Faculty and Staff

Thomas DixonDMA

Director, Summer Singers of Atlanta; Music Director, New South Festival Singers

DMA, Music Director of the New South Festival Singers and Summer Singers of Atlanta. Robert Shaw Scholar; leads the Foundation’s oldest choir in its 42nd season.

Atlanta

New South Festival Singers · Summer Singers of Atlanta

Christine FreemanMME

Associate Music Director & Senior Vocal Coach, Kansas City; Fellow, Institute for Healthy Singing

Christine Freeman was appointed Associate Music Director of Kansas City ensembles and Senior Vocal Coach for the William Baker Choral Foundation in August 2011. A native of Topeka, Kansas, she holds a Bachelor of Music Education, emphasis Voice, and a Master of Music in Choral Pedagogy from the University of Kansas in Lawrence.

Kansas City

William Baker Festival Singers

Matthew RecioDMA

Artistic Director of Vox Venti

An avid vocal composer, Dr. Matthew Recio collaborates with poets, writers, and artists across the globe to bring text to life in the concert hall and on the theatrical stage.

Chicago

Vox Venti

Leilani Velasco Vaughn

Director, Voces Festivas

Leilani Velasco joined the Festival Singers family as a choir member in 2020 and directs Voces Festivas, highlighting Spanish choral music, language, and community.

Kansas City

Voces Festivas

Chip HandrichMME

Music Director, Northland Summer Singers; Fellow, Institute for Healthy Singing

Music Director of the Northland Summer Singers and IHS&VR Fellow. MME, church musician in Liberty, Missouri, and tenor with the William Baker Festival Singers.

Kansas City

Northland Summer Singers

Ed Frazier DavisMM

Director, Institute for Choral Creativity; Executive Director, Vox Venti

Ed Frazier Davis (b. 1989) is an English-American composer, baritone, and conductor living and working in Chicago.

Chicago

Vox Venti · Institute for Choral Creativity

Amy Chinnery-Valmassei

Director, Summer Ringers Academy

Amy Chinnery-Valmassei has been an enthusiast for handbells since 1984, when she became a youth member of the St. Paul Ringers.

Kansas City

Summer Ringers Academy

Matthew Edwards

Director, Gwinnett Summer Singers

Matthew Edwards is a music educator specializing in piano and choral/vocal music, with an interest in composing for school ensembles, churches, and communities. He resides in metro Atlanta, where he teaches piano at M.

Atlanta

Gwinnett Summer Singers

James Cordell

Director, Cobb Summer Singers

Music Director and Conductor of the Cobb Summer Singers (appointed November 2025). Composer-arranger and New South Festival Singers member, based in metro Atlanta.

Atlanta

Cobb Summer Singers

Sean SweedenDMA

Composer in Residence

A native Arkansan, Sean Sweeden began studying music with his parents at a young age, singing in church choirs, ACDA honor choirs, and musical theatre. At Arkansas Tech University he studied percussion with Philip Parker, voice with Dr.

Melissa A. ShallbergMM

Founder & Music Director, Iowa Festival Singers

Melissa Shallberg is originally from Mason City, Iowa — the town on which Meredith Willson based River City for The Music Man. After brief study at Luther College she graduated from Iowa State University with a degree in Music Education, continuing voice and conducting study at St.

Iowa

Iowa Festival Singers

Niccole WilliamsMME

Education Director, Institute for Healthy Singing; Associate Director, Lee’s Summit Summer Singers

Niccole Williams is a graduate of Kennesaw State University, earning a Bachelor of Vocal Music Education with a minor in Linguistic Studies. At Kennesaw State she studied voice, organ, piano, and conducting, and sang in the Kennesaw State Chorale and Women’s Choir.

Kansas City

Lee’s Summit Summer Singers · Institute for Healthy Singing & Voice Research

Laura Rene Baker

Development Director

Laura Rene Baker grew up in Prairie Village, Kansas, and became involved in choirs and handbells at an early age, beginning church choirs in kindergarten and handbells at age nine. After graduating from Kansas State University in 1989 with a degree in Interior Architecture she worked with firms in Florida and Kansas before creating Art + Design, blending work as an artist with interior architecture.

Ivy Belk PirlMM

Staff Accompanist, Atlanta

Ivy Belk Pirl, rehearsal accompanist, has been with the Cobb Summer Singers since its founding. She is a favorite of Choral Foundation audiences, having also performed with the William Baker Festival Singers and the Lynn Swanson Festival Singers.

Atlanta

Leanne Elmer HerrmanMM

Staff Accompanist, Atlanta

Leanne Elmer Herrmann has served as accompanist of the Summer Singers of Atlanta since the chorus’s founding in 1990. A graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, she holds a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance and works throughout metro Atlanta as a freelance accompanist and chamber pianist.

Atlanta

Dr. Geoffrey Wilcken

Staff Accompanist, Kansas City

Geoffrey Wilcken is a prolific composer, conductor, organist, and pianist. He has written for ensembles of all sizes, including solo, oratorio, concert band, jazz, and liturgical forces.

Kansas City

Robert AbbottMM

Kansas City Bronze Associate Director

Associate Music Director of Kansas City Bronze (2025) and Summer Ringers Academy. MM, UMKC; 49 years in handbell leadership across Kansas City and overseas.

Kansas City

Kansas City Bronze

Chy F. Billings, IIIMM

Choral Intern, William Baker Festival Singers

Music educator, choral director, and clinician. Choral Intern with the William Baker Festival Singers and Director of Children & Youth Choirs at The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection.

Kansas City

William Baker Festival Singers