruses.  She has presented workshops on middle school choir at Westminster Choir College, the 2008 ACDA Eastern Division Conference, the 2009 CT ACDA Fall Conference, and the 2010 OAKE National Conference. 

Recent guest conducting appearances include the CMEA Southern Regional MS Mixed Choir and the Connecticut Valley District Music Festival in Brattleboro, VT.  She currently serves at the Middle School Repertoire and Standards Chair for CT ACDA.


Colleen received a BME from Baldwin-Wallace College, an MMEd with Kodály certification from The University of Hartford, and a Sixth Year Certificate in Educational Leadership from the University of Connecticut.  She resides in Torrington, CT with her husband Carl.


Junior High Mixed Choir

Anthony Sears

Proud New Orleans native Anthony Sears received his Bachelor's degree in music education at Southeastern Louisiana University and earned his MM in choral conducting at Westminster Choir College where he studied with Dr. Joseph Flummerfelt. While at Westminster, he performed under such noted conductors as Helmuth Rilling, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Wolfgang Sawallisch, and Kurt Masur.

Sears went on to teach at Clearview Middle School (New Jersey) for six years and, during his tenure, was named conductor of the New Jersey Junior High State Honor Choir. In 2003, he returned to New Orleans to teach at Eleanor McMain Secondary School. Choirs under his direction while at McMain were invited to perform at the Louisiana Music Educators Association Conference and appeared with the Louisiana Philharmonic and the Louisiana Vocal Arts Chorale, and sang at Carnegie Hall.

After Hurricane Katrina demolished New Orleans, Sears taught briefly in Chapel Hill, North Carolina before returning home in 2007 to help rebuild his beloved city, one chorister at a time.