“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 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 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 ryanmain.com or 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 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, 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 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, wendymoy.com, or find her on Instagram (@maestramoy) or Facebook (@wendy.moy1).

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