“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: jocelynhagen.com and timothyctakach.com.

Email choirfampodcast@gmail.com to contact our hosts.

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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: 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 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.

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Thank you for listening to our show this season!!

Here are the favorite choral pieces from our guests in the sixth season:
Christ lag in Todesbanden by Johann Sebastian Bach
Agnus Dei - Samuel Barber
Missa Solemnis - Ludwig van Beethoven
Chichester Psalms - Leonard Bernstein
Ein Deutsches Requiem - Johannes Brahms
Os Justi - Anton Bruckner
A Jubilant Song - Norman Dello-Joio
Requiem - Maurice Duruflé
“Kyrie” from Requiem - Maurice Duruflé
All Things New - Elaine Hagenberg
The Seasons - Joseph Haydn
Dirait-on - Morten Lauridsen
Sure on This Shining Night - Morten Lauridsen
Requiem - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Carmina Burana - Carl Orff
All-Night Vigil - Sergei Rachmaninoff
I Will Lift Thine Eyes - Jake Runestad
At the Round Earth’s Imagined Corners - Williametta Spencer
Dum Transisset Sabbatum - John Taverner
Perhaps - Dale Trumbore - 2x
Dona Nobis Pacem - Ralph Vaughan Williams
I Thank You God for Most This Amazing Day - Eric Whitacre
Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine - Eric Whitacre
Annelies - James Whitbourn
Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing - arr. Mack Wilberg

Here are the composers that our guests suggested you check out:
Kim André Arnesen
Alex Berko
Margaret Bonds
Johannes Brahms
Jennifer Lucy Cook
Chiara Margarita Cozzolani
Kate Crellin
Kenter Davies
Norman Dello Joio
Laura Farnell
Robert Gibson
Matt Goldstein
Anthony Gray
Joseph Haydn
Cyrillus Kreek
David Mailman
Joanna Marsh
Felix Mendelssohn
Darius Milhaud
MaryAnne Muglia (our guest on Choir Fam Ep. 124)
Nyi Nyi Myin
Stephen Paulus
Henry Purcell
Judy Rose
Moira Smiley
Diana Syrse
Timothy Takach (our guest on Choir Fam Ep. 34-35)
Patrick Vu

Email choirfampodcast@gmail.com to contact our hosts.

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“It’s not until you’re leading an ensemble that you really figure out how to make the music happen and how to motivate the people around you. It’s humbling in a lot of ways, and it’s so gratifying. As a conductor, you’re providing the framework for musicians to do their best work. Both in the way that you structure rehearsal and the gestures that you are showing the music through, you’re creating a scaffolding, inviting people in, and collaborating together. Ideally, you’re creating a situation where everybody has ownership of the musical process and the musical result as well.”

Grant Gershon currently celebrates his 25th season as the Kiki and David Gindler Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, which he has turned into the "best-by-far major chorus in America” (Los Angeles Times). Earlier in 2026, Grant and the Chorale were honored to receive their second Grammy™ Award for Best Choral Performance, and they have been nominated 3 times in the last 5 years in this category. In 2025 the Chorale was featured on the Academy Awards ceremony, broadcast to over 19 million viewers around the world.

A champion of new music, Grant led the world premiere of John Adams’ Girls of the Golden West at the San Francisco Opera. He also conducted its European premier at the Dutch National Opera. As Resident Conductor of LA Opera, Grant conducted the West Coast premiere of Philip Glass’s Satyagraha, and he led the world premiere of Daniel Catán’s Il Postino, subsequently released on Sony Classical Records.

Among the highpoints of his tenure with the LA Master Chorale, he twice opened the famed Salzburg Festival—with Orlando di Lasso’s Lagrime di San Pietro in 2019 and Heinrich Schütz’ Music to Accompany a Departure in 2023. He and the Chorale also performed these works to enormous acclaim in London, Paris, Montreal, Toronto, Chicago and New Zealand.

Grant’s discography with the Chorale includes recordings of music by Billy Childs, Nico Muhly, Henrik Gorecki, David Lang, and Steve Reich. He has also led the Chorale in performances for motion picture soundtracks, including, at the request of John Williams, Star Wars: The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker.

In New York, Grant has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall and Trinity Wall Street. Other major appearances include performances at the Ravinia, Aspen, Edinburgh, Helsinki, Salzburg, and Vienna festivals; Teatro Colon in Buenos Aries, the Barbican in London and the Paris Philharmonie. He has worked closely with numerous legendary conductors, including Claudio Abbado, Pierre Boulez, Gustavo Dudamel, Zubin Mehta, Simon Rattle, and his mentor, Esa-Pekka Salonen.

To get in touch with Grant, you can email him at ggershon@lamasterchorale.org or find him on Instagram (@the_gershmeister).

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“This is a way to understand how the voice operates in all its parts – perceptually, physiologically, and acoustically -- so that we can learn to stop doing things that are unnecessary for a particular outcome. A lot of people get worried when they hear anything talking about muscles or working the voice or effort, that we’re talking about doing it all all the time. Why do we do what we do in this profession, and how can we utilize some of this science- and evidence-based knowledge to help ourselves not eliminate the things we say but inform them?”

Dr. Brian J. Winnie is the Director of Choral Studies at Western Illinois University, where he supervises the graduate choral conducting program, teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in choral conducting and choral literature, and conducts the Chamber Singers and the flagship ensemble, the University Singers. He previously served as the Director of Choral Activities & Voice and was chair of the music department at Southwestern College in Winfield, KS. Prior to his tenure in higher education, Dr. Winnie was the Artistic Director of ChoralSounds NW, a community choir based in Burien, WA, and he taught for seven years in public education at both the middle and high school levels.

An active festival conductor and adjudicator, Dr. Winnie has been artist-in-residence in Ekaterinburg, Russia and has worked with festival choirs throughout the United States. He is a frequent guest lecturer/workshop leader and has presented on "Contemporary Vocal Technique in the Choral Rehearsal," "Redefining the Choral Warm-Up," and "21st-Century Choral Pedagogy." Dr. Winnie has published articles in the Voice and Speech Review, Choral Journal, Voice Foundation Newsletter, International Choral Bulletin, and ChorTeach, and he is the editor and contributing author to The Choral Conductor's Companion and The Voice Teacher's Cookbook: Creative Recipes for Teachers of Singing both published by Meredith Music Publications and distributed by GIA Publications.

Choirs under his direction have performed at state conventions and received accolades in both international and national competitions.

A native of Pennsylvania, Dr. Winnie received his B.S. in Music Education from the Pennsylvania State University, Master of Music Education from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and his Doctor of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting from the University of Washington. He is a certified Estill Master Trainer, Mentor, & Course Instructor.

To get in touch with Brian, you can visit his website or With One Voice's website or find him on Facebook (@bwinnie2).

Email choirfampodcast@gmail.com to contact our hosts.

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